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“Korean variety shows are on the harsher side. You might sleep outdoors on a freezing weather, or eat something ridiculous, or appear on camera without having any makeup on. We have no problem showing you bare faced, but the games and punishments, can you handle those?” Jackson told Mark as they make their way to KBS for the meeting on his upcoming appearance on 2Days and 1Night. “Well, you can treat this as a vacation at least. I heard you’ll be travelling to the countryside – fresh air, good food, peaceful scenery.”
“I don’t know why you are still making this something I would not like.” Mark laughed on his seat and looked at the man driving the van. “I told you, when I heard Park Jinyoung would be coming, I definitely said yes. I even forgot the name of the show because I was too excited.”
Jackson glanced at the actor - then shook his head as he continued driving, “Right, why should I worry for you? I should worry for myself in any case you do something bold again, since I’ll be the one doing the explanation to the management team. Riiight.”
Mark scoffed, “I don’t know why Jinyoung’s management made a deal out of that moment. Unless you asked for his number like you were scouting him?”
“You should ask for his number instead since you’re the one who has a crush on him.”
Mark grinned and nodded, “Noted. I will ask him out.”
Jackson laughed as a response as he turned off the car’s engine, “You really forgot how Jinyoung looked at you when you greeted him at the film festival last year, right? He’s scared of you, you might not even approach him properly.”
Mark unfastened his seatbelt and opened the door, “He would not agree to appear in this show if he is scared of me. And isn’t scary too bad of a description of how he feels?” Jackson just shrugged and went their way to the meeting room.
Jinyoung’s team arrived right after Mark has got inside the room. They stood up and greeted each other, Jinyoung quickly averting his eyes away as soon as Mark looked at him with a smile – Jackson got a glimpse of what happened and looked at Mark, “Told you so. He’s scared.”
The meeting went smoothly – both parties agreed on the production team’s plans. Mark did not really listen to whatever the staffs were suggesting and saying, Jackson agreed to everything (since Mark would most probably say yes to anything as long as Jinyoung is there). Mark was too busy stealing glances at the Korean actor in front of him. He shouldn’t be too obvious at his staring game though, the manager beside him was already throwing glares – or maybe the man’s aura is just too cold.
“See you next Friday, Jinyoung-ssi.”
If Mark isn’t imagining things, he definitely saw how the other’s ears went red and flushed.
Jinyoung nodded and smiled back at Mark, “Yes. See you. Let’s do well.” He took a bow and approached his own manager as they leave the meeting room. That smile would never leave Mark’s memory and he talked about how he observed Jinyoung’s gestures all throughout their ride back to the hotel.
***
Filming Day
“We’re back at Jinhae!”, Defconn asked as he came into the camera frame with the other cast members. “The cherry blossoms are too beautiful; they are perfect for a romantic themed trip!”
“We have read the articles about the guests though.”, Yoon Siyoon said.
"I agreed to be in this show because I thought I'll be meeting my favorite female celebrities and idols.", Yongjin joked.
The head PD laughed, “We have gathered here in Jinhae for the Cherry Blossoms festival. Also, we have invited guests that the visuals suit for the season. Let’s welcome them. Please come out!
Soon after, Jinyoung and Mark came to the scene, the cast members still welcoming them warmly despite whining a while ago begging for female guests.
“Wow, 2Days1Night really stepped up! We have invited a Hollywood actor for this?”, Cha Taehyun exclaimed as he was holding onto Mark’s hand.
“They even managed to invite Jinyoung without using your celebrity connections, Taehyun hyung!” Jongmin added.
The guests bowed in front of everyone and started their greetings.
“Hello. I’m Mark Tuan. I am very happy to be invited here in this show. I hope you would take care of me.”
“I’m excited for this trip, as Jinhae is my hometown and it’s been a long time since I last visited. I hope everyone would love the wonders of this city. I’m Park Jinyoung.”
The rest of the members clapped and as usual, the PD explained what they will be expecting the whole day. The trip was entitled “Fluttering Hearts in Jinhae”, and they were required to wear the pink hoodies and flower crowns. All of them liked their costume, but were still complaining on how they can do the fluttering hearts theme. Soon enough, the PD mentioned that the cast will be divided to two teams – Mark and Jinyoung appointed as leaders. Mark, deep inside, was sad on this, Jinyoung would not be in his team and they might spend the whole day away from each other.
