All mistakes are mine, made during my midnight/early morning writing! 

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As soon as the elevator doors opened the unmistakable sound of music bounced off the walls. You silently cursed Pyo Zicoon who promised you he was going to make sure everyone was ready. It had taken you weeks and weeks of planning to throw Zico a surprise party and seconds away from the big reveal, he’s being tipped off because someone couldn’t turn the volume down.

Beside you Zico raised a brow as he paused in the hallway, “Babe, what the hell is that?”

You threw him an innocent look despite the fact that the music was obviously coming from your shared apartment, “What the hell is what?”

To your irritation and most probably the other tenants of the apartment building, the music continued to blare at high volume. Pyo Jihoon is going to have a very very painful death.

“There’s loud music coming out of our apartment!” He exclaimed, incredulously. There are only two people that lived there and both of them were currently not in it.

You scoffed in faux shock, desperately searching for excuses as you willed with one thousand wills that someone turn off the music. “You don’t know that. It sounds like it’s coming from next door.”

Your name left Zico’s lips as another exclamation. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” You were being defensive and you knew you were not helping the situation at all but you also knew Zico had put two and two together the moment he heard the bloody loud music.

“Babe–”

You immediately hushed him, “Listen,” you paused as the silence settled comfortably between you two. Finally someone turned it off, probably realizing it was about time you two got back home. “See it stopped. I definitely think it was the neighbours.”

An unconvinced Zico looked at you with a raised brow, his expression saying it all. “Babe you realize–”

For the second time that night you cut him off, still convinced that you could in fact pull it off. “How about we talk inside, okay?” You began to walk off only to see him still stationary in his spot, unwilling to move. “Oppa please?” Desperate times called for desperate measures. There were very few times you conceded to calling Zico oppa being a whole month older than he is. However, this was one of those times.

“Fine. But I hope you know you’re cheating.” Zico sighed, making a show of marching up to you with exaggerated movements, grabbing your hand when he reached you. “If you weren’t so cute.” He grumbled lowly under his breath.

You bite down the side of your bottom lip and threw him a guilty look before half dragging him to your apartment where he already knew what to expect. Gingerly pressing the passcode, you held your breath in anticipation as you waited for what was to come. As soon as the door unlocked, you gave it one mighty push and immediately stood aside to leave the spotlight on Zico.

“SURPRISE!”

Standing in your apartment were all his friends and families, familiar faces you have grown to know and love too. A smile danced on Zico’s lips, unable to hold his temperament as he saw the lively faces of all his friends. Kyung was the first one to run up and hug him, congratulating him for another year. And boy did he take his time too, whispering secretively in his ear which no one around could even overhear. You rolled your eyes at them. Their definitely best friends alright, even his birthday hug is longer than the one you gave him this morning.

“Hey!” Your best friend, In Joo exclaimed, reaching you and avoiding the obstacle of people waiting to congratulate Zico as soon as Kyung is done.

“Hey you!”

In hindsight you should have known something was up the moment In Joo began beaming before pulling you into a hug. At the time you chalked it up to tequila shots but the absence of the smell of alcohol should have been an indication telling you it wasn’t.

She broke the hug and took a hold of your hand, eyes looking at you with nothing but sincerity. “I just want you to know that I’m honestly so happy that I have you in my life and you honestly deserve the world because you’re the freaking sun.” How could you not have chalked it up to one too many shots?

“Aw sweetie, thank you. I–”

“No seriously! You’re the best person anyone could have in their lives. I mean you’re the best friend, you’re the best daughter, best sister and also, I can’t believe I’m even saying this but best girlfriend ever.” Her eyes were now glassy with tears, whatever was going on with her though, you didn’t want to push. She will tell you once she’s ready.

You gave her a sweet smile and squeezed the hand that was holding yours, “Oh sweetie, I think my brother would fight you about the best sister remark.” She breaks out into a laugh and so do you. “As for the best girlfriend part, I think Zico might want to fight you with that too.”

“What? Why?”

“Because of all this.” You motioned around you. “He said he didn’t want a party this year and when he found out because some idiot didn’t turn down the music, he looked a bit upset.”

“Well, where is he anyway?”

At her question, you spun on your heel to look behind you where you had last seen him getting hugged by Kyung only to find that the guests have dispersed and Zico was no longer there. “Oh my god.”

“What?”

“He hated it! He hated the whole thing and went off to sleep at a motel.” There was a slight tone of panic in your voice which didn’t go unnoticed by your dearest best friend.

