Hold Me Tight
Mark Lee X Ko Eun (feat. NCT127 & Herin)
Three months of travelling and performing. It sounded impossible for anyone else, but for Mark it was too normal to actually be normal. This was their fifth tour, and by now they were all used to being away from home.
Except, this would be Mark's first time away from the woman he loved for so long in one go. Usually they'd have a break in between continents and come back, but their management decided to do one full round instead.
"And make sure you don't loose your wallet, because not only will your bank cards be lost, but you'll be carrying your passport. Loose that, and say bye bye to the rest of the tour. Did you pack enough underwear?"
Mark should be annoyed by now, but the more Eun nagged him about his luggage, the sadder he felt. He knew he was going to miss this. He was going to miss coming home to her, jumping into bed next to her, cuddling up into her hold, her hands playing with his hair as she read a book while he rested his head on her chest listening to her heartbeat. He didn't tell anyone, but Mark had many songs written about her ever since they were together, she was his best muse. He figured he'd make an album out of them and give them solely to her, something too personal for the public ear.
All that would have to wait as Eun now checked his backpack to make sure he had all his on hand essentials. "Where's the painkillers? What if you get a headache, or fever? Go get those."
Mark was purposely forgetting things. Right now he wanted her to nag at him, he wanted to hear enough of her to make up for the two months he won't be around. It sounds silly, but he didn't care.
But eventually everything was packed, and now he waited an hour for their manager to come pick him up. They sat on the sofa together, Eun hugging his torso leaning against his chest. Mark suddenly heard a sniffle and looked down to see her teary face. It made him even sadder, and he pulled her up so they were face to face, cupping her cheek to wipe away the one tear.
"Three months is stupid." she suddenly spat out. "What kind of management are they? How will you live for that long away from home?" she hid her sadness with anger, a trait he always found hilarious, but now it broke his heart. He pulled her face close to his and kissed her before pressing his forehead against hers.
"I wish I could take you. I don't know what I'll do without you..."
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Time felt slower especially when you're counting down every minute, and that's exactly what Mark was doing. The first three weeks he was happy to be able to perform for fans, albeit very tired. By the fourth week he was starting to miss home, but it wasn't too bad as they got to visit Johnny's house where the Seo family hosted a homemade Korean dinner for them.
By the seventh week however, he was too down to smile off stage. The group and staff tried to keep themselves busy with attractions around the cities they were in, but even they felt homesick at that point.
On the twelfth and last week they'd be going to the UK, performing in London and Manchester two days each. Everyone was smiling, and some a little excited as they went around London buying gifts for their loved ones. Mark had Haechan come with him as he tried hard to find a gift for Eun. He had already picked out something from Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, New York, Vancouver, and Paris. Every country they went he picked out one gift for her.
At this point he was out of ideas of gifts. He couldn't get her another dress, or jewelry, or makeup, or perfume. It was hard thinking of a new idea for a gift, but Haechan thankfully came up with one. As they crossed the street, he saw a man with a small table twisting wires, and dragged Mark with him.
"Look, he's making photo frames with names on them. Get one for noona."
Mark thought about it, watching how the man twisted the wires first into the given name, then with a flower or heart in the end, and finally into the structure of a frame. Eun had a liking for small novelty items like these, and he decided he might as well get it. Beats any fridge magnet with a flag on it.
He asked their manager to get him extra bubble wrap, safely packing away the frame into his suitcase with a smile. He hoped she'd love it, he knew she would. Just the thought of her smile brought a tear in his eye as he missed her again. Despite all the video calls they'd do almost every day, he missed her too much.
Sighing, he closed up his suitcase as they got ready to move to their final venue, Manchester. Once they reached, Haechan dragged Mark out to a restaurant near their hotel to meet someone, saying it's a special friend of theirs. And no doubt he was right as the two entered and spotted a young lady smiling at them.
"Herin!" the three hugged, quickly sitting down before other customers were disturbed by their joyful reunion. "How have you been? Oh my God it's been forever since we last met. How's drama school?"
