Yugyeom had insisted on Kunpimook taking Jinyoung to meet Mark in the limo since Jinyoung had a habit of getting lost in the busier, pedestrian parts of Seoul, having never really frequented the area when he was growing up. Jinyoung thought the limo kind of defeated the purpose of the casual clothes, so Kunpimook came around to get him in his own, personal car, which was hardly less flashy considering he'd painted it bright orange and given it racing stripes to boot.

“Whatcha doing today, a date?” Kunpimook asked. He was new to the household and assumed Jinyoung was some kind of cool, suave, and popular guy like the rest of the silver spoons.

“N-no,” Jinyoung answered. He was still unused to the bright and cheerful Kunpimook, so his social phobia tended to apply when he was being chauffeured by him. Luckily, Kunpimook didn't seem to notice or care. He remained his upbeat self regardless.

“That's fine,” Kunpimook said. “It's good to have fun no matter who it's with. You look cool in those clothes, by the way. I don't think I've ever seen you like that.”

Jinyoung gave him a nod. The outfit still felt a little strange on him, but he liked it, too. He felt less stiff, like his limbs were looser.

Kunpimook pulled up to a partially under construction building called “The Book Nest.” Jinyoung had looked it up online after Mark had given him the address and discovered it was part of a new project for Choi Holdings—they were letting Youngjae open his own businesses to further expand their sprawling line. The Book Nest, a cafe and used bookstore, was the closest to being finished, but there was also a small cupcake shop and stationery store in the works.

“Um, this building doesn't look open,” Kunpimook pointed out. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung said, pulling open the door. “I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up this evening.”

“Same address?”

“Probably.”

“All right. Let me know.” He waved. “See ya, Young Master.”

Jinyoung shuddered. Maybe the next step of his so-called “rebellious phase” would be getting the servants to stop referring to him as “young master.”

As Kunpimook drove off, Jinyoung went up to The Book Nest and tapped on the shop window. It took a moment, but eventually Mark showed up, unlocking the door to the building. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” Jinyoung said back.

“You look different.”

“The clothes?”

“Yeah.” Mark grinned—he had a nice grin, with sharp teeth. Not in a threatening way, but like a puppy. “Just Do It?”

“My butler picked it out,” Jinyoung blurted out, immediately wincing as the words came from his lips. Why did he have to start off the conversation with something that would even further cement him as a spoiled rich kid?

Mark didn't seem to notice. “I think you seem more comfortable than you did before in your other clothes.”

Jinyoung flushed with pleasure. This was the kind of compliment he liked. Not You look handsome or Your eyes are beautiful. But You look comfortable. You look like you're capable of showing natural emotion.

“So, um, would you like me to show you around?” Mark asked, gesturing to the room. “It's pretty far along, so you can get a general idea of what it will look like.”

Jinyoung nodded. He followed Mark through the door and into the central room. It was an incomplete vision waiting to be fleshed out, but Jinyoung could see where it was headed. It was borrowing from the atmosphere of standard bookstore-coffee-shops, borrowing the same luxury and relaxing feel even though the books the store was selling were used. You could get good deals but still feel as if you were shopping at a high quality place.

“So, yeah, bookshelves...” Mark said, pointing to the empty wooden shelves covering the shop floor, as if Jinyoung couldn't see for himself what they were. “I'm working on stocking them right now. We're also waiting for the signs to hang from the ceiling to label each section.” He pointed to a big counter in the middle of the room. “Checkout.” A similar counter on the opposite side of the room. “The reselling center.” The back of the room, where it was still under construction and littered with tarps and wooden boards and paint cans. “That's going to be the cafe.”

“Oh,” Jinyoung said. He couldn't think of what else to say. It was Youngjae's building, not Mark's, so Jinyoung wasn't sure if he needed to compliment Mark on it or not.

“Yeah. So, over here...” he nudged Jinyoung to a bookshelf with a makeshift “Fiction” label taped to the shelf. “This is where I am right now. Getting everything on the shelf and...” He lifted up a pricing label machine and printed one out, gently sticking it on Jinyoung's forehead. Jinyoung almost drew back at the prospect of being touched by a near stranger, but it was really only the sticker touching him. He stayed where he was, holding his breath.

