The next day, Jackson found himself restless. The guys left that morning because they have jobs to get to but all promised to be back before dinner. Jackson, being the CEO of his own business, an empire handed down by his parents, didn’t need to go to work – Mark and Jinyoung are taking care of his business for him.

He sat on one of the lounges at the backyard, staring at the pool with Mark and Jinyoung’s dog, Coco, lazily sprawled on his feet. On his hand, he was holding a purple envelope marked number 3 and he cannot decide whether to open the envelope and start reading or wait a little.

He looked down and stared at Bambam’s handwriting, tracing his name written in a neat loop - Jackson. He took in a deep breath and decided to read. He opened the envelope and pulled the letter out.

Dear Jack,

I want you to smile for me. Please?

Jackson was amazed that the first line of the letter was Bambam asking him for a smile because when he woke up today, he felt like there is no reason for him to feel elated or any reason for him to smile. But here is this letter, Bambam’s letter and he was asking him to smile. He couldn’t help himself, he cracked a smile and remembered how Bambam would pout when he’s asking for something and Jackson would refuse to give in. So Jackson smiled – he had always loved indulging Bambam and he found that even if the latter is no longer here, he still could never refuse him anything. So he smiled and continued reading.

There you go. How many times should I tell you that you look more handsome when you smile? J

Today, I found myself sitting on one of the lounges at our backyard just staring at the pool.

Jackson chuckled. He looked around and spoke out loud, “Well Bam, I am here too. Where did you write this letter, babe? Did you write it here, on this same spot I’m sitting on now?” he asked before going back to read.

And I could not help but go back to when you first showed me this house. Do you remember? I didn’t even know that you bought a house. Then two weeks after you asked me to be your boyfriend, you said we are not renewing our lease in our apartment and that we are moving into our new home. Then you just asked me to get in the car because we are going to see the house that we are moving into by the end of the month.

To say that I was shocked was an understatement, but I kept quiet because I know that you never do anything half-assed. When you get it in your mind that you want something, you do everything in your power to make it happen – and that’s one of the qualities I have always admired about you, love – your relentless passion – be it about sports or your business ventures or me. You are one passionate man and I love you more for it.

Jackson had to smile again. “I love you too, baby.” Coco has jumped onto his lap by this time, as if also wanting to read what Bambam has written and Jackson started petting the dog, continuing to read the letter.

So we got to