String to my heart ♪ Mark Lee

♪ 80

After a long time passes later, later
When you look back to those days, days
I hope you laugh like you always do
We are with you

♪

The restaurant glowed gold and red.

Tiny fairy lights wrapped around wooden pillars, wreaths hung beside framed paintings and soft Christmas jazz floated lazily through the air like cinnamon melting into warm milk while snowflake ornaments spun gently every time the entrance door opened.

Mark stood in the middle of it all.

Near the far corner table, Hannah laughed while adjusting ribbons around gift boxes. Jihye stood on a chair trying to hang an ornament while Jaejin criticized her methods from below with the seriousness of a frustrated interior designer which he was not.

"That's crooked."
"It's artistic."
"It's leaning at forty-five degrees and that looks wrong."
"That's cool."
"That's gravity begging for help."

Mark smiled faintly watching them.

The restaurant looked beautiful, too beautiful.

Warm lights reflected against Hannah's face while the Christmas song in the background switched to an old classic they used to listen to during trainee days.

For a moment, everything felt peaceful, then someone suddenly stepped in front of him.

A man.

His voice cut through the warmth instantly.
"Why are you and Hannah together?"

Mark frowned.
"What?"
"You really think people will accept it?"

Another voice joined from somewhere behind him.
"Everyone's talking already."

The lights flickered once, then again.

The music slowed unnaturally.

Mark looked around carefully now. The warmth of the restaurant started fading into something colder.

Something wrong.

Then suddenly-

A bark.

Coco.

Mark's head snapped up instantly.
"Coco?"

Another bark echoed somewhere deeper inside the restaurant, then someone shouted.
"Get that dog!"

Mark started running immediately.

The decorations blurred around him while Christmas lights stretched strangely across his vision, Coco's barking became louder and louder.

Desperate.

Scared.

"Coco!"

Another bark, then silence.

Mark's chest tightened painfully.
"Coco!"

Wet.

Something wet touched his cheek again and again.

Mark blinked awake abruptly and Coco's face was directly in front of him.
"...Coco?"

The big fluffy dog barked excitedly before attacking his face with more aggressive licks.

Mark laughed weakly, still half asleep.
"Okay, okay I'm awake."

Coco wagged his tail violently, excited to see his favourite human awake.

Mark sat up slowly, rubbing his face. Winter sunlight slipped through the curtains in pale gold streaks.

The other side of the bed was empty while his phone buzzed endlessly beside him.