Haechan added on. "Any boyfriend?" he asked wiggling his eyebrow, getting a light hit on his arm from Herin.
"Stop that! Drama school's been fine, I'm loving it! London's nice to live in too."
Mark suddenly looked at her perplexed. "Wait, if you're in London now, why did you meet us here?"
Herin chuckled nervously, pursing her lips. "I was late to get tickets in London."
Both men's eyes widened. "You're coming to the concert? Oh my God you should've told us!" Haechan whipped out his phone. "I'm getting you a backstage pass right now, hold on."
"Oh but, I'm bringing a friend."
"Then two, no worries. Oh and they'll work both days."
Herin smirked innocently. She knew they'd do this for her, and glad they did.
She could finally commence with her plan.
>>>
Herin didn't go backstage the first day, but the whole group saw her in the crowd and specially waved to her before ending the concert. On the second day she told them she'd be coming backstage, with her friend.
The men were getting ready, already dressed up and warming up their lips and vocals, when there was a knock on the door.
"Hello boys." Herin popped in and greeting them in a teasing manner. They all greeted her back laughing before she continued. "So my friend here biases Mark very much, so excuse her for getting to excited."
At that moment a body dashed in with a high pitched voice and hugged Mark tighter than ever. "OH MY GOD MARK LEE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!"
Mark was in shock, and so were the others, until Johnny took a closer look at the face in his shoulder, and gasped with laughter. He urged the others to look, and they all had the same reaction.
Mark was still stuck arms splayed out, when a familiar scent hit his nose from the young lady's hair. Peaches, like the shampoo in his bathroom back home, like their pillow on his bed.
No way can someone's shampoo here smell the exact same as the one home. And at that he pulled the lady out of her hug, freezing as he saw her face. "Baby... you're here? Here... Eun?"
Eun chuckled and cupped his cheeks. "I'm here." she said softly before pulling him in for another hug, tight but gentle this time. "I missed you so much. Herin told me to come over and she'd help me see you. I know I could have waited three more days, but I just couldn't."
She heard his nose sniffle and the other members cooing at him, figuring out he was in tears as he hugged her back tight and nuzzled his face into her neck hiding. "I missed you so much... too much Eun... God I wanted to go home so bad, but you're here now... Thank you for coming baby..."
Eun chuckled, her eyes teary from happiness, and was about to let go when Mark just held her tighter. "Not yet." he whispered. "Hold me tight, a little longer please." Her heart melted as she realised just how sad he must've felt all these days. Everyone went back to getting ready while they stood beside the door hugging longer, looking at each other every few seconds before hiding faces in each other's shoulders again.
"Yah, that's enough. Have some pity on us who didn't get this surprise OK." the two looked up to see Taeyong furrowing his brows and lips pouting, chuckling at the leader's sad face. "Come on Mark, four hours and then you can get back to this."
The two shared a quick kiss before the group left for stage, Koeun and Herin being invited to watch from where the staff usually sit in the crowd. Mark was evidently much more smiley on stage this time, and some fans even noticed it as Herin saw on twitter real time.
"Damn eonnie, your effect on Mark is so much more than I expected." she chuckled showing Eun some of the fans tweets.
Mark looks so happy today guys! Look at his cute bounce
Haechan and Mark keep laughing at each other!
Something must've happened, Mark looks REAL happy and pleased. Too bad it's the last day...
Eun smiled before looking back at the stage when she realised he had been staring in her direction. They exchanged eye contact before she secretly blew him a kiss, to which he smiled even more and started to chuckle.
"We should just bring all their girlfriends and wives from now on." one of the staff joked to another behind her. "That's really their only source of energy now."
As the concert ended and the guys came back down, Eun and Mark hugged again. "You did amazing." she whispered into his ear as he breathed tiredly, and kissed his slightly sweaty cheeks. "I'm proud of you."
"Couldn't have done it without you." he whispered back, hugging her tighter. "God I missed you so much, I'm gonna bring you to all my tours from now on."
