Chapter 6

Jungwoo watched as Mark left, walking into the crowd of people. He had no idea what was going on, but it seemed serious. Jungwoo got up from his seat and was about to go after him, but Lucas grabbed his wrist, stopping him from going anywhere. He was about to tug away, but when he looked back Mark was completely out of sight. There was no point in going after him, at this point.

“Relax,” Lucas said, still holding Jungwoo’s wrist, “He’ll be back. Let’s just wait.”

Jungwoo was kinda nervous because he’d never seen Mark look so serious, but Lucas was right, he’d be back. “You think he’s okay?” Jungwoo asked as he sat back down next to Lucas.

“I’m sure everything’s fine, I’m not sure what it was that made him leave, but it’s Mark, he’ll be back,” Lucas said trying to reassure Jungwoo that everything would be okay.

Jungwoo nodded his head, then looked towards the performer, he tried to distract himself from any negative thoughts. The two kinda just sat there for a little while, not sure what to do.

Lucas looked over to Jungwoo, and grabbed his arm, “Why don’t we go do something else, I think I had seen some vendors down the street, why don’t we go check them out,” He asked shaking Jungwoo’s arm.

Jungwoo faced Lucas, “What about Mark, why don’t we wait until he gets back.”

“What if Mark takes forever,” Lucas pouted,  “let's just go really quick, we can come back right after. If he’s still not here we can call him,” Lucas begged, still tugging at Jungwoo’s arm.

Jungwoo couldn’t resist, “Fine, let's go,” he smiled.

The two got up from their seats and went on their way through the crowd, and down the street.

They walked shoulder to shoulder, glancing at the different vendors as they slowly paced their way down the street. There were clothing vendors, jewelry vendors, even toy vendors. Everything seemed well priced as well.

Jungwoo would steal glances at Lucas every once in a while and smiled to himself. A part of him just wanted to let his feeling’s go wild, and be happy, but the other part of him just wanted to run away.

Jungwoo tried to distract his thoughts, so he walked off to the side to a vendor selling different little things, like keychains, and magnets. Lucas followed. To Jungwoo’s surprised he actually found a nice thin black leather bracelet with silver finishes at each end. It simple, but really nice.

“You like it?” Lucas asked looking down at the bracelet.

Jungwoo nodded, “Yeah, but I don’t have to get it.”

“You should,” Lucas said taking the bracelet away from Jungwoo, “I like it to,” he said while also picking one for himself.

Jungwoo looked up to Lucas surprised and was about to tell him that it wasn’t necessary to get them, but deep down he kinda wanted to. The idea of having something matching with Lucas, just made him feel happy. Like a couple, it would be the closest thing to that. Friends, he was happy to be friends.

Lucas showed the vendor he wanted to buy the two bracelets, and then gave the money needed, to the vendor. The vendor asked if he wanted a bag, but he politely declined.

Lucas turned to Jungwoo, and unclipped the bracelet, “Here, let's put it on.”

Jungwoo slowly brought up his wrist in front of Lucas, “You know I could have bought them.”

Lucas shook his head, “It’s fine, next time we hang out, you owe me,” he laughed, then gently put the bracelet on around Jungwoo’s wrist. Lucas held up his own wrist towards Jungwoo and held out the bracelet, “Help me with mine.”

Jungwoo took the bracelet, clipped it open, then placed it around Lucas’s wrist, then pushed his hand away as a joke, “There you go,” he laughed, then jogged a bit away from Lucas.

“Hey, wait up,” Lucas said, as he caught up next to Jungwoo.

The two just slowly walked next to each other, they spoke a few words here and there, and before they knew it, they found themselves walking down an empty street.

Jungwoo was about to tell Lucas that maybe it was time they go back, but something stopped him. He felt something take a hold of his wrist, more specifically Lucas had lightly placed his hand around Jungwoo’s wrist. Lucas slowly inched his way down taking a hold of Jungwoo’s hand.

Jungwoo couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t believe what was happening. This past week he had been so incredibly confused about how Lucas was treating him. Him doing things he hadn’t done in the past, or just doing things friends wouldn’t do. He had convinced himself it was nothing, it was all in his head, but this? How could this be in his head? Was this Lucas hinting? He couldn’t believe it.

Lucas held Jungwoo’s hand in his own for a few seconds, then brought up both their hands in the air, as he glanced at the bracelets with a smile, moving around their hands a bit to get a better look “I like them so much,” he said referring to the bracelets, then let go of Jungwoo’s hand.

Jungwoo’s arm fell to his side, and he swallowed, “We should go back.”

Mark looked to Sicheng across from him, and glanced down at the ice over his wrist, “Are you sure it’s okay?” He asked still feeling concerned.

Sicheng nodded, “I’m fine.”

Suddenly Mark’s phone rang, and two glanced at his phone sitting on the table. Mark was about to cancel the call to keep his focus on Sicheng. But Sicheng stopped him, “Go ahead an answer.”

Mark didn’t want to, but he agreed and answered the call. He knew it was Jungwoo, and yet he was willing to ignore the call for Sicheng.

As soon as he answered the call, a worried, and a bit angry Jungwoo yelled, “Where the heck are you!”

Marks eyes widened realizing he had completely forgotten to tell his two friends where he was. He had not even realized himself how much time had flown by. “, I’m sorry I should have messaged you where I was,” Mark said