scented

five

the greatest gift that you can give to
your special someone is your time,
your attention, your love, your
concern ; joel osteen

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mark sneezed once, twice before picking up a piece of tissue to blow his nose. sniffling uncontrollably, he sinks further into the swivel chair, regretting his decision to work that day. he wrapped his large winter jacket around his body, cranking up the heater in hopes of warming himself. he had fallen sick from the continuous gusts of biting wind whenever the glass door opened.

he heard the bell ring, groaning loudly when he felt the cold wind seep into the store, sending a shiver down his back. he wasn't in the best condition to be dealing with customers, but he still stood up, forcing a smile, he reserved only for customers, out and he was sure it looked more like a grimace than a smile. his eyes lifted from the customer's feet to their face and his forced smile dropped immediately. an awkward silence filled the store and mark wanted to dig a hole and hide in it. however, he remained standing.

breaking the silence, jinyoung lifted his hand and waved awkwardly, "hi mark."

"h-hi." mark tore his eyes away from jinyoung's captivating ones and scanned the latter from head to toe. it had been about three days since he last saw jinyoung at his dance recital and got kissed on the cheek by him. jinyoung was dressed in his school uniform once again, and the thick denim jacket he'd seen him wear for the third time now. jinyoung's glasses were not perched on his nose and mark kind of missed it. he'd grown to like the boy and his ethereal looks over the few times they met.

however, mark's thoughts about the beautiful boy standing within an arm's reach were interrupted when he sneezed. he began to feel dizzy all over again and struggled to stand straight, swaying slightly.

"mark?" jinyoung took a closer look at mark and noticed how mark's nose was red and slightly swollen, how the sparkles in mark's eyes seemed dimmed that day and the incessant sniffling coming from the boy himself, indicating that he was indeed, sick.

"you're sick aren't you?" receiving no reply from mark, jinyoung took it upon himself to step behind the counter, guiding mark to sit back down on the swivel chair and turning the small tabletop heater towards mark.

"j-jinyoung...go pick your candle, i-i'll be fine." mark pushed jinyoung away, groaning softly as he leant back on the swivel chair.

still worried about mark, jinyoung cast one last glance at him before turning towards the shelves. he made his way to the shelf labelled healing and picked up a soft yellow candle, named sunshine, extremely fitting. he turned the glass jar around, reading the description printed in typewriter font.

for any other day when you feel down in the dumps or not in the best of health, sunshine brings about a refreshing fragrance that would lighten up the mood and make you feel better, both emotionally and physically.

how ironic was it that the employee was sick that day and jinyoung just so happened to pick up a candle that was supposed to be healing.

bringing the candle to the counter, jinyoung took a look at mark, making sure he was still conscious, "hey, mark. i'll just scan it and put the money in the counter," he whispered softly, "okay?"

barely able to nod, mark's eyes fluttered closed as he listened to the rustling of notes and the opening of a paper bag, only to be shaken gently by jinyoung. his eyes opened and jinyoung was crouching in front of him, concern clouding his brown irises.

"mark, please let me take you home. you're in no condition to work right now." jinyoung tried lifting mark out of his seat, but mark resisted, shaking his head slightly and pointing at his phone lying on the counter.

mark felt his head pound harder, but he pushed his words out in a broken sentence, "phone...manager...medical leave...password 1993...address...notes...", hoping that jinyoung got the hint.

jinyoung clearly did, for he picked up mark's phone at breakneck speed, typing in the password and unlocking his phone. he opened the messaging application and found the contact labelled 'manager-nim'. after dropping a quick text to mark's manager, jinyoung opened the notes application and found mark's address typed out, postal code and all.

after slipping the phone into the pocket of his thick jacket, jinyoung lifted mark onto his feet, wrapping his arm around his shoulder as he guided him out of the store, making sure to turn the sign at the door from open to closed in the process.

"let's get you home, shall we?"