The theme park was packed with people, all rushing to go to different rides or stores; a place too loud for Mark’s taste. Sitting in one of empty benches, he sighed for the umpteenth time and closed his eyes to phase out all the noise to focus on the gentle evening breeze softly brushing his bangs. The weather was surprisingly nice and so was the cotton candy he devoured few minutes, but of course he didn’t get to actually enjoy any of it because of his two stupid friends who thought it would be a great idea to drag him out on their date. Ugh

‘Hyung, would it kill you to stop brooding for like a second?!’

Mark reluctantly opened his eyes to find a exasperated Youngjae looking at him with pout

Mark huffed and rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics

‘If you didn’t drag me here from my peaceful solitude to do the thirdwheeling on your date, you wouldn’t have to deal with a cranky me. Where is Jaebum anyway?’ sounding just as exasperated as Youngjae

‘He went to buy us ice-cream and you are always cranky so I don’t see the difference’ Youngjae replied haughtily, grinning widely

Mark glared at him

‘You know,’ he continued, ignoring Mark’s glare ‘if you weren’t such a spoilsport and agreed to come with the guy I was going to set you up with, you wouldn’t be so miserable or lonely’

It might have been true; this outing of theirs was planned originally as a double date by Youngjae but the moment he mentioned it to Mark, he completely dismissed the idea.

It wasn’t easy to get out of Youngjae’s nagging, especially when Jaebum decided to join in, going on and on about how cute the guy is but they eventually gave up knowing how firm Mark is with his decisions.

He sighed again

‘I don’t want to get in the dating scene anytime soon Youngjae, you know that’ he said tiredly

‘Is this about Jackson?’ Youngjae asked softly, carefully watching his reaction

‘No, it’s about me wanting some space for a while’ Mark mumbled

And it was the truth. His ex and only boyfriend had to leave to go to Hong Kong to work on his fencing career. They had been together for about 6 months but they parted on good terms. He wasn’t hurting right now, just tired – tired to emotionally invest in any relationship.

Now it was Youngjae’s turn to sigh

‘Okay fine whatever, I’ll leave you alone for now but you can’t be sitting in such a fun place being such a party pooper. Let’s go to the souvenir store, I want to buy something to remember our time here, come on!

Mark raised his eyebrows at the younger’s enthusiasm

‘Why? Take Jaebum, I don’t need any souvenir to remember this place - your makeout session with Jaebum I had the misfortune to witness few minutes ago will be enough to traumatize me for the rest of my life’ Mark said with his face scrunched up in disgust I am scarred for life

Youngjae’s ear turned alarmingly red and he giggled in a way no 22 year old should ever do

‘Sorry about that’ he sent a apologetic smile in Mark’s way

‘But you have to come with me, Jaebum hyung is busy; he just texted me that he met Yugyeom and Bambam! Come on now please, pretty please Markie!’

And the clingy otter was back Mark thought as he groaned and gave in to the overexcited human-teddy bear, resulting in a very smug smile from Youngjae

‘Yay! To the store’ he cheered loudly and grabbed Mark’s hand, pulling him roughly in the direction of the large souvenir store with a large and pretty LED sign saying ‘Paradise’.

Tearing his eyes away from the sign, he could’ve sworn he saw Youngjae smirking at him mischievously but it was gone the next second, replaced by a very innocent smile.

Before he could ask anything, he was dragged inside the store, the cold air from the AC hitting him right in the face making him shiver a little.

‘It’s so pretty’ Youngjae declared with a shake of his head after glancing around for a while

It was really pretty and surprisingly empty? The interior of shop was even better. It was a spacious room stocked with an array of stylish and unique souvenirs and gifts from coffee mugs, post-cards, stuffed animals to clothing and even handcrafted artifacts. He walked around slowly, looking at all the displayed gifts, even if he didn’t plan on buying anything he could still look around right? A handmade key-chain in particular happened to catch his eyes. He picked it up gently from the shelf and studied it carefully; he was in awe of how the ornamental piece had decoration so intricate and masterful

‘Beautiful’ he muttered softly

‘Well, we like to make sure that our product’s match up to our customer’s beauty, it’s only fair don’t you think?’ a really deep velvety voice asked from behind, startling Mark as he let out a loud yelp of surprise, almost dropping the key chain to the ground.

