~A Year Later~

Jimin's P.O.V

   I heard Sung- Jae come running into my room. He jumped onto my bed and started moving around. "Wake up Minnie! WAKE UP!!" I rolled over and pulled the cover over my head, causing Sung-Jae to fall onto the floor with a hard thud. "Oww..." Sung-Jae stood up then and yanked me out of bed. As soon as I was on the floor, I felt water hitting my face. "Happy birthday Minnie!" I put up my hands up trying to block the water and snatch way the water gun. "Sorry sweety." I saw my mom peek around my wall. "I didn't know what he was planning. He just came running towards the stairs as soon as I opened the door." I glared at my mom.

   "Oma!" I yelled out at her. "Omo, so scary." She started to laugh as she walked away. I stood up, feeling the water drip from my hair. I gave a fierce glare through my wet bangs. It seems like he got the idea. "Run?" I nodded. "Ohh yeah." I heard him gulp. Within seconds, he fled down the hall. "Keunko! I won't let you off." We dashed down the hall, cutting the corners smoothly. I was about to catch him until I bumped into my dad's legs. I saw Sung-Jae hiding behind him. "Alright boys. Stop running around." I looked up at my dad and pouted. "But Abeoji! He sprayed me with a water gun while I was sleeping!"

   He shook his head and headed back down the hall. "Well. If you boys don't want to go out then by all means, keep horsing around." I glanced at Sung-Jae. I stuck my tongue out and pulled down my bottom eye lid. His mouth dropped and I ran back to the room to get change. I ran down stairs and saw mom in the kitchen. I took a chair and climb up to give her a kiss. "Bye mom. I'll be back!" She pecked my cheek. "Arasseo." I went outside and got in the car. "Where are we going?" I asked Sung-Jae. He was buckling in his seat belt and when he finished, he turned to look at me. "Where you ask? We're going to get the BYR of course." I nodded my head in realization.

   "Sung-Jae, where did you say to pick them up at?" Dad asked. "I told them to tell their parents to drop them off at the park. They should be there already." Dad started the van and pulled out the drive way to head to the park. The park wasn't that far away so we were there within a few minutes. As soon as we stopped the van, we saw a bunch of kids making a dash towards us. LuHan, Xiumin, Hani and Hwasa sat in the very back. Those who sat in the second row towards the back were Minho, Minhyuk, Yerin and Hongbin. Then in the first row was Sung-Jae and I. Nae-il and Lee Frank were pushing and shoving to see who got to sit next to me. "Move it Bushy! I'm sitting next to Jimin." Lee Frank shoved the class rep. She used all of her strength to push him backwards causing him to fall out of the car and onto his bottom.

   "Stay out of my fatty! We had a deal. Whoever got here to the car first was going to sit next to the birthday boy and of course, you were the loser. You can't go back on your word." She spat out at him and then used her bottom to push Sung-Jae over and sat down next to me. She smiled up at me and pushed up those thick glasses of hers. "Happy birthday Jimin. You have two more years before you reach ten and then you'll be making your way to your tween years." I gave her a small nod of thanks and glanced over at Sung-Jae who had his hands up in the air saying that he doesn't know either. Sung-Jae went to help Lee Frank into the car. He sat down next to Sung-Jae and scowled over at Nae-il who was still smiling up at me. "You only want to sit next him because you likeeee him."

   The way she turned her head towards him was beyond scary. She looked like some kind strange and unknown creature. "Who said I like him!? I don't like him at all." She spat back at him. "Yes, you do. Before they arrived, you kept looking in your mirror trying to fix that mop that you call hair." Dad cut the fussing when he cleared his throat. "Do everyone have their seat belt on?" He didn't start the van until we gave him the thumbs up. "So. Jimin, how does it feels to be eight years old now?" I heard Hwasa speak up from the back. "I don't feel anything. I'm just a year older now. It feels like any other year."

   Everyone groaned at my nonchalant reply. "Why do you got to be so boring?" Yerin rolled her eyes. "He is a boy." Hwasa interjected. "Boys don't know how to play along." Lee Frank turned around in his seat. "Excuse me? How dare you say something like that. It's you girls who is always screaming and squealing at stupid stuff. We boys are way more fun than you girlies." All of the guys chimed in at Lee Frank's remark. The girls got irritated at him that sparked up an argument that could have went on for days.

   I was glad when dad stopped the car in front of our house. "Alright BYR!" Nae-il stood up. "Onward!" They jumped out one by one and dashed towards the door screaming, "The BYR are here!!!" and then they disappeared into the house. I watched as everyone went inside and then I let out a sigh. "I can't wait to see how this play out with them here." I shut the door to the van and made my way to the front door. When I opened it, the lights were off. I shook my head and walked in. What I wasn't expecting was for someone to shoot one of those confetti cannons. I let out a yelp and at that everyone jumped out yelling, "Surprise! Happy birthday."

