What Is a Moon Without a Star?

In the bathroom, Mark Zimmer was pinching Fiona Starr's waist and quickly left her fair skin reddened.

Seeing no reaction from her, he moved on top of her, biting her shoulder, his sharp canines breaking skin and soon drawing blood.

Fiona jerked awake from the abrupt pain and shoved him away forcefully when she saw who it was.

Caught off guard, Mark was sent slamming into the wall behind, his eyes flashing viciously when he looked up.

It only lasted for a brief second, but Fiona still shuddered in fear.

That was when he growled, "I've done as you said. Don't bother me for the next two weeks."

Fiona's eyes widened in disbelief at the topless man—his voice remained familiar, but it was also strangely youthful.

She looked around and realized that it was not a dark basement infested with bugs and rats!

She quickly raised her hands as she remembered, her tears gushing when she saw that all her fingers were intact.

Mark could see what she was doing and frowned in confusion, not to mention that he was still worried since she wasn't responding.

Keeping a straight look, he put his long fingers on her nape, but she cringed as if afraid and pushed him away again.

His patience at its limits, he scoffed, "You're the one who wanted to do it, and then you're pushing me away? What on earth do you want?"

"Get out!" she snapped, doing her best not to let her voice crack.

Mark's brow creased in surprise, staring at her wet shirt and shuddering form.

Still, his phone was ringing the next instant, and a voice was yelling over the other end, "Mark! Get over here—Sue's in trouble!"

Mark was out of the bathroom in a split second, not even stopping to close the door.

Fiona watched as he left, unable to keep standing anymore.

Dropping to the floor, she sat and wept, her tears covering her cheeks—never could she have expected that she had returned to the day before she married Mark.

-

Mark was taken into the Starr Household at fourteen.

Fiona's father Norman Starr had a charitable heart, and always sponsored kids with good grades.

He didn't spare any expense and would give them the best he could afford. However, there were those who would claim that he was grooming them, eventually choosing the best of them to be his future son-in-law since he didn't have a son.

There was no question that Mark was the most successful and smartest of the children, and the one whom Fiona fell in love with.

She chased him like stars chasing the moon, but it was hopeless.

Since their youth, Fiona kept wooing him year after year, and he would reject her on every occasion, never once caving even though she was the daughter of his sponsor.

That was until he suddenly proposed to her.

Fiona agreed to it without hesitation. Her mind was at once consumed by bliss, and she presumed that her affection had finally warmed his heart.

But on the day of their wedding, they were told that Sue Levine—Mark's childhood friend—had jumped off her family's thirty-story apartment, ending up in pieces.

And the ring that should've been put on Fiona's finger fell off, rolling off the floor to who knows where.

But the wedding was never called off, and in the ensuing three years, Mark would do everything Fiona asked.

The wedding wasn't called off, but in the ensuing three years, Mark's poker face became even more creepy, even though he would do everything Fiona asked him to.

Then, when Fiona was three months pregnant, she was told that her father had gone missing.

But instead of taking her to file a police report, Mark took her up the peak of the mountain… where Fiona saw her father.

His whole body was swollen and bleeding everywhere, and he was barely alive as he lay on the ground. There were puddles of his blood everywhere, after someone tied him to a car trunk and dragged him up along the mountain road.

That was when Mark gave Fiona the same treatment, even though she was pregnant with his child.

As his car dragged her up and down the mountain repeatedly, she bled from her crotch, both her legs covered in blood.

The pain was unbearable—she couldn't stand, while the searing sun kept her from even opening her eyes…

Suddenly, Fiona lifted her hand from her chest, gasping for air, her tears gushing even as she laughed, "This time, I'm not choosing Mark Zimmer."