— mark.

@✽ mark l. she sat there, looking up at the ceiling as she rethought over what he had just said and then looked back at her best friend. with a knowing hum, jiwoo picked up another dumpling to pop into and chewed on it, shifting her focus on mark instead. as soon as the food in was gone, she spoke carefully. "even if you're rich and you have a house, have you ever felt the itch to have an actual job? like you know doing something the whole day instead of just tinkering with your bike? like meeting people and so on? Or your mannerisms have changed now? I mean you was gone for a good chunk of time that I have no idea 'bout now."

@✽ jiwoo k. "aish, if you say so." mark shook his head with a growing smile and tugged a container closer so he could take another dumpling, scrunching up his nose as he looked back up at jiwoo. "yeah, it's weird. like i can do whatever i want now. i'm rich, i have a house, i don't even need a job. but i don't know what i'd do with myself if i didn't have a job, if i didn't get to tinker around my motorcycle."

@✽ mark l. "hah! do you honestly think i can't hold my liquor well? Just give me the strongest you have and can make. I'd prove nothing can tear me down," she proudly exclaimed with a flip of her hair over her shoulders with a smug smile spread over her countenance. upon hearing his worries, she sighed in understanding accompanied by a nod of her head and her chopsticks reaching out for another piece of tteokbokki. "I understand your predicament. I could hide you in my bedroom if you ever come back when your parents were still around. but hey, you're free now, from the shackles of what you have been going through from back then. So take this time to heal and have fun, yeah?'

@✽ jiwoo k. "i'll make sure it doesn't have too much alcohol in it so you don't get drunk so quickly." mark teased jiwoo with a growing smile on his lips, reaching out to grab a container of dumplings and humming happily when he bit into the first one. "i should have, honestly. i was just so scared to come back and let my parents convince me to move back in." he whispered quietly, looking down at his plate and sighing heavily.

@✽ mark l. wrinkling her nose from his tap, she couldn't help but to beam up at him and slurped up some of the noodles after giving it an aggressive mixing to get a good combination of noodles and the black bean sauce in one bite. she nodded a few times while chewing like a cow and even so at his words. as soon as it was ready to be swallowed, she did that and took a few swigs of the soda to wash it down. "you did? you should have come back when you have that craving. as for me... i was away from town for too long because of my studies and i craved for the food here so much that i literally took a bus or train right after school and stay overnight in my parents' mansion. then the next day, i would take first bus or train back to the city. exhausting but i'd do anything to have these delicious food," she even pointed her thumbs up at the food as if it's an animate object. "Hmm... can you make one for me later? I'd love to try your concoctions." Her chopsticks busily picked up a piece of tteokbokki too and popped it into jiwoo's mouth which she happily chewed away at.

@✽ jiwoo k. mark took the can of coke that jiwoo held out to him and took a long sip from it, reaching out to playfully tap the tip of her nose with his finger before scrunching up his nose with a small smile on his lips. "it does, actually. i thought about this place all the time when i was living in the city, i missed their food so much." he opened each container before getting his chopsticks and reaching out to grab a piece of tteokbokki for himself, munching on it happily. "yeah, i like mixing drinks and trying out new recipes for the bar, which is why i have so much alcohol here."

@✽ mark l. jiwoo could only giggle in response as she tucked her phone away and shrugged a shoulder, retrieving another can of coke before closing the fridge's door. looking around the kitchen for a bit, she could see that most were pretty removed except for a few she had found to use for their take-aways and walked back to where mark was. "just in case of what? being a bartender? you know, i should certainly make time to come down to your workplace to see you in action," she said softly while pulling back the tabs on the coke cans before handing one to him and sipping from the other can. with a playful exhale of happiness from just one sip of coke, she looked on to see the spread of food right there in front and bobbed her head a few times to non-existent music. "this still smell the same.. i don't know if the cooks changed or something but does it smell like the ones we used to eat?"

@✽ jiwoo k. "what are you doing?" mark laughed as jiwoo ran around to take pictures of him, shaking his head and setting the bag of food on the table before looking over to the fridge. "if you're only having a coke then i will too, i don't drink a ton but i have it just in case, you know? sometimes it's fun." he sat down at the table and started pulling containers out of the large bag, humming quietly to himself the more he went. "this smells delicious."

@✽ mark l. “not a lot of pictures…? then now you must take a lot! hang on-“, she mumbled while fumbling around in her jeans’ pocket for her phone. “where is my phone?” seeing that she had slung her bag to the coffee table somehow, not remembering when it landed there. scurrying over, she retrieved the phone and took a picture when mark walked past her to head to the kitchen, another from behind his back and speed-walked to the front again to take one more of him putting the stuff on the table. “ah! we shall use that then. oh yeah, i forgot for a moment you’re a bartender too… it just feel like.. we returned back to our high school days,” she walked backwards toward the fridge and once her bum made contact with it, she turned around and opened it, retrieving a can of coke. “how about you? soju? coke? water? banana milk?”

