“Otanjo biomedeto, Sobo”, Hyun Hae greeted her grandmother early the following day.

“Arigatou, Hyun Hae-chan, aish, my granddaughter is so sweet”, she said as she accepts a kiss from Hyun Hae.

The three of them are already seated at the dining table when Hyun Hae suddenly dashes in and hugged her grandmother. Haruhi chuckled at the way her daughter greeted her grandmother.

“Happy birthday, mom”, she said in English for Minsoo to understand what is going on.

Minsoo then straightened up on his seat, bowed a little towards Takada’s direction before saying, “Happy birthday, grandma”, which earned a little chuckle from the birthday celebrant.

“Thank you, you’re so polite”, she smiled at Minsoo before turning to face her daughter, “Thank you, dear, and thank you, too, Hyun Hae-chan, for coming over for my birthday”, she said, lightly patting her granddaughter’s shoulder.

“Of course, for the greatest Sobo in the world? I would fly”, she said grinning.

After breakfast, the household got busy preparing for the celebration of Takada’s 76^th birthday. Hyun Hae’s aunt Tomoko and uncle Manabu came to help in cooking the food and attending on things needed for the said celebration. Her cousins Kenichi and Kenji are present as well, though not to help but bond with their cousin. They so wanted to visit her the day before but their mother prohibits them insisting they let their cousin have lone time with her mother and grandmother.

Minsoo have met them and they immediately went along with each other well given that they are all anime fans, and what he didn’t expected, Kpop fans as well. They can’t speak fluent Hangeul though they are trying, so, they communicate basically, in English.

“How old are you, Minsoo?”, Kenichi asked.

“I’m 21, my birthday is in November”, he answered.

“Oh, so, Hyun Hae-chan is older than you?”, he said, throwing a teasing smile at Hyun Hae. “So, cous’ you’re not the maknae, now, eh?” he said, happy about showing off some of his Hangeul.

“What do you mean?” Minsoo asked.

Before answering his question, Kenichi said, “niichan, call me niichan, you’re younger than me by three years, so is Hyun Hae-chan right there”, cocking his head to her direction on the sofa. “She turned 21 a couple of weeks ago, making her older than you by one two three… six months”, he counted with his fingers then put his hand around Minsoo’s shoulder triumphantly.

“Why do you sound so happy, nii-chan?”, Hyun Hae asked, a little irritated.

“It’s because…”, Kenji in, “remember when you always win an argument and get things on your side, all because you’re the maknae? Nii-chan is just glad you won’t be able to use that to him now that Minsoo-kun is here”, the younger said.

Hyun Hae smirked, “but he will only be staying here for a week, after that, it’s me again,  bwahahahaha”, she fake an evil laugh complete with both her hands clawed on either side of her that made all the guys laugh as well.

“Hey, Hyun Hae-chan, you better stop acting like the youngest and start acting like a noona, at least as long as Minsoo-kun is here”, Shin insisted.

“Whatever, nii-chan”, Hyun Hae mocks, making a W sign with her fingers by joining two peace signs.

Again, they laugh at the cute and childish quarrel between cousins.

After lunch, Haruhi seek for Hyun Hae. She found her in the living room with her cousins and Minsoo. The four are laughing so hard that she can almost see Kenichi and Kenji wiping their tears off and Hyun Hae and Minsoo holding on to their stomachs, while all of them laugh even harder.

“Now, now, all of you seems to be having so much fun, but you, two”, pertaining to Kenichi and Kenji, “your Okasa calls for you, she’s in the kitchen”, she said which the two quickly obliged. “And you, two, I’ll assign you to the cake”, Haruhi said in a soft voice that made the two lean in closer to her.

“Is it a surprise cake for Sobo?”, Hyun Hae whispered back, a smile is lingering on her lips.

Minsoo just listens.

“Yes, it is hon, plus a little more surprise for her”, her eyes are shining with excitement as she whispers back to her daughter.

“Okay, but why bring him along?”, pointing her thumb back at Minsoo who is intently listening to the two talk. “I can carry the cake, and that surprise something, it’s wine, right? I know Sobo’s favorite, you can count on me”, Hyun Hae said, proud of herself.

