Life and Death-1

Three Simple Words

I loved this chapter for many reasons. I hope you all love it too.

Gen's POV

"Uh...what is this?" I ask looking around at the display in my living room. Every inch of the floor is covered in rose petals with candles illuminating the room with a romantic glow. I bend down and notice a sticky note next to a pen that says pick me up. I grab it and follow the rose petals to a necklace that I recognize being one I lost for a long time and never knew where it went. I pick it up and continue following the trail until I stop at the entrance of my door and Mark is standing there in the middle of my room. "What is all of this?"

"For the longest time, I thought I would just be a man that slept around. Moving from one woman to the next never settling down. Because I believed that no one would want me as their husband or partner in life. Then I was that dumb attending who fell hard for his intern."

"Technically I wasn't your intern yet." I tease him and he smiles. "What is this?" I hold up the pen with the sticky note.

"Ah, that was the pen you used to write with for my birthday card."

"How do you know it's this pen?"

"The week leading up to my birthday you were complaining about how you couldn't find a pen and when you found this one you got this look of pure happiness on your face."

"You kept a pen that I wrote a with for your birthday card?"

"I kept it because with this pen you wrote the wonderful words I love reading over and over again." Mark holds up the card I gave him for his birthday all those years ago.

"You kept the card?"

"I've kept anything I deemed important that reminds me of you." Mark opens the card and he smiles. "Happy Birthday to one of the most complicated men I've ever known. Meeting you felt like chance but loving you has been close to a fairytale. Love your Gen." Mark finishes reciting what I wrote to him.

"I remember this necklace. I...I talked about it for months in how it reminded of my..."

"Your grandmother's necklace that your grandfather gave to her as their wedding."

"You remembered?" Mark nods his head.

"This is the Columbia shirt of mine that you always wore when you slept over."

"I loved that shirt." I comment as he holds it up.

"I love this shirt on you." Mark flirts with me. "I've screwed up and I will screw up again but I can only hope you'll still love me because the moment I said that I love you I meant that."

"I love you Mark so much that it scares me. I...I can't think clearly when I'm with you. You make me feel...nervous, scared. I question everything around me because of you."

"I know this set up makes you think of something else."

"Oh, no this..." I motion to the candles, roses, and romantic atmosphere. "This is subtle. People do this on any given day." I joke with him.

"Why? Do you want me to give you a ring because I can? I can go get a ring right now."

"No!" I hold my hand up to Mark stopping him. "This is all lovely. You...this is amazing and romantic. Everything I..."

"I was forcing too much on you before. I was expecting things out of you that was unrealistic. Even for me. I...I was afraid of losing you if I...if I didn't show you how serious I was. How much you meant to me."

"And to do that you pushed me away?"

"I'm not perfect. I thought that would make it easier but it just complicated things. I...I kept all of these small things but I've never forgotten the first time I made you laugh after our first surgery together. I made the joke about..."