Turning around he came face to face with a man who Mark could only describe as an ethereal beauty. Raven black hair all gelled up, his brown orbs staring right at him while chuckling making his eyes turn into crescent shapes. So adorable

Until he realized that he was the reason for the hottie’s amusement

W-what? Mark stuttered, suddenly feeling his cheeks heating up

‘Sorry sir didn’t mean to startle you. Are you okay?’ The beautiful man asked still looking amused, a smile gracing his lips. He was wearing casual clothes – black jeans, v-neck full sleeves white t-shirt but the name tag bearing the name ‘Jinyoung’ let Mark know that this ethereal beauty was probably a staff member in this shop.

‘I- yes I’m fine - don’t worry about it’ Mark managed to speak up, cursing himself for stuttering repeatedly

The beautiful ma- Jinyoung gave one of his angelic smiles that made Mark’s feet feel like jelly, although Mark could detect a hint of teasing and playfulness in that seemingly innocent smile.

‘I’m glad, do you plan on buying that?’ Jinyoung asked, referring to the keychain in Mark’s hand

Mark had forgotten about the keychain completely and didn’t even know if he had enough money to buy it – He was after all a broke college student. He decided to tell the truth.

‘Uh n-not really, I um actually came with my friend—’ He looked at the spot where Youngjae should have been and froze when he saw no one

What the hell he left me? Why? And most importantly when? Probably when you were too busy ogling at this Jinyoung guy, idiot

He started to panic at thought of being left alone with stranger

He looked back at Jinyoung who seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face.

Mark gently laid the keychain back in the shelf and shifted awkwardly, barely able to maintain eye contact with the perfection in front of him.

‘I uhmm-’ Mark began to say but was interrupted by the sound of text message in his phone. Quickly checking it he saw Youngjae’s message saying

From: Youngjae

Sorry hyung I had to bolt, Jaebum hyung texted me to hurry if I wanted to go into the love train ride with him and there was only one seat left! Will be back soon, keep yourself busy till then ^^

‘Ditcher’ he muttered and was thinking of different ways to poison him and his boyfriend in their sleep when he heard someone clearing their throat.

His head snapped back up and he saw Jinyoung smiling at him and Mark smiled back a bit apologetically.

‘So I’m assuming your friend is a bit busy’ Jinyoung asked politely, his voice was so soothing Mark felt like he was floating. Focus Mark

‘Uh yeah he ditched me to go on a ride with his boyfriend. Some friend’ he muttered in reply, annoyance visible in every word making Jinyoung snicker

‘Uh I am sorry’ Mark continued ‘I don’t actually plan on buying anything so I’ll leave too’

He bowed to leave, daring to look at Jinyoung’s face one last time and boy was that a mistake

Jinyoung was pouting adorably, his bottom lip jutted out, settling on a playful sulk

Mark raised his eyebrows at his behavior, his heart clenching at the sight in front of him.

Is he pouting because he doesn’t want him to leave or is this some customer service strategy?

‘Is-is something wrong?’ Mark asked hesitantly, taking a mental picture of his adorable pout

Jinyoung looked at him, the pout gone and replaced by a slight smirk as he took a step closer to Mark

‘Well I was just thinking, why don’t we keep each other company? It gets pretty lonely here, I have some ice-cream and chips left, we can sit here and relax. It’ll be fun, what do you say?

His heart swelled at the question and his eyes widened. Despite the smirk, Mark couldn’t help but notice the sincerity in his words, he sounded genuinely interested in spending time with him, oh also he doubted that it was an offer for customers.

‘Unless you don’t want to’ Jinyoung spoke again, taking Mark’s silence the wrong way - oh and also his pout was back ‘I mean I understand if you have plans or if you don’t want to spend tim-’

‘No! I want to!’ Mark interrupted a little loudly and blushing when he realized how enthusiastic he sounded. ‘Uhh I-I mean yeah that sounds cool’ he nodded trying to looked calm and composed and also hoping Jinyoung doesn’t notice the red in his cheeks.

Jinyoung’s answering eye crinkling smile was so bright it left Mark completely entranced by the sweetness of it Snap out of it before you look like a total creep

‘Have a seat right here, and I’ll be back with snacks’ Jinyoung instructed motioning towards the 2 person small dining table set and disappeared somewhere inside the store. Mark sat and mentally coached himself to breathe and also inwardly groaned at how he refused his friend’s efforts to set him up with someone saying he needed space and yet at the same time here he was interested in a guy already. Although Jinyoung wasn’t just some guy, he was the definition of beauty.

