*Narrator's POV*

"I'm sorry I wasn't at the competiton today. Something... important came up." Dong Ho said.

"I understand that there are other things that are more important than my competiton." Eun Joo answered, hanging her jacket up.

"Are you really okay?" Dong Ho asked.

"The flowers you gave me are really pretty." Eun Joo picked up the daisies that Kevin had passed on to her from Dong Ho.

"What place did you get in? Third, second, or first?"

Last. Eun Joo thought to herself. "Hye Ri and I got first in the competition." Eun Joo replied, slightly thinking to herself. How is it I got first in the competiton, but I feel like I've still lost? Why?

"That's good!" Dong Ho's eyes trailed over to the roses on the coffee table in the living room, picking it up and looking at it. "Who gave you this?"

"AJ. I mean, AJ gave it to me. Kevin also gave me a rose too. It's probably one of the roses in AJ's bouquet, since I put it there." Eun Joo replied. Eun Joo filled a vase full of water and then, slowly and carefully placed the roses in the vase.

"Tch. You take care of AJ's flowers before mine? I see how it is." Dong Ho said softly and in a teasing tone.

"It's only because some of the rose haven't bloomed yet and I hope to see it bloom faster."

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep first then." Dong Ho light heartedly went up the stairs to wash up. As he was climbing into bed, he found himself thinking about Hye Sung. He should probably tell her that he had gotten home safely. Walking down the stairs lazily, Dong Ho headed to the living room to find his phone. When he had gotten down a few steps and was standing in the middle of the stairs, he stopped as soon as he heard Eun Joo's voice.

"The daisies do look nice. However it seems like the roses need more care than the daisies now." Eun Joo said to herself as she carefully tended the roses. She had put the daisies in a vase and it was sitting next to the vase full of roses, but she felt like she had to care for the roses more. I'm sure grandfather wouldn't mind admiring the flowers' beauty through pictures would he? Dong Ho could see Eun Joo thinking and talking to herself and as he watched her, Eun Joo hurried off to the corner of the living room, rummaging through some bags.

She returned to the flowers with the Nikon camera and took a few pictures, deciding whether or not the pictures were good. After a few pictures, Eun Joo stopped, remembering that she had forgotten to put a cup of water by Dong Ho's bedside table. As she disappeared into the kitchen, Dong Ho headed into the living room, picking the camera up from the coffee table.

Looking through the pictures Eun Joo had taken, Dong Ho shook his head, still slightly displeased with the quality and the clarity of the pictures. Eun Joo walked into the living room and stopped in her tracks, her heart jumping as she realized she wasn't the only one in the house still awake.

"You're still awake?" Eun Joo asked, her heart still jumping from surprise. Setting the cup of water on the table, she glanced at Dong Ho, wondering if the pictures she had taken was truly that bad.

"These pictures aren't that bad and compared to the ones you took in Paris, they're good, but you still need some improvement." Dong Ho handed the camera back to Eun Joo. "Try taking a bird's eye view picture of the flowers. And keep your hands steady."

Eun Joo took the camera slowly from him and tried to steady her hands out. As she was about to take a picture, she felt a pair of arms wrap around hers.

"Even though your hands are a lot steadier than last  time, you still have to steady it out more or you'll since frizzy lines in the picture. Maybe you should use a tripod." Dong Ho suggested. Eun Joo listened attentively as they took a picture. As Eun Joo went to look in the memory for the picture, Dong Ho seemed to be pleased before he could even see the picture. "It's a good picture for sure." When he saw the picture he nodded, pleased.

Letting go of Eun Joo, he turned her around to face her. "Do you think that AJ's roses are better than my daisies still?" Dong Ho asked mockingly.

"I never said his flowers were better than yours." Eun Joo replied.

"Oh really?"

"What I said was that his flowers looks like they need more care than yours." Eun Joo stated. Dong Ho scoffed as he watched as Eun Joo turned her attention back to the picture, admiring it for another moment, before handing Dong Ho his camera back.

"You can keep this camera." Dong Ho said, handing it back to her.