“Well, I want you to bring Minsoo and ask him to help carrying the wine, it’s a little heavy, you know.”

“Mom, see these?”, she said trying and failing to show off some muscles to convince her mom that she can.

“Dear, with those thin arms of yours, nah! I doubt you will be able to bring those stuffs home”, she said, slightly teasing her daughter and subtly suggesting her to take her advice and bring Minsoo with her.

Hyun Hae sighed in defeat; she knows she wouldn’t win against her mom.

Hyun Hae and Minsoo are walking side by side along the local market. They already have Takada’s birthday cake, also the surprise gift Haruhi had whispered to her before letting her leave. It’s her grandmother’s favorite red wine. She often buys in bottles but this time, she’ll be having a barrel of it. Not the type of wine barrel you see on movies aboard pirate ships, but a miniature of that, but still, the idea of a wine in a barrel thrills Hyun Hae, and anticipating her Sobo’s reaction upon receiving it excites her more.

She carries the box of cake by the ribbon tied around the box while Minsoo carries the barrel of wine which is packed in a fitting box inside a large enough plastic bag. Now walking out of the market, Hyun Hae pointed to a bench nearby and suggested them sit there for a while.

“You want ice cream?”, Minsoo suddenly asked eyeing the ice cream stand near where they are seated.

“Great idea”, Hyun Hae agrees. “I’ll have cheese, please”, she said before Minsoo placed the plastic bag beside her.

Minsoo came back shortly after with two cones of ice cream on both hands. He handed her the cheese and took the other one for him, it’s vanilla.

“Arigatou”, she said.

“Uhm, Cheonmane?” he guessed.

She let out a small laugh, “Dae, Arigatou is Kamsahamnida”, she explains. He nodded.

“You know, you should try learning Nihongo. You’re in Japan, not to mention you watch anime. Yes, they are subbed, but you can listen to the characters talk, right? You should try learning different languages, you know.”

“Says the language freak”, he chuckles.

“What is that?”

“But it’s true, how many languages can you speak fluently? Not to include those you can utilize a little, and those you can write.”

She was silent, he is right; she really has a knack in different languages and alphabets.

“Well, it’s fun, you should try doing that, too, or at least try.”

They went back to enjoying their ice cream and were silent for a while before Hyun Hae started another conversation, her ice cream almost done.

“So, you’re into vampires as well?”, she asked remembering the first time they met in the bookstore—how they fight over the ownership of a vampire novel.

“Yeah, fancy them alright”, he admitted with a small smile on his lips.

“What do you like about them?”

He was taken aback, battling against himself if he should really open up to her and share his thoughts about one of his fascinations, since not many people seems interested hearing him talk about this stuff, what more inquire about them and seem genuinely interested on what he has to say. But immediately shrugged the argument off remembering their long talk about anime and manga, about how relaxed he has been sharing his thoughts with her.

Ah, this lady makes me feel at ease, makes me want to let her know me, and see through what her eyes perceives. It must be those eyes, those probing yet gentle eyes that you couldn’t help but give in to.

He sighed. “Okay, I’m a er for ‘eternity’, I love the idea of forever”, he said, weighing every word that come out of his mouth.

She’s smiling at him, urging him to go on. She doesn’t have enough people who share the same fascination with vampires, that’s why she wanna enjoy this rare moment.

“I am always dazzled by their beauty, and in awe about their strength, their power, their abilities and skills, but what made me really drawn into the whole vampire thing…”, he said, pausing for a bit, “is their access to forever. When they say forever, they meant it. When they swore they would love you forever, they mean it, they say those words to really live up to it, not like humans who tend to keep on saying that word but never really live up to it. Sure, humans will never really live forever, so saying that is already a lie, but… it is used so casually that that beautiful word has lost its meaning in the human world. The idea of loving someone forever bedazzled me. The idea of a lifetime love for one person is already great, then imagine loving someone and be loved back for centuries and ages. Don’t you think that’s the greatest? A love that lasts for eternity. Such a nice thought. I would love to experience that”, he finishes his little monologue then stared intently at her.

What’s with that look? Hyun Hae thought to herself. It’s as though he’s trying to say something.