(NOTE: I'm sorry I took so long to update!!!! I thought I'd do something a bit more happy because of the tension from the previous chapters, hope you like it!)

“Happy Birthday…”

What???? You think to yourself. You look at the day and time, and sure enough it’s your birthday. You’re too dumbfounded to even reply to him at the moment. A mix of emotions flood you; confusion, frustration, gratefulness, sadness...loneliness.

You suddenly start to wonder…And you decide to reply with one question.

Why doesn’t my boyfriend want me around you? You hit send, but aren’t really expecting a reply at this hour. Besides, you’re much too tired to wait, but too curious to sleep.

You decide to wait, but sure enough there’s no response. You fall asleep more quickly than expected…

•••

You wake up to unexpected, loud knocking on the front door downstairs. You brush it off, too drowsy to care. But the bangs on the door are growing louder, and there are voices. A lot of them, and they’re excitedly talking. You open your eyes, gaining awareness of your surroundings; the warm sunlight coming through the window, the sheets against your skin. After another loud set of bangs at the door, you decide to get up.

“Ya~ she won’t be mad, just come in with us” says a familiar voice.

You put on a loose pull over sweater on yourself and some slippers as you make your way to the stairs, towards the door. You don’t bother to check who these loud voices belong to before opening the door, you simply open the door, mostly out of drowsiness, and there they are. Out of the seven, only four are there, but it doesn’t make you any less surprised. You smile.

Taehyung and Hoseok invite themselves in, both of them giving you a warm tight hug at the same time, you feel embarrassed because of what you are wearing and so you blush. Seok Jin makes his way in and politely greets you followed by Jimin who’s smile is wider than anyone’s and he embraces you for a while until Taehyung and Hoseok decide to interrupt by suddenly forming a circle around you, interlocking their hands and spinning in circles around you all the while singing happy birthday to you. Jimin can’t help but join in and so you stand there while they spin happily around you and as they spin you notice that Taehyung and Hoseok are both wearing colorful birthday hats, the ones you put over your head and have a white string that frames the face. You laugh and shyly cover your face. As soon as they finish singing Taehyung pulls out two party horns from the pocket of his blue jacket and attempts to blow them both at the same time, Hoseok dances to the nonexistent music of SISTAR’s Touch My Body and both Seok Jin and Jimin clap loudly. They all give you a hug again at the same time, their combined strength leaving you out of breathe.

“Thank you,” you tell them as you smile widely and laugh a bit, “It’s a bit small in here, but make yourselves at home.” Immediately after you finish saying “home” you notice Seok Jin running to the kitchen.

You are suddenly aware again that you aren’t exactly dressed appropriately. So you start to make your way back upstairs. “I’ll be back” you tell the boys shyly.

Taehyung decides to follow Seokjin while Hoseok and Jimin step outside of your loft. You notice that Unmyeong isn’t around and are hoping she isn’t giving the boys downstairs a hard time. You quickly pick out a casual outfit; black jeans, white shirt and a red cardigan. You head into the restroom to change and make yourself look slightly more alive. You go through your regular morning beauty routine in about 10 minutes, washing your face, brushing your teeth and deciding to let your hair loose and wavy. Once you are satisfied, you step out of the bathroom and put your night clothes in the hamper next to the door of the bathroom. You tidy up the bed sheets and the rest of your bedroom.

As you head back downstairs you notice the front door is open. You hear all four guys in the kitchen, laughing and talking. Maybe they left it open on accident, you think to yourself. You make your way to the front door, grabbing the knob, and you look back towards the kitchen one more time just to make sure they’re all inside. You simply give the door a push and start walking away, but the regular sound of a closing door is absent and so you turn around and notice something has stopped the door from closing; a foot. You stand there looking at the foot and shortly afterwards, a hand makes itself present at the door, pushing it open. And there he is, standing by your door, Jungkook.

You stare at him, not sure what to say or do. He shatters the silence somehow by smiling. You look down, still not too sure how to react, but you make your way back towards the door and hold it open for him. You look up at him trying hard to not get lost in him…

“The guys ar-” You start saying, but he interrupts you.

“Happy Birthday” He says in a low tone, but with a smile on his face. Seconds later he gives you a hug, and without realizing it, your arms are around him, holding him close to you but you’re the first to pull away as you hear footsteps approaching.

“I told you she wouldn’t be mad” says Jimin as he slaps Jungkooks back.

“Were you outside this whole time?” You ask, directing the question towards Jungkook, but Taehyung interrupts by loudly announcing from the kitchen that the food is almost ready.

“Food????” You ask aloud, expecting an answer from anyone and you find yourself making your way to the kitchen. Seok Jin is wearing a dark pink apron as he hovers over the stove, cooking. Hoseok has the sleeves of his black, button up shirt rolled up as he stands near the sink, washing dishes. Both of them look up at you, Seokjin is the first to speak: “I hope you like it.”

“You didn’t have to- I mean, I’m grateful bu- It smells amazing!” You conclude. Everyone is in the kitchen now, taking a seat or standing near Seok Jin, watching him cook. You realize there aren’t enough chairs in the kitchen table so you decide to go to the living room to look for extra chairs. You spot two extra chairs, a little too fancy to be in a kitchen, but it can’t be helped. You approach one of them and start to pick it up when you notice someone standing next to you and suddenly there’s a hand over one of yours.

“I’ll take it,” Jungkooks voice so close to you that you nearly jump. You look up at him,    “You guys are my guests…”

“And you’re the birthday girl” He states in such a as-a-matter-of-fact manner as a smirk plays on his lips.

“How do they all know it’s my birthday?” You state as you motion, with your head, in the direction of the kitchen. “Actually,” a thought creeps into your mind, “how did you even know?”

