“Mark, we’re good friends, right?”

Mark paused in between figuring out the answer to the math problem he was doing for the last 7 minutes. He looked up to find his roommate and friend- best friend, really- of 6 years staring back at him. Jackson had a weird expression on his face. It was as if he was trying hard not to keep an amused face, and he failed at it miserably. 

“Sure, Jackson, we are,” Mark said, deciding to humor his Cantonese friend, looking back down to his homework. 

Jackson nodded, “Uh-huh, yeah, so, that means you won’t hide things from me, right?” 

Mark hummed in reply. 

“Is that a yes?”

“Of course,” Mark answered. He sighed when he looked back up to find that Jackson continued to look at him with a suspicious expression. “Okay, what is this about?”

“Do you have anything you want to share with me?”

Mark shook his head.

Jackson just stared at him further, “absolutely nothing you want to tell me? Nothing exciting in your life? Mark, c’mon, man.”

“I stick to what I said,” Mark said in a neutral manner, resuming his scribbling and aimless solving. Math was his best subject. Sometimes, his friends would even call him Math Tuan instead of Mark Tuan, that’s just how good he is. 

Jackson didn’t feel the need to point out that Mark had been stuck in the same problem for a while now. 

“Nothing… on your mind?” Jackson inquired again, just for the sake of it.

Mark n