Spice of Love

Chapter 7

As Mark had expected, when he got back home, the whole flat was in the utter darkness and there was no one else aside from himself.

Jinyoung was still in that restaurant, apparently, and Mark was not sure when Jinyoung would get back home or even whether he would be back home tonight.

Mark switched on the lights and headed for the kitchen, desperate to drink water. His head was a little dizzy from the amount of wine he had drunk.

It was burning inside his chest - it could be due to the wine or something else. Mark shook his head frantically and drank the water in one shot.

He dragged his legs to one of the chairs before the table and slumped back on it. He should take a rest but did not want to.

If possible, he wanted to wait for Jinyoung here till the latter came back. But it was impossible.

It was around 8pm when Jinyoung got back home. Mark was at the small balcony of their flat, already showered and gazing at the night life. In fact, trying to convince himself that he was just unusually interested in the city's night life tonight, not waiting for Jinyoung.

It was cold and he was just about to leave the balcony when an Audi halted in front of the building and caught Mark's attention.

He was staring down at it - it was not a clear sight. But his eyesight was not bad enough to mistake Jinyoung. The car door opened and Jinyoung got out of the car in a moment.

Mark didn't remember blinking at that moment. All of Jinyoung's actions were in a plain sight; once he was outside, he bent down and waved at the person inside through the open car window.

And then Jinyoung headed for the entrance of the building and the car also left.

Mark did not know whether he should consider himself lucky for not witnessing any good-bye kiss scenes. But the burning fire in his chest had not died down yet.

He was back seated on the sofa in the living-room, pretending to watch TV when Jinyoung entered the flat.

Jinyoung thought of greeting Mark but shook the idea off, and went straight to his room instead.

Tomorrow is Saturday; and Jinyoung was going to sleep, after a quick shower, with nothing to think of for tomorrow.

It was around midnight that Jinyoung woke up from his sleep, out of hunger and thirst. He, unwillingly, got out from under his warm duvet and slipped out of his room.

He was distracted by the sound of quick typing on a laptop from the living-room. His eyes turned to the sound and met Mark's quite surprised ones.

No words came from either of them but Jinyoung felt Mark's eyes travelling from head to toe on his body.

Jinyoung looked down at himself to see what Mark was looking at. Only then he realised he must look pretty bad, with his hair messy and his sleepy face.

"Hi," Jinyoung tried to distract Mark and it successfully stopped Mark's eyes. "Aren't you sleeping yet? I think it's already late."

"I couldn't sleep," Mark mumbled, just loud enough for Jinyoung to hear. His eyes were no more on Jinyoung, as if he was afraid to meet Jinyoung's eyes.

"It's bad. I'm going to have some snacks. Do you want some?"

Mark shook his head, "No, thanks."

Jinyoung disappeared into the kitchen and came out, after a moment, with some pieces of bread and cheese in his hand.

He went to the living-room and sat down on the sofa, beside Mark, with a lot of space between them.

Mark continued typing and Jinyoung took occasional glances at him, while eating his dry bread and cheese.

"Is it important?" asked Jinyoung, "I mean what you're working on now."

"Not really. Only because I can't sleep and have nothing else to do," replied Mark, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

Suddenly the idea came to Mark to ask Jinyoung about his relationship with his boss. But Mark rejected it immediately as it would sound too personal. And Jinyoung would get suspicious of him for taking interest in his life.

Silence fell and the typing sound was the only thing heard. Mark stole a glance at Jinyoung's side profile, his cheeks stuffed with the bread and his eyes staring at nothing in particular, probably thinking of something or someone.

Mark's hands were itching to run through Jinyoung's bed-hair as softly as possible and fix his hair. But he silently noted that Jinyoung looked adorable with that messy hair.

And if he could wish something and it would be fulfilled. At the moment, he wished to know what Jinyoung was thinking of. Maybe recalling his dinner date with his boss.

Mark shook his head and that caught Jinyoung's attention, probably he had seen it from the corner of his eyes.

"What's wrong? Perhaps, am I disturbing you?"

Mark wanted to laugh at Jinyoung's genuinely apologising eyes. But to laugh only out of affection.

"You do nothing and are just sitting. Why would you disturb me?" In fact, he wanted to keep Jinyoung there.

"Who knows, maybe you just don't want to be rude. I don't know why. But I'm a little wide awake now."

"Because you've just eaten?"

"Maybe. But thinking that you're all alone here."

"Oh, you want to accompany me?" Mark said, in a teasing tone. He could not believe he was teasing someone, just purely out of affection, in his life.

"But I'd only make you awkward. Better go back now."

Jinyoung stood up but Mark caught his hand in time to stop him from leaving. Mark did not know how he managed to do it with a lot of space between them. But it was not important.

What really was important was if Jinyoung was mad at him now for touching him. But when Jinyoung glanced back at him, there was no anger in his eyes.

Mark let go of his hand quickly and mumbled, "You can sit here. You're not making me feel awkward."

Jinyoung smiled, "I was just kidding. But I think I should sleep now," he pursed, "You too, don't stay up too late. It's not a good thing."

If it was someone else, Mark could have told them, impatiently, to mind their own business. But Jinyoung had some unnamed effect on him and all he could do was nod his head.

"Good night," Jinyoung uttered and left to his room.

Staring at Jinyoung's disappearing figure, Mark for the first time realised that he was trying to possess something which would never become his.