"For our first year anniversary-" she could hear his voice as his hands gently held hers, guiding her figure to wherever it was while her eyes were covered with a blindfold, "- I didn't want it to be too special because I know we're going to be together for a long time and I really didn't want to set the record so high for future me."

She snorted at his comment and she was pretty sure he pouted before continuing.

"As I was saying, it's a really simple gift and I tried my best," he was starting to feel slight jitters seconds before he has to take away her blindfold and show her the gift he had been working on for a while. He had spent plenty of hours whenever he had the time, such as waking up early in the morning or making up with excuses whenever she asked him out for dates and such. He really tried to pour his heart into the gift and he hoped that it was enough for her.

Would she like it?
Would she love it?
Would she hate it?
Or would she hate him for such an awful gift?

"And I really hope that you're going to love it," he stops right in front of the sofa and sits her down before he takes the seat next to her, carefully undoing the blindfold. He watches as she squints her eyes to adjust to the dim lights and he presses the remote, aiming at the television. The black screen comes to life and the first thing Jieun sees is words saying;

'Happy 1st Anniversary to my eternal happiness!'

She watches as the screen plays a beautifully edited video of her moments with Mark and she notices that the song was one that he had been working on for the last couple of months - no wonder he got so flustered when she asked what he was listening to recently. Mark's hand slowly wraps around her own and she holds onto it tightly as her eyes never left the screen. He had always loved to record the two of them no matter what they were doing and no matter how many times she would ask him to stop - there was a reason and that reason was that he was capturing moments of them together. 

From their usual trips to the ice cream shop, trying on couple clothes together, hanging out in his room on lazy days, their snowball fight, to celebrating parties and birthdays with their friends - it seemed that everything was composed into such a lovely little video. 

"What are you doin- Lee Minhyung, stop recording me!"
"Come here," Mark grabbed her arm and had her take a seat beside him. In defeat, she laid her head on his chest. "Say hi to the camera."
"Hi, camera."
"This is Jieun - she's the love of my life," he spoke and Jieun rolled her eyes, "And I always tell her that I love her because she's too much of a chicken to say it back."
"Am not!"
"Then, say it," he laughs, pinching her cheek in the process. Mark pulls the camera closer to her face, "Come on, say it like you mean it."
"I, Jieun, truly do love Minhyung even though he annoys me every single day," she smiles at the camera, her cheeks having a slight tint of red on them, "I love him - forever and always."

The video ends and the atmosphere turns quiet with Jieun resting her head on his shoulder, her face buried into his arm.

"You're so cheesy, Minhyung," she complains but her voice cracks and it's a sign that she's crying, "... Did you do it all by yourself?"
His hand moves to softly rub her back, "Johnny helped me with the basics but I did most of it on my own."
"Is that why you were so busy?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry that I lied but I just wanted to give you a good gift for our first anniversary. Did you like it?"
 
She finally looks up to him and he can see the tears in her eyes. Her lips form a pout as she settles herself on his lap, her cheek resting on his chest, her ear listening to the sound of his heartbeat. Mark's hand finds themselves in her hair, gently brushing through it.

"You set the bar really high for next year," she mumbles, "You better top it next year."
Mark chuckles at her comment as he plants a soft kiss on her head, "Happy anniversary to you too, Jieun."




"An entire place just for us!"

Jieun screams in delight, jumping into Mark's embrace as he spins her around. Her legs are still wrapped around his torso as she pulls back just to hold his face in her hands,

"We did it, Minhyung! We have a place to call our own home." 

She showers him with kisses and all he can do is stand there, smiling from ear to ear. He's happy as well to see her being so excited to move into their new shared apartment. It took them a while to find the perfect place but they found it and the place was more than they could have asked for. 

Jieun is still in his arms as he walks to the middle of the room. The large window which accessed to the balcony gave them a perfect view of the city and it was breathtaking. 

"I can't wait to start decorating," she says into his ear, resting her chin on his shoulder. "From top to bottom - I want everything to be wonderful! Minimal and cosy, just like how we like it. Right, Minhyung?"

She puts her arms around his neck, "We finally get to live together - our dream really came true, didn't it?"

Mark chuckles at how cute she was being and pats her head, "This is one of them coming true. We'll slowly make more dreams come true, alright?" He places her down on the couch and takes the seat beside her, "So, what do you want to start with first?"

Jieun's eyes start to sparkle as he mentions them starting on decorating the place and starts to ramble all the ideas that she had. All Mark could do was listen to her, nodding his head as he stared at the person he loved the most in the world talk about if they should get big fluffy carpets or big fluffy pillows. 

Yup, he was officially very much still in love with her.




"I know, I know. It's just that we're both so busy," Mark sighs as he walks out of the studio, "Let's just reschedule it, is that alright?"

