Spice of Love

Chapter 1

It was a relief that the cafe was not very far from his apartment, Mark thought. The appointment was at 9am but he was already here, seated at a corner of the cafe, at 15 to 9. Saying that it was an appointment, it was actually for him to meet his new flatmate.

It was all thanks to his colleague, Han, who had helped him find the flatmate. Actually there was little effort made by Mark's. Even the appointment had been planned with Han's help.

What was the name? Shit, he had forgot even the name of his flatmate. The thing was he had been preoccupied with his sister's wedding and departure to America, during these couple of days.

Never mind, he was going to meet his flatmate today - just in a few minutes, to be exact.

If he could help it, he would surely not have gone through this pain of having a flatmate. But he had to, especially after he had moved to a well-furnished, quite costly apartment, close to his workplace, and when his boss still refused to offer him a proper salary, due to his lack of experience.

Mark took a look at the watch; it was just five to nine. His eyes darted to the entrance, and in an instant, at the sight of someone coming in, his eyes narrowed, with his eyebrows knitted slightly.

That person, Mark seemed to have seen him somewhere but could not recall who or where. To his surprise, that guy was directing to Mark's table, his lips in a hard line and eyes setting fixed on Mark's.

His height and built body was what girls would fall for. His hair was combed neatly and his hands inside the side-pockets of his long coat.

To conclude, he was one kind of a handsome man. Mark shifted his eyes a little when the man got closer to his table, so he would not look so rude, gazing at the man.

"Good morning, you're Mark Tuan, right? The one who's in desperate need of a flatmate," said the person, standing before the table and causing Mark to look up at him once again. 'In desperate need of a flatmate.' Why did it sound kind of like a mockery?

Mark erased his thoughts and stood up off the chair, to extend his hand for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you. Yes, I'm Mark Tuan. And you're...?"

Mark was aware of how his hand felt warm and his body felt a sort of tingle, just by a simple hand-shake. A tiny smile, he displayed, but the man's lips were still pressed in a hard line.

"Don't you recognise me?"

Mark ran his eyes over the man's features carefully again. But he couldn't recall where they had met. Yet he seemed familiar to Mark.

"Sorry. I can't-"

"It's funny that you don't recognise me out of all people. Well, nice to see you again. I'm Park Jinyoung."

Now a smile was playing on Jinyoung's lips, but just that it was not of a friendly smile.

"Park Jinyoung? The Park Jinyoung from my college? How-"

"Yes, that one. You're shocked even. Can we sit down now?"

Mark could not form any words; his lips were in an O-shape, his eyes were trying to find any trace of the Park Jinyoung he used to know, on the face of the man in front of him.

"Or have you changed your mind and refuse to have me as your flatmate?" asked Jinyoung, with his eyebrows slightly raised.

"No, no, sit down."

But Mark was no more certain if he should accept Jinyoung as his flatmate or not.

"So, didn't Han tell you that it was going to be me?"

They were seated now and Mark sipped the water from the glass to calm down his nerves.

"Yes, he did. It really didn't enter my mind that it would be you, given that I had also been busy lately."

"That gives the explanation, then."

"B-but, you knew it was me and then why did you accept it?"

Jinyoung chuckled and that annoyed Mark.

"First of all, because I also need a flatmate," Jinyoung pursed, observing Mark for a second, "And another thing is because I want to prove that I'm not the Park Jinyoung, who was afraid of everything, especially you and your friends, anymore."

Jinyoung's eyes were radiating confidence as he had said those words, which made Mark swallow unknowingly.

No, he was not nervous, Mark defended himself; he was just frustrated by the situation. Out of all people, his flatmate had to be Park Jinyoung, whom he used to bully a few years ago.

It couldn't be a good thing. Probably, Jinyoung was here to take revenge on him, for making his life hell in the past.

"Considering that you didn't recognise me, I must have changed a lot," said Jinyoung, with a bit of amusement in his voice.

Mark cleared his throat, tables had been turned. It was now him who felt intimidated by Jinyoung.

"You have, a lot," admitted Mark, his voice barely audible.

"You also have changed," Jinyoung muttered, scanning his eyes over Mark, "The bad-boy look kind of disappeared, I guess?"

Mark couldn't help noticing that every word of Jinyoung was laced with confidence, unlike before, when he hadn't dared even look at Mark in the eyes, through the thick glassess.

"You can say so."

Well, he was now already an adult, with a job, and by any means, couldn't stick to his immature, bad-ass side from his college life. But still, seeing Jinyoung, he was now hesitated to have him as a flatmate.

But he must have a flatmate as soon as possible and it was not like he would need to associate with Jinyoung all the time, except the fact that they would have to share everything in the apartment.

As if Jinyoung could detect Mark's doubts, he said, "Well, if you want to back out now, that's no problem for me. I can just search for another place."

"No, I'm sure we can be flatmates, that is, if you're okay as well," Mark tried to sound determined. If Jinyoung could accept that, why could he not as well? Mark thought.

"Okay then, the deal is sealed. When can I move in? My current flat lease is going to expire before the end of this month."

"Anytime. Did Han tell you about the shared rent?"

"He did. 240,000 Won, right? That's okay for me. The rest, we can discuss later."

"Okay."

Only now that his nerves got calm down a little bit, Mark realised they hadn't ordered anything yet. Jinyoung was already calling the waiter and asked Mark, "What would you like?"

Mark just ordered something that would be quick; all he wanted to do was to leave this cafe and Jinyoung as fast as he could. Perhaps, his life was going to turn upside-down from now on.