Jess woke up with hangover at eleven the following morning and thought to herself she had that feeling too frequently lately. She rolled in bed falling in and out of sleep when a ring suddenly woke her up from her doze. It was Hanna asking how she got home and if anything happened between her and Mark last night. Jess started lazily recollecting events of last night with eyes still closed listening to Hanna. Memory suddenly came back to her.

‘Oh my God. I think I asked him out,’ Jess opened her eyes in awe.

‘What? Really? That’s great! He was so cute! And he is so much into you, Jess! That was really obvious’ Hanna sounded delighted.

‘Oh, no! What did I do?! Its going to be so awkward!’ Jess whined rubbing her eyes.

‘Relax, Jess! It’s going to be fine. The guy likes you, it is going to be fine. If you like him, just start going out with him. You do like him, right?’

Jess went quiet for a while till Hanna called her name again to make sure she was still on the line.

‘Yea, I think I do,’ Jess answered slowly.

‘Ok, then it’s no-brainer! Don’t fuss over it,’ Hanna concluded and moved on to tell about her hook up with one of Mark’s friends which led to a steamy make out session in one of the club’s corners. He saw Hanna to the door of her apartment, but as a real gentleman did not try to invite himself over. He just kissed her good night and they agreed to meet up that evening for a coffee.

‘Jess, I am in love. I can’t help it. He is just so perfect and he is so tall!!’ Hanna sounded ecstatic. Jess climbed out of her bed and opened her curtains and went out to her balcony listening to Hanna talk. She listened to her friend go on about her crush, watched the city and the people under her. Jess caught herself thinking that she enjoyed the state of laziness she herself was in. Even the headache was enjoyable at that moment, it justified her not doing anything.

Jess was making herself a massive breakfast of spicy ramen when the phone rang again. It was Mark. Jess wrinkled her nose when she saw the caller name and allowed it to ring two more times gathering her thoughts before she picked up.

‘Hey, princess! How are you today?’ Mark sounded painfully cheerful.

‘I am all right… a little hangover, of course, but not as bad as I expected.’

‘That’s great! Yesterday you looked like you’d be very very sick today,’ Mark laughed quietly to his own joke while Jess was completely quiet.

‘So anyway,’ Mark’s voice quivered a little. ‘Do you remember what you asked me to do yesterday?’

‘I asked you out, didn't I?’ Jess squinted waiting for the answer.

‘Well, you actually asked me to ask you out. I guess, you did not want to hurt my macho feelings,’ Mark laughed.

‘Oh, yea, that. Sorry about that. I was completely out of the line.’

‘No, no, no. Don’t do that to yourself, Jess. You were completely fine! Slightly cheekier than usually, but I think I like you better that way.’

‘Yea,’ Jess expelled a loud sigh. ‘Well, I’m still sorry about that.’

‘Don’t be,’ Mark cut her off firmly. ‘So, listen, what do you say? You, me, tonight, someplace nice?’

‘Uh… Are you really asking me out?’ Jess asked hesitantly.

‘Well, I did pinkie swear yesterday. And the men of Bloom never break their pinkie promises,’ he replied laughing.

‘Uhm, I think I am not really in shape to go anywhere tonight.’

‘Don’t you even try to get out of it. You made a promise yesterday too, so pull yourself together, young lady, and deliver!’ Mark’s firm business-like tone confused Jess’s scattered thoughts even further. She looked for ideas, excuses or even simple full sentences in her brain, but the grey matter was surprisingly uncooperative. All she could give out, was a very uninformative: ‘Uuuuh...’

‘All right then. Since you insist, I will come over to your place then. We’ll order something in. I’ll bring the wine.’ Mark voiced out sentenced like orders and hang up.

It took a few seconds for it to sink in. Jess couldn’t believe it. He was coming over. Tonight. Mark was coming over to her place. Tonight. She looked around at her apartment. Jess thought of herself as a tidy person. Not any obsessive compulsive type of tidy, but an average person who likes her things neat and clean. Lately though she had been so busy, that she hadn’t had time to even take a look around her apartment. The sink was full of week-worth dishes, the floors needed some heavy vacuuming and she needed to fold her clothes which had been hanging on drying rack since last weekend. Jess looked at the clock over her kitchen counter. It was almost 1pm. He didn't even say what time he’d be coming. Panic starting slowly rising in Jess’s body.

‘Ok. Tonight means sometime late, not earlier than 6pm. I have five full hours to put this place in order,’ Jess told herself. ‘Just take some ibuprofen. Or maybe lots of it. And start working.’

