The More You Know.
Come and Find Me in the Clouds
Unaware of what had happened to his neighbour, Jinyoung was back at his favourite chicken and beer restaurant in the company of Youngjae and Jaebum, the three friends having a much needed catch up time.
Jaebum had not seen Jinyoung ever since Jae’s birthday disaster and he had a constant apologetic look on his face, unsure of how to face Jinyoung. Youngjae had been informed of the events and thus took on the role of mood-maker, trying to ameliorate everyone’s morale. Irked by how Jaebum's awkward mannerism and poor attempt at avoiding certain conversation topics, Jinyoung downed his beer in one go before playfully punching Jaebum’s shoulder.
“Work is not a taboo topic. You don’t need to go out of your way to shield me.”
“But—” Jaebum frowned but was interrupted by Youngjae.
“Jinyoung’s right. He’s a grown man. How’s he going to overcome this personal trauma of his if he keeps avoiding talking about it?”
“But—”
Yet again, Jaebum was not allowed to finish his sentence due to the overzealous Youngjae.
“He said it himself, work is not a taboo topic. Right Jinyoung?”
“…Right.” Jaebum nodded rather uncertainly.
“Right…” Jinyoung echoed. “Calling it a personal trauma seems a bit extreme though.”
“Whatever.” Youngjae waved an uninterested hand around. “I’ll say it since none of you have the guts to. Park Jinyoung, you gave way too much to the company and ended up having a break down. There. Happy?”
“Peachy,” Jinyoung deadpanned.
“So Jinyoung, anything you want to say before Youngjae starts off on another unwarranted soliloquy?” Jaebum exhaled, throwing a crumpled napkin at Youngjae and hitting him straight in the face.
“I got a job. I’ll be working under Mark.”
Jaebum and Youngjae both fell silent but for completely different reasons and that was reflected in their expressions.
“Who’s Mark?” Youngjae scratched his head in confusion.
“Youngsoon’s brother,” Jaebum answered briskly before turning towards Jinyoung. “It’s confirmed?”
Jinyoung nodded.
“When did you meet the brother? Isn’t he in California?” Youngjae gaped.
“He’s in Seoul now to open up the family’s first South Korean branch,” Jinyoung explained.
“How’s that going? He seems like a pretty confident person but didn’t really come off as the corporate type,” Jaebum mused thoughtfully.
“Wait, you’ve met the brother? How?” Youngjae exclaimed in shock.
“Mark stayed at Youngsoon’s for a while and Jaebum happened to meet him.”
Youngjae’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, staring at Jinyoung as though he had grown a second head.
“Why is it that I’m always excluded from the fun stuff?” Youngjae wailed. “So not fair.”
Jaebum and Jinyoung rolled their eyes and ignored the childish tantrum of their friend. Just as they expected, Youngjae eventually calmed down by himself and was back to his chipper and curious self.
“What’s the brother like then?”
“Hmmm.” Jinyoung looked up in deep thought. “Can definitely tell he used to have a rebellious streak.”
“Very friendly and sociable,” Jaebum added.
“Both the same and the opposite of Youngsoon,” Jinyoung concluded.
“What kind of description is that?” Youngjae scoffed.
“You’ll get it once you meet him,” Jinyoung chuckled with Jaebum nodding in agreement much to Youngjae’s dismay.
・・・
“You sure you want to go all the way back to mine? I can just bring you the camera tomorrow if it’s urgent.” Jinyoung glanced at Jaebum as they walked along the quiet streets.
“It’s good exercise which I’m lacking from sitting behind a desk all day.” Jaebum yawned while stretching out his arms. “I’s not urgent but since I’m with you already might as well get it over with.”
Jaebum’s mum’s birthday was coming up and he had been tasked with taking photos. However he did not have a camera of his own and thus needed to borrow Jinyoung’s.
The two friends were just a few blocks away from Jinyoung’s flat when they passed by a street stall and noticed a familiar figure inside. he slouched against a table with a worrying amount of empty soju bottles in front of him. That figure was none other than Mark and the male actually noticed Jinyoung and Jaebum as he waved enthusiastically at them.
“Jinyoungie and Jaebummie~ Come join me, come come!”
Feeling uncomfortable with leaving the drunken male alone, Jinyoung and Jaebum exchanged a worried look before settling down.
“Is everything okay?” Jinyoung asked tentatively.
Mark hiccuped suddenly, almost knocking over all the bottles on the table. Scratching his cheek which was glowing red from alcohol, Mark blew a raspberry before answering.
“I had a fight with Youngsoon.”
“Yo— Fight— Young— What?” Jinyoung unintentionally stuttered.
“I know right?” Mark chortled. “An angry Youngsoon. Can you imagine that? It would be quite a spectacle… At least that’s what I think
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