𝑼𝒏𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝑹𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝑷𝒕. 2 // #WritersEncore

                                  

          : ¨ ·.· ¨ : ︵ ⺌ ︵ ʬʬ៹𝙴𝙻˘𝙲ˬ꩜𝙼𝙴 ⺌ꜜ

          ` · .. ·:¨·.·¨: t𖦹 ⊰ :wind_chime: ⁾⁾ dev’s ␣ . . ꕀ

                   `· 𝚋٬𝚕𝚘𝚐 𖤐 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵, ₎₎

                           ︵ . ︵ . 𖧧   𖧧   ───╯

       ◠⠀⠄⠂⠁⠂⠂⠄⠄ ◠    𖤐⺌ : ¨ ·.· ¨ :

    ﹟𝙸ꜜ𝙽𝚃𝚁♡𝙳𝚄𝙲₎₎𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽 ◂ 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘺 . · `

    ┄ ⊹ ⊹ 𝘢𝘮 ៹ 𝘐 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𖧧 ꜛ 🖇))

              ˘ ˘ ˘    ꜛ ꜛ    ˘ ˘ ˘

  𖧷 After sooo long, I’m finally back

  𖧷 with another blog! And a fic blog

   𖧷 at that! This month’s task for the

  𖧷 writer’s club was to continue or do

  𖧷 an encore of a story we had previously

   𖧷 written so I decided this was the perfect

  𖧷 opportunity to finish my Uncut Rhinestone

   𖧷 fic I had written awhile back! It’s kind sad so

  𖧷 be prepared. I’ll do a TW too since it mentions

  𖧷 death! Hope you all enjoy it! On to the fic!

#WritersEncore

                          (( :thought_balloon: ────╯

All throughout life quotes about soulmates and true love would be repeated endlessly upon unhearing and unbelieving ears. To those who hadn’t yet experienced it, it all sounded disgustingly the same. Boy and girl meet in some romantic, stereotypical way. They fall into stupid love with each other. They get married and live happily ever after. How boring and mundane that sounded some thought. Mark had always been the type to believe in that kind of thing, especially when he was younger. Though he had thought he had met his soulmate countless of times and was continuously disappointed, his desire to find his true love never once faltered.

Warm sunlight shined through the large glass windows, lighting up the room with a calming golden hue. Mark groaned and stirred awake, stretching his long arms above his head. With a sigh, he sat up and leaned his back against the headboard. The sound of soft snores could be heard from the opposite side of the bed. He shifted his gaze to the slumbering woman beside him and his heart soared. He gently moved the strands of hair that were covering her face and tucked them behind her ear. After all those failed relationships and crumbling of hearts, he finally believed he had found his true love. Even though he was happy in other relationships before, they all dulled in comparison to the one right next to him. And he would bet on his life that she was head over heels in love with him too.

It had been exactly one year today since Mark and Hira had met. It had been exactly one year today since Mark and Hira went out on their first date. And it had been exactly one year today that they both knew they were made for each other. To the both of them, this had been the most blissful year of their lives. They were attached at the hip and nothing could separate them. They were the definition of the picture-perfect couple. And today they were going to celebrate their anniversary by staying in, cooking dinner and losing themselves in each other.

Hira slowly began to stir awake, groaning while she peeked out from under the covers. Mark smiled at her and tapped her nose lightly

“Good morning, gorgeous.” She grumbled a good morning back and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

“Happy anniversary!” she said after she had fully woken up. Mark chuckled and leaned forward, planting a chaste kiss on her lips.

“Happy anniversary to you too, babe!” He responded, engulfing her in his arms and tangling them both in the bed sheets. They both basked in the silence of the morning, comfortable and warm and on cloud nine. “I love you, Hira. You know that, right? I’d do anything for you to be happy and I really hope that I truly make you as happy as you make me.”

