ONESHOTS

how to commit marriage fraud

author : honeyswirl

Summary:

|when he was little, mark thought that he would be living in a house, with a dog, and being happily married by the time he turned 30. But now he's 29, and he's living in an apartment, with an adorable dog and suddenly finds himself getting a nontraditional proposal from his best friend to commit marriage fraud together.

and who is mark to say no?|

When Mark Lee was in the 5th grade his teacher assigned the class a piece of homework.

The piece of paper she handed out asked the children to draw a self-portrait of themselves 20 years into the future whilst also filling out simple questions on the bottom of the page that included, "What is your job?" and "How old would you be?". It was all meant to be done over the weekend and then they would do a public presentation on Monday.

It was pretty riveting stuff for 10-year-old Mark at the time and while the whole class was groaning and complaining about being given homework on a Friday, Mark stared down at the paper in sheer excitement. Back then it was like the world was in the palm of his hands, he could mold himself into whatever he desired, and he would be able to achieve because the little kid in him genuinely believed he could be anything if he put his mind to it.

That night he equipped himself with a brand-new box of crayons and a freshly sharpened pencil and worked, as tirelessly as a 10-year-old could, on his homework. Answering the questions with earnest and drawing his future self in the exact way he pictured he would look like.

In his future self-portrait Mark thought he would become a best-selling author of fantasy books and action stories packed full of monsters and dragons. He thought he would make enough money to be able to buy all the toys he wanted with his money, but most importantly, he pictured himself living in a big house with a dog and a wife, having made that noticeably clear in his drawing where he drew himself standing next to a house with another person.

Big dreams for a small kid.

Once he was done, he was so proud of the finished product he created that he even showed it to his parents and even though his older brother said that the "wife" standing next to him was more akin to a blob with arms and legs, Mark completely ignored him because it was perfect to him.

And he truly believed it too, he thought that all of that would happen to him in 20 years' time, all he needed was a little hard work and perseverance.

But sadly, not everything is sunshine and rainbow, and nothing happens as planned.

If Mark's 10-year-old-self saw him now, he would try to be nice to him because that's just the kind of kid Mark was, but he would still be wondering "What happened?".

It's not like Mark was devastated he couldn't become an author. Because he quickly realized that the best thing on this dying green earth was none other than stability. Being stable was the greatest thing any human being could have so he quickly rerouted his entire life to that philosophy of having a safe and stable life for the rest of the years to come. The dreams of his 10-year-old self were flushed down in an instant, never to be thought about until now.

Because Mark is now 29 years old, and he is nowhere close to where his younger self he thought he would be once he reaches 30-years-old. He currently works as the Finance Manager for Neo Culture Trades, lives in an apartment in the city, and owns a cute little golden retriever named Ruby. So, out of the long list of things 10-year-old him thought he was going to achieve, getting a dog was probably the last thing on the list.

None of that matters now though because Mark is content with where he is now and that's all that truly matters.

However, unbeknownst to him another one of the wishes his 10-year-old-self wanted was also going to be fulfilled but he wasn't planning on changing careers to being an author nor was he thinking about buying a big house any time soon,