The next few weeks were hard, as Mark came to terms with being dropped from his record label. It was the first time he had been unemployed since he was eighteen years of age, and it hit him extremely hard.
I on the other hand was walking on air. I was so happy that I was cured again, and could finally get on with my life. Hannah and my parents were also over the moon, and had all cried with happiness when I told them.
It didn’t stop me being upset over Mark though, and I knew that I had to do something.
‘Jules, where are we going?’, he asked, one day as I drove us to one of his favourite places in the world.
‘Duh the Lake District’, I replied, tapping my hands on the steering wheel, ‘I thought you’d have figured it out by now.’
‘But what are we doing here?’, Mark asked, ‘We’re obviously not staying, because we haven’t any luggage.’
‘Just wait and see’, I said, turning around to wink at him.
Thirty minutes later, we finally arrived at our destination.
‘What do you think?’, I asked, as I stopped in front of a pair of large gates, which had a drive leading up to a huge house behind it.
Embedded in the country side, the house was perfect, and the only neighbours were sheep.
‘Yeah it’s a gorgeous house’, Mark admitted, ‘But I still don’t get why we’re here.’
‘Well’, I smiled, turning around in my seat to face him, ‘You’ve always wanted to live in the Lake District, so I’ve been researching.’
‘What are you trying to say Jules?’, Mark asked, a smile slowly creeping across his face.
‘I’m saying welcome to your new home!’, I exclaimed.
‘WHAT?!’, Mark gasped, ‘This place is ours?’
‘Uh-huh’, I nodded, ‘I made an offer on it last week, and we got it! This is our new house!’
‘Oh my God Julie!’, Mark beamed, with tears in his eyes, ‘I can’t believe it!’
‘You’re happy, right?’, I asked, taking his hand in mine, ‘I wanted to surprise you.’
‘Of course I’m happy, I’m ecstatic even!’, Mark laughed, wrapping his arms around me, ‘Thank you so much Jules.’
‘Anything for you’, I whispered, as we held each other tight in the little car, ‘Do you want to go inside?’
‘Of course!’, Mark said, letting me go.
‘Okay then’, I smiled, and started up the car once more.
As we drove up the passage way to our new house I could tell Mark was beaming beside me.
‘Let’s go!’, he said, when I had parked the car outside the house.
‘Wow you’re eager!’, I laughed, as we took off our seatbelts and got out of the car.
‘Wow!’, Mark gasped, when we walked into the porch of our new home.
There were two doors leading to rooms on both side, and a huge wooden stairs in the middle.
‘It has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a garage, a kitchen to die for and a room upstairs that I thought would be perfect for your studio’, I explained to Mark, as I hung on to his arm.
‘My studio?’, Mark asked, looking over at me.
‘Yeah’, I nodded, ‘Just because you don’t have a record deal doesn’t mean you’re going to give up on music Mark. I won’t let you.’
‘You really think I should keep going?’, Mark asked, taking hold of my hand.
‘Of course I do’, I replied, ‘It’s something that makes you happy, and you never know what the future holds. You could get another record deal Mark! Never give up!’
‘I love you so much’, Mark sighed, turning me around and putting his hand on my face.
‘I love you too’, I smiled, before he gently kissed me on the lips.
‘Is there a bed upstairs we could try out?’, Mark whispered in my ear, breaking our kiss.
‘There should be’, I giggled.
‘Let’s go then’, Mark smirked, before he began pulling towards the stairs, making me giggle even more.
An hour later Mark and I lay under the sheets of our new bed, he sighed and said, ‘It’s hard to believe we’ve been going out with four years.’
‘I know’, I agreed, ‘Time flies.’
‘You know my father proposed to my mother after they were going out with two years’, Mark continued.
‘Really?’, I asked, ‘Actually, I think it was about the same for my parents.’
‘Hmm, did you ever think of getting married?’, Mark replied, continuing to play with my hair.
‘Um, I guess’, I said, as my heart began to beat faster.
Was Mark about to propose to me?
‘Whha-what about you?’, I asked, ‘Have you ever thought of marriage?’
‘Nah’, Mark replied, ‘I don’t see the point of it. It’s just a piece of paper after all. You don’t need to marry someone to show how much you love them.’
With that, my dreams of marrying my one true love were dashed away.
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Hey guys,
So I hope you liked this chapter.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Lauren
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