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When he moved into the small town, Donghyuck honestly hadn’t been expecting much. It had been spontaneous in the move, simply choosing to do so when he saw that the town’s hospital had an opening for a herbal medicine specialist. One application and two phone calls later, he was packed up and out of his parent’s house in a heartbeat.
The universe seemed to have a lot in store for him because they decided to place Mark Lee in his life.
Mark, who was ridiculously handsome, with his captivatingly dark eyes and high cheekbones. He looked like he was personally crafted by the hands of Michangelo himself. Donghyuck was sure he had been nothing but a gaping fool when he first laid eyes on him.
But Mark wasn’t just insanely attractive. He was that, and he was smart— a pure genius, and that in Donghyuck’s books made the man a thousand times more attractive. He was a little nerdy at heart, he was a doctor too after all, a bit more on the witchy end of the spectrum, but still a doctor nevertheless, so it was only reasonable that another nerd would capture his little heart.
How Mark could possibly come up with a diagnosis and treatment plan without even sparing a single glance at the patient’s labs or chart? Donghyuck didn’t know. How Mark knew what type of blood transfusion the patient needed with a little crinkle of his nose? It had to be magic.
Mix it all together with all the little quirks that Mark seemed to have, and Donghyuck was falling hard. Barely a month into moving there and he was already completely smitten with the resident in the hematology department of the hospital.
From day one, Donghyuck had an inkling that Mark wasn’t human. He may have seemed like one with his easy smiles and cheesy jokes, but the more time that Donghyuck spent with him, he began to notice the little details that suggested that Mark wasn’t.
Mark hardly blushed. He may get flustered, cutely stuttering and fidgeting with his golden frames, but there was never a dust of color across his cheeks. Even for someone that worked the overnight shift, he was paler than the patients that they had in the morgue.
But that was probably only a minor detail that he picked up on as time passed. What had really caught Donghyuck’s attention was probably what had occurred the first time they met.
Eager to become friends with Mark, and then perhaps something more later one, Donghyuck offered the cute doctor a handshake, which would have been the normal and professional thing to do. But it hadn’t been, because their fingers had barely touched when Mark all but jerked his hand away from him, as if his touch had electrocuted him.
Donghyuck had been wearing silver rings that day.
For the split second that their hands touched though, Donghyuck felt Mark’s hands, and they were ice cold.
Now, Donghyuck didn’t believe in vampires.
There was no reason why he should, especially not when they all but vanished off the face of the planet a century ago, after The Blood Wars. With pressure from all sides, both the human realm and the supernatural world, the vampires had no choice but to admit defeat. Ever since they've gone into hiding, no one really knew if they even still exist anymore, because any supernatural creature that lived to survive the war that had been long gone. Since that day, not a single soul had caught sight of a vamp in their lifetime.
He had been born long after the times of the vamps— hell, not even his parents have seen a vampire first hand, in the flesh. The only people in his life that had lived long enough to tell the story of encountering one of those blood-thristy creatures was his grandmother. Vampires were never a topic of conversation in the Lee Household, but when it did slip out by accident, his grandma had absolutely nothing nice to say. Nothing but foul curses and hexes dropping from her lips at the mere mention of them.
Vampires were something of the past. Donghyuck believed in many things, but vampires certainly weren’t one of them until recently.
Once that thought— idea got stuck in his mind, roots growing thick, Donghyuck couldn’t get it out of his head, of the possibility that Mark was a vampire.
Since he had a theory, it was only reasonable that the next thing he would do would be to prove it right or wrong.
It started with his rings, changing them all from silver to gold, and the change was instantaneous.
Like the first day that they had met, when Donghyuck tried to come close to him, Mark immediately placed some distance between them, as subtle as he had tried to, Donghyuck noticed it. It was only after he made a whole ordeal of not so casually waving his hands around and showing off his mini gold hoops that Mark allowed him to come closer. And once that door had been opened, there was no stopping him.
Even with knowing that Mark’s skin was still ice, Donghyuck came up with every excuse in the books to brush their fingers against one another. Overly reaching for a pen that he clearly didn’t need. Faking a stumble to hold onto Mark’s hands. By time that lunch rolled around, they were like teenagers in high school, playing footsies under the cafeteria lunch table.
