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And so the story starts
Minhyung and you were tied together by marriage now, and it was not one you’d walked into unwillingly. You step inside the house, taking a look at what would be your new home. You knew what you were getting into. You made your choice.
You had the chance to marry the love of your life. Until you were robbed of it. You’d lost your father not soon after. Even now it wasn’t easy to accept that you couldn’t wake up from what felt like a bad dream.
Minhyung would be a good husband, and you would be a good wife. There were no ill feelings between the two of you. You simply weren’t in love. Minhyung said he’d give you space and time, but it felt like it’d never be enough. You just might be sad forever.
With these thoughts plaguing your head, a heaviness in your chest appears, and every breath feels hard. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t supposed to-
You drop into a crouch, trying to find balance with your trembling hands on the ground. The feeling in your fingers is replaced with a tingling. Your heart pounds so fast, you wonder if it might break free and burst.
Vaguely, you notice Minhyung next to you. You wrap your cold fingers around his hand and steal the warmth. It doesn’t make much of a difference but holding onto his hand helps a little.
After a while, you slowly recover though tiredness tinges your every movement. Minhyung leads you to your bedroom, and informs you that he’ll be sleeping in the attic. You just want to sleep, so you don’t say anything else to him and he leaves. As you close your eyes, the exhaustion carried over from the past few days pulls you into sleep.
Minhyung’s wish and Mark’s creation
“I want to make her happy,” Minhyung announces to his friends. “I want her to be happy. She’s not the girl I saw that day.”
Yuta flips the salon’s sign to closed and pulls down the shutter. Then he turns to Minhyung and asks, “The girl you fell in love with?”
Minhyung’s eyes widen at the question. He tries to deny it. However, his attempts are futile. His friends know him well.
It takes a bit of discussion before Lucas comes up with a potential solution. “If she likes fictional characters then we just have to turn you into one!” Lucas says as though it were obvious. Neither Yuta nor Minhyung found it obvious though.
Minhyung spits out the water he’d been drinking. After coughing a bit, Yuta rubbing his back, Minhyung managed to ask, “How? What do you even mean?”
“We’ll turn you into hero material. She’ll fall for you and you’ll get marr- never mind. You already did that. You get your happily ever after!”
“That’s not how real life works and you know it.” Yuta whacks Lucas with a rolled up magazine. “Stop giving Minhyung false hope.”
“Oh come on! It could work!”
There are a few moments of silent duelling between Yuta and Lucas, before Yuta throws his hands up. “Fine. We’ll transform you into someone new and give you a chance to follow the plan Lucas made- which I still think is going to end up being more trouble than it’s worth. If it’s really what you want to do, then I’m not stopping you.” Yuta waits for Minhyung to nod, before dragging him over to a chair. “Between my makeover skills and whatever Lucas has up his sleeves, this might work. Maybe not the way you want it to. But what do I know- I am but a hairdresser. Lucas is the one who claims to be a love guru.” Yuta says the last sentence with a scoff and an eyeroll.
Lucas, who’d been preoccupied with something in the background, calls Yuta over to show him something.
Yuta waves a tiny slip of paper in front of Minhyung. “Look what Lucas came up with.” Yuta’s grin suggested his amusement at someone else’s expense, and Minhyung had more than a suspicion it would be his.
Minhyung snatches it from Yuta’s grip with little resistance and reads, “Hello dear, never fear, Mark is here?” With furrowed brows he looks at his friends who seem to be a moment away from cracking up. Sure his voice had gotten squeaky and broke towards the end, but it wasn’t that funny. Minhyung pouts and throws the scrunched up paper at Lucas.
Bursting into laughter, Lucas catches it and tosses it into the recycling bin with ease. “You’re welcome. Now you have your catchphrase.”
“What? No-”
Of course his friends wouldn’t pay any heed to his protests. Ex friends. Minhyung needed to find new people to hang around.
“You have to work on your confidence.” Yuta snickers, ignoring Minhyung’s glare. He needed new friends, seriously. “That was hardly convincing. She’ll figure out it’s you in seconds. Looks like Lucas is going to have a hard time training you.”
“I wasn’t even trying,” Minhyung mutters into his hands.
Meeting Mark
Minhyung had no problems with you joining the dance class, much to your relief. It’s not like you expected him to keep you locked up inside- except sometimes you did. Regardless, you were filled with glee when Minhyung handed you money and told you to have fun.
It was a welcome change, going outside and doing something for yourself. Though the pain in your heart hadn’t vanished, it had lessened. You weren’t sure if you were good at dancing, but it was something you wanted to try again.
You thank the instructor when he hands you a card with a number. “Hello! It’s great to see all of you here, all pumped and ready to start dancing! You’ve all been given a card and you’ll have to partner up with the person who has the same number. Now go get to finding your dance partner!”
You hold up your card and look through the crowd, trying to find the person with the matching number. And that’s when you spot him. The man raises an eyebrow and walks towards you.
“Hello dear, never fear, Mark is here!” You have no idea how he says that with a straight face. While you contemplate making a run for it, Mark asks you your name. Not wanting to reveal your actual name, you make one up.
Minhyung or Mark
You had made plans to watch a movie at home with your husband. Both of you are curled up on the couch, but he is seated far from you on the other end.
It wasn’t that big a distance. Still it served as a reminder of the gap between the two of you. Did you even want to cross the distance and to be next to Minhyung? A month ago, you would have said no with certainty. But now? You didn’t know anymore.
Besides the thoughts running through your head, sleep was calling you. You try to focus on the film.
“Hello, dear!” Mark? You could have sworn you’d heard Mark. “Never fear! Mark is here!” And there he was on the screen.
You rub your eyes, but the image of Mark wouldn’t vanish. You shut your eyes, counting the seconds and look at the screen again.
Mark was gone. He probably hadn’t been there in the first place. No, he definitely hadn’t been. Why did he appear in your mind though?
Gentle snoring cut through your thoughts and you turn to see Minhyung had dozed off. Looks like you weren’t the only one exhausted today.
Minhyung & Mark
In the darkness, you could barely see his face. Then the spotlight lights up the stage, revealing your husband. The music starts playing and you let it take over your body. Minhyung follows every step the way Mark would have and that’s when it hits you.
How could you have not noticed? Was it because you’d spent so much time trying to ward off Mark’s advances? Did you not pay enough attention to Minhyung? They were so different, but they were the same person. You hold onto him as he lifts you into the air.
You’d found Minhyung a bit boring and awkward, but he’d been there all along. He’d loved you in a slow, silent way. He was a little too shy yet his sweet affection touched your heart. At no point did he try to keep you in a cage. He’d been ready to set you free since he’d rather see you fly than keep you trapped. No, he’d never dare to do that.
Thinking back, it made your heart flutter. There hadn’t been any bold declarations or grand gestures, but his feelings for you showed in the little things he did.
There was no denying that Mark had nearly swept you off your feet. Yet your heart already belonged to Minhyung.
Mark might have been straight out of a dream, yet Minhyung was your reality and you embraced him. You were in his arms, he was in yours. Your story might have started on a sad note. However, things were looking up now.
When your performance ends, the judges announce your victory. Trophy in hand, you pull Minhyung aside.
Minhyung’s eyes are filled with regret and hope as he looks at you.
You lean in and kiss his cheek, taking delight in the way he blushes. You slip your hand in his and say, “It’s time to go home.”