Warning: This chapter is kinda long, but trust me it's worth the lengthy read.  It's a very important chapter. 

***

"I'm glad you could make it on such short notice, Ricky"

Tension thickened in the air "As soon as you said my son was here, I came as fast as I could."

"The problem is Mark left twenty minutes ago" Felicity grunted

Richard clenched his fists "Why did he leave?"

"Scarlett brought him," Zachariah said with a slight smile "It seems they got bored and left the party early"

Richard let out a deep chuckle "She takes after her parents in many ways..."

"You could try the Ramosey Diner, sources say they always go there." Zachariah sighed "If you want your son to hear you out, you need to do it now - who knows when you'll get the chance to talk to him again,"

He nodded his head stiffly "Thank you. I mean it,"

* * *

"Delete it."

Mark looked up from his phone "Why should I?"

"I look weird in it, delete the photo"

He gaped "If you look weird, then I must look hideous."

"Now that you mention it..." she trailed off with a small smile on her face

Mark chuckled "I'll treasure this photo to my grave"

"Keep 'treasuring' it, and your grave might come earlier than expected." Scar mock glared. Mark only laughed louder.

A very familiar waitress cleared her throat "Please tell me you're not on a date."

"We're not, why?"

Alice shook her head "You're both dressed like royalty inside this small Diner - I knew Mark was a nerd but come on! No one takes the time and effort of looking like that only to come to this rusty old-"

"Watch out, Alice - your boss might hear you"

She laughed "Oh, please. My father owns this place and he couldn't fire me if he tried...now are you going to tell me why the both of you look like you should be in a magazine?"

"We just came from..." a wide grin made it's way onto Mark's face "...A very small get together, nothing special."

Scar couldn't help the smile that played on her lips.

"Markus Lovejoy...?" The three teens turned their heads in the direction of a loud voice.

Right before them stood a man wearing what could only be described as an incredibly expensive suit. 

Scarlett couldn't help but think he looked like an older version of Mark; Dark hair, strong jawline, broad shoulders, tall and most importantly green piercing eyes. The only difference is that the stranger had a bigger build while Mark had more of a slender form.

Scarlett broke the silence "Who's asking?"

"My names Richard Coulting" the man voiced

As soon as he spoke Mark gasped with wide unnerving eyes. 

Scarlett turned to him "Who is he?"

Mark only continued to stare at the man before him, his gaze shining with unshed tears "My father..."

"But...you're supposed to be dead." Scarlett whispered just loud enough for Richard to hear.

He stared at her from where he sat "Is that what Maria told you?"

"Yes" Mark answered, all of them sat inside the same booth "My moth-I mean, Maria said you died when I was five"

Ricky shook his head "I didn't die, she took you and your sister from me"

"Why?" Alice asked while she sat next to Scarlett

For a moment there was a pregnant pause "...She found out I had no feelings for her."

"Why would you marry her if you didn't have any feelings for her?" Scarlett questioned

Ricky glanced down at the table in front of him "I was in love with someone else...but that person didn't return my feelings, Maria was-how do I say this - she wasn't particularly nice and I wasn't either. All I cared about was-"

"So what you're saying is that you were the typical bad boy who slept around and Maria was one of your many whores" Alice stated with no hesitation — she knew all about Richard "Long story short you fell for a nice girl but the problem was, she didn't like you back, so, chances were, she was also smart."

Mark stared at her in shock "That's-"

"So, the girl you fell for moved on without you." Scar intervened — her gaze never strayed from his "You wanted to forget whoever she was and Maria was there to help,"

Ricky broke away from her unwavering eyes "Yes, you're all right..."

"Why now? Out of all the years, why see your kids now?"

"Maria hid them carefully, evaded each and every police attempt to find them - after all the searching they just gave up" Ricky shook his head sadly

Scarlett's small hand held Mark's "...I think I'm gonna head home,"

"Oh, oka-"

Scar held her hand against his chest, pushing him back down into his seat "Stay here, you and your father have a lot to catch up on."

"But what ab-"

At that instant someone came rushing through the Diner doors, her wild eyes scanned each booth before landing on the group in front of her.

"Chrissy," he whispered as she neared them "What are you doing here?"

Scarlett stood up from where she sat, giving the girl her spot "I texted my family's driver to pick her up and bring her here..."

"Thank you, Scar..."

She only nodded her head slightly before turning to Ricky with a cold glare "Hurt them and I swear-"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Walker." 

Something about the way he used her last name made her think that it wasn't the first time he had called someone by it. She brushed the feeling away and shook the uneasiness that stroked her spine. 