“Nothing to be afraid of,” Mark said quietly, sensing Jinyoung's slight shift in mood. “I won't do anything you don't want me to.” You're the client, after all, Jinyoung finished for him. Mark was the more self-assured of the two at the moment, but in the end, Jinyoung and the contract were still calling the shots.

Mark sat down on a work stool and pointed Jinyoung into the one next to it. There was a huge stack of boxes set beside it, and Mark pulled a book out of it, consulted his clipboard, then printed out a price tag for it and set it on the shelf. Rinse, repeat. The two of them were silent for the first five books.

“Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?” Mark asked, finally.

Jinyoung opened his mouth and shut it again. “Did I mention this was the difficult part for me?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You know I'm Jinyoung from the Peach Kiss Parks.”

“Yes.”

“And you know I'm part of a cosmetics industry family, and rich. I have a butler.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Other than that, I really don't have anything to add.”

Mark stared at him a little. “Hobbies?”

“No.”

“Interests? You mentioned books in your profile. But there was a question mark.”

Jinyoung nodded. “I do like to read. But the books in the house are a little...business-y. And I've already read them all.”

“Don't you go to the library or bookstore to pick up more?”

Jinyoung shifted uncomfortably. “Sometimes. A lot more now that I'm in university, since our school has a bookshop. But we don't really...'go shopping' like normal families. My parents will decide they want something, the chauffeur will take us there, we'll be escorted to a waiting room in whatever boutique we're in, and the shopkeepers will bring anything they think we're interested in to us. When it's shopping for normal things, I'm just supposed to send my butler, and he's got really crappy taste.”

“Yeesh,” Mark said. “Your family has a really bad case of it. Seriously.” He glanced at his boxes of books. “You see anything you like here, you tell me and I'll set it aside for you. You'll have to pay, of course, but I think used books are within your budget.”

“Is that really OK?” Jinyoung asked.

“Yeah. I mean, if you're buying them, you're just like any other customer. I'll pass the money along to Youngjae. He'll understand.” Mark's forehead furrowed. “But no other hobbies or interests? I don't want to sound rude, but... what do you do all day? When you're not in school?”

“When I was in high school, I did plenty of things,” Jinyoung said. “Horseback riding, sailing, golf, tennis. All the things my parents and friends do.”

“Right. And you didn't like any of those things?”

“I don't know,” Jinyoung admitted. “I kind of did them because I had to, and I know I was supposed to like them. But I never felt anything strong either way. I acted like I liked them. Maybe I did like them, but I was paying more attention to acting and didn't notice.”

Mark shook his head. “I doubt it. If you liked them, you'd know it. When you're doing something you love, you can't mistake that feeling. It's like your whole body is alive. You can't hold back what you're feeling. That doesn't sound anything like what you're saying. Maybe you haven't tried any of the things that are right for you yet?”

“I don't know,” Jinyoung said. “I've done a lot of things, it feels like. A lot of things people never get to try.”

“But have you tried the things everyone else gets to try?” Mark shot back. “Shopping in a book store? Looking through a clothing or shoe rack with no one else deciding what you want ahead of time? Going to a bowling alley? Visiting Everland? Eating street food? Going biking by the Han River? Playing frisbee in the park?”

Other than shopping in his university bookstore (mostly textbooks and nonfiction), Jinyoung had done exactly none of those things.

“I don't know how to do any of those things naturally,” Jinyoung said at length. “If I went to the park, I'd probably just wind up standing there, looking like an idiot.”

“You think a lot, don't you? You worry about trying something and doing it wrong. But that's not something you need to worry about. No one is going to stare at you in a park and say 'Wow, that guy is doing it wrong'. It's a park. You don't have to play frisbee. You can just walk. Sit on a bench. Write in a diary. Walk a dog. Do cartwheels in the grass, whatever. You don't even have to be good at things like bowling. A lot of people at bowling. Half the fun is learning, anyways. Doing it wrong can be even more fun than doing it right.” He smiled at Jinyoung gently. “Natural, unnatural, it doesn't matter. If you just try it, maybe you can find something you love. It can help you relate to people more, but it's more important that you find something that makes you feel like yourself.”

