Soon they arrive back at the mansion. ‘It’s still only the afternoon. Is there anything else you want to do? I don’t have any work the whole day, so feel free to tell me if there’s anything you’d like to do.’

Jin thinks about it for a while. He has to admit he likes spending time with Thorne and there is a lot of things he’d like to do with him. ‘You don’t want me going outside alone, so I was wondering whether you’d show me your garden. We could also watch a movie afterwards or something…’

Thorne is a little surprised at the request, for multiple reasons. He didn’t expect Jin to ask something so simple, but he also obviously knows Jin has most likely already seen everything there is to see in the garden. Still, he agrees and leads Jin to the back of the mansion.

‘There’s actually not much to see here. There are a lot of different flowers and herbs here, and in the back there is a small forest if you can call it that. There are two paths leading through it, and there even is a small pond with some fish. There actually also is an owl living in the forest. Do you want to see it?’

Jin thought he had seen all the garden, but apparently not. He only walked one path and he didn’t see the owl that supposedly lives there. ‘I want to see it!’

Thorne leads him all the way through the forest. They go to the place Jin has already seen. They walk past the pond and watch the fish and stop by the place with a lot of different flowers. Then Thorne takes him to the other path. It’s a little darker there and it’s narrower. Soon they reach a bird box. It’s open, and the owl is not inside. Thorne puts on a glove that is hanging from the wooden box and whistles. A long-eared owl comes flying from behind the trees and lands on Thorne’s arm. ‘This is my owl, it’s always free though. It’s a long-eared owl and it’s called Marshmallow, don’t worry I’m not the one that chose the name. Do you want to hold it?’ Jin nods and Thorne hands him the glove with the owl. ‘Don’t pet it much though, he doesn’t like it.’ The owl stares at Jin and Jin stares back. The owl looks magnificent. Soon Jin gives it back to Thorne though, and it gets released again. They go back inside.

‘You said you wanted to watch a movie next right? Is there any type of movie you like, or do you have a movie you’d like to see?’

‘I don’t really mind what we watch, but preferably not fantasy.’

‘Alright, then I’ll choose something at random. Follow me, there is another room apart from the living room with a bigger tv.’

Jin follows him into one of the rooms upstairs. There is indeed a big screen on the wall, and there is a soft sofa opposite to it. They both sit down, and Thorne chooses a movie. Soon Jin regrets letting Thorne choose a movie. For some reason Thorne has chosen an animated movie, probably suited for children. It looks like Thorne is enjoying the movie though.

Once again Jin feels kind of happy seeing this other side of Thorne. Since they just came from outside, Jin is still a little cold. The heating doesn’t seem to be turned on in this room. But Jin doesn’t want to bother Thorne who is enjoying this children’s movie, so he doesn’t say anything. When Thorne looks over at him a few minutes later, he sees Jin shivering. He sighs. Jin clearly isn’t very much into the movie and he’s clearly cold. There have been instances like this before, when Jin clearly had something to express but didn’t.

‘Wait here for a second.’ Thorne pauses the movie and goes over to a closet. From there he takes a fluffy blanket.

‘Come sit closer to me.’ Thorne says as he sits back on the sofa, and he pats the place just next to him. Jin obediently shifts closer, so that he’s almost leaning against him. As Thorne’s arm was placed on the backrest of the sofa, it now feels as if its around Jin. Thorne pulls him a little closer, and covers both of them with a blanket. ‘This should warm you up pretty fast. Just tell me if you’re cold or hot next time.’

Sitting in this way, they finish watching the movie.

Jin wakes up, slightly confused. He’s still sitting on the sofa covered with the blanket, only now he’s resting his head on Thorne’s shoulder, while Thorne is reading the news on his phone. As Jin is conscious of Thorne, his face goes a bit red. That’s when Thorne looks at him. ‘Ah you’re awake. Next time you can also tell me when you don’t like a movie, I don’t mind you choosing you know.’ ‘It wasn’t bad seeing you sleep like this either though.’ He softly adds so that Jin doesn’t hear it.

Jin is still embarrassed, even though he feels like he’s getting closer to Thorne, they’re definitely not close enough for him to sleep on Thorne’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry. You should have woken me up.’

‘It’s fine, don’t worry about it. It’s already late, I’ll go make dinner now. So if you don’t mind, now would be a good time to get up.’

Jin quickly slides further away from Thorne. Somehow he forgot to stop leaning on him before. ‘I’m sorry!’ he apologizes again. ‘It’s fine.’

‘Actually, can I help you with making dinner?’

‘If that’s what you want, come with me to the kitchen.’

That evening they end up cooking together for the first time. Luckily, Jin knows how to cook as he often cooks for himself, so he isn’t a nuisance. Cooking together is fun.

After they eat dinner and Jin is about to go to sleep, Thorne stops him to say one last thing. ‘Hey, I hope you had fun today. We can do something like today again sometime if you’d like. Also please tell me if there’s anything you want to do, I’ll do it with you.’ ‘So don’t hang out with Silvers friends again alright’ he adds softly, but this time Jin can hear it. Ah, so it was about that? Did he not like him staying out? Is he maybe a little jealous? Nah, that can’t be it. ‘Alright, let’s hang out again sometime, I really did have fun. Good night!’

-Thanks for reading-