Jinyoung emerged with a tray full chips and two tubs full of ice cream enough to feed more than just the two of them. Wow it’s almost like he was prepared…does he do this often with people? That’s none of my business! Ugh Less than 20 minutes with this guy, and I’m already acting like a insecure girlfriend

‘Here, eat up!’ Jinyoung said smiling widely at him, enjoying the impressed look at Mark’s face.

‘Ah thank you, by the way I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Mark’ he said, offering a small smile

‘Jinyoung’ he replied grinning and pointing to his name tag ‘So why don’t you tell me a little about yourself’

‘Um well I’m student and I actually came from LA three years ago and - OH! This is my favorite ice-cream brand and flavor!’ Mark exclaimed, suddenly distracted by the mint chocolate chip ice cream in front him and looked at Jinyoung happily, forgetting to keep up the poised façade.

Jinyoung’s eyes crinkled again and he let out a beaming laugh at Mark’s adorable behavior and randomness. ‘Really? It’s my favorite brand as well, although I do prefer the vanilla and chocolate chip flavor over that one’ pointing at the tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream

Mark just hummed and attacked the tub in front of him, reveling at the cold minty taste of the ice-cream, completely unaware of Jinyoung watching him with a fond and somewhat smug smile in his face.

‘So delicious’ Mark commented, resembling a 5 year old.

‘Well you know, I have great taste in everything’ Jinyoung said with his voice low after a pause, his gaze fixed on Mark

Mark looked up at the comment and their eyes locked; he could feel his heart speeding and feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. He broke the staring contest once he realized Jinyoung wasn’t going to and gave a slight nervous chuckle.

‘W-what about you? I mean what’s your story?’ He stammered out, watching an amused smirk taking place in Jinyoung’s face at his attempt to shift direction of their conversation and deal with whatever tension there was between them few seconds ago

‘You’re really cute’ Jinyoung commented with a smile, ignoring the way Mark’s eyebrows almost left his face given how high they were raised ‘I’m 22 and I’m a student too, doing a part time job here during the evenings, how old are you?

‘23’

‘Oh so I can call you hyung right?’ he asked grinning at Mark

‘Sure’ Mark replied meekly, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach

‘Okay Mark hyung’ still grinning ‘Your korean is really good you know, what made you come here?’ Mark looked at him and smiled at Jinyoung’s interest in getting to know him better.

They talked like this for more than an hour, telling the other about themselves without realizing the time. Mark didn’t even notice when he got comfortable with Jinyoung and got rid of the initial awkwardness and hesitation he had. He learned quite a bit about the younger too; Jinyoung was from Jinhae and literature major in his university. Mark was super excited to find out that they shared a lot of common interests like music and dancing as well.

When he looked at his wrist watch, he was shocked to see that they have been talking for like two hours. Youngjae! He took his phone out to text him and ask about his whereabouts but saw a text from Jaebum instead

From: Jaebum

Hyung, I’m taking Youngjae home. He is really tired, can you make it to the dorm on your own please? We really are sorry for ditching you like this, we’ll make it up to you. Promise!

Mark scoffed Yeah right tired, that fluffball of energy that’s always bouncing up and down with joy for no reason is suddenly tired! God what a lame excuse!

Jinyoung saw the frustration in Mark’s face and said ‘Hey, my shift ends in 5 minutes, I could take you home’

Mark looked up at him and was about to refuse when Jinyoung said ‘I insist, seriously I have a car I’ll drive you home, besides I’m a gentleman and what kind of gentleman lets his date walk home alone at night?

Mark chuckled ‘I wasn’t going to walk, I would just take the bus-wait what??’ suddenly realizing what he said – or what he heard date? DATE? Oh no my face is red

‘What?’ Jinyoung replied innocently, fighting off a smirk ‘So what’s making your friends continuously ditch you today?’

Mark’s blush deepened This is so embarrassing! He didn’t even think how the situation might have looked to Jinyoung.

‘Uhh actually my friends wanted to do this d-double date thing and they were planning to set me up with someone but I refused …so now I feel like this is their way of taking revenge.’ Mentally face palming at how ridiculous and childish the whole thing sounded

‘Oh I see, why did you refuse?’ Jinyoung asked, genuinely curious

‘Umm no particular reason, just tired to get in the whole dating scene’ Mark mumbled, not so confident in his explanation anymore after meeting Jinyoung

Jinyoung smiled at his hesitance

‘Do you know anything about the guy that they were gonna set you up with?’