With one last glance in their direction she turned around. The cold night surrounded her small form and the dress she wore didn't help — it had been twenty minutes into her midnight stroll when she got the sneaking suspicion that someone was following her.

Footsteps could be heard from ten or five feet behind, so she started to pick up her pace and walk at little faster.

A hard and calloused hand placed itself onto her shoulder. Upon instinct her right hand placed itself on top of her assailants and twisted it backwards causing him to yelp in pain, without looking she flipped him over her body and slammed him on the concrete ground.

He groaned in pain "...what was that for...?"

"Being an idiot and trying to sneak up on me."

He looked up at her from where he laid "We both know you can handle yourself just fine," truth be told he followed her out of the mansion, worried about where she had gone, or rather who she was with.

"Stop wasting my time, Braxton"

Brax's eyes widened as she continued to walk past him. His mind tried to think of ways to stop her — he couldn't grab her, she would brake his arms. He couldn't put her over his shoulder, she would body slam him when suddenly one plan came in mind "Wait!"

"What, now?"

He cradled his ankle "I-I think I sprained my ankle,"

"I didn't flip you that hard."

Brax scrunched up his face "No, I landed on it wrong"

"Why should I help you?"

Scarlett stood with one arm on her hip. He didn't know why but the very look sent dirty images to his mind, he shook his head slightly — now was not the time and this was certainly not the place "Because you caused it!"

"You're such a wuss." she muttered while coming back to his side "Put one arm over my shoulder and lean on me for support."

He did as she said, slowly getting up from where he laid "Thank you..." he mumbled against her ear. Brax liked the way she felt against his body — even though she was helping him with his 'sprained' ankle it still felt good to have her in his arms or in this case under his arm.

"Don't mention it." she sighed lightly in frustration

They walked in an easy silence for twenty minutes, while Brax had suspiciously stopped leaning on her like the first time and just walked normally with his arm loosely on her shoulder. 

Scar's house appeared at the end of the busy street they walked on "Your ankle's fine, isn't it?"

"Maybe," he answered her with a smirk on his face

She rolled her eyes at his antics "What are you doing, Braxton?"

"Why do you call me Braxton?"

Scar glanced at him "The same reason you don't call me, Scar. Now answer my question; what are you doing?"

"Is leaning on you such a crime?"

She glared at him "You know what I mean."

"I'm sorry, I left you when you needed me the most"

Scarlett tried to get out of his grip but he tightened his hold on her shoulder while using his other arm to capture the other side of her hip — he faced her with so much emotion in his eyes that she refused to look "If you were sorry, you would've said it ages ago"

"That's what I've been trying to do!" he exclaimed with an edge of vulnerability "I've been trying to find you! This whole time, I've been looking for you...Searching for you."

She let a bitter chuckle escape her lips "I'm Scarlett Walker. How hard is it to find one of most the richest girls in the world?"

"That's the thing, Scar" He sighed, using his left hand to lift her chin so that their eyes could meet "To me you were the strongest girl in the world, who spent half her life street fighting. I wasn't searching for the wealthiest women, I was searching for the strongest fighter."

She shook her head "I don't believe you..."

"Why...?" he voiced, his arms falling from her form — hurt flashed across his features before a thick glare engulfed it "Doubt my intentions, doubt my character, doubt that I've changed, doubt everything! But don't doubt the fact that I never let you go."

Scar stared at him. Her arms somehow felt cold without his warm touch but at that moment she couldn't help but feel as though she hurt him, as soon as the thought came she tried everything to push it out "All these ye-"

"I never stopped." He hissed between grit teeth "...I never...stopped looking for you. Every single day I kept searching. Why is that so hard to believe?" With one last glance towards her, Brax turned around and walked away. 

She stared at his back, not helping the way her heart ached, briskly turning around Scarlett began to walk fast as she could to her house.

When she entered the mansion, she leaned against the door — her heart beat thundered as tears brimmed her eyes. 

She didn't know what she was feeling, was it sadness? Guilt? Or was it something else that she had buried long ago? Scarlett slowly made her way to her bedroom. Surely her grand parents wouldn't make it back from the party anytime soon — these kind of events would be usually held until 5am.

A sigh escaped her lips as she stared at the ceiling, Scar had changed from the dress she wore and settled for a simple black tank top with matching shorts. 

Brax evaded her mind once again 'Why did he keep looking? Why did he leave her in the first place?' for the first time in a while Scar asked herself questions that she vowed to never plague her mind with again.

The familiar sound of the front door opening brought her attention back to what was happening. By the sounds of footsteps and mumbling, Scar knew Mark was back. For some reason she made her way downstairs.

