Nayoung grabbed a thick red marker, she drew a large cross over the number 26 on her calendar. May 26th, her birthday, and she was celebrating alone. She sighed disappointedly at her loneliness. She was the most popular, rich, prettiest girl in the school, and yet she had no one to celebrate a goddamn birthday with. Oh the irony.

For most, birthdays were something to look forward to, a day for celebration. But she hated her birthday. Because to her, birthdays were just days that she got bombarded by materialistic, useless, gifts and halfhearted words from people that didn't even care. They were just days where she'd wait for hours by the doorstep, hoping that the doorbell would ring, hoping that they would finally come home and say happy birthday. Hoping they would open their arms to hug her and finally fill that gaping hole in her heart. Birthdays were just days where she would be reminded time and time again that she was alone.

Nayoung sighed heavily. She had pondered over calling Taemin and asking him to celebrate her birthday with her, but decided against it. Taemin had promised to spend the day with Minhee. It was some special day for them today, and she would rather die than rip Taemin away from his girlfriend again. She had hogged him long enough. 

The girl grabbed her phone, staring at her screen intently for long minutes. Specifically at the words 'Lu Han' in her contacts. He would spend the day with her. Right?

________

Kang Nayoung
Oppa, are you going anywhere today? 
-7:22 am

Lu Han
No, I don't think so. If this is another one of your cooking adventures I'm not part of it.
-7:41 am

Kang Nayoung
No it's not one of my cooking adventures, and does that mean you'll be home early today? 
-7:41 am

Lu Han
I guess so. Why are you asking?
-7:52 am

Kang Nayoung
Nothing~ ohkay bye oppa. Don't hang out with Kyungmi. 
-7:53 am 

_____________

Lu Han glared at his phone, eyes fixated on his text message conversation with the famous queenka. His mind was racing, and his eyebrows unconsciously knitted together in a troubled frown. What was up with Nayoung? What did she want from him? She wouldn't text him out of the blue for just the sake of texting him, there was always a reason. What was her motive? He scanned the words over and over, frown getting deeper and deeper when he couldn't decipher a hidden message, or figure out some evil motive behind it. 

He was pulled from his thoughts when Sehun's head poked up from behind his shoulder, "What's so interesting hyung?" The maknaes face scrunched up in puzzlement when he read the words 'Kang Nayoung' on his hyungs phone screen, "Bwoya.. Why are you texting her?" Sehun gave him a look of shocked exasperation, shaking his head slightly to show his disapproval. Lu Han quickly hid his phone away, glaring at the younger for looking into his private matters. He shoved his phone into his pocket to hide his messages from a certain bubble tea addicts view. 

"It's my business, now shoo." 

Sehun seemed to completely ignore his words, "Hey hyung, what day is it today?" He looked at Lu Han intently, a bit too fiercely for Lu Han's liking, and waited patiently for an answer. 

"I'm fairly sure its the 26th today, why?" 

"Nothing, nothing hyung." Sehun gave him a suspicious look before turning away to leave for his first class. 

The confused deer also left to go to his biology class. He turned into the doorway, and jumped slightly in surprised when he came face to face with a large eyed Xiumin. 

"Woah, Minseok. You scared me there, I almost thought you were going to kiss me." Lu Han laughed a little when Xiumin pulled a disgusted face and backed away.

"Just wondering, what's the date today?" 

"26th of May," Lu han paused for a few seconds, "Come to think of it, you're not the type to forget the date, what's up? Is something on your mind?" 

"No, just wanted to know what the date was." 

_____

"Lu Han! What day's it today?" Kai came running to him during recess. 
"The 26th. You know you're the third person that's asked me today?" He raised an eyebrow at a slightly edgy Kai. Kai shrugged awkwardly before waving to leave and find D.O. 

______

"Hey Lu Han." Lay turned his head up from his desk.

"Yeah?" The male asked distractedly, focusing on the maths equation he was trying to solve. 

"What's the date?" 

"Geez, you too? Everyone's been asking me the same thing," he sighed a little, "It's the 26th." 

________

"Oi," Kris nudged him in the gut painfully with his elbow, "What day is it today?" Lu Han glared at Kris, he knew something was up.