Jess was done cleaning by late afternoon and then she ran down to a 7/11 next to her place to buy some fruits and some basic necessities, so that her fridge would not look so desperately empty. She then spend three hours nervously pacing around her apartment lighting up and putting out candles. She was on her third round of lighting them up, when the doorbell rang. She quickly blew out the candles again and rushed to open the door.

Mark was standing with flowers. White tailor fit shirt with rolled up sleeves, washed cotton navy chinos. His hair was ruffled up. Jess didn't remember him wearing his hair like that. He was exuding casualness. Jess herself wore a simple cotton summer dress, dark blue with bright flowery pattern. Her hair was up and apart from eyeliner and her favourite pale orange lip gloss she didn't wear any makeup.

Mark gave her a light peck on the cheek and confidently strode into her apartment. He immediately spotted vase on her kitchen counter, so he filled it with water and put the flowers in.

‘Where do you want them?’ Mark asked. ‘They are cut already, so we can just put them right in.’

‘Oh, ok. Yes, sure. You can put them on the table.’ Jess waved at her dining table. ‘Thanks. They look pretty.’

‘I was not sure if you are into drama or comedy, so I took a few movies. One of each movie genre that doesnt make me throw up, to be precise.’ Mark smiled shyly and showed Jess the stack of DVDs he brought in the paper bag. ‘I thought we could watch a movie and order some food in.’

‘That sounds good.’ Jess involuntarily exhaled at the thought that she would not need to talk that much.

‘How are you feeling?’ Mark came closer to Jess and put his hand on her forehead. ‘You look a little pale.’

‘Well, I had headache, but I think I am feeling better now.’ Jess tried to smile reassuringly at him.

‘Are you nervous, Ms. Wiley?’ Mark asked her teasingly. ‘Aargh, that is so cute! I am very flattered. I have to say though, that the cheeky drunken you is still on top of my list of cuteness.’

‘Please don’t do that, Mark! It’s not funny. I am so embarrassed,’ Jess frowned at him.

‘Don’t be. Seriously. I thought you were completely adorable.’ Mark smiled. He thought of something and added. ‘And hey, don’t worry about it. If this doesn’t work out, we will be fine. We will just go back to what we were before. Work friends or whatever. I don’t retaliate.’ He winked at her.

They ordered food, argued about which movie to watch. Jess won that round and Mark grudgingly set “Pitch Perfect” into her DVD-player. Jess watched Mark hassling with her TV as he was reconnecting some cables that went lose and noted how confident and casual he was. Mark gave away that aura of safety and warmth of a big man-rock you can hide behind. He made her feel at home in her own apartment.

When the food came, they set it up on the coffee table in front of the sofa and ate it while watching the movie. This reminded Jess of the times they used to eat in the office staring at their computers. That was probably the moment when the last bit of uneasiness she felt about the situaion, gave in and went away, leaving her usual self: easy-going and self-assured on the sofa next to Mark.

Close to the end of the movie, when Mark came back from the bathroom he slumped on the sofa next to Jess and put his arm around her pulling her next to him. Jess did not resist and put her head on his shoulder. They watched the rest of the movie sitting like that. When Beca was kissing Jesse after the final performance at the end of the movie, Mark leaned in and whispered into Jess’s ear: ‘How about my kiss?’

Jess laughed, but turned her face to Mark and kissed him. She felt his body tense immediately, as if he was preparing for a jump. He then slipped his arms around her and pulled Jess sitting her onto his lap. His movements were gentle but confident. He held her back with one hand, her thigh with the other hand and kissed her neck sending tickles down her spine. Jess felt hormones rising and taking over her body with the rush of making her feel empty below.

They made love several times that night. Mark was great. He was passionate, spontaneous and tender. Jess knew that with him could get wild, if she let him. Lying down on her bed next to sleeping Mark, Jess tried to gather her thoughts and analyze her situation. She definitely liked him. From the moment she saw him first time in the office, she felt attraction towards him. They looked great together, he was smart, successful, fit, funny. He was a template of a perfect guy for her. He was her type. If her mind had not been preoccupied with Jiyong she would have had a crush on Mark already a while ago.

‘Jiyong! Oh, damn it!’ Jess whispered agitated. She forgot to call him again. She climbed out of bed and went out to balcony holding her phone. Jiyong’s number was saved under “Jiyong K.” in her phone. She looked at it for some time thinking of something. Her finger hovered over the green call button. Still contemplating it she let her eyes wander off from her phone over to the quiet dark streets around her apartment compound and back to sleeping Mark. When she looked back at her phone, her finger moved away from call button and she deleted Jiyong’s number.