First, both of them were surprised and then both burst into laughter.

‘Jack, hurry up. Go and change, will you?’, Mark pushed Jackson.

Jackson hurriedly ran to their room. Mark was laughing when he saw Jackson running. It was hard to believe they were going on their first date. He went to the fridge to get the water. He was drinking water from the bottle when he heard a footstep. He smiled to see Jackson but was surprised. Instead, Jin-Young was there. But, something was wrong. He didn’t seem ok.

Mark quickly walked to him out of concern.

‘Hae, you alright?? You don’t seem ok?’

Jin-Young looked really aghast.

‘ I don’t know. I was so happy we were having finally two days off tomorrow when we will be not shooting, under the camera, when we can do whatever we want to, not follow the schedule. But, all of a sudden, I just felt I was losing something important. I felt so weird. So, I came here to drink some water’.

Mark smiled and rubbed his head.

‘don’t think too much. It might be, you know, over excitement. We are having such break after such a long time. So, I won’t be surprised if you get those feelings.’

‘yeah…it could be. Hyung, what are you doing here then? Did you come to get water as well’

‘ahhmmm….ahhmmmmm…yea.. here, drink it’, Mark passed the bottle to him.

Jin-young took the bottle from Mark and started drinking but his eyes were on Mark.

Mark eyes were down looking left and right. He was clearly lying. Jin-young knew at least this much about Mark after spending so many years together and observing Mark.

Yes, observing Mark. Though, Mark was hyung. He was really cute. He found him really cute. So, shy, he needed to be pushed to actually express his feelings. Jackson was always there to push him forward every time when he felt shy or difficulty in expressing his thoughts and opinions. The two were so polar apart but they were always encouraging one another. Everyone in the group knew that Jackson would always choose Mark, or his thoughts were always with or for Mark and Mark, he was always mentioning Jackson. The topic would just return to Jackson if someone was having conversation with Mark.

Sometimes, Jin-Young would think what if he had been the room-mate of Mark. What if he had been there always for Mark. In the beginning, Mark had great difficulty in learning Korean. Though he and others were there to help him, what if he had spent a lot of time with Mark at that time and helped him. He had always been a book-worm and his English was much better than the other Korean boys in the group. However, what if he had been much better and worked even harder and had been able to communicate with Mark more fluently like Jackson. Those were the days, Jin-Young had decided, he would work hard on his English. Jackson was there to help Mark and he could see how Mark would be smiling happily when he was speaking with Jackson switching between Chinese, English and Korean. However, Mark Korean improved a lot and his English, it had improved a lot too.

Those gaps while he was working hard to improve on his English, Mark and Jackson friendship had grown stronger and gave birth to the couple name ‘Markson’. Usually, the males in the band whenever they found the two of them were linked romantically by fans, the two would grow distant apart because they felt awkward. Obviously, he was thinking about the Korean boys in the band. So, when Markson couple became the talk of the town, everyone thought the interactions between them would decrease to some extent. But with Mark and Jackson, things were different. They were different. Their small touch, gestures, and care for one another were always well-appreciated by fans and even hyped the ‘Markson’ and Jackson, he himself was the happiest captain ever to sail their Markson ship. He would make Mark things do he had never done, and Mark would simply follow the request.

In the beginning, when Markson ship was sailing, he didn’t think much about it. He just thought with time, there will be less talk about it and the hype would just go down. But, it never went. Even in the programs they all attended or at the interviews, the small moments they shared became the topics people would speak or stream the video for days. Mark would do things he would have never done before because of Jackson’s impact and it would surprise everyone, including him and, here, he was waiting. He was waiting to be always at the side of Mark. He always wanted to be the first one to be for Mark when he was in trouble, when he needed help. But with Jackson around, Mark never needed anyone, and he had lost hope long time ago. But still, he waited.

