Your brother Yugyeom had been watching the whole scene of Mark’s tearful desperation in a few words, from the window inside your home. Having misunderstood Mark to be somewhat of a player,thanks to a secretly shot video showing his flirty side with your female colleagues, just right after he made the life-changing decision to confess his love for you, you weren’t ready at all to hear a thing he had to say.
Crouching down to peek through the window, hidden by the curtains except for half his face, Yugyeom could see your expression and the tears that had trickled down your face. It pained him to see you cry, you never did, in fact, the last time you cried was when he stubbed his head after puberty growth, and ended up stumbling down a flight of stairs - but out of laughter.
Mark had been on his knee for a while now, looking up at you for a response.
Tears welled up in his eyes just looking at your reddened face that was covered in a veil of disappointment. There was nothing more that he could do since his conscience was clear and he did nothing wrong. He could only once again, go all out to declare his undying love for you and hope you would reciprocate for a chance for him to do better.
You continued avoiding his gaze but failed to, as his long arms reached for yours, to bring you into his warm embrace as he stood up to comfort you. Your tear stained face buried in his chest.
At once, the tears you tried to hold in, streamed down continuously in uncontrollable sobs. Mark held you tight in his arms, and ran his hands over the back of your head, stroking you to calm down.

He didn’t fully understand your outburst but it just wrenched his heart to know that he was the cause of it. He hated himself for not being able to make you happy, instead, became the source of your sadness. ‘Sorry’ wasn’t even an appropriate response. He felt like the biggest loser, and the biggest failure. Afterall, you meant the world to him even before he confessed his feelings, and you were his closest friend that he would never think of disappointing, even for the smallest of matters. Yet, with his negligence, he failed your trust right at the most familiar place of all - your workplace.
In silence, you composed yourself with deep breaths, moving away from Mark’s hold as he released an arm. You met his gaze finally, only to see two lines of tears that had marked themselves on his fair skin.
With his hand, he smudged his face roughly and gave you a slight smile. Sniffing up and cringing his nose.
“Why’re you crying for?” You asked him while trying not to sound concerned.

“It’s your fault.” He said with a pout and rubbed your nose with his, making you break into a giggle.

Seeing that you’re finally smiling, he let out a wide smile and pulled you closer, foreheads touching while he repeatedly rubbed noses to make you laugh.
“YAH!” you gave his chest a playful punch to stop. “You’ve got some explaining to do….”

Without letting go, he sighed and dropped one hand into his pocket and fished out his phone.
Skilfully, he turned your back against him while he held his arms over your shoulders, and rested his chin beside your face. Scrolling and showing you his phone while he did, he went into the convo with Jackson and played the video.
He saw you frown from the corner of his eye.
“Babo-yah… you didn’t see his paparazzi video to the end did you? Aww poor Jackson, you’re gonna hurt his feelings!” he teased you a little, but it made you ease up since you initially closed the video the moment it pissed you off.

You watched with disdain, for the second time, the girls linking their arms with Mark, but this time round, with him hanging over your shoulders instead. The video got pass the part you stopped at, and you saw him hesitate to answer when the girls asked if he was dating you. He told them you both were close friends and to stop asking, since he won’t be telling, and turned to walk off instantly.
“Now.” he said, as he slipped his phone back, and turned you around to face him. “Tell me, should I have said ‘Yes, I’m dating Mandy, because I have eyes only for her, since the beginning of time.’ or …. did I do the right thing I did?” with raised brows, he asked you, quite rhetorically.

The answer was obvious, and you knew it as well.
You pressed your lips together and looked away, knowing that you should have just answered his calls in the first place and stayed put in his house that afternoon.
“I take your silence as consent. Now, its your turn. Tell me, just where were you the whole of last night?” this time, his toned turned serious, the way a dad would question you when you came home at 6am wearing skimpy dresses and smelling like perfume.

“I ……………………… stayed at a friend’s place.” you answered cautiously, praying hard that he wouldn’t ask more.

He kept quiet for awhile, and you looked to him. His brows were furrowed, while he continued to look at you in thought.
“Nothing happened, Mark. I just needed some time on my own to think through things.”

He stroked your hair and replied bluntly, “I know.”
“Because you still faintly smell of my shampoo.”

That kind of made your skin tingle, and to think that the last long bath you had was at his place, but you recalled just taking a quick rinse after being so distracted.
He continued, seeing that you had nothing else to add. “Baby, you promised me you’ll keep my heart safe. Can I trust that no matter what else happens, you won’t ever go anywhere else that I can’t find you?”
At this point, you wanted to say YES but you remembered your resolve to treat JR well and not let anything come between you and him, because of how he showed his pure sincerity to you.
You looked away from Mark’s eyes, unsure.
It then occurred to him that you weren’t yet confident of his feelings, and that he might have rushed you into things a little too soon. Not wanting to put you through another aching episode, he took a deep breath and sighed.
“Its okay if you can’t answer that now. I know, I was a little impatient about this.” he said with obvious sadness in his eyes. “But you can be sure, I’ll always wait for you to come back.”
Thankful that he could read you and yet not expose you, you knew there was going to be a lot of untangling to do now.
Right then, Yugyeom unlocked the door and pretending to water the plants, he came out rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, noona. Why didn’t you come in, I was waiting for breakfast…” with eyes half closed he poured water all over the row of cactus and plants. “Oh Mark, hey, you’re early. Join us since you’re here.” Giving him a fake sleepy wink, he turned and went back into the house.

“Yeah, why don’t you come in and get your face washed as well…. I’ll whip up something warm for you..” hurriedly, you turned to follow Yugyeom in, letting Mark enter at his own pace.

Yugyeom knew better than to hang around, and disappeared quickly into his room. He witnessed the whole scene and like he had predicted, it was pretty much a misunderstanding. But what he discovered, was that Mark was a lot manlier than he looked and you, a lot more fragile than he imagined.

---

It was Saturday morning, and Jackson decided to head back to his old workplace to visit.
Reaching the underground subway, his steps find a familiar pathway leading to a basement jamming room where he used to beatbox and do crazy hiphop for a living.
“Oh, Jackson HYUNG!!!” came a slurred voice from a dark corner of the room.

Jackson flicked the spotlights on as it blasted the bright light directly on the mysterious voice.
“Woahaha!! YoungJae-ah, how’d you know it was me?” Wide-eyed in amazement that he could even recognise Jackson in the darkness purely took him aback.

Youngjae stood up and wiped his fringe away from his face, giving Jackson his signature dorky laugh which Jackson returned with a headlock around his neck lovingly (?). “How’s everything going? Have you cleared out all my stuff and made a big buck out of them yet??” Jackson asked.
“Oh, the last piece was sold 2 days back, hyung - it seems alot of people know you after you left. Just that day this guy came by when we were almost closing and asked for you. When I told him you weren’t working here anymore, he bought a piece of your CD and left.” YoungJae was talking about the CD which Jackson produced with YoungJae, to help fund the cost of running the studio.

“Really??” Jackson couldn’t believe it. “But we were left with like THIS MUCH of CDs and it hasn’t even been a month since I left.”

“Yeah, I know! But each week when we had the shows on Friday nights, the crowd would go crazy and ask who did the music and when I said it was you, they would go like ‘ohhhh yeah I heard of him online’ and ask if your CD was available.” As he said that, YoungJae opened the cash register and took a wad of cash that had visibly grown in amount since Jackson last saw.

“Here - these are from the sale of our music, after paying for 3 months rent up til mid year. Take it hyung.” said Youngjae as he pushed the cash into Jackson’s hands.

“YoungJae-ah, hyung earns money now. Keep it. You’ll need it.” Sympathetically, Jackson returned the gesture.

The studio was a place of memories for both of them, where they both first discovered their passion for music. When Jackson was in his teens, he would work part time to pay for jam sessions in studios where he would learn beatboxing and YoungJae would play the piano. There, they also met Bambam, who stumbled into their studio by accident and the trio became a duo of 2 and a wealthy audience. Bambam wasn’t gifted in dance with his long legs and hands that wouldn’t do his bidding, neither could he really sing or beatbox. He could play instruments however and it helped that he came from family of deep pockets. He would always want to join them and pay for their instruments to be part of their “band” but Jackson would always refuse. For he felt that it was ‘morally and artistically against his professional values’.
“Ah, Jackson hyung, so how’s working at a company now? Do you like it?” YoungJae asked, like a church mouse that never left its hole, the closest idea of working in an office he painted in his mind, was like those in typical backstabbing political dramas.

Jackson gave him a sigh and started letting him in on his life as a typical office worker, while they laughed and caught up.
“Hyung, why don’t we have lunch here? Let me see if Bambam can make it.” Youngjae took out his phone about to text him.

“Not AGAIN YoungJae ah. Don’t you know Bambam is like a haunting shadow that lingers everywhere I go?? Ever since we worked in the same office, even though we don’t work in the same department, I hear about him ALL the time, even afterwork that day, I bumped into him and he made me eat dinner with him and his sister.” Jackson rolled his eyes in annoyance, recollecting the face of the pesky little brother that he knew all too well.

“Seriously!? Hey but, it’s thanks to him that you’ve got this job, hyung…. he kinda, pulled us out of this crap that we’re in, so be nice to him c’mon, he’s not that baaaaaaaadddd.” Youngjae earned himself a glare with dropped jaw from Jackson. “Well, he’s just a little showy and sometimes too sticky, but he means well, and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever, I got through the interview myself tho, it’s not like he paved the way for me into the director’s office or something. I’m just a nobody - a low life, but hey, I’m not complaining.” Jackson held up his hands in defence. It was true that he was thankful for Bambam’s pulling of some family strings, that got Jackson a place in the company much sooner than most others, and directly put to be your subordinate – a position other junior employees had to work a couple of years to reach. In a bid to help Jackson and YoungJae when their jam studio was going in the reds, Bambam had secretly helped them out with bearing the costs of their production, and when Jackson decided it wasn’t working out, it was Bambam who quickly came to his aid, by offering him an opening in the company.

“Anyway, we could have dinner together but it’s because YOU wanted it alright - oh and ask him to call along his friend Yugyeom. I heard he comes here often. I’ve had enough of Bambam’s clinging so you better get me a decoy to keep him occupied.” Jackson relented, as he always did, for YoungJae.

---

(Your home)
Yugyeom sat in his room, wondering when it would be good time to come out, and whether he should feign ignorance or, be concerned.
His phone rang and it was Bambam’s voice blaring through the speakers.
BB: Yugyeom ah, do you wanna come by the jam studio? Jackson-hyung is back and I’ve been meaning to introduce you to the guys.
YG: Oh!! Cool!! I was just wondering what to do today. Sure, see you there!
Yugyeom quickly grabbed the CD on his table and headed out.
“Ah, noona!! I’ll be out with Bam for today, you guys just – erm, just— chill or something ya?” Yugyeom whizzed past you seeing that Mark had his eyes glued affectionately at you to even hear him talking.
“Uh? Oh alright, see you later, have fun Gyeom!” You smiled and waved him when he reached the door.

As Yugyeom turned back wanting to wave at you, he saw that your eyes were still a little swollen from awhile ago. Biting his lip, he wanted so badly to just comfort you and be there but he knew it wasn’t his place to do so anymore. He hesitated but decided to run back to give you a quick hug anyway.
“Sarangheyo noona!” he chirped at your ear as you felt a sudden gigantic piece of skin cover your vision for a split second and your feet nearly levitating off the ground.

“OMOOO!! okay okay! Bye!” you replied rather stunned, completely aware that Mark was watching all of it.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Mark bounced up from his seat and went over to you, while you were busily trying to make some pancakes.
“YAH!!” you jumped in shock, not seeing that Mark came from the back and slipped his arms around your waist, slotting his hands conveniently in the two front pockets of the apron you wore. “Stop it Mark! Stop it!” You couldn’t swipe him away with both your hands full.

Mark was always abit of a bully when it came to skinship. He was the sort that didn’t say much, and didn’t move much, but was accurately aggressive when he wanted his way on things - skinship was one of them. He wouldn’t bother whether you liked it or not, he would just push his way through, bulldozing whatever was in the way of how he liked it. His hands always went where he wanted, and it was not possible to convince him otherwise. Thankfully, he wasn’t the raunchy kinky sort of pervert - just, aggressively touchy in the affectionate way.
You had to leave him to his way, since you only had a frying pan on one hand, and a bunch of eggs in the other.
“Can’t I stay here?” he asked.

