Our Story

Chapter 4

If there were stages in falling in love, Jinyoung was at the stage of missing the other person. It had only been a few days since he had last seen Mark, which was in the park and his apartment, but it felt like ages since then.

Thanks to Jackson, Jinyoung knew Wendy's class schedule, which meant he could use this knowledge to find Mark. Wendy's class schedule must be more or less the same as Mark's.

That was why when the class before lunch time was dismissed early, Jinyoung thought of visiting the Business deparment and if he was lucky enough, he would see Mark.

Jackson was, of course, against this idea. But Jinyoung's persistence still won and Jackson, at last, just said he would wait at the canteen.

It was unfortunate, Jinyoung felt, that he found someone he was really interested in, only in the final year. And on top of this misfortune, that person had to be someone in a long relationship with a girl.

That ache, he was feeling now, seemed to have become a part of him lately. He missed Mark's smile, his deep voice and his kind, considerate behaviours. And the last time they had met, he had also found Mark easy and kind of comfortable to converse with.

Once he was in the Business department, he had to rush to find where the classroom Mark could be in, according to the schedule, was. He was panting when he finally got to that particular classroom but smiled, relieved, seeing that the class had not been dismissed.

But then he heard the lecturer saying that the class was over and had to comb his messy hair with his hand, and wiped his sweat on the sides of his face so that he would look quite presentable.

Soon the students came out, passing by him, and his heart leapt, when he spotted Mark among the moving students. But to his dismay, Mark was with his girlfriend - although he had expected this.

He could not help smiling, however, when Mark noticed him and gave him a wave. With Haewon in his arm, he walked to Jinyoung and greeted him, before asking, "Waiting for Wendy?"

That was just the excuse Jinyoung had planned to give and so he nodded.

"How about you and Wendy sitting with us at the canteen? That'll be fun," Mark suggested.

"Uh, Jackson's waiting for us at the canteen." Even if it had been possible for him to join them, he doubted he would have accepted it because he could not brace himself to sit and watch the lovey-dovey moments of Mark and Haewon.

"That's a pity. Maybe next time? Including Jackson, of course," Haewon said.

If only she had known Jinyoung was crushing on her boyfriend, she would not surely have said that. Jinyoung thought, with a bit of bitter humour.

"Hey, Jinyoung!" Wendy appeared near them, with a big smile on her face. "Jackson's texted me that you'll be here."

"Yeah, he's there, you know, occupying the table and ordering the food," Jinyoung said, starting to feel weird as from someone else's point of view, Jackson should be here for his girlfriend, instead of him.

"Let's go then? See you, Mark and Haewon."

"Enjoy your lunch with your boyfriend!" Haewon said.

"Don't worry, I'll."

Jinyoung gazed at Mark, as if he was imprinting every feature of Mark on his mind - he was not sure when they would meet again.

When Mark's eyes turned to him, Jinyoung shifted his eyes away and bidding them goodbyes, left with Wendy.

"I feel so strange. Did Jackson send you to me? You had to come here all the way?"

"Uh, I... just I came here to meet someone I know and since I knew you'd be here, I thought I'd wait for you."

Jackson texted where exactly he was and when they got there, Jackson had got the lunch for them as well. Wendy went to sit beside Jackson and they were in their own world next minute.

Jinyoung felt like he had lost his appetite and gulped down the water from the glass, instead. His need had already been fulfilled since he had met Mark. But when he imagined Mark and Haewon could be sweet to each other, right now, as Jackson and Wendy were to each other in front of him, now, he felt sick to his stomach.

"... Jinyoung? Do you hear me?"

"What?" Jinyoung turned to Jackson, who nodded at the lunch which Jinyoung had not touched yet and only then Jinyoung noticed the other two were already digging into their lunch.

"I'm not hungry."

"No way, you can't skip your meal just because of M - whatever. I'm not gonna listen to your petty whines about your empty stomach later on."

"Hey, a kind of friend you're," Wendy hit Jackson playfully on the arm.

Jinyoung knew his friend was concerned for him and so setting his unpleasant thoughts aside, he brought himself to start having his lunch.

Jackson, at last, turned back to Wendy, teasingly feeding her and messing up. Jinyoung tried his best to hide his misery, not wanting to destroy the good mood of the couple in front of him.