"Aren't you gonna drink that? You said you like French vanilla. Did I order wrong?" And now the brunet is turning the cup which contains the drink he has ordered for him when they entered the coffee shop, to check what is written on the cup's sleeve. "I got it right, though. Does it taste bad? Do you want me to order a different drink for you?"

This guy has a lot of questions for someone who should be answering a lot of questions himself, Jinyoung thinks.

After that scene at the cafeteria, and that includes his friends being shocked to the point of having their mouths dropping open when Mark had said that line of his about trying to win him back what in is that even?, Jinyoung had managed to drag the brunet away from the table where they have left his friends and Jaebeom. He walked out of the cafeteria while tugging on Mark's sleeve and told him that they need to talk. But then Mark said he'd like to eat first and knowing well that they can't go back to the cafeteria where their friends still were, Jinyoung agreed to his proposed idea of going to a nearby cafe. Thus, they're here seated across each other on a table situated at the far end of the shop, beside the glass window which offers them a view of the sidewalk where students from their university are passing by.

He still has Mark staring at him, and looks ready to buy him a new drink so what Jinyoung did is just take a sip of his French vanilla. Seeing that, Mark smiled as he went back to eating his pasta. This oddly feels wrong even though the situation seems normal. But Jinyoung knows it really isn't. Having Mark, his ex-boyfriend-but-not-really-boyfriend, here with him and eating his lunch is not normal. In fact, this should not be happening. But for a weird reason and turn of events, it currently is. Jinyoung sighs and it must have been a bit louder and heavier that it was supposed to, that it got Mark's attention. The brunet is back to staring at him.

"Are you okay?" And he really is asking?

Jinyoung finished his sip before answering. "No, I really am not." That's a really honest answer.

That made the brunet's brow crease as he asked, "Why?"

Why is he even asking? Jinyoung sat back on his seat, taking his coffee with him and sipping on it before he asked him. "Do you know me?" Mark was yet to answer but Jinyoung tried to make his question clearer. "And by know I mean, really know me and not just my name." He stared at the guy with serious eyes. "So... do you?"

He watched as Mark stopped twirling his fork on his plate of pasta and met his stares. "You're Park Jinyoung, pepijy underscore 22 in instagram. You have about 25 or 30 posts in it and only follows five accounts: your friends' and johngreenwritesbooks." The brunet stopped for a second and seemed like he's thinking. "He's the only person you're following outside your circle. You must really like his works, huh? I only know him because of The Fault in Our Stars and it's the movie I am talking about. You liked that one too?"

Jinyoung shrugged. "I liked the book better but I like Looking For Alaska more."

"Hmmm. Maybe I should try and give it a shot then." 

Jinyoung creased his brows, wondering why Mark thought he needed to go and read the book but.. oh well. That's his decision to make. With another shrug and this time crossing his left arm on his chest while still holding his cup of coffee on his other hand, he continued to ask the brunet. "All those things you said were from my profile in insta. Got anything more?"

Mark nods surprisingly. "Seeing that you liked John Green and all his works, I took a guess that you're taking up literature as a major and through Jaebeom, I learned that you indeed are. You are on your second year now, correct?" He is the one nodding this time. "You're living in an all boys apartment just a few blocks from the university and you're living there alone because all your friends are dating one another and are sharing the same space with their partners."

Now from just being creased, his brows are practically knitted together. "You're sounding like a stalker. Should I be bothered?"

He didn't expect that Mark would laugh at that but he did. "There's no need to be. I just found those all out with the help of Jaebeom since he dated a blockmate of yours once during freshmen year."

Jinyoung can't give anything as an answer to that aside from a small nod. Instead of saying anything, he just decided to ask his next question. "About what you have said back in the cafeteria... you were not serious about that... right?"

"What I said in the cafeteria... hmmm.." Mark paused to think for a short second. But Jinyoung did him a favor of reminding him of his words.

"When you said you're trying to win me back. That was not serious, right?" Mark's brows arched up but before he could say anything, Jinyoung went back to speaking again. "Because you can't be. I mean... winning me back isn't necessary since we weren't even a thing. I mean, you were not my boyfriend and I am not yours too."

"But that's not what your friends know." Mark was able to interject and get his attention at the same time. "From what I recollected from that encounter me and Jaebeom had with Jackson and his boyfriend, we were actually boyfriends, I mean ex-boyfriends since I cheated on you with Jaebeom that's why you broke up with me." . "Am I right?" Double .

Jinyoung's mind is in panic right now. What kind of mess did he just create? And it's all because he was tired of being the petsitter Yugyeom and Youngjae could conveniently have for Coco and Milo whenever they want to go on dates with their boyfriends. Make that a triple . Mark was still staring at him with that same look which Jinyoung isn't sure if he could read correctly. Okay, he mentally said to calm his mind. Maybe he could still get his foot out of this sticky mess?