“Why would you want to? I mean, you’ve got a whole big house to yourself and no chores to bother about. You’ve no idea how lucky you are, Mark.” you said softly, being cautious not to lead him on just incase he asks you to stay again.

“But you’re not there.” he whined, adding a pout for good measure.

You laughed at his attempt to look cute to you.
“Well, you can hang around until Yugyeom comes back tonight, if that helps?” you offered, and turned your head a little, as your cheek brushed his.

He pecked your cheek and smiled, nodding, before letting you cook with ease while he retreated back to his seat to wait for the food.

---

As Bambam sauntered in to the studio, he saw his favourite Jackson Hyung and ran up to him as if he hadn’t seen him in a long while.
“JAEEKSUNNN HYUNG!!!” came the unmistakable weak and high pitched voice of Bambam.

“Oh gosh” Jackson muttered under his breath as he turned away in the opposite direction.

“Bambam-ah~~~” Youngjae stood up to give him a hug and pat on the back, “how’s Jackson-hyung in the office?”

Bambam laughed his classic high pitched short chuckle, “he’s really popular,eh-heh!”
“Yeah, yeah… where’s your friend?” Jackson quickly diverts the topic away from himself.

“Uh? He should be here soon, he lives just around the….” just as Bambam said this, Yugyeom pushed the door open and popped his head in. It was the first time he visited the studio on a non-event day.

“OH!!!” exclaimed YoungJae, as Jackson and Bambam turned to stare at him. “Hyung! He’s the guy that bought your last piece!”

As the doe eyed young man smiled, he entered holding the CD in his hand with his eyes on Jackson. As his face brightened up, Jackson stood up in a million-dollar smile and outstretched his arms to welcome Yugyeom.
“Yo! Ma’ man Yuuugyeomm!!!” they collided hip hop style to the confusion of Bambam and YoungJae.

“Aigooo hyung, I’m a fan.” he blushed happily in the presence of Jackson and YoungJae, giving them a polite bow, and handing over his CD with both hands, asking for an autograph.

Turns out that he had met all 4 of them, but at different occasions and their uncanny connection was indeed such a coincidence. Being friend of Bambam, he came as an audience to the jam studio and saw both Jackson and Youngjae as musicians. Since they went by the name of J-flawless & Young-J, and never knew their actual names, he only realised that Jackson was your colleague when you brought them out for dinner. You never liked Yugyeom going to the jam studio because it was underground and dangerous, and its patrons were often connected to drug and clubs, which you felt was too much for an impressionable young man like Yugyeom. But he clearly was too attracted to the music to think otherwise.
The day went by eventfully for all of them, and soon, it was time to go. Each parted ways and Jackson wanted to send Yugyeom back since it wasn’t far off.
As he drove, he wanted to get to know your lifestyle a little better through Yugyeom.

J: So… how’s your sister like at home? Is she fierce?
Y: Ummm well, what’s she like in the office?
J: She’s really …. good at what she does and commands my respect..
Y: …. and….?
J: And of cos she’s really sweet and……
Y: Is she your style?
J: Woah kid, hold up there. She’s my BOSS!
Y: But you obviously are so curious about her I could see it in you eyes, hyung, when we had dinner together. (laughs)
J: Yah!!! You!!
Y: Well, if you want my advice, I suggest you not look at her that way, cos…. she’s taken……
J: (silence)
Y: But nevertheless, I’ll be seeing lots more of you soon and if you like, we could always hang out after work, with my sister of course. *winks*
J: (looks at Yugyeom slyly and smiles in glee) I’ll take that.

As he alighted, Jackson waved him goodbye and drove off, passing by Mark’s car which was parked outside. He remember seeing that car somewhere but couldn’t recall where it was. Deep in thought, he brushed it aside and headed home, slightly saddened by the news that you were taken.
“Well, I guess I’ll just be a good worker and …. see how it goes.” with a sigh, the journey home was a tad lonely one for the cheery Jackson as he looked forward to Monday to come again quick.

- To be continued…

Notes