Venom & Oblivion

Chapter 21

For the whole hour, Jinyoung had been drown in his work of searching for and sorting all the files which would be needed for the upcoming conference next week. His boss wanted them by the end of the day and he also wanted to finish that work as soon as he could.

The office telephone rang interrupting him; it was just a call from downstairs.

"Hello?" Jinyoung said, quite impatient.

"Is boss already back from the meeting?" It was one of the staff from the reception counter downstairs.

"Not yet," Jinyoung glanced at his watch, "Probably only twenty minutes more. Why?"

"Someone wants to see him. He said it was not a matter of urgency but-"

"Then tell him to wait or if he can't, let him come back some time later."

"I can't. He seems important, and said he wanted to wait upstairs."

Jinyoung felt frustrated, "Why don't you just let him go to the waiting-room? There are enough facilities there for him to relax and wait."

"I've already told him. But he's persistent."

Jinyoung could not understand why they had to be dealing with this in the first place. Whoever that person was, he needed to wait in the waiting-room downstairs.

"Put me through to him. I'll talk to him. What does he say his name is?"

"Mark Tuan. He said he had some things to di-"

"Now just tell him to come to the CEO's room."

"Oh, okay."

Jinyoung ended the phone call and inhaled a long breath. What was he doing? That was against the company rule, but his boss would not mind it if it was Mark?

He tried to get back to work but little attention was there now. Every second passed, he started to regret his decision.

Until he heard a knock at the door. Getting off the seat, he walked to the door and opened it.

There stood Mark, in a black suit and looking as neat as ever.

"Was it you that let me come? To go to the CEO's room, where there is no one?" Mark asked, his eyebrows raised.

"They told you that boss wasn't available at the moment, didn't they?" Jinyoung said, still holding the door, not sure whether Mark wanted to come in or not.

"Then where do I stay till Mr. Nam is back?"

Jinyoung swallowed nervousness for the next words, "Here in this room or you can go back downstairs to the waiting-room."

"The answer is obvious, let me come in then."

Jinyoung removed himself from the doorway and let Mark come in. There was no couch inside the room, but only two extra chairs.

Mark sat down on the chair which was just at Jinyoung's table and looked around the room.

"You're not the only one here?" Mark asked, as Jinyoung sat down on his own chair.

"No, Yumin and I share the room. She's the secretary, and in the meeting room with boss now."

Jinyoung did not know whether he should pretend like ignoring Mark's presence and continuing his work, or talk to him as he should to a guest of the CEO.

At last he settled to continue his work but Mark interrupted him.

"Why did you not come that day?"

Jinyoung turned his eyes to Mark, who was looking at him. Jinyoung knew what Mark meant and should tell the truth about that day. But then it would bring the confession as well, and he had no desire to dig out the past again and tie Mark with his words when Mark was already with someone now.

"I intended to come but something important was up. I'm sorry for not keeping my promise."

"I think my departure was not that important then."

Jinyoung tried to search for a reply to make but at last, he just shifted his eyes from Mark to his computer screen.

A few minutes passed in silence before Mark spoke again, "I guess a lot of things happened after I left. What about that guy that chased you back then?"

"Tae Hyun?" Jinyoung asked.

"I don't know his name. That's the one, I guess."

"He left to Japan. He's only my friend."

"Yeah, a friend that had a crush on you. So, you're still in contact with him?"

Jinyoung could not understand why Mark was being that interested in Tae Hyun now.

"Not really. Both of us are busy with our own lives."

Mark crossed his arms but his expression softened a little for the first time.

"So how're you doing?" Mark asked.

"Everything is fine. It is like a routine everyday but I've nothing to complain about. What about you? You've changed a lot. Any plan to settle down here?"

Mark raised his eyebrows, "You mean living or marriage?"

Jinyoung's heartbeats fastened; he had meant only Mark living here or not but decided to try his luck.

"Both."

"It depends," Mark said and then went silent, perhaps thinking about something.

Jinyoung looked away, his heart dejected. So it was quite certain that Mark had some plans for marriage. Jinyoung tried to get over his emotions, and tried not to show anything of them on his face.

Just at that moment, the door was opened and Yumin walked in, taking a curious glance at Mark.

"The meeting is finished?"

"Yeah. Just now."

Yumin took her seat and looked at Jinyoung in a questioning glance.

"I think you can go and see him now. I'll take you there."

Mark nodded and both of them stood up, before heading for the door.

Jinyoung was certain he would be bombarded with questions later by Yumin. He would deal with it later; now he was feeling like everything had just been knocked out of him.

"Wait here a moment. I'll go and inform him first. He doesn't like seeing guests unexpected," Jinyoung said, as they stood in front of the closed door of the CEO's room.

"Okay."

Jinyoung gave a knock before opening the door and going inside alone. Thankfully, his boss was willing to see Mark and no extra questions were asked.

When he got outside the room again, Mark was standing there just on the previous spot.

"Now you can go in."

"At Brera, 5pm, this Saturday," Mark said the words quickly.

"What?" Jinyoung looked at him confused.

"I'll be waiting for you there then," Mark said, his eyes urgent, "Make sure you come."

Before Jinyoung could answer, Mark had already opened the door and gone inside. Brera, 5pm, Saturday. Jinyoung repeated it in his mind as to remember it. Mark had not let him choose; if he did not go, Mark would surely be waiting for him for a long time.

But he knew himself that he surely wanted to talk with Mark somewhere else, and they could catch up with each other's lives. He had nothing special to tell but Mark certainly must have a lot to talk about. Jinyoung was determined to go there for certain.