"Seriously? What's with everyone today. I'm pretty sure you know today is the 26th, why are you doing this to meee," he whined a little and flailed his arms, "This is almost as bad as that time last year when you were trying to hint to me that it was Kyungmi's-" 

Oh.

Ohhhhhhhh.

Lu Han smacked his forehead. He had forgotten. Today was the 26th of May. It was their third anniversary. And he had completely forgotten about it. He made an awkward 'oh' sound which died in his throat. 

"So that's why." 

Kris smirked slightly, feeling triumphant that Lu Han had finally gotten the message, "Took you long enough, idiot." 

Lu Han felt like punching himself in the face. How could he have forgotten something so important?  Kyungmi was probably waiting for him to show up with a bunch of flowers or something. She was probably expecting him to have prepared some sort of event, or a special date, or some sort of gift. 

He had nothing prepared. The male cursed silently to himself for his forgetfulness. Looks like he won't be going home early as planned. 

~~~~

As soon as the bell rang, Nayoung shot up from her seat and bolted out of the school. She could feel herself smile as she dashed out of the school gates with her backpack slung carelessly over her shoulder. Actually, she had been smiling like an idiot the whole day. But who wouldn't? She was finally spending her birthday with someone, and that someone was Lu Han. The most important person in the world to her. She shook her head to snap herself out of her little cloud of fantasies. First, she needed to get a cake. Nayoung always got a slice of raspberry cheesecake every year. It was her favourite type of cake, and there would always be one specific shop that she'd get it from.  

The door opened with the chime of a bell. Nayoung walked in excitedly, a small skip in her step as she smiled pleasantly at the woman at the counter. 

"Nayoung! It's been such a long time! Wonderful to see you again. What would you like? The usual?" 

Nayoung grinned, revealing her pearly white teeth, and rubbed the back of her neck, "Yes please." 

"I hope you have a wonderful day dear," The old woman at the counter gave her a small bag, waving goodbye as the girl walked out of the store. 

"I hope you have a nice day too." She bowed politely and left, swinging the bag of raspberry cheesecake round excitedly. 

________

Lu Han rubbed his hands on his trousers, wiping off the nervous sweat that had formed while he waited for Kyungmi. He had just decided to ask her out to dinner, he hadn't prepared anything else, nothing extravagant. It was just like a normal date, and he hoped Kyungmi wouldn't be too disappointed. 

"Oppa," he turned at the soft sound of Kyungmi's voice, "let's go." 

He silently took her hand, "Yeah, let's go." 

________

Nayoung arrived home. She ran up the stairs and threw her bag through her bedroom door, completely disregarding the contents inside. She was too excited and happy to care about what broke inside her bag. She couldn't always buy a new one. Her parents were so rich they wouldn't even notice if she used their money to buy a new car. 

The girl placed the cake carefully down on the table, then opened the bag and checked the dessert inside, only sitting down to relax when she was sure she hadn't damaged it on the way back home. When she was satisfied with her inspection, her lips pulled into a massive grin. 

Now all she had to do was wait for Lu Han. 

4:37

Nayoung rushed to the door when the doorbell rang. Her stomach flipped when she opened the door, ecstatic that Lu Han was finally home. She really wanted to eat that cake. She was given a pleasant, yet slightly disappointing surprise when the door opened. 

"Nayoung-ah! Happy birthday!" Taemin greeted her with a sunshine like smile.

"Oppa. What are you doing here?" 

The said male's face fell slightly in mocking disappointment, "Gee, your enthusiasm is overwhelming. I can't believe you look so disappointed in seeing me." He faked tears and pretended to cry into his hands. 

"Taemin, what about Minhee? Didn't I say to go celebrate your whatever it was with her?" Nayoung glared at him, she was grateful for his kindness, but she was hella pissed. Why was he doing this to her? Could she be any more of a now? He had taken Taemin away from his girlfriend three times now. 

"It's your birthday though, I can't let you celebrate your birthday by yourself, " he welcomed himself in without her consent and walked into the kitchen, placing a small gift bag down on the table, "Look I even got you a present." 

Nayoung pouted, "Oppa, don't make me a bad person." She grabbed Taemin by the shoulders and pushed him back to the doorway. 

Taemin laughed, "Ohkay, ohkay, I'll go. Are your sure you'll be okay?" 