Then it was Mark’s diet. Now, Donghyuck had seen his fair share of odd dietary patterns in the years that he had worked in the hospital; they were usually long, exhausting shifts with barely any time to breathe much less drink or eat. So Mark’s diet hadn’t struck out to him as odd until Donghyuck realized that he really didn’t eat anything other than those homemade red gummy bears of his and a warm coffee thermos. Mark didn’t even eat the doughnuts that the fae nurses would bring in and those sugary sweets were literally ambrosia on the tongue. Which was totally fine, because Mark always ended up giving him the extra one.
Determined to figure out whether or not Mark was just a picky eater or if he really needed that special diet to survive, Donghyuck cooked him dinner one night. It really wasn’t anything special, just his mother’s kimchi jjigae spiked with a little bit of magic.
Donghyuck hadn’t been sure of what he was expecting, but he certainly did not expect Mark to accept it with a blinding smile, claiming that it was his favorite. And he definitely did not expect the way that a fucking blush made its way across those sculpted cheekbones. It was barely a dust of color, but there was no mistaking it.
And just like that, his theories of his beautiful co-worker being a vampire all but crumbled to dust.
From what he had gathered in his research findings for his theory, vampires were creatures of the night. They hardly made their presence known during the day while the sun was out for they would burn up in flames if they did. Their hearts were permanently frozen in time, allowing them to be immortals until they were killed off. With no blood running through their veins, they had zero body heat because what was there to circulate? They only fed on blood and didn’t eat anything else because their dead organs wouldn’t be able to digest anything that they eat anyways.
Donghyuck honestly didn’t know what to think anymore, except that there was only one last detail that he needed to test out for him to confidently toss away his theory.
.
Donghyuck was annoying, he knew that and he took pride in it. And surprisingly, Mark was very tolerant of him. He liked to think that he had him wrapped around his fingers. Because out of everyone in their department, Mark always seemed to laugh a little bit harder at his jokes and indulge him in any mischief he had in store.
“I don’t know why you guys like it so much,” Donghyuck huffed as he leaned across the counter separating them, “but Jaehyun from peds, upstairs, is inviting us to play frisbee golf this weekend. A couple other residents are coming too.”
Popping a red gummy bear into his mouth, Mark quirked a brow up at him, “Frisbee golf is awesome, but I didn’t think that you would be that active willingly. The only time that I’ve seen you run was the day that Kun from neuro brought in those honeycomb cookies.”
“Okay, listen,” he argued, “those cookies are one of a kind. I would kill to get one if I had to.” Then balling up a piece of scrap paper on the counter, he threw it at Mark, who caught it with ease, plucking it right out of thin air. “But, nah, I will be getting my tan on and recharging my magic. I heard that it's supposed to be sunny on Saturday, not a single cloud will be out.”
He watched Mark intently, trying to see if Mark would slip up and show him something that he wasn’t supposed to. But there had been nothing. Mark only checked his calendar and hummed out, “Sure, why not. I’m not doing anything else this weekend. Plus it’s been a while since I’ve been to the park. It would be fun to hang out with everyone.”
Drumming his fingers against the counter top, sending a little bit of magical love to the sad looking potted plant on the corner there, he watched in delight as its dull leaves brighten up into a luscious shade of green. “Sounds like a date then.”
Unlike Mark, Donghyuck had zero qualms about flaunting exactly who he was. He was a witch and he casted his magic around as easily as the air that they breathed. His magical antics were a norm in their department, no one even batted a single eye at him when he did things like that anymore.
So Mark simply shook his head, a fond smile on his lips, as he said, “If it’s a date, should I bring you flowers then?”
Did he fail to mention that Mark was such a charming motherfucker too? Because he had an uncanny ability to render Donghyuck into a giggling, blushing mess when he wanted to.
Cheeks burning, he tried to keep his cool, but he knew that he was failing at it spectacularly, if the way that Mark’s smile widened a smidge had anything to say. “Of course. It’s a given that you should.”
He had meant it as a joke and surely Mark had intended it as well, so could you imagine his surprise when Mark actually showed up at his doorstep with a bouquet of sunflowers in hand.
And it wasn’t a generic one that he could have gotten from the local market. No, Donghyuck knew those petals from anywhere. Mark had clearly gone out of his way to get a bundle of them, baby breathes sprinkled in between them, a speciality from the flower shop across town, owned by a family of nature nymphs.
