Chapter 25: Watch a guy who likes routine handle the unexpected!

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Mark's pov.
Mark's wearing an outfit that JB has chosen, but that's the only break in his routine, right?

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Mark’s back in his office after getting a cup of coffee from the pantry. Jackson had seemed a bit jittery just now, but Mark supposed it was his fault for scaring the guy. Anyway, he hadn’t spilled his coffee and Jackson seemed cool with the whole thing, so Mark’s putting his mind to other things. The video he was editing before he went down is on his computer screen, frozen on a frame of Junior’s face (not entirely on purpose, he’s just editing the close-up scenes of Junior from when Junior and Yugyeom were acting out the arguing scene). Setting his cup down after a small sip because the drink’s too hot, Mark decides he can afford a short break before resuming editing.

Clicking around, he pulls up Chrome to google for nice quaint bookstores nearby, wondering if he’ll be able to find another one beside the one he had already brought Junior to. Junior had been pretty enamored with the previous one, and Mark thinks he’ll like to see Junior’s face light up again if he brings him to another vintage bookstore. So he methodologically checks every link on the search page, hoping to find some place interesting enough to casually invite Junior to next time. He’s reading some blog post about a rather cute little bookstore that’s also a café, when his phone buzzes.

Mark hardly ever gets messages, especially during work time, so he’s curious. When he unlocks his phone, the name of the sender reads Junior. Given that JB’s pretty much the only person who messages Mark consistently, a message from Junior is the last thing he expects, honestly. Mark’s heart starts thumping a little harder, even though it’s just a tiny little message that might not be anything. It’s probably nothing, Mark thinks. It’s could just be something related to yoga that Junior thought he needs to inform Mark of. Calm down.

Junior hasn’t texted Mark since that time they exchanged messages for the interview. It wasn’t like there was any reason to, after all. For all Mark knows, Junior could have already deleted his number after they finished filming the video, but the flashing light from the text message on his phone suggests otherwise. Taking a deep breath, Mark tries not to keep guessing what Junior might have sent him, quickly clicking on the notification so he can read it instead.

Did you ever decide on what colour to dye your hair?

The message isn’t what Mark expects (it’s not about yoga, for one). He’s not sure what to make of the fact that Junior remembers the conversation they had on Saturday for long enough to ask. Thumbs hovering over his phone, Mark tries not to think too much as he types a simple reply: Yeah, I dyed it purple.

Junior’s probably using his phone at the moment, because there’s a new message just a few seconds after Mark sends his reply. Ohh, sounds cool. What does it look like?

Mark’s considering how he can describe it to Junior (like it’s just purple? A pastel one like Junior had suggested… not that Mark will tell Junior that), when he realizes he can just send a photo. The idea of sending Junior a selfie to show him his hair sounds frivolous, but Mark tries taking a few photos anyway. He’s looking through them, wondering which to send, but none of them are suitable. He looks too awkward, whether smiling or giving a neutral face.

Mark sighs. He can’t send Junior an awkward selfie (also, isn’t it weird, sending him a selfie to begin with?). Maybe he should just write a description of his hair colour.

There’s too much footage of the short argument scene for the project that Mark’s editing (he’s editing 4 videos for the gay and bi boyfriend series and he’s currently on the second). The many clips are all from when JB kept yelling cut during filming so they are technically all NG cuts because JB never did okayed any of the scenes, only stopping then because Junior had argued. Mark remembers saying at that time that he’ll figure out how to edit the many clips to piece the video together, but now that he’s actually at the editing stage, he’s not sure what he should do. It’s not that there are no good clips to use. Rather, the reverse is true. There’s more than one good clip for each of the parts and Mark’s not sure which to choose. This is probably the opposite of a problem, but the paralysis of choice is a very real thing, Mark considers as he idly spins a pen (a pen he’s not even using to write).

He’s rewatching each of the shortened clips, already down to three choices after a few rounds of elimination, and Mark’s wondering if anyone would even notice or care that he’s making an effort to find the best possible 3 seconds of each angle. Probably not. He’s kind of sick of choosing already though, even if he’s watching mostly Junior’s acting (picking the cuts for Yugyeom’s parts were easier because he messed up quite a lot in the earlier days of filming with JB’s terribly contradictory directions). Finishing the last of his coffee, Mark switches to the webpages of quaint bookstores and st