The next day came quickly. Jaebum promised to take over Mark's shift at the grocery store and Youngjae would help Jaebum when he was done with his classes for the day.

Mark starts his day at the grocery store around 7.30am. He was usually alone, sometimes Jaebum would be there too but he had morning classes today so he wasn't there.

He starts the day of with putting the stands with fruit outside and he prepared the rest of the store to be presentable which included cleaning the floor, his least favorite thing to do.

After a short while the delivery man came, Mark thanked the man and put some things in the store. The remaining stuff he put away next to the counter or in the cool cell.

The store wasn't too big but it wasn't small either. Besides the usual fruit and vegetables he also sells salads and instant meals. Of course he also sells herbs and even self-made smoothies. All the foods were from around the world so he had all kinds of things in his stores to sell.

After cleaning the floor, Mark proceeded to prepare some instant meals. He took out the ones that were too old and he prepared the new ones and put them in the see-through fridge so the costumers could see them.

In between preparing the meals he helps out some costumers. They are usually the people he sees often and since it was quite early he talks to them for a while. Some costumers he sees often he really knows and feels connected to them.

The people who came to the store were usually people from the age 35 and up but he also has some customers who are his age or younger. For example there were these two boys, a few years younger than him, Yugyeom and BamBam.

The oldest of the two came here from Thailand and because Mark sells foreign fruits and vegetables they come here every once in a while to buy some Thai fruits. They would usually show up around 10am, when the store would still be quite placid.

All of the boys would talk for a short amount of time and Mark knows a lot about their history together. They have been coming at his store since BamBam moved here which was three years ago.

The two younger boys still lived at Yugyeom's parents house, but they had plans on moving out when they both had their diplomas for high school. Or, they would atleast work first and maybe one of them would go to college, but anyway they would find a way to be together and completely independent.

When Mark finishes the meals, he turns on the coffee machine and takes a cup of coffee, taking a little break. The thought of meeting Jackson would linger his mind, he was nervous to meet the other boy. He doesn't exactly know why but he feels some tightening feeling in his stomach which makes him feel nervous.

He tries not to worry about the meeting too much, I mean it's just a casual meeting right? Just a cup of coffee and talking. Mark himself isn't much of a talker, he prefers to observe things and listening to what the other has to say. This was especially the case when he met new people.

The fear of saying something wrong and hurting the other person's feelings always overtakes him when he meets new people. It's one of the reasons why he can't really meet new people well and only has a couple of close friends.

It's a weird thing. Mark wasn't ever nervous when he was in the store and had absolutely no problem in talking to costumers.

Somewhere it was different.

When you meet new people it's as if you're obligated to get to know the person and you can't just let your opinions out like it's nothing because you never know what battle the other person is fighting. Atleast that's how Mark thought it was, other people might disagree with this.

After drinking his cup of coffee, Yugyeom and BamBam walk into the store. He flashes the two a bright smile.

"Hi guys, back already?"

"Of course hyung, we ran out of the fruits already. I prepared them for Yugyeom's parents and they absolutely loved it." BamBam says excited.

His boyfriend stands next to him, his hand on his boyfriend's lower back. He just flashes the other a smile.

"Well you know where they are so go ahead, take all you need. I'm glad your parents enjoy the fruit too."

"I was very glad aswell, first I thought they wouldn't be up to try foreign fruits but it turns out they were actually really curious about the fruits we brought home every time." Yugyeom responds.

"That's so good to hear. If you guys want to try, I got some dried fruits two days ago. I have some dried mango if you want to try that?"

"Sounds delicious hyung." BamBam says and Mark nods. He goes to the storage room to see where he had the box of dried mango. Once he spots it he brings it back to the store and places it behind the counter onto a cabinet.

He opens the box and puts on a glove. With a bit of force he gets some pieces out and because they were sugared they were quite sticky.

He handed the pieces over to the two boys who were behind the counter. Mark takes a piece himself and he watches the two as they munch on their pieces.

"Wow, this is really good hyung. Is it sugared?" BamBam asks.

"Yes a little bit, that's why it was a bit hard to get them out of the box."

