sorry it's not a bts book being updated but I would love to see many nctzens show love for Sunmi at least.
Also this is 2000+ words, please spam this.

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"Mark, this is beautiful!"

Miami's very own botanical gardens was the perfect first date destination and honestly, Mark had to hand it to Haechan for his idea.

"It's so peaceful, here." Mark commented, looking around the greenery.

The two walked along the path, taking in the scenery and all of the floral arrangements. Mark was happy that Sunmi was happy.

"You know, my dad would always say that everytime I smiled, a field of sunflowers would bloom." She said. "That's why my name is Sunmi."

"Really?" He asked, shocked. "I mean I get it, Sunflower and SUN-mi. I get the pun."

Sunmi giggled, fiddling with her small purse. Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate.

Giving Mark an apologetic glance, she pulled out her phone to see that Jeno was calling her. "I'm sorry, it's Jeno."

"No, it's okay." He reassured, "Knowing him, it must be important."

Sunmi chuckled before walking off.

Mark patiently waited for her, leaning on the handle of the red bridge. This date had been starting off good, so far. Now, if it can stay that way, he would happy.

But of course, this is NCT. Nothing stays peaceful within the group.

Mark suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Confused, he pulled it out and saw that Haechan was calling him.

Sighing loudly and out of annoyance, Mark answered it.

"Haechan, I swear to God-"

"Shut up and look to your left."

Mark frowned. What the hell did he mean by that? And then it dawned on him.

Slowly turning, he prayed it wasn't what he thought it was. He hoped that his intuitions were wrong.

But of course, he was right. He hated how right he was.

Off inside of a big bush, he saw Haechan, Jungwoo and Doyoung dressed in all black, with binoculars!
If there was ever a time where Mark wanted to strangle someone, now was the time.

"What are you three doing here?!" He whispered harshly into his phone.

"We are here to help you, you gotta trust us!"

"Haechan, you and your two musketeers need to leave. NOW!"

"No way, I wanna see how this goes." Jungwoo said, this time. "By the way, tell Sunsun that red is her color for me."

"Mark, you better had not done anything to her." This time, it was Donyoung.

Mark glared at them before hanging up. Just time for Sunmi to come back.
"My apologies. Jeno couldn't sleep so i sort of had to sing him to sleep."

Mark chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Its fine. Are you hungry? There's this cafe just outside the gardens, you wanna go?"

Sunmi smiled, shaking her head, grabbing his hand. Her fingers laced together with his.

Mark paused a little and looked at her hand in his. Her hand was soft and very pretty. It felt right holding her hand like this.

He softly smiled back at her, gently holding her hand with a bit of a grip as they walked together out of the gardens.

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The cafe they stopped at was very popular and very romantic looking. It was more of a bakery cafe rather than a regular one but Sunmi was happy about it. She loved sweets.

After being seated at a circular booth, Sunmi took in the environment. Behind them was a wall of prosthetic leaves and roses, the booth had pillows for their backs, and the cafe was overall decorated to seem like a garden.

"This is beautiful." Sumni beamed, holding her hands together. "Who knew you could be so prepared."

Mark laughed a bit uneasily. Truth be told, it was Haechans idea for this place after he told him his ridiculous plan. Though he had no idea that it would include them being followed.

"Well, you know, I try."

Sunmi gave him a soft smile before looking at her menu. "I never had macaroons before. Oh and they're shaped like little teddy bears!"

Mark smiled at her enthusiasm. She was so cute when she was excited about new things. It was another thing he fell for. Also, gosh she is so pretty.

Blonde really suits her well. It made her more light and ethereal. If that was possible.

All this time, he didn't even notice he was staring at her until his phone vibrated again.

While Sunmi was distracted by the menu, Mark quickly checked his phone.

It was a text message. . . .from Haechan. The thorn in his side right now.

Nearly groaning, Mark read the message.

You idiot! Put your arm around her!

Mark looked up and saw that Jungwoo, Doyoung and Haechan were across the cafe, in disguises. . . .spying on them.

"I don't know what to get, what are you interested in?" Sunmi asked, looking at him.

Mark quickly spun his head to her, hoping she didn't see them. "Um. . . We can try the macaroons if that's what you want."

"Are you sure? I don't want to get them and you don't like them." She asked, a bit worryingly.

Mark smirked, waving his hand dismissively. "I got you, don't worry."

