Ayumu Hamano never expected her birthday would turn out to be the worst birthday ever!

Her best friend, Miharu Watanabe, forgot her birthday.

Her boyfriend dumped her (not like she really cared about that too much. He was a cheating bastard that she was glad to get rid of. Only problem was she found it all out on her birthday).

Her older sister was off with her husband on their fourth honeymoon (which added a little salt to her wound as she still was not married).

Her parents didn’t care because last year she had asked them not to turn up at her birthday party again (as they had embarrassed her by bringing up majorly embarrassing childhood memories).

And last but least (this is what kicked her while she was already down), she lost her job because her boss who was her boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend, fired her because he wanted to replace her with his current girlfriend!

It was her 26th birthday! It was bad enough she was freaking out about her age!

She began to see herself as a lonely old lady growing old alone with no family, friends or a lover besides her.

“Ayu?”

Ayumu’s gloomy mood subsided when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She had been sitting on the bench in a park for a good hour now despite the cold late November weather. She glanced up realising she had company.

Seeing the man in front of her, the very man she thought she would never meet again, surprised her. “Ryo?” she cried out.

“Yeah!”

She got to her feet and stared at him, long and hard. She then laughed, coming a little awkward. “Oh my God! What are you doing here?”

“I moved back to Tokyo 2 months ago.”

Ayumu’s face fell. “You have?” she tried not to feel hurt about hearing about his return now.

But he already detected it. He immediately felt guilty. “I’m sorry, Ayu. I looked you up to let you know but you moved. You never left a forwarding address or a phone number.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, sorry. I guess it’s my fault. I moved from my old place last year.”

“It’s good to see you again though, Ayu.”

“You too,” she admitted.

Ryo Nishikido had been her High School Sweetheart who moved to Osaka once they graduated. He was originally from Osaka but because of his father’s job transfer, he moved to Tokyo for high school. It was just a week before graduation, his father was transferred back which meant Ryo was moving back home with his family.

They never really officially had broken up. Long distance relationship was not something they wanted and they had left it to that.

It had been 8 years since she last saw him. And after 8 years, she still was able to recognise him instantly. His skin was a little darker and he looked a little older. More manly.

“So what are you doing alone at night on your birthday?” he asked with furrowed brows.

“Being alone at night on my birthday,” she cynically responded.

He raised a brow at her remark.

She sighed. “Sorry. I’m just having the worst birthday ever!” She paused and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “You remembered it’s my birthday today?”

“Of course!” he cried out. “We dated for 3 years! Plus you were my first love. I can’t forget you.”

Ayumu noted how he used the word “can’t” rather than “couldn’t”. She didn’t want to believe that she was special to him like how he was very special to her.

Just like she was his first love, he was her first love. She shared her first kiss with him. She gave her ity to him. He was a lot of firsts for her. Which was why she never was able to forget him no matter how many guys she dated. They could never replace him.

Maybe it was because they never officially broken up. If they had, she wondered if she would still have those lingering feelings for him. It was faint, but it was still there.

“I’d better get going,” she said. She made a move to leave.

Ryo stepped forward blocking her path and causing her to stop. “Hey, since you’re alone at night on your birthday, would you mind if we spend it together? I’d like to catch up with you.”

She hesitated. She wanted that faint feeling to be buried deep inside her where she had thought she had locked away but if she spent time with him, she feared it will resurface like a tap left running.

“Erm…”

He caught on to her hesitation. “I guess you wouldn’t want to. You probably hate me for leaving like that.”

She shook her head. The hesitation momentarily forgotten. “I don’t hate you for that. You had no choice but to go back with your family.”

“Yeah, but I promised I’d be with you forever.”

Ayumu laughed bitterly. “We were young. Those promises don’t count.”

“It does to me,” he told her seriously.

She shook her head, trying to push back the emotions that were bursting to come out. “Let’s not talk about the past anymore. If you want to go to a café, I know a nice place around the corner from here.”

He nodded quickly as if fearing she might change her mind. He then smiled that smile that she only dreamed of seeing ever again. “Yes, I’d like to go.”
 

They were in an awkward silence as they sat facing each other at the café slowly sipping on their hot drinks.

“So what do you do Ryo?”

“I’m a history professor at Tokyo U.”

“A Professor Nishikido? Hmm…” she quite liked the ring to it. “I guess that suits you. You were always good at helping me study. Plus you were a er for history.”

He chuckled. “I remember how you at studying, especially history.”

She joined in with laughter. The awkwardness they felt at first completely disappeared replacing with a warm atmosphere.