Mark looked up at him and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the question

‘Umm no, I didn’t really give them the chance to say much’ He admitted ‘Just that apparently he is really really really cute’ He said it a bit animatedly, imitating Youngjae even though he wasn’t here.

Jinyoung smiled at his comment and Mark thought he imagined seeing a slight blush on his face.

‘What do you think?’ And the smirk was back

‘About what?’

‘Do you think he is really really really cute’?

Mark’s brows furrowed at Jinyoung’s expression which was a mix between cute and smug. He looked expectant of Mark’s answer and for some reason he started to feel nervous again, the butterflies making a comeback.

‘Um I didn’t meet him, came here alone remember?’

‘Yeah but you won’t be leaving alone’ Jinyoung said winking at Mark, smirking when Mark’s face started resembling a tomato

‘Also,’ Jinyoung continued when Mark was at a loss for words ‘you did meet him’ ignoring Mark’s raised eyebrows and his parted lips ‘and he really hopes you had a good time today and will be interested in seeing him again’ he said softly

‘J-Jinyoung…what’

‘Youngjae can be a pain in the right? Annoyingly persistent that little otter, but for once I am actually thankful’ Jinyoung said smirking, leaning closer to Mark who looked like a deer caught in the headlights

Mark gasped when he finally understood what was going on and ohh everything made so much more sense the smirks ,the ditching, the empty store, the prepared food, the romantic ambience…wow

‘You’re…you’re…him??’ Mark stuttered and stood up from the chair he was comfortably settled in. He couldn’t see his own reaction but given how Jinyoung looked like he could burst out laughing at any point, gave him a good idea.

Jinyoung stands up too and gives one of his genuine eye-crinkling smiles. Mark notices how the younger is slightly taller than him ‘Yes, Sherlock I’m him’ Mark didn’t realize he was holding his breath, anticipating his answer. When he thought nothing could possibly shock him anymore, Jinyoung comes closer, wrapping his one arm around Mark’s waist to pull him little towards him and using the other arm to cup Mark’s face and gave a swift peck on his lips. Mark melts into the kiss and wonders if Jinyoung could hear his pounding heart.

‘See, wasn’t so bad was it?’ Jinyoung whispers, their lips barely touching and his arm still holding Mark captive, not that Mark minded

‘No, I guess not’ he replied softly, finally being able to find his voice

Jinyound smiled again and laced his fingers with Mark ‘Give me a minute okay, I’ll close this place and then I’ll take you home’

Mark quirked is eyebrows at the last part

‘Your home’ Jinyoung clarified ‘gentleman, remember?’

Mark laughed, feeling giddy with excitement as he watched Jinyoung proceeds to turn off the lights and settle everything. He was back at Mark’s side by the next minute and grabbed his hand to take him out of the store. Mark glanced back at the sign ‘Paradise’ and smiled inwardly when he looked back at Jinyoung’s hand holding his firmly.

Jinyoung drove him to his house while talking about how this whole thing was planned out, with Youngjae pulling the strings mostly. Never trust innocent faces. They parted with a goodnight kiss which led to Mark entering his dorm with a stupid grin on his face, happy to see that he was alone.

He went to his room and started taking off his hoodie when he noticed something hard on the left pocket of his hoodie. Taking the object out, he bit his lip when he saw the keychain he had been admiring when he first stepped into the store, wrapped around in a piece of paper which read ‘Text me if you want to know the story behind the keychain ;)’ and right beside that was a phone number. Mark let out a giggle at Jinyoung’s antics and quickly saved the number.

He fell into his bed and kept replaying his time with Jinyoung in his head. Then he remembered, Ah Youngjae! Oh and Jaebum too! should he thank them now? No no no, they still ditched him! Even if it was for his own good. He dropped the plan of poisoning them but decided to hold a grudge against them anyway.

He sent a quick text to Jinyoung saying goodnight and that he was interested in the back-story of the keychain. He got a reply second later with a time and name of a café and a request to meet him there tomorrow. His cheeks hurt from smiling so wide and since he was alone, he didn’t bother to hide the blush that was taking over his face.

Mark fell asleep with a smile on his face and dreams of a guy with eye crinkles and the shining board bearing the title ‘Paradise’.