"I like it a lot, what about you Yug?"

"I like it too, shall we take some? Also for my parents they both got a sweet tooth so I think they'll like this."

"Great, I'll get you some of it." Mark says, he grabs a plastic box to put some of the dried mango in.

The other two boys stroll through the store and look around for other things they want to buy. Mark finishes putting some of the dried fruit in a plastic box, he weighs it and charges the price for the box.

The others come back not much later with some fruits and he weighs and prices them aswell. The boys pay for the fruits and thank Mark for the delicious fruits, after they leave.

Mark makes an order for what he has to have in the store for the next couple of days and without him realizing it Jaebum walks in.

"Hey Mark hyung."

The called boy jerks up and looks at his best friend. "You scared me there Jaebum-ah."

"Maybe that was the purpose."

"Oh shut it."

Jaebum chuckles but turns serious soon after, not wanting to disrespect the older. Although he knew the older was joking.

"What can I do?"

"Well the rest of the day is quite simple, just make sure to make this order complete and send it to our trades so they know what to send us. Of course make sure to refill the store and to check if everything is still full enough. Also deposit the bills we get once or twice, depending on how many customers we have. And that's about it I guess."

"Okay then, have fun on your date Mark hyung."

"Yah, it's not a date. We're only getting to know each other and drink a cup of coffee." Mark replied as he hit Jaebum's arm.

"Sounds like a date to me."

"You're way to influenced by Youngjae."

"He's my boyfriend after all I spend a lot of time with him."

"Just shush it."

Jaebum chuckled and Mark took his jacket from the staff area and left the store.

"Have fun Mark hyung." Jaebum shouted as Mark left the store.

"Bye Jaebum-ah." He shouted back and chuckled at his friend.

Mark makes a quick stop at home to change his outfit and style his hair a bit. He wears a skin colored t-shirt with turtleneck and puts a light pink sweater over it. He pairs it with some light blue jeans with some holes in it.

To finish the look he wears a silver necklace and some rings. After he finishes he looks in the mirror satisfied. 'Time to head to the coffee store.' Mark thought.

The feeling in his stomach was back and it was very unsettling to him but he had no other choice then to live with it.

Jackson on the other hand had asked his trainer to have a day off and he decided to sleep in, not too long though. He wanted to have enough time to make himself presentable to Mark, for what reason he wanted to do that wasn't clear to himself either. But he just wanted to do it.

He got up at 10.00am which was a reasonable time for him. Jinyoung had left for college but the older had told him all about the meeting yesterday. Jinyoung was happy for the older boy when he heard the news, he was glad that Jackson had sound excited.

Jackson prepared himself and doubted whether to put his hair up or down. He glanced to himself in the mirror and he laughed at his reflection. He had just taken a shower and his hair was all over the place and a towel was loosely hanging around his hips.

He decided he would put his hair up for the day, because he felt like it. And also partially because he wanted to impress Mark.

He makes his way to his room and opens his closet. He looks in to it and most of it is black clothes, something he wore quite often. His best friend would always mock him on how he only wore black clothes but he just simply felt comfortable in them.

He grabbed some black jeans with pockets on the side and a simple black t-shirt. He throws them on together with some boxers and a black muscle top underneath. He grabs a cross shaped necklace and he paired his outfit with a black cap, some black boots and a silver watch.

On his other wrist he puts a tiny silver bracelet. He puts cross shaped earrings in his ear and he puts a ring on the pink of his left hand.

He wanted to put his hair up first but changed his mind once he saw a black cap, he owned plenty of them and it made him feel more like him. He also didn't really want to look like he put too much effort into meeting Mark.

Of course it was important but it wasn't a date or anything after all. He looks at his watch and sees that the time is 11.40am, which means he has to leave.

He grabs a coat, his keys and his wallet and heads outside. He gets into his car and starts heading to the café the two had decided to meet.

Mark arrived a few minutes early. The café was full of people lunching and having business meetings but Mark didn't really care about that.

Mark looks for a spot where the two of them can sit. He spots a place next to the window. Perfect, Mark thinks, if anything gets awkward he can atleast look outside.

He sits down at the spot, it's a small round table with two chairs opposite from each other. Mark looks out of the window and he sees Han River shining in the beautiful midday light, the water is sparkling and there are even a few people on there doing things like wakeboarding.

A waiter walks up to him, to see if the boy is ready to order.

"Good afternoon sir, can I help you?"

Mark is shocked by the sudden voice and turns around, facing the waiter.

"I'm just waiting for someone, we'll order later if that's possible."

"Of course sir, let me know when you made up your mind."

The waiter walks off and Mark drifts into his thoughts again. He looks out of the window again, scanning the people on and along the river.

He loves the sight of the River in the midday light, the sun was up high and shining down the beautiful river. The water looks even bluer than before and he loves seeing the sparkles on them.

He used to come here a lot when he just arrived in Korea, to just relax and take his mind off of things. Nowadays he prefers to go to the beach instead. He loves it when the wind is blowing in his hair and when he can look around and watch all the boats go by.

Mark watches the people on the water from afar and watches them fall, succeed and getting up again.

It's like life, he thinks. You fall, you get up again and you might succeed trying it again, and you'll go on until you finally succeed.

A smile crept to his face as he watched the people, he would love to do that one time. Both of his friends didn't really like to do stuff like that so he usually just didn't do it because doing it alone wasn't fun.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Mark hopes Jackson would be someone who he could do that with.

Mark's thoughts wonder off to where Jackson is right now. The brown haired boy feels like he's been here for a while already. He looks at his watch, 12.05pm.

Nothing happened on the way here right? Mark wonders.

Jackson wouldn't have forgotten their appointment right? Mark sighs, he fixates his eyes on the door as he waits for someone to walk in. The nervous feeling is still taking over his stomach and it only gets worse when he thinks of all the possible things that could happen to the other boy.

A few minutes pass and finally someone walks in. Mark doesn't immediately recognizes the boy who walks in. He does look handsome, he's not going to deny that, but could it really be Jackson?

Jackson walks into the café, he looks around and then spots a familiar face on a chair next to the window. The boy stares at him as Jackson approaches him.

"Hey, are you Mark?" He asks.

He boy is silent for a few seconds. He scans the other and then seems to have recognized the Chinese male.

"Yes, are you Jackson?"

"The one and only." He answers and laughs.

Mark laughs, "Have a seat."

Jackson takes off his coat and sits down opposite from Mark.

Mark's nervous feeling is still there and he immediately turns quiet because he doesn't know what to say. Jackson notices this and starts the conversation instead.

"So, how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"I'm good aswell. Weird isn't it, to meet each other like this?"

"It is, I honestly wouldn't have expected it to turn out this way."

"Neither did I to be honest. I thought no one was going to find that letter anymore, but then you wrote me."

"Yeah, I did."

Jackson looks Mark in the eye, he notices how the other's eyes are a beautiful coffee color. Like a dark coffee color, the outer corner of his eye being darker than the rest of his eye color which was still a coffee color but just a bit less dark than the outer line of his eye.

Jackson feels some kind of connection already, whether that was because the older knew about his past or because he seems very laid back and nice.

"I'm really happy you did Mark hyung. I want to thank you for doing so."

"It's fine, all I really wanted to do was help someone out." Mark said shyly.

Mark looks down a bit and fumbles with his fingers because he doesn't know what to say or do. Jackson chuckles and tries to lift the mood.

"So you know some things about me, how about you? Tell me about yourself."

Mark looks up to Jackson and sees how Jackson has put his elbow in the table and put his head in his hand, looking at Mark.

Jackson listens carefully as Mark tells how he works at the grocery shop and owns the place there, how he lives alone, has two best friends named Jaebum and Youngjae and how he is originally from LA but moved here later on with his parents.

"Cool, that's why you're English in those letters was so on point, you're a native speaker."

"Yeah, it explains a lot doesn't it?"

"What would you like to drink?" Jackson asks, grabbing the menu from the holder it's in.

Jackson turns the menu so Mark can also clearly see what's on the menu. The older shuffling towards the other a bit so he can see it just a little bit better.

"I think I'd like an iced tea." He then finally says.