   I looked around and saw aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and then my parents and my brother. To my right was a mountain of gifts. My mom and dad came over towards me. "Happy birthday Jimin." Both of them bent over and kissed me on my cheek. When they did that, I saw a bright flash. Searching for where it came from, I saw my grandma hold up her camera. "Got it!" She winked at me and snapped another picture when I pouted. I felt a tug on my shirt and looked down to see my younger brother. "Come on! Everyone is waiting to play." He started to pull me towards the games that mom had set up for us.

   The first one that we played was pin the tail on the donkey. No one could get it since we had to wear a blind fold and been turned around. That game lasted for about 15 minutes. The next one we played were twister. During this game, Lee Frank kept making Nae-il fall which of course caused her to get upset because she hated losing. We played for about 30 minutes before mom called us to come into the dining hall to eat. My eyes widen at the table that was lined up with food. I didn't know all of them but some of the food I did recognize. There was Galbi, Pickled radish, Perilla leaves, garlic cloves, chili peppers. It was enough wrapping ingredients to go around.

   Mom had also made Japchae, kimchi, rice cakes and kimbap. She made this drink dessert called cinnamon punch. Everyone sat down and there were so many conversations going on at once that you could barely hear yourself think. Everyone was eating and having a good time joking around. All of a sudden, the lights went off and it caused everyone to get quiet. Then I heard my mom's pretty singing voice come around the corner. "Happy birthday to you~" She walked around the corner carrying a two-layer cake that was lit up by eight candles.

   After she finished singing, she placed the cake down in front of me. "Happy birthday Jimin." She placed a kiss on top of my head and told me to make a wish. Placing my hands together, I closed my eyes. After making my wish, I opened my eyes and blew out the candles. After I did that, everyone started clapping, congratulating me on my birthday. I looked around smiling until I realized something. Sera-ssi wasn't here. I didn't pay attention the first time since I was jumped to take pictures and to play games. Why wasn't she here? I excused myself and hopped down from my chair and went upstairs to my room.

   I opened my notebook and flipped to the page that had her number. She wrote it down for me so that way I could call her anytime I want. I went into my parent's room and picked up the phone. Dialing her number, I waited for her to pick up. After a couple of rings, she picked up. "Yobeoseyo?" My face lit up at her voice. "Hi Sera-ssi! It's Jimin." Just hearing her voice made my mood go up. "Ah yes, how are you Min Min? Why are you calling?" Her voice sounded weird. "I'm okay. Today is my birthday and I'm sure you heard about it from Sung-Jae so I was wondering why you didn't come and see me. I really miss you."

   "I'm sorry my Min Min but I couldn't come. I have been sick the past week and I thought today was better but when I woke up, I felt ill. It's been getting better though. You don't need to worry. Is there any way I can make this up for missing your birthday?" I went quiet as I started to think. "Hmmm... You can come pick me up and spend all day with me. This is the only one you can make this up to me." I heard her chuckling softly. "Arasseo. I will spend the day with Min Min." I couldn't hide my excitement. "You promise right?"

   "Hm." I heard her say on the other end. "Kay! I will see you tomorrow. Bye bye." I waited till she said bye then I hung up. I started to jump up and down on the bed. I was so happy that I get to spend time with her. It's been a while.  I headed back to the party and saw a table filled with presents. Mom had set it up to where the biggest ones were in the back and the smaller ones were in the front. I rushed to the biggest one, it said "From: Mom and Dad, To: Jimin." I immediately tore the bright wrapping paper to see a giant Hulk plushy. It was large and was almost bigger than my arms could hold.

   I continued to open the bigger presents. Some were new toys cars and more Hulk toys. I was sure I had enough Hulk toys to last for years. Then I got to the smaller ones, which were still more toys while others were clothes. The last one had a card attached to it. On the inside it read, "Happy birthday cadet No.10, we are proud to call you a member of the B.Y.R. We are really glad to have been your friend for this past year." It was signed first by Nae-il , then Lee Frank and the other kids.

   I looked at the other kids and I almost cried. They were the best. I then opened their present and saw a silver badge with my name on it, and in big black letter it said B.Y.R. I looked up again and saw that all my friends had pulled out their own badges, even Sung-Jae. "Guys you were for real about the badges? I can't even think of what to say. Thank you so much for being my friends."My mom brought out a camera and told us to stand next to each other. She took a picture of all of us with our badges on and then said she would have them developed and sent to the other parents.

   After we finished cleaning the wrapping paper we started to say goodbye to the guests and clean up the food.  The only ones left were my friends and parents. Dad said we could play one more game of twister but then he had to take everyone home.  When they finally left, I felt kind of sad but