"Now's the story time. Sit down. Sit down." Jinyoung made sure all the children were seated on the straw mat laid on the ground. Mark was on the bench, just looking at them.
Jinyoung took his place at one edge of the mat and flipped through the story book. He cleared his throat and started the story, trying to sound as mellow as possible.
The introduction had barely been finished when he felt Aecha, a little girl, nestling against him and pillowing on his thigh, and her eyes were close. She was very fond of stories and her mother had mentioned more than once that she turned rebellious when there was no bedtime story when she was in bed. Jinyoung patted her head as he continued the story.
The stories he read were always short but they always took long to finish because of the kids' interruptions. Often they asked him questions he could not answer. Mark was having his best time, cracking up whenever Jinyoung got stuck.
Jinyoung felt Mark's eyes on him the whole time. Or maybe, it was just his mind tricking him? But during the pauses, he automatically turned in Mark's direction and every single time, their eyes met. Some times Mark raised an eyebrow at him and other times, he gave no reaction.
Since the afternoon when they had stumbled on each other, Jinyoung had been feeling self-conscious around Mark. More so whenever Mark invaded his personal space. He had thought he had already got used to Mark's presence. What was wrong with him?
When his story came to the end, his eyes were in a moment back on Mark. But this time, he found Mark staring into space and deep in thoughts. Was that a faraway look? What was Mark thinking?
He was so used to seeing Mark's upbeat personality that Mark's pensive eyes unsettled him. What if Mark had lost the thrill of living here? Was he already thinking of leaving?
Jinyoung did not know why these thoughts bothered him. In fact, he was the one who had always wanted to get rid of Mark. At one point or another, he had let Mark change his mind.
Then Mark suddenly looked his way and Jinyoung shifted his eyes away in a hurry. His heart was pounding hard against his chest.
"Do you want some money, Mark?" Sangchul asked.
"I still have some, samchon," Mark replied. He felt uncomfortable whenever money was mentioned. It always reminded him of the burden he was being on Sangchul.
"I never see you spend any. Don't you have anything you want to buy?"
Mark stole a glance at Jinyoung, who was silently having his meal. Was there anything he wanted to buy? There was. But not for himself. When he and Jinyoung had walked Byeol around the neighbourhood, he had caught a glimpse of a bracelet through the glass wall of an accessory store. He guessed it was made of platinum. He couldn't help picturing it around Jinyoung's wrist. It would be beautiful. If only he had had enough money to buy it.
"I don't have, samchon," Mark answered, suddenly feeling his chest tighten.
"If you need anything, tell me, okay?"
Mark nodded.
After dinner, since Sangchul had to go over the fund records, Mark and Jinyoung retired to their room right afterwards.
"Why's it so cold today?" Mark said hugging himself while Jinyoung closed the door behind. "Turn the heater on."
Jinyoung did. But the room temperature did not change. No heat was coming out of the heater. "What's wrong with this?" He tried turning it off and on again. But it made no difference. "Why isn't it working?"
"Break down?" Mark examined the heater although it was not like he would be able to tell what was wrong with it. He was no mechanic. "Great. A freezing night then?"
"What else?" Jinyoung went to the bathroom to clean himself. It was still early. But he wanted to curl up in bed already.
"Are you sleeping? Hey it's too early to go to bed."
"I'm gonna laze in bed," Jinyoung replied, before entering the bathroom. When he was finished and came out again, he found Mark lying on his stomach, on bed.
Mark looked up at Jinyoung the moment he heard him. "I've an idea," his eyes glinted with something like mischief. "How about we sleep together?"
"W-What? I already told you I'm never ever going to share my bed with you. Never ever. What's the matter with you all of a sudden?"
"It's freezing cold! Do you think duvets will be enough? Come on, Jinyoung. I'm suggesting it for both of our own sakes," Mark insisted and waited for Jinyoung's answer, expectantly.
"Tell me first how it's gonna make any difference?" Jinyoung folded his arms. To be honest, he did not feel even that cold. Mark was just exaggerating. "Huh?"
"Because we can have body warmth. You'll see it's even better than the heater."
Jinyoung shivered just at the thought. No way. He was not going to let that happen. "Whatever. I don't want to find out. Sleep on your own bed." With that, Jinyoung climbed into his bed and buried himself under the duvet. Mark huffed and then disappeared into the bathroom.
Some minutes later, Jinyoung heard Mark's voice again. "Should I turn off the light?" Mark asked and Jinyoung mumbled his consent. Then it was all darkness.
Jinyoung had just closed his eyes when he felt his bed move, dipping because of a heavy weight and an arm wrapping around him. He sat up abruptly in alarm.
"Mark? What the heck are you doing?" But he was forced to lie down again and Mark's body nestled against him. "Get the fuck off!"
"Shh. Samchon'll hear. Come on, let's sleep like this. It's more comfortable."
Comfortable? It was far from that. If Mark did not move away, Jinyoung doubted he would ever have any sleep tonight. That so-called body warmth! He was already burning up.
"You're that sensitive to cold, huh? Tell me how you slept before when you had to sleep outside?" Jinyoung asked in sarcasm.
"It was okay then. But I've been spoiled. I'm super sensitive to cold now." Mark threw one leg over Jinyoung's, drawing Jinyoung closer. Gosh, his mouth was already near Jinyoung's cheek.
"You're suffocating me," Jinyoung complained. But it did not bring any change. He hoped, at least Mark would not feel his chest or hear the drumming in it. Then he remembered something and said, "Do you like our place? I mean, are you already getting bored here?"
"You've no idea," Mark murmured. "I think I like here too much for my own good. I'm not at all bored. Why?"
"N-Nothing. I just thought maybe you wanted to leave for somewhere else. We're not well off and I don't know. You might get tired of us soon, I thought. But too much? What do you mean? You like here and yet you sound negative?"
"Silly. I didn't mean it in a negative way. Well, kind of. But let's sleep."
"Suddenly sleepy?" Jinyoung asked, scoffing but Mark made no more response. Only his body was crashing further against Jinyoung.