"So, Mark, tell me something about you that I don't know." She asked, leaning her chin on her hand, her elbow resting on the table.

"Well, what is there to tell? I'm not nearly as interesting as you." Mark flirted back.

Sunmi blushed at his sudden boost of confidence. Whenever Mark suddenly became more confident, he looked his most attractive to her. And right now, she is seeing a different side of him. A more mature side.

"Well, what is there to say when you know so much about me already? Why don't you tell me why it took you so long to ask me out?"

Mark almost choked on his water after she asked him that. Coughing a little, he began thinking of a solid answer. He couldn't really tell her he had a crush on her since they met years ago. He would look very weird.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated again. Blushing a bit, he gave Sunmi an apoplectic smile. "Sorry, let me turn it off."

"Knowing the guys, it's probably Doyoung." Sunmi said, chuckling a little. "I swear, sometimes it's like we're away from them but we're not."

Mark laughed a buy nervously.
Oh you have no idea.

Checking his phone, he saw a three text messages pop up. All of them where from Johnny.

' put your arm around her and tell her how you feel'

' don't let your dreams be dreams!'

' this is your chance! '

Groaning, Mark rolled his eyes and shut his phone off. They were not gonna ruin this for him.

"Well, you try asking someone you've been interested in for a while on a date." He replied, giving his full attention to her. "I mean, you had to be interested enough in me to accept, right?"

Sunmi shrugged. He had a point but she knew he didn't know how much she really liked him. She was suprised that he even asked her out. He didn't really seem like he was interested before.

"That's true." She admitted, before placing her hand over his softly.

The gesture made Mark pause. His face began heating up and his eyes stared at her dainty fingers, lacing his.

With a soft and loving smile, Sunmi moved a little closer to him. "I'm very glad that you did."

Despite his heart beating at a pace only cars can drive and the shakiness in his breath, he held her hand back and gave her the same smile.

"I'm glad I did, too."

The moment was soon interrupted by a waitress, who held a sunny smile. "Hello, I'm Michelle and I'll be your waitress this evening. What can I get you two to drink?"

"I'll have the vanilla caramel latte." Sunmi ordered.

Michelle smiled and wrote it down before turning to Mark. "And for you, sir?"

"I'll have the same thing."

"Okay, I'll be back with your drinks in no time." With that, she spun around and walked off to help the next person.

"Hey, I'm gonna go use the bathroom." Sunmi whispered to Mark. "I'll be right back."

Mark gave her a thumbs up. "I'll be here."

He watched her slide out of the booth and walk off towards the bathroom area. All things considered, he was sort of glad that Haechan thought of this place and he was happy he went with this.

He was having the best day ever. He was on a date with his dream girl, she looks so beautiful and she felt the same about him.

Nothing could bring his high down.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by his phone again. This time, he was receiving a call.

Knowing exactly who it was, Mark immediately answered.

"Donghyuck, I swear to God-"

"Anyways, why haven't you kissed her yet?"

Mark felt like his eyes could pop out with the many times he rolled them at whatever came out of Haechans mouth.

"As you and your band of idiots can see we are in the MIDDLE OF A DATE!" he whispered harshly into his phone. "And how is Johnny even knowing what we're doing?!"

"Say hi, hyung"

"Hey Mark! She's so into you, by the way."

Mark looked at where they were and saw not only Johnny waving at him but Jaehyun, too.

Mark glared at them intently. What was wrong with these people? He felt like he wanted to knock their heads off.

"I expected something like this from those three, not you and Jaehyun."

"Oh come on, we're just looking out for you!"

"Yeah, it's your first date ever. We don't want to miss this."

"You better not being doing anything inappropriate, Lee Minhyung!"

"If you guys aren't gone by the time Sunmi is back, I'm strangling you all in your sleep tonight!"

Not giving them time to reply, he hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket. He looked up and saw Sunmi walking back over to him.

"Sorry, the line was so long in the bathroom." She apologized, sliding back in next to him.

"It's fine, I had a phone call anyways." He said, chuckling again.

"Oh! Was it one of the boys?"

"You can say that," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. "They just wanted to be nosy about this date."

Sunmi laughed a little. Ain't that the truth. As annoying as they can be, they were only looking out for them. And she appreciated that.

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After having lunch in the cafe, Mark and Sunmi decided to have a walk back inside the gardens.

