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"So, you're going to meet him in the park and go on a date," Mrs. Lee explained while Donghyuck was eating his lunch, listening to his schedule for the rest of the day, "And then go for coffee or something and then a long walk."

"And of course the paparazzi would be there, right?" Donghyuck said, trying not to roll his eyes at the whole production that was his new 'relationship.'

"On the date itself they'll be far away to make it look real, but when you're walking then they will swarm you."

"And we have to pretend to be surprised?" Donghyuck sighed.

"Angry, more like," Mrs. Lee said, not looking up from her phone.

"What's the date?" Donghyuck asked.

"Picnic in the park."

That actually sounds quite nice, Donghyuck thought.

"Be ready in an hour." Mrs. Lee said and left the room to make a phone call.

---- ---- ---- ----

"You want me to do what?" Mark asked, incredulously, looking at his manager like he had lost his mind.

"Pack a picnic for your date with Lee," His manager told him, not understanding what Mark's problem with that was.

"The old lady?" Mark asked.

"What?"

"You want me to go on a date with that old lady manager person?" Mark said.

"No..." Mark's manager said, physically stopping himself from facepalming, "For your date with Lee Donghyuck."

"His last name is the same as his manager's?" Mark asked, taken aback.

"Did you not know that?" Mark's manager asked, cocking his head to one side.

"I did, but I guess I never really thought about it until now."

His manager simply sighed at the younger boy.

"Why am I packing a lunch?!" Mark whined after letting the information sink in.

"Because it's your date." His manager said simply.

"A date that I am contractually bound to go to."

"Exactly! See, you do understand," His manager said and walked out.

Mark swore under his breath and reluctantly got off the couch.

---- ---- ---- ----

"Where is he?" Donghyuck asked his manager, still sitting in the car.

"Running late." his mother answered curtly, responding to messages on her phone.

Donghyuck sighed, more familiar with the top of the head of his mother than her actual face.

"Why is he running late?"

"Apparently there was a problem with the packing of the picnic basket." his manager said.

"He can't even do the most basic of tasks..." Donghyuck mumbled under his breath. He took his phone out of his bag and scrolled through social media while waiting for Mark.

"He's here." His manager said after about 10 minutes.

"And only 25 minutes late." Donghyuck quipped, locking his phone, hand on the door ready to exit the car when his manager stopped him.

"You need to sell this." She said curtly.

"Don't worry Mrs. Lee," Donghyuck said in a sickly sweet voice, "I'm bound by a contract, remember?"

Donghyuck got out of the car and walked according to the directions that he was given -

'Walk straight until you pass the lake and on the right-hand side of the bank, there should be a giant tree. Mark will be waiting there with the picnic all set up. '

Sure enough, he saw Mark by the tree; however, there was nothing set up. Donghyuck saw him struggle to lay the picnic blanket flat on the ground.

"You're late, asshole," Donghyuck greeted, walking up to Mark with a fake smile.

"Shut up and help me," Mark grumbled.

"How romantic," Donghyuck said, rolling his eyes, "Just what every guy wants to hear on a first date."

"Think about how cute it'll look for the papers tomorrow morning," Mark said before spitting out, "Darling."

"Your excuses are about as bad as your basic living skills," Donghyuck quipped but helped him lay the picnic blanket out.

"You brought something?" Mark asked.

"I heard you were cooking and didn't want to get food poisoning," Donghyuck said, reaching into a plastic bag and taking out the food he had packed, "It's pesto pasta salad."

"I love pesto pasta..." Mark said, trailing off.

"I heard." Donghyuck told him, "That's why I made it."

"Thanks," Mark said, turning his attention away from Donghyuck and to his picnic basket.

"What did you bring?" Donghyuck asked, trying to steer the conversation away from their awkward niceties.

"Ham and cheese sandwiches, pita bread, hummus, club sandwich, roasted potatoes, and wine," Mark said, taking them out one by one.

Donghyuck tried to fight back a smile but failed.

"What?" Mark asked, a small amused smile appearing on his face from seeing Donghyuck's reaction.

"How long did it take you to make all of those?"

"Couple of hours," Mark said with a shrug. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Donghyuck said, brushing it off, "Thank you for the food."

"Hey! I had to cut, assemble and pack all of this myself!"

"I said thank you!" Donghyuck said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"I see you judging me..." Mark joked, taking out the wine glasses and pouring both of them a glass.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Donghyuck sighed.

"Look, Mark," Donghyuck started.

"What is it?" Mark said.

"We don't know how long this will last right?" he said, "Like it could be a couple of weeks, months or even a year or, oh my god, if people really buy into it then a couple of years and -"

"The point, Donghyuck?" Mark said, cutting his ramble off.

"Right, sorry," he said quickly, "My point is that this whole thing...with us...this might last a while and it's not going to be of any help to us if we're assholes to each other."

"You're right," Mark said with a nod.

"We should be friends, at least," Donghyuck proposed with a smile.

"We should," Mark said with a nod, "We will be living with each other in a bit anyway."

"I forgot about that," Donghyuck winced.

"I'm a great roommate," Mark said with a smirk.

"I can imagine..." he said, looking at the assortment of sandwiches.

"You'll do the cooking, of course," Mark said with a laugh.

"You could cut and assemble," Donghyuck joked.

"As long as I don't do the washing, I'm good!"

"That's not fair!"

"Why not?" Mark said, smiling, "I'm chopping and assembling!"

"I'm cooking!"

"And washing." Mark retorted.

"Mark..." Donghyuck said.

"Hey! You said my name!" Mark exclaimed with a grin.

"Mark, we don't even have a house yet," Donghyuck said, laughing at the realization.

"Oh..." Mark said and they sat in silence for ten seconds before they burst out laughing.

"Donghyuck." Mark called out, making him lookup.

"Yeah, Mark?"

"Since we're friends now and you know, we're obviously going to be spending a lot of time together," Mark started to ramble, "I was wondering if I could ask you something. But obviously, you do not have any obligation to answer this. I was just curi-"

"Just ask me, Mark," Donghyuck said, smiling at him so that he wouldn't get more nervous than he already was. He reached out for his wine glass, suspecting that he would need it.

"So I recently realized that your last name was the same as your manager," Mark started.

"I feel like I should be insulted that you didn't know that before," Donghyuck commented.

Mark ignored his quip and continued, "And you call your manager Mrs. Lee..."

"Is there an actual question here?" Donghyuck asked despite already knowing what Mark wanted.

"Why does it seem like you and your.. I'm assuming she's your mother," Mark said, treading lightly, "Do you not get along?"

"It's... complicated," Donghyuck said, chugging the remains of the wine in his glass.

"How about I give you a refill on that wine and you tell me," Mark proposed.

"We will be spending a lot of time together," Donghyuck thought out loud.

"That we will," Mark said, reaching for the bottle of wine.

"You might as well know how screwed up and dysfunctional my family life is." Donghyuck scoffed.

Mark tried not to show how taken aback he was by the change in Donghyuck's attitude.

Donghyuck took a swig from his now almost full glass and sighed.

"How much do you know about me exactly?" Donghyuck asked.

"Let's just say other than your full name," Mark said, "Nothing."

"You're a great boyfriend." Donghyuck quipped.

"So I've been told," Mark muttered under his breath.

"My mother wasn't always my manager," Donghyuck started, making Mark sit up straighter to listen to him, "When I started out in the business at 13 years old, my father was my manager. He thought that it would make things easier always having my parents around me. But, before he started, he sat all of us down and laid down some ground rules. They were to separate family life from business life and it worked!"

Donghyuck paused, taking a deep breath. "My mother was there when I needed someone to lean on and when it was all getting too much and my dad was my manager. It was perfect. But when I was 15, my dad passed away. My mother thought that she should take over his role since he always wanted me to have family around me. The rules were almost the same except for one additional one - We shouldn't talk about business at home."

"You don't need to-" Mark said gently, noticing how Donghyuck was getting choked up.

"No, it's not that," Donghyuck said, fake laughing it off, "It's just that I've never told anyone this."

"I just have one of those baby faces that makes people trust me quickly," Mark joked, getting Donghyuck to laugh.

A wave of pride washed over him when he saw that he accomplished his goal.

"Right so," Donghyuck said clearing his throat and taking a sip of his wine and continuing the story, "All was well for a while but then the rules kept getting broken one by one by one until they just didn't exist anymore. Now she's my manager and... and nothing more."

"Did you try talking to her?" Mark asked, putting a comforting hand on Donghyuck's thigh, unconsciously rubbing circles with his thumb.

Donghyuck tried his best not to notice the way Mark's touch sent electricity through his veins. He tried not to notice how warm and calloused his hands were over his soft and supple skin. (He's wearing shorts)

"Donghyuck?" Mark said, tearing Donghyuck away from his thoughts that we're going down a dirt path.

"Yeah," he said, his head snapping up to meet Mark's questioning glance.

"Did you try to talk to your mother?" He repeated, silently wishing that he had the power to read Donghyuck's mind.

"A couple of times but it didn't really change anything," Donghyuck said, brushing off the issue.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Donghyuck being the first one to break the silence.

"So, that's my family," he said, "What about yours?"

"Mine?" Mark said, letting out a little laugh.

"Yes. Yours!" Donghyuck said, putting his glass down and relaxing a little, "Tell me about your family."

"Well, I'm the oldest," Mark started off, smiling at the thought of his family back home, "I have a younger brother - Jisung. We're a pretty close-knit family."

"That's so sweet," Donghyuck said with a smile.

"We're not a perfect family," Mark said with a laugh, "I can assure you that much."

"How so?"

"My dad raised us as a single dad." Mark said, "He's the strongest person I know, honestly. My mom left when I was little, like one day she just got up and walked out the door and didn't come back - No explanation, no note, no goodbye; nothing. So my dad raised us and he worked tirelessly to provide a life for us."

Donghyuck opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it back, afraid to offend him.

"What is it?" Mark asked, scrutinizing his expression.

"Nothing," Donghyuck said, shaking his head with a smile.

"No, tell me," Mark said gently.

"It's a very personal question and I just don't think it's right-" Donghyuck started to say but Mark cut him off with a gentle smile.

"If this whole fake relationship thing is going to work, we need to be honest with each other." Mark told him, "Tell me."

Donghyuck could feel his heart beating a little faster, but convinced himself it was because of the wine and not the fact that Mark's doe eyes were shining with sincerity he had never seen him before.

Donghyuck thought to himself that maybe he was wrong about Mark being an asshole. Maybe Mark's whole asshole attitude was simply a farce and a facade and nothing more than that. There must be more to him than all of this and Donghyuck knew it.

"I was just wondering if you ever looked for her or wanted to look for her and ask your mom why she left," Donghyuck said, giving in.

"No," Mark said, his once shining eyes becoming steely.

"Don't you want to know?" Donghyuck asked, curious.

"I did when I was younger but I've come to realize after years and years of overthinking and blaming myself that if she really cared, she would've stayed and tried to make it work - but she didn't. She was too much of a coward to stick it out."

They settled back into silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable one, but it wasn't a completely comfortable silence either.

Not Edited

Saturday, September 7, 2019

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