It's been a few weeks, Mark and Jackson haven't talked to each other ever since the meeting.

Mark has been busy with his store, since the holidays were coming around next month.

The dark haired boy has been trying to avoid Yugyeom and BamBam, he didn't want to see them because he was afraid of the things Jackson might have told them about their meeting.

Often Mark thought about the meeting and what would happen if he'd meet Yugyeom and BamBam again. He regularly thought about what Jackson would've said to the couple about the meeting. Mark hates to admit that he thinks he might have made a wrong impression. This was mostly because of his introverted character, which clearly showed during their meeting.

When Mark had walked back home after the meeting he felt bad because he thought he had been too quiet and listened too much. He felt that way because Jackson talked a lot. Mark was fine with that but he felt that he should've talked a bit more.

Of course feelings like these always came after such meetings and there was no way turning back now. Mark talked about it with Jaebum and Youngjae but they weren't much of a help as they kind of made a joke out of it, saying Mark was probably too distracted by his beauty. The 23 year old boy knew that they didn't mean that and he could laugh about it later, yet he felt like they didn't totally understand him.

Along with the fact he didn't have much friends beside the two, he couldn't talk to anyone else about how he felt. He just simply left it and accepted the fact that he needed to live with it.

The American native was scared Jackson had told his friends about how quiet and boring he was during their meeting. This was why he didn't want to face the couple, afraid they'd say bad things about him or he was just generally scared to make a bad impression on them too now.

Around three weeks after the meeting the infamous couple came into the store. Mark is working a shift alone so no one else, for example Jaebum, is around to talk to the couple.

After Mark throws away some rotten apples and oranges in the trash at the back of the store, a place where customers weren't allowed to go, he comes back into the store. He is about to head back to the back of the store again when he hears the bell of the store ring, signaling a new customer has walked in.

Mark put on a smile and turns to the door, when he sees Yugyeom and BamBam walking in. His smile fades and stares at the two boys.

"Hi hyung!" they both greet enthusiastically.

Mark quickly puts his smile back on, "Hi guys, how are you doing?"

Mark is trying not to seem too obvious about the fact that he feels a nervous and unsettling feeling in his stomach. He immediately thinks about his encounter with Jackson and flashbacks of the gathering flash in front of his eyes.

"We're good hyung, how are you?"

"I- I'm good too. What brought you guys back here?"

"Well, we actually were thinking of getting some dried fruits again, we really enjoyed those last time. And just some other stuff we usually get aswell."

"Well help yourselves, the dried fruits are over there." Mark says, pointing at the dried fruits, which are standing next to the nuts he imported from Europe a few days ago. "If you need me, I'll be at the back. Just tell me when you're done and I'll come back so you guys can pay for everything." The younger nod in confirmation and walk towards the dried fruits.

Mark hurries to the back and he sits down on the chair in his office. He puts his head in his hands, covering his eyes. He lets the nerve wrecking feeling settle in the pit of his stomach. He doesn't want to see the other two. He became scared and he didn't want them to come in. Mark barely even processed the whole meeting with Jackson and the bad impression he made on the younger.

"Come on Mark, stay professional, you can do this. You don't even know if they talked about you or not, just pretend nothing happened and they'll be gone soon enough." He said trying to cheer himself up.

He stands up and takes a deep breath. He walks out of the office and into the store again. The couple walks towards the counter with their basket full of fruits and other foreign goodies. Mark put all the prices in the cash register and told them the total price.

The two pay and leave with two full bags, a smile on their faces. As they walk out they say goodbye to their hyung also adding they hope to see him again soon.

"Mark hyung was acting a bit weird today, wasn't he Yug?" BamBam questioned as they walk away from the store, on their way home.

"He was, I really wonder why, normally he's always happy to see us and he always comes over to talk to us and makes sure we pick the right products etcetera. I really don't get it, did we do anything wrong?"

"I have no clue. Maybe he was just having a bad day, we all have those after all."

"Yeah, we do." Yugyeom feels sad though, he doesn't like to see his hyung saddened. The red haired boy shrugs and continues to walk with his boyfriend. Their hands intertwined as they walk, both a bag in their other hand.

On the other side of town Jackson is busy with practicing for the fencing championship that is coming up in a few weeks.

His days are more packed than normal. The 22 year old sleeps three hours a night, four if he was lucky.

He usually gets up early to do his work-out routine, quickly eats, goes to school or his internship, eats dinner (if he has time to do so), practices until midnight and then when he gets home he does his homework and makes his assignments for his internship. He goes to bed around 3am and gets up the next day around 6am.

He is mentally tired because of the lack of rest he has been getting but he also knows he has to fight against his tiredness to win the championship. He is determined to win and nothing could stop him. That being said, there is one thing that did stop him from fully concentrating on his fencing. That one thing being his get-together with Mark.

The boy really wants to be friends with the other, he wants to get him know him better. But as Jinyoung had advised him weeks before, he should take it slow and wait for the older to reach out to him.