How did Mark know what and where to get him his favorite flowers? Donghyuck didn’t have a clue, because he was pretty sure that it hadn’t come up in conversation before.
Mark had to be a psychic then, it was the only plausible explanation. A psychic with Raynaud's Phenomenon would explain why he was so cold all the time.
Render absolutely speechless in his own home, Donghyuck didn’t know what to do with himself. So all that he could do was stand there, in the middle of his doorway, staring at the bouquet of flowers that Mark gave him. It was only when Taro, his black cat started purring and meowing for more attention from Mark’s arms that Donghyuck shook himself out of his stupor.
With a flutter of his fingers, he charmed an empty glass vase from the kitchen and filled it with water before directing it to float over to him. Taking up the opportunity to mask his fluster state with the task of organizing the flowers into the vase, he mumbled out a soft, “Thank you. These are lovely.”
Mark had said something in response, but Donghyuck couldn’t hear it past the sound of heart thrumming in his ears. After spending an obscene amount of time fluffing and rearranging the flowers to his liking, Donghyuck deemed his heart calm enough to face Mark.
The cute boy in question had found himself at home on his living room couch, a pile of cats on his lap and curling around his legs, all vying for his attention. If his heart had been any weaker, Donghyuck would have surely melted into a puddle of goo at the sight.
Peeling a very reluctant cat off Mark’s leg, he quieted the cat’s cries with a series of kisses on top of her head. “I didn’t think that they would be this attached to you, with your nonexistent body heat.”
“My body may be cold, but my heart isn’t,” Mark winked at him, giving another cat some more ear rubs. “Plus, I think they take after their owner afterall.” There was a tilt to the end of his words, his tone teasing.
Heart speeding at an unhealthy rate, Donghyuck moved forward to free Mark of the pile of cats that he was slowly getting buried under. “Alright, snuggle time is over. We should probably head to the park before Doyoung starts calling me to lecture me about timeliness.”
But truthfully, that was only a sad ass excuse to get Mark out of his apartment, because he was sure that if they spent another second there, Donghyuck’s heart would have combusted on the spot.
.
They were borderline drunk, way past beyond the point of tipsy as they stumbled through his apartment door later that night. It was a miracle that they had made it as far as they did with how much alcohol was floating through their veins.
How they ended up drunk from an afternoon picnic of fancy cheese and tea sandwiches, Donghyuck would never know. It probably had something to do with the punch that Taeil spiked later on in the day.
They barely made a step over the threshold before they lost complete control of their limbs, legs getting all tangled up in one another as they fell to the floor. It was only after spending what seemed like an eternity laying there by the front door, which was still wide open, did Donghyuck finally got back up on unsteady hands.
Cats climbing all over him and especially all over Mark’s body, Donghyuck struggled with pulling the rest of Mark’s legs through the door and moving his body to the living room, only to flop right back down on his chest after he was done. With a lazy flick of his hand, magic buzzing in the air, and hazy mind did he remember to lock his door.
Giggling at nothing yet at everything at the same time, he placed his head down on Mark’s chest. Donghyuck wasn’t sure if it was because he was drunk or the alcohol that Mark had drank too, but right then, he couldn’t help but think that Mark’s body wasn’t as cold as it usually was. Laying there with Mark’s fingers lazily carding through his hair as if he was one of the cats, Donghyuck felt warm, like he did when he basked underneath the sun’s energy.
Donghyuck wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he pressed his ear against Mark’s chest, but it certainly wasn’t the quietness that he heard at the moment. Confused, he snuggled a little deeper into Mark’s embrace, searching for it— searching for the sound of a heartbeat. He was drunk, that was a fact, but he knew that he wasn’t that far gone to completely miss the sound of a steady, thrumming heartbeat underneath this ear, especially when he was pressed as close as he was to Mark’s chest.
Head no longer up in the clouds, Donghyuck sucked in a deep breath at what that could imply.
He couldn’t hear Mark’s heartbeat, it had been minutes and he hadn’t heard Mark’s heart beat once. Maybe his theory wasn’t in complete shambles after all.