Both teams will be travelling around the area and do a video shoot - in which those videos will be judged by the staff members. Jinyoung chose the “good looking people” to be in his team (he kept on winning the RockPaperScissors game with Mark) –Cha Taehyun, Yoon Siyoon and Kim Junho (he’s convinced Junho is a good looking comedian), the other members are on Mark’s team.
Defconn laughed on how all the funny members are on Mark’s team, “No matter how good looking Mark is, we’ll just turn the video to a comedy one. The staffs would probably just laugh on our video. Even Yongjin the newbie is in our team, we’ll probably lose then.”
Jinyoung waved his hands and apologized, “Mark-ssi’s visuals would make it up for it. He already shines, and he’ll shine even more with your help, Defconn-ssi.”
The rest of the cast members were laughing, including Mark – but the feeling of giddiness built more in him, he’s not sure if Jinyoung was making such remarks to make the comedian’s feelings better, or if he’s really complimenting him.
The teams soon started their missions and video shoot. Night time approached and they are now in their base camp to judge which video would make the staffs’ heart flutter more - the judges would watch the videos and have their heartbeat be read. The higher the heartbeat, the higher the points that team would have. The losing team will have to sleep in the tent outdoors.
The judging staffs were the strict head writer, the cameraman who do not give too much reactions, and a surprise judge that the PD has prepared.
“The last judge would be someone from the opposite team. You may choose your representative.”
“So we have to choose someone whose heart is not beating excitedly from our team, then? The other team should have Jongmin as the judge, so we’ll definitely win He easily gets nervous with this kind of games!”, Cha Taehyun exclaimed and laughed.
Jongmin marched forward and said he himself would judge, “I’ll do the judging then, so let me choose as well from your team. Let Jinyoung do the judging!”
Mark’s team started laughing loudly as it seemed they had a hidden joke, Jinyoung’s team on the other end seems okay with the suggestion except for Jinyoung himself. “I might be boring and you might edit out my judging part, Jongmin hyung would be too funny if he did the same thing he did with Joonyoung hyung years ago.”, he said as an excuse.
Taehyun waved his hands and pulled Jinyoung to the center, “You don’t have to be funny. You just have to act like you don’t care so that your heartbeat would not beat fast.” He tapped Jinyoung on the shoulder and headed back to his place.
Soon enough, the devices were put on them, Jinyoung’s video coming up first.
The video appeared to be sweet and calm, given that Yoon Siyoon directed the video – it seemed like an old school music video, Jinyoung walking along the cherry blossoms path, several zoom in on his face as he sings the background song, and the winning wink at the end.
Unfortunately, the judges’ heartbeat just went a bit higher than normal – even Jongmin who also held off laughing until the end.
“It was too cheesy!”, Jongmin said as the staffs started removing the devices. “Jinyoung is good looking and all, but he’s not my type!”, he added as a joke, approaching his team for a high-five as they seem to have a chance in winning.
Jinyoung’s team was devastated , “Don’t worry. Jinyoung is a good actor, he’s very calm”, Taehyun said. But it seemed the opposite just happened as the heartbeat reader of Jinyoung keeps on climbing up as soon as the devices were on him. “Don’t be nervous, you’ll do well!”
Jinyoung was just laughing awkwardly and breathed deeply, fortunately, his heartbeat going lower. Soon enough, Mark’s video started playing. The start of the video started in a funny way, as the members of the team are well known comedians – but at the middle, it suddenly turned out a bit sexy, Mark’s charismatic face appeared on screen – strutting down the cherry blossoms path like he was a model runway, and they changed his outfit to a a pink oversized coat (Defconn’s) and very short shorts that they got from the flee market in the area. The rest of the staffs were screaming right now, Jinyoung’s heart beat going higher and the alarm went on, as his heartbeat count already reached higher than the limit. Mark’s team started cheering as they won.
“Yah, Jinyoung! What was that??? Were you still nervous or did you just want to have a better screentime?”, Junho complained as he hit the young actor’s shoulder, laughing. Jinyoung was still flushing red and hides his face as he laughs.