@✽ jiwoo k. "there's not a lot of pictures, but they're in the cellar if you wanna go through them? keep whatever you want, honestly." mark nodded a few times before opening the front door to grab the food, giving the driver a sizeable stack of bills with a grin, and he waved off any bowing before shutting the door and bringing the large bag of food into the kitchen to set it on the countertop of the island. he dug through the bag before humming softly, finding some plastic spoons and wooden chopsticks. "we've got utensils in here, love. do you want anything to drink? i have some cokes, soju, or i can make like a cocktail or something? or there's water, i think i have banana milk in there too but it's lactose free."

@✽ mark l. her round eyes became more like a saucer at mark's word and her neck turned red from all he had been planting in her mind about and whatnots. pressing a peck back against his lips quickly, she fumbled around to try to get up, all shy from his naughty words. "luckily for them! at least they have more clothes on them. But.. as for the old pictures, i hope you didn't donate or throw away the childhood pictures of you in them? like just you alone and without your parents... I'm sure there are some. even if you don't want them, I want them!", she frowned slightly, looking at the other and yet inside, she felt nervous that it would upset him. the doorbell rang out of the blue and she jerked in auto response, blinking to get her flyaway soul back. "the food is here faster than I expected. service has been too good lately. ah? they're still in the same place? yes sir! I will set them out," she got off and flattened down her shirt, walking towards the kitchen yet again and then looked over her shoulder to see the back view of him; that be popping. with a huge grin, she shifted her focus to find the placemats and the napkins, yanking open the drawer to retrieve them and placed it on the table. pondering about the cutleries, she looked around for them before realising that he could have thrown them out too. "Markie! does the food come with disposable cutleries or nah?", she called out, still bending over the empty drawers to find something to eat the food with.

@✽ jiwoo k. at jiwoo's words, mark could feel something in his abdomen curl tightly, and he bit his lip before leaning closer to rub their noses together in an affectionate gesture. "i'm better at this time, probably won't take me too long to get you there once, maybe twice." he whispered against her lips, pecking them gently before pulling away with a squeeze to her waist. "don't worry, i donated everything of theirs that wasn't trash, like old pictures and such. some lucky people have a lot of clothes now, mm? and once everything else is gone i can finally start making it the home i want for my future family." mark kissed her again only to be interrupted by the doorbell ringing, and he sighed softly before patting her hip to get her to stand. "that'll be it now, i'll grab that so i can tip the driver if you want to get some placemats and napkins? everything's still in the same drawers it was before, and we can eat out of the containers."

@✽ mark l. widened in shock at all the old memories being brought up and a bright red blush being imminent on her cheeks. there was that familiar tingling feeling in her core at all those old memories and she couldn’t help but to clear softly while looking straight into mark’s eyes. “those were the good ol’ days and i don’t mind reliving those days again!”, she proclaimed as she sat up on his lap and rolled her eyes playfully at his cheeky grin. that mischievous grin was one of her favourite things about him and she missed seeing that in a long while. “you’re going to start over from the scratch hearing how you want to replace every single furniture. do consider donating them to the needy. the old furni, i mean. woah.” every single thing of his parents gone from the house like that? jiwoo had to remind herself that his parents weren’t exactly role-model parents and it was okay for him to get rid of even the tiniest trace of them. “It’s nice to see you to decide what this house should be. after all, it gonna be the home you have always dreamt of. great job, markie.” she then leaned in to peck his lips once and pulled away, her lips as if he was some delicious chocolate she had never in her life. “are the food here already or are we going to kiss the faces off each other until it get here?”

@✽ jiwoo k. mark laughed and rubbed jiwoo's back as she coughed roughly at his words and he moved to sit up, holding her in his lap as he pressed his back to the couch cushions. "well, there was that time after the homecoming game that we were grinding on each other, and then of course prom where we snuck off to the bathroom so i could get my hand up the skirt of your dress." he grinned cheekily up at jiwoo in his lap, his hands still firmly on her waist to simply hold her in his arms. "but yes, i want this to be a real home, not just a house. i'm gonna get all of the furniture replaced, i have to stop by chan's store, and i'm gonna start completely over. i've already replaced everything in the master bedroom, there's no personal belongings left from my parents."