She slowly guided you out from the corner you have stationed yourself in, “Oh honey I’m sure that’s not the case. He might have just gone to the toilet or something.”

It was as if on cue, as soon as the words left the lights were shut off but to your utter surprise, darkness didn’t cover the entire place. Somehow, without your knowledge and without you even noticing, there were lit candles on the floor lighting up a path that led to the hallway down your bedroom.

With a confused expression, wanting an explanation, you looked up at In Joo only to have her smiling from ear to ear. “You should follow it, it might lead to somewhere good.”

By now you were starting to catch on, something was definitely up but you couldn’t quite tell what. With her encouragement and Zico’s guests, you slowly followed the path illuminated path. It led you to your bedroom where rose petals covered the bed and a single box sat on it.

“Zico?” You asked, expecting to see him emerge out of nowhere. However, there’s only silence. As you walked closer, you could see a note attached to the top of the box. “Open me” it read, written in Zico’s neatest scrawl.

Carefully, as if the box was a fragile glass, you opened the lid, your imagination running as to what might be inside it. Curiosity surged through your body as you saw the pages that filled the whole box. Some of them were wrinkled as if someone smoothed it out after it got crumpled. Some were torn from spiral bound books, others were random papers with Zico’s unmistakable handwriting on its back. There was even a receipt from a restaurant you guys went to three days ago. You read that one first.

“One day with you is like a second passing by
Before I know it it’s been a week and now I need to get going, bye
I wish it wasn’t like this
I wish you were with me all the time, you know this
I don’t think I could ever live without you
I need you
I love you
Aish, what am I doing?
Writing love songs while you’re in the bathroom”

You chuckled. So this was what he was hiding from you. You remember the two of you visited an ice-cream shop after the restaurant for dessert. You quickly dashed off into the toilet and interrupted him in the middle of writing something. Zico got all flustered and shy about it, which of course made you even more curious. You picked up another one. This one from his notebook, and judging from the design of the page, it’s from his old book. The one he had when two of you began dating.

“I think maybe I found it
The thing everyone is looking for in life
It’s damn pretty that’s for sure
I feel like this is a mistake though
People like me don’t get a taste of good things
We just look through the looking glass
Everyone else is in a different class
How did I get so lucky?
How can a bastard like me have her?
How can I not this up?”

“There’s more you know. I wrote a tonne of them everywhere. Some of them I threw away, most of them I threw away.” He chuckled, “Usually they’re half a verse. I didn’t think I could ever turn my feelings into ink. It just doesn’t fit.” You turned around and see Zico standing by the doorway, a small smile on his face.

You ran up to him, throwing your arms around his neck and inhaling the scent that you have grown to associate with him. “This is amazing! Thank you.” You say, not wanting to let go from the warm embrace. “But you know it’s not my birthday, right?”

“Actually, there’s one more paper I should throw in there.”

Reluctantly, you pulled away and looked him through furrowed brows. “Yeah?”

He nodded, handing you a neatly folded piece of paper. “Go on, read it. I’ll wait.”

“Okay.”

“Falling in love is bull
When you land after a fall you’re going to break
Break a bone, break a leg, break apart
It’s going to hurt like
Why would you fall knowing you’re going to hurt when you land?
But with you, I didn’t fall in love
I wasn’t falling waiting to hit the ground
I was soaring.

Here’s what I promise to never do
I promise to never go to sleep angry
To never walk out when we’re fighting
I’ll never neglect you
I can’t be the man of your dreams,
I’m a flawed human living in reality.
But I can promise you
That I’ll always put you first
I’ll be here whenever you need me
I’ll always listen
I’ll make you laugh
I’ll be your man
Would you be my wife?”

Your eyes widened at the last words, tears have already began forming at the corner of your eyes and when you see Zico moving to bend on one knee as soon as he saw you lower the paper, tears were falling.

“You have been the most incredible thing that ever happened in my life. I can’t promise days with me will always be happy. Sometimes you’re gonna wanna to kill me, other times you’re gonna wanna hug me. But I do know that for the rest of my life, I want to spend it with you.” You were all choked up in tears now, unable to speak as he pops open a velvet case to show a stunning diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

It was a no brainer, you didn’t even need to think about it, “Yes!”

Zico immediately stood up and gave you the most passionate kiss, pouring all his emotions into it.

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“You know, this was supposed to be your surprise party right?”

Zico smirked, “Yeah well, it’s still a surprise party. Except you’re the one surprised.”