Just as he lifted his head to voice his thoughts, Mark kept a firm hand against him, urging him back down to where he was resting on his chest. “Wait for it…,” he whispered, fingers running along his jaw in a gentle caress.
“What—?”
And then he heard it.
There, for just a single beat, a mere second, Donghyuck heard a soft ‘lub-dup.’
For how fixated his brain was on that particular sound, now that he heard it, Donghyuck didn’t know what to do himself. His body was frozen before a million thoughts began to pop up in his head, all jumbling together into a hot mess, where nothing made any sense.
Thankfully, Mark was there to pull him out of the train-wreck that was his thoughts at the moment. Fingers still dancing around his skin in lazy circles and soft caresses, he asked, words whispered into the dark of the night, “Did you hear it?”
Throat running dry, Donghyuck barely managed to dislodge a reply in return. “Yeah… I heard it.”
“Was it what you were expecting?”
Heart beating hard and fiercely against his own ribcage, more than enough for the both of them, Donghyuck slowly extracted himself from Mark’s arms, propping himself up so that he could look at him in the eyes. “I honestly didn’t even know what I was expecting.”
He surely wasn’t, especially not the way his heart stuttered in his chest as he slowly found himself drowning in Mark’s eyes, pools of brown so dark that it was like peering into an abyss. Yet, with the way that the light of the moon was filtering in, casting the room in a soft glow, he noticed the stars that gathered within those beautiful eyes.
His eyes seemed to hold all of the universe in them, constellations of a thousand stars, holding a life that seemed to be an infinite amount of time. Donghyuck can see the love and light in them, but he could also see the pain and anguish buried underneath. Wanting to take a deeper look at it, he felt himself unconsciously closing the distance between them until all that he could see was an endless sea of brown.
“What are you hiding?” He whispered, words floating over Mark’s lips, his hands pressed against his chest, where he had heard his heartbeat. “I don’t know what it is, but I know that you’re hiding something…”
Mark’s fingers were cold against his cheeks, but it wasn’t unbearable. They were perfect right where they were as he said, “I’m not hiding anything. Maybe you’re just not looking hard enough.”
Huffing out a snort, Donghyuck rolled his eyes, “Oh, trust me, I’m looking real hard.”
“Then trust what you’re looking at and seeing. Don’t overthink it.”
With how long Mark’s fingers had been pressing against his skin, they weren’t as chilly anymore, slowly warming them up with his own body heat. “Doing things without thinking about the consequences before hand really tends to bite me back in the ass, literally .”
Now, it was Mark’s turn to laugh, eyes sparkling with mirth. “Well, whatever it is that you have planned in that pretty little head of yours, I can assure you that there’s no biting unless you like that.”
His cheeks were burning— no, his whole body was on fire. All of the thoughts that he had running in his mind all but vanished at Mark’s words, completely blanking out. The only thing that he could hear was the way that his heart was pounding in his chest, filling his ears with their thundering beats. And it only intensified when Mark pressed their lips together.
Considering how his fingers had felt against his skin earlier, Donghyuck would have expected Mark’s lips to feel the same, but they had been nothing but utter warmth, melting and molding into his own as they kissed. The kiss felt intentional, for there wasn’t an ounce of hesitancy with the way that Mark kissed him, keeping him close. Donghyuck had wanted it too, so it had been easy to part his lips for him, inviting Mark to kiss him a little harder.
He felt a burst of warmth in his chest, swelling into a fullness that consumed him. He wanted to gather it all up and lock it up in a jar to keep it for all of eternity.
Donghyuck was no stranger to kissing. He had his first kiss in the middle of a swimming pool when he was twelve and that was the start of it all. He shared his kisses with everyone, from humans to witches. He even shared one with a werewolf once, but that kiss had been a little too wet and sloppy for his liking.
But that wasn’t the point. The point that Mark’s kiss tasted like magic and that was saying something because he was a witch and he depended on his magic like it was the very air that he breathed. A witch without their magic was pointless and he guessed that him existing in a world without Mark it would have been pointless too.
He stilled for a split second at that realization, heart a complete mess in his chest, for what could have brought on such a bold statement. There hadn’t been that much time for his little crush to grow into something as big as that. Before his mind could tumble down that rabbit hole, Donghyuck felt something sharp graze against his bottom lip.