Jinyoung's heart pounded a little. He wanted that, he wanted to find something he loved, to feel like himself instead of a programmed product. He wanted his whole body to feel alive like Mark said, a feeling he wouldn't be able to mistake for anything else.

“You must have something you don't like, though,” Mark said, returning his focus to pricing the books. “I couldn't imagine living 20 years without disliking something.”

“Kim Yugyeom's bad attitude,” Jinyoung muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me?”

“My butler. His bad attitude.”

Mark grinned again. “Great, if you didn't have anyone to argue with, you'd definitely go crazy. Anything else you don't like?”

“The portion size of the food we eat at home. I mean, I don't get why high-end food is so dinky. It doesn't even taste that great compared to regular food. I really want to go to a normal restaurant, some place with barbecue. Or a huge plate of fried chicken.” He paused. “Maybe I didn't like sailing either? I was acting like I liked it, but I felt seasick. And golf was kind of boring? Oh, and I really don't like feeling the need to act all the time. I don't like being stared at. Or touched by people I don't know. Or being treated like a baby. Or having to account for where I am all the time. Or the fact that my classmates hate me without really knowing me. And that I don't really know me either.” He took a deep breath. It felt like the longest thing he'd said in a long time.

“Wow,” Mark said. “I think I get why you look stressed a lot. You have so many things you don't like, but almost nothing you do like. That has to .”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung said. “It really does.”

“It makes sense. When you feel like you have to do something or have to like something, it just makes it burdensome. And you've probably put up with a lot of that. All those snoozefest soirees and dinner parties and social gatherings...”

“You know what those are like?”

“Not really. I'm sure there are adults who love that kind of thing, but as a little kid, I'm sure you felt like you had better things to do.” He finished the first row of the bookshelf and moved on to the second. “So...all the other kids at those parties...you really don't look at any of them as your real friends?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “Trust me, I have zero friends. The people I'm closest to are my butler, who drives me nuts half the time, and my parents' butler. They both don't act like I'm anything special. But when it comes to the other kids I grew up with...they actually like this kind of life. They're happy with dinky portions and sailing and golf and being babied by their parents. I don't know how to relate to them either. The only reason they like me is because they think I'm exactly like them and I haven't let them figure out that I'm not.”

“But isn't Youngjae at least different?” Mark asked. “Even if he likes all those things, he's genuine about it, and he really wants to use his position to do good things, like starting up these businesses for everyday people. I'm sure you could be his friend. I'm sure you could find more people like him.”

Jinyoung wasn't surprised to hear another ringing endorsement for Youngjae. Everyone liked Youngjae. Jinyoung liked Youngjae, except for the part where Youngjae was everything he wanted to be (happy, self-satisfied, ambitious, interesting, lovable) and Jinyoung couldn't help but feel jealous.

“How did you meet Youngjae, anyways?” Jinyoung asked.

“It was when we were kids,” Mark said. “At a playground. We had a few playdates and stuff. I recently met him again when I came back to Korea and started working at Anything. He recognized my name and asked me to come help out with some of his shop set-up tasks. I see him around the stores every once in awhile. On pay days, he'll take me out to dinner and stuff.”

“Huh,” Jinyoung said. This raised a lot more questions than it answered. “When you came back to Korea? Where had you been until then?”

“Oh, my family travels a lot. I was born in Taiwan, moved to Korea, moved to England, moved to America, moved to mainland China, moved back to Korea...”

“Why so many different places?”

Mark shrugged. “You'd have to ask my father. He always liked being able to work in a lot of different places rather than just one. But for the moment, I'd prefer to just stay in one place.”

“Why Korea?”

Mark looked at Jinyoung with blank eyes. “Why not Korea?”

“Umm...”

“There were some things here that weren't anywhere else. This cool job, for one. You've met Jackson already. He's the one who recommended it for me.”

