"And I wonder if I ever cross your mind?

For me it happens all the time.

It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now."

     It so happened that Jackson decided to avoid Mark Tuan, for good. He was immensely disturbed by Mark's indifference and the only thing he could do to help himself was to ignore Mark altogether. 

      It so happened that Jackson miserably failed.

Jake's mother, Miriam, was a quiet horse, the least troublesome among the horses the Wang household owned. She was swift, strong and silent, no neighing around for nothing. But something really went wrong in her stable room one morning (it was a severe bite from some wild insect actually) and she went nuts. She broke the door and ran out, destroying everything that came in her way. 

       It was Mr. Wang who first noticed their beserk mare running maniacally around the ranch. "Mark!" He shouted for help and himself ran outside to do something about the situation. Mark came out of the room and took some time to understand the situation. So he ran out to control the horse and asked Mr. Wang to stay away, lest he should be hurt. Jackson too heard the commotion and ran outside too. When he reached the ranch, he saw a very angry Mark, trying to get the mare under control, who was frantically neighing and running here and there. Mark was continuously trying to mount the mare, which would make it possible to calm it. But since Miriam was constantly running around, he was facing grave difficulty. 

       Jackson wanted to go help but he was ordered by Mark not to interfere. "Don't come near. You'll get hurt." So Jackson just watched him doing all he could to calm Miriam.

Jackson narrowed his eyes to check out Mark's figure in motion.The sleeveless shirt Mark wore did nothing to hide the flexing muscles of his arm as he tried to get proper hold of Miriam's mane. Since he was failing at doing what he aimed, he was often cursing, not minding the hits he was getting from the mare. The sight for Jackson was...enticing. It kind of excited him to see Mark like that, all terse and strong and y. It scared him, to feel such thing towards his fellow rancher, but it couldn't be controlled. He knew it was wrong, but he thought that until these feelings remain buried in his heart, it would be okay. 

       His thoughts was disturbed when things went wrong and Mark slipped and fell on the ground. Miriam jumped on his shoulder. "Ah!" Mark cried out in pain and Jackson ran to help him without a second thought (Well, without a first to start with). Mark lay on the ground holding his abused shoulder. When he saw Jackson coming towards him and the troublesome horse, he screamed, "Stop! Don't come near. It's not safe!" But Jackson didn't stop. Darn. Mark couldn't let him get hurt. 

        Mark collected all his strength and stood up trying to mount the mare again. Seeing that Mark had regained his strength, Jackson halted. After struggling for some more minutes, Mark finally mounted Miriam, caught hold of her mane, kicked her sides, shouted like a hooligan. Gradually, she stopped, after making some last, powerless jumps. Mark looked at Jackson, who was looking at him in awe. 

       So yes. Jackson miserably failed because the more he wanted to ignore Mark, the more Mark attracted him. The more he wanted to run away, the more he was lured towards him.

      Mrs. Wang did ask Mark if he was hurt but he kept on saying he was fine, trying his best to avoid Jackson's concerned eyes. He walked towards the house jerking his hurt side a bit. When he was about to enter the basement door, Jackson held his unharmed shoulder and made him turn. "Hey, I know you are hurt." Jackson said but Mark simply shrugged his hands away and descended the stairs thay led to his room in the basement. 

       Mark was just like that. He was a 'don't bother me and I won't bother you' type of person. He had always been a delinquent child, getting into fights, worrying his father. That was the reason his father always tagged him along wherever he went. He was a nomad, moving from one place to another to make his living. This made Mark even more fierce, violent and introverted. He never tried to make friends in the new places they moved. He never asked his father about his mother (who couldn't cope up with his father's lifestyle and left). But he did respect and love his father. But he never showed affection. He acted infferent and ignorant towards him too, so much so that he thought his son hated him. 

      So Mark was such kind of person. 

But Mark did notice how Jackson had been trying to ignore him since some days. And surprisingly, it bothered him. He couldn't take the awkwardness that oozed out of Jackson when they were alone. He could notice Jackson trying to avoid conversation with him while they were working. It upset him. And he didn't know why. 

       Thus, when Jackson came to his room after about an hour with first aid kit, he snapped. 

"Mark. Let me see how bad the wound is." Jackson stated, knowing Mark wouldn't let him if he politely asked. "I said I'm fine. Why don't you ing understand?" Mark growled. "Mark!" Jackson sternly exclaimed, pulling Mark's shoulder and exposing a rather deep cut. As he was about to touch it, Mark pulled away. "What the hell are you doing. Stop it or you will have to pay." He warned Jackson but Jackson moved forward to see it. That was it. Mark punched him. 

