When you are alone, hardly anything was worth celebrating these days, especially his birthday.

JaeJoong already knew that nothing would await him in his apartment.

----

Just a drabble which came to me after being inspired by recent Insta posts of the boys.

So I recently reverted back to a 18ish girl by warching the japanese Hana yori Dango and its sequel and remembering the good old days with a lot of music (as well as watching the T Tour, horay to my old hard drive!).

I wrote this on my phone, the first thing in English since years.

(See the end of the work for additional notes)

‐-------------

JaeJoong opened the fridge and reached for the smeared plate with a lonesome piece of left over cake.
He had been so busy these last couple of days, that he had totally forgotten the cake his sisters had him gifted early to his birthday. They had already known about his engagements and taking time for their brother was easier during a weekend than when everybody was at work- or home schooling, as the pandemic still meant restrictions.

Now, it was at the brink to midnight and JaeJoong sighed. Closing the fridge door, but still looking at the cake, he whispered "Happy birthday to me."

With a somber smile he eventually went over to the trash can, flipped it open and there went the cake and its paper plate. Next to the question wether it still was good, JaeJoong didn't feel like celebrating his birthday right now. It was hard keeping up high spirits these days.

He gazed through his empty and dark appartment, only lit by the street lights floors below and the sparks of the city light. Sitting down on the sofa facing the panorama, he reached for his mobile and began swiping randomly over the instagram well wishes, until his breath halted.

Febmin18: 생일 축하해 형, 냉장고를 부탁해

Through all these wishes, this one kind of was strange. JaeJoong kept staring, something was scratching his mind, but as soon as he thoucht he'd grasped it, it fled away again. He touched the name and discovered that it was a private account, no decipherable picture and it followed only two accounts, although of course he couldn't see which. Guessing that one account was his, he still pondered over the account, worrying his lip.
And when it clicked, he gasped, got rigied for a second until he scurried to his fridge. JaeJoong frantically searched its content for something out of place but had to stop his racing heart when it was devoid of anything suspicious. Almost closing it again, he glanced at the integrated freezer section and hestitantly pulled it open. A small red container caught his eye, tears springing to his eyes. Wavering he reached for it and opened the lid.

요오온기 생일 축하해! 막내 & Ho Ho

JaeJoong gasped. He had hoped for a signal, anything, to hold on. JaeJoong reverently caressed the note, eventually taking it out and looking at the beef underneath it. JaeJoong still struggled to comprehend these days, when he looked at his sunbaes account without following it, that he grew up faster than all of them. Marrying last year ( a day JaeJoong saluted to him in secret with the other two) and now cooking a dish, JaeJoon recognized from a picture post yesterday.

He was always mischievous, in an endearing way. And roping in the second part of the duet, although the other was quite busy with promotions right now...

He placed the content of the container on a plate and put it into the microwave, set the timing and wiped the wetness from his cheeks. In the end, the beeping of the gadget tore him from his thoughts of a different life.

Taking a seat, he took the cuterly between his hands.

"잘 먹겠습니다"

------‐-------------

Febmin18: 생일 축하해 형, 냉장고를 부탁해
jj_1986_jj: 잘 먹있습니다!

-------------------------

Notes:

So I don't know any hangul and found these things in the world wide web:

Febmin18: 생일 축하해 형, 냉장고를 부탁해 =
Happy birthday hyung, please take care of my refrigerator (apparently, there was a TV show. As I don't know what stands for 'my', I couldn't change it to "yours", so just besr with me. It's meant to say "take care of your fridge")

요오온기 생일 축하해! 막내 & Ho Ho = Joongie, happy birthday! Maknae &Ho Ho

잘 먹겠습니다 = I will eat well

잘 먹있습니다 = signal that you have indeed eaten well and are happy.

Insta Post Inspiration:
JaeJoong 23.1.2021
Changmin 25.1.2021