“Oh.” Jinyoung had been feeling okay throughout most of their conversation, but now he felt some anxiety creeping back, and he wasn't sure why. It felt like Mark was leaving out details, maybe that was it. Their contract was about getting Jinyoung to open up, and he felt like he was starting to open up as best as he could, but it all felt hollow if Mark wasn't going to similarly open up to him. Mark had no obligation to, but Jinyoung wanted him to naturally feel that obligation so they could share in these moments equally together.

He remembered what Jackson had said earlier, about how it was also important for the clients to help the employees at Anything as much as they were being helped. Maybe that's what this was. Maybe Jackson was expecting Jinyoung to also help open Mark up.

“You like the handyman parts of it, right?” Jinyoung tried, clawing at the information he remembered about Mark.

“Yeah. I built some of these bookshelves myself.”

“Wow,” Jinyoung said. “How long have you been doing that?”

“It's been a hobby for the last five or so years? But I got this job itself last year.”

“And what kind of other requests do you get?”

“There's talking with you...”

“Right,” Jinyoung said, a little glumly. He was a job, but he didn't like being told that to his face. “And?”

“Carrying groceries for old ladies. Driving old ladies to church. Calling out numbers at old lady bingo night.”

“So me, Youngjae, and old ladies, huh?”

“Yeah. I like it.” Mark looked sidelong at Jinyoung. “I like right now, too. I hope I didn't make you feel like I was doing this to get payed, just now.”

Jinyoung felt a little more assured. Mark didn't feel like a liar, so Jinyoung was pretty sure he meant what he said. But at the same time, he still felt a wall between them. Mark wasn't putting himself forward fully, and Jinyoung didn't have enough of a self yet to even begin to meet him halfway.

But maybe, with a little more time, Jinyoung thought. Maybe we can actually become real friends. He thought he might like that. He liked Mark, and he knew it was real because he wasn't acting like he had to like him, because he didn't actually have to. According to Anything rules, if he was unhappy, the staff would just reassign him to someone else. But Jinyoung felt okay. He felt comfortable, other than that little bit of anxiety that Mark wasn't presenting himself as a full picture to Jinyoung. But maybe that was because they'd just met each other. Maybe that would also change.

“Hey,” Mark said suddenly. “Would it be all right to extend our hours a little bit today?”

“W-what?” Jinyoung asked, feeling flustered. “You want to talk longer?”

“Yeah. But more than that, I want you to have experiences.” He got to his feet, pulling Jinyoung up with him. This time they really were touching, but Jinyoung didn't draw back. It didn't necessarily feel bad. The reason why he didn't like being touched by people he didn't know was because he didn't like them trying to be familiar with him when they didn't know anything about him (and he didn't know anything about himself), but even after a short amount of time, Mark was now the person who knew the second most about Jinyoung's emotions in the world. First place was still, unfortunately, Yugyeom, with Jinyoung's previous therapist in third and Jaebum in fourth. An odd line up, but he was an odd person.

“Let's start here.” Mark pulled Jinyoung across the room and out the front door. “Wait a few minutes, then come back in. Like a real customer.” Mark went back inside, running for the front desk.

Jinyoung waited for Mark to get in place, then stepped back into the half-empty book shop.

“Welcome to The Book Nest,” Mark said in his best salesman voice. “Can I help you with anything today?”

“Uhm,” Jinyoung said. “Yes?”

“What do you need?”

What do I need? He glanced around the room. Well, there were only a few bookshelves filled, so it wasn't a hard choice. “I'm looking for fiction?”

“Of course. Right this way.” Mark took his arm again (did real storekeepers do that? Jinyoung was used to deferential distance) and led him to the place they'd just vacated. “This is our fiction section. Feel free to take a look around.”

Jinyoung hesitantly turned his head to the bookshelf and began reading titles off the spine. He loved book titles. Sometimes they told you everything, sometimes nothing, but most of the time they just teased at what was to come, leaving you guessing. He ran his finger along the spine of one of the books. Atonement. He glanced back at Mark. “May I look?”

“Go right ahead.”

