"Happy birthday, Jonghun!" The chorus of voices had messily overlapped, but Jonghun understood what they were saying all the same. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips and it took a light shove from Hongki for him to finally stumble to the front of the crowd of managers, staff members, and friends. He cleared his throat, face slightly pink from both the birthday champagne and the embarrassment of being at the center of attention, and studied each of the faces in front of him.

"Thanks." He said after several moments, "I'm really glad I get to spend my twenty-third birthday with all of you." He paused, allowing for a few wolf whistles to be heard throughout the crowd. There was a ripple of laughter amongst the group, and Jonghun covered his mouth as he stifled a laugh of his own. All in all, he was genuinely happy. He had just finished a mini-concert with FT Island, thus spending his birthday with the fans. After the show, everyone from the stage staff to his own band mates surprised him with an impromptu performance of "Happy Birthday" in the waiting room.

Seunghyun let out one of his signature hollers - a mixture of a loud caveman grunt and a puppy whine - and before the group of people could get even louder, Jonghun began to speak once again. "I'm thankful for the support you have all given me, and for the support you have all given to FT Island as well. As you all know very well, the members of FT Island are all very important friends to me." He paused once more, finding it harder and harder to say the words he wanted to say, "I think they are some of the most hardworking people I have ever met, if that makes any sense. They're all brothers to me, and they've made these past several birthdays really enjoyable."

Jonghun was never one to give speeches - he usually managed to cut to the chase rather well - but he felt as if today was a special case. His throat thickened a bit as he attempted to swallow the tears that he hadn't expected to come so quickly, "I think I would die--" he almost frowned at his word choice, "--if I were to lose any of them."

There was a moment of silence until Minhwan began to clap. Hongki and Seunghyun shortly followed. Eventually, the rest of the crowd began to applaud and cheer as well. Within moments, there was a horde of people rushing towards Jonghun with the words "Happy birthday!" and "Congratulations!" at the tip of their tongues.

Jonghun hadn't even noticed that Jaejin had never applauded with the rest of them.

Instead, the bassist had slipped out of the waiting room and was now heading back out to the parking lot.. There were tears in his eyes, and he made no motion to wipe them away.

"Stupid Choi Jonghun," he whispered to himself as he continued to walk almost angrily down the hallway, "Saying something like that so carelessly...thinking that he would die, huh?" Jaejin shook his head, "It's your birthday. You don't talk about dying on your birthday." He then suddenly stopped in his footsteps.

Jaejin was alone in the half-lit hallway. He wasn't near the parking lot, but the last thing he wanted was to walk back. He knew that he should have at least wished his hyung a happy birthday, but Jaejin had ended up being a lot more taken aback about what Jonghun said than he had expected to be.

"No. If I were to lose you, Choi Jonghun," he muttered, clenching his fists, "I would be the one to die."