After the dinner, Mark joined the family for the conversation in the living-room.
"I'm afraid there aren't many places to visit here. The festival is also only in the spring," said Jinyoung's mother.
"But I like it here. It gives a kind of feeling so different from Seoul," said Mark, and he knew he meant it.
They would be here for three days, and Jinyoung had promised him that he would take Mark to many other tourist attractions here.
"How's Korean economy? I'm really interested in such kind of issues, although I'm no businessman," said Jinyoung's father, laughing heartily.
Like that, Mark found a liking in explaining to him a lot of things about the current business trends in the country and talked about the experts' forecasts.
However, at about 10pm, Mark was already sleepy due to tiredness; and Jinyoung, knowing that, had to cut their talk.
"Appa, I think we should go to sleep. Today was quite exhausting."
"Ah, it's already 10pm. I enjoyed the conversation so much that I lost track of time. Go and rest then. Your mother has already prepared your room."
Then Jinyoung could interpret that they were going to sleep in his room, because there were only two bedrooms in this whole house - his parents' and his.
"Everything's ready there, pillows and blankets. Go and rest now."
Mark bowed at them, before following Jinyoung, who led him upstairs.
When the door of the room was opened, Jinyoung almost exclaimed in shock. He had not thought that they would have to sleep on the same bed. At least, another bed had been put in, he had thought.
"We're sleeping here?" Mark asked, pointing at the bed.
"Yeah, there's no other room," said Jinyoung, rubbing his nape.
Mark turned to look at him, to observe Jinyoung's expression.
"It'll be uncomfortable, you think so, right?" asked Mark.
He walked towards the bed, took the pillow and one blanket, and placed them on the floor next to the bed.
"No. Are you going to sleep on the floor?" asked Jinyoung.
"Yes, don't mind me."
"Sir, how can I sleep on the bed while you're on the floor? No, I'll sleep on the floor."
"Jinyoung, this is your house, not the company. Forget any seniority."
Jinyoung shook his head in protest, "Whatever, I don't want you to sleep there. It's cold on the floor."
Jinyoung took his pillow and blanket to place them beside Mark's. "I'm going to sleep here as well, if you do."
Mark chuckled, not understanding why they were arguing about this in the first place.
"Alright, you want both of us to sleep on the bed, or only me? Because if it is only me, I'm not going to."
"Then, yes, we should sleep on the bed."
"Then, don't make a face like you don't want it. I thought it would be inconvenient for you."
At last they both settled down on the bed, but were quite away from each other as far as the bed allowed.
Mark would love to scoot closer to Jinyoung but the younger would not like it; so they were practically on each edge of the bed.
Somehow, he wanted to blame the size of the bed, for being large enough to let them stay away from each other.
"Is it your bed? Why is it so large?"
"Because when I was young, I used to fall off the bed. So my mother bought me this. Quite huge, right?"
"Too huge, honestly."
A long silence fell, as each thought the other was already sleeping. Both of them were exhausted but could not sleep at the same time.
"Jinyoung?" called Mark quietly, barely heard.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for bringing me here."
He heard Jinyoung moving under his blanket, perhaps, to turn to face him.
"But I didn't bring you. You followed me yourself."
"Anyway, I want to thank you. It reminds me of my parents."
"I'm sorry."
"No, why are you sorry? Actually I'm glad that I could experience a bit of family life again."
"But, come to think of it, aren't you afraid that I might lose respect for you, because we're spending a lot of time outside the workplace?" Jinyoung meant it only as a joke.
Mark laughed, "Are you tying me with my own words, Park Jinyoung?"
"No, I'm sincerely curious."
"No, I'm not afraid because you wouldn't. The trainees are another case. I know they would, especially him."
"But I might as well treat you as a friend, rather than a boss in the future, because, well, I think you spoiled me a lot," said Jinyoung, laughing afterwards.
"Are you testing me? Well, even then, I wouldn't mind. Because respect is not everything I want from you."
Jinyoung did not want to interpret it too deep; "I'm going to sleep now."
Jinyoung tried to shift in his sleep but he couldn't; his body was fixed in one position.
He opened his eyes, it was already morning. Not still fully awake, he groped around the bed and found that there was a lot of space in front of him.
Something was pulling him from behind; if he was not mistaken, he had been on the edge of the bed when he fell asleep.
As much as he wanted to deny, yet Mark was hugging him from behind, with his hand wrapped around Jinyoung's waist; and they were in the middle of the bed.
There was only one blanket over them now. Jinyoung held Mark's hand and tried to detach it from his body.
He did not mind it but it was going to make them awkward if Mark woke up and saw what kind of situation they were in.
Moving little by little, Jinyoung tried to disengage himself but Mark only tightened his hand around Jinyoung.
"Sorry, I'm awake now."
Jinyoung could have jumped in shock at the sudden whisper from Mark, if he had not been fixed by Mark's hands.
Mark removed his hand, and Jinyoung got out of the bed quickly.
He swallowed all the questions of how they ended up like that, because they would only worsen the situation.
"Umm, I-I'll go to the bathroom first."
Mark nodded and stared at Jinyoung, who was still standing beside the bed, rubbing his sweaty palms against his loose pants.
"What're you doing? Do you want me to go there with you?"
"What? No, no. I'm going."
Jinyoung hurried towards the bathroom, and heard Mark's laugh behind him.
All Jinyoung could think of was today breakfast was going to be hella awkward, at least for him.
