"You told him WHAT??!!!" And now he sees Jackson's face which shows how shocked the latter is. But it can also be very well seen in the Chinese's eyes and that amused smile he's wearing that the guy finds it hilarious. 

Mark rolls his eyes and jabbed at his best friend's stomach but it only caused Jackson to erupt in a fit of laughter. "This is gold, man! This. Is. Gold. I tell you!" And there comes the next set of Jackson's hyena laugh. Mark rolls his eyes for the second time and grunted almost angrily at Jackson who is still laughing, shaking his head, with that amused smile not leaving his lips. His best friend really finds it hilarious. And by it, Mark meant what happened last night. And by what happened last night, Mark actually meant that part when he told Jinyoung these exact words: "Stop liking nice guys and date me instead." Mark could only scowl at his own doing.  him. Why did he even think of asking Jinyoung that? What was he even planning to get as a response? It was lucky of him that by the time he let those words slip from his mouth, Jinyoung was as good as drunk that the younger refused to take his words seriously. What Jinyoung did was just push Mark's hand back to him, and give him an incredulous look as he did what he was intending to do which was to pour soju in his glass. He didn't hear anything from the younger aside from his laugh while they finish the rest of their food.

Telling that to Jinyoung was his first mistake, Mark knows. But as he glanced at the laughing Chinese beside him, Mark could only grunt again. Telling Jackson about it was another mistake.

"I hope your stomach hurts from laughing too much over something which you shouldn't even be laughing about." Mark hisses at Jackson who pays no mind and just hugs the pillow which the latter used to hit his stomach seconds ago and placed both his feet on top of the table.

"What were you expecting he would answer to that?" Jackson asks.

Mark furrows his brows and curled his lips up. "I don't know."

"So why did you even ask him that?"

"I don't know."

That made the Chinese laugh again. "For a twenty-one-year-old, you sure don't know a lot of things."

For a few seconds, Mark sat still on the couch, arms crossed, lips pouted. But after not hearing anything else from Jackson, he decided to go ahead and say something. Facing his best friend, Mark talked. "I don't like him."

Yet, Jackson just smirked at him and it looks like what he just said brought a new kind of amusement to the latter. Mark could see in that uneven smile teasingly drawing on Jackson's lips. "I didn't say that you do."

"Yes, you did. The last time we talked you suggested that I like him and just yesterday you repeated that saying that it wasn't even a question anymore."

Jackson pursed his lips which made him look like a squirtle and shrugged his shoulders. "I might have but didn't you reject that idea already? I didn't suggest it now, but you went ahead of yourself and negated the idea which I am not suggesting yet."

Mark hates the kind of smile Jackson has and all the more what his best friend was probably implying behind it, so he just shook his head. "What you're saying is impossible. It's impossible that I like him. It's impossible that I like Jinyoung."

Mark wanted to wipe that smirk off Jackson's face so bad. "Okay. If you say so-"

"I just enjoy teasing him and getting in his nerves because his reactions are amusing." Mark said, to make his point clear for once. "The way he rolls his eyes and glares at me even before I get to say anything. The way he curl his lips up everytime I say something which irks him although it seem like everything I say really pushes his buttons. He always use those eyes to give deadly stares at me and yet, those eyes are different everytime he's talking to Gyeom or to Bambam. Did you know that his eyes crinkle at the sides whenever he smiles or laughs at Gyeom's or Bam's jokes? It's crazy how those same eyes which did nothing but glare at me holds those emotions every time he reads a story. It's crazy how that same voice which always showed how irritated he is by me, could also show different emotions of different characters in every story he reads. Ever since our first meeting I'm pretty sure he already hated me and it shows in how his mood changes every time he sees me. I have gotten used to his glares and eye rolls that I wasn't even expecting that he would ever smile at me like how he does to the other kids but when he did that particular time... when he smiled at me like that... it's crazy how I suddenly realized that it feels better and nicer- to make him smile rather than to tease and annoy the hell out of him. It's just .... crazy."

Mark was positive that his mind had drifted away already right after that last sentence of his. Only the sound of Jackson clearing his throat was able to bring him back. When he glanced at the latter, Jackson was not smirking anymore... but there's still that hint of amusement in his eyes when he asked, "So... you don't like him, right?"

Up until Mark had fetched his younger brother from their house and even when they reached the library, Jackson's words kept on ringing in his head. But when he saw Jinyoung who was standing at the corner of the library and Jaebum standing near him, as Mark watched the two talk to each other, Mark seems to have an answer.

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Jinyoung glances at Jaebum, studying those soft eyes gazing at him. When Eun-woo called on him again saying it's already his turn to tell a story, that was their cue to break their stares. Jinyoung saw Youngjae walking off the stage so turning to Jaebum, he smiled. "I'll go now. Shouldn't keep the kids waiting."

With that, Jaebum smiled. "Okay. Good luck." The latter cheered him.

Upon walking up on the mini stage, Jinyoung could already hear the kids' cheers. They're all clapping their hands. He even heard Yugyeom and Bambam shouting out his name, saying Nyoungie hyung! and Jinyoung can't hide his smile. But when his eyes met with the red haired's, Jinyoung was reminded of the older's words last night. Jinyoung tried to laugh it off and not to pay too much mind to Mark's words. He tried to not let those words get to him and affect him in any way he deem unnecessary. Did he really mean that? This was his question. But he doesn't think he has the guts to ask. Shaking his head, Jinyoung decides he should not let these thoughts distract him. He still needs to tell a story and the kids are waiting. This can be dealt with some other time.

Sitting on the chair at the center and placing the storybook in his lap, Jinyoung scans the small crowd. "Are you all ready for our last story for today?" That made the kids cheer while clapping some more. Jinyoung smiles before flipping the book open. "Very well then. Today, I'm