The sky turned dark and the lanterns illuminated the entire gardens as the stars shined above them. It was the perfect romantic setting.

The whole time, their fingers were intertwined together, Mark kept making her smile and laugh and they learned a lot about each other.

"This has been such a good day." Sunmi sighed, sitting on a bench under a cherry blossom tree.

Mark sat next to her, allowing her to sit closer to him.

"Yeah, I'm glad we were able to do it before we got too busy."

Sunmi hummed as silence fell upon them. She took in the stars and the serene feeling of their surroundings while Mark could only think.

How am I so lucky?

How was it that she could make him feel this crazy amount of emotions and yet she had no clue? Why did it take him this long to do this? Would she be his if he asked?

He knew it was now or never. He couldn't be a coward any more.

"Sunmi, can I ask you something?" He asked lowly. His voice nearly shaking.

Sunmi turned to him with curious eyes. "Yes?"

He took a shaky breath and he turned his body to her fully. The seriousness in his eyes made her feel like whatever he was going to ask was something big.

"Um. . .uh. . ." He stuttered out, his hands shaking and his heart beating super fast. "I know we've been friends since we were trainees and um. . . I've had a lot of time to think about this and. . .like, you don't have to reciprocate this, it's fine. I just have to tell you before it's too late."

"What's wrong, Mark?" Sunmi asked a bit concerned.

"Wow, this is so hard to do. . . TV makes it look easy." Mark let out a breathy chuckle. "Um. . . .I've been having feelings for you since I first met you."

His confession made Sunmi freeze. Her cheeks blushed pink, her heart slipping some beats and she was pretty sure she was dreaming.

Because there was NO WAY that Mark was confessing to her. Out of the question. There was no way.

But the look of hope and fear in his face let her know that it was all real. This date was real. The butterflies were real. The feeling of love was real.

This moment was definitely real.

"A-And I know I'm probably a bit over my head when I say this but. . . ." He paused, taking her hand into his. "I want to be the only one who takes you on dates like this, I want to be the only one who makes you smile, who makes you laugh and the only one who you look at the way that I look at you."

Mark watched as a smile slowly etched onto her lips. Which was a good sign to him. He must be doing something right.

"What I'm trying to say is, would you be-"

"Yes."

Mark stopped. Did he hear her correctly? No. No, he didn't. Surely, he didn't. There was no way.

"I-Im sorry?" He stuttered out.

Sunmi giggled, caressing his face. "I said yes. You don't need to continue because I'm always going to choose you, Markie."

Mark didn't realize the smile that beamed on his face. Happiness. That's what he felt in that moment. Nothing but relief and happiness.

He felt like running around the world. He wanted to flip in the air and dance like an idiot. He wanted to jump up and down.

He heart soared and there was nothing that could bring him down.

"Cool!" He nearly exclaimed, his voice cracking a little. Which made Sunmi giggle.

"Ahem! Sorry, my uh voice cracked."

"Haha, I can see that." She said, glancing at his lips a bit. "It's cute, don't worry."

Mark laughed with her, noticing how close they were. If he leaned in a little closer, they could have kissed by now.

But nothing was stopping him. Sunmi was exclusively his now.

Sunmi noticed him inching closer to her lips. Deciding that they've both waited long enough, she leaned up and pressed her lips onto his.

An action that shocked Mark but he quickly kissed her back.

The kiss only lasted about 3 seconds but that was long enough for the both of them. After pulling away, they rested their foreheads on each other.

Just enjoying how close they are.

"You honestly have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that." Sunmi whispered softly.

Mark bit his lip a little, tracing her jawline with his finger gently. "Trust me when I say this, I'd wait longer if it meant you would be mine forever."

The sounds of Mark's phone made the two of them jump a little. Mark, yet again, rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone. "So sorry."

"It's okay, Mark." Sunmi said, waiting paitently.

Mark opened the message and was immediately met with photos of the rest of the group celebrating. It looked like they were cheering as if they won the world cup or something.

' finally, you have a girlfriend!!"

Haechans message read. Mark growled a little, turning off his phone completely thie time.

Sunmi saw the frustrations in his eyes and grew a little worried.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, you know . . . . nosy people."

He dismissed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she leaned onto his shoulder.

That night, Mark could not stop smiling. And it was all thanks to his dream girl becoming his actual girl.