With Mark, the days, weeks, and months all seemed to melt into one. Time just moved way to quickly when I was with him. Even though we lived in the same apartment, we still slept in separate rooms since we were both too lazy to rearrange furniture and move into the other person's room. There would be times, like if Jackson wanted to watch a scary movie or if both of us had a long and tough day at school, that one of us would would end up sleeping in the other person's bed for the night. Cooking sometimes got hard when Mark would randomly walk up behind me and back hug me. The first time he did that, he buried his head into the crook of my kneck but I almost flipped the food in the pan all over the counter. 

We were basically living like a married couple, according to Henry who pointed it out one night while all of us were playing Bananagrams.
Needless to say, I lost that round cause every bit of concentration I had flew out the window.
It was almost as awkward as that time Eric walked in on Mark and me mid tickle fight. Let's just say to him it looked like we were doing something else.

But I can't say that things have been completely the same either.
A few weeks after we visited James, he called me and told me to be careful with who I trust and who I let in on everything. That meant that I couldn't hang out with the rest of the group as often anymore. Not because I didn't trust them, but because I didn't want to put them in danger either especially with my crazy father still out there. And if I could turn back time, I would make sure Mark wouldn't get involved in any of this either. The last thing I wanted was to lose the one person who has been there for me through all this crap. 

And just like that, December gave way to the new year. The city was packed (as usual) on New Year's Eve with tourist from all over the world, who all wanted to watch a big glass ball slide down a pole in Times Square. I loved the Christmas holiday season but definitely not New Year's time. Getting out of the apartment and walking any where was a serious struggle with all these people slowly shuffling along. I had to leave 10 minutes early to get anywhere on time. The only good thing that came out of this was the huge increase in the amount of police on the streets. And either my dad knew about this or he was just completely MIA cause I almost completely forgot about him until Mark brought home a copy of the New York Times a few weeks after December melted into January.

"What's this?" I asked, tilting my head further down as I continued drying my hair with my towel. Little flecks of water landed on my legs as I stood next to Mark by the kitchen table. His face was pale and he looked slightly distressed. 
Crap.
Whatever was on that newspaper was definitely not good.
"Just read it," he simply responded, sliding the newspaper closer to me. I gingerly picked it up, letting my eyes fall automatically on the headline then on the picture underneath it.

"That's the old man who gave us the locket," my hand shot up to my neck to grip the heart pendant tightly in my hand. "He...he's dead?"
Mark nodded, pointing to a sentence he had underlined, "It says it looks like he was murdered, beaten on the head with one of his own antiques. But there were no fingerprints found so police are saying that it could be-"
"Could be what? A suicide? Uhhhh I don't think so. This has my dad's name written all over it."
"How do you know that for a fact?"
"Cause this is way too much of a coincidence for it to not be my dad. Out of all the old men who run antique shops in the city, why this specific one huh?"
"Maybe it's just a coincidence."
"He wants information Mark!" I retorted back, "And he's willing to go through killing people to get it. I don't how but he knows that that old man is connected to my mom. If he can figure out information like that, then he could be at our doorstep any day now."

"So what're you gonna do?" Mark asked, snatching the newspaper away. "You can't just blindly run away from all of this to a foreign country. I don't think it works like that. Your dad's dangerous _______________. If he could track down that old man, he can track you down in Taiwan."
"What else am I suppose to do?" I felt the tension build up inside of me. "The ticket is right there Mark. James said everything will be taken care of. I can finally end all of this."
"But what if it doesn't? What if going to Taiwan makes things worse?"
"Then at least I can say I tried to fix it. At least I did everything that my mom wanted me to do."

Silence hung in the air as those words left my mouth. Mark turned his head away and pulled his snapback further down so it casted the top half of his face in an eerie shadow. Something was wrong. Suddenly the tension that was building up in my gut evaporated and was replaced with the burdening feeling of guilt. I slowly put down the towel that I didn't realize I held onto all this time and walked to him, snaking my arms around his waist and nuzzling my face into his back. His scent always had a strange way of relaxing me and making me excited at the same time, but it never failed to make me feel at home.

"What's wrong?" I mumbled into his back, feeling his hands wrap themselves over mine. He pulled away far enough to spin around so that we were facing each other then pulled me back into the hug, letting his head rest on my shoulder.
"If you actually decide to go, I can't go with you."
"Hold up," I pulled away this time, flashing him a confused look, "no one told me anything about that."
"Because it's not really for you to hear. James called me the other day and told me not to follow you to Taiwan. Apparently, your mom wants you to figure things out by yourself from this point on. That's why there's only one ticket ______________."
"But-"
Mark cut me off with his lips over mine, completely taking my breath, and everything that I was gonna say, away in that one instant. The way our lips molded perfectly against each together's never ceased to amaze me, and the feeling his kisses gave me was better than acing any exam. I forfeited any chance of continuing this conversation and threw myself deeper into the kiss since he was right.

I don't know what this trip to Taiwan was gonna do.
I may not come back from it.
But I did know that I had to try, even if that means I have to go alone.

Mark's mouth left mine but quickly placed themselves on my jawline, kissing his way down to my collar bone. I took off his snapback and laced my fingers through his red hair, pushing him deeper in. My eyes closed subconsciously, trying to memorize his touch, the way my skin tingled after his kisses. He traveled back up, taking my lips with his again as I jumped and hooked my legs around his waist. His hands quickly moved up to my thighs, holding me in place as he walked us into his bedroom and shut the door.

Author's Note
chapter title: Destiny-Infinite [x]
so i totally meant to update yesterday but i went to se the maze runner instead xD haha
also...2PM IS COMING TO NEW JERSEY WHOOOOO!!!!
so excited for this since i've literally been praying for a 2PM concert here since high school.