Jieun bites her bottom lip and looks up to the cold night sky, "Yeah, I think that should work fine. I'm still busy with the team... The client just had to make last-minute tweaks!" She runs a hand through her hair, frustrated beyond words for how picky people can be these days. Her team had gone through the client's orders multiple times and just when they were about to reach the deadline - the client decided they wanted something else! Jieun was this close to slamming her head against the wall when she heard the client rambling for their new orders.

Mark looks at the time, "Don't stay up too late, okay? Get some sleep when you can."

"Aren't you coming home?" She looks down to her watch, it's almost 1 in the morning.

"I'll be back when you're asleep. Don't wait up on me and just get some rest," he yawns, rubbing his tired eyes.

Jieun yawns back, both of them really needed some well-deserved rest and soon. 

"Text me when you're on the way back," Jieun manages to say before one of her assistants calls for her again. Mark hears her grumble back some orders before she quickly says, "Happy 3rd-year anniversary, Mark. I love you."

"Happy anniversary to you too, Jieun. Love you too," Mark answers just before he hears the line goes dead. He stares at the lock screen of his phone - a photo of him and Jieun. He shoves the phone back into his pocket before he goes back into the studio for another recording.





"Mark, I'm tired," Jieun said as she closed the door behind her. God knows what time it was and she wasn't in the mood to argue. She takes just one quick glance at her boyfriend who was clearly angry before she sighs, "Let's just talk about this in the morning, alright?"

"That's what you always say but that's the problem," Mark huffs, "We never talk about it."

She started to rub her temples, already feeling her headache coming up. She tosses her bags and jacket onto the couch before sitting down. She puts her fingers to the side of her forehead and looks at him, "Stop yelling. You're making my head hurt."

"I'm not yelling at you," he wipes his face with his hand, "I just want us to talk - have a proper talk because we haven't had a conversation in the past few months."

"What do you mean?" she digs into her bags to get out her e-cigarette, "We do talk. Like now - we're talking."

He rushes towards her and grabs the item out from her hands, "You told me you stopped this habit of yours." He pointed it at her in such an accusing manner it actually made her feel rather offended. He looked both hurt and disappointed with the way his eyes were looking at her. 

"I only take a couple of puffs," she tried to reach out for it but he moved faster. Not in the mood to try, she gives up easily. "It's just been really stressful and it helps me relax, that's all."

"Stressful? Stressful?" Mark scoffs, "Oh, I'm sorry but who's the one who's been doing your laundry, making you food, cleaning up after you and taking care of the house while you're gone in your little office or maybe miles away from here?"

"Stop yelling at me."

"Right, you're so busy with your fancy job and fancy parties that you just forget about this apartment and everything else!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"All you do is get out of the house and you don't tell me where you are, what you're doing and you come home and sleep and eat and you never talk to me!"

"Then talk and stop yelling at me!"

Jieun stood up and screamed back at Mark which only drove him to release more of his pent up anger.

"What's the problem, Jieun? Is it me? Is it us? Do you want me to leave?"

"Oh my god, yes!" She points an accusing finger at him, stabbing her small finger on his chest, "Just leave me the hell alone! I don't need this stupid from you! Isn't that what you wanted? To leave?"

She yelled and the frustration and anger in her voice were crystal clear for anyone to hear. Her tears looked like cracked glass by how the light hit the tears in her eyes, threatening to fall at any given moment if she didn't keep herself together. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried to keep her breathing steady. Steam was practically coming out from her ears by how red her neck was, her veins nearly popping by the way she was clenching her teeth.

She was getting so so tired of their arguments - heck, most of the time she didn't even understand why they were arguing in the first place. Both of them had grown to be so irritated with one another that so much as breathing heavily in the other's presence was already worth a 5-minute argument.

Since when had they started fighting so much with one another?
Weren't they in love?
Weren't they fine with each other?
Weren't they happy?
What happened to them?

"I don't know!"

Mark yelled with equal anger in his tone. He wanted to say something else but he stopped midway and instead, shoved his hand into his pockets.

"I don't know... I don't know anymore, Jieun," he pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing his nape, "I think I need some fresh air."

He quickly brushed past Jieun, grabbing both his jacket and his keys before the sound of the door closing signalled that he was out of their shared apartment. He didn't even stop to look back at Jieun, refusing to make any sort of eye contact with her.

He unlocked his car and texted a friend, asking if he could crash at their place for a couple of nights. Mark took one last look at the window, wondering if Jieun would be looking at the car from their apartment but he saw no signs of her. He started the engine and started driving off - he needed some time to think by himself.

Jieun sat down on the sofa, her mind trying to register what had just happened. As she pulled her legs closer to her chest did she finally realised that she had been crying for the last few minutes when she felt the tears rolling down her cheek. In the quiet hours of the night, in the cold apartment that she had bought with Mark - Jieun cried all by herself. She doesn't even notice as her phone dings to notify her of a new event she marked on her calendar.

"Anniversary with Minhyung!!!! Don't forget <3"