"I know this may sound insensitive of me, but I'd rather them get hurt than to waste their time on something that's not meant to be. Honestly, I do feel bad but I'm glad at the same time because hurting Stephanie meant not hurting you. I never ever want to see you get hurt babe." Mark lightly your hair, placing a warm gentle kiss on the top of your head.

"Is that why you didn't want to tell me about Stephanie being here, you were scared of hurting me?" You didn't move from his warm embrace, closing your tired eyes while resting your head on his shoulder comfortably.

"It's not because I was scared to hurt you, I just didn't want to loose what I had just found." You felt his warm breath against your skin, soothing your restless heart and even without looking at him you were almost certain that a small smile appeared onto his soft lips at that moment.

"What did you just find?" Your eyes slowly fluttered open feeling his free hand intertwine with yours.

*whisper* "....your heart."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark and Your Side:

Fate. A simple word, with a powerful meaning. Fate was something that I had believed existed only in my dreams, until that day. That fateful day when I got onto that plane headed to LA for a wedding, a wedding that had somehow brought you to me (again); leading us to where we were right now. Sitting beside you right at that moment while you held my hand in yours so perfectly, it really fetl like I was in the midst of a surreal dream. "A perfect fit"; was not a common phrase that many people use very often now a days and yet every single time that our hands intertwined intricately with one another, fate was definitely working its' magic on the both of us.

There was something about Mark, something in those dazzling dark eyes of his  that made you weak in the knees ever since that day and you were so sure that he was the only person in this world that could ever do such a thing to you. Regardless of how many times you've seen him, your heart still fluttered endlessly like it was the first time all over again. Your entire body replayed that heart pounding sensation over and over again as you sat there gazing at your hand in his. If Mark and you really weren't meant to be together, then what was the sole explanation behind why your hand fit into his so perfectly so? There wasn't a logical reason behind it, because truth be told it just fit. His hand was just made for yours, like a missing piece of an unfinished puzzle. And all it took was that warm gentle touch and his soft subtle voice echoing delicately through the air at that mere second for him to instantly capture all of you, without him even knowing he had done so.

Falling all over again, your heart trembled uncontrollably at that very moment as you couldn't seem to take your eyes off of the warm over-sized hand enveloping yours once more. Falling deeper and deeper each and every second, you didn't want that feeling to ever disappear and yet having such a thought cross your mind really frightened you. Fate sure had its own way of working things out, that was for certain. Even though right at that moment your relationship with Mark was now more true than true can be, people can change. Feelings change, love changes in a blink of an eye and the people whom you both hurt were prime examples. Fate had you wrapped around its' finger and maybe you did win Mark over, but Stephanie was always somehow lingering in between the two of you. And even though you wanted to accept this happiness that fate had bestowed upon you, what had happened merely a day ago made you feel uneased still.

~Flashback~

"Mark?!" Her eyes were unreadable at that moment.

"Stephanie, it's...it's not what you think." Taking two steps closer to her motionless figure, seeing her at that moment was like mirroring an image of yourself except you were a lot stronger than she was, not physically stronger but emotionally you seemed to be holding yourself together at that moment. Your heart throbbed painfully at the thought of how she must be feeling right now, looking at you not knowing what to do or say. Those words unconsciously stumbled out of your mouth as you somehow didn't want her to misunderstand the situation, even though there really wasn't much to "misunderstand" in the first place. It was what she saw and what she was about to see that truly made you feel guilty. You were seen with Mark and there was no way out of it now.

*GRAB*

*EYES WIDEN*

*STARE*

Feeling the warmth of Mark's perfectly fitted left hand enveloping your cold trembling right hand, you dared not to look over at him. It was only a mere second but it only took a second for everything to shatter as Stephanie's eyes could only land on one and one thing only.

*Softly clears throat* "Um, actually I..." Mark spoke up rather gently while holding onto the hand that you were trying so hard to free from his grasp the very moment he took it in his. You didn't know what Mark was trying to do but before he could even utter out another word...

