“Have you figured out what you’re going to do next?”

Sitting behind his desk, Mark looked up from the document he was skimming through, giving Jinyoung a puzzled look.

“Everything for the sting has been planned out,” Mark replied uncertainly, motioning the other male to enter his office and close the door. “Now it’s just about waiting.”

Doing as told, Jinyoung gently pushed the door close and threw himself on the sofa, staring directly at Mark.

“I was referring to Baram.”

Crossing a leg over his other one, Jinyoung leaned back against the sofa and patiently waited for Mark to come up with a response. It was still early and the club was not set to open for another couple of hours, thus Jinyoung knew that both himself and Mark were in no hurry to go anywhere. They had all the time in the world to go on a little journey of self-exploration.

“What do you mean?”

“Jaebum actively engaged her in a conversation while you remained behind the counter, keeping a distance from her,” Jinyoung recounted the events from a few days ago. “Usually it’s the opposite.”

“Usually you are the conversing with her while Jaebum avoids her like the plague,” Mark countered.

“You’re right, you just conveniently appear when she leaves and only talk to her when you guys are alone.” Jinyoung lifted a knowing brow. “You sneaky bastard.”

“We just run into each other a lot,” Mark mumbled defensively as he lowered his gaze.

“Yeah, you run into each other in her own flat. How convenient.” Jinyoung rolled his eyes, letting out a dry laugh.

Silence fell between them, as both males were in deep thought. Realising that Mark was not going to follow up to the earlier statement, the young bartender clucked his tongue loudly before continuing talking.

“She’s been behaving differently,” Jinyoung stated carefully, gauging Mark’s reaction. “It’s barely noticeable unless you know what you are looking for, but there has been a shift, she’s distancing herself.”

“I suppose,” Mark murmured, no confidence in his tone.

“Are you just going to let her do that? She’s struggling.”

“What am I supposed to do then?” Mark frowned, annoyed at how persistent Jinyoung was behaving. “I’m not some knight in shining armour that pops out of no where and saves her every single time. It doesn’t work that way.”

“I’m not telling you to be one — though ironically that’s actually a pretty close description of what you’ve doing isn’t it? But think about it carefully Mark. You’ve managed to find someone that makes you laugh, smile, grow, crave, feel. She makes you mad but also happy. She manages to make you feel euphoric. That is not something you want to lose.”

Mark inhaled sharply, wanting to deny Jinyoung’s statement but no words would form. He wanted to say that Jinyoung was giving Baram too much credit, however even Mark himself could not refute it. After all, one chuckle from her and he felt his insides turn upside down; one glance from her and Mark was willing to kneel down at her every command; one breath from her and he felt the fire in him roaring louder than ever.

“She’s the one pushing me away,” Mark sighed in resignation, rubbing a hand over his tired face.

“About that…” Jinyoung spoke up, a tremble of hesitation in his eyes. “You might want to have a chat with Jaebum. He and Baram had a chat apparently.”

“Great,” Mark grunted, dropping his head and mumbling into the desk. “I bet Youngjae has been having nice talks with her as well. She’s talking to everyone but me apparently.”

“Is the great Mark Tuan sulking right now?” Jinyougn mused, a teasing glint in his eyes. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s all work in progress.

・・・

Everyone from the production crew were gathered in the large meeting room, their eyes glued to the large LED screen currently showing the final episode of The Waves Will Bring Us Together.  Everyone heaved a sigh of relief as the ending credits r