“Why are you here?” Hye Seon asked, obviously just as shocked as Jongin.

“I came here to drop off something for Mrs. Go. My cousin works at her bookstore.”

“Ah. Then that’s for my mom.” Hye Seon stepped out and took the box from him.

“It’s heavy.” Jongin warned. Either she didn’t hear or simply ignored him, it didn’t matter. As she steadied the box in her arms, she was about to turn and step back into the house but realized that it was indeed a little too heavy for her to carry alone.

Before the books fell out from the tilting box, Jongin quickly ran by her side, hauling it out of your hands.

“Thanks.” She replied. Hye Seon led him inside the house and asked him to place the package on the bench.

“Hye Seon, are you busy right now?” Jongin asked. Although they had agreed to hang out tomorrow, Jongin didn’t feel like going back to his house since there really wasn’t much to do.

“I was just planning on reorganizing my drawers.” She replied

“Good. Let’s go hang out!” Jongin suggested enthusiastically

“You’re going to go out like that?” Hye Seon eyed Jongin’s bird nest like hair. Suddenly being conscious of his bed hair, he roughