A/N: I apologize for the late chapter. I have reasons and I'll type them tomorrow because it's already 2:24 in the morning. Just some quick reminders:

"If the whole sentence is italicized and in quotation marks, then that means it's in English."

"If only one word is italicized, then it's for emphasis."

If the italicized sentence is not inside quotation marks, then it's a thought, she thinks.

There's also one part where Mark's on the phone and if the lines are italicized, it means the person speaking is the one on the other side of the line.

I hope you enjoy this because I enjoyed writing it!

“Mark, we’re going to try a new thing!” Jackson announces and shoves his open book into Mark’s face, ignoring the fact that the latter is drinking.

The older boy splutters and drops his, fortunately empty, water bottle. His mother won’t be too pleased if he spills water on the carpeted floor. He glares at Jackson and forcefully takes the book from him. He looks at the particular page and raises his brow. “You read shoujo manga?”

“Yes, do you have a problem with that?” He looks at Mark as if he’s challenging him.

He raises his hands in surrender. “No. So, you were saying?”

Jackson points to the page showing a man with his hand on the wall and leaning towards a girl, with both characters looking bashful. “See? It’s really sweet, right? And the girl looks like she’s enjoying it!”

He looks at him blankly. He’s not stupid—he’s far from it, actually, but he doesn’t get what his friend is trying to tell him. Judging by how the characters look, the definitely like what’s happening, but what does he have to do with it?

Jackson heaves a sigh. He looks like he’s carrying the whole world on top of his shoulders. “You’re so slow. Girls like this action. It’s called kabe-don, by the way. We can take advantage of it and apply it to our shop.”

“I’m still not getting your drift,” he remarks and hands the manga back to him.

The shorter man groans in annoyance. “I’m going to give you a direct example, alright? If a customer asks us if the piece of clothing he or she has chosen looks good, we’ll do a kabe-don on him or her!” He looks at Mark proudly, waiting for his well-deserved praise.

But Mark doesn’t even bat an eyelash and walks to his bed. He dives under the covers and closes his eyes. “Please lock the door when you leave. I’m going to sleep.”

He hears Jackson scream profanities at him as he leaves the room, but he knows his best friend doesn’t mean any of them. He easily drifts to sleep, too tired to let his mind wander and think about unnecessary things.

Exactly nine hours and thirty-four minutes later, he wakes up with a start when Jackson bursts inside his room. He sits up and rubs his eyes, trying to wipe the sleep from them. “What do you want so early in the morning?” he complains and ends it with a yawn.

“We need to go to the shop! The boss is waiting,” Jackson says excitedly—he’s always excited—and plops down Mark’s bed. “Come on, come on, come on.” He stands up—Mark doesn’t know why he even bothered to sit down when he was going to stand up again—and pulls him up. He pushes the older to his bathroom and says, “If you’re not out in ten minutes, I’m going in and I’m going to bring you to the shop whether you’re dressed or not.”

Mark dashes inside and cleans up immediately. He’s been friends with Jackson long enough to know when he’s joking and when he isn’t. When he leaves the bath, Jackson is waiting for him, holding his clothes.

Jackson shoves his clothing for the day to him and tells him, “Get dressed. And don’t even bother picking a different set of clothing.” He gives him an eat-ting grin and leaves the room while whistling.

He doesn’t bother checking the outfit out and just wears it; he trusts Jackson’s fashion sense. He grabs a coat a pair of socks from his closet and leaves the room. He finds Jackson lounging in the living room, watching TV and munching on fruits. He snorts and heads to the dining room to greet his parents and siblings.

“Mark, you’re not going to eat?” his mom asks worriedly.

He grins at her and grabs a toast from his younger brother’s plate, ignoring his protest. “Work is waiting for me. I have to go. Bye!”

“Don’t forget to grab a snack!” his middle sister reminds him. His father adds, “And come back early.”

He nods and waves goodbye. He glances at Jackson and the Chinese boy switches off the televisions and follows him out of the house.

As they are wearing their shoes, Mark asks, “What’s the hurry?”

Jackson just winks at him and says, “You’ll see.”

After one bus ride, they arrive at the shop owned by Jackson’s aunt-in-law. It’s a clothing and accessories store for all es. They enter the shop and Mark fails to notice the huge poster posted in front of the shop.

“Good morning, imo,” they both greet the elderly woman with a bow.

“Good morning, dearies,” she says and greets them both with a hug. “Thanks for coming so early, especially you, Mark.” She grins and speaks in heavily-accented English, “Thank you.”

Mark grins widely, charming the older lady. “It’s nothing, imo. We’re happy to help.”

Mrs. Wang smiles gratefully and heads to the cashier. “It’s really great to have you good-looking boys help around. We’ve been getting more customers."

The bell suddenly chimes and they all look to the door to see their first customer of the day.

Mark’s eyes widen and his smile slowly disappears when he sees a group of excited girls enter the shop. They giggle and walk around the store to shop to their hearts’ content. One of the girls holding a pair of mittens approaches the middle of the shop where a makeshift wall and stage has been, inconspicuously to Mark, set up.

All the other girls inside the store stop what they’re doing and gather around the stage. Jackson winks at Mark and his aunt and heads to the girl. Mark, Mrs. Wang, and the girls watch the interaction intently. Some of the girls bring out their hand phones to record it.

The girl says something and then Jackson smiles at the girl seductively—Mark thinks it’s disgusting—and slams his hand on the wall. He leans in and whispers something. The girl blushes furiously and the other girls squeal in delight. They all dash around the store to look for something and take turns in experiencing the kabe-don with Jackson.

The first girl who went up the stage walks to the counter to pay for her mittens. She is still red-faced and breathing heavily when she hands the mittens to Mrs. Wang. “How was it?” she asks the girl.

The girl looks at her with dreamy eyes and breathes out, “Heaven.” She blinks repeatedly and adds, “Thank you for this.” She pans her attention to Mark, who is looking at her curiously. “Oppa, are you going to do that too?” Her lips begin to form a smile.

His eyes widen and he waves his hands in front of him in a disagreeing motion. “No, no. That’s Jackson’s job.”

She nods disappointedly, face falling and clutches her package to her chest. “But oppa, you should try it too.” She smiles shyly and bows before joining her also-breathless friends.

“I think you’re very handsome,” Mrs. Wang remarks as she fixes the small accessories sold near the counter. “Why don’t you go join my nephew?”

“He’s handsome, but with that personality, girls tend to choose me over him,” Jackson pipes up, already by Mark’s side and done with kabe-don-ing the girls. “Can’t say the same with the guys though,” he adds and winks.

Mark fumes and tries his hardest not to hit his friend—he doesn’t want Mrs. Wang to think badly of him and there are still customers inside the shop. He settles with glaring at him. Jackson responds by sending him a gleeful grin.

Soon enough, all the girls purchase their items and leave, promising to come back and tell others about the store. Mrs. Wang is glad, thankful that the shop will gain more popularity. Jackson, on the other hand, is standing proudly with his hands on his waist, looking like a Greek hero.

“Thank you, Jackson,” Mrs. Wang says, knowing that that’s what her nephew wants. She smiles cheerfully. “But really, thank you. We’re going to have an increase in sales and the customers are going to be very happy.”

The day ends rather quickly with customers, all female, flocking to the shop to experience the kabe-don event. Jackson doesn’t complain—he likes the attention. After helping Mrs. Wang close up the shop, Mark and Jackson head back together.

“You seem very happy,” Mark says. He knows very well why there’s a skip to his friend step. He probably got most of those girls’ numbers, but more than that, he got to help his aunt. He knows that Jackson loves helping people. It’s one of the reasons why he’s still friends with the fencing master.

“Yeah,” Jackson says with no further explanation.

They stay silent while waiting for their bus. Once they’ve boarded, Jackson starts talking a mile a minute. He decides to explain the mechanics of the winter event. “The customer will ask if the piece of clothing or accessory looks good,” he says, “and you will do the kabe-don and answer.”

“Is the kabe-don necessary?” Mark asks. He knows it is, but he wants to annoy Jackson.

Jackson face-palms and mockingly glares at him. “Of course, you dimwit. The purpose of the event is to do that.” Satisfied, he leans on the window and says, “Wake me up when we’re at our stop.”

Mark is left to his own world and he starts to imagine himself doing a kabe-don. He can’t see himself doing it with anyone though. He’s never fallen for anyone after all.

On the fourth day of the event, a couple walks in the store to shop for some items. The cute boy with pretty doe eyes unknowingly steps on the stage as he browses the racks. Jackson doesn’t discriminate and he willingly does the kabe-don on everyone who requests it. He or she just needs to say the magic words.

When he hears the doe-eyed boy ask, “Sehun-ah, are these couple shirts pretty?” he immediately walks to him and pushes him to the wall. He slams his hand on the wall and looks up—the pretty boy is taller than him—and says, “Yes, they’re pretty. They will look—hey!”

He gets pushed aside and glared at by a tall, menacing guy. The guy looks at him like he’s ready to kill him and then turns to the pretty boy, his facial features immediately becoming softer. “Lu Han hyung, are you okay?” he coos.

The pretty boy, Lu Han, laughs and pinches the taller man’s cheek. “Sehun-ah, you’re too violent.” He tiptoes a bit and pecks his lips. “Let’s try on these shirts, okay?” he says and pulls the taller and now-grinning-like-a-kid man to the dressing rooms.

Jackson remains sprawled on the floor, still scared of the giant man-child named Sehun. Mark, who is watching from the sidelines, doesn’t stop laughing even if the other customers are looking at him weirdly.

The whole week passes by quite quickly for Mark. The shop’s sales have increased because of the special event, making Mrs. Wang very pleased. Everything goes smoothly, with less work for Mark because Jackson has been getting all the attention, until he wakes up one day.

For the past week, he didn’t bother setting up an alarm because Jackson always came to wake him up anyway. He does the same that day, but no one comes barging inside his room to wake him up. He groggily sits up, confused at the silence.

He grabs his phone to check the time and is surprised to see that it’s already one in the afternoon. He curses under his breath and dials Jackson’s number. He’s ready to scream his head off, but stops himself when he hears his best friend coughing in the background.

“Hey,” he says in a gentle tone, “Where are you?”

He hears a sneeze before Jackson rasps, “At home. I’m sick.”

He frowns and worriedly says, “Do you want me to come over?”

Jackson sneezes again and answers, “Just go to the shop and help imo.”

“Okay. Bye,” Mark utters. He’s extremely worried about his best friend, but knowing Jackson, he’ll probably kill him—in a best friend kind of way—if he chooses him over the shop. Jackson hates it when his aunt overworks.

He gets ready and drags himself over to the shop. Working with his best friend is fun. Even the most boring place becomes a playground when Jackson is around. He sighs and enters the shop. To his surprise, there are only a few people shopping.

“Good afternoon, imo,” Mark greets with a bow. He spies an open changing room with clothes and walks to it.

Mrs. Wang looks up at him and greets him with a smile. “Hello, dear. Jackson called earlier and told me that he’s sick. I didn’t know you’d be coming.”

With his arms full of clothing, he grins at her—she’s such a nice lady—and says, “It’s my job.”

She smiles warmly and goes back to arranging the clothing. “Oh, by the way, I cancelled the promo for today. I know you don’t like doing it, so we’ll just wait until Jackson comes back.”

He’s relieved, but guilty, so ends up smiling while biting his lower lip. “Sorry,” he mumbles. Mrs. Wang just laughs it off and urges him to start working.

The bell above the door rings, signaling the entrance of a new customer. Mark raises his head, ready to greet his first customer of the day, but his jaw drops when he sees who it is.

A boy, probably his age and taller by a few centimeters than him, walks in with the widest smile he's ever seen. Mark doesn't see the boy's companion because he's too busy watching him.

Never has he, in his twenty-one years of living, felt a burning desire to strike a conversation with someone until that boy with a bad haircut walked in.

He gulps and steers himself to the direction of the boy and his companion. He feels his heart thumping in his chest, louder and faster than ever. He takes a deep breath and mentally prepares himself. Leave a good impression, he reminds himself. When he reaches them, he forgets everything and hurriedly says, "Can I help you?"

He belatedly realizes that he spoke in English and inwardly curses himself. He wants to fall down a hole for being incredibly stupid. "I'm s-sorry. I—” he stutters.

The boy laughs and Mark wants to fall further down the hole. So much for making a good impression, he thinks sulkily. He unintentionally pouts and the boy, who has stopped laughing, notices.

The boy looks at him worriedly and exclaims, "No! Don't worry! I found it cute."

Mark's face heats up and he digs his nails into his palms to keep himself calm. Cute? He thinks I'm cute?

But the other boy is still freaking out, afraid that he offended him. His companion, who turns out to be a girl, snickers. He glares at her and scolds her, "Ey, noona. Stop it."

The girl laughs again and Mark's face burns in embarrassment. "Jirongie, you are so cute," she says and walks away to check out the items in the shop.

Mark is left with the boy named Jirongie. He looks down, not really sure what to do now. His attempt at helping the other boy obviously failed. Maybe he can try again? He's determined to be successful this time. He just needs to calm down and speak in Korean. He's in Korea after all. He's not in LA anymore. He—

"Excuse me?"

He looks up and stares at Jirongie, wide eyed and mouth hanging open.

Jirongie smiles and Mark freaks out inside his head because there are crinkles beside the beautiful boy's eyes. "Are you even human?" he asks and Jirongie looks at him questioningly.

He realizes what he's done and he wants to cry because he's so reckless and stupid. He doesn't even remember if he said it in Korean or English, but Jirongie probably thinks he's weird. He slowly inches away from him and once he's created enough distance, he runs off to the staff room. He ignores Mrs. Wang's worried calls and Jirongie's even more alarmed shouts.

He locks the door and falls into a heap on the floor. He hears a series of knocks, but he pretends not to hear them. He doesn't cry, but his heart feels like it's about to burst. He's stupid. He's very stupid. He shakily takes his phone from his pocket and sends an SOS message to his best friend.

To: Jackson the King

From: Mark

Help.

Jirongie.

Forever alone.

He continues lying on the floor, fully intending not to get up and open the door. He doesn't want to face anyone—he's already lost face. He has no dignity. He has no fake reputation. He failed Flynn Rider.

He's being a drama queen and he knows it. Jackson's personality is finally rubbing off on me, he thinks, still sulking. He's always been a quiet boy with a crazy side, but he is not dramatic.

He replays the events in his mind and he bangs his head on the floor. He'll willingly crawl down the rabbit hole or whatever if it means he can go back to the past and maybe act cooler in front of his precious Jirongie.

He humiliated himself in front of him. He bangs his head on the floor once again when he remembers that Jirongie had a companion. "That's probably his girlfriend," he whines. Jirongie will probably never want to see him again.

A few minutes—an eternity for Mark—later, he hears another knock on the door and Mrs. Wang says gently, "Mark dear, the customers left already."

He takes it as his cue to stand up and leave the room. He bites his lower lip guiltily when he sees his boss looking at him curiously. "I was—I mean—sorry." He gives up and pouts.

Mrs. Wang shakes her head and laughs softly. "You're growing up, aren't you, Mark?"

He tilts his head to the side and looks at her questioningly. "Growing up?"

She just winks and ushers him to the entrance of the shop. "Greet the customers properly this time, okay?"

The business is quite slow that day. Aside from the occasional visitors, the shop is practically empty. Mark's fidgety the whole time because of the accident and once he finishes closing up, he rushes back home.

He doesn't even bother eating dinner—he doesn't realize that he hasn't eaten a single meal that day—and goes straight to his room to sulk even more. He discards his clothing and jumps under the covers.

He's never felt this way before. When he saw Jirongie, he felt like he was entering paradise. He knows it's not love. It's impossible for it to be love. But what if it is? He sits up on his bed, alarmed. "Love?" he whispers.

He stares into space for a while. He's not sure if he's disturbed or excited, but it's definitely different from what he usually feels. He realizes that the world seems much brighter and colorful that day.

Winter break ends and so does the winter special event. He and Jackson go back to university. Their university is only a short distance away from Mrs. Wang's shop, so they still help out around the shop. Jackson helps with pure intentions (the girls are just a plus), but Mark's are not-so-pure.

He believes that if he continues working there, he'll somehow meet Jirongie again.

A week after school has resumed, Mark walks to the shop alone. Jackson has a date and is taking a break from work. Mark, on the other hand, will never take a break until he sees Jirongie again. He can't even find him on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram.

He opens the door, not expecting anything, and sees the greatest surprise of his young life. There, standing near the back of the shop and going through the clothes, is Jirongie, the boy who's been plaguing his dreams. He gets a boost of confidence, although he doesn't know where from, and drops his backpack somewhere near the entrance of the shop. He takes long strides and heads to Jirongie.

As he is nearing him, he hears him say, "Noona, does this sweater look good?"

He mentally cheers at the opportunity. Jirongie doesn't notice him, busy looking at the clothes. He takes a deep breath and gently pushes him to the wall. Jirongie looks at him with wide eyes, surprised. A blush quickly spreads on his cheeks.

Mark slams his hand on the wall behind Jirongie and the latter realizes what's happening. Mark doesn't hear the cheers of everyone in the shop; he can only hear his precious one's breathing—heavy and uneven. He leans in slowly and Jirongie raises his hand to shield his lips, although there's an unmistakeable smile on his face.

Mark bumps his forehead against Jirongie's and then slowly traces his lips on the boy's cheek to his ear. He whispers, "I think that sweater will look good on you," and softly blows on his ears.

He pulls away after that and gives him a small smile. He heads to the staff room, looking nonchalant, but when he locks the door of the room, he releases his breath that he doesn't know he's been holding. He slides down to the floor, feeling blissful and fulfilled.

He's done it. He's showed Jirongie that he's cool and not a blubbering idiot. He probably even made him realize that he's much better than his girlfriend. He mentally pats his head for a job well done and sighs in relief. Now he just needs to get himself together and then he can introduce himself properly to Jirongie. Then maybe he can ask him out and they can go on a date. And someday, they'll get married and live in a pretty house. He'll live wherever Jirongie wants to live. He'll buy a car for them and their future kids and—

Mark wakes up from his daydream when he hears loud knocking on the door. He stands and opens it, ready to tell whoever it is off for ruining his vision of the future, but sees his boss looking at him angrily.

"Imo?"

"What have you done?" she scolds him, the smile missing from her face.

He looks at her questioningly, confused. "What are you—"

She groans and hits him on the head. "Mark, I am disappointed in you. Do you think feelings are a joke?" Her frown deepens and she looks at him disapprovingly. "You hurt Jinyoung!"

He looks at her blankly until what he did finally hits him. Jirongie's real name is Jinyoung. Jinyoung probably thinks he was making fun of him when he did the kabe-don on him. His face turns ghostly white and he has to lean on the door to keep himself together. "No way."

Mrs. Wang continues frowning at him while he starts to freak out. "What am I going to do? Just when I thought I've finally impressed him, I actually offended him." He looks at her, greatly distressed. "Imo, what am I going to do?"

She discards her frown and looks at him gently. "Jinyoung's sister is actually a friend of Jackson's. You can ask him where he lives."

"The girl with him is his older sister?" he asks weakly.

She nods and he groans. He bangs his head on the door in frustration. "I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid."

"You just found out?"

He raises his head to see Jackson beside Mrs. Wang with a bright red handprint on his cheek. "Shut up," he says weakly, not really in the mood to argue or make fun of Jackson's cheek.

"So what happened this time?" Jackson asks as he pulls him inside the staff room. He looks at his aunt and tells her, "Don't worry, imo. I got this.”

"Knock some sense into your best friend's head, won't you?" she says and shuts the door.

They sit on the stools inside the room and Mark looks at his best friend with teary eyes. "I'm a jerk.”

"Yes, yes. I already know that."

He takes a deep breath and starts telling him about everything that has happened. After he finishes his story, he takes a peak at his best friend. Jackson, at first, has the decency to look pitiful, but then he bursts into laughter.

"You're so stupid, man." He wipes a tear from his eye because of laughing too much and then slings an around him. "But you're not wholly stupid, you know. You're just incredibly dense to the point that your actions have become stupid."

"I know that already," he whispers.

"But," Jackson continues, "you're not a hopeless case. You're lucky I know where Jinyoung lives."

He looks at him hopefully and pouts. "Can you take me there now?"

The fencing superstar shakes his head. "Give it some time, bro. He needs some space."

"Isn't it too late now?" Mark asks as they walk towards the Parks' home. He is holding a bouquet of fresh lilies—Jackson insisted on red roses, but he stood his ground—and a pyramid of Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

"It's better late than never," Jackson proclaims as they round the corner.

Mark wants to hit his best friend—because he’s the one who told him to give Jinyoung some space—but his hands are full. He mock glares at him and thinks, For all I know, he's probably just too busy with his girlfriends.

Jackson gasps, pretending to be offended, and says, “You’re thinking that I prioritized my dates, aren’t you?”

He gives him a sidelong glance and the other bursts into laughter. “Okay, okay. I kind of had a few dates lined up and I thought—ow!”

Mark momentarily forgets that he’s supposed to give Jinyoung the chocolate pyramid and hits Jackson’s head with it. “You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

“And I’m supposed to be your best friend.”

He stops walking and eyes Jackson like he’s some kind of dirt. “I don’t know what those girls see in you,” he says, albeit jokingly, and continues walking.

Jackson, already used to it, just laughs it off and leads Mark to Jinyoung’s residence. “His older sister is actually my ex-girlfriend. Things didn’t work out, but we decided to remain friends. She visits the shop from time to time.”

Mark nods absentmindedly. He’s thinking about how he’s going to react in front of Jinyoung. He’s already practiced what he wants to say and how he’s going to give the flowers and the chocolates. He has also practiced how he’s going to smile and pout. Jinyoung thinks he’s cute, so he needs to maximize his cuteness. He’s also practiced—

“Mark, we’re here.”

He stops his train of thoughts and his walking and raises his head to look at the comfy-looking house in front of him. He gulps and walks to the gate to ring the doorbell. After a few minutes, he hears someone—he knows it’s his Jirongie—say, “In a minute!”

He takes a deep breath and watches the front door expectantly. When it opens, Jinyoung takes a step outside. He looks surprised when he sees Mark standing there with chocolates and flowers. “Uh, are you looking for my sister?” he asks uncertainly, but there is a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Which one?”

Everything he practiced flies out of his mind and he starts rambling a mile a minute. “I—no, actually—apologize, yes. Apologize. For week last—I just want to apologize for what I did the last time you came to the store. That was three weeks ago. Look, I really didn’t know what I was thinking. Well, I did. I wanted to impress you and I thought that would be the best way. But I didn’t know you’d take it the wrong way.”

Mark doesn’t realize that Jinyoung has abandoned his spot by the door and is walking towards him. He’s still speaking in his mother language when Jinyoung opens the gate. When the taller boy realizes that Mark isn’t going to shut up any time soon, he reaches out and pinches his lips together.

Mark blinks and looks at Jinyoung with wide eyes. “Jirongie.”

Jinyoung looks at him in amusement. “Yes, that’s my nickname. Hey, it’s still pretty cold right now, so why don’t you come in?”

“Me? Inside your house?” Mark asks, shocked. “Are you sure?”

Jinyoung laughs and his eyes involuntarily close. The crinkles beside his eyes distract Mark once again. “Yes. Now, come on, before I change my mind.”

He hesitantly follows him in, his heart beating faster than ever. Jinyoung asks him to sit on the couch while he prepares some drinks and he hurriedly does due to his nervousness. The taller boy leaves for the kitchen and he feels even more nervous.

“Five times.”

He raises his head to see a woman, around her late twenties, standing by the staircase. He stands up to bow and greet her. “Hello. Sorry for the intrusion.” He wonders about the five times, but he doesn’t bother asking.

The woman looks familiar, but he can’t quite pinpoint where he’s seen her. She heads for the couch and sits beside him, not even looking the least bit uncomfortable. Well, of course, Mark, he tells himself, She lives here.

“You’ve your lips five times ever since you sat down the couch,” she says. “Actually, eight times now.”

He looks at her, intimidated, and stutters, “S-s-sorry?”

She suddenly laughs and he sees that she looks just like Jinyoung, but she’s less attractive. No offense to her, he thinks. “You’re a funny guy, Mr. L.A.”

He looks at her in surprise. “You know that I’m from L.A.?”

She grins at him and ruffles his hair. “Jackson mentioned before that his best friend is an American and when I saw you at the store, I immediately knew he was talking about you.” She looks towards the kitchen and then whispers, “Take care of my dongsaeng, okay?”

“Ya, noona, what are you doing?” Jinyoung asks as he enters the living room, holding a tray with drinks and snacks.

She laughs and then slings an arm around Jinyoung. “Oh, you know, just getting comfortable with my boy from L.A.”

Mark freaks out inwardly. He wants to remove Jinyoung’s sister’s arm around him because Jinyoung may misunderstand, but he doesn’t want to be rude to her. Fortunately, his precious one is there to save the day.

Jinyoung narrows his eyes and grabs Mark’s hand. He pulls him upstairs without a word while balancing the tray on one hand. He leads him to his room and locks the door. He leaves Mark standing by the door as he places the tray on a table.

His room is cleaner than an average guy’s room—definitely much cleaner than Mark’s, and especially Jackson’s, room. There are still some trashes here and there, but it’s still pretty neat.

“Sorry about my sister,” he apologizes as he plops down on his bed. “She’s pretty weird, but she’s tamer compared to my oldest sister.” He offers Mark a smile.

Mark is paralyzed by the door. His brain tries to comprehend what’s happening, but all it can process is that Mark is in Jinyoung’s room. And they are alone. He is in Jinyoung’s room. And they are alone. He is—

“Mark hyung?”

His head shoots up and he stares at Jinyoung, stunned. “You-you know my name?”

A pretty blush covers Jinyoung’s cheeks as he nods. He takes a deep breath and confesses, “I got curious when I saw you for the first time at the shop, so I asked the shop owner about you. Your name, which university you go to, your birthday. Everything I could think of.”

Mark starts walking towards Jinyoung’s bed and unconsciously sits down in front of him.

Jinyoung continues, “I went to the shop every chance I got up, but I only saw you a month later. And then you did that and I got really upset because I thought you knew about how I feel for you and you were making fun of me.”

Mark marvels at the declaration and stares at Jinyoung, speechless. After minutes of staring at Jinyoung’s downcast eyes, he finally finds his voice. “I’m sorry,” he says sincerely, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Jinyoung bites his lips and nods slowly. “Apology accepted,” he says softly.

Mark breathes deeply and reaches out to grab Jinyoung’s chin and raise his head. He looks at the younger boy’s eyes and says, “I did that because I wanted to show off. I wanted to look cool in front of you, but I guess it didn’t work out, huh?” He smiles at him shyly and adds really softly, “I really like you.”

“I don’t understand English well,” Jinyoung says, “but I know what that means.” He grins at him and the crinkles beside his eyes that Mark loves so much appear. “And I want you to know that I like you too.”

The older boy shrugs and squeezes Jinyoung’s hand. “It depends on the boss and Jackson, but I definitely won’t participate unless it’s you.” When they’re standing in front of the shop, he grins mischievously and pushes him gently to the wall. He slams his hand on the wall and leans in.

Jinyoung is smiling and blushing, but he isn’t resisting. Mark smiles as he leans in closer and closer until their lips are almost touching. He’s about to close the tiny gap between their lips when Jackson shouts, “Hey! You guys are late! The store opens at ten, but it’s already 10:15.”

Mark growls and glares at Jackson for disturbing them. His best friend grins at him and bursts into loud and obnoxious laughter. He winks at them before heading inside the shop.

Mark clears his throat and looks back at Jinyoung who is waiting expectantly. He decides to tease his boyfriend of nine months and make him wait some more.

Jinyoung, knowing full well what his boyfriend is planning, grins and decides to take matters into his own hands. He grabs Mark’s neck, pulling him closer, and captures his lips in a sweet embrace.

The first snow of the year falls as the two lovers express their warm sentiments towards each other outside the shop where they first met. The cold winter wind blows gently and the shop’s banner waves victoriously.

Winter Bloom.