Our Story

Chapter 3

The alarm went off at 7am sharp. Although Jinyoung had planned to get up late - as it was Saturday - he had slept so early last night that he was too full of energy to continue lazing in bed.

The weather was fine outside and he thought of going jogging. It was not his usual weekend routine but there was a large park near the university campus and not far away from their apartment, where he liked to jog.

After cleaning himself and changing into a sport t-shirt and shorts, he went to Jackson's room. Jackson was not in bed but there was the showering sound in the bathroom.

"Jackson, I'm going jogging," Jinyoung shouted, "Will you join me?"

"I've a date! At 9!"

"Okay then, I'm going."

From the park, he could see their university and their apartment building. He and Jackson used to live in the dorm in their first and second years. But they had moved to the apartment for freedom. They were already in their final year now but Jinyoung felt like his future was still vague. He dreamed of being a psychologist but there was no backup plan.

Quite exhausted, he stopped for a while to catch his breath; he should exercise more - he was getting tired so easily. He stretched for a few minutes and then got himself ready to continue jogging.

But as he faced forward again, the sight of someone in the distance, knocked the breath out of him. Was fate playing with him? When he thought he was doing fine without the thought of Mark, there he appeared like a devil.

Apparently, Mark was also jogging and coming Jinyoung's direction. Should he turn the other way and act like he had not seen Mark? But gosh, this was a rare chance for him to see Mark in casual sportswear and his running form was so good to stare at.

Just when he was admiring Mark, he saw Mark waving at him. Great, that solved his dilemma. In a few minutes, Mark was beside him, giving him his characteristic smile.

"Hey, nice to see you again," Mark stopped to greet Jinyoung, "Here for jogging?"

"Y-Yeah. You too?" Jinyoung internally warned himself to stop stammering in front of Mark.

"Yep. I like this place. Let's jog together?"

That sounded great but Jinyoung was afraid he would not survive a heart attack around Mark. Anyway, he nodded because he did not want to let go of this chance to be with Mark.

They found the steady pace as they started to jog together.

"Do you often come here? Because I do and I've never seen you here before," Mark said.

"Uh, only sometimes. Our apartment is near this park."

"Our?"

"Jackson and I live together. W-What about you? Do you live near here as well?"

"I wish. This is close to the university, right? But my place is quite far from here."

"You came here just to jog?"

"Yeah, as I said, I like this place. So you're studying Psychology?"

Jinyoung's eyes widened with surprise. How did Mark know that? Had Wendy mentioned that to the group?

"How do you know?"

Mark laughed; Jinyoung felt his ears were blessed. He wished he could hear it again but Mark was already talking.

"The books you dropped in the library were all Psychology books. I just guessed."

"That was a good guess."

Their breathing became ragged as they jogged longer and then, Mark suggested they took a rest. They occupied a vacant bench and Mark took out a towel to wipe his sweat on the face. Jinyoung wished he had also brought one because he could feel the beads of sweat rolling down from his forehead.

"Haven't you got a towel?" Mark asked.

"No, I didn't remember to bring one. It's okay."

"You're sweating a lot though."

Jinyoung was going to assure Mark that he was okay when all those words disappeared in his throat and he forgot to breathe because Mark was dabbing Jinyoung's face with his towel. With his towel! Jinyoung wanted to scream.

He did not dare look at Mark in the eyes until Mark withdrew his hand, probably having wiped all the sweat on Jinyoung's face away.

"T-Thank you. It was kind of you."

"It's okay."

Jinyoung did not know why he said that because he could barely function properly around Mark, but he really said, "Um, do you perhaps want to follow me to the apartment after this? You know, I-I just think, maybe, you can get a drink or something and if you want to change your clothes, that's also okay."

"Sounds great. I've the spare clothes in my car. We can jog back to my car then."

Thank God, Mark did not think him weird. But was it weird to invite someone he knew to his apartment?

They went to Jinyoung's apartment by Mark's car. As Jinyoung had expected, Jackson was not in the apartment. Jinyoung directed Mark to Jackson's room, which was not locked, to let him change his clothes. Jinyoung did in his own room and then went to grab a drink for Mark in the kitchen. Mark was already in the living-room when Jinyoung came out with a glass of coke.

"Thanks, Jinyoung. By the way, this place is nice. I guess that's your bedroom?" Mark pointed at another bedroom, which was Jinyoung's.

"Yeah."

Mark sipped the coke and looked fresher. Jinyoung silently watched his actions, not without affection. He was content with these domestic vibes.

But it ended too soon. Mark checked the time and said he needed to be somewhere in two hours.

"This was really great. Thank you for bringing me in."

Mark was already standing up; so Jinyoung had to get up as well and followed Mark to the door. Mark gave a small wave and a smile when he was out the door.

"See you?"

"I hope so," Jinyoung replied. He watched Mark leaving and then felt his own chest, which his heart was still thumping against. Now that he had got to spend more time with Mark, he felt like he was even falling deeper for Mark, which was not a good sign.