“I don’t care about it Mark, I’ll stay by your side no matter what.”

Her words still rang through his ears as if it had been just yesterday, not months since he had last heard them.

“I love you, only you. That will never change.”

Lies. That’s all her words were, petty lies. How could he have been so blind? So stupid? To think that he had actually believed her. To think that she had promised to stay with him forever, and he had fallen for it. What a fool he was indeed.

A noise brought him out of his thoughts. His phone, which was placed on the bedside table, had started to vibrate. Mark rolled around the big bed and reached a careless hand to turn off the alarm he had set. The loud wakeup call was of no use really, seeing as he had barely even slept last night –or any of the other nights since she had left their apartment- but old habits die hard.

Mark ran a hand through his newly dyed hair. It was dark brown now, almost black, a strong contrast to the platinum blond she had always liked to see on him. As he threw his phone back on the bedside table, his eyes fell on the picture that had been there for more than two years now. One of the first pictures they had taken as a couple. He had not had the heart to get rid of it. Most mornings he got so absorbed in staring at her smiling face that he would turn up at work late on more occasions than he was willing to count. But today was going to be different. He had an important meeting in the company that he needed to attend. And according to Jackson’s angry text message the night before, he really couldn’t afford to screw this up.   

He sighed as he forced his body out of the bed, leaving the duvet sloppy. She would have hated that, she’d nagged him on countless times to be neater. But she wasn’t here anymore, was she? So why should he care about it anymore? The bed was far too big and empty now that he was forced to sleep on it alone. The mattress felt too cold, too uncomfortable. Should he change it? Would that help him sleep better at night?

No, he wouldn’t change it. He couldn’t really. Just like every other reminder of her, the bed would be left untouched. A constant mocking memento of what he had lost. Of the short years that had been the best time in his life…even if they had been mere lies.

He shook his head in an attempt to clear his jumbled up thoughts. He had to be at the company in less than an hour for the meeting, and it really wouldn’t do for him to be late. Again. His father was already less than pleased with him lately, Mark didn’t need anything else to be messed up in their fragile relationship. And even if his father did let it slip, Jackson had personally promised that he would hit him as many times as needed for his brain to work again. Mark didn’t even have the chance to complain that his brain worked just fine really.

Walking into his lilac tiled bathroom –which she had designed, she had loved the color– Mark set the shower to the coldest temperature possible, before he let the water engulf his body. He shivered slightly, it was probably not the best idea to take an ice-cold shower in the middle of winter, but he needed it to clear his mind.

Once the agonizing shower was done, he stepped towards the sink. He reached a hand to clear the fog from the mirror, a scowl appearing on his face once he saw the reflection that greeted him. It was still there. The thing that had been haunting him for all his life, the thing that he despised the most… it was still there. As bold and visible as it always had been.

The marking on his collar bone stood out in contrast to his fair skin. No matter how much Mark had tried to get it to come off, it wouldn’t budge. His grandfather had called it a gift, proudly showing his grandson the similar marking he had on his own wrist. A gullible, five year old, Mark had believed him. Delighted to think he was special like his grandparents. But has he grew up he started to understand just how much that little marking could cause him pain. He should have kicked the old man when he could, blessing his . No, the marking didn’t mean that he was special. It was nothing to rejoice about. That single thing alone had turned his life into hell. It had taken away the most precious person from him. It was the reason she left him.

Mark knew that around three percent of the world held markings similar to his, but only one person had the exact same one. His soulmate. Some might call it a blessing (his grandfather having been one of those fools), but Mark would argue that it was more of a curse. The ‘soulmate mark’ was not something he was thankful for having. Yes some people, like his grandparents, had the markings and were lucky enough to find their other half… but Mark knew that not everyone was as fortunate as them. There was someone out there who was made just for him, someone who he would be able to connect with in so many ways… but in a world with seven billion people, what were the chances that he could find her?! None.

And besides, Mark had given up on the idea of finding his soulmate a long time ago. In fact he was more than happy that he had never found her. He wasn’t going to love someone just because a stupid shape on his skin said that she was perfect for him. No. Mark could find the love of his life on his own, thank you all very much. And he had managed to find her… well at least he thought he had.

“I don’t care about it Mark,” she had whispered her fingertips gently followed the pattern of the dark shape on his collarbone. “I’ll stay by your side no matter what.”

Lies.

“We can’t do this anymore,” Mark had come home a few days after their second anniversary to find her standing awkwardly in the middle of their shared room, her suitcase already packed. “You’re destined for someone else, we can’t fight the universe. I can’t do this anymore.”

Lies. All her words were just lies. She had cared. She didn’t trust him. Didn’t trust the amount of love he had for her. In the end she decided to believe in the sign on his skin, rather than to believe in him.

□ □ ■ □ □

“Where are you?!” Mark groaned as Jackson’s loud voice projected over the speaker of his car. It was too early, he hadn’t had his morning coffee, and he needed at least two cups of those before he would be able to deal with his best friend’s shrill voice.

“I’m on my way, stuck in traffic.” Yes, Mark was stuck in a heavy traffic jam, but only because he had left his apartment ten minutes later than he should have. He’d promised that he’d stick to his schedule today, but the sudden tears that had erupted while he had been thinking of her, had been hard to stop. Of course Jackson didn’t need to know about that little detail.

“You better be here before the meeting starts,” something in his irritated tone, told Mark that his friend had read right through his lie. “Or your father will have both our heads on a silver platter.”

“I know Jacks, I’ll be there.” Mark sighed, ending the call just as he steered the car into the company’s parking lot. He still had another fifteen minutes to the meeting, hopefully his father and best friend would let him see another day.

□ □ ■ □ □

“Are you kidding me?!”

“Mark!”

Mark decided to ignore the warning Jackson sent him, instead narrowing his eyes on his father. “Why? How… how can you do this to me?!”

His father did not reply. He sat peacefully behind his desk, sipping on his cup of tea, and that only infuriated Mark more. He could feel Jackson’s firm clutch on his forearm, trying to pull him away, but Mark only shook him off carelessly. It was funny that for once Jackson was the one trying to calm him down, and not the other way round.

“I’m not going.” Mark finally managed to say in as cold a voice as he could. “I don’t care about what you said in the meeting. I will not go.”

That seemed to catch his father’s attention and the old man finally looked up. Stare as stoic as ever. “Very well. Then you shall leave me with no other choice than to fire both you and your personal assistant.”  

Mark could hear Jackson’s soft gasp clearly. His father was restoring to dirty methods. Mark knew how much his best friend needed this job, and apparently the old man knew it too.

“But, why?” he hated how his voice broke on the last syllable, hated that his best friend would have to face the consequences of his mistakes.   

“What were you thinking Mark?!” his father sighed finally, looking up into the eyes of his eldest son. “That you would have a free pass because you’re the President’s son? You know that I will never run my company like that. The only reason I made you the vice president was because I trusted your abilities, not because you were related to me. I knew you were far better than people twice your age… but all that changed after you met that girl.”

Mark winced slightly at the hostility in his father’s voice. She had never been a favorite with either of his parents (and really Mark’s mother liked everyone) but still he hadn’t known that they hated her to this extent.

“I warned you against her, did I not? You were so focused on fighting your soul mark, so focused on proving that you could find someone to love by yourself, that you accepted the first girl who threw her shameless self at you.”

“That’s not-” Mark’s anger was rising again. Yes, she had hurt him, badly, but still no one was allowed to talk about her like that.

“What? Are you still going to defend her after everything she put you through? Save it Mark.” His father sounded tired, and Mark bit back the retort with difficulty. “It doesn’t matter. The thing that matters is that you chose her over your family, over your job, and over your responsibilities. You completely ignored everything you had strived for since you were a kid, to make her happy. I should have fired you right then.

“But no, I wanted to give you another chance. Once you told me that she had left you I became hopeful, I thought that you’d be able to pull yourself together and go back to the person you were before… but you’ve only been a mess ever since! I can no longer ignore your shortcomings and the drop in our stocks. You’ve left me with no other choice than to change your position.”

“So that’s just it then?! You’re going to push me to the other side of the world and make Jae the vice president just like that?” Mark spat his cousin’s name with as much vengeance as he could. It wasn’t exactly a secret to anyone in the family that the two didn’t love one another. In fact he was pretty sure that even the people outside their family knew about it. “You’re just going to send me off to Korea like it’s nothing?!”

His farther rubbed his forehead, and for the first time Mark noticed the visible lines that had started to form there. When had his father become so old? Where had the man who had sat Mark on his lap and told him stories, gone? At what point had the father and son become strangers?

“I’m sending you to our Korean branch as a second chance Mark.” His father finally voiced, obviously tired from all the shouting. “This demotion is a warning for you. Mess this last chance up and you’ll leave me with no other choice than to make Jae the official vice president.”

Mark looked at his father for the last time. He had already lost her, he couldn’t afford to lose the company as well. Not when he had striven for the CEO position since he had been in Junior high. No, Mark couldn’t afford to mess this up. Otherwise he would lose everything.

“Let’s go Jackson.”

□ □ ■ □ □

“Mum’s crying.”

Mark rolled his eyes at his younger brother’s comment. Although he did feel bad for the tears his mother was shedding, the woman was too overdramatic anyway. She had cried when mark had accidently pulled the wings off a dragon-fly when he was four. Don’t ask.

“What do you want me to do about it Joey?” he mumbled into his phone as he threw some shirts into the open suitcase on his bed.

“She says she’s never going to talk to dad again.” His brother continued with the live commentary of just what was going on at their parents’ house.

“Joey,” Mark warned.

“Sorry,” was the sheepish reply. “It’s just I want you to know that we support you. Mum doesn’t want you to go to Korea…andneitherdoI.”

“Are you saying you’ll miss me, baby brother?” Mark chuckled as he held up two ties. In the end he decided to take the two of them, throwing both into the suitcase.  

“…why do I even bother?” Mark could practically hear the pout in his brother’s voice.

“I brought this on myself Joey.” He finally said it out loud. He finally acknowledged what he had done wrong.

“Mark…”

“But don’t worry.” Mark interrupted, voice firm. “I’ll fix this. I promise that I’ll fix everything.”

I promise that I’ll forget her.

□ □ ■ □ □

“Call me the second you get off the plane.”

“Yes dad,” Mark mocked, his chuckle quickly turning into a wince as Jackson hit his arm in reply. Damn it, he really needed to take Jackson’s gym membership away from him. His best friend was getting too strong.

“I’ll miss you Mark.” Jackson mumbled, and Mark smiled a little at that as he rested a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s not like I’ll be gone forever. I’ll be back before you even notice I’m gone Jacks. I promise.”

The other boy nodded his head slightly at that. The two had been friends since collage. Two boys from two different worlds, who had somehow managed to find a friend in the other. Mark had hired Jackson as his personal assistant once they had graduated, any they had been inseparable ever since. That is until now.

“Are you sure you-”

“Yes Jackson I’m sure.” Mark replied with a final tone. Although he would miss his friend greatly, he wasn’t self-centered enough to ask Jackson to fly to Korea with him. Mark knew all too well that the younger boy had a mother and a sick father to look after. His parents would need him much more than Mark would. “Trust me Jacks, I’ll be back in L.A in no time. Then you’ll probably start whining about how you want me gone again.

The last thing he saw was his friend’s teary face (“What do you mean teary?! I just had something in my eyes.” Jackson would deny later.), as he waved goodbye to him. Mark finally turned away and started walking toward the terminal. To his doom. Psht and he claimed his mother was the overdramatic one.