And as if, heaven had pitied him and gave him a chance, Jackson started getting into the Chinese market and leave his mark. His stay in china were short in the beginning but slowly, he started getting success and more and more projects started landing in him and he started to be busier and busier in china. He always had a good thought about Jackson; good wishes for him and had never had ill feelings about him. When he started working in china, he and the group saw and appreciated his hard work and He was very happy with Jackson’s success. All the band members were. He wouldn’t lie though that with Jackson in china, he could spend more time with Mark. He always had good relationship with Mark. Besides, Jackson, the closest he was with was him. Thus, with Jackson being not around, he was with Mark all the time, taking and pulling him around to different places, making him meet his friends, listening his frustrations. He had noticed Mark had started speaking a lot compared to old days, but he found Mark even sweeter and he could listen to Mark speaking all day. It just brought a sense of calmness to him that Mark was with him and was talking to him. He had waited for just this moment too long. He was living his happiest days. Was it a dream or just an illusion? And he would often pinch at himself to find it all real. He was living it for real.

But, how close and deep was Mark and Jackson’s relationship? Jin-young got the taste only when he didn’t find Mark in his room one morning. He had woken up early in that day and walked to Mark’s room. He knocked at the door before getting in. Mark was not a morning person. So, he went in to wake him up. Night before, they both had planned to wake up early in the morning and make breakfast for the others. They made sure they had all the ingredients before they had gone to bed. But, to his surprise, Mark was not there. He would not have woken up by himself unless there was something scheduled that day, but the day was clear with no schedule. He looked everywhere in the house but there was no sign of Mark. He knocked all the doors of the house. He asked the boys too and no one knew where he was. Everyone was still waking up and like him, they were surprised when Jin-Young told them Mark Hyung was not in the house. Jin-Young was the last person to wish him good-night before they had gone to bed, and no one had seen him after that. Finally, he made a call to his manager and knew what had actually happened and when he knew the truth, it had shaken him literally. ‘Was it never going to be enough? How long do I have to wait?’

What had actually happened…..

That night, Mark got the call from Jackson’s team in China that Jackson had fainted because of overwork. It was going to be in the news soon but there was nothing to worry about. As soon as he heard that, he had packed his backpack and had taken next flight to China. Luckily, they had a day off tomorrow and they were working on the song right now. So, everyone needed to work on their own as this time everyone was going to go solo for their next album. Thus, it would have been fine even if he had taken few days off to himself. He informed his manager in Korea where he was heading to and what had actually happened. He didn’t want to tell the team members in the middle of the night and trouble them. Besides, going to China was his own decision and he decided to go there secretly. If the whole team had gone to china, the media would have just exaggerated it even more and he didn’t want that. Thus, he had left without telling anyone except the manager.

This incident was a clear reminder to Jin-young, no matter how long they were apart or how far they were from one another physically, their relationship, bond was only growing stronger. When Mark finally came back from China, he was very calm and informed everyone about Jackson’s health and told he was doing fine. It was just over-exhaustion. But, when everyone left, and he and JinYoung were only in the room. Jin- young spoke- ‘ you don’t have to hold yourself, hyung’. He knew Mark had been holding his tears and when Mark heard him, he simply cried hugging Jin- young.

‘That stupid puppy, he doesn’t even know when to stop. My heart nearly stopped thinking how he was doing when I was on the plane and when I saw him, he grinned like an idiot and says- I must be dreaming to see Mark.’

‘It's ok. He is doing fine, now. You yourself saw it, right? Now, you need to take care of yourself too, Hyung’.

At that moment, Jin- young had his determination even stronger.

‘ I would also wait for you to have same concern for me, one day but not for someone who is your family/brother but for someone who holds you dearest and closest to your heart, hyung’.

Coming to the present…

‘Why is Hyung, lying?’ He suddenly remembered Mark had a smile in his face when he turned around to see him and usually, he had this smile reserved for Jackson. ‘So, was he waiting for Jackson?’