The club was packed that night just like any other Friday nights. The hall was dimly lit, with only few lights blinking, as they were dancing along the upbeat Western party song that the DJ played. With all the alcohol and illegal drugs the people took in, they danced like mad men, almost as if ing each other on the dance floor.

Everyone in the club was in ecstasy, except for one.

Kwon Jiyong sat near the bar while drinking his fifth shot of tequila silently. Wearing black from head to toe, he almost camouflaged in the darkness. But being the only one different in a club could make you the top prey for those hungry ladies tonight.

Several girls, who were even barely legal, tried to hit on him or even tried to start a conversation. Any other man in the club would pay everything just to have those pretty girls throw themselves at them. But that made Kwon Jiyong different from the rest of the male species- he just wasn’t interested.

In fact, he was never interested in anything.

To say that he had a bad childhood was an understatement.

His parents were probably two of the richest people in Korea (though, he would be the richest once they’re dead) and they were too busy counting their money to remember their son’s birthday.

Yes, today was his birthday. And if he didn’t see his birth certificate being eaten by a mouse when he was 8 while he was looking for some of his toys in the attic, he wouldn’t have known.

He was homeschooled all his life that he never had any friends- well, aside from Mr. Pooky, a teddy bear his nanny gave him on his 9^th birthday. Even though he was never taught how to love, and he didn’t even think that he could ever love, he knew that he loved Mr. Pooky. After all, it was first gift he ever received on his birthday.

Mr. Pooky was the first one he ever loved and lost.

It was a normal day and Jiyong just finished his lessons with his teacher. He had Mr. Pooky wrapped around his left arm as he walked back to his room. The study room was located on the first floor and he had to pass through the living room to go back to his room upstairs. Jiyong saw his father come in together with his secretary and a big ugly Gorilla (Jiyong’s words, not mine) whom he assumed to be one of his father’s bodyguards. Jiyong was surprised to see his father home while the sun was still up and so, he went to greet his father.

Without even saying hello back, his father took Mr. Pooky from Jiyong’s grasped and told him that ‘he was such a baby for carrying a teddy bear.’ Jiyong was almost in tears just because of his harsh words but when he told the Gorilla to throw away Mr. Pooky, Jiyong ran back to his room to cry.

Every since that fateful day, Kwon Jiyong thought that he would never find another Mr. Pooky again. Yes, he would never find another Mr. Pooky again. But life had something in store for him—something or someone better than Mr. Pooky-- Dong Youngbae.

Dong Youngbae was the son of the one of the maids from the Kwon residence. That maid was the daughter of Mr. Kwon’s nanny and when his nanny died, he realized that he would be forever grateful to the family since his nanny did a good job taking care of him. And so, he offered to let Dong Youngbae stay inside the mansion and even gave him a scholarship for college.

At first, Kwon Jiyong was jealous of Dong Youngbae. His dad showed more interest on his nanny’s grandchild than his own son. Dong Youngbae only added the fuel to the already existing fire that was burning Kwon Jiyong’s heart, slowly turning it into tar.

Jiyong felt even more bitterness when his parents forgot his 18^th birthday. A few months ago, they threw Dong Youngbae a party and somehow, deep inside Jiyong, he hoped that they would be throwing a surprise party for him too. He waited and waited and waited. The day was almost over and as the last hours of the day pass by, Jiyong lowered his expectation, but then he still remained hopeful.

By 8 pm, he expected a surprise party. By 9 pm, he expected a cake with candles for him to blow. By 10 pm, he expected them to just greet him. By 11 pm, he expected them to just show up.

11 pm...

That was when Jiyong knew that no one was coming.

He was about to fall asleep when he heard a knock on his door. Even without permission, that person opened the door. And Kwon Jiyong almost fell off his bed when he saw who it was—Dong Youngbae.

Dong Youngbae held a cake on his hands and there were a total of 18 candles on top of it. Dong Youngbae was looking ridiculously funny wearing a party hat and had a goofy grin on his face.

“I’m sorry if your cake is late. You see, I had classes today and when it ended, it was already late. I looked for an open cake shop but I found none. So, when I got here, I baked it myself.” Dong Youngbae explained though it wasn’t necessary because at 11 pm, a cake with candles for Jiyong to blow was beyond his expectations already. Then, he started singing the birthday song.

Kwon Jiyong couldn’t speak. The guy that he hated baked a cake for him on his birthday and even sang the birthday song. For 18 years of Jiyong’s life, this was the first time that someone actually baked and sang for him.

“Make a wish and blow the candle.” Youngbae said to Jiyong after he finished singing. As corny as if seemed, Kwon Jiyong closed his eyes and made a wish. ‘Happiness.’ He said to himself. Then, he blew the lit candles off just like how he extinguished his burning heart, allowing himself to forgive Youngbae.