The touch sent a jolt of electricity through his body, making his heart skip a beat as he kissed Mark back a little harder. He licked back into his mouth, running his tongue over those sharp edges, exploring. A low moan escaped from Mark as he pressed his weight into his body, trying to discover what was the reason for the sharpness, two of them and that was when he realized what they were. Especially when he pressed his tongue a little harder underneath those sharp edges and a flood of blood bursted in this mouth.
Mark kissed him like a dying man after that, moaning and gasping into the kiss as he moved to eliminate any and all space between them. He didn’t even give him a single second to breathe as his fingers tightened at the base of his neck, holding him in place as he got drunk on the taste of him.
Donghyuck had expected it to hurt and for it to be disgusting but it surprisingly wasn’t. He surely would have continued kissing Mark for longer, letting the boy below him take him however he desired if it wasn’t for the simple fact that he needed air to breathe.
With much regret, Donghyuck pulled away from the kiss, his chest heaving as much as Mark’s. Heart pinned against his rib cage and breaths coming out in harsh pants, Donghyuck knew that he had to have looked like a disheveled mess. But with the way that Mark was looking at him, it made him feel like a million bucks.
Pupil blown wide and lips thoroughly kissed, Mark was a sight to hold. At some point, his fingers must have found its way into Mark’s hair because the once styled look was now ruin, his hair ruffled beyond fixing. But Mark made it look like an effortless mess— a beautiful mess. His eyes were bright, brighter than the light of a thousand stars. Not even the sun could outshine them and Donghyuck loved them so much.
“You’re ridiculously beautiful, do you know that?” He gasped out, fingers tracing over those sculpted cheekbones. “I’ve met a lot of people in my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever met someone like you before.”
Mark took a shuddering breath, fingers digging into his hips, whispering, “Tell me then, what do you see?”
“What don’t I see?” Donghyuck laughed, mind a little delirious from the kiss. “If perfection could be tangible, in the form of a person, it would be you. There is not a single soul on this planet that is as perfectly wonderful as you. You, with your brilliant mind and corny humor, a combination that shouldn’t be perfect, but with you, they are. You, with your heart stopping smiles and warm eyes, the riches of browns, speckled with the stars of the night. You, with your gorgeous cheekbones, looking like they were carved out of marble, yet sharp enough to cut, but so kissable all at the same time.” Hand coming up to cradle Mark’s face in the palm of his hand, “There’s moon dust in your steps and stars in your eyes, and if I could hold all of the universe in my hands, I would be holding it right now.”
There was a look of awe on Mark’s face, eyes soft and lips parted. “Where were you centuries ago? Seriously, who needed mirrors when I could have you?”
.
He hadn’t had a hangover in so long, probably since his high school days when he couldn’t control his magic properly enough to flush the toxins out of his system.
Head throbbing, Donghyuck cursed his luck, brain working in overload as he tried to chase after the lost memories of the night before and to why in the hell did he not do his usual magical flush after drinking so much. The more he thought about it, the worse his headache got, so after enduring that misery all but for two more seconds, he gave up. Those lost memories probably weren’t that great anyways.
As he made it through the corridors and to their department, Donghyuck was surprised to find that Mark wasn’t in any better shape than he was. If anything, the normally put together doctor was just about as frazzled and hungover looking as he was. Mark’s usually styled hair was a mess, strands sticking in all different directions, and his glasses crooked on his face. He even looked paler than he usually did.
Even though he had looked like he had been dragged through hell and back, Mark still offered him a smile when he caught sight of him. “Mornin’.”
“I’m feeling like death is knocking at my door,” Donghyuck complained as he slumped his entire body over the counter, slowly becoming one with the floor. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.”
“You and me both,” Mark laughed, a bit weaker than normal as he pulled out his usual red gummy bears. “I feel like I need a week just to recover from that. I’m never drinking anything that Taeil gives me again.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. I’m staying far far away from anything Taeil has to offer.” Then eyeing the bag of gummies that Mark had, Donghyuck flopped an open palm right in front of Mark’s face. “Alright, give me some of that sugar, I need a little boost to get me started…”
The hand that was en route to Mark’s mouth froze in mid air, pale fingers nearly squeezing the life source out of the poor gummy bear in between them. “What?”
“Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m only asking for one piece, not the whole bag, Mark. Don’t be so stingy.” Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Sharing is caring, ya know? I share my food with you all the time!”