“Come on, our history teacher’s voice was so deep and slow that it put everyone to sleep!”

“Okay I agree about that. He wasn’t my role model. What about you, anyways? What do you do?”

She smiled. “I’m an office girl.” Despite how her co-workers complained about the job, she loved her work. Though she left out how she was just fired in the afternoon.

“Really?” he seemed genuinely surprised. “I thought for sure you’d be an artist or something.”

She giggled and shook her head. “No-no. Art was always my hobby and still is but I never really wanted to pursue it as a career.”

“Our old art teacher is probably crying,” he joked. “He was very fond of you. A little too fond.”

“You still on about that? The guy just liked my work.”

Ryo rolled his eyes mockingly. “Sure.”

“Hey!”

A second later the two burst out laughing.

Their conversation changed from teachers to friends, then from friends to after high school life, and then from after high school life to the present. They chatted for 2 hours before they realised that it was already 10 pm and the shop was about to close. They did however avoid the conversation from leading to their relationship.

Ayumu’s feelings for Ryo had already resurfaced long ago as they had been reminiscing. She was having hard time thinking straight as she walked down the busy streets with him. Ryo ended up taking hold of her hand when he thought he would lose her in the crowd.

She hoped he couldn’t hear her heart beating faster inside. They found themselves back at the park.

“Ryo, I’m glad I’ve bumped into you,” she smiled warmly at him. They stood at the same bench where she had reunited with him. “It was good seeing you again and getting to catch up with your life.”

“Same here. I’m glad too.” He paused. Then opened his mouth to speak but closed his mouth again. He opened it once again only to close it. She frowned wondering what he was struggling to say. He then took a deep breath before he blurted out, “Are you dating anyone, Ayu?”

Ayumu’s breath hitched. They had managed to avoid the subject until he just suddenly brought it up. “Not anymore. I broke up with my boyfriend today. He was my boss and also fired me as well. I’ve been having the crappiest day ever until you came along.”

“What a bastard! He can’t just fire you like that can he?”

She shook her head. “No way!” she exclaimed. “I only left work today was because I wanted an excuse to leave work early. Don’t worry tomorrow I’ll be going back and threatening him to sue him if he doesn’t give my job back. Even though it would be a pain to work with him, the job and my co-workers are great. He won’t dare to take it up to the court because his retired father will disown him especially from the inheritance.”

“That’s good,” he said in relief.

Her eyes lingered on him before she let out a breath of air. “I guess I should get going. It’s getting late and I need the energy to tell the tomorrow.”

Ryo hesitated. “Erm… yeah… Ayu…”

“Hmm?”

“Can I get your number?”

She smiled. “Sure.” She took out her mobile and used Bluetooth to send her number to him. She put her phone away. “Good night, Ryo.”

“Good night.”

She began walking away. The outside lamps brightened up the park which made it easy for her to see the path. A minute didn’t go by when she found her hand being yanked back. She was twirled around and came face to face with Ryo. He then closed the gap between their lips and kissed her.

At first she was shocked. But her emotions overwhelmed her and she found herself kissing him back with hunger. The passionate kiss lasted a long time before they pulled back breathing heavily.

“I’m still in love with you, Ayu,” he confessed.

Ayumu’s eyes widened. She had not expected things to go so fast in just under few hours. “Ryo…”

“It wasn’t really a coincidence I bumped into you just now,” he went on, stopping her from interrupted. “Miharu didn’t really forget your birthday. She just planned for us to meet. Though it was hard to track you down because you went missing after you left work. I was meant to meet you outside your work place. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to get fired.”

She was shocked. Her friend didn’t forget her birthday. Maybe her birthday wasn’t the worst birthday ever.

It seemed Ryo wasn’t finished with his confession. “I worked hard to get the job here so I can meet you again. I never forgot you, Ayu. I never stopped loving you. I hope - now that you’re single - that I still have a chance with you.”

She covered before a sob escaped. She was touched. She never knew she wanted so badly to hear those words from him. “Me too, Ryo. I love you. I never stopped loving…”

She was cut off when he kissed her once again.

“I’m so happy,” he said pulling back just a centimetre before kissing her lips again. “I always dreamed of getting back together with you.”

When he tried to kiss her again she pulled back this time. “I hope you’re here to stay for good this time. But if you leave again, you better take me with you.”

He chuckled. “It’s a promise.”

Turning 26 may not be a scary thing as she had thought. Her day didn’t start out how she would have wanted but it was going to end just how she had always wished for.