In the dining-room, Seonhwa and another maid were placing Jinyoung's breakfast on a tray. This sight stopped Mark when he was actually on the way to the kitchen for his breakfast.
"Sending the breakfast to his room?" Mark asked, standing in the doorway.
"Yes," Seonhwa said.
"Why? He doesn't want to come downstairs?"
"Maybe. He didn't say anything. Just asked me to bring this to him. Do you want to take this to him?"
"No. You bring it to him."
Mark left the dining-room and headed for the kitchen. There was plenty of time left before he had to leave for the company; but he spent all of it in the kitchen, taking his time for his breakfast.
"Again?" Mark asked to Seonhwa, who stopped on the spot, at Mark's voice.
He had just come out of his room, after the shower, and here, Seonhwa was, making her way to the stairs, with a dinner tray in her hands.
"Yes, he wants to have dinner in his room instead. Your dinner is also ready in the kitchen, Mark."
"Did he have lunch there as well?"
"No. He was in the dining-room for lunch, this afternoon. Is something wrong? He looks alright, though."
"Never mind," Mark said, "Give me this. I'll bring it to him. Only dinner?"
"Yes. He didn't ask anything else."
Mark nodded and took the tray from Seonhwa, before starting his way to the stairs and then to Jinyoung's room.
He felt that often, Jinyoung acted like a spoiled child. It was obvious that Jinyoung had something against him; but instead of talking to him face-to-face, Jinyoung was here avoiding him.
The door of the room was already slightly open and Mark entered it, without giving a knock.
Jinyoung was sitting on the bed, apparently waiting for his dinner to be brought to him. However, his eyes turned to anger, when he saw it was Mark, who was taking it to him.
"I didn't ask you. Send Seonhwa instead."
"I'm here already. So why ask for Seonhwa?" said Mark, continuing his way to the bedside table.
"Next time, if I don't ask you to come to my room, then you've no reason to be here. Am I clear enough?"
Mark let out a sigh, placing the tray on the bedside table. He, then, turned to Jinyoung, who would not look at him.
"Jinyoung, what's wrong? Why're you that furious with me? And why're you avoiding me?"
"I'm not. You can leave now."
"Jinyoung, look at me, please. What did I do wrong that you've to avoid me? You didn't go downstairs for breakfast and dinner. But only for lunch, when you knew that I was not here? If it's not avoiding me, then what is it? It's nonsense, Jinyoung. You can just talk to me, instead of acting like this."
Jinyoung turned to Mark, this time, and a trace of tears was in his eyes. "It's not even about talking to you or not. You should know what you've done, by yourself."
"I don't know what you're mad about. As far as I'm concerned, I've done nothing wrong to you."
"If you're that confident, why do you ask me what you did wrong? Leave now. I want to have my dinner alone."
Looking at Jinyoung, Mark could not make out if Jinyoung was angry or hurt.
"I'm sure something's bothering you. What is it?"
Jinyoung got off the bed and stood right in front of Mark, "If you want to know that badly. There is one question, to which I need an answer from you. What do you really want from me, Mark? Is it sex? Physical, sexual pleasure?"
Mark's face turned red, with fury, and his fists clenched tight. Jinyoung was looking at him, with his eyebrows raised.
"Do you think I was persuading you, this whole time, to have sex with me? Haven't I said to you that I mean it when I say that I love you? I've tried to prove to you, with every word, every action, that I love you. Why don't you want to trust me? Do I lack so much that you don't want to give yourself to me? Do you know how much it upset me when you rejected me yesterday? I considered, really hard, what in me that you don't want, what's so wrong with me that you don't trust me enough, whether I'm not enough for you. Am I really not enough for you? I want to be trusted enough that you'll never need second thoughts."
At some point, they were misunderstanding each other, Jinyoung realised. "When I said I was not ready, it was about my mind. If you had wanted a kind of sex that I used to have, all lust but no feelings, I would've given it to you. Nothing is easier than that. But I know you don't want such kind, and neither do I. That's why I told you I was not ready. But you just left me like that, not even telling me why. What was I to assume, other than that you wanted me for sex?"
Mark's expression softened and he stepped closer to Jinyoung. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to, Jinyoung."
He reached for Jinyoung's face and held it gently. When he leaned for a kiss, however, Jinyoung shoved him away.
"Give me some time. I want to give thought to all of this before letting you continue it."
Mark sighed quietly, but still let go of Jinyoung, withdrawing his hand.
"At least, don't avoid me. Take your time as long as you want. I'll wait for you."
When Jinyoung made no reply, Mark only gave him a small smile and then turning around, left the room.
