Spice of Love

Chapter 5

Today, Mark did not forget to buy the dinner for himself and for Jinyoung, as well. He knew it was just a small thing but he did not want to keep that gratitude in his mind for a long time. So he was going to repay it today.

He had no idea what Jinyoung liked, so he just bought noddle soup and fried chicken from a small diner.

It was a kind of a new feeling, Mark felt, to buy something on his way back home for someone who was at home.

It was some sort of a homecoming feeling. Before, he had been all alone; even when his sister had been here, they had not lived together. When their parents were dead, they both were already adults and preferred living separately.

Jinyoung was the very first person who Mark lived with, aside from his family.

Sometimes, Mark wondered what had happened to Jinyoung during the three years they had not met. Where had his thick glasses been gone? What about his parents? As far as Mark knew Jinyoung had lived with his parents during his college years.

But Mark had not heard Jinyoung talking about his parents since they had met again.

Of course, why would Jinyoung talk to him about anything concerned with his life? The times they had talked together were few and could even be counted. Even about the jobs, they had found out about them just on the day of going to work.

Mark cut his thoughts and opened the door of the flat, inside which all the lights were on, which meant Jinyoung was already back home.

With the food bags, Mark went straight to the kitchen and saw Jinyoung just coming out of his room, already showered, and following Mark to the kitchen.

"Ah, Jinyoung," Mark called and Jinyoung turned to him, "I bought the dinner for you. Have you already had dinner? If not, eat the food I bought."

Jinyoung looked at him, his eyes laced with surprise. They were not smiling and his lips were slightly apart.

"I know you didn't expect it. But I just want to show my thanks," said Mark, rubbing his nape out of awkwardness.

Jinyoung noticed it and changed his expression immediately, his lips trying to form a smile.

"Ah, thanks. I just didn't assume you'd do something like that to me. No, I haven't had dinner. Haven't even prepared it. You just arrived on time, I guess," said Jinyoung.

So Jinyoung still thought he, Mark Tuan, was still a sadistic bully? Mark thought but without surprise. Of course, Jinyoung would not be able to erase that image of Mark, just in a short period of time.

"I told you I also have changed, didn't I?"

"Oh, no, I don't mean it like that. It's just unnecessary to buy something back to me," Jinyoung explained. He also did not want to bring that bully topic again. It would just destroy the good atmosphere. "If you haven't had dinner, either, perhaps we can have it together. It would be weird to eat what you bought, alone, without you. I can wait for you if you want to take a shower."

At last it settled and Mark decided to have a quick shower so that they could have dinner together later.

Jinyoung remained in the kitchen and placed the dishes on the table. His thoughts wandered; if he had never met Mark before, as a bully, he would never have believed that Mark had once been such a heartless person.

What Jinyoung had expected when he had accepted to be Mark's flatmate three weeks ago, was totally not this. He had predicted Mark would be just like a provoker like before and Jinyoung had been determined, excitely, to challenge that kind of badass.

But now it was totally opposite, Jinyoung was not complaining, however.

Mark came out after some more minutes and was satisfied when he saw everything was ready.

Their dinner was, however, silent, each trying to focus on his meal, mostly because they could not find any words to say to each other.

They finished just about the same time together and took the plates to the kitchen counter. Mark used the sink and Jinyoung the dishwasher. There was no rule who was to use the sink or dishwasher. They just used them as they saw fit.

The silence was broken when Jinyoung's phone went off; Jinyoung tried to finish dish-washing fast and rushed to take his phone on the table.

"Jackson. Sorry, I was a little busy...No, no, it's okay. It's all finished."

Mark tried to eavesdrop because he had noticed how Jinyoung's mood had suddenly changed. His strained voice whenever he talked to Mark, to his warm, friendly tone. Just in a split second, changed by that simple phone call.

Mark's attempt failed, however, as Jinyoung disappeared from the kitchen to probably his room, and his voice also faded away. A laughter erupting was all Mark could make out.

Now, curiosty ran through Mark; who that guy was, and he seemed really important to Jinyoung.

Maybe Jinyoung's boyfriend? Mark remembered how he used to tease Jinyoung being gay, although he had never seen Jinyoung together with anyone who could have been assumed as his boyfriend.

Mark shook his head, trying to wrap his thoughts up before they went even deeper than that. But his curiosty of who that person on the other line was to Jinyoung, only got stronger.

No way. He needed to distract himself from these useless thoughts. Watching TV seemed a good option.

He seated in the living-room and went through channels after channels, not finding anything interesting. His mind was wondering why Jinyoung was taking that much time, talking on phone.

Mark tried to convince himself that he was not counting the minutes but he really was. Otherwise, how could he have known that it had nearly been an hour since Jinyoung started talking on phone, when the latter at last slipped out of his room again and went straight to the kitchen.

After some more minutes, Mark saw him reappearing from the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

Mark cleared his throat to catch Jinyoung's attention before Jinyoung could retreat to his room again.

"It's still early. Are you going to bed already?" Mark asked, trying to sound casual.

Jinyoung shook his head, "I've work to finish. So, I might as well say 'good night' now. My boss already wasted about one hour of mine, so, I need to use the rest of the night well," said Jinyoung, like he was joking the last part.

His boss? It somehow relieved Mark. But he wanted to curse at himself the next second, for being like that. It was not Jinyoung's boyfriend, then. But why had they sounded too close and friendly?

Mark was wrapped in his own thoughts that he did not notice Jinyoung was waiting for his response.

"Well, then, good night," Jinyoung repeated and went back to his room before Mark could reply.

Mark looked at Jinyoung's disappeared form and hissed at himself for making a fool of himself in front of Jinyoung, again. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He was going to be crazy and maybe, Jinyoung was causing it, deliberately. That was all Mark could think of.