After having his lunch, Jinyoung, instead of returning to his room, walked to the entrance of the house. Mark was found nowhere inside the house.
Leaning against the door frame at the entrance, he stared at the outside. It was not a bustling sight on the street as it was weekends, and the sun was shining fairly brightly.
A familiar car entered the yard; Jinyoung's lips turned to a wide smile and he waved at the driver of the car. It pulled up right in front of the house and his friend came out.
Jinyoung made his way to Wonpil and gave him a hug. They firmly locked their hands around each other and swayed a little.
"Long time no see," said Jinyoung, pulling himself away. "How can you come only now?"
"Why? Literally I went to see you so often when you were still at the hospital. And if I'd known when you were discharged from it, I'd have come to you that day."
"You didn't know?"
"No. Mark hyung called me only the day before yesterday. Anyway, you good now?"
"Pretty much," Jinyoung said, "Let's go to the front yard."
Before anything else, Jinyoung reentered the house and searched for a maid, to have two glasses of orange juice sent to the front yard. Afterwards, Jinyoung and Wonpil walked together to the set of benches with a table in the middle, in the front yard, and seated themselves opposite each other.
"What did I tell you, Jinyoung, about Daewon? He's really mysterious and dangerous. I was quite surprised, too, though. He seemed to be all okay when we were still at the college."
Jinyoung sighed, "Possibly, it was because of me. I didn't tell anyone about this but he did call me, some weeks before the incident. I thought, back then, it was just nothing."
"You should've let someone know," Wonpil paused, "And I'm sorry. Because of me, you'd have been involved in the plane crash. I feel guilty whenever I think about that."
"Nonsense," Jinyoung shook his head, "It's not at all your fault. Forget that now. How's your job? Same old?"
Far away, the maid appeared, coming to them, with a tray on which were two orange juices.
"Yeah. I'm really adapted to it now. What about you? Mark hyung is handling it, right? He told me about that."
Jinyoung frowned, "To what extend, are you close with him now?"
Wonpil let out a laugh, "What's with that face? Are you jealous? Of me or him?"
"Of course not," said Jinyoung, "But it sounds like you two are really close now."
"Because we were worried about you, the same, and talked to each other a lot. But maybe, he did worry about you, more than me."
Wonpil said with a teasing grin and Jinyoung shifted his eyes away, hastily. The maid distracted them, by placing the glasses on the table, and then quietly left.
"Being inside the house everyday, it really bores me," said Jinyoung, changing the subject, "But you're busy and I don't want to go out alone."
"Maybe next weekends, we can hang out. Some place that freshens you."
They thought of time and place, and then their talk flowed to random things. They were so into their own conversation that they did not notice Mark coming to them, until he got closer to them.
Wonpil greeted Mark, "How're you, Mark hyung? Oh, what're they?" He pointed at a large bag in Mark's hand.
"Ah, some ingredients. I'm thinking of making kimchi and bulgogi for dinner today."
Mark stole a glance at Jinyoung and then turned to Wonpil, "You should stay till dinner, Wonpil. That's if you put trust in my cooking skill."
Wonpil laughed, "I do but only next time. I've to drive my parents to my grandfather's house today. Jinyoung, I must leave now. Next weekends, okay? I'll be here."
Jinyoung nodded, "Come here whenever you're free."
Wonpil bid them goodbyes and left them, heading back for his car.
When Wonpil was out of sight, Mark turned to Jinyoung, "Well? Are you staying here?"
"Of course," Jinyoung said, sipping his juice and not looking at Mark, "You said you were going to cook. What're you doing here then?"
"Don't you want to help me? I thought it'd be fun if we cook together."
Jinyoung turned to Mark this time, "I know nothing about cooking."
"That's why it'd be fun. Come on, Jinyoung. Don't just stay here."
Mark was already hauling Jinyoung up off the bench and taking his hand, led him back to the house. Jinyoung had already stopped resisting and let Mark lead the way to the kitchen.
There, Mark let go of Jinyoung, to put the grocery bag on the kitchen counter and then put the ingredients out one by one. Jinyoung watched him and a smile spread across his face.
"Do you want to learn cooking?" Mark asked, arranging the ingredients on the kitchen island. He rinsed the carrots and gathered them before the chopping board.
"No."
"You'll like it though," Mark glanced at Jinyoung, "Do you want to try? I'll guide you."
"I'm not interested."
"At least, it'll be better than just standing there and watching me cook."
Mark walked to Jinyoung and put his hand around Jinyoung's shoulder, before somehow dragging him to the kitchen island. He positioned Jinyoung between him and the kitchen island and held both of his hands, to bring one to the knife and another to the two carrots on the chopping board.
"Slice them," Mark said quietly from behind Jinyoung, "I'll show you how it's done."
Mark guided Jinyoung's hands along, till the carrots turned to small pieces. His chest was pressed against Jinyoung's back.
"Do you like that?" Mark whispered.
Jinyoung did not know anymore whether he was to focus on their hands' movements or Mark's breath, tickling his ear. He felt himself going weak at the knees to be that close to Mark again.
"I love him. I mean Park Jinyoung," Mark whispered, causing Jinyoung to break into a smile.
Jinyoung bit his lip; as much as he liked Mark's care, there was one question still lingering in the back of his mind.
"Is it all out of pity?" Jinyoung asked, his voice barely heard.
Mark's hands halted and withdrew, in a moment.
"Jinyoung?"
Jinyoung got his hands off the knife and carrots, and turned around slowly to Mark.
"Why'd you think that? When I say I love you, I mean it. Don't you ever think that it's all because of pity, okay?"
Jinyoung shook his head and turned his eyes away, "Before, you didn't even want to be near me. What am I supposed to feel when you suddenly change like that? If I were never in this state, you'd never be here showing your affection to me."
Mark drew Jinyoung closer to him and leaned their foreheads against each other, "Forget things like how or why and please, just keep in your mind that I love you."
Jinyoung made no reply; Mark sighed and turned him around, so that they could resume their cooking.
"I'll guide you properly," said Mark, putting his chin on Jinyoung's shoulder.
But instead of taking Jinyoung's hands, Mark wrapped his hands around Jinyoung's body and pressed his nose against Jinyoung's shoulder, inhaling deeply.