"S...s...sor...sorry..." Stephanie was at a loss and in a confused state of mind, trying her best to hold in whatever emotions that were flowing out like a storm. Fumbling over her muffled words, the sadness in her tone made those eyes of hers' grow weaker as the tears, the tears were welding up in those hurt pained eyes and your heart throbbed endlessly aching for her. You finally realized that when she was the one who made you feel the most vulnerable; you were in fact the one who did the same for her, you were the one making her vulnerable at that very moment. Without a fair warning she immediately took off running without another word.

"STEPHANIE WAIT!" You called out effortlessly, the guilt was lingering over you but no matter what; you really didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

*LOOKS*

"Mark!?!" Obviously, Mark knew something and of course you wanted to know what was going on but now was not the time to talk.

*GLANCE* You eyed him and then diverted your attention back towards the direction that Stephanie had left to just a moment ago. But he didn't budge one bit.

*SMACK* You tried to smack some sense into him, either he was really not getting the hint or he was playing dumb, in which made you infuriated at this point.

"OwWw~" He pouted innocently at you and truth be told; if you had the time to beat him up right now, you would have done so as steam escaped dangerously from your fuming body. You were seriously irritated as he just stood there.

"GO AFTER HER MARK!!!" You frantically shouted at him not believing that you actually had to spell it out for him.

*LOOKS* "Not unless you come with me, I'm not going anywhere." Out of all times to be stubborn, why would he choose this exact moment!

"Seriously, you've gotta be kidding me Mark?!!!" You were outraged, but you knew if neither of you go after Stephanie, something bad would have happened.

*FLING*

"I have no clue what's going on and I don't even know what she's doing here but you are seriously being A JERK RIGHT NOW!!! IF YOU DON'T GO AFTER HER, I WILL!!!!" You angrily stated freeing yourself from his grasp.

*GLARE* You furiously glared at him as he was extremely taken aback by your sudden choice of words but honestly it was the truth. He saw Stephanie in the midst of tears and yet he didn't do anything. Why was he being so heartless? Even though he may not "like her" anymore, she was still someone who he had liked in the past. Shouldn't he be a bit more caring and understanding towards her feelings? What if you ended up in her shoes? Would he just leave you behind too? All these thoughts flooded aimlessly through your mind but you knew there was no time to think about them now as you took off running after her without giving it a second thought.

~End of Flashback~

Maybe because he had been avoiding her ever since then, that it had somehow bothered you so much more. Why didn't he go after her? Was he really that scared to see her, was he scared that if he went after her that his old feelings would suddenly flood back? The reason why "Stephanie" was still lingering between you two was because Mark had yet to close that chapter in his book. Stephanie was still left without closure and it made you feel even more guilty, for the fact that you were sitting here all lovey dovey with the guy who said he had liked her for almost a decade and here he ended up with you instead of her.

"Mark." You finally lifted your head from his warm comforting shoulder, tilting it slightly to look over at his calm luring figure as you whispered out his name softly, not even sure of what you wanted to say to him next.

"Hmm?" He didn't even have to glance over to know that you had something on your mind as he lightly brushed his thumb against your hand that was still tightly in his grasp, waiting patiently for you to continue.

"...are you sure you want to be with me?" You honestly didn't know why you chose to say such a thing first, out of all the dozen lines floating through your head at that mere second why did those words come out? You could already foresee Mark's gawking expression as you felt his entire body jolt up next to you.

"What kind of question is that babe~?" His cute kiddish eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, as he stared at you dumbfounded not believing that you would ask him such a thing.

"I'm...I'm being serious Mark." You obviously said that because it had been lingering in your mind for quite sometime now and it was about time that you heard his true feelings and thoughts. Even though you already knew how he had felt towards you, it was something that he needed to keep reassuring you with as all these doubts were still wavering dangerously on your heart.

"And I'm serious too babe, you should know by now how I feel about you." You already knew it, you knew exactly what he was going to say to you the moment his eyes met yours. Not once letting go of your hand, he gazed warmly at your worried face not sure why you would have such thoughts. He knew you were insecure but this was a bit too extreme, especially when he had just basically confessed his heart out to you just a few minutes prior.  