@✽ mark l. the corner of her lips went up in acknowledgement and she gave a little nod, knowing what he fully meant by that. not wanting to push the topic any further, she shifted to lay atop of him and stretched out her body, having being stuffed in between the man and the couch for far too long. his muscles have pretty much grown in volume as compared to back then, leaving not enough space for her to move around. either the sofa had shrunk in size or he grew in size. "wait a minute, for hours? I have never tracked the time but boy, we must really have motors for lips. yeah, we never have gotten that far. smug, so that was her looking smug? i thought she was happy we were out of the room after so long," she grumbled at the memory, thinking the old lady might have innocent thoughts but hearing it from him, she never expected the twist. at the mere mention of the word, family, she gasped loudly and then choked on air that entered the wrong way down, coughing violently and jiwoo being the klutz at times had to thump her chest to get it out. "geezus. yes, make this home where you want to build a family in that is full of love and laughter. not to mention good memories too."

@✽ jiwoo k. "i'm happy that they're gone, which is sad right?" mark spoke quietly as he shifted on the couch, moving to lay on his back and tugging jiwoo to stretch out on top of him. he wrapped his arms around her waist and looked up at her with a smile on his lips, his nose scrunching up in amusement. "i think she like...purposely left us alone for hours because she wanted me to baby trap you or something, as a way for her to get me to stay. not that we ever went that fair, but she definitely seemed smug whenever we'd come downstairs for dinner and our lips would be all swollen and the hickies on your neck were just too above the collar of your shirt." he let his fingers trail over jiwoo's pulse point where he would often leave a mark, leaning up to peck her lips gently. "it's...weird that it's so empty. but i have the opportunity to make this a real home. it felt like living in a museum, and now i can make this the home i want to build a family in."

@✽ mark l. she looked more horrified than she could ever be at the idea of dead birds and mice being left at the doorsteps. of course, she had read somewhere that cats did that out of goodwill as they thought humans couldn't feed themselves. "luckily for loki, he now have even more space to run around any time he wanted to... minus the dead animals of course," she shivered at the idea once again. truth be told, she have only kept herself occupied with studies and now work until their meet-up, never really once dating properly and going on half-assed pre-arranged dated with men her mother set her up with. her eyes fluttered open once she could feel his warm lips leaving hers and smiled up at him, recollecting the time where they had to be all sneaky behind people's backs just to do that. "yeah and remember how we have to rush out our homework in school the next morning due to our friends' dismay? that was fun! you know.. i have always meaning to ask, how are you coping ever since your.... parents' death? Not that i meant to spoil the mood or anything. I'm concerned about your well being, seeing how you're back home in the house filled with... unwanted memories."

@✽ jiwoo k. "oh he's left a few dead birds and mice at the doorstep, but i dispose of them very carefully when he's not looking. also he's very fluffy but super energetic, that's why he needs to run around." mark nodded a few times and couldn't help himself as he moved fully onto his side to face her, keeping the pacing of the kiss slow and gentle as he held her up against his chest. it had been a long time since they had done this together, and who knows how long it had been for her since she had last kissed somebody. after a few long moments that felt like eternity, mark pulled back to look jiwoo in the eyes, smiling softly. "god, remember when my mom would say she'd call us down for dinner and we were always ignoring our homework to make out?"

@✽ mark l. "look at this fluffy boy, he doesn't need any exercise at all. it's all the fur making him look... fat. sorry but i gonna say it, loki. you're just fluffy." she reached out to pat him on the head only to be petting the air and retracted her hand back to rest on his chest. "oh yeah that backyard! Is it still the same? I have read somewhere that felines like to bring 'gifts' back to their masters and i'm wondering if loki ever done that before," she piqued up before giggling at the way he just smiled down at her and the next thing she knew, the sounds of her giggles got cut off by his soft tiers on hers. that familiarity of his lips against hers where she used to take the initiative to kiss him while pretending to study in her room came to her and she gently moved her lips back against him with her eyes fluttering close to savour the moment.

@✽ jiwoo k. mark laughed loudly at jiwoo's face once she realised she wouldn't be able to deny him anything, and he nodded a few times while letting her look at the marks on his hands. "nothing to hurt him, but sometimes i wonder if he gets enough exercise. thankfully i have a backyard, so he can just run around happily out there chasing birds and bugs, and it tires him out quicker." he looked down at jiwoo as loki got up and padded off to find another patch of sun, watching as she , and he his lips slowly. "my love, i hope you know, i'm very y when i'm making drinks or fixing cars. i'm y in general, look at me." he smiled at her words and then placed a gentle hand on her cheek, leaning down to connect their lips in a soft kiss.