He pulled out the book and studied the cover, then flipped it over to read the back description. He already felt himself being pulled into a new world, wanting to meet the characters and situations presented to him. He felt a thrill of excitement, and it was just like Mark said—unmistakable. “I want this one,” he said. But he didn't stop looking at the others. He repeated what he had just done with all of them, allowing himself to be lured by the spine, tantalized by the cover, engulfed by the description, until he had a small stack of books in his arms. It was so overwhelming that it felt like he'd spent a half-hour going through the bookshelf, when in reality it had been a little over ten minutes.

“I want them,” Jinyoung said breathlessly, turning back to Mark. “I want to read all of them.”

Mark nodded, grinning. “And that, Park Jinyoung,” he said, “is what it means to like something.”

After that, and after Mark had wrapped up pricing a hundred odd more books while keeping Jinyoung at the small talk, they went out for some experiences. Starting out with street food, which, according to Mark, you couldn't live in Seoul without trying.

Jinyoung had needed to call Yugyeom first so he could warn the household that he would be coming home late. That had made Mark laugh a little, though he'd tried to keep it down for Jinyoung's sake. “Truly a young master,” he chuckled. “Being watch dogged by his butler when he's twenty.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jinyoung said. It felt liberating to finally say those words to someone who wasn't Yugyeom.

With Yugyeom safely informed (Jinyoung had been forced to put up with several snipes from Yugyeom about how much fun he seemed to be having), they went into the city to hunt down some food. It wasn't a big effort on Mark's part. He knew the way to all his favorite places, and quickly had Jinyoung trotting after him, feeling strangely anonymous in his Nike shirt and jeans. He was used to standing out in this kind of place, but now he was just one person out of many, unnoticeable and free. A smile crept onto his face and for once it didn't feel forced.

First they got tteokbokki, which was so delicious Jinyoung wanted to cry, then gamja dogs. The mere sight of those would have given Jinyoung's mother a heart attack, but he relished eating them, enjoying the uncomplicated taste which was a far cry from the food he ate back home with all their garnishes and wine sauces. For dessert they had red bean waffles, which they ate together as they walked down the street.

“I can't believe I could have been eating these things my whole life,” Jinyoung groaned. “What a waste.”

“It is,” Mark agreed. Not harshly, but softly.

“I've missed out on a lot, haven't I?”

“Which just means that you can have a lot of fun making up for lost time.” Mark sighed. “I probably shouldn't say this, because you're not happy with your life right now. But I envy you a little bit.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You're working on yourself, and you want to change. Because you want that, there's going to be a lot of good things ahead of you. But I wonder about myself sometimes.”

“How so?”

“I think I may be...stuck.”

Jinyoung waited for him to continue.

“You seem organized to me, right? You always have plans and back-up plans?”

Jinyoung nodded.

“I wish I was like that sometimes. That when one plan failed, I could come up with a new plan or goal instead of trying to do the same thing over and over again with the exact same results. For a jack-of-all-trades, there's just one thing I can't figure out.” He shook his head. “I don't think you'll have that problem. When you find your path, it'll be smooth sailing. Other than the part where you hate sailing, I guess.”

Jinyoung studied Mark, who was now focusing his attention on tearing into his waffle. Jinyoung felt more lost about him than ever. Was he really not going to say anything else? Was he going to keep his problems to himself, even though Jinyoung had spilled all his problems to him?

“I didn't have a back-up plan for this,” Jinyoung said.

“Hmm?”

“If going to Anything didn't work out,” Jinyoung said. “I didn't have a single back up plan.”

“Oh, wow,” Mark said, looking mildly alarmed. “No pressure on me, or anything.”

“You don't have to worry about it. Today was already good, so I'm going to trust you. I don't want you to feel pressure. I just want you to keep talking to me. Keep showing me things.”

“OK, then.” His smile returned to his face. “If showing you things includes going for street food, I'm all in. Hey, there's still plenty of time left in the evening. Want to go bowling? I'll help you get the hang of it so you don't have to feel awkward or anything.”