Nayoung rolled her eyes at his 'brotherly care'—as he liked to call it, "I'll be fine, Lu Han oppa is coming home soon." 

"Oh so that's why you don't don't want me here," he gave her a sneaky smirk before she pushed him out and slammed the door shut. 

"It's not like that, geez." 

She heard his muffled reply from outside, "Yeah, yeah. What ever you sa- OH WAIT LET ME BACK IN!" Nayoung laughed at his sudden change in speech, opening the door again to let the dancing machine in. "Let me borrow your room for a second." He dashed up the stairs to her room before she even had enough time to reply. Nayoung made a face, the nerve. How dare he enter a girl's room? Who knows what he might have seen if she hadn't cleaned up this morning. 

The said male came down a few seconds later, running into the kitchen. Nayoung waited at the door with her arms crossed, what the hell was he doing? 

Taemin came back out a few seconds later, "Okay, I'll leave now." 

Nayoung narrowed her eyes at the taller guy, "what did you do? If you messed up my room I'm going to kill you. It took me ages to clean it up this morning." She jabbed a finger threateningly in his face, glaring with as much intensity as she could muster. 

"Calm down, I didn't do anything bad. Okay I'm gonna go now bye." He stumbled out the house in a hurry so that she could question him no further. 

5:24

Lu Han checked his watch, he suppressed a tired sigh when he noticed Kyungmi looking at him. He felt a little bad for having the thought, but a small part of him kind of wanted to go home. He should have been home an hour ago. He was just so damn tired, all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. But of course, he couldn't do that. 

"Oppa, you look tired. We can go home if you like. It's just an anniversary, it's no big deal." 

Yes please. 

"No, I'm fine. Today's a special day." He was grateful for Kyungmi's consideration, but he knew that anniversaries meant a lot to her, and after all the failed dates and whatnot, they needed to go out together properly at least once. He was never a fan of celebrating anniversaries— he didn't like the mushy stuff, but he'd always make an exception to Kyungmi. 

Lu Han checked his phone, no calls from Nayoung. Phew. He was surprised that girl hadn't bombarded him with texts and filled up his call log by now. The couple turned a corner, reaching their destination.

"We're here, let's go eat." 

7:52

Nayoung's eyes travelled to the clock on the wall again, she let out a deflated sigh and pouted. Where was Lu Han? It was nearly 8 o'clock and he still wasn't home. She had contemplated calling him several times, but decided against it. She didn't to pester him too much. Usually when she did call him he'd come home in a bad mood, and if he came home in a bad mood, he wouldn't want to celebrate her birthday with her. 

Her cake was still untouched, Taemin's present remained inside the bag and his letter unopened. She wanted to wait for Lu Han to come home so they could open the present together. The girl let out a whine, this waiting game was really boring. 

"Lu Han oppa, come home soon." 

8:25

Lu Han's eyes shot up and he scanned the restaurant, eyes narrowing to try to make out the faces of the other customers. He could've sworn he heard Chen's distinct laughter somewhere. He lowered his eyes disappointedly when all he could see were unfamiliar faces amongst the sea of diners. Maybe he was just imagining things. Or maybe they were hiding somewhere so he couldn't see them. Or maybe he was so bored that he just desperately wanted something to do. 

He held back a sigh and turned back to Kyungmi, watching her as she slowly enjoyed her dinner. Whenever they went out, there was always something fun to do, or EXO were with them to give him a laugh now and then. He never realised having dinner with Kyungmi could be so.. Boring. He had finished his plate, and was waiting for the girl to eat her food. But damn she was slow. He felt like he was watching snails having a race. He had grown used to Nayoung inhaling her food every morning, and it was surprisingly strange to see that he had finished eating before the latter. 

Lu Han rested his cheek in his palm. Was it possible to eat so slowly? Or maybe he had gotten so used to Nayoung's speed eating that seeing someone eat at a normal pace just seemed slow. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he really wanted to get home. The earlier he came home the less  angry Nayoung was. And a less angry Nayoung meant a less insults would be thrown, and less insults would mean he might actually go to sleep in peace instead of ranting and raging at night. 

He smiled habitually when Kyungmi looked up at him, secretly hoping she could chew a little faster. 

10:46

