Mark woke up to the sound of his alarm going off on his phone. The noise making the pounding motion on his head more painful. Rummaging through his bed sheet a familiar voice groans out with frustration from the wooden floor.

“Turn that off.” Jaebum groans while hiding his head under the blanket cover he was using to keep himself warm with. Finally managing to find his cell phone Mark hit the stop button before dropping his phone back down on his bed. Silence fell in his bedroom once more as Mark tries to wait for the pounding in his head to subside a little. Flashes of last night dance across his brain as he groans to himself. After the drink that Jinyoung had given him he seems to had less loose a little too much. Going over the limit of alcohol he could tolerate as the hangover he was experiencing now as a reminder. Plopping back down on his bed he was midway to covering his eyes with his arm when something caught his eyes. Scrawled on the inner part of his right arm was a phone number with a black point pen. It was written messily on his arm, but still edible to read. Mark thought back to last night but no memories of last night were connected to this phone number. Just then an image of Jinyoung’s face dances across his mind. It couldn’t have been him. Sitting up abruptly he goes to get out of bed only stepping on someone lightly before recoiling his foot back up.

Bambam whines as he rubs his stomach where Mark had accidentally stepped on, “watch where you’re stepping hyung.”

“Bambam,” Mark calls falling to the ground to kneel beside Bambam on the floor where he was sleeping, “did you see who wrote this phone number on me?” Shaking the younger man awake, Bambam opens his eyes slightly to look at Mark before squinting his eyes to look at the arm Mark was showing him.

“Hyung my head is pounding from a hangover. I don’t think I can recall anything about last night.” Bambam answers as Mark sighs in understanding, he goes to pet the younger male’s back to draw him back to sleep. Getting up he heads towards his bathroom right across his room but does so carefully as Jaebum and Bambam seem to have crashed on his bedroom floor while Yugyeom and Jackson must have taken his living room area. Closing his bedroom door silently behind him with a fresh pair of clean clothes he grabbed on his way out he heads for his bathroom. Peeling off the clothes he wore last night mixed with sweat, the smell of alcohol, and an unfamiliar cologne he throws his clothes into his clothes bin. Stepping in his bathtub for a hot shower to help clear his thoughts Mark stares at the unfamiliar phone number as the shower head pours water on him and down his body. Before the ink would rub itself off, Mark steps out of the bathtub to look for something to write with and write on. He managed to find a pen in his bathroom and ripped off a piece of toilet paper to write the phone number down on. Once done he hops back in the shower rubbing off the phone number with soap.

Stepping out of the bathroom wearing fresh and clean clothes he heads for the kitchen finding Jackson already awake. Mark takes a seat on a stool where his island table was noticing the abandon glass of shot glass from last night. He makes a mental note to wash each one of them to keep his house clean and organized. Just then Jackson turns around from facing the blender he was working with.

“Mark! You’re awake!” He calls as he removes the cap from the blender before grabbing a glass cup to pour the substance he blended in. “Would you like some juice I made? It works wonder on curing a hangover.”

“You mean my fruits you used and I prefer some pain killers with that drink as well.” Mark watch as Jackson rolls his eyes as he goes to pour a glass for him. Walking towards Mark he slides the drink across the island table towards him. Taking the drink in his hand he takes a sip as the nice cold juice washes down his throat. Jackson goes to grab a bottle of Tylenol from Mark’s cabinet before popping two pills in front of Mark. He gladly takes them and swallows it down.

“So,” Jackson draws watching Mark with a curious gaze, “how did last night with Jinyoung go?” Mark manage not to spit out his drink as he coughs from surprise.

“What are you talking about Jackson?” Mark asks coughing still as Jackson eyes him with confusion written over his face.

“You guys were hitting it off last night and I’m pretty sure I saw him writing something for you.” Mark shook his head taking in the fact that the phone number on his arm earlier could possibly be Jinyoung’s.

“Okay, first of all, you already know I don’t do relationsh-” Mark says as Jackson nod his head cutting his sentence off.

“Yeah, okay you don’t do relationships because love is a waste of time and ends in pain blah blah blah. The same excuse you gave since you were eighteen.”

“It’s not an excuse Jackson. It’s just how I view love.” Mark tries to defend himself as Yugyeom lets out a loud yawn from the living room. The both of them decides to drop the issue as Yugyeom makes his way to the bathroom ignoring his two hyungs in the kitchen.