@✽ mark l. her face switched up from joy to mortified horror at the thought of this little black beast looking up with such sweetest eyes and probably turning nasty if he did not get what he seek for. "uh huh. I think i can see myself subconsciously giving him food without meaning to. i mean, look at this sweet little baby. how could you have the heart to deny it of its pleasures? i will just allow loki to fool me anytime he want to. oh ouch, look at those hands...", she winced at the mini scratches and bite marks, her finger reaching up to trace them. "don't play too rough, babe. and you too, loki!" bopping the tip of his nose right after mark, she chuckled at the staring cat and let out a small sigh. "I'm glad your boss suggested having the cat and look where you're. you, y while making drinks? let me be the judge of that then. if you're good with drinks.. is there any with very low percentage of alcohol in it? does she fix cars too? i can go to her if her business need a little more support!" bobbing her head a few times, she could only grin in response at him and stuck out her tongue. "don't let anyone pull you down, not even loki too," she dared in a singsong tone while tilting her head left and right to challenge him to that.

@✽ jiwoo k. "yeah, he was always good at reading people." mark nodded a few times and kissed the top of loki's head, giving jiwoo a small smile as she giggled. "oh, he's a noisy boy. he's going to give you the sweetest eyes when our food gets here and he can only have a nibble of the meat here and there so don't let him fool you. he's not a biter, thankfully, or much of a scratcher, but i play a little rougher with him so my hand looks pretty bad." he held up his hand and laughed at the couple bite marks and scratches he still had, tapping the tip of loki's nose with the tip of his index finger. "he's my best friend. you should, i've been told i look pretty y while making a drink. she's doing pretty good, still quiet. but she's wary of me and i get it, this is her dad's pride and joy. i just hope it continues at this same pace and her business keeps doing well is all." he listened to her words carefully and bit his lip before running his fingers through her hair, looking down at her with fondness in his eyes that he was sure was more than obvious. "keep talking like that and i'll have to kiss you."

@✽ mark l. she reached up to scratch her cheek, realising that what he was saying was true. "i forgot about that part that haechan don't like your mom... sometimes i wonder if he can look into the soul or something," she muttered under her breath and make shapes on the cat's head, her gaze still focusing on the feline. when loki did that tail swishy thing and then moving to bury its head in her neck, jiwoo couldn't help but to giggle loudly at its action and moved her hand down to rub its back. "that is so loud. the voice he is making... Oh? that is really honourable. Mr. Loki, I promise to take care of your master the way he deserve and you too if you don't plan on nibbling on my ankles," she declared with a bright grin. "Ah, the bar? I should pop by when I can. wait a minute did you just say sooyoung? As in Ha Sooyoung? I wonder how she is," she tilted her head to look at his handsome face even if it was from under his chin and having to look up his nostrils. "hmm well go at your pace and take your time to settle down. no hurry, you have your entire life to go by! nobody to pull you down to the lowest you can ever be, Markie. nobody."

@✽ jiwoo k. "i don't think he knows specifics like you, i didn't—i wasn't going to burden him with that when he already didn't like my mom." mark shook his head and kissed jiwoo's forehead softly, smiling as loki crept across his stomach and chest to get closer to her. his tail was swishing back and forth happily, and he took a few more steps forward before he was laying down in between mark and jiwoo, rubbing his face into jiwoo's neck while his body rumbled with a loud purr. "oh, he likes you. he's never like this with anybody but me, but he likes you. as he should, what's not to like about you, sunbeam?" his voice was low as he spoke, and he brought a hand up to scratch behind loki's ears. "i've been working part time as a bartender at the junction dive bar, and i think i'm gonna work with sooyoung as a mechanic, help keep the shop open after her dad passed. i don't know about studying yet, i'm just—trying to settle down, i think."

@✽ mark l. "i still could check how long he has to serve before i can open up the case to ask for longer sentence with concrete evidence, of course. she let him wipe the tears off her face as she thought up of ways to send that bastard to even the deeper depths of the prisons. flinching ever so slightly at the way the cat jumped up onto his stomach without any warning, she carefully reached out to pat loki on the head with her one index finger. one could never be too sure around felines especially where she visited a cat's cafe and came out almost mauled to death. either she truly attracted all the cats because of how gentle she was or that she was just a death attraction to them. "What? Haechan was disappointed with the way you turned out? have he ever know what went down in your family and all? you're like this because of your situation and there's nothing wrong with it. you're trying and that is enough." she mumbled, looking straight at loki who was just smelling her like she was a slab of meat. "loki is really a life saver and i'm glad he came into your home. now that you're back home, will you be working again? maybe... studying?"

