It wasn’t until you were finally out walking in the nice night breeze that you felt relaxed. With Mark holding your hand and swinging it slightly as he lead you quietly and gently, you remembered the days when you had to walk to the convenience store by yourself and appreciated how nice it was to have Mark here with you now. The two of you walked in silence – but that was enough for you. Occasionally he would look down at you and smile; at other times he would pull you slightly closer as night strollers taking their walks invaded the path. You took in a breath of the night breeze. It was just so nice.

“I’ll get it.” He reached out from behind you to take the ice cream cone you were holding, and before you could even respond, he gave you his dashing smile before quickly heading to the cashier. You smiled at the simple gesture. Mark was like that – simple and calm, but sweet and thoughtful.

As you stayed at your spot to wait for Mark to return from the line-up, you felt the vibration of your cell phone from a new text message.

You read the message that came from JB: “hey…I’m sorry to bother you. But Mark has been a little stressed about work related stuff recently. I know he’s with you right now…can you maybe help him relieve some stress? I’m sorry to put this on you…but all the members have already tried a whole lot of things and nothing seems to work…”

You looked up again to see Mark hand a bill and some coins to the cashier, before turning towards your direction and giving you another smile. You smiled back in appreciation, realizing that despite his stress and possible fatigue, he was still here – wanting to be with you and trying his best to be happy for you.

--

Mark looked up from his phone as you rejoined him on the couch after throwing away the ice cream wrappers. He gave you his undivided attention as you reached out for his hand, his fingers willingly interlocking them with yours as you looked at him. “So, do you want to start?”

“Start what?” He asked, amusement on his lips even as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“I know you’ve been stressed lately…why didn’t you tell me?” You playfully pouted at him, mildly chastising him for hiding things from you.

He chuckled and pinched your cheeks, finding you so adorable. “Because you’ve been stressed lately too. I didn’t want to put any more onto you.” His thumb brushed gently across the top of your hand. “And it wasn’t like there was anything you could do to make me feel better.”

You looked completely crestfallen as you turned your gaze downwards to where both his and your hands were. “That bad of a girlfriend eh?”

He smiled quietly as he lifted your head back up to face him, his long thin fingers brushing against your cheek as you looked at him in the eyes. “Just being with you is enough to make me feel better. You don’t have to do anything at all.”

The two of you sighed, momentarily letting the reminder of the stress in your lives take over and invade in the happiness of your moment. Then you smiled again and squeezed his hand to get his attention. Without saying anything, you wrapped your arms around him, leaning into his chest as he quickly readjusted his position so that his head rested on the top of yours. You felt his lips brush a kiss against your forehead, and you closed your eyes, releasing all the stress in your mind and body with a final sigh.

It was like that, that you fell asleep that night, just on the couch with Mark – feeling completely free from the stress for the first time in days.