“Look, Mark, I’m not saying you should fall in love or anything. It just doesn’t hurt to take an interest in someone especially someone like Jinyoung.”

“What about Jinyoung hyung?” Yugyeom asks walking out from the bathroom as he scratches his neck.

“I’m just telling Mark here I’m planning to drop by this cafe in downtown this Thursday. Apparently, Young K and Wonpil are in a band with some other people and they play there. Might even find Jinyoung there as well.” Jackson says covering what he and Mark were discussing previously.

“I want to go! I like Jinyoung hyung.” Yugyeom says excitedly as Jackson scolds Yugyeom for not calling him ‘hyung’ enough. And why this person he met only last night gets to be addressed as ‘hyung’ respectively. Ignoring the both of them Mark gets up from his seat to wake up Jaebum and Bambam. A few hours later where everybody got a chance to freshen up and eat Mark bid goodbye to the four of his friend’s apartment. Jackson shouts as a last reminder for Mark to come to the cafe with them this Thursday as Mark closes his apartment door. Now that his friends were gone the apartment was quiet just how he likes it.

Cleaning his apartment took less than an hour. He folded up the extra blankets and gathered all the pillows his friends had borrowed from last night. Storing them in his closet before deciding to start on his laundry and washing the shot glasses sitting on his island table. Plopping down on his couch he switches on the tv to the news channel. Stuffing his hands in his sweats pocket he found the piece of toilet paper with Jinyoung’s phone number on it. Taking it out he inspected the piece of toilet paper in his hand. Should he throw it away and erase ever meeting Jinyoung?

‘To making new friends.’ Jinyoung voice rings in Mark’s head as the image of Jinyoung smiling at him appears in his mind. Crumpling up the toilet paper in the palm of his hands he gets up from the couch. Heading for his kitchen he stands in front of his garbage can and extends his arm out. Right when Mark was about to release the hold on the paper he hesitates. Taking out his phone in the pocket of his sweats he adds the number to his contact list before finally throwing the piece of paper away.

Mark didn’t go the cafe with his friends on Thursday making a poor excuse that he had to stay longer after work. Of course, Jaebum, Bambam, and Yugyeom didn’t think much of it and just shrugged it off. Meanwhile, Jackson, on the other hand, pestered him until the last minute and gave up. It wasn’t that Mark didn’t want to see Young K and Wonpil. It was Jinyoung he didn’t want to see. What if things get awkward between them? Mark didn’t text Jinyoung after finding out the younger male had given him his number. But the universe has its way to get two people to meet again when Mark runs into Jinyoung at the supermarket on Saturday.

Mark was beginning to forget about Jinyoung as he went to the supermarket on Saturday afternoon as usual since he had worked for only half a day. Right after work he usually went to the supermarket to buy groceries for the week. As he rounds the aisle to the produce section he heard someone calls out his name. Not thinking much of it Mark turns around only to stop midway as his eyes widen in surprise. Jinyoung was standing a few feet away from him wearing a light blue dress shirt paired with black dress pants and black leather shoes as if he just got off work as well. As the both of them made eye contact Jinyoung breaks out into a smile as he approaches Mark.

“I thought I saw you earlier.” Jinyoung goes to say as he stands beside Mark. Mark goes to stare a moment longer before looking away at the fresh green produce in front of him.

“Oh, it’s nice running into you Jinyoung.” Mark goes to say avoiding Jinyoung’s gaze as he curses at himself for making things awkward. Jinyoung chuckles at his words before going to look at the produce in front of him with Mark.

“I highly doubt that, but good to know you still remember my name.” He goes to say without a hint of anger or disappointment in his voice. They stayed quiet as the both of them look over the greens picking out what item they needed into their basket. The awkward silence was killing Mark as he wanted to apologize to Jinyoung for never calling or texting him at all.

“Jinyoung, I’m sorry for not texting y-”

“It’s okay, Mark you don’t have to apologize for not texting me these last few days. I gave you my phone number, you weren’t obligated to call or text me.” Jinyoung cuts in explaining to Mark he wasn’t mad.

Mark lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding before turning to look at Jinyoung who was already looking at him. “Thank you.” He says giving a small smile towards the younger male.