"Okay, great. I'll order then."

Jackson puts his hand up and the same waiter from before comes towards the table.

"Good afternoon sir, how can I help you two?"

"We'd like one iced tea and one iced Americano please."

"Coming up, anything else you'd like to order?"

"No, that was it thank you."

"Okay then, those will be coming up then."

Mark is glad Jackson took the order, it's not that he can't but he feels a bit awkward and still nervous from before so he would probably stumble over his words and embarrass himself, which is not something he wants to do in front of the other.

"Should I tell a bit more about myself?" Jackson asks, noticing the awkward silence between them.

"Sure go ahead."

"Okay well, so I'm originally from Hong Kong. But you probably guessed that already. I moved here because of my school and my internship. I major as a PE teacher but I have an internship at my father's fencing club. I love to fence, I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. My dad is a coach and has a few clubs around the world. He inspired me to be a coach. So that's why I moved here. I have three very close friends, their names are Jinyoung, Yugyeom and BamBam."

Mark's heart started to race. Yugyeom and BamBam as in the BamBam and Yugyeom who visit his store regularly? No, that can't be, right?

But then, who else has the name BamBam is a city as Seoul? Probably no one. Mark starts to freak out a bit because of this sudden coincidence.

Jackson just continued his story not noticing Mark's shocked look in his eyes.

"I live together with Jinyoung, he's my best friend. We have been living together for a couple of years now and we've really grown close over time. He's really nice and understands me well. He's the one who also encouraged me to write you back. He helped me writing my letter since I just didn't know what to say."

Jackson rambles on some more about his life and Mark just couldn't really concentrate on the story that the other was telling because of the names he heard the other say.

"Mark?"

"Mark hyung?"

Jackson waves his hands in front of Mark's eyes.

"Huh, yeah sorry what were you saying?"

"I was asking you if you like cheese."

'Wait, what how did he change the topic to cheese? He was talking about his friend just a little while ago.' Mark thought.

"Oh, uhm, yes I do." Mark said confused. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Yes go ahead, what do you want to ask?"

Mark was doubting if he should ask how he knew Yugyeom and BamBam. He was curious if the story he knows about them corresponds with the story Jackson will tell him, but at the same time he didn't want Jackson to freak out.

Before Mark could ask anything, the waiter came with their drinks.

"An iced tea for you, and an iced Americano for you. Have a lovely afternoon."

"Thank you." They both responded.

Mark took a sip of his drink and so did Jackson. Jackson looked at the other intrigued, he was curious what the other wanted to ask. Jackson noticed already that Mark wasn't really a talker but maybe that will come along the way he thought.

"So what is it you wanted to ask?"

"You said you had two friends, Yugyeom and BamBam right?"

"Yes, what about them?"

"Well, two people who visit the store very often are also called Yugyeom and BamBam, could it be that they're the same people?"

"Could be, to be honest. Wait, I have some photos of us together, maybe you'll recognize them."

Mark nods and Jackson pulls out his phone. He unlocks it and goes to BamBam's Instagram. He scrolls down a bit until he finds a recent photo of the two together, which was quite easy since he posted a lot of pictures of them together.

He clicks on the recent photo and shows it to Mark. "Here, this is them."

Mark's eyes widen and soon after he lets out a chuckle. "Yeah, those two come to my store very often." He says.

"Really?"

"Yeah, they come to buy Thai fruits mostly. Small world isn't it?"

"Indeed, that's so weird. As if this was all planned out."

"I know right, really odd."

Mark grows a bit more comfortable and the nervous and awkward feeling lessens.

A while later, their drinks are finishes and the two decide to part ways again. Jackson pays for the drinks as he had promised and they stand up.

They both grab their coats and put them on. The awkward tension grows again as both don't really know what to do to say goodbye. They walk out of the store silently and wait in front of it.

"Well, I guess I see you another time." Jackson says, facing Mark.

"Yeah who knows?"

"Thanks for the nice afternoon though and thanks again for writing me."

"It's okay Jackson. I'll see you around." Mark says and bows his head slightly before walking off.

"See you around." Jackson says and heads off too.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed! ❤