The remainder of the week went by as awkward as Jinyoung and Mark had imagined. Youngjae was still ignoring Jackson, doing his best to stay out of his way and avoid him like the plague. It wasn't like Jackson was forcing himself onto Youngjae, but it did seem like he was more than willing to make conversation; Youngjae on the other hand, he was not too keen. 

Over the course of the week, Mark had come to learn some facts about Jackson. If Youngjae was unwilling to talk to the new guy, then that was his deal, Mark wouldn't live his life being weird to a kid he hardly knew anything about so he would do his best to be friendly while at the same time keeping their relationship to that of just seat mates. Jackson, Mark had learned, could speak Chinese as well and English which made it that more convenient incase Mark wanted to secretly play Cupid and try to force a meeting between Youngjae and him without Youngjae ever finding out that he was in any way, shape, or form involved in it; though if he ever did go through with a plan like that, Jinyoung would probably kill him, not to mention Youngjae who would probably never speak to him again. In the end, Mark had come to the conclusion that Jackson was in fact a decent guy and that maybe Youngjae was being a bit over dramatic with this whole situation. Again, Mark wouldn't jeopardize his friendship with Youngjae over a guy he just met and more so when the guy in question had hurt his friend in the past. Still there was always that temptation calling for Mark to do something to help his friend even if said friend would hate him for it. 

There was nothing he could do. All week, Jackson had tried to make his presence known, but it was all futile. He tried different intersections to see what the best way to accidently bump into Youngjae was during passing period, but it seemed that no matter how hard Jackson tried to find an excuse to talk to him, Youngjae was trying harder to avoid him. Maybe Jackson was over thinking the situation. Maybe Youngjae didn't really remember him at all and here Jackson was trying to get all up in his face; if Jackson accomplished anything, it would be to scare the younger male away. Jackson was so certain though; the way Youngjae tensed up when he was around was physically visible. Youngjae would stiffen and walk all awkwardly straight, as if he were in the army. He would also mumble a lot when Jackson was within ear shot, the crap coming out of his mouth was something else in itself; Jackson found it amusing how Youngjae couldn't keep focused on a conversation with Jinyoung or Mark whenever he was around. 

Jackson came to a conclusion, he would stop trying to get in Youngjae's face, but he would still be there for Youngjae when the time was right. He wouldn't deny the pain he put his best friend through, but at the same time, Jackson thought of the pain he himself went through, losing his brother and best friend at the same time, it was all unbearable. Jackson had gone through a dark time a year after he moved, that being the reason why his mother was so overprotective with him, she couldn't lose another son. Jackson would pursue this path instead, he would let Youngjae grieve his pain and when he was ready to talk, and then they would talk and sort things out.

Jackson walked into school extra early that Monday morning. It had been a week since he stopped trying and things were going surprisingly well for him. He was going to try out for the school's fencing team that day so he wanted to get there quick to prepare, it had been a while since the last time he had had the chance to fence. Jackson headed to the back of the school where the field and anything related to sports could be found. On his way there, he came upon a scene that didn't sit too well with him. If there was something Jackson was, it was selfless. His brother was the kindest and most caring person Jackson had ever known and because of him, Jackson grew up with the ideology of helping the weak and standing up to the bullies. He spotted two guys picking on another student who looked way too small to be in high school if you asked him. They were toying with his backpack, tossing it to each other while the smaller student attempted to catch it mid air. Jackson rolled his eyes while marching towards the scene, he hated people that felt cool and superior because they could strike fear onto others.  

"Give it back," Jackson commanded, interrupting the next toss. The two boys and their victim turned to him, the smaller of the three looking hopeful because this guy looked tough enough to take them down. 

"Who the are you?" asked the first guy meeting Jackson's gaze.

"Is he your big brother?" the second guy questioned their victim while tossing the backpack to his friend. "Did you call your big brother to help you out boy," the bully continued while shoving the small boy to the floor. Jackson moved immediately, stopping the first bully from smacking the backpack down onto the already fallen boy by snatching it away.

"Who the do you think you are?" said the first bully.

"I think you guys said it yourselves, I'm his brother, now why don't you guys walk away and I'll try to forget about this mess," Jackson responded while helping the boy up. The two bullies exchanged looks, they would teach this guy a lesson. Before anyone could lay a hand on Jackson, he dropped to the floor spinning in a circle and dropping the first guy to the floor. The second guy stopped in his tracks observing how his friend was being held down by the neck. "Now, let me say this one more time while I'm still being nice, leave now and I'll try to forget any of this ever happened. Got it?" Jackson let go of the bully who quickly got to his feet and ran away from the scene with his friend trailing behind.

"Are you okay?" Jackson asked the boy once the bullies were gone. The boy nodded in affirmation. "What's your name?" The boy was hesitant in answering Jackson, he was a bit scared of the guy even though he had just saved his life, but he must really be a scary person if he managed to make those two bullies go off running.

"Jin," the boy answered, "thank you —"

"Jackson! My name is Jackson," Jackson stated with a smile on his face. That smile really changed Jin's impression of Jackson fast, smiling, made Jackson look cute and innocent, while compared to his scarier superhero complex. 

"Thank you Jackson," Jin bowed in sincere gratitude.

"Anytime man, if those two ever try picking on you again, you let me know okay, or anyone else for that matter."

"Why? You don't even know me." 

"I just don't like seeing people get mistreated and taken advantage of. That's something my brother taught me, and if you want I can be that to you, a brother. Besides, those two now think that I'm your brother so it's probably best that we keep up appearances, for your sake."

"Okay —"

"Alright Jin, well I have to go for now, but see you around alright man."

"Oh, yeah, sure, ok, bye," Jin said shyly collecting his belongings and heading the opposite way of Jackson. 

When Jackson got to the field, he figured that maybe he had gotten the date and time wrong, but as the day rolled down, he found out that the last spot had been taken. He was feeling a little dejected because making the team could have given him a sense of purpose at the school, but now even that was taken from him. Jackson thought it was about time he started putting himself out there and making friends because really, he needed someone he could talk to. 

Classes for the day were coming to an end and Jackson found himself thinking about his life now, here, the life he left back home, and the life he had abandoned many years prior to this. He thought that maybe coming back wasn't such a great idea anymore, but when his father was offered a chance to come back to Korea, Jackson was more than elated at the news. Now being here, in the present, he felt alone and abandoned to a certain extent. Youngjae, who was his best friend was doing everything in his power to ignore him, but Jackson was starting to lose patience with that; if Youngjae didn't want to deal with him, then maybe Jackson would just forget about this all and go back home, at least there he had friends, friends who he had left to come back to the one person he loved and cared the most of in this world. 

"Jackson," Mark whispered while nudging Jackson to bring him out of his trance. Jackson turned to Mark curious because he was starting to think that Mark was also ignoring him for reasons unknown to him.

"Yeah?" Jackson whispered back because there must be a reason for the secrecy. Mark pulled out a note from his front pocket and handed it to him. Jackson looked at the folded paper and began to unfold it, but was stopped by Mark who nudged him in the gut. Jackson stopped to turn to him with a questioning and hurtful look because it did kind of hurt and what was the deal with that guy, Jackson thought. Mark pointed towards Youngjae who was sitting right in front of them; Jackson glanced at Youngjae and put the note away. 

The bell sounded, signaling the end of classes for the day and Jackson, for the first time was one of the quickest students to gather his belongings and head out. He missed the curious looks the students gave him, but even more the longing glance Youngjae sent his way before he disappeared out the door. 

A/N: Hello strangers, so I have updated. I want to take a moment to thank all of you for subscribing to my story 

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