Surprised was an understatement. Jinyoung was shocked, perplexed, baffled, bewildered… well you name it. Yugyeom was now standing in front of him with Mark. The redhead was also in a state of shock standing before the younger.

Jinyoung frantically looking around for Jackson, he wanted – no – needed his best friend. His heart was now beating loud, even louder than all the commotions surrounding them. If it was possible, he wanted the ground to swallow him whole to escape from the redhead’s gaze.

“Jinyoungie hyung, this is Mark hyung.” Jinyoung dreaded this introduction. Sure enough he wanted to know the redhead’s name but not now when he was taken off guard. But he just couldn’t ignore the person in front of him so he did the thing any sane person would do.

“Hello, Mark. Nice to meet you.” He thanked the Heaven for his voice wasn’t failing him at that exact moment. He held out his hand for the other to shake and instantly regretted it when he can felt how warm the other’s hand was. But it was his voice that caused his further breakdown.

“So you’re Jinyoung? Yugyeom had been talking about you a lot.” He smiled upon finishing his sentence. He appeared so composed that even if he was nervous, best believe the rest didn’t notice it.

Jinyoung was fumbling around, clueless as to what to do. He was saved by the sudden commotion from his best friend, having done with the tickets.

“Jinyoungieeeeee~ I saw your favorite booth. Let’s go together.” Jackson threw himself at Jinyoung, being clueless about the other’s inner turmoil. He then turned around and it was only that Jackson noticed the newcomer. Mark’s forehead slightly wrinkled upon the gesture but immediately eased up his face when he saw the other’s clueless face.

“Oh, Mark hyung. You’re here already.” Bambam said from beside him and he saw the redhead smiling at the younger. He appeared a bit lost before he registered the identity of the latter.

“So this is your Mark hyung, Yugyeom? Hello… I’m Jackson.” The yellow haired nodded his head. Jinyoung saw his best friend’s smile grew bigger, having knew that he is fond of meeting new people. Mark was about to answer his greeting when the latter added again. “Oh, have you met this nerd?” He asked pointed at Jinyoung.

Mark laughed while Jinyoung at the other hand refused to meet his eyes. “Yes, I’m Mark. Nice to meet you, Jackson. Oh, I’ve met Jinyoung. Yugyeom introduced us just now.”

Jackson seemed delighted with the response and immediately looked at his best friend, expecting to see Jinyoung’s pissed off face. Well, you couldn’t blame Jinyoung as Jackson already started his usual “ruining Park Jinyoung 101 mission” in front of the people he just met. But what he saw was the exact opposite and he was now genuinely concerned.

Jinyoung was rooted at his place, body slightly shaking while his eyes were planted at the clown standing a few feet away from them while giving free balloons to the kids surrounding him. This was exactly was Jackson feared the most when Jinyoung agreed to come here, his childhood trauma.

“, Jinyoung. No, it’s okay. It’s not happening again.” Jackson immediately found his place beside the other who was now sweating profusely. The other boys were now alarmed as it was too sudden. Bambam tried to touch the older but when Jinyoung flinched; the younger retracted his hand with face etching with worries.

“Jackson, please~” Jinyoung’s small voice was heard while his hands gripping the other’s shirt tightly. He was on the verge of crying and he just wanted to be somewhere especially not in front of the redhead, looking all fragile like this.

The three younger boys were looking at each other, Youngjae started panicking himself because he wasn’t used to seeing this side of Jinyoung. Heck it was the first for everyone except for Jackson. Mark who stayed silent all the time was itching to do something to help being the oldest among them. He discovered that fact from Yugyeom a while earlier.

“Is he okay? What can I do to help?” Mark asked Jackson. He didn’t know why but Mark felt a slight pull on his chest watching Jinyoung like that despite only knowing him 15 minutes ago.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. If you all will excuse us for a moment, he needs to sit for a bit. You guys walk around first. We’ll catch up soon.” Jackson requested from the others. He knew he had to bring Jinyoung somewhere slightly calmer from this commotion. Despite feeling reluctant, the rest decided to give space for the two.

Jinyoung who was still relying on Jackson to even stand lifted his head up and saw Mark’s gaze on him. He looked away, not realizing the small smile Mark was throwing his way with the hope of making the other feel better.

xxxxx

20 minutes had passed and not once did Jackson leave Jinyoung’s side. They were sitting at the end of the amusement park where some benches were located, a bit secluded from all the rides and hence less commotion.

“Are you okay now?” Jackson asked; voice laced with worry and care. Jinyoung hated that tone because he felt like he was burdening his best friend. He’d rather face the annoying Jackson any time of the day than facing this one.

“A bit… I just – it felt real. I’m sorry Jackson-ah.” Jinyoung stuttered, still trying to calm his breathing. His mind wandered back to 15 years ago.

He was walking around happily with his parents and sisters. Little Jinyoung was so thrilled about their monthly trip to amusement park. It was like a tradition for his family to do that since his parents wanted to spend time with their kids after being so caught up managing their company duties.

“Mom… I wanna go there!” He whined when he was told to wait since his mother was trying to handle his other two sisters. Their dad was still searching for a decent parking spot.

Being an active 8 year old boy, Jinyoung was distracted upon seeing a clown handling various animal balloons to the kid and pointed for Jinyoung to come and get one. He was excited that he just went alone without even informing his mom.

When the clown brought him somewhere on the pretext of buying cotton candy which the little one referred as the fluffy colorful sky, he just went alongside the rainbow looking man. Being so caught up with his candy, little Jinyoung didn’t realize they were now outside of the amusement park.

It was when the clown forced him to enter into a white van that the younger started bawling his eyes out, screaming for