Limitless || Mark Lee

Chapter 34

"Mark? Are you awake?"

"Mirae? What are you doing here? You should be sleeping."

Mark rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his bed, seeing the small girl standing in the doorway.

"Whats wrong? Did something happen?" He asked once he noticed the tears on her face.

"I-I can't sleep." She whispered out between sniffles.

"Come here, Mirae." He pulled open his bed covers, scooting over to make space for her.

She quickly shuffled over to him, hopping into his bed and curling into his bare chest. He closed the covers over her and wrapped his arm gently around her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" He asked softly, running his fingers through her hair.

"I don't know.. I feel like I can't escape it."

He felt her trembling and immediately stood up, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room, all the way to the garage.

"Mark? Where are we going?"

"Shhh, don't ask questions. Just trust me."

He hopped onto his bike, passing her a helmet before the two of them drove off into the night.

- - -

"What is this place? Where are we?"

Mark had parked the bike after 15 minutes of driving. They were out of Seoul, in a park of some sort that gave them a view of the city. The lights from the buildings sparkled in front of them, melting into the star-filled sky as Mirae looked around in awe at the hidden cliff top they were standing on.

"I come here when I need to clear my head. It brings me peace and I figured it might help you too."

He pulled out a blanket from under the seat of his bike, spreading it on the ground at the base of a large tree and taking a seat. Mirae walked over and sat next to him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's beautiful here, I can see why you like it. It's a nice escape from the house and all that craziness."

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm always here to listen." He said softly as he rubbed circles on her shoulder.

"I just can't stop thinking about it." She whimpered out, trying to press herself even closer to Mark for any form of comfort. "The blood. The silence. Everything.... Mark, I killed people today. People died because of me."

"I know, Mirae, I know, it's going to be okay." He said soothingly as he felt her body start to shake. "I promise it'll get better. It's going to be okay. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from this but I'll help you through it."

"H-how did you deal with it? What was it like for you?"

Mark sighed as he thought back to those dark times in his life. The memories that he tried so hard to block out because of how painful they were.

"It was hard, I'm not gonna lie to you. I spent a lot of nights locked in my room just crying by myself. I just kept telling myself that it wasn't real, but that's not a healthy way to deal with it."

"Then how? What can I do?"

"Well first off, you're not alone. You have Jaemin and the guys with you, plus Taeyong and Jae, and Johnny, Yuta and all of them..." he paused for a moment. "and me. I'll help you through this."

Mirae felt her heart rate spike. Even in her most vulnerable moments, Mark made her feel a certain type of way.

"I know that it's hard to rationalize killing, but these aren't good guys. I mean, technically none of us are, but these guys we kill are really bad. Unlike us, they kill for sport. It's fun for them. Even though we're not exactly heroes, we're saving innocents by getting rid of these guys." He felt Mirae relax slightly as she processed his words.