“Junho hyung, if Mark was the judge, we would have lost the game as well.”, Defconn said. Mark plunged over to the big host and covered his mouth as if Defconn just said a secret.
“No need to hide anymore. They won’t definitely edit that part.”, Yongjin said and Mark let go of Defconn.
“You’ll find out when the show airs.”, Defconn said. Everyone concluded the game and later in the nigh, the losing team started setting up their tents. Mark stepped outside to watch them. Jinyoung seemed to be struggling and Mark did not hesitate to approach him.
“I used to setup tents when we had camping back in LA, I think I can still remember how to do this.”, he said in the camera as he helped Jinyoung.
“Setup my tent then. It was your fault that we lost.”, Jinyoung said and let go of the tent poles, standing beside Mark instead as he watched.
“How was that my fault? I just did the mission, you just can’t control your heart.”, he said with a grin.
Jinyoung laughed and hit Mark’s arm playfully, then continued helping, “Well I guess that’s true. What you did was truly exceptionally heart fluttering. The head writer’s heartbeat on your video was higher compared to my video’s anyway.”
They had finished the tent and said goodnight greetings to each other.
Mark went back inside their pension and positioned himself in the middle of the mats, the space the cast members left for him.
“You helped Jinyoung?”, Yongjin asked.
“I did. I would have ask the PD to sleep outside too, but he’ll be sharing tents with Taehyun hyung, so no more space left for me.”, Mark answered.
“Ahhhh. This show would be broadcasted after a month. Can you wait for a month or will you go ahead first?”, Defconn asked this time. “His heart was already beating fast even before the game because he knows he’ll be watching your video, it’s not that he’s nervous. The feelings might be mutual!”, he added.
Mark just laughed and shook his head, “Maybe he’s really nervous. What I did in the video was not even that heart fluttering though, we made it funny. Jinyoung’s nervousness just added luck I guess.”
“We should have done the hand holding game afterwards and check if his heartbeat would still go high”, Jongmin suggested with a laugh.
“I already love you guys. I never heard such support like this before. You all sound like high school buddies who are pushing their friend to go after his crush.”, Mark responded as he hugged the pillow beside him and they all drifted to sleep afterwards.
They ended the filming the next morning. As the cast members were saying thanks and goodbyes to each other, Mark quickly ran to Jinyoung.
“We should exchange numbers.”, he said as he took out his phone. “I’ll be staying in Korea for three months to do a magazine shoot, maybe we could meet some other time? We did not really spend time with each other that much yesterday.”
Jinyoung glanced at the manager beside him and handed his phone as well, “Sure, let’s meet each other.”, he smiled. He waved goodbye as they walk back to their van.
“So I thought they were scouting you when his manager asked for your number before. Seems not it.”
“Jaebum hyung, really? That’s what you have thought before?”, Jinyoung asked his manager in shock.
“What? I could not imagine him liking you back in a way you like him? Who knows he’ll give your number to his manager right now and one day you’ll leave me to be with Mark instead.”, Jaebum said as he stepped into the van, Jinyoung following soon after.
“Ugh, stop imposing my crush on him. I have already felt that a lot last night.”, Jinyoung groaned as he adjusted his seat to lie down, checking his phone and smiling to himself as he looked at the group photo the PD has sent to him. Mark was beside him, his arm around his shoulder and their heads close. They were both smiling widely and as far as he can remember, his heart was beating wild when the picture was taken. He looked outside the window, thinking of what just happened in the filming. It just seemed like he was too nervous that’s why they lost the game, but his heart was really fluttering – he could also blame the cold air if his cheeks and ears were flushing red when he watched the video. Mark was very attractive in all ways, and if people would think the other way around, he lost the game because he liked the video too much. Jinyoung smiled to himself and slept instead, after all he did not get anything last night in the tent – thinking about Mark.
ONE MONTH LATER
“So what is your ideal type, Mark-ssi?”, Defconn asked as he was driving to their way to the base camp. Mark was sitting on the passenger seat and the cast members decided to get to know more about the American-born Chinese actor.
“Rather than describing, can I say the person?”, Mark asked and the cast roared in amusement for the actor’s bold suggestion. “Jinyoung. Park Jinyoung is my type.”
The members cheered even louder, the two members in the back leaning even more forward to hear Mark even more.