"Stop trying to be nice. Why now do you want to tend my wound after avoiding me for the entire week?" Mark asked.

Jackson's gulped down the spit and blurted out, "Mark. Don't misunderstand. I'm trying to help." 

Mark gave him a sarcastic one sided grin and said, "Is it because you are the master now? Huh? Do you think that you being the employer gives you the right to make your worker feel like . Darn you Jackson. If you really want to maintain this gap between the slave and master, then let's do it. Let's never face each other. Let's just do our work. Now leave, before I punch you again."

       Jackson, who had dropped the box in favour of holding his hurting jaw was stunned. He became speechless. He got all confused by Mark's sudden outburst and he couldn't make out what hurt more. Mark's punch or his blame.

      He wouldn't have left had his father not called him. He went upstairs and went to mee this father. "What happened to your face?" Mr. Wang asked, sipping his tea. "Just tripped and banged my face on the wardrobe." Jackson gave a careless reply. "Anyways. Your aunt just gave birth to triplets and he really wants mother to visit. Your mum can't go alone obviously. So I am going with her. We will be gone for a while. But there is Mark. I am entrusting you with our household. Take care of it while we breathe some Mexican air." 

     Jackson got another shock. How was he to live with Mark alone? And God knows for how long his parents would ne gone. He collected some confidence and asked, "Okay. When are you leaving?" " In the evening train today." The reply came and Jackson gulped down his spit audibly for the second time that day.

       The house fell eerily silent after his parents left. Jackson made some dinner and ate alone. He kept some food for Mark (who had been out in the ranch) on the table, and jogged to his room. As he laid on his bed, he thought over Mark's reaction and his heart hurt. He felt bad, for making Mark feel bad. His disturbing thoughts upset him and he opened a can of beer. He drank slowly thinking over the week he tried to ignore Mark- not looking at him, avoiding conversations with him, answering him in single syllable. Seriously, who was he cheating? He wanted to run away but he didn't. He used to look at Mark longingly when the other was working, oblivious of the stare his back had been getting. Although he did not talk to Mark, his mind always played with the thoughts of the boy. And yes. He was trying to maintain a gap between them. However it was not for the sake of being an employer but for the sake of avoiding any heartaches. 

     Jackson kept on drinking slowly, his thoughts wandering over Mark. Then it paused on the morning conversation. It was exactly at quarter past one when Jackson realised the implication of Mark's words. Mark did not like the distance between them. And Jackson's behaviour upset him. He realized that somewhere, he did have an impact on Mark and he didn't know whether to be happy or sad about it. 

      He stood up from his bed to go talk to Mark and clear the misunderstanding. He found the said boy scrambling in the kitchen. "Mark! What are you doing?" He asked. "Nothing." Mark said back. Jackson stood at the door separating their kitchen and living room and hurriedly said, "Mark. I'm sorry for making you feel bad. But it wasn't because of the status thing. I guess I was just mad about you forgetting about me while I had been constantly hoping to meet you so you could teach me how to swim. " 

      Mark stopped his scrambling and immediately inquired, "You still don't know how to swim?" He exclaimed and Jackson gave him his soft smile. "How could I when my teacher had left with no trace behind?" Mark clucked his tongue, (which was his habbit) and said, "But they are gonna call you !" And then both of them laughed. Jackson walked towards Mark and said, "Seriously Mark. I can't handle this tension between us. Let us be friends okay?" Mark nodded and they shook hands.

     Jackson was busy staring at their joined hands when Mark spoke, "We are friends now so I can ask you anything right?" Jackson nodded as he said 'of course'. Mark smiled and then asked, "Do you perhaps have some painkillers? My shoulder is killing me." 

    Jackson smiled back and thought that being friends with Mark was nice. It was tough, but nice. Like he could keep his disturbing romantic toughts aside and just be friends with the amazing person in front of him. And maybe being friends with Mark would hurt him sometimes as the other had no such feeling towards him, but he would hang on. A friendly Mark was a good Mark and that was enough. And though his friend would never reciprocate his feelings, Jackson could live with it.

That's what he thought.

Author's Note: Hello. Sorry for slow updates. I have been busy. I'll try to update sooner. 

Now there is gonna be slow progression of Markson. Hope ya all like it.