Just like that, Kwon Jiyong and Dong Youngbae became bestfriends. Though they were totally opposites, personality-wise, it didn’t stop them from being good friends. It was like what Jiyong lacks; Youngbae would make up for it and vise versa. Youngbae was like the light that guided Jiyong to the right path when he was left in the dark.

And for once in Kwon Jiyong life, he was genuinely happy.

But Kwon Jiyong couldn’t really keep up to the pace of the world. He liked being with Youngbae but that didn’t mean that he had to do everything that he did. And so, he just watched as his bestfriend made himself a complete fool of himself by running after a girl.

He remembered that Dong Youngbae often talked about the girl and how she made him fall for her. Cheezy, wasn’t it? But somehow, Jiyong wanted to know what it felt like to fall in love. Until...

“She’s getting married.” Jiyong heard Youngbae say as he brought his hands on his head.

“She has another boyfriend?” Jiyong asked almost instinctively.

Dong Youngbae faced Jiyong and the latter noticed how red Youngbae’s eyes were. Youngbae opened his mouth only to close it again, maybe because he didn’t know where to start. Jiyong gave him a few minutes to think, not pressuring him to say it immediately because he knew that explaining everything to him would hurt his bestfriend.

“I told you that she belonged to a rich family right? She didn’t actually tell me but she had been distracted for a few weeks now. I thought that she was cheating on me, but it was worse. Her parents arranged her to get married to some rich bloke. Why is this world unfair Ji? Why do I have to poor? And why didn’t she tell me? Is she just going to show up one day and give me a wedding invitation? God! You know what? Even if she hurt me this bad, I still love her. And I don’t think I could live a life without her...” Youngbae let it all out to his bestfriend. Even though they were already 20, Youngbae was never shy to show how he felt. He let Jiyong see him crying.

Little did Jiyong know that it was the last time he would ever see Youngbae alive.

Dong Youngbae—Jiyong thought that he was the stronger one between the two of them. But again, he thought wrong. What Jiyong forgot was that it was the first time that Youngbae felt hopeless. And without other experience, the hope you had left inside of you could drop exponentially and in the end, you have nothing left.

Just like that... in the blink of an eye, everything changed. He was dead now. He was just nothing but a memory.

And just how Dong Youngbae’s body was cremated and turn into ash, Jiyong’s heart burned but this time, it turned completely black. And if you were the first one who saw your bestfriend’s lifeless body whose body was still hanging on the ceiling, your heart would be burning in anger too. Angry heart—sadly, it would only believe what it wanted to believe.

It had been 3 years since Youngbae’s death and 3 year since Jiyong started spending his birthday alone once again. But could he ever celebrate? No. He could never celebrate for ‘celebrating’ was only for happy people and he was far from being happy. Every time August 18^th would come, it was like he was being haunted by Youngbae’s memory again—a memory of how Youngbae looked like when he died. And so, for 3 years, he would drink until he would pass out, in the hopes that the day would end without him thinking about Youngbae’s death. But did that ever happen? No... because he actually wanted to remember his bestfriend. Even though it was a painful memory, it was enough to make Jiyong believe that Youngbae was still here, spending the day with him—just like old times.

He brought the 8^th shot glass to his lips and poured all its contents into his mouth. He felt how the liquid burn his throat and started feeling dizzy. If only Youngbae was still here, he would have laughed at Jiyong for getting drunk so fast.

“Did someone die?” Even though it was noisy, Kwon Jiyong heard it perfectly. He was never interested in what other people say, but this, by far, was the most unique first words someone ever told him. He turned his seat and saw woman who was wearing a decently short black dress which ended three inches above her knees. Jiyong noticed that compared to what the other ladies in the club was wearing, she was a prude. She wore her hair in a messy bun and had a fair amount of make-up that made it seem like it was all natural. Jiyong noticed that she was short if she wasn’t wearing a pair of 3-inch black stilettos.

“Excuse me?” Kwon Jiyong found himself asking the woman in front of her. He then noticed the woman check him from top to bottom and he never felt conscious before—maybe because he never cared before.

“You’re wearing all black and you’re drinking tequila way to fast. I just assumed that someone died.” The woman explained.

“Oh.” Jiyong said. ‘Of course I’m wearing black today. This day was far from happy.’ He said to himself.

“No. No one died.” He said emotionlessly.

“Well, you have a weird fashion sense if you asked me.” The woman frankly said. Jiyong was surprised on how blunt this woman was and somehow, he was interested with her.

“I’m Kwon Jiyong by the way.” For the first time of his life, Kwon Jiyong introduced himself to another human being. Considering that Youngbae was his only human friend and ever since he died, Jiyong shut himself from the rest of the world.

The woman smiled at him and extended a hand, “Sandara... I’m Sandara Park.” She said as Jiyong grabbed her hand to shake it.

From that moment on, Jiyong found another purpose in life—make Sandara Park fall for him.