Rule #18: Never leave your guard down. That's when something will slip passed you

"You look beautiful." Mireu gushed as she watched Saera put on her earrings.

Saera grinned bashfully, "Really?"

"You should really put your hair up more often. You look classy and ty at the same time."

Saera scoffed and threw a cushion at her friend who cackled evilly, "I'm kidding. I'm kidding."

"You need to go now. He's going to be here any minute." Saera said while dragging Mireu towards the door while teetering on her heels.

"Youngjae! Are you ready to go?" She called out.

She heard some shuffling behind his door before it opened, "I'm coming. "

He pulled a small duffle bag with him and looked up before he froze while staring at Saera. He blinked at her before a small smile twitched up his lips. "You look pretty."

Saera couldn't help but smile, "Thanks."

"My friends are coming in the lobby, they're my ride. Until then, I'll wait with Youngjae until Jackson comes so he doesn't have to wait alone." Mireu said as she swung her arm around Youngjae's shoulder.

Saera smiled on the verge of tears. "Thank you guys so much."

"Why are you crying?" Youngjae snorted while rolling his eyes.

"She's not crying." Mireu said while flicking his on the back of the head, "She's just touched."

Saera leaned over and ruffled Youngjae's hair, who ducked out of the way, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Mireu opened the door and was about to walk out with Youngjae, when the boy turned around and looked at his sister with a timid grin.

"Have fun."

Saera smiled at him, "I promise. Now get your butts out of here. I gave you money for dinner, don't let Jackson pay, okay?"

"Okay!" He called out before walking out the door.

Mireu winked at her and blew her a kiss, "Break some hearts sweetie."

-----

Saera was sitting on her couch while playing with the hem of her dress. There was a strange giddiness bubbling in her stomach that she couldn't stop her knee from bouncing. She felt like a school girl and she couldn't keep still.

Unlike before, she chose to forego the black eye shadow and replaced it with a soft, shimmering, smoky gold.

She had stared at herself in the mirror for 15 minutes before Mireu stormed in and claimed that she looked wonderful.

It was all so new to her and it was freaking her out.

She couldn't remember the last time she got dressed up to do something. Normally her definition of 'dressed up' was her psychic get up. Other than that, she only ever wore something that she didn't mind getting flour and egg yolk on.

She couldn't explain or understand the weird sensation thrumming down her veins. It was anticipation, nervousness and excitement all jumbled up into one big ball in her stomach.

Other than her lucky jade ring, she didn't wear any more other than a golden clasp around her wrist. She kept twisting it around until she heard a firm knock on the door.

Her heart leapt up from her chest and into as she gasped. She jumped up from the couch, almost tumbling over before smoothing down the fabric of her dress.

She ran to the mirror and checked herself before stumbling to the door and swinging it open. She blinked before letting out a breath when she saw Mark standing by the door in a sharp suit with his hands behind his back.

"Hi." She said dumbly while soaking in the way he filled his suit.

It was light grey and fitted with a thin black tie and shiny black shoes. His hair was pushed handsomely off his forehead and his typical dagger earring was replaced with a smaller, simpler one.

Mark's words failed him as he stared at her. He suspected that she'd look pretty in a dress but this blew his expectations out of the water.

She looked ing mind blowing.

The blush colour of her dress made her skin glow and her hair that was pulled up into a braided bun accentuating her jaw, cheekbones and neck.

She wanted to be the second hottest girl at the wedding but he had suspicions that she would be ranking first.

Her eyes were clear and bright and her cheeks were rosy and pink and her lips were shiny and mauve. She looked equally elegant and y and it didn't even look like she was trying. It was like he was winded after being punched in the gut.

She was painfully breathtaking.

"Um…Mark?" Saera asked while waving her hand in front of his face, "Are you okay?"

"You look…you look…beautiful." He breathed out as his eyes raked down her body.

Saera's eyes widened and her face flared up as she averted her eyes to the ground as her heart raced, "Thanks."

"Oh and I got this for you." Mark said as his eyes flickered in mischief just as he pulled his hand out from behind his back.

Saera looked up at him, before her eyes followed his outstretched hand, while one remained behind his back.

A loud laugh escaped her lips as her eyes curved up into crescents. There was a strange elation in her chest where she just felt happy.

Purely happy because he was delightfully funny.

A cauliflower.

"For the lovely lady." He said while wiggling the vegetable in front of his face.  

She was still stifling her laugh as she took it from him, "They're beautiful. I'm going to go put it in water." She said jokingly.