Eun chuckled and pulled out smiling at him, cupping his cheeks as she spoke again. "I'd gladly come, but you know I'm not cut out for this..." Mark frowned, causing her to chuckle and peck his lips.
"I'm sorry I have to be away for so long..."
"It's not your fault." she quickly reassured him. "I don't want you to stop doing what you love, even if it means a few weeks apart for us every two years. You're happy, and you bring happiness to others, I couldn't be more proud of you."
Mark took one of her hands off his cheek and kissed it. "I'm going to take a break after this. One month, just you and me, away from all this. You're right, I'm doing what I love and I'm happy with it. But I love you more, and I'm happiest when I'm with you."
>>>
Mark indeed kept his promise. It took a lot of persuasion, but with the other members agreeing their management decided to give the whole group a month off once they got back. Mark didn't waste time by planning out what to do, he just wanted it to be a relaxed break off work, just him and Eun being with each other every passing minute.
"I like this." he said softly, head laying on her chest while she sat perpendicular to him on their L shaped couch, her fingers unconsciously threading through his hair. It was an impromptu movie night, but Mark was more focused on Eun's heartbeat than what was happening on screen. Eun on the other hand had been wanting to watch the movie for a while so paid attention. "Eun-ie..." he suddenly whined, chin resting on her chest as he looked up at her now.
"Why?" she asked nonchalantly, eyes on screen. Mark frowned.
"Pay attention to me." she chuckled at his seriousness, looking at him for a quick second.
"That's all I've done for a week, and I'll do it again after this movie." she pushed his head back down to rest on her, but he shook out if her hold and sat up looking at her, before reaching for his phone and dialling someone.
"Hey Haechan. Let's hang out... Yes I know, but my girlfriend won't pay attention to me... No I'm not being clingy! Do you wanna go or not? What? No plea- ugh."
Eun couldn't hold in her laughter watching Mark toss his phone aside, obviously being rejected even by his best friend. "I'm going to bed." he huffed out and trudged off. She smiled sympathetically, and decided the teasing had been enough. She paused the movie and shut off the TV, and turned off all the lights on her way to the bedroom.
Peeking in, she saw her boyfriend already tucked in bed, facing her side of it. Her heart swelled up at the sight of his hand on her pillow, tracing shapes onto it as he sighed again, unaware of her presence. She slowly walked over and climbed above him gently, kissing his cheek before taking her place on the bed and facing him with a smile.
Mark furrowed his brows, pouting and tried to look away to show his anger, but Eun knew otherwise. She moved closer to him, head on his shoulder as he laid on his back, one leg over both his, and of course her arm hugging his torso tight as she cuddled into him.
"Don't you have a movie to finish?" he grunted.
"Hmm... But my boyfriend just got rejected by his best friend, so he needs me to take care of him." she giggled and leaned up on her arm sideways before looking at him. "So Mr Lee, what treatment would you like this time?"
Mark's face softened as he stared up at her cutely. This time he turned onto his side, and hugged her body pushing his face into her chest. "Just, cuddle with me."
Eun's heart melted. An entire month off yet all he wanted was just her affection. She smiled and laid down, slipping an arm under his head playing with his hair whilst the other held him close to her by his torso. She left a few kisses onto his forehead before simply leaning her chin on top of his head, enjoying the moment they had full closure. Mark's hand suddenly grabbed her arm that hugged him, pulling it around him more as he shifted closer.
"Hold me tight, please." he mumbled softly into her chest, letting out a relaxed breath when she complied. He was so in need of this it almost made her cry. Eun knew how tired he was, how he works extra hard just because that's how he was. She even told him he needed to stop being a workaholic and perfectionist, because she saw how it affected his health, both physically and mentally. She could only hope the time he spent in her arms now would help him realise it.
Eun hummed a song softly, coaxing him to sleep, which was successful. He still held onto her, as if her slightest movements would've woken him. She smiled as she peeked down at his face, kissing his nose bridge. "Be healthy, please. I love you." she whispered before falling into a deep sleep as well.
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