o 2 7 ;

I woke up the next morning with a major hangover and a very bad splitting headache. As my hand scrambled around the bedside drawer for my alarm clock, I accidentally knocked over a small rectangular box and it dropped to the floor with a small thud.

I slowly sat up in my bed while my other hand gripped on to my head painfully.

Oh God...I thought to myself. Just how many rounds of drinks did I have yesterday?

I started to reach down for the red box, but then from the corner of my eye, I saw a glass of water and two panadols were already placed side by side on top of the drawer. Next to them was a folded piece of white paper.

Without hesitating, I snatched up the two pills and popped them into my mouth before downing it with the water provided. I carelessly wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as I reached out for the note.

Rong-ah, happy birthday to you oldie! :p Hey, we’re finally the same age now, aren’t we? Ha ha, I know you’re rolling your eyes right now...

I laughed silently inside. I was, and only Minhyuk could’ve guessed that.

I’ve already made plans for us but something came up at the last minute! :( I’m really sorry. We can do this another time, right? Please please please don’t be mad at me. I promise I’ll make it up to you. And...I left a little present for you. I hope you like it ;)

P.S Hey, Rong? You know you can’t hold your liquor well so can you please not get so drunk next time? No matter what happens, you’re still my best friend and I care so much about you. If you don’t want me to keep nagging at you, do not do it again.

And, we need to talk about Woohyun.

Happy birthday once again! Let’s hope our friendship lasts till forever.

What is there to talk about Woohyun? I could not even remember what had happened the previous night.

I sighed to myself as I picked the box up.

In it, a pink and white leathered friendship bracelet revealed itself to me – with a small butterfly pendant dangling from it. Minhyuk knows that pink is my favourite colour while his is white; and that the butterfly is a symbol of our friendship – because we’ve made a promise years ago to protect and guard each other like a delicate butterfly.

I could feel my heart swelling up at his sweet and thoughtful gesture. Minhyuk is right – no matter what happens, he will always be my best friend and we will be there for each other through thick and thin. He’s someone who knows me very well, who knows me the best and I wouldn’t want to ever lose someone like that.

I love Lee Minhyuk, because he is my best friend.

Na Eun and my aunt had surprised me with a lovely strawberry creamed cake. We had fun singing at the top of our lungs, dancing around the house like little kids and blowing party poppers. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so lively and free in any of my birthdays before this – and I was honestly relieved for the distraction.

Then came evening. The three of us were sitting in the living room, playing scrabble and I was winning by a word ahead. I gathered my pieces and was just about to come up with another word, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Seeing how the two of them were still greatly occupied trying to figure out a way to beat me, I shot up and raised my hand.

“I’ll get it!” I said giddily and ran for the front door. I didn’t know why, but I was just feeling exceptionally happy.

That was, until I flung open the door.

“Um, hi.”

I quickly close my mouth which was slightly hanging open and gripped on to the doorknob tightly for support.

Joonmyun was standing on my front porch, looking very much nervous and awkward in his crisp white blazer and dark denim. In his hands, was a bouquet of red roses, which he immediately held out for me.

“For you,” he said simply. “Happy birthday,” he added in as I took it from him hesitantly.

I instinctively took a sniff.

“I know that I should’ve called or something but I wasn’t sure if you’d cut me off totally so I decided to take my chance and just came here unplanned.” He had said it all in one breath that I wasn’t sure if I caught some parts, but I did know that he was being terribly nervous.

It kind of reminded me of the first time he had came by to pass me my homework. How he was easily scared by my intimidating self – only this time, he isn’t stuttering anymore.

He regarded me with careful eyes and bit on his bottom lip. “Will...will you please say something, Chorong?”

I inhaled deeply.

“I would love to throw this back at you, really...” I didn’t quite mean it, but I could see that my words had some power on him as he started to back away a few steps. “...but I’m not going to.” I finished with a small smirk.

Joonmyun heaved a huge sigh of relief.  

“I know that I owe you an explanation! A big one, and I will explain everything to you but you need to give the chance and if you would, I’d love to take you out right now because I’ve – “

“Joonmyun.”

“I have a yacht waiting for us well it’s technically not mine because it belong to harabeoji but he hasn’t used it in a long time and he’s offered to let us – “

“Joonmyun.”

“...use it for the night since he knows it’s your birthday and I told him I wanted to make this a memorable night for you and he said of course, just bring the girl out and to make sure I treat you right and don’t screw things up again – “

“JOONMYUN!”

He finally stopped.

“I-I’m sorry, Chorong,” he apologised and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I just want this night to go well and I’ve already prepared everything...now I just need you to say yes and we can go – “

“Yes.”

“...off and have dinner together and – wait, w-what? Did you...”

Despite the fact I have not completely forgiven him (because he still has some explanation to do), I still laughed out aloud because his expression was seriously funny and he was being absolutely hilarious.

“Yes. I said ‘yes’, Joonmyun. Now if you would just stop blabbering for just a few minutes, I’d go up and change into something else and we can leave soon. Is that okay?”

He nodded eagerly, like a little boy who had just been promised a trip to the candy store and gave me a wide grin.

“I’ll wait for you here.”

“No, come on in.” I stepped aside to gesture him in. “You can take my place and play scrabble with my cousin and aunt.” I leaned in close to whisper into his ear. “I’m winning and I think they’re cheating.”

“I heard that!” Na Eun shouted from the living room.

Joonmyun laughed.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make you win.”