"You did say that cauliflowers never got the chance to make it into the romance department."

Saera froze, her blood rushing to her head, "Are you trying to romance me?"

"Just read the in between the lines of the cauliflower." He joked, making her relax as her muscles unwound.

Mark's lips quirked up as he stepped through the door, with one hand still behind his back. He watched her put the cauliflower in the fridge and just as she turned to face him, he stuck his other hand out.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw a breathtaking bouquet of roses held out to her.

"This is for when, you know, you feel like giving the unconventional roses a try." He said in amusement.

She took the flowers from him with a grateful smile, "You didn't have to do this." She said while setting them down in a vase.

Mark didn't say anything and leaned against the wall, watching her move around her place. He didn't want to be a creep but his eyes landed on her legs that moved with ease in her heels. Saera turned at him before letting out a breath.

"Ready to go?"

Mark jerked his head up before he nodded and opened the door, "After you."

Saera grabbed her jacket and walked out with Mark behind him. She felt him walking right behind her as she cleared and glanced at him.

"You clean up well." She said while looking at his perfectly fitted suit.

"Yeah well I didn't want to embarrass you by being the only guy at the wedding in a leather jacket." He snickered as they made their way to his car.

Saera laced her fingers together as Mark walked in step with her, "Well mission accomplished. By the way. did you kill a man to get the suit?

Mark looked at his body before grinning. "Yeah. I had to kill a few of them before I found one in my size."

Saera shoved him away with a laugh as they got into his car. "I knew you were secretly a weirdo."

Mark revved the engine up and pulled out of the parking garage before glancing at her.

"Well this weirdo is about to be the best wedding date you can find."

-----

"You went streaking?!" Saera exclaimed as her and Mark circled the garden behind the wedding hall.

They had got there early so instead of going in, they decided to explore the grounds and ended walking around a small botanical garden just…talking.

"Okay, first of all I was 21 and second of all, it was Jackson's idea and when we lost the bet, we had no choice." Mark said in defence.

Saera raised her hands up in mercy, "Hey, I'm not judging. I'm just surprised that you actually knew how to cut loose as a young adult. I always thought you were born with a stick up your ."

"I drank a lot, I guess. And that made me a lot more carefree, but I wasn't really proud of it. " He said quietly.

Saera sensed the change in mood and tried to change it back. "Yeah,  you're a total light weight."

Mark looked shocked, "Excuse me? I'm a great drinker."

"You're an okay drinker, at best. You had like 3 glasses of wine and then you were gone. I don't even drink often and I still out drank you." She teased.

Mark's eyes narrowed into a glare, "Don't get cocky."

Saera laughed when her phone chimed and pulled it out to read a text her eyes grew wide as she blinked at the screen, "Oh god."

"What's wrong?" Mark's face turned tense as worst case scenarios ran through his head.

Saera looked at him in horror, "Jackson and Youngjae are hanging out with that kid that I harass at the precinct."

"You mean BamBam?" Mark asked in a relieved snort.

Saera rubbed her face, "That means he's probably ratting me out to my brother about how much of a trouble maker I am. I'm never going to hear the end of this."

"Look at it this way. Maybe after spending time with your brother, he might forgive you for putting curses on him and decide to stay in the precinct." Mark pointed out.

Saera had to hide her smile, "Wait, he's leaving because of me?"

"Jackson saw him fill out transfer papers. You must've did a real number on him." Mark said as he slipped his hands in his pant pockets.

Saera pulled her jacket closer to her body, "I think of it as a favour for the SPD."

"How so?"

"I'm weeding out the faint hearted weaklings. Natural selection came for him."

Mark scoffed, "Natural selection usually doesn't involved someone putting curses on you."

"The world works in mysterious ways." She said with a shrug.

They continued to walk while sharing a comfortable banter until they stood under a white archway with roses growing up the sides.

"I'm kind of jealous of you." She said softly.

Mark raised his brows in disbelief, "You shouldn't be, trust me."

"But you had this great childhood. You lived recklessly with your friends when you were young, even if you moved to a different country, you still had parents who were present and loving in your life and now you have a job that actually does some good." She pointed out.

Mark chewed on the inside of his cheek before shaking his head, "That's not really a valid argument. Everyone has really and I mean really ty parts of their lives. They just do a really god job of hiding it and so looking from the outside, everything seems perfect."

"But it's not." Saera finished his sentence while looking up at him.

Mark nodded, "I think the two of us are more similar than you'd like to admit."

"I