Jungkook sighs “Should it really be a surprise? You’re dating my… best friend,” you notice his hesitation, but continue onto listen “he’s bound to mention your birthday, don’t you think?” He finishes off by cocking his head to the side, his black hair swiping across his forehead. You don’t say anything and he decides to pick up the chair and walk towards the kitchen, you catch yourself staring at his arms and back as he walks away, you think back on the dream from that one night, and you blush.

 You quickly go over to the second chair you had spotted and pick it up by the arm rests, you start walking towards the kitchen slowly, making sure not to hit anything with the legs of the chair, but you see Jungkook making his way towards you with a “Really?” look on his face. You ignore him and focus on getting the chair across the living room, but he stops you by grabbing the chair, once more placing his hands over yours and he looks at you intensely, his eyes on yours. You feel his hands squeeze yours to get a better grip on the chair, you look away and let go of the chair a little too quickly and you notice him fumble it a bit, but he walks away heading towards the kitchen. You follow him seconds after and he sets the chair down near the kitchen table.

Seokjin seems to have made a massive amount of food, you just stare at it, questioning it. Seokjin speaks up “I know it seems like a lot, but…” he trails off and he waves an arm towards s, as if introducing them, “we eat a lot…” He finishes off by smiling.

You smile back and decide to help take the food to the table, but once more you are interrupted, this time by Hoseok.

“Ya, ya, ya stop, stop.” He tells you and he grabs what was in your hands and takes it to the table. You scoff, “I want to help, you guys are my guests…”  They ignore you and continue setting up the table.

They stare up at you with an expectant gaze and you realize that you’re the last one that is standing. You sit on one of the longer sides of the table, Jin directly in front of you on the opposite side and to his right is Taehyung, to his left Hoseok. To your right is Jungkook, to your left Jimin. You suddenly feel really small with all of them being so tall.

Unmyeong comes out of nowhere, sitting happily on Jungkooks lap. Jungkook doesn’t seem quite sure what to do “I’m sorry! Ya!” You say to Unmyeong, but Jungkook smiles at you and pets her. “She doesn’t get along with very many people, I’m surpr-” You try saying but are interrupted.

“KITTTYYY!!!!” Taehyung yells so loud it even makes Unmyeong jump.

Seokjin pats Taehyungs back and asks him to calm down and then speaks to you, “I prepared this with a lot of love,” he gives a cheesy smile, “and with the help of Jungkook, he said these were your favor-” Jungkook coughs purposely and blushes as he does. Seokjin continues, “Should we wait for your boyfriend?” Hoseok turns to look at Seokjin with such a displeased look on his face and the two boys next to you seem so tense all of a sudden.

“He won’t be coming. Let’s just eat before the food gets cold.” Jungkook states and finishes off with a quick, small, smile because he knows you’re watching. You look at him and for a second you see pain in his eyes.

•••

Before anyone realizes it, the sun is starting to set. The good laughs, occasional games, and amazing food made everyone forget the time of day. Soon, you’re walking the boys out the door, thanking them for what it seems like the millionth time, but you just can’t help it. Namjoon and Yoongi had come to pick up the boys, Yoongi, from the van, wished you a happy birthday and Namjoon shouted very loudly and happily that he hoped his kids made you happy. You nod in confirmation and once all of them are inside the van, you watch them head off, down the street, but there is a sudden, hard stop and shouting coming from within the van. You see that someone has stepped out of the van. Jungkook.

He jogs his way up the street, you look at him, but he’s looking down, holding something in his hands. He’s finally up at your doorway, as he had previously been earlier in the day, except without the awkwardness, this time there was an air of nervousness.

He grabs your hand and places the small box on it. “I know it’s not much, but I…” he trails off, “I know you deserve better…I hope you like it.” He finishes.

“Jungkook, you didn’t-”

“Open it.”

You hesitate for a brief moment, but proceed to do as he says. Inside is a thin, delicate, silver necklace with a tiny moon charm on it. “Jungkook…” you start, but find that you’re at a loss for words, though the necklace is so simple, it’s beautiful.                                   

“I know I’m not the only one that is forced to stay awake at night because of my own thoughts…I thought I’d give you something nice to think about, something that reminds you of today, something you can think about any night. That’s why I chose a moon.” He says and watches you carefully and you can’t help but ask “Why?...Why me?”

Jungkook looks away, thinking hard, trying to put words together. He sighs. Now you’re the one watching him, concerned, for he seems troubled. He locks his eyes on yours and runs his fingers through his hair. His expression seems rigid, a mix of emotions, perhaps? He gets closer to you but you don’t step back, you’re still trying to understand him.

He places a hand on your cheek, his thumb gently rubbing it. Your heart starts to beat fast, but you have no intention of moving away. His eyes flicker from your eyes to your lips. He’s closer now, you can feel your upper bodies touching, his other hand taking your free one. You then feel his breath so close on your lips; you whisper his name so low for the moment that is only meant for the two of you and without hesitation he puts his lips onto yours and kisses you with such passion you have to take a step back, but he pulls you back to him, the hand that was previously on your cheek now on your neck and the hand that was on yours, now on your back. Your arms are wrapped around him and you can’t think of anything other than how safe and loved this makes you feel…   But it’s all gone when he pulls you away, his hands on your waist, his lips still lightly brushing against yours as he speaks “I’m sorry…” As he backs away, you notice his eyes are watery, but before you can say anything he’s already making his way back to the van.

You stand there in the door way, your mind still in a different place. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last very long because reality takes no time to hit you.

Your thoughts travel to the one person you had not thought about all day…

Your boyfriend.