"Then tell me why you didn't go after Stephanie yesterday?" You looked at him sternly this time around, not letting him off the hook. For some reason you wanted to know, you needed to know the reasons behind his actions at that time.

"Why are we talking about her all of a sudden? Your still bringing her up after all this. She has nothing to do with our relationship." Mark looked displeased for the first time that night as he stared at you unsure of what to think now.

*Fling* "She has nothing to do with our relationship!?! Are you freakin' kidding me Mark? The girl you've like for almost a decade, the girl you hurt to be with me; has nothing to do with us? You let her cry her heart out in front of you and yet you didn't even have the courtesy to go after her! Seriously, you can still say that she has nothing to do with us Mark!?!" You flung your hand away from his hold as you furiously spoke up, not being able to keep in your emotions any longer. It bothered you, it really bothered you that he didn't even seem to care about hurting Stephanie one bit.

"I can't believe you are trying to pick a fight with me now about a girl that I used to like! Shouldn't you be happy that I didn't go after her, like a normal girlfriend would?" Mark knew that you were upset but he still couldn't seem to comprehend why you were bringing Stephanie up and practically defending her all of a sudden.

"First of all, I guess I'm not girlfriend material then and second, she's not just some girl Mark! The girl flew halfway across the world and is in the same freakin' city as you and I'm not trying to start a fight with you Mark, I just want to know why you don't want to see her? Are you that scared of her?" You of course knew the reason why Stephanie was actually in Seoul was because of school as she had mentioned that small tad bit to you while you guys were talking in the cafe after the "encounter", but because Mark had yet to tell you himself; you decided to use that against him to prove your point.

"I never said you weren't girlfriend material babe! Also, I'm not scared of her okay. I just...don't have anything to say to her. And she didn't come here because of me, she came for school so don't bring that into this."  You closed your weary eyes not wanting to look at him at that moment. It took you this long to finally hear it from him and yet the unsettling feeling was still meddling in the pit of your stomach.  

"...you don't know that Mark. She could be saying that to not make us feel bad. You didn't even seem to care that she was crying...." You felt the bed shake a bit, knowing that Mark had shifted his position as you slowly opened your eyes to see the warm yet concerned expression lingering in those dark eyes you loved so much.

"Then that's her choice. I told you babe, I'd rather end things the way it is because it'll hurt less for the both of us. You know of course I still care about her as a friend but if I went after her, I feel like I would have cause her more pain, and most importantly I didn't want to leave you alone..." You knew he had his reasons but how could you have known unless he told you. Your heart felt lighter than before, as you slowly pieced everything together and he did make sense but there was still that feeling weighing you down. You couldn't seem to look away from him, the way he stared at you was different from others and you only realized it now.

"Well you still left me alone, running after her...ya know? And I do know that you don't want to hurt her anymore than you already have but she needs closure Mark and so do you... You can't just assume that its all over now, she needs to talk to you, to hear your thoughts and feelings as much as you need to hear her out too." Maybe Mark was right, you weren't a normal girlfriend after all but somehow you just couldn't seem to go on with this relationship until the both of them sorted out their feelings. Even though it might sound stupid, you knew this is what they both really needed. As a girlfriend it was probably the most unselfish thing you could ever do for him, but it was the right thing to do.  

"Wasn't it obvious though? I mean even before she saw us together, I did technically tell her that I didn't like her anymore....sorta...kinda...well I guess..." Mark mumbled softly tilting his head down lower and lower, knowing fairly well that you were right. He left Stephanie hanging from a thread, a thread that he was too scared to cut.

"I still think you should go and talk to her Mark..." Your angelic tone rang through the cool chilled air, as a tingling sensation came over him right at that moment. Feeling your warm breath against his skin, his heart skipped numerous of beats as he dared to look up meeting your warm gentle gaze. Before you even had the chance to continue, fate was at it again. Fate was playing with you once more.

*RING RING* Mark didn't even seem at all phased that his phone was ringing off the hook, but the consistent vibration of sound flooding through the air gave you a major headache as you nudged him lightly trying to gain his attention.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" You peered over at his silent figure, unsure as to why he wasn't doing anything about that irritating noise coming from his coat pocket. You were unaware that Mark wasn't fully all there as what you had just said to him finally sunk in seconds delayed. Waking up from his own thoughts, he immediately grabbed his phone without even thinking twice.

*Look* You didn't mean to eavesdrop but somehow your eyes diverted instinctively towards his phone screen. And at that exact brief moment, you saw it clear as day. "Jessica" It was a name that he had never mentioned before and surely you weren't the type of person to ever jump into conclusions but unfortunately you weren't all too pleased about seeing a girl's name appear so suddenly.

*Glance* "It's not what you're thinking babe, one sec..."  Mark didn't want you to misunderstand, seeing your face change drastically in a split second; he knew that you already had that thought flowing through your head and he needed to quickly explain himself before things blow out of proportion.

*Whisper* "Maybe I should be the one asking myself, if I really want to be with you instead..." You whispered softly to yourself, trying so hard not to listen in to the conversation happening right before your very eyes as you suddenly saw Mark's free hand slowly creep its' way towards your leg. You tried to scoot away but ended up not getting very far.

"Hello." He answered the call, while eying you slyly. Taking a hold of your hand once more as he pulled you back closer towards him, wanting to reassure you that it definitely wasn't at all what you were thinking.

*Glare* You playfully shot him a death glare, trying to squirm silently out of his tight grasp but nothing was working at the moment. Seeing you like that, he had to fight the urge of wanting to kiss your cute pouty lips as you tried to wiggle your way out of his hold.

"MARK TUAN, what the heck happened with Stephanie?!" Mark held his phone away from his ear as the female's voice escaped from the small device rather loudly. Even if you didn't want to eavesdrop, it was just inevitable at that moment as her voice echoed throughout the entire room without much effort.

"Hey, I'll call you later. I'm with my girlfriend right now~" Mark looked over at you wanting to see your reaction, but when you didn't seem to react at all; his pouty face suddenly reappeared instantly. He hung up without even waiting for the girl's response, turning his full attention towards you.

"Its definitely not what you're thinking babe, she's just a really good friend of mine." He cutely shook your hand in his, giving you those pouty puppy eyes. You held your breath while biting the tip of your tongue; telling yourself not to give in, even though you weren't too worried about the situation as you did trust Mark 100%. Just seeing him act so adorable though; you couldn't seem to help yourself but to continue playing along.

"Funny, that's the same exact line you used when you first brought up Stephanie to me." You weren't trying to sound sarcastic as it was a true statement but it somehow ended up coming out that way.

"I promise babe, she's just a friend and she only sees me as a friend too~" Mark didn't want what had happened with Stephanie to happen again, but Jessica was definitely just a friend so he didn't really have much to worry about on his end. You stared at him blankly pretending that you didn't hear a thing he had just said.

*Silence* Not once did Mark take his steady gaze off of you as he tried his best to study your hard to read blank expression, to no avail.

"Babe..." You didn't even notice, as he startled you to death while getting himself only centimeters away from your face all of a sudden; trying to get you to give into him.

"Fine fine, I believe you." You finally freed yourself from his confinement, lightly pushing his face away from yours; playfully of course. His close proximity sent chills down your spine. as a small smile curved onto his lips knowing that his mischievous plan had worked with only one attempt.

"You don't look like you believe me~" He went straight for your cheeks, teasingly poking them nonstop as he chuckled at your cute angry expression.

"Have anymore hidden "friends" that you haven't told me about~?" Your nose scrunched up adorably as he couldn't stop chuckling at your cuteness. You tried to dodge his fingers but ended up giving up moments later as you were nearly at the edge of your bed about to topple over.  

"See, I was right. You really don't believe me babe~" Mark knew that you were just messing with him now as he upgraded from poking to pinching your soft cheeks instantly, while you whined at his annoying actions.

"I do believe you Mark. Now stop that. before I take it back~" You swatted his hands away from your face, genuinely answering him this time. His dark dazzling eyes narrowed towards you, about ready to tackle you in a tickling war and seeing him inch his way closer; you already knew what he was planning to do as that infamous evil smirk of his crept onto his face.

*Knock knock* "Mark hyung~"

You mentally thanked BamBam's voice for appearing at that moment while inhaling a sigh of relief for it had saved you from the cold hardwood floor that was seconds away from meeting your small petite frame. Clearing your throat moments later, you lightly shoved Mark towards the door as he gave an angry glaring pout before hesitantly opening it. He was so not at all pleased to see BamBam and Jackson barging into the room without even asking for permission.

"Yo, MARK~! Sorry to interrupt, but we have to leave soon." Jackson peered and swung an arm over the not so happy looking Mark just for a brief second before diverting his attention and giving his informative speech, that was actually intended for you.

*Pout* "Can I not go~?" Mark turned his head to face you, even though you weren't the right person that he should be asking that to. Shrugging Jackson off of him was definitely not an easy task especially while he was cutely trying to persuade you to let him stay. With his googly eyes pouting endlessly towards you, he was almost certain that his charm wouldn't let him down once more. All of his so called "aegyo" only came out whenever he was with you and that he couldn't deny.  

*Stare* You stared blankly at him, arms crossed over your heart pounding chest while looking unphased at his sudden attempt. Not giving in was killing you but you knew that he needed to leave or else Jackson and BamBam wouldn't have made such an effort to intrude so suddenly.

"That's a "NOPE" Mark~ Come on, you can cuddle with me tonight since I'm gonna be girlfriend-less too~" Jackson grinned from ear to ear; followed up by a teasing wink, to which made Mark cringe with disgust as Jackson then swiftly pulled Mark into a tight headlock like it was a piece of cake. .

"I'm not girlfriend-less~ And who says I wanted to cuddle with you~" Mark retorted back, elbowing Jackson in the gut which nearly made the poor boy fall backwards.

"You know you love me Marky~" Jackson was quick on his comebacks as he regained his balance almost instantly and took a hold of Mark once more. He effortlessly dragged Mark out the door as Bam Bam shook his head like this happens all the time.  

"Bye bye Noo...I mean Hyungsoo-nim~" BamBam gave you his bright cheeky eye smile before you heard Mark groaning in anger and hastily yelling his farewell towards you from the hallway.

"I'll call you later ba..." You chuckled quietly to yourself while waving goodbye to BamBam, your eyes barely being able to stay open due to tiredness from the long day suddenly hitting you at that moment. Before Mark could even finish his sentence;, BamBam had playfully winked at you instantly closing the door behind him, totally cutting Mark off.

Mark's Side:

"Yah, Bammie I wasn't finished talking~" He definitely didn't want to go but he knew that he had obligations that he needed to tend to. Even though he wanted to stay with you, he couldn't and that was seemingly the hardest part of this relationship for him. Mark whined angrily towards BamBam's trailing figure behind Jackson and him as BamBam let out a small chuckle before happily explaining his actions.

"The longer you stay, the harder it is to leave hyung~" BamBam's answer had somehow foreshadowed his own thoughts and that right there freaked him out quite a bit. For such a phrase to come out of BamBam's mouth, it was definitely not what Mark had expected at all as he eyed the younger one suspiciously.

"Are you being all smart with me all of the sudden~?" Mark playfully glared daggers at the younger one, trying to figure out how he had managed to come up with such a wise aleck remark.

"No~" Bambam teasingly stuck his tongue out and immediately took off running, knowing that he should probably stay clear from Mark for the time being not wanting to die just yet.

"Where did he learn that from?" Mark mumbled out asking no one in particular. Not to say that BamBam wasn't smart, but the Korean phrase he had used just a second ago was beyond the level that they were at in speaking terms.

"He learned that from ME~" Of course, Jr. had to be peeping nearby as he was the sole #1 fanboy who had always "stalked" the two of you. Without saying much of anything after that; Jr. grinned slyly at Mark phone in hand looking like he was "up to something" before gleefully bouncing himself back towards the others, who were gathered in the living room mingling and chatting away still.

"Jinyo