Nayoung blew a sigh, a frown forming on her features when she looked up at the clock again. It was nearly 11, and she was getting sleepy. Maybe Lu Han wasn't coming home at all, maybe they weren't celebrating her birthday together after all. The thought made her heart sink to her stomach. Where was Lu Han? He was probably out with Kyungmi, having an amazing time. She cringed at the thought, why was it always Lee Kyungmi? 

Nayoung couldn't even feel jealous at the older girl, she wasn't even angry. All she could feel was this overwhelming emptiness. It made her feel so lonely, and even though it was a only Autumn, she felt cold. The girl turned to Taemin's present, maybe it was time to open it. Lu Han probably wasn't going to come in time anyway. She grabbed a small gift bag and opened it, making a face when she saw a scrunched up piece of baby blue paper inside. What was Taemin thinking? Putting  scrunched up rubbish in her gift? She grabbed it and straightened out the ten million creases and folds. When she had smoothed out the paper to an acceptable standard, she realised that it was a page torn from her notebook. The patterned flowers in the corner of the page gave it away. 

Nayoung giggled a little, "Ahh, so that's why." She remembered Taemin's crazed movements earlier in the day and shook her head. It was so blatantly obvious that she wondered how she had missed it. 

It took her a while to realise he had actually written a note on the paper. The writing was so messy that she had assumed he was just scribbling on the page. She read the note carefully and slowly, taking a lot longer than usual as the words were barely legible. 

After what seemed like an eternity, she finally placed the note down with a smile. It felt like she had just deciphered a whole different language, and she felt a little triumphant that she had actually managed to understand it at all. She cringed at the words he wrote, sometimes he was so cheesy it was gross, but she felt somewhat better after his overload of lame sentences and 'deep meaningfulness'. 

She felt herelf smile a little, maybe it was time to actually listen to Taemin for once in her life. 

Light a candle and make a wish.

Nayoung got up and searched in her cabinet for some candles and a lighter. She lit up a candle and place it neatly into the center of the slice of cheesecake. She closed her eyes and made a wish, the same wish she had made every other year before, even though it never came true. 

Open up presents

She rummaged through the small gift bag that was on the table. Her hands found a small velvet cube, and she pulled her hand out, revealing a small jewelry box. Nayoung opened it, revealing a chrome coloured necklace. She scrunched up her face when she noticed the pendant on it. Ew. A butterfly. 

Have someone sing happy birthday to you.

Her grin faltered a little bit, the emptiness slowly creeping back. She had temporarily forgotten about the uncomfortable feeling while she was busy doing everything else. She laughed halfheartedly, not even sure why she laughed when there was nothing humorous about the situation at all. Maybe it was because she was in such a pathetic situation. She was the queenka, yet she was celebrating her birthday alone. Hah. 

"Sorry oppa, I can't exactly have some sing to me because no one's here. I hope you don't mind if I sing it to myself." She smiled somberly, closing her eyes and blowing out the candle, "Happy birthday to me."  

11:48

When Lu Han got home, the male instantly noticed the kitchen light had been left on. He had known that Nayoung was incompetent, and slightly on the useless side, but turning off lights was something even a five year old was capable of doing. And she never left lights on, that was one of the few rare things she did right. Lu Han immediately assumed that Nayoung had stayed up to wait for him, like she usually would whenever he went out on a date with Kyungmi. But then why wasn't she yelling at him and getting defensive? She'd normally have started raging by now. Whenever he'd get home, she'd run to the door and pretty much tackle him to the ground demanding him to tell her what he did. Where was all the noise, it was strangled quiet in the house. 

"Hey Nayoung, are you-" he froze when he turned to the kitchen. Lu Han's pleasant mood from a successful date immediately dampened, feeling something tug at his heart strings. The girl had fallen asleep on the kitchen table. He smiled half heartedly, approaching the sleeping girl quietly, wary of making a sound, trying his best to stay silent as to not wake her up. 

