Narrator's POV

Mark ran after Subin and grabbed onto her arm, making her spin around. He immediately noticed her tear-stained cheeks and pulled her in a tight hug.

"Mark, let me go" she said pushing him away and continuing to run away. Mark sighed and clenched his fist, remembering what his sister said.

'sometimes, a girl just wants some time alone. You'll understand what I mean when you have a girlfriend.'

He turned around and walked back towards his dorm, getting angrier with every step he took. He opened the door and slammed it close, stomping into the living room.

"yah Lim Jaebum!" Mark shouted grabbing the boy's collar. Jackson immediately stood up and held onto Mark's shoulder

"Mark hyung" Youngjae said

"are you happy now? You wanted my girlfriend out now you did it! Did you hate her that much to the point that you wanted her to cry and leave the dorm?!" Mark yelled "you even dare to say that I'm dating her for money and it's money for my family! That's low, even for you!"

"hyung, let him go" Jr said "we don't talk through violence"

"say something!" Mark said pushing him onto the couch "you know what, I'll prove it you"

"prove what?" Yugyeom asked

"prove that Subin isn't a shallow, self-centered, arrogant like you think she is" he said sending her a text and waiting a minute before calling her. "you all better shut up right now, contain yourselves from throwing up"

***

The girl arrived home and immediately ran up to her room, locking the door, and ignoring all the workers who questioned her. She buried her head in her pillow and cried into it, not even caring that her makeup was probably staining her pillows. She sobbed a good 20 minutes before hearing Mark's text tone

'baby...please talk to me. I know you probably heard what JB said, but it's killing me to have seen you run away crying. Just talk to me baby, I'm here for you...'

She read his text and only cried harder, but nonetheless she answered his call. The line was quiet for the first couple of seconds, the only thing heard was Subin's sniffles.

"are you okay?" he asked gently

"aniyo" Subin said quietly "love, I'm not in the mood"

"then why did you answer the call?" Mark asked

"I wanted to hear your voice" she said "it comforts me"

"baby, I'm sorry for them. I didn't think that it would get this far-"

"love it's okay" she sighed "I would have said the same things if I were them..probably even worse"

"baby..." he said

"Mark please tell them I'm sorry" Subin said as she started crying again "I know how important it is for you that your members like me and I'm trying the best that I can...b-but after countless times of trying to change their view on me, I-I just can't anymore. I'm getting tired of getting the same result every time love. I always act fine and say it doesn't bother me, but in the end I'm a crying mess on my bed...like right now" she said and took a breath "that's not the only thing. Love, I have wedding dress shopping today with umma and my soon-to-be-mother-in-law"

"wedding dress shopping?" he asked "oh yeah, you're engaged"

"barely" she sighed "Junyoung treats me worse than JB does, says worse things too...Mark. Can I ask you something?"

"anything baby" Mark said

"is what we're doing right?" Subin asked

"what..are we doing?" he asked

"us. Dating? You and me" she said "is it right?"

"what do you mean?" Mark asked

"I-I never knew that your family wasn't well off and here I was talking about how my family owns 3 beach houses and at least a dozen companies." Subin said "are you really dating me for money?"

"Kwon Subin. Why would you even think that?" he asked sounding really hurt "no I'm not. I love you"

"love..? Mark, it's been 2 weeks" she said

"so? I don't know what you're thinking, but to me, this is right" Mark said "why? do you disagree?"

"i-it's not that I disagree, but the more I think about us, the harder everything becomes" Subin said

"Subin-ah, we've been over this" Mark said "it will work out"

"will it?" she asked "Mark, you know how much stress I'm going through right now. How much I want to die trying to live such a princess life-"

"I know" he said scanning s' eyes "and I'm trying to help you"

"I know you are, and I appreciate it a lot. But JB's right" she sighed "you deserve a girl better than me. A girl who's shallowness, disrespect, and selfishness isn't as deep as the ocean. Aren't you sick of me Mark? Don't you get troubled by how we can't have a regular date? or that we're basically hiding everything about us?"

"we'd have to do that anyway. I'm an idol" Mark said

"that's another point. You're an idol" Subin said "I've heard about idols getting bashed when they're caught dating. Mark, I don't want you or GOT7 ever to lose fans because of me."

"what are you saying?" he asked "are you breaking up with me?"

"I don't know...Mark, I really do like you. But if we ever get caught, I don't want you and GOT7 to get involved. My parents will do whatever it takes in their forces to break us up or ruin you guys" she said "I know I'm being such a coward right now and you're probably upset with me and don't want to talk to me again...I'm sorry. M-Mark I'm-"

"take a breath" Mark said quietly "are you okay now?"

"can't we just run away?" Subin asked "just you and me, Mark please? I can't take this anymore. I don't want you to get hurt, but I don't want to end us. I don't want to marry Junyoung, I don't want to work as a rich slave the rest of my life. I-I just want to be with you"

"-agassi, your mother arrived early!"