Hira looked up at Mark and gently touched his face, directing his gaze towards her. “Of course you do, Mark. I love you with everything I have. You make me one of the happiest humans on this planet. I plan to be with you for the rest of my life. I’m so happy I was late that one day.” He chuckled and leaned into her touch.

“I’m happy you were late that one day too.” It was quiet for a moment before Mark spoke up again. “Let’s elope! Let’s go get married today! We don’t have to tell anyone. Let’s just go.” Hira looked at him in shock, unsure if he was being serious or just throwing ideas out into the open.

“Mark, I’d love to do that. But are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Why not? I was eventually planning to make you my wife. So why not sooner rather than later?” Mark urged, hoping that she’d agree to his request. Silence coated the room as they both sat in thought. Finally, Hira let out a sigh.

“Let’s do it, Mark. Like I had mentioned to you before, I plan to be with you forever so long as you’ll have me. And the fact that you think the same way just reinforces it more. Let’s elope. I want to be your wife. From today until the day that I die.” Without hesitation, Mark planted his lips on hers in the most ionate kiss.

“I can’t wait until I can call you my wife. Let’s get up and get dressed. We’ll find somewhere that’ll marry us.” And with that they both hopped out of bed, scrambling to wash up and get ready.

A few Hours Later

        The car ride back to their apartment was doused in a calm and elated quietness. Both happy beyond belief that they now had the privilege to call each other husband and wife. Hira stared down at the simple yet elegant ring Mark had purchased for her before their elopement. The diamonds shined so bright that if she stared at it longer than needed, it would send her into a trance. Hira had always had a special place in her heart for diamonds, after all, her name meant diamonds in Arabic.

      “Wait!” Mark said, coming to a halt at the front of their apartment door. “It’s tradition to carry the bride over the threshold once they’re married!” He swung open the apartment door and swooped her up into his arms. She let out a little yelp and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. Both giggling non-stop, he used his foot to close the door and proceeded to toss her on the couch.

       “Hey! That wasn’t very nice…husband.” She complained as mark stalked his way towards her. He hovered over her, giving her the sweetest smile he’d ever given her.

       “That husband title has such a nice ring to it. I definitely could get used to that…wife.”

       “I definitely agree with you on that.” Their lips met in a soft kiss before Mark pulled away and placed a kiss on her forehead. “We still have that anniversary plan we were going to do tonight. Are we still doing it?” Hira questioned as she got up from the couch and headed towards the kitchen.

“Oh yeah! For sure! Now we have something else to celebrate!”

     “I was hoping you’d say that! I’m starving! What should we make? Something sort of fancy?”

     “Yeah. How about some pasta?

     “Hmmm.” Hira thought as she stood in front of the open fridge. “Carbonara or Aglio?

     “Damn! That’s tough! I think I might have to go with carbonara. You okay with that?”

     “Absolutely!” She agreed but then proceeded to frown. “I’m going to have to go to the store really quick though. We don’t have most of what we need.”

     “Ahh, okay. Do you want me to go with you?”

     “No, that’s alright. I shouldn’t be gone too long.” She grabbed her purse off the hook near the front door and turned towards Mark. “I love you, husband of mine.” Mark chuckled from the couch and blew her an air kiss.

     “I love you too beautiful wife of mine. Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back!” She hummed out a response and quickly exited their apartment, leaving mark smiling happily on the couch.

     Mark spent the time playing his video games on his computer while she was away. He had gotten so immersed into it he didn’t realize how much time had actually ed. He let out a sigh and removed his headphones. All he could hear was silence indicating that Hira wasn’t home yet. He checked his phone and looked at the time. About 2 hours had ed since she had left and she hadn’t returned home. He hadn’t missed any calls from her either which he found kind of strange. A confused hum escaped his mouth. He dialed Hira’s number eagerly and listened to it ring but to his astonishment, it went straight to voicemail.