Nayoung had fallen asleep. Her arms were sprawled across the table, head resting on top, using them as a pillow. Lu Han moved a few strands of her hair that was dangerously close to the cheesecake on the table, and tucked it behind her ear gently. He could feel her soft, rhythmic breathing in the otherwise silent night. His eyes landed on the small pink jewelry box on the table. A small silver necklace glinted in the light. It was made of a thin chain, an elegant amethyst butterfly pendant lay in the middle. 

Lu Han marveled at the beautiful piece of jewelry for a while before his attention turned to the letter that was in Nayoung's loose fist. He felt a pang at his heart when he read the letter, his heart sinking further with each word. 

Dear:  The lovely Kang Nayoung! 

Happy birthday. 

It's been so long hasn't it? Another year had passed again, that makes it 5 years now right? Five years and you're still a stubborn git. Not even letting me spend the day with you. I can't believe you kicked me out and forced me to hang out with Minhee. I feel so hurt, I got rejected by you. 

A messily drawn sad face had been scribbled on the page.

The only reason I agreed and left you was because you told me Lu Han was going to come home and celebrate with you. So don't think you've won or anything. I would've stayed if I wanted to. 

Nayoung, I know that you don't really enjoy having company, but don't celebrate your birthday alone okay? I hope that your birthday this year will the best one you've ever had, that this year, you'll actually smile and enjoy it. I hope that you won't just sit at home and wait for it to end. I want you to actually blow out a candle and make a wish, to actually open up presents and have someone sing happy birthday to you. 

Enough of the deep meaningfulness stuff now, I got you a butterfly necklace because I know you hate them. Haha. 

Happy birthday you stupid donkey, 

Love, the most wonderful, beautiful, handsome, awesomest oppa in the world. Taemin. 

Ps, sorry for the messy handwriting, I also stole a page from your notebook. I hope you don't mind.

Lu Han could feel the guilt creeping up into his heavy heart, gripping every fiber in his body. So today was Nayoung's birthday. Now it made sense, the strange texts in the morning. She was waiting for him to come home wasn't she? She waited for him because he said he'd come home. But he didn't. He was an idiot. He was a freaking stupid idiot. 

Lu Han ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Why was he feeling like this? Kyungmi was his girlfriend, and Nayoung was a girl he was supposed to hate. He had done the right thing by putting his girlfriend first, he had done the logical thing. But why did he regret it so much? He couldn't look at Nayoung, he couldn't bare looking at the sleeping girl. The guilt was overwhelming, but there was another feeling mixed in between. He couldn't identify it, it was just this uncomfortable tug at his heart that wouldn't fade. 

He felt like crap. 

Lu Han pulled out a chair beside her and sat down. He unconsciously reached out and her hair, words spilling out of his mouth without his consent. 

"Hey Nayoung, did you wait for me?" 

He was glad the girl was asleep, he wouldn't have been able to say those words otherwise. 

"It was you're birthday today right?" 

Her soft breathing was like a lullaby, calming him, but at the same time reminding him of the overwhleming guilt. 

"Tch, idiot. You shoudln't have waiting for me."

11:57

It was like his body moved on it's own, and he didn't have enough time to stop himself. He leaned closer to the girl, lifted her petite frame gently into his arms. He carried her upstairs, ignoring the subtle elevation in his heart rate. Lu Han hadn't noticed how thin and frail she was until now. He laid the girl down slowly, as if he was scared she'd break. He grabbed her blanket, pulling the soft sheets over her and tucking her in. 

The male stood back up again and sighed tiredly, at least she would be comfortable when she slept. That was the least he could do for her considering it was his fault Nayoung had spent her birthday alone. He felt a another tug at his heart strings when he noticed the tired lines etched on the girl's features. 

Lu Han leaned in and tucked a few stray strands of her fringe away, his fingers lingering a little longer than necessary. He apologised, even though she couldn't hear it, "Nayoung ah, sorry for not being there." Lu Han's fingers trailed over her cheek for a few fleeting moments.

12:00

"Happy birthday." 

________

I'm back again, lol. 

This chapter was extra long, (4000+ words) I wasn't planning to make it so long, but it just turned out that way XD. I hope this long chapter will make up for the next chapter I'll update next week, I'm struggling to write it at the moment :/  

If next week's update turns out to be really short and crappy please forgive me. 

Thankyou for reading, subscribing, commenting, upvoting etc etc. 

Annyeong~