Jinyoung glanced at his watch. Usually he'd be home in bed right now, sipping wine while watching dramas on TV, not particularly having fun or not having fun. Just existing. He wasn't sure he'd like bowling, but trying did sound a lot more interesting than his usual nights. Besides, now that he was feeling more comfortable with Mark, he wanted to turn the tables and have Mark be more comfortable with him. While Mark was showing him how to live, he wanted to get Mark unstuck from whatever was holding him in place before they parted again—and they would be parting, since the contract they'd drawn up had a timeframe. He could renew, but maybe Mark would sign on for more jobs with Youngjae. Maybe he wasn't anticipating Jinyoung being a long term client.

Since Jinyoung hadn't answered his question yet, Mark's worried face returned. “I'm seriously not asking you this because you're paying me, Jinyoung. I'm not thinking of these as bonus work hours. But if you don't want to go, that's fine. We have done a lot for one day.”

“No,” Jinyoung said. “It's fine. I need a hobby, don't I? Maybe that hobby will be bowling. I'd love to find out.”

As it turned out, his hobby wasn't going to be bowling.

Going to the alley itself was fun. It was completely different from anything he was used to. The atmosphere of the alley was a little greasy and dirty, and everyone there was drinking beer and talking in loud, rough voices as they played. Mark and Jinyoung were in their own quiet corner, away from anyone who could potentially notice what a beginner Jinyoung was and for it. It didn't wind up being an issue, since everyone was focused on themselves, as usual.

“That's the thing, Jinyoung,” Mark said. “It's kind of a harsh thing to say, but other people care way less about us than we tend to think. If you think like that, maybe it'll be easier for you to care less about their judgments.”

He managed, for the most part. He had to focus most of his energy on trying to figure out the right stances and way to throw the ball, and he didn't have the time to look around and see if anyone was staring at him. Mark was also a distraction. He was constantly adjusting Jinyoung's hands and legs and arms, and Jinyoung couldn't remember the last time he'd been touched so much by someone. It was strange because he wasn't used to it, but he couldn't say he reacted indifferently to it. It felt good, in a way, to make a connection with someone. It was good to feel comfortable enough to touch someone and be touched by them. Maybe it wasn't something worth being afraid of, after all.

Still, even with Mark's help, he was pretty terrible at bowling. It was entertaining, more entertaining than the golf or sailing or horseback riding, but he thought that maybe it was because Mark was there. His hobby was most likely going to be something else, but that didn't mean he hadn't enjoyed himself.

Finally, after their scores were tallied (Mark: 199, Jinyoung: 54), it was time to go home for the evening. Jinyoung called up Kunpimook and gave him the address for the bowling alley. If his chauffeur was surprised that the young master had ended up at a bowling alley, he tried not to show it in his voice.

“This was fun,” Jinyoung told Mark. “I felt a lot more natural today. Thank you.”

Mark nodded. “You may feel programmed, but I felt like I hung out with a real person named Park Jinyoung today. You just need to...fill some details in. So I guess we should have more experiences, huh?”

“I think I'd like that.” He lifted up his bag. “Thanks for the books.”

“I'll pass the thanks along to Youngjae.”

“No, no,” Jinyoung said. “Don't do that. This isn't about Youngjae. This is about you.”

Mark looked bewildered for a moment before he blinked it back. “Yeah. OK, then. I'll keep the thanks.”

Jinyoung was really so grateful that he felt a few stray tears clinging to his eyes. It had been awhile since he'd had a proper cry, but now wasn't going to be that time. He just felt relieved. Hopeful. Thankful that someone worthwhile existed inside him, after all. It was like a weight being lifted off his chest.

“Until next time, then,” he said, in a slightly watery voice.

“Yeah, until next time.”

“Wow,” Kunpimook said when he picked Jinyoung up, in the limo this time. “Your aura...seems really different from this morning. Are you okay?” Jinyoung had still been a little teary-happy when he'd gotten into the car.

“No. I'm fine. But thank you.” Jinyoung congratulated himself on not stammering. “I hope no one at the house was worried about me being gone so long?”