     “That’s odd.” He thought out loud. He wandered aimlessly towards the kitchen for a snack. “Maybe she got caught up at the store or in traffic.” But before he could open the fridge, he heard his phone ring. He rushed towards his computer room and looked at the number that was calling. It was a number he didn’t recognize but he decided to answer it anyway.

     “Hello?” He answered, hesitation clearly in his voice.

     “Is this a Mr. Mark Tuan?”

      “Yes, it is. May I ask who’s calling?”

     “This is Dr. Kim from Seoul National University Hospital. Your wife was involved in a very serious motor vehicle accident. I suggest coming down here as soon as possible. She is currently in emergency surgery and we’re not too sure if she’ll make it out.”

     All the air he was holding in throughout the call came rushing out in a gust leaving him completely breathless. Without wasting anytime, he bolted out of the apartment and towards the car garage, racing at ungodly speed towards the hospital. His mind was solely on her his whole drive there. He was in a fog and he couldn’t think straight. The only thoughts managing to manifest themselves in his mind were of her and how he had to get to her as soon as humanly possible. He doesn’t even parking his car. He just dashed into the hospital entrance demanding to see his wife.

     As he came up on the Operating Room waiting area, he saw a man in a lab coat patiently waiting for his arrival. It seemed as though someone had informed him of entering of the hospital. With frantic and clumsy steps, he rushed to the doctor.

     “You must be Mr. Tuan?”

     “Yes that’s me. Please, where is my wife? Is she okay? Is she still in surgery? When can I see her? I need to see her.” Mark spoke in circles while the doctor stood there watching him in silent pity.

     “Mr. Tuan, if you could take a seat please.” Hesitantly, he followed the doctor towards the row of chairs behind them. “Your wife, Mr. Tuan, was involved in a very serious accident. She was T-boned at an intersection. We rushed her to emergency surgery when she came in but unfortunately, the damage was severe. She had a ruptured spleen, damage to her intestines and abdominal aorta, a brain hemorrhage, broken bones and a lot of other complications. We tried our very best to repair what we could. As we were repairing the tear in her abdominal aorta, her blood pressure bottomed out and she coded. We did everything we could but unfortunately, she didn’t make it. I’m sorry, Mr. Tuan.”

      During the doctor’s speech, Mark zoned out and refused to believe what he was hearing. Just today he had finally made her his wife and in the blink of an eye, it had all managed to disappear. He had felt immense pain before so he was no stranger but this pain was different. This pain was unexplainable. There were no words to describe it. How were you to feel when the other half of your being were to die? He couldn’t cry. He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t move. The most he could do was sit there and try to process the unfathomable. How was this fair to him? Why did he always get the short end of the stick? Life had always thrown curveballs at him. He didn’t think he did anything to deserve this amount of devastation in his life but it somehow always managed to find its way towards him.

     “Mr. Tuan? Mr. Tuan?” Mark broke out of his trance and looked wide-eyed at the doctor. “They’re moving her to a room so you can spend some time with her if you’d like. Someone will be in shortly to talk with you about funeral or cremation arrangements. Again, I’m so sorry for your loss. If you’d like to follow me, I’ll take you to her.”

     The doctor led him down a hallway which smelt of anti-septic. The white walls all blended in with each other and it felt like he had been walking forever. “Here she is. Take as much time as you need. There is no rush.” With a parting bow, the doctor left, leaving only him and his dead wife in the room. He slowly made his way towards her lifeless body. It was crazy how even in death she managed to look as breathtaking as she did in life. He slowly intertwined his hand in hers and gripped it tightly. Even now seeing her before him in this state, he couldn’t bring himself to shed a tear.

      “I’m not sure what to say right now. You can’t hear me anyway.” He started, voice heavy with emotion. “I guess I could start by saying thank you. Thank you for loving me as I am. For making me the happiest man on earth. For sticking by my side through thick and thin. This past year with you has been an absolute dream and there isn’t a single thing I would do differently. I have no regrets with you, Hira. And I hope you had felt the same way. You are my world and you always will be. From now until forever, you’ll always have my heart. I love you, my diamond girl.”