But as soon as her eyes met his, she knew something was wrong. Chrissy refused to look her in the eye which made her worry even more, even if Scar wasn't that close with the girl — they always had a feeling of familiarity, or the feeling that they could tell each other anything.

"What happened?" 

Christabelle only exchanged a quick glance with Mark before turning away "I'm going to bed, it's late."

"Wai-"

Mark nodded his head also "Me too. I'm pretty tired, it's been a long day."

"What...?" Scar whispered to herself. 

Her eyes narrowed as her legs found themselves marching towards Mark's temporary room.

He had his back to her, only wearing a pair of trousers to sleep in — Scar silently closed his bedroom door behind her but as she faced him, she couldn't help but stare. 

Mark still didn't hear her come inside  "What happened?"

"Scarlett?" he yelped out of surprise, turning around to face her — it wasn't until that moment did she get to see his toned physique "What are you doing here?"

She met his eyes "Will you answer my question and tell me?"

"...No." he muttered lowly, his gaze slowly went down to her body — her legs looked long and delectable, her chest was curvaceous and the sight of her skin made him want to go over to her and-

Scar's gaze narrowed "Why not?"

"I just don't want to." He stated, snapping out of his dirty thoughts.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow "Is it because of Ricky? Did he say something?"

"Just leave it Scar!" he yelled at her

She flinched — it was the first time he had ever yelled at her with anger "Fine, suit yourself." Turning around, Scarlett glared at the door in front of her.

"Wait, Scar, I didn-"

Before he could say another word, she slammed his door shut. 

It felt good to slam it, especially in the middle of his sentence. When she finally made it to her room, she shut her door with a demeaning bang just to make sure he could still hear her anger.

'Who does he think he is!' she seethed while slipping into her bed — the lights were already off but the luminosity from the city through her window shined into her room 'All I asked was what was bothering him!'

Pulling the blankets up to her chin, Scar couldn't help but feel bitter — all she wanted was to make sure he was okay and he threw her efforts in her face. 

It had only been ten minutes before her bedroom door creaked open. Her bed dipped down and the covers above her shifted slightly "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Go away. Mark." She hissed — her eyes still remained shut.

He only sighed heavily before snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her towards him so that her back was against his chest "I didn't mean to yell, I just..."

"He said something didn't he?" Scarlett whispered. 

For some reason she liked being in his arms it wasn't until then did she realise he still wore no shirt.

Mark kept his gaze on the wall opposite them in order to suppress his urges — her skin felt like heaven against his own, her hair smelt sweet and consumed his mind, even her body moulded against his perfectly. 

Mark gulped "...he offered something to me and my sister."

"You're not going to tell me..." she voiced sadly

He only nodded against her shoulder "I will, but not right now..."

"Why?"

His eyes closed with tiredness while his arms tightened around her form and his legs tangled with hers "Because I'm happy...right now. With you." Her heart fluttered for a moment.

"Mark..." he sounded so despondent. Scar felt her heart sting.

His mouth brushed against her shoulder making him hold in a groan of pleasure while shivers ran up her spine "...let me have this moment"

"But-"

Mark used his right hand to draw soothing patterns against Scarlett's leg successfully stopping her in her sentence and making her feel even more tired — her head laid comfortably against his other arm as he continued to stare at her. 

Before long her breathing became even and her body relaxed in his grip.

Mark's gaze didn't leave her sleeping form, she looked so perfect with that small nose and plum lips of hers — she looked so relaxed and free of all trouble. Mark wished she could feel that way when she wakes but he knew she had been through so much, he knew she held secrets from him but surprisingly it didn't bother him.

Mark liked the way she smiled when she thought no one was looking, or the way she would giggle or chuckle to herself every now and then.

The way her nose scrunched up when she didn't like something

The way her eyes gleamed with happiness every time there was a slice of apple pie in front of her.

Even when she cried, she looked beautiful but it was a bitter sweet kind of beauty that only a handful of people could hold. He even admired the way she glared at him with so much passion it made his heart skip a beat.

It was at that moment he realised. 

And it was at that second his heart broke.

Because for the very first time he finally understood, that he, in fact, loved her. 

He, Markus Coulting, loved Scarlett Walker.  

He loved her and it hurt, because in his mind — just like the sun and stars — they'd never be together. A stray tear escaped his eye, and as if on instinct his grip on her tightened. 

...Maybe the sun and stars would never be together but, for now at least, he held on to his glimmering piece of happiness for as long as he possibly could before dawn breaks and he'd have to let her go.