So he did, he patiently waits for the finder of the bottle to contact him. Though the other boy wasn't lingering his mind as much as it was days after the meeting, he lingers his mind at least once a day.

For some reason Jackson just really feels connected to the other boy, when he explained this to his best friend he gave a brief explanation of how that was established.

His best friend told him it was probably because the boy got to know the Jackson from the past, the fifteen year old who was insecure about his sexuality and was, what felt like, fucking up his entire relationship with his parents.

The American boy met him when he was vulnerable and got to know him because of that vulnerability. The older boy had advised him on something he wanted to have answered for a long time. Even though he didn't need it anymore, it still was a desire for him to get answered and Mark answered that desire that had been piled up inside him.

The other connected to Jackson on a deeper emotional level then a normal stranger would. It makes their relationship special and it's also why it's worth waiting for the other.

Jinyoung said the other is probably also new to this feeling and he maybe doesn't know how to cope with it either or he doesn't know how to approach the blond haired boy again. It's not usual to connect to someone on that emotional level instantly and it generally takes way longer to reach that level.

With the consequence that connecting at such level also generally takes longer to build a normal friendship with each other.

Jackson has to admit that Jinyoung is right and he waits for the older boy quietly.

The conversation with his best friend really helped and it's what he often tells himself when he is thinking about Mark and their meeting again.

It helped, for now. There would come a time where, if things continue like this, Jackson wouldn't be able to hold back and would message the brown haired boy himself. But for now, it helped.

Currently Jackson is procrastinating on his homework. It's 1:42am and he needs to get this finished so he can sleep but he just can't focus on his homework. He really wants to, but he can't get himself to.

Jackson's thoughts are with Mark once again. He is reliving the whole meeting in his head and his desire to message the other boy and wanting to contact him first is growing stronger.

He battles with himself, he really wants to message the other and just break the agreements he made with himself about this topic but he also really wants to know how the other was doing.

The temptation to just simply message the other saying hello is high. His brain can't focus and he is mentally way too tired to comprehend with his homework and even thinking about the all the things he has to do tomorrow are making him even more tired.

The Chinese male decides to discontinue his homework and just rest for now. He quietly walks out of his room and heads towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. He cleanses his face with cold water so he can wake up a bit and also try to keep his brain and thoughts with something else instead of with the other male.

Jackson makes sure to keep quiet as he walks into his room again to dress himself in his nightwear. Not that he really wears pajamas but more like a tank top and some basketball shorts. He grabs his phone and scrolls through Instagram for a while, trying to distract himself.

He has gone through all his social media apps and he notices it is 2:51am already. He sighs and puts his phone down, plugging it into the charger.

He lays down onto his back and stares up to the ceiling, crossed arms above the duvet. He frowns and he feels Mark entering his mind again.

Jackson closes his eyes and tries to count sheep to fall asleep, of course his wouldn't work and he groans out of frustration. All he wants is some goddamn sleep, he isn't asking for the boy entering his mind all the time.

Jackson set up and sighed, grabbing his earphones from the bedside table and plugging them into his phone, playing his 'sleepy sounds' playlist. Jackson finds himself staring at the message app, looking at his profile won't hurt right?

Jackson clicks on the app and scrolls down to find Mark's profile. He clicks on their chat and presses his screen to look at his profile picture and status. Jackson notices they didn't change in these three weeks.

He goes back and taps to make his keyboard come up. He stares it and contemplates what to say. He wants it to be casual and not let it seem like he has wanted to speak to the other boy ever since the meeting.

Jackson sighs and puts his phone down again, he rubs his eyes. He really shouldn't be thinking about this now. He should be asleep and so he lays down again and rolls down on his side. He stares at the white wall for a while and his eye lids become heavier. He fights he feeling of his eyelids closing but eventually he falls asleep.

A few hours later, at 6am, Jackson's alarm goes off. He groans and silences it, he doesn't want to be awake yet. Jackson finds a comfortable position again and closes his eyes, almost falling back in to a slumber.

Moments later Jinyoung barges in. Jackson jerks awake again, he sits up and stares at the other with an annoyed look on his face.

"What do you want Jinyoung?" he groans, eyes squinting as he looks at the other.

"Remember when you started this routine and told me if you ever stayed in bed after 6.30 I'd wake you up? Yeah, so here I am."

"Oh my god Jinyoung, I didn't mean that." The Chinese male grabs his pillow and throws it at his best friend.

"You told me you'd probably say that. And now that you don't have your pillow anymore, get your lazy ass out of bed and start your routine before you're going to be late."

"I can perfectly sleep without a pillow." Jackson says and lays down on the mattress.

Jinyoung walks over and starts to hit him with the pillow. "Get your lazy ass out Jackson, come on you want to win that championship, then get out of your bed."

Jackson gets up reluctantly, "Fine, just because I really want it."

"Of course you want it now, go." Jinyoung lays the pillow back and pushes him out of his room.

A few hours later Jackson checks his phone for the first time since last night.

'Hey.'

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A/N: I hope you're guys are enjoyed this chapter aswell! See you next time loves ^_^❤

~Jacksonsidiot