Year: 2003

Xiumin: 20

I sat in my room, scrolling through my browser, looking for things to do, but everything was just numb. I had idly been sitting on this blogging site for nearly three hours straight, but I had lost the feeling of being ‘entertained’ after the first fifteen minutes. There was a possibility I had some sort of addiction to the internet, however, because, although I was beyond bored, I couldn’t come to terms with exiting out of the window and closing my laptop. I would much rather feel numb and bored rather than empty and bored.

The clock ticked away as I scrolled towards nothing, waiting for something to catch my interest. My mind, however, began to drift.

It had been nearly three years since I had seen Xiumin. Tomorrow was my thirteenth birthday, marking the three year anniversary since I had seen him at school, then at the park. I still hoped that he would appear in my life as he had, but for now I had Mir, Sehun, and a few new friends, but still I was limited.

Ring, ring!

I looked over at my cellphone and briefly debated on whether or not I should actually answer it. I finally clicked the call button and lifted the device to my ear.

“Hello?” I muttered, my voice cracking slightly.

“Luhannie,” a girlish voice cooed from the other end. My breath caught for a moment remembering I was supposed to visit Tiffany sometime this weekend. I mentally slapped myself.

“Yah, I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to see you yet like I promised. I was busy,” I replied, trying to play it out as if I was actually busy, not just passing time by flicking a cursor across a computer screen.

“Well maybe we could hang out tomorrow if that’s alright. I wanted to give you your birthday present before your birthday, but since you are so busy...” Her voice drifted off and the other side of the line went silent.

“Uh, yeah, I don’t think I’m doing much for my birthday. I actually forgot it was tomorrow,” I laughed, awkwardly accepting her offer.

“Good! Meet me at the gazebo on Lakeway Boulevard, alright? See you tomorrow Luhannie.”

She hung up first, leaving me in a daze. There was a reason I hadn’t wanted to see her all weekend - I had heard from Sehun who had heard from Mir that Tiffany was going to kiss me for my birthday. I had no problem with her kissing me. I liked her afterall, but I was nervous about the whole matter since I’ve never kissed anyone before.

I sighed, looking back at the computer screen, my eyes out of focus as I began scrolling once more.

~

The next day came faster than I had expected. I woke up, startled from a nightmare I had. I shook my head, brushing it of, rubbing the the sleep from my eyes. I looked over at my clock and saw it was the twentieth of April. My birthday, I thought, jumping out of my bed.

I ran to my closet, throwing on the first pair of jeans and shirt I touched, rushing down to the kitchen. I kissed my mother’s cheek, grabbing a few pieces of toast from the stack she had made and a jacket.

“Happy birthday, Luhan,” she said.

“Thanks,” I quickly replied, running to the door. “I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back.”

“Come back by dinner,” she called as I ran out the door and to the sidewalk. I began to walk down the street, eating my slices of toast.

The walk was too slow, however, to the gazebo. I felt the urge to run as I had out of the house, but I also wish the walk would take longer. The conflicting feelings inside of me were starting to upset my stomach. Nerves twisted inside as I nibbled the last bit of toast, making me grimace for eating before going to do this.

I got to the gazebo, but didn’t see Tiffany anywhere in sight. I sat down on the wooden bench, stretching back and sighing. I closed my eyes, breathing in the morning air when something fell lightly on my face. I grabbed it off my face opening my eyes to see a cherry blossom petal.

Weird there aren’t any cherry blossom trees around here, I thought to myself, turning the petal over in my hand. I looked around for a sign of Tiffany, but didn’t see her anywhere around. Sighing, I leaned back again, about to close my eyes again when another petal fell on me. I stood up abruptly, brushing the little pink petal off me.

“Who’s there?” I called, looking around alarmed.

There was no response, but a faint chuckling could be heard. I walked to the edge of the railing in the gazebo I was sitting in and looked down. Below was a little brunette I had not seen in ages, yet he looked the same. I rolled my eyes at how childish he was, despite his years on me. He looked up, noticing me staring down at him.

“You’ve aged well,”he smiled, standing up.

“You haven’t aged at all since I’ve seen you,” I whispered.

“I heard it’s your birthday young man. You are finally a teenager. Have any big plans today?”

Taken aback by Xiumin’s knowledge of my current state, I lied with a ‘no’ even though I had plans.

“Good! Let’s go to the ice cream parlor then and I’ll buy you a sundae,” he chirped, pulling me out of the gazebo before I could protest.

We walked along the rode to the nearest parlor, entering, seating ourselves at the long counter. The waitress came by and Xiumin ordered two banana splits for us. When she left I looked down at my hands, wondering if Tiffany was mad.

“So how are you?” Xiumin asked, bringing my attention back to him.

“You have the right to ask that?” I replied a bit harshly. I saw his face fell slightly.

“Oh..well to me I saw you five minutes before I got to the gazebo so,” he muttered.

“I was kidding,” I assured. “I’ve been busy with studying and also trying to do some club activities at school. You know how colleges eat that stuff up right?”

“I’m sure you will do well Lulu,” Xiumin praised as the banana splits arrived.

We both dug in, me more so than my elder. I finished the whole split in a matter of minutes before Xiumin was halfway done. I looked up at him with big eyes, smiling.

“How did you know banana splits were my favorite?” I asked.

“A little birdy told me,” he chuckled, rubbing some whip cream off my lip with his thumb.

“Yah! You could’ve just told me it was there instead of doing that,” I blushed, rubbing the area of skin he had just touched.

He just chuckled in response, eating more of his split.

~

In the distance a young girl walked over to a gazebo, ready to give her crush a gift for his birthday. Her plump lips were coated in red lipstick, primed and kissable. These lips pouted, however, after their owner had sat in the gazebo for over an hour waiting for the boy who had promised to meet her. The girl waited a few minutes more before she got up, leaving the gazebo behind.

She quickly took out her phone and scrolled through her contacts looking for the boy’s name. When she found it, she quickly began typing him a message. Sending it, she ran off towards her house, hurt that he had bailed on her, once again, this weekend.

~

A chirp came from my phone that I only noticed when Xiumin pointed it out. I had been so preoccupied with talking to him, that I had forgotten that I was supposed to be listening for the device in case someone (particularly my mother) had to get ahold of me. I flicked through the lock screen, opening the message that read:

From Tiffany :

Thanks for disappointing me and not meeting me at the gazebo;;

Hope you have a good birthday with out me Lu.

I set down my phone, frowning slightly. I had forgotten about Tiffany and forgot to contact her to tell her I had...out of town guests, if you could call Xiumin that. I sighed, running my hand through my hair wondering how I’ll deal with her later.

“I’m sorry,” Xiumin whispered, placing his hand on my shoulder. “It’ll all work out though. Trust me.”

I smiled at him, despite him being the fact that I had hurt Tiffany. I went to reach for my wallet, but he insisted on paying for everything. After I had thanked him and we were standing outside the door, I wondered what was next.

“Are you coming back soon? You aren’t going to leave me for another three years are you?” I asked, worried.

“I can’t promise you when I’ll be back Luhan, but I can promise you one thing.”

I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. I looked into his dark eyes, searching for the answer, but didn’t find it.

“What’s that?” I finally questioned.

“I’ll always come back.”

I smiled, reaching out to hug Xiumin, but realized the body in my arms was disappearing.

“No, no, no,” I whispered, trying to hold onto him, but only ended up hugging my own body tightly. I stood there alone for quite some time after the elder had left, staring at the spot he left. What a birthday.

But thank you, Xiumin.