Requester: SMTownR


Pairing
Mark Tuan X Ara
 

Genre(s)
Romance angst

Plot
Mark has rough days and he vents anger literally at everyone forgetting his own birthday. Ara holds a surprise party but she's hurt at his anger.

  Mark looked at the calendar - it read September 3rd. He was going to turn twenty-six this year. He sighed in relief. His birthday parties are usually set up by his friends - Jackson and Jinyoung. He can't wait to let his stress level go back down to zero. His work has been getting tougher and tougher due to the sales events that are taking place at the beginning of the school year.

Mark works at a company that helps schools get back into gear, provides supplies all year-round, and works with the school to make it even more prosperous. But someone in the company accidentally fell for a scam - they lost over two million dollars. He won't point fingers, but he knew who it was even before his name was announced.
 

He drank from his mug, and looked at his phone. He usually gets notifications for his birthday party about twelve hours before the day changes. So he should have received a text at noon, and he hasn't yet. It's currently six in the evening. He yawns and looks at his computer screen.

"If they forgot my birthday, I'll kill them." Mark breathed as he started typing.



It was the next day at nine in the morning. Despite it being his birthday, he is still needed at work. He clocked in about two hours ago so he could get off of work two hours early. He starts gritting his teeth. He hasn't heard a word from any of his friends – not anything from Jackson, Jinyoung, or Ara.


Who is Ara exactly? Ara is his girl friend. Their relationship isn't all lovie dovie like a lot of other relationships are. They don't spend hours together staring into each other's eyes. They don't have romantic candle dinners. They most definitely don't ever stay the night with one another. But just because they don't do all of these things, doesn't mean they aren't in a serious relationship. He feels like if he ever needed to tell her something, she would listen. He is the same way.

But to not get at least a text saying happy birthday got him suspicious. These three don't have the personality of being secretive. They talk about what's on their mind - if it's interesting or not. He looks at his phone, and still sees nothing.

"I swear, I'm growing gray hair." He said under his breath.


Suddenly, his office door opens. Oh yes, forgot to mention that Mark is only one level under the founder/CEO of the company.


"Mr. Tuan, CEO Park would like to see you." A man in a black suit bowed when he entered the room.


Mark stood up and ran his hand through his hair. Whenever he goes to see his boss, it's always bad news. Nothing ever is good when he goes into that office. He nodded and took a sip of coffee while the worker left the room. He fixed his hair, cracked his neck, and straightened his tie. He walked out of the office, and went to the elevator.

He pressed the greatest number on the two-column button list. He watched as the elevator doors were closing. Someone's hand was in the way, making them open again.

"Jackson," Mark started.

"Sorry, I'm on the phone with a Seoul University representative." Jackson said, covering the phone's microphone.


Mark kept silent as he heard the one-sided conversation. The elevator doors opened, and he walked out, leaving the busy friend on the elevator. He walked down the hall way and greeted the receptionist.

"Mr. Tuan, CEO Park is ready to see you now." She said, bowing.


Mark nodded and opened the door. He knows that his boss is straight forward - he didn't need to knock. He bowed slightly as he entered the room. He looked at his boss in the eyes and see that he was displeased.

"Mark, let's talk about the scam."


"I will talk further with Changmin, Sir." Mark spoke.


"No, I want you to just fire him." The elder man said, standing up and taking his black jacket off.

"But he's on the same level as me. Other than this one mess up, he's been doing a better job than I would ever do. And he's been here for seven-"


"Mark, don't disobey me. I told you to fire him, and that's an order."



Being told to leave, Mark bowed and went back to the elevator. He put his head on the metal wall, and sighed. He heard the ding, and walked out of the elevator. He looked around. He saw someone walk from his office. And that someone is Changmin - the worker who let the company's money be thrown into the toilet. He hated the firing process. This wouldn't be the first time he had to fire someone - it is the first time he fired someone on his level, however.

"Changmin, we have to talk."


Mark hated himself. Today was supposed to be a stress free day. But in the same day he had to let go a great worker, he also had to let go a whole team of workers. They seemed to have redirected the email to Changmin.


"One more thing before you're shift is over," Mark heard the CEO speak to him through the intercom, "I need you to run every receipt through the copy machine."

"Every receipt? That's over one thousand, Sir! My shift ends in three minutes!" Mark cursed himself for giving attitude.

"Maybe you want to be let go too, Mr. Tuan?"

"No, Sir.."



After an extra hour at the office, Mark was finally able to go back to his apartment. He, of course, shared his apartment with Jinyoung. He opened the door and looked at the place. There weren't any decorations. The group - Jinyoung, Jackson, and Ara - weren't there waiting for him. There wasn't a cake or any presents. All Mark saw was Jinyoung sleeping on the couch. He sighed and took his jacket off.


He saw the younger wake up. He put his hands through his hair and looked up at Mark.

"Hey, how was work?"

"How it usually is.. how was the exam?" Mark asked the college student.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh"


Mark plopped down on the adjacent couch, and put his face in his palms.

"So... what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be spending the night with your girlfriend?" Jinyoung asked, taking a sip of soda (that went flat) that was on the coffee table.

"Don't you guys plan a party for me or something?" Mark asked, not wanting to let loose, but he's getting to the point where he can't contain his anger.


Jinyoung shrugged. "We were really busy this year.. But I think Ara would want you to go over to her place."

"Isn't she usually at work still? She comes to the party a bit later each year."


Jinyoung shrugged his shoulders once more.


Mark stood up and walked out of the apartment. He clicked his seat belt, and drove to Ara's house. He saw that no one was home yet. He just sat at the steps.



After twenty minutes her car was parked in the driveway. Mark stood up and walked up to her. He had stress written all over his features.


"Mark, ha-"

"Why haven't you spoken to me yet today? Why didn't you guys tell me that you weren't planning anything, huh? Did you forget my birthday or something?!?" Mark was interrogating - his eyes growing in each sentence as if he was trying to kill her with them.


"Why are you like this?" Ara put a hand on her hip.


"We always give each other an awesome party on our birthdays. They are the days we can spend a couple hours all together." Mark was getting his emotion out. "I guess you didn't care about it though."


She huffed and looked left from right. "This spoiled brat.." She muttered, but she made it so Mark could understand what she said.

"And here I planned you guys' parties this year, and I get nothing in return? Today was one of the worst days at work. I got talked down to by the boss who usually speaks well with me. I had to fire over twenty people today. And what do I get?!? HUH?!?" Mark was yelling at her now.


Ara wasn't taking this. She slapped him right across the face. The slap was hard enough to leave a pain-radiating mark on his cheek. She would do it again if she had to.

"Mark, listen to yourself." She said in a cold tone, "you're such a spoiled little brat."


Mark looked back over at her slowly. He pinned her to her vehicle. "And you think you can slap me now?" Mark asked in a eerily calm voice.


"Yes, follow me." She smacked his arm out of her way.


She opened her house door, and showed him inside. Jinyoung and Jackson were standing there with smiles. Mark saw cake, cards, presents, and games. There were plenty of sodas, coffee, and water bottles. The place looked like it was supposed to be a three-day birthday event. He even saw Changmin and his boss at the set of couches.


"You think we didn't care?" Ara asked, folding her arms.


"Hyung, why would you think that? We like to sometimes be unpredictable! Noona set up the party this year!" Jinyoung said with a big smile, holding up a party hat.


Mark looked down at Ara. She looked at Jinyoung.


"Well your Hyung can spend the night with you guys instead. I'm going out with my girl friends." She said, turning around.


She was walking out, but Mark grabbed her shoulder. She simply stopped in her movement. She didn't spend the time looking back at him.

"Mark, let go of me. I'm mad at you, and don't want to deal with you right now." She said, not wanting to create a scene.

After she finished speaking, he let go of her shoulder.


"We can spend tomorrow together. I hope it won't start with me slapping you." She said before closing the door behind her.


He knows Ara. She holds grudges, but she never is as mad as the first day. He sighed. He felt the party hat being put on his head. He looked back at the younger and ate the cake he was offered.





It was the next day at 6am. Mark heard the door open. He looked around and noticed he was still at Ara's house. He was the only one who stayed the night. He watched Ara walked past him. She was surprised when she saw him on her way to the couch.

"You're still here?" She asked, cleaning up some of the things the boys left dirty.

"Yeah.." Mark stood up, helping her clean up. "I'm sorry about yesterday.. I really thought you guys didn't care this time.."


"Mark, we have been your friends for how long?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Four years.." Mark replied.


"Exactly, we needed something new, right? It was slightly our fault for not thinking of your love for consistency. But that didn't warrant you yelling at me." She explained.


Mark nodded and looked down at the floor. He felt a playful punch on his shoulder.


"I'm not as uspet. Let's go out to eat after your shift ends, hm?" She said with a slight smile.


Mark nodded and hugged her for a moment. He knows she's not too wild about hugs or kisses, so he makes the hug short. He waves to her before leaving her house.


He had a smile today. Even though it's not his birthday anymore, he's happy he's still on good terms with everyone. He'll have to get them back next year though.....


 

Thank you so very much for requesting another time!  I spent one night watching some guides to Mark, and I hope I captivated the moods correctly.  I didn't write too much clear romance in here because you mentioned that Ara shouldn't be girly.  This led me to believe that she wasn't like "most" girls in the fanfic world.  So I figured that would alter their relationship as well. 

I hope you enjoyed reading it.  I wrote this all within an hour.  I was on a roll ;)