Mark was usually quick to block Donghyuck’s incoming fingers to steal them away, but it seemed like he was just a second too slow this time around. Perhaps the alcohol was still lingering in his system too, hindering his usually fast reflexes.
Donghyuck relished the way Mark’s eyes widened as he happily plopped a red gummy bear into his mouth. Always one to have a flare for the dramatic, he made a big show of chomping and chewing through the gummy treat. When he had his eyes set on the gummies, Donghyuck was expecting it to be fruity flavored, either cherry or strawberry. So imagine his surprise when the taste that flooded his mouth was neither.
Gagging, Donghyuck snatched a tissue from the side of his desk and spat it out. “Dude, those were the worst gummy bears I’ve ever tasted. That was so disgusting . I don’t even know how you managed to make them taste so… coppery… like blood.”
The horror that had been in his eyes faded away, until Mark all but leveled him with a dry look as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand, waiting. What Mark was waiting for, he didn’t have a clue. All that he knew at the moment was that he wanted the terrible taste in his mouth of go away.
Spotting Mark’s coffee thermos sitting at the edge of the desk, he immediately reached out for it. Only that time, he didn’t get very far with his theft, because Mark moved it out of way before he could get to it. With a small shake of his head, Mark said, “If you’re reacting the way that you are right now with the gummy bears, I don’t think that you’re going to want what’s in my cup.”
“What?” Donghyuck coughed out a laugh. “Are you trying to say that it’s blood in there?”
Mark didn’t say a single word. It was silent.
And that was when all the memories from the previous night came surging to the forefront of his mind; the drunken ramblings, the kiss, the fangs .
Pointing an offending finger at the thermos in question, he said, “So you’re telling me that there’s blood in there? Like actual O negative blood.” At the slight nod that Mark gave him, Donghyuck call but collapsed against the counter, mortified. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Who the hell keeps blood in a coffee thermos, where actual coffee should be held?”
“I mean, who would want to drink their blood cold…,” Mark argued. “It’s not like you drink coffee cold either.”
“But that's besides the point!” Donghyuck started to argue back, only to stop halfway when a new thought dawned upon him. “Wait…,” he took a pause, eyeing the ziplock bag of red gummy bears and the coffee thermos. “Where did you get the blood to make those…”
Mark raised an eyebrow at his question, appearing a little taken aback by it. But when he opened his mouth to answer, Donghyuck flailed his hands around, effectively shutting him up instead.
“Oh, my god! Are you the reason there’s a trail of dead squirrels in the park?” Donghyuck hissed.
“I usually just swipe some from our department’s blood bank, but if I’m desperate enough, some unfortunate park squirrels may have seen an early demise.”
Eyes wide, Donghyuck pointed an accusing finger at him. “So you’re the reason Mr. Chip never came back!”
Rolling his eyes at the comment, Mark quietly took a sip out of his thermos. “Yes, I’m the reason Mr. Chip never can back. He donated his life to a good cause.”
Head absolutely spinning with all the newfound information, Donghyuck came around the counter and flopped rather ungracefully into the chair beside Mark. Eyes staring at nothing in particular, he said, “So you’re a vampire…”
“Yeah. I am.” Mark hummed out, still casually sipping on his warm blood.
“That literally explains so much.”
It was quiet for a moment after that. The two of them sitting there, not saying a single word as they watched the few nurses and patients walk in and out of the area, machines beeping softly left and right. Once the area had cleared up again, the beeps slowly fading back into the background, Donghyuck watched as Mark placed his thermos back onto the corner, pale fingers drawing lazy figure on the table.
“Does it bother you?” Mark asked. “That I’m a vampire?”
Did it bother him? Donghyuck though and as he tilted his head back to look at the vamp in question, he couldn’t deny the tiny flutter he felt in his chest.
Head a little clearer and chest a little lighter, he shook his head and smiled. “Nah. Not one bit. I honestly love it.”
I love you. He added on silently.
And it seemed like Mark heard it too, because he leaned in close, until Donghyuck could see the galaxies painted within those gorgeous eyes. “You’re really something else, Lee Donghyuck.”
“But you know you love it.”
Mark smiled even wider. “Hm, can’t deny it when it’s the truth.”