Breathing in, Jinyoung stared at the brunet. When did holding stares with someone become this hard? "Okay." He trailed off. "I think I have to apologize."

"Uh-huh." Mark hummed in response making Jinyoung squeeze his eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them again and trying to hold stares with the brunet once again. This is freaking hard, alright. And embarrassing!

"Look." Jinyoung exhaled. "I am not proud to admit what I have done but let me come clean to you. I did use you so I could show someone to my friends and claim that you're my boyfriend. My reason is stupid but I really just got tired of being single. It's not because I was lonely, but it's because my friends tend to make it hard for me to bear. I am completely fine dating no one but I kind of hated being teased because of that. So I just lied to my friends and made them think I am dating someone. And of course I can't convince them with just words so I searched for some guy's picture in Pinterest and yours came up in the searches and since you're handsome, I thought I could use your picture and show it to them. I really thought I was not doing any harm since we really didn't know each other but as soon as I learned that you're attending the same university as we were, I decided to cut the charade short. Now, if I gave them the wrong reason for our break-up, framing you as someone who cheated when you really didn't because how can you when we aren't even dating, I am sorry, okay? I just figured telling them that it didn't work between us will not be convincing enough for them to believe. I can't tell them that you broke up with me because it'll make me look pathetic. I also can't tell them that I broke up with you because they won't believe me since you're too handsome so I needed to make up a reason, thus... I told them you cheated so my decision of breaking up will be reasonable. Like I said, I am not proud of what I did but please understand and I hope you'll forgive me."

His explanation might have been longer than what it needed to be that it had exhausted him at the end of his last sentence but Jinyoung is glad to let everything off his chest. He stared and waited for anything coming from the brunet. About five seconds passed before he did hear something.

"You think I'm too handsome?" What the- "Too handsome for what? For you? Because I think not. You're fairly handsome too. So... why did you say I am too handsome?"

Jinyoung could explain and point out that the kind of looks Mark has is a hundred percent fine. Mark is insanely handsome but... is this what they should be talking about? His explanation was too damn long and that is all Mark has processed? The fact that he said the brunet is too handsome? Really?

Closing his eyes briefly and taking a deep breath, Jinyoung talked again. "Did you just miss the part where I was saying sorry? Because that was the whole point of that long apology." He could roll his eyes but he resisted. "I am saying sorry for dragging you into this mess. I am saying sorry despite the pure embarrassment I am feeling right now just to put this all behind us. I have humiliated myself enough to not want to add anything more to this already sticky situation I've created. I am really sorry, Mark. If needed, I'll apologize to Jaebeom too."

Almost a minute has passed before he saw Mark shrugging his shoulders and going back to twirling his fork in his pasta. "There's no need to apologize to the guy. He's good."

"Really? For a guy who has been falsely accused of stealing someone else's man, Jaebeom is quite loose about this. Are you sure he's good?" Mark nods and Jinyoung could just sigh in relief. "And how about you? Are you now okay with it? Aren't you mad?"

"Don't worry. I am not mad." Mark then smiled at him. "And yes. I'm okay with it."

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"So you lied to us." Jinyoung could feel how betrayed Yugyeom felt by saying that. "How could you, hyung?"

"Don't be dramatic. I already said sorry." He just told the younger to dismiss him. 

The five of them were walking their way to the cafeteria after their last class in the morning to have their lunch. When they all met in the study area, Jinyoung decided to tell them about the truth as how he planned to tell them yesterday if it wasn't for Mark and Jaebeom interfering. As expected, the teasing happened. His friends are just pretending to feel betrayed but Jinyoung is sure that after this, they'll continue on bringing this up whether it's necessary or not.

"We're still going to discuss if we're gonna let you live this down, Jinyoung." Jackson butts in, to which Bambam has seconded.

"But I'm still intrigued as to why Mark said that yesterday.. winning you back? Why did he say that if you two didn't even date in the first place?"

Jinyoung also begins to wonder about it again since he has failed to get an answer from Mark yesterday regarding it. But he just shrugs since he doesn't have any answer to give. He just continued walking until they entered the cafeteria but as they approach their usual table, he saw that there were already two persons sitting there. And it was-

"Isn't that Mark?" 

"And Jaebeom?"

Yugyeom and Bambam were right. Those two were sitting on their table. Just then, Mark lifted his head and was able to see them even before they reached their spot. "Hey, Jinyoung! Hey guys." He greeted and Jaebeom did the same, just repeating the greeting but directing i