@✽ jiwoo k. "i think he's in prison right now anyway." mark mumbled quietly, again using his hands to wipe the tears off of jiwoo's face—he hated making her cry which is why he used to bottle things up, but she had also gotten angry with him for keeping things a secret, and so he knew it was best to tell her the truth. "i wouldn't have had to go through any of that, but it's who i am and what i've lived, so i'll become a stronger person because of it." mark was enjoying laying there on the couch with her, and he pulled his other hand away to pat his stomach so loki would jump up and join them. "i've love to walk around the town with you, see everybody again. i've...i've been avoiding it, i don't want any of our friends disappointed in me like haechannie was before, you know? i got loki last year, my boss recommended me adopting an animal because i was still experiencing really bad nightmares and the shakes. loki's been with me since, and he's a miracle worker. i wouldn't be here if i didn't have him." loki meowed loudly this time and jumped up onto mark's stomach, stretching himself out so he could sniff at jiwoo.

@✽ mark l. "what a bastard. if i ever meet him, i would give him a whooping on his and give him a life sentence! what a nasty man to do such a thing to a sweet, kind guy like you." shaking her head while having her face buried in his shirt still, she sniffled loudly and willed herself to stop crying because it could only make him cry more. "If only I still insist on doing that, you will not be where you are now." simply clutching even harder on him, she followed his lead towards the couch and laid on his side, facing the living room as she struggled to bury her face in his armpit as much as possible. "at least now we are back together. once you are finally settled down, we could go around town together to see how much it have changed and oh to see our high school teacher!" the sound of the chirp made her look up from her hiding spot and she blinked at the black cat whom just stared back at her. in no due time, a grin crept up onto her visage and looked at mark next. "Is that Loki? he's magnificent in person.. how did you come about to have loki?"

@✽ jiwoo k. "i didn't think i was gonna be for a while, but i'm here." mark whispered as tears finally started streaming from his eyes down his cheeks, and he held onto jiwoo as she cried as well. "he convinced me to drop out of college, and then he convinced me to join a gang, and i did so many stupid things that i've been to jail a bunch, and then i somehow got out of it because he cheated on me and i snapped and called the cops on the gang." he managed to get out quickly, not wanting to dwell on it much longer but knowing that it was important to tell jiwoo. "i'm sorry i told you to never get your parents involved with what my mom was doing, then maybe—maybe none of this would have happened and we would have been able to stay together." mark managed to move them so they were laying down on the couch instead, his knees growing weak from the emotions coursing through him, and he held jiwoo close hoping that she couldn't feel him shaking. he could hear the soft padding of paws and a bell as loki finally emerged from his hiding spot for the day, and there was a chirp before loki was raising up onto his back legs to sniff at the new person in the house.

@✽ mark l. she winced at the sight of him being on the verge of a breakdown and turned her body fully just so she could embrace him once again, her hand still rubbing his back to soothe him. jiwoo had seen him cry in front of her and every time he did, it broke her soul bit by bit. today just took the first prize off and she wondered just how much pain and burden he had to carry throughout the years they spent apart and the things he had to go through before he safely reached home here in dandelion. "they're not great, mark but if they're helping you kick the curb for those mad drugs, do it then.. one baby step at a time. nothing can be cured in a day." her breathing got ragged and soon enough her emotions took over, thinking of all the days he could possible suffer from the aftereffects of the hard drug and the abuse he had to tolerate from his ex-lover. her arms now wrapped around his torso, she had to regulate her breathing as well, trying so darn hard to keep herself from falling off the edge of the waterworks and looked up at him with watery eyes. "it is a miracle how you came out of that abusive arms of your late mother and now your ex's. i'm just glad that you're still alive and here. just so ing glad." with the last words out of her quivering lips, she shifted her gaze down to his chest and burst out crying, her face distorting into sadness and buried her face in his soft shirt.

@✽ jiwoo k. mark let his eyes fall shut and he rested his head against jiwoo's, his hands coming up to hold onto her hips as he tried to regulate his breathing before he started crying. he didn't want to fall apart because jiwoo had seen so much of his pain, and he didn't want to worry her even more. "yeah, they smell bad. relapsing...i did it for years, love. i couldn't go a day without doing coke for a few years and i just—it's so hard to quit, so hard to wake up and not immediately want it. it controlled my life, it still does but i have to fight it every day. cigarettes, they're not great, but for now they're helping me. and then i'll be able to quit them someday, it'll just take time." he rubbed his nose against jiwoo's cheek in an attempt to soothe her, his arms slowly winding around her waist so they were properly hugging. "my ex-boyfriend, he really ed me up. he was just as bad as my mom, except my boyfriend so you know...things happened."