"Isn't this yours though?" Eun Joo asked. "If I keep this then-" Dong Ho cut her off.

"I have still have two other cameras." Dong Ho replied. "Which is why I don't need this one. Aish, I'm really tired now." Dong Ho yawned. "I'm going to sleep first then. Good night."

"Good night." Eun Joo said to Dong Ho, soaking in what was happening to her. As Dong Ho headed up the stairs, Eun Joo looked at the camera, admiring it and smiling to herself. Not realizing she was smiling, she could feel her heart beating again. After ten years, of hearing complete silence from herself, she could hear her heart beating. Am I scared right now? Why is my heart making thumping noise? What am I scared of?

Dong Ho stood in the middle of the stairs, where he could see Eun Joo smiling and admiring the camera in deep thought. He couldn't help it, but smile with her.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Eun Joo, come on!" Hye Ri begged. "I don't want to go alone. It'll be boring and you can help me choose a gift too!" 

"I guess I can keep you company while you look for a gift for Kevin." Eun Joo replied hesitantly. Hye Ri's face brightened up, as she took Eun Joo's violin case and placed it next to her piano and dragged Eun Joo out to a mall nearby.

"Why are you carrying this camera? Is this new?" Hye Ri asked, taking the huge Nikon camera dangling from Eun Joo's right shoulder.

"No, Dong Ho had three cameras and he gave me this one since he said he didn't need it." Eun Joo replied honestly.

"Wow, it's a Nikon though! It's one of the best cameras they have out there and you're hearing this from someone who knows almost nothing about cameras!" Hye Ri said in awe. "But of course, since you're both married to each other, it isn't suprising that he would give you a camera like that."

"Why are you getting Kevin a gift?" Eun Joo asked as Hye Ri pulled her into a store filled with large and cute stuffed animals.

"His birthday is coming up on the 25th of this month." Hye Ri replied. "The rest of U-Kiss is going to plan a surprise birthday party for him. Speaking of birthdays, when's yours?" 

"My birthday?" Eun Joo paused for a moment. "Its around the end of November too. I'm not sure when though."

"How could you not know when your own birthday is?!" Hye Ri seemed to be in complete shock. "Don't you celebrate it every year?!"

"I stopped celebrating it once I turned nine." Eun Joo watched as Hye Ri put down a giant bunny, in which she had claimed looked as cute as Kevin.

"Why? Even my grandmother who's like 80 years old, celebrates her birthday!" Hye Ri said. "It takes a heck of time to put on all 81 candles since she insists it makes the cake prettier, but what I mean is that you're never too old to celebrate your own birthday!"

"I didn't stop celebrating it because I was too old too." Eun Joo said distantly. "It was because I had lost all my reasons to celebrate it."

"Oh." Hye Ri mumbled, leaving the store with Eun Joo.

"But what does his birthday have to do with getting him a gift?" Eun Joo asked.

Hye Ri gasped. "Don't you remember getting gifts on your birthday? I mean even if you don't celebrate it, someone that cares about you gives you gifts don't they?" Eun Joo was left clueless.

"I really can't remember anything before I was nine." Hye Ri couldn't help it but feel sorry for Eun Joo, shaking her head.

"Anyways, when it's someone's birthday, you usually get them a gift to show that you care about them and that them being alive matters to you. But still, I'm surprised. Don't you get people gifts on their birthday when they invite you over to their house for a party?" Hye Ri asked as they continued to go in and our of shops, looking for a gift for Kevin.

"I've never been to another person's birthday party." Eun Joo replied. 

"No friends or anything that invited you?"

"My grandfather had his bodyguards keep close watch on me and make sure that they don't let anyone who isn't known in the music world talk to me. Therefore, I've had no friends before." Eun Joo replied. "Even if I did and they had invited me over, my grandfather would never let. When I got to celebrate the fact we got first in the competiton, that was the first time he had let me, hang out with people other than people who played or knew a lot about classical music."

