“Yah! DongHae…. Where are you going?” exclaimed KyuHyun.

“I forgot my workbook in my drawer… You guys go ahead… Don’t wait for me…” replied DongHae and went back to their school building.

“Do you think we should follow him? It’s pretty late now…” asked SungMin worriedly.

“No, I don’t want to go all the way back to that school building… Why don’t we wait here?” KyuHyun protested.

“OK then…” SungMin surrendered.

DongHae ran towards his classroom since he saw his friends waiting for him at the school gate. He didn’t want to let his friends wait for him so long. After he had taken his workbook from his drawer, he ran along the hallway until he suddenly bumped someone at the corner.

“Ouch… What the…” the student on the floor whined.

“Yah! Are you blind? Don’t you see us?” the other student yelled.

DongHae quickly got up from the floor and apologized them immediately.

“I am sorry… I was in a hurry… I am sorry…”

The two students glanced at DongHae and smirked.

“Do you think your simple apology will satisfy us? Huh?” they asked and approached to DongHae.

DongHae didn’t know what to do or what to say because of his shakiness and nervousness. Before he realized, he was pushed against the wall. The next thing he knew was that one of the students was about to punch his face. He was so afraid that he closed his eyes tightly.

A few seconds later, he felt that nothing had happened, so he slowly opened his eyes to see that the fist in front of his face was caught by someone’s hand. He slowly turned his face and surprised to see… HyukJae.

“You know… It’s not a good behaviour to bully someone weaker than you.” HyukJae said with his low voice.

“Yah… Lee HyukJae… Mind your own business…” one of the guys replied.

“I have a right to meddle in your business as this clumsy student is from my class.” said HyukJae and glanced at DongHae.

“We have heard that you never care about others unless they mess around with you…” stated another guy.

HyukJae didn’t say anything.

“Oh... I see… So this student is exception…” he smirked.

“Now you know… so you better release him or…” replied HyukJae coldly.

“Or?” the guy said still pressing DongHae against the wall.

The next thing happened was that HyukJae punched that guy’s face which made him fall on the floor. It was a shock to DongHae that he didn’t notice himself watching the guy on the floor with wide eyes. At that moment, there is a voice coming from afar.

“Yah! What are you guys doing there? Why haven’t you gone home yet? The class was over a long time ago!” one of the security guards of the school shouted.

“You are lucky, Lee HyukJae… Remember… We are not done yet… You have to pay for what you have done…” said the guys and left them.

DongHae sighed of relief and turned to look at HyukJae.

“Thanks a lot for saving me…” DongHae said and bowed his head.

“I am not here to save you…” replied HyukJae and walked away.

DongHae watched him walking away confusedly.

‘Then, what is he doing here if he was not here to save me?’ he thought himself.

“Why are you still standing there? There will be no one come and save you if you are bullied again.” said HyukJae coldly from afar.

DongHae smiled widely and followed him along the hallway.

‘You can’t pretend to be cold, HyukJae… I can feel your warmth beneath your coldness…’

“I am home, Hyung” said the boy.

“Welcome back… Why are you late today?” asked his Hyung with concern.

“Nothing… Just something happened at school…” answered the boy.

“It’s not important… Just… school work…” corrected the boy when he saw his Hyung suspected him.

“OK then… Are you hungry? I’ve prepared for dinner… Let’s eat now…” he said.

The boy nodded and both of them were having dinner in their dining room.

“Teukie Hyung…”

“Hmm?” his Hyung responded.

“Can you teach me how to bake the cake?”

The little birds were making the chirping sounds in the early beautiful Sunday morning. The morning sunshine passed through the windows of the bedroom which made the room bright with sunshine and that made DongHae wake up early even in weekends.

After he had prepared himself, he proceeded to downstair to have breakfast. He felt sadden because he had to spend this weekends alone. His parents went to the business trip since last Friday and they would be back tomorrow.

He got used to it, but he didn’t know why he felt lonely. While he was thinking about what he should prepare for his breakfast, the door bell rang.

He went to the entrance door and opened it to see SungMin and KyuHyun. He surprised to see them but what surprised him more was the large white box with the red ribbon that SungMin was carrying.

“Good Morning… SungMin and KyuHyun… and… what is that?” DongHae asked them confusedly and pointed at the box.

“DongHae ah… Today is your Birthday?” SungMin asked but it looked like a statement.

DongHae blinked his eyes to process what he had heard. After a few more seconds, he had realized that today was his birthday!

“Oh! Yes!  I totally forgot my birthday… By the way, how do you know my birthday?” asked DongHae confusedly.

He knew that he hadn’t told his friends his birthday before. He wondered how they did know.

“No! We don’t know your birthday… Actually, we just come and visit to your house to make you surprise… We saw this box in front of your entrance door… so… we wonder today may be your birthday…” SungMin explained.

“Ashh… let us come in to your house…” KyuHyun whined.

“Sorry… Come in…” DongHae welcomed them and they proceeded to the living room.

“Here… Your present from unknown person…” SungMin told and gave the box to DongHae.

DongHae took and opened it to see the chocolate cream birthday cake. On the surface of the cake, ‘Happy Birthday Hae!’ is written beautifully with the white cream and the strawberries are also decorated on it.

DongHae smiled softly since he knew who gave it to him because of that nickname.

‘So this time, you didn’t give me the rose but the cake…’ he thought.

“Wow! It looks delicious… why don’t we try?” SungMin asked with his puppy eyes.

DongHae smiled and nodded. They proceeded to the dining room to eat the birthday cake. When DongHae was busy cutting the cake into pieces, he felt that there was something inside the center of the cake. He found the small piece of plastic paper so he cut that center part and took it out.

The next thing he saw was a beautiful rose without the thorns which was wrapped inside the plastic paper. It never failed surprise him, now, not only him but also his friends.

“Why is the rose inside the cake?” asked SungMin.

But, he didn’t answer since he needed to read the note which was wrapped up around the stem like before.

The note made him feel the most excited he had ever felt…

3rd Rose: I Love You, Hae

Next time, I’ll hand the rose to you…