A Few Months Later

     The ringing of a phone echoed throughout the apartment, disturbing the deafening silence in its wake. Mark groaned and peeled himself off the couch, dragging his feet to go answer it.

     “Hello?”

     “Hi. This is Sooyah with Lonite! I’m calling to inform you that your item you ordered is ready for pick up!”

     “Thank you! I’ll be there shortly.”

     “See you then!” Mark ended the call and shoved his phone into his jean pocket. He grabbed his coat off the couch and headed out the door. To say he was anxious was an understatement. He had wanted something to his late wife by and he thought this was the best way to honor her memory. He was sure she would’ve loved the idea. Diamonds had always been her favorite stone. After all, her name meant diamond and she sure as hell shined just as bright as one of the finest. He pulled up to the store and let out a sigh.

      “Welcome! What can I assist you with today?”

     “I’m here to pick up an order.”

     “Of course! May I have a name please?”

     “Mark Tuan.”

      “Perfect! I’ll bring that right out.” Seeing all these diamonds made him feel uneasy. All they could do was remind him of her. It has been a struggle for him to cope with the sudden loss of his wife but he’s somehow managed. Everyone was worried for him including her parents. That just made him feel guilty. He didn’t know for what exactly but the feeling was still there. He should’ve gone with her that day. He should’ve insisted to go instead of her. Why didn’t he suggest that? Either way it was too late now and he had to live with the choices he made. “Here you are, sir!” He slightly jumped, startled by the sudden voice. “I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure she would’ve loved the fact that you did this.”

     “Yeah. Thanks. I’m sure she would’ve too.” With his item secured, he exited the store and made his way back to his car. The car door slammed shut and he positioned himself until he was comfortable. With a heavy sigh, he opened the black box and was greeted with the most beautiful diamond necklace he had ever had the pleasure of laying his eyes on. The way the sun bounced off of it was almost an imitation of her personality. Shining brightly through the darkest of times, her smile always was the brightest. It was the feature he loved the most about her. And with those thoughts so clearly in his mind, he finally set free those tears that had been manifesting themselves inside him for months. He sobbed uncontrollably into the steering wheel of his car, clutching the necklace tightly to his chest.

      The emotions he thought he never actually felt crashed over him like a wave causing shaky legs and labored breaths. But after what felt like forever, he gained his composure and started his car. He drove to Hira’s favorite spot near the Han River. It was where they’d go to have picnics or just bask in the sun on a summer day. He made his way to their favorite bench, tucking the black box that contained the necklace into his jacket pocket. The wind was crisp and blowing ever so lightly. Sitting on the bench, he took a big inhale of fresh air and tugged the box out of his pocket. His long fingers grazed over the diamond lightly, feeling every edge and crevice.

      “I miss you so much, Hira. I feel so lost.” He spoke quietly, gazing at the diamond. “I feel like a part of my soul has loved you since the beginning of everything. Maybe we’re from the same star. I love you now until the end of time. Every day with you was a treasure only you were capable to of giving. You left me on the most special of days but the gift you gave me was the prettiest gift of all. You. Right here. In this diamond. You’ll always be nearby and for that, I’m eternally grateful to you.”

                    ◠ ⺌ ︹   ⺌ ︹   ⺌ ◠ ⠀:¨·.·¨:  

                 𖧧 ▾ 𖧧 ꩜𝚄𝚃𝚁𝙾₎₎ 𝘋𝘰 𝘪𝘵 ៹𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳.·ˊ  

              ﹝𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦﹞ෆ 𝘉𝘠𝘌 𝘉𝘠𝘌 ꕀ 🌬

                ⏝   ໍ ⏝   ໍ ⏝ 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 ꒦꒷꒦꒷

             𖧷 Thanks for reading! Dev out!

                                             (( :shaved_ice: ────╯