"Wow... really." Hye Ri continue to mutter. "Well, at least you have me as a friend. Come on, let's go find a gift for Kevin whose also your friend!" Hye Ri dragged Eun Joo around the mall for the next few hours cheerfully until they had each gotten something for Kevin. During the process, Hye Ri managed to take Eun Joo's camera, snapping a few selfies of herself and some more with Eun Joo who wanted to get her camera back.

"I'm hungry." Hye Ri pouted, adding a little agyeo like Kevin does. "Let's go get something to eat."

"Okay, but I need to stop by my grandfather's house to get something. I left my Hornpipe piece at his home and it's my favorite piece." Eun Joo said, thinking more and more about Hornpipe's high pitched melody. Hye Ri quickly agreed as they got into a taxi and headed over to Eun Joo's home. As Hye Ri stepped into Eun Joo's old home, a.k.a. her grandfather's home, she was surprised to see it was an apartment and even more surprised to see that they owned the last three floors of the apartment building.

"Wait here, I'll be back soon. It shouldn't be too hard to find." Eun Joo went off, instructing one of the two maids they had, to serve Hye Ri.

"Is there anything you'd like to drink?" Based on Eun Joo's taste, Hye Ri could guess that soda and coffee was not an option.

"Can I have a cup of water?" Hye Ri asked.

"Yes. And do you want lemon added?" Hye Ri shook her head.

"And how about mint?" Hye Ri shook her head.

"Would you perfer it to be cold or room temperture?" 

"Cold please." Hye Ri couldn't believe at how many questions had to be asked just to get ONE cup of water. How does Eun Joo deal with this?! Hye Ri wondered. When the maid had come back with the glass of water, she began to think about what Eun Joo had said earlier. The maid was an ajumma, which probably meant she had worked here for a while now.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"Um.. No..." Hye Ri said, nearly dismissing the maid. "Wait!" The maid turned to her, giving her a small and respectful smile. "Do you by any chance know...." 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Listen, Eun Joo we need you to be the one that distracts Kevin from the practice room for a while bring him somewhere else." Hye Ri said into the phone. 

"So I just have to keep him distracted and away from the practice room for the next 20 minutes right?" Eun Joo asked. Hye Ri gave her a short reply, by rushing her. As soon as Eun Joo had ended the call, she went over to Kevin.

"Kevin, I need some help." Eun Joo said to Kevin. "I want to get some fried chicken, but I know my grandfather would never allow me to walk into a store that looks dirty. Can you help me get it?" Kevin took a bottle of water from AJ, who gave Eun Joo a secret nod and motioned for her to take him out even if he declines.

"But, I was really-" Kevin was cut off by AJ.

"Man, I really want some fried chicken right now." AJ said, pushing Kevin. "Go and get some for us while you help Eun Joo get some." Eun Joo could see AJ motioning his arm in a very awkward way to the other members. Kevin nodded as cheerfully as possible as he headed towards the door leading out of the practice room. AJ moved closer to Eun Joo whispering to her.

"Stall him for as long as possible will you? We all need as much time as we can get."

"I know, Hye Ri said for at least 20 minutes." Eun Joo whispered back. Eun Joo followed Kevin out, listening to Kevin ramble about many things including Hye Ri. Kevin went into a store that sold fried chicken as Eun Joo waited patiently outside for seven minutes. Trying to get them more time, Eun Joo strayed off from Kevin, walking into stores and dragging him with her. When she could stall him no longer, twenty one minutes had passed already. 

"Eun Joo, let's go back. The fried chicken is getting cold and the last thing I want to have happen to me, is being yelled at by my hyungs." Eun Joo nodded and agreed as they headed back. As they got to the door leading to the practice room, Kevin noticed that the door was sightly opened and was surprised to see it all dark. Together, pushing the door open wider the lights to reveal Hye Ri and the rest of U-Kiss.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!" The room became noisy in an instant. "AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY... EUN JOO."

Eun Joo and Kevin stood next to each other, dumbfounded. Eun Joo turned to Dong Ho who seemed to be just as surprised as her, while AJ gave her a reassuring smile.

What is this?