“No need, however, it would have been nice to see you on Thursday. Your friends came out to support Young K and Wonpil. I take it you already knew that?”

“Yeah, I just had to stay overtime for work this Thursday. Perhaps next time.”

“Perhaps.” Jinyoung says breaking out into a smile as they both walk away from the produce section to the meat section. The both of them talked about small things like where each other worked or how their week had gone.

To Mark, he found talking to Jinyoung enjoyable. He didn’t push Mark to talk when their conversation died down. He talked whenever Mark opened his mouth first and he listened to him in silence before making a comment. Before he knew it they were already checking out with yellow plastic bags in their hands. They stood outside the supermarket in awkward silence.

“Um, I guess I’ll be heading towards this way. My apartment isn’t so far from here.” Jinyoung gestures down the street opposite to where Mark lives.

“Oh, um I live the other way. I parked my car at the parking space here.” Mark goes to say biting his bottom lip out of nervousness.

“I’ll see you around then?” Jinyoung asks as Mark nods his head this time meaning it. “Great, enjoy the rest of your day Mark!” On that note, Jinyoung turns around and walks down the street as Mark stares after him before snapping out of it. Heading towards his parked car he fishes for his car key in his pocket.

Once back at his apartment Mark goes to putting away his groceries. It didn’t take long for him to finish before prepping for dinner. Tonight he was making himself the classic kimchi jjigae. Living on his own he had taught himself to cook and he would have to say he can cook some decent meal. As Mark threw in the last ingredient to his dish he lets it bowl meanwhile grabbing out his phone to check if he had any miss messages. He had a message from Bambam and a few from Jackson. Opening up Bambam’s message Mark scoffs reading the text message.

[ Mark hyung you should let me dress you up again. 16:22 ]

Exiting the text message he goes to open Jackson’s texts.

[ Mark! Guess what? 17:10 ]

[ You’re taking too long to reply back. I think Jaebum has a crush on the girl, Sunmi!     17:13 ]

Furrowing his brows Mark ponders on who Sunmi was. Thinking back to the night of the club he remembers being introduced to someone named Sunmi and Jaebum talking to her. Typing up a quick reply to Jackson he sets down his phone on the kitchen counter before checking up on his food. The night went on in peace for Mark as he ate his dinner meanwhile texting Jackson about Jaebum’s possible love interest. By the time it was ten Mark had already showered and dressed in his pajamas. Climbing up in bed he lets out a sigh as he made himself comfortable. He goes to watch random videos on the internet before deciding to call it a night.

Before he shuts off his phone Mark pulls up his contact list and scrolls down to Jinyoung’s name. His thumb hovers over the name as Mark bites his lips considering whether he should text the man or not. His thumb hovers over the name for a minute before pressing on the name. Pulling up a clean message page Mark contemplates what he should write exactly. Should he say hi? But that wasn’t something Mark ever clearly does. He hadn’t noticed he took so long to type something up when his phone screen turned black. Turning back on his phone Mark carefully types out his sentence before hitting send. Plugging in his charger to charge his phone, he sets his device on his lamp side table before turning to his side to drift off to sleep.

Only sleep didn’t come quite so easily. Did he make the right choice by sending a text message to Jinyoung? Was Jackson right to assume Jinyoung is interested in him? Turning to the other side to lay on his bed Mark tries to draw sleep again.

Don’t think too much Mark. You only see him as a friend and I’m pretty sure he does as well. You don’t do relationships.

Mark’s thoughts were cut short when his phone vibrated on the night table signaling he had an incoming text. Reaching for his phone he noticed the text message he got was from Jinyoung.

[ See you next week Thursday.     22:32 ]

[ I’m holding you to your word.     22:40 ]

Was it weird that Mark felt happy to receive Jinyoung’s message? Probably not right? Friends could look forward to each other’s text message. It just so happens Mark likes Jinyoung’s company a lot more than others he had been hanging out with before. He was certainly curious about the cafe Jackson had mentioned earlier last week. He gets to see Young K, Wonpil, Youngjae, and Sunmi again. Mark actually did enjoy the four companies during the night at the club. But there was certainly someone else that made his night even better. But he refused to dwell on the matter about Jinyoung any further. Pushing those thoughts aside sleep slowly began to take over as Mark drifts off to bed.

Sorry for any grammatical errors! Much thanks for the comments! (: