CLOSE TO ME | MARK LEE

62

We woke up with hearing the rain batter down on the window. It raining pretty badly so we knew we weren't going out today.

We got up and went to the bathroom and got changed. Once I came downstairs, I saw Areum making breakfast.

Without knowing the time went by really quick and now we're just sitting around and cuddling each other. All of sudden, Areum got up.

"I'm going to bake cookies." She said as she stood up looking really cute with a pouty face.

"Do you want me to help you?" I offered as I stared at her whilst still sitting on the sofa.

"No!" She screamed defensively as I just gave her a look " I want to make them for you so you can rest or chill or whatever you want to do."

"Ok." I smiled "I'll be waiting for them." After I said that, she went skipping off to the kitchen.

AREUM POV

"Gorgeous! I've made them. Can you come and try them?" I screamed so he could hear me.

Just after a few seconds he came, with his hair at sticking out everywhere and his hands in his pockets.

"Were you asleep?" I asked calmly.

"Mmm" he nodded.

I walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"Okay could you try them and let me know what you think of them?"

"Of course babe." He smiled.

He took a bite a savoured it before he stopped munching and gulped it down his throat. His eyes started to tear up as continued to eat the cookie.

"They... they taste just like how my mum made them." He looked at me with his soft, glossy eyes.

I walked closer to him and he engulfed me in a hug as he cried even more.

"They really do taste like how my mum made them. Thank you Areum, thank you so much."

"It's alright Minhyung-ah. Cry it out." I said as I patted his back as he cried in the crook of my neck.

Once he calmed down, he stopped hugging me and just stared at me.

"Wait a minute... how did you get it to taste just like how my mum made them?"

I knew he was going to ask me that so I held his hand. I took him to the pantry where there was a box. The box labelled as "THE RECIPES OF MY SONS FAVOURITES- LEE MINHYUNG"

"I was looking for the ingredients for our breakfast when I found this box and when I opened it, it was all the foods you like but according to how your mum made them. That's why I decided to try out her cookie recipe for you."

He just stared at me with his glossy eyes, in his most raw form ever. He side hugged my shoulder as my head rested on his chest.

"I didn't even know my mum had this." He said ever so quietly. "But thank you Areum, you just bought back so many beautiful memories. Mum would be so glad that you were the one I chose to stay with the for the rest of my life."

"Minhyung-ah, I would've loved to meet your mum and tell her how happy you made me in this horrible world and I would've thanked her bringing you to this world so I could be here for you."

"Don't be upset that she's not here. Her presence will always be here and I'll continue to make her recipes so we can love those memories."

We stood there as mark hugged me whilst holding his mum's valuable treasure- the box.

Time skip~

As the weather had gotten a bit better, Mark decided to show me all the places in his home town so I could also see the place. And we had so much fun- going to cafés, parks, Mark's schools before he left to come to Korea and most importantly, his get away places.

Over the week, we had travelled together and had so much fun, making new memories that we'd cherish forever. Going on bike rides, having picnics, going go karting, going to his favourite shops.

This trip is something I'd never forget. My first actual trip with my love.

And now tomorrow we were leaving to go back to Seoul. To be honest, over this past week, I've loved living in Mark's house. It made me feel comfortable and I'm truly attached. I'm going to be sad leaving this place tomorrow.

We now started packing up the remaining clothes left that we didn't need to wear. I also went round the whole house to make sure we didn't leave anything behind.

"And done!" I said as I zipped up the last suitcase with sighing with relief.

"Do you want to order your favourite pizza before we go?" I asked.

"Before that, I have one more place to show you." He said.

"Really? I thought we saw all the places that you loved." I asked, intrigued.

"Yeah and you'll love it."

We put on our light coats as it wasn't that cold and left the house.

"It's close by so we'll walk." He said as he grabbed my hand and put it into his pocket locked with hand. I smiled at the site.

It was now 6pm and it was basically all dark with streetlights dimly lighting up the streets.

We got to Mark's destination and I was touched.

There was a bench by a tree that overlooked the city as it was at a higher landscape. We both sat down on the bench as we looked at the breathtaking view.

"You know where we first had our conversation, in Seoul. Yeah the reason why I liked going there was because it reminded of this. I lived sitting here on my own and thinking about life. When I found being a trainee and even an idol hard, I'd go the place with the bench and the view because it felt like I was escaping reality and thy I was back at Vancouver again. I truly missed this place."

I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Are you happy now? You finally came back to the place you really wanted to be at." I asked.

"Yeah I'm happy, really happy but not because I'm in my hometown." He said.

I lifted my head as my face read confusion.

"I'm happy because I'm with you. Ever since you came into my life, I stopped missing Vancouver. I didn't feel the need to be here anymore so I stopped missing it. But now that we're together, I really wanted to bring you to my hometown because my mum always wanted her daughter in law to come to my childhood home so she could tell her every story about me from when I was younger."

A tear dropped down my eye as I could truly tell that he was missing his mum.

"I don't think I've ever told you what happened to her. It was unexpected. I literally talked to her on the phone like half an hour before. She was walking down the sidewalk when two cars who were racing each other turned round the bend. And my mum was there-" he stopped as he choked up on his words.

"It's alright mark, I understand." I said as I bought his head closer to my shoulder as I patted his back.

"You kn-know, our company di-didn't let me come back for the final goodbyes." He voice laced with pain.

"Don't worry Mark, your mum is always with you."

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I just have one thing to say for today.

Dream plan > wayvison

Iykyk

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