"I-I need to go" she said "I'll call you later...or tomorrow"

"I'll be here baby" Mark said ending the call "that went unexpected"

"are you okay?" Jackson asked patting his back

"I don't know what I'm feeling right now" he said "I need some time alone"

"have you had enough?" Jr asked JB as soon as Mark entered his and Jackson's room "are you happy hearing Subin's innermost thoughts that were specifically to Mark? Are you happy hearing her desperate cries? Do you still think that she's selfish? that she doesn't care about anyone but herself?"

"hyung...you should apologize to her" Yugyeom muttered "and Mark hyung"

"do any of you have her number?" JB asked right when Mark exited the bedroom

"why?" he asked "so you could attack her again? So you could hear her cry and-"

"hyung, I'm sorry" JB muttered "I went too far and she's not as selfish, shallow, and self-centered as I thought she was"

"she's not" Mark said "she's sensitive, sweet, and...I love her"

***

Subin quickly wiped away her tears and fixed her makeup, making sure that she had no signs of crying.

"dear, are you ready?" umma asked

"deh umma" Subin smiled "kaja"

"are you excited?" umma asked

"very" she said linking arms. The two of them met up with Junyoung's mother at the dress shop, which happened to be owned by Junyoung's mother herself.

"welcome Minhee-ah, Subin-ah" Junyoung's mother smiled

"annyeonghaseyo eomeonim" Subin bowed

"unnie, did you prepare your best dresses for us?" umma asked

"of course" she smiled and clapped her hands "the best for my future daughter-in-law"

"oh my God, so beautiful" umma said looking at the line of dresses in front of them. The woman pushed Subin inside the dressing room, giving her one dress. "go try it on dear!"

Subin muttered something under her breath and looked at the first dress. She tried it on and looked at herself in the mirror, taking a quick picture before sending it to Mark.

"are you ready dear?" Junyoung's mother asked

"deh" Subin said exiting the room. The two women gasped "umma, are you crying?"

"Subin, dear, you look so gorgeous." umma said taking her hands "if only your appa could see you"

"there's still more dresses Minhee-ah" Junyoung's mother said "but you look absolutely beautiful"

"umma, I think I should try out more dresses before you start flooding the store" Subin said going inside the room again. She tried out the second dress and sent a picture of it to Mark before exiting again and repeating the pattern. After about 6 more dresses, [3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8] the girl finally had enough. "so which one do you like umma?"

"why are you asking me dear? it's your wedding dress" she said

"molla umma" Subin sighed and went back to the dressing room "jamkammanyo"

She checked her conversation with Mark.

Mark's View

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-Love, what do you think of this first dress?

-Wow, you look amazing *o*

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-Dress #2 :)

-Woah..that black part though.

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-Here's #3, I actually like it

-The blue part is really pretty, it shows off your waist

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-#4 now

-I'm just gonna wait now until you're done...

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-Dress #5
[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-#6
[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-#7
[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-#8
-Okay, I'm done trying on these dresses. What do you think?

-Baby, you looked amazing in every one of them

-But is there one that you think sticks out?

-molla, I'm not sure about how I feel picking out my girlfriend's wedding dress for her arranged marriage with another guy...XD

-You're such a baby Mark Tuan

-I'm not the baby, you are. You're my baby

-And we're back to the cheesiness

-Are you okay now?

-Not really...but what can I do except hide it from umma and appa?
-Enough of that, so tell me which one you like?

-Why does my opinion matter?

-Because you're my boyfriend and I'm not buying a dress that you don't like
-so...I'll know in the future

-Are you implying that we're getting married in the future?

-I don't know. Am I?

-Although you're perfect in every one...choose again.

-Another dress?

-One that you think screams out 'Mark will absolutely love this'
-You weren't the one who chose the dresses am I correct?

-Mm...I'll be back, love

Subin exited the room again and began looking through the racks of dresses. She was about to go ahead and stick with dress #3 when her eyes landed on a certain dress. She immediately took it out and brought it to dressing room before changing into it. The girl took a picture and sent it to Mark, receiving a response almost immediately

[~My Baby♡~ sent you a picture image]
-Look at this one

-Perfect
-Gorgeous
-Beautiful
-Absolutely stunning
-Baby, that's the dress

-I saw this dress and I immediately fell in love

-you fell in love with the dress, I fell more in love with you

-M-Mark...again with the 'love'. It's been only 2 weeks

"that dress...is heaven on you dear" umma said

"I like this one" Subin said "A lot"

"that one it is" Junyoung's mother said and clapped her hands "make that one to go, free of charge"

"chincha unnie?" umma asked

"of course. It's for Subin and Mark's wedding." she said.

***

The next few days were a bit quiet for Subin, she barely texted Mark after the dress-shopping day. That was mostly because GOT7 was busy, but also due to the fact that she was a bit embarrassed with the 'love' text message.

The girl met with Junyoung for another 'date' which their parents set-up, and of course it ended up in disaster. Subin ended up at the beach again around the time of the sunset. Her phone rang and she answered it, assuming it was either her parents or Mark. The voice on the other line rather surprised her.

"yeobosayo? Subin-ssi? It's...um it's JB"