309 Presen (2/2)

Even so, Anne appreciated this. Just like how Paul knew Ellen so much, it was safe to say that none could understand her like Mark does. Though they don't talk a lot, actions were more than enough to make up for that.

Eventually the ended up in cliff, and as soon as Mark arrived here he came into a screeching halt. Anne saw this and caught up to him, touching his shoulders to claim victory but was intercepted by Mark's rough and warm hands.

Anne was little bit stunned, she looked at him and saw him staring into her eyes. It was as if he was staring at her soul. A faint blush appeared on her face but she masked by saying:

”I caught you.” She then raised her other hand and asked: ”Where's my prize?”

Unexpectedly, Mark smiled and walked while holding her hand. Anne tilted her head in confusion but went along since she has nothing better to do anyway.

They went on the edge of the cliff. Mark sat down and patted the ground next to him, signaling Anne to sit beside him. Anne did, and suddenly a box wrapped in a gift wrapper was placed on her lap.

Anne chuckled and asked: ”What's with the wrapper?”

Mark raised his brow and asked: ”Wait, don't tell me you still hadn't caught on?”

”Huh?” Anne also raised her brow, genuinely confused about his words.

She saw him sigh, he then flicked her head and before she could ask why he did that, Mark said: ”It's birthday today, you dummy.”

”Oh.” Anne reacted out of instinct, it wasn't until a couple seconds later that she finally digested what he just said: ”Oh! It's my birthday! Wow, I can't believe I actually forgot about that.”

Anne laughed merrily as she couldn't believe that she would actually forgot about her own birthday. She then give Mark a hug and said: ”Thank you. Good thing you remembered.”

”Are you that bored to even forget about your own birthday?” Mark asked in amusement.

”Yeah, I must be.” Anne agreed, ”I don't know what's up today, but I was really bored. Thankfully you came.”

As Anne busied herself on unwrapping Mark's gift neatly without tearing the wrapper, she didn't notice that Mark was behaving rather nervous. He kept glancing at her using the corners of his eyes, it was like he wanted to say or do something but couldn't for some reason.

Anne suddenly heard Mark sighed, long and hard. She looked at him weirdly and asked: ”What's up with you? You're acting like an old man, are you bored too? Want to race again?”

”Nope and nope.” Mark shook his head, ”I'm fine, just go ahead and look at your present. I'm sure you'll love it.”

”Okay.” Anne nodded and finished unwrapping the present. What she saw actually made her gasp and look at Mark in astonishment.

”How did you even got a hold of this? I thought they stopped making these for years now?”

What Mark got for her is a pair of earrings that has a gem that is carved like a flower. These earrings couldn't be bought from the market anymore since the manufacturer had stopped making these for about a decade now.

Anne adored these earrings so much. She asked her parents to but this for her even back when she was a kid but they never did since it was too expensive.

”Oh my god, it's so pretty.” Anne eyes sparkled as she looked at them, ”I'll wear them now!”

And she did just that, but as she placed them on, she remembered Mark's words.

”Wait, how did you know that I like these earrings?” Anne asked with a confused face, ”I don't remember telling any of you about this, not even the girls. So how did you know?”

Mark was silent for a bit, eventually he sighed again and said: ”It was you who told me.”

”Huh?” Anne was even more confused, she then asked: ”When?”

Out of nowhere, Mark pulled out something from his spatial ring and showed it to her.

”It was when you sent me this letter.”

And as Anne saw the letter, her eyes widened and she involuntarily covered her mouth.

”Y-you are...”