“We first saw each other at the film festival last year in Paris. He was quiet and looked like a reserved person, but he got my attention. I still remember he was wearing a dark red suit with embroidery on the collars, his hair was styled up and he really looked like a prince. My co-actor and friend was with me, and since he’s Korean, I was able to strike up a small conversation with Jinyoung.” Mark then looked at the camera, “Kim Yugyeom, if you are watching this, thank you for the help”.
“After that, I watched all of his shows and movies. I even learned Korean better so that we can talk when we’ll meet again. That’s why I am happy to be invited in this show. I don’t know if I should be happy that I’ll be able to promote myself here, or be happy because I was able to meet again my ideal type after a year.”
Jongmin responded with awe and clapped his hands, “The PD team would not edit this out for sure, so look at the camera and ask him out!”
“Oh wait, I’m not prepared for that!”, Mark laughed.
“You already confessed so why not continue the mood?”, Yongjin pushed him gently and pointed at the camera.
“Jinyoung-ssi. Can you go out with me?”, Mark looked at the camera and covered his face afterwards, the others squealing in joy and excitement.
That scene in the car was aired right after the scene of Jinyoung’s solo interview done by the head PD before the filming ended – in which he said that the trip was fun and he enjoyed everybody’s company, however he wished that he could have spent some more time with the other guest, as he wanted to know him more and hoping they could meet again some other time.
The camera panned out from the car and showed the view of entire Jinhae, the pink cherry blossoms covering the whole region. It looked lovely and romantic, the captions on the screen and the lovely background music completed the whole mood.
We wish Mark Tuan and Park Jinyoung a lovely date in the future. Visit Jinhae, the place where love blooms along with the cherry blossoms, thank you for watching!. -1Day2Nights Team
The show ended had ended and Jaebum looked at Jinyoung who was just staring at the screen.
“I am pretty sure that you’ll be late in your date if you’re just going to stay there.”
Jinyoung went back to reality and looked back at Jaebum. “He just confessed on national TV, how can I think straight right now?!”, he got up and headed to his bedroom, changed his clothes to a better one as if the one he’s wearing currently is not presentable enough.
“Will you be going home tonight?”, Jaebum asked from outside the door. “Mark stays in a good hotel, you might want to spend the night there. The hotel has Jacuzzi in the room, I heard. That would be good for your first…”
Jinyoung quickly headed outside and glared at his manager. “If that is you giving me consent to date, well thank you very much.”
Jaebum shrugged and grinned. “Let’s go. I’ll drive you there. You don’t have to be shy around him anymore.”
***
”Do I still look like a prince at this state?”, Jinyoung chuckled softly and asked as he looked up at Mark, his chin laying on the other man’s chest, who was busily fiddling with his hair. Mark nodded and grinned, his hands going down to his bare back, his fingers running against Jinyoung’s smooth, warm skin.
“You look sexy right now. Should we do this more often?”, his hands were even going lower, just enough to grab his butt. Jinyoung hit his chest in response. He hid his face as he was flushing red again, then he smiled as he can feel Mark’s steady heartbeat.
“I wish I can stay here a little longer. Do you think Korea would like me? Can I start a career here so I could be with you more?”, Mark asked as he looked down at Jinyoung. Jinyoung met his eyes and smiled as he answered, “You have me for the rest of your life anyway already, so take your time. We both waited long enough until we meet again, and I think we can do pretty much the same this time. After all, we both know what we feel for each other, right?”.
Jinyoung crawled up to kiss Mark’s lips, pulling away for a bit, their lips brushing slightly as he speaks, “Though I am not sure if you’ll establish a fanbase immediately, you’re dating one of Korea’s top actors.”
Mark grinned and closed the gap again for a longer kiss, “Aren’t I lucky then?”, he said as he pulled away. “We should go back to Jinhae while I am still here so I can introduce myself to your family too.”
Jinyoung looked at him in awe, smiling widely, “And make my heart flutter again?”
Mark nodded and cupped Jinyoung’s face, “You look recovered right now, shall we have another round?” and before Jinyoung could even answer, he was tackled down on the bed as Mark started kissing him again. Jaebum was right, the hotel room was indeed nice but what was nicer is the man with him right now - who did not hesitate to show him how much he loves him, as much as he does.