“Not too much, since you contacted us this time. But you better change into the...ahem...more home appropriate clothes I left you in the back seat. I'll raise the partition.” He gave one more glance into the back seat. “I don't know what it is, but you just seem a lot more relaxed than you usually are. I'm kinda happy.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jinyoung said, giving the first real smile Kunpimook had probably ever seen from him. “I haven't gotten to relax in a long, long time.”

Jinyoung's mother was full of questions when he arrived at the house (“Sweetie, what did you do all day? Please tell me you ate properly!”). He lied and said he'd gone to the theater with his friend, an activity within her realm of approval. She remained concerned for awhile, but quickly relented that it was an acceptable way for a gentleman to spend his evening. Little did she know about the Nike shirt in the bag on his shoulder, the gamja dogs resting in his belly.

Yugyeom had been fairly silent when Jinyoung came home, but when they were in the bedroom, he immediately erupted. “What is this guy you're meeting with, some miracle worker? You should see yourself, Young Master. You look freaking happy.”

“It was a nice day,” Jinyoung said, dumping his bag on the bed to show Yugyeom the books he'd bought. “He took me book shopping. Kinda. And we went to get street food and went bowling after.”

“Wow, I'm impressed. You're doing normal people things, and you don't look two seconds away from a panic attack. Congrats.”

“He's fun,” Jinyoung said. And he really meant it. Mark wasn't programmed to be nice to him or anything at all like the people he was used to, but he was so easy to be with that Jinyoung barely noticed. Jackson really had done the right thing in pairing them together.

“I really hate to ask this, but...”

“Yeah?”

“The Young Master who is terrified of love related things...”

“...yeah?”

“It's not going to head in that direction is it...?”

“What?” Jinyoung blinked for a moment before realizing what Yugyeom was hinting at. His face immediately turned red. “T-that's...I can't do that, I'm paying him for this, this isn't some kind of inappropriate thing where I'm paying him for that.”

“I wasn't suggesting anything inappropriate,” Yugyeom said, rolling his eyes. “Just that you might develop a crush, that's all. Like I said, you look freaking happy.”

“Yugyeom, do you think someone with my mental state is even qualified to have a crush on somebody right now?”

“I mean, yeah, you'd probably it up, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.”

“Please don't talk like this. I don't even want to think along those lines right now. I had a good time, okay? That's all. I won't ask for anything more.”

“Okay, okay,” Yugyeom said, lifting his hands in surrender. “Falling in love would be a waste of time, anyways. The day your parents would be okay with you dating a commoner boy is the day pigs fly.”

“Don't talk about that, either,” Jinyoung said. He was starting to feel depressed again. He was trying to escape his life a little and didn't need these reminders that it would be virtually impossible.

“Sorry,” Yugyeom said, for once sounding sincere. “Please, by all means, carry on with being happy. A happy master equals a happy staff.”

“Right. And Mark says I focus a lot on negative things, so I really should be a lot more optimistic, I think.”

“Mark,” Yugyeom repeated. “Huh. That's his name?”

“Why are you saying it like that?”

“Don't we know a Mark?”

“Maybe you do, but I don't remember meeting one. Maybe that's the name of one of the butlers at another household?”

“Maybe. Is he a foreigner?”

“Yeah.”

“Then be extra sure not to fall in love. A commoner-foreigner-dude? Your parents might actually die.”

“This isn't about falling in love,” Jinyoung repeated. “This is about becoming a friend. Please don't, Yugyeom. I don't want to think about it.”

But when he laid his head on the pillow to go to bed, the seed was already planted in his head, itching for attention.

He was thinking about it.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the two new stories ;)

I just wanted to do a quick scheduling update! Next week, I'm leaving for a follow up to last year's business trip to Japan and will be staying there from May-early August. I'll also be going back to the Friday posting time I had for Cinnamon & Ginger while I'm there! I'll post the new Pirates chapter on Monday (April 30th) before I leave, but instead of making you wait 11 days for the Friday of the following week to roll around, I'll post the new Jack-of-all-trades chapter on the Friday of the same week (May 4th instead of May 11th.) So you'll be getting a chapter for both stories next week :D I hope you'll look forward to it!