"What?" Jinyoung asked while raising his eyes from his copybook. Mark has just said something while he was taking notes about the First World War.

"I said, are you free tonight?" Mark repeated his question.

"Uhm, I think so... Why?" Jinyoung asked hesitantly.

"Let's hang out tonight."

Jinyoung took a moment to process what the other boy has just said, but before he could muster a reply Mark spoke again.

"I'll wait for you in front of the church at 7:30pm."

"B-but, what are we going to do?" He stuttered.

"You'll see."

Jinyoung decided not to ask further questions, not wanting to be noticed by the teacher while talking during the lesson.

When Jinyoung arrived at home that afternoon he took his diary from his nightstand. His diary had a cute picture of a teddy bear on the front and its pages were coloured with a light shade of blue. It was even provided with a little padlock and a little key, a secret diary indeed.

Jinyoung always locked his diary, but it was kind of useless since he used to put the key just right under it. No one could read it anyway since he was living alone, so why making the effort of hiding the key.

"Dear diary,

it hasn't even been a week since school started and Mark had already asked me out.

I don't mean like a date, don't get me wrong.

He hasn't said any detail about what we're going to do, I'm so nervous and I don't know why..."

 

Jinyoung breathed deeply before closing his diary and putting it back on the nightstand. He was feeling nervous for real.

At 7 he was standing in front of his wardrobe, finding it more difficult than the usual to decide what to wear. He tried on his favourite pair of black jeans with at least eight different sweaters, five shirts and three jackets, but it seemed like no one matched well.

At the end, he decided for the striped shirt since it was his newest purchase. It was also getting late and he didn't want to make Mark wait for him.

His heartbeat accelerated with every step he made towards the church, towards Mark. Little by little it became so fast and loud.

When he finally reached the building, he saw Mark with a few kids around him.

"Hey Jinyoungie!" Mark smiled brightly as soon as he spotted him.

"Hello Jinyoung!" Surprisingly, also the kids greeted him.

"Hi..." Jinyoung greeted them back, though he was still confused.

"They're from middle school and we're going to entertain them tonight. Sorry for not telling you immediately, but I was afraid you would've said no." Mark explained.

"But I-"

"It's okay, let's go inside." Mark grabbed his hand and lead him and the kids inside a building near the church.

They walked through a hallway before they reached a room with a few chairs positioned in a circle. Mark occupied one of them and Jinyoung sat beside him while the kids occupied the rest of them. Surprisingly, there were just as many chairs as they were.

"Tonight we're going to talk about some quotes regarding love at first sight. I know you like this kind of topics." Mark smirked at them, causing a couple of girls to flush. "Since there are too many good quotes about that and we don't have enough time to discuss about all of them, you're going to choose the best ones. I personally searched and re-wrote a few quotes on little pieces of paper, which are in the basket that you can see on the table-"

Mark's speech was interrupted from someone opening the door. It was a little boy, who bowed before apologizing for his delay.

"Oh... Jinyoung, let Matthew sit on your chair." Mark said as he noticed that there wasn't any free chair left.

Jinyoung immediately got up and let the little boy take his chair.

"Come here, sit on my lap." Mark said while stretching his arms towards Jinyoung.

"I-I'm fine, you don't have to-"

Mark interrupted his sentence by grabbing him by his arm and making him fall on his lap. Then he carefully placed his hands on Jinyoung's tummy, shifting him a little so he wasn't completely hidden behind Jinyoung's back. "OK, you can start choosing the quotes from the basket."

The kids immediately stormed towards it.

"I usually play with these kids together with a friend, Holly. Today she couldn't come and I didn't want to do this alone. But don't get me wrong, I love spending my time with them..." Mark said.

"Who are these kids anyway?” Jinyoung asked.

"They’re from our district. Sometimes we play team games and some other times we go on little trips to the river. But I can assure you that talking about love is their favourite activity. Don't be fooled by their angelic faces cause they're all sneaky." He chuckled and Jinyoung felt it on the skin of his neck.

Mark's hands were still resting on his tummy and Jinyoung wondered if he could feel the butterflies that were flying just under them. He didn't even bother to ask himself why those butterflies were there in the first place, he just wanted them to stop.

“Who wants to start?” Mark asked when the kids finished choosing the quotes.

“Me!” A girl with short curly hair said as she raised her hand.

“This is going to sound crazy, but... from the moment I first set eyes on you I haven't been able to stop thinking about you.”

― Leigh Fallon, Carrier of the Mark

“Linda… Did you choose it just because the book is called ‘Carrier of the Mark’?” Mark asked with a smirk and all the kids started to laugh, including Linda.

“No! I chose it because it’s true. If you fall in love with someone, you always think about that person.” She replied.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Mark agreed. “Anyone wants to say something else?”

While some of the kids expressed their opinion on that, Jinyoung couldn’t help but to think that it was exactly what happened to him. From the moment he first set his eyes on Mark, he just couldn’t stop thinking about him.

 “Okay, okay. Let’s go on. Ellen, care to read your quote?” Mark looked towards a girl with long blonde hair.

She nodded and started to read.

“Colpo di fulmine. The thunderbolt, as Italians call it. When love strikes someone like lightning, so powerful and intense it can’t be denied. It’s beautiful and messy, cracking a chest open and spilling their soul out for the world to see. It turns a person inside out, and there’s no going back from it. Once the thunderbolt hits, your life is irrevocably changed.”

― J.M. Darhower, Sempre

“That’s my favourite! Want to say something about it?” Mark asked her.

“Love at first sight is like a thunderbolt because you fall in love really fast: as soon as you lay your eyes on the other person, just like as soon as the thunderbolt touches the ground.” She tried to explain what she understood about the quote.

“Thunderbolts are also scary! So is love at first sight, because you fall so hard for someone in a short time and you’re scared.” A boy with glasses added.

They kept talking about the intensity of love at first sight and about its strength. Jinyoung didn’t know how he made it for an hour and a half to stay in Mark arms while talking about that.

“Thank you for tonight. I owe you one.” Mark said when all the kids left.

“No need to thank me. It was nice.” Jinyoung smiled shyly.

“So would you come next week, too? I think the kids really liked you.”

“I’ve barely spoke… By next week they’ll forgot about me.” He chuckled at the end.

“That’s not true… They’re smart. Tell me that you’ll come next week, too.”

“We’ll see… But I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“There’s going to be your friend, too...” Jinyoung’s voice was barely a whisper.

“So? She doesn’t bite.”

“Uh… We’ll see, I have to go now.”

“Fine, see you tomorrow.” Mark said softly.

“We don’t have school tomorrow.” Jinyoung reminded him with a little chuckle.

“Oh- well, see you Monday. Good night.”

“Yeah… Uhm-bye.” Jinyoung stuttered before turning around and walking home.

The sky was free from any clouds and a cool breeze caressed his black hair. Tonight a lot of things happened, maybe it was better if he stayed at home. But then, the way Mark held him so close was still causing butterflies inside of him. He felt like he could fly.

When he arrived home he was exhausted, physically and mentally, but he still wanted to write something about tonight on his diary.

“Dear diary,

I’m in love with Mark.”