Common past || Markhyuck

Epilog

10 years later

Time is rushing relentlessly.

I was more than aware of this one thing in my life - the passing of time.

Years went by and I came to Ansan year after year in the hope that somehow it would be possible to turn back time. Go back to those carefree years of youthful romance.

In this respect, June has always been a time for life choices reflection. I came to my family home and checked how much has changed. I walked around the property, I looked at the porch from each side in search of shortcomings for repair, I looked into the gazebo and at the end I stood for a long time over the flowerbeds with carnations. I thought about what I had lost in my life, what I managed to achieve but the conclusion was always the same.

Whatever I did, it was definitely worth it.

The sound of the car entering the driveway pulled me out of my deep reverie. Small pebbles crunched under the pressure of the tires, causing a slight smile on my lips. I left area behind the house unhurriedly and the first thing that caught my eye was orange-red hair in which the afternoon rays of the sun played, protruding from the roof of the vehicle. After a moment from behind the car body emerged a boy in dungarees and sunglasses, which he slightly moved on his nose to get a better look at me. When our eyes met, he donned surprised face and I knew what would happen next.

"You can't enter here. What are you looking for? "He asked, pulling up the sleeves of a long red plaid shirt.

"Very funny" I rolled my eyes. "You say it every year. When will you finally get bored? "I asked, anyway being completely helpless in the face of Hyuck's smile. Years went by and my legs softened time and time again when I saw him. The boy laughed radiantly and ran to me quickly, throwing himself around my neck.

"Never," he whispered as I wrapped arms around him. "I missed you so much," he murmured childishly, giving me a quick kiss.

"It's only been two weeks, Hyuckie," I laughed, though I also sorely felt those separation days. The promotions of my new books has always been a challenge for us because we hardly ever parted with each other for more than three days.

"Two too many," the boy said in a voice that made no objection, so I didn't argue any more. I grabbed him by the face and looked into the eyes. Beautiful, big, brown, laughing eyes in which you could drown.

"You're right," I agreed to my husband. "Two too many," I whispered, joining our lips in a sweet kiss. "Happy birthday," I murmured, leaning our foreheads against one another.

"Thank you." Donghyuck smiled to himself, lacing his fingers around my neck. "As a gift, you can finally get your hands on me tonight," he murmured, biting lower lip. I laughed, bringing back our lips together for the last few moments.

"Is this your birthday or mine?" I asked teasingly, patting Hyuck on the ass.

"As a present, please give me a solid fuck," he reformulated the question by putting his hands in the back pockets of my pants.

"Okie, honey," I agreed bluntly. "Whatever you wish for," I promised. "I would suggest, however, not in front of the guests."

"Relax, I've already planned everything," he laughed, entwining our fingers. I rolled eyes, let him pull me toward the house.

"What else did I expect from my pixie husband?" I sighed happily, shaking head from side to side.

///

I loved June because then we always met in one place. No exceptions. My mother, Johnny, Jeno with Koeun and their roughhousing toddler, Renjun and Jaemin. It wouldn't seem a lot but we didn't need anything more with Minhyung. We have overcome the loss of those who decided to remove themselves from our lives, as well as those whom we unfortunately decided to remove. That was life and we had to go through it further.

I felt Mark's warm hand on my thigh, his thumb gently circling the material of pants when, in an ardent discussion of politics with Jeno, my fiend make his hackles rise a little too much. I wanted to laugh. Although they never officially reconciled and never intended to reconcile, they behaved worse than an old, nagging marriage. We always looked at each other with Koeun over the table and exchanged tired glances under the title which of us would strangle our husband first if he didn't shut up soon? My mother always bravely ignored these little verbal skirmishes of her son-in-law and Jeno, having deep conversations with Johnny, who became the confidant of her culinary secrets. Since he said that being a manager in my restaurant in New York is definitely not enough for him and he wants to get involved in the kitchen, they have become inseparable with my mother. I enjoyed such a turn of events because since the divorce with my father, the woman was sitting all alone in our old home and with Minhyung we rarely found time to appear in Korea more often than on public holidays except our leave in June. Renjun and Jaemin were always eager to help as well, so I wasn't so worried when we were going back to the States. By the way, I was still wondering when these two would finally make love confessions. They behaved forever like teenagers in a deep phase of infatuation but years went by  and the most important words still hasn't been said between them. I was sorry to see this because I knew how painful it was to experience the feeling of wasted years that could be spent together and yet because of stupid internal blockades, they were spent separately.

When I started working on the radio two years ago, it was Valentine's Day. Many people called to tell their love story and the vast majority of them were sad stories. People were either afraid to confess their feelings or they did it too late and were rejected. During this broadcast one man also called, who, after listening to all these love confessions, decided to share his story, which was to give comfort to all wounded souls. He said that he was afraid to confess his feelings as well, which made him lose his first love. But when he thought it was forever, they got a second chance after five long years of separation. Now they were many years after their wedding and their common past allowed them to realize that you cannot delay saying these three magic words because it may turn out that the chance we have may be our last. The man was Mark Lee. Journalist and writer from New York, whom I have the privilege of calling my husband for ten years now. As always, he was romantic and as always, he could awake a dormant sense of pride in my heart that it was by his side that I decided to spend my whole life.

When we all met at one table once a year, I realized that I was a real lucky guy.

In such moments I looked at my silver ring so contrasting with my complexion...

I looked at my scars, which I learned not to be ashamed of...

I looked at my friends and family - smiling and united.

I looked at all this and came to the conclusion that I had no idea when something unexpected happened.

Something I've always feared.

That I have no idea when I stopped being afraid to look into my own future.

~~

I'm sorry that it took so long, but giving the story a label completed turned out to be much harder than I suspected. It really overwhelmed me. However, I gathered in myself and promised that this epilogue would appear by the end of the year and here it is.

I wish you all Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. And to all those who don't observe a holiday or who observe but on other dates, thank you once again that you have been with Common Past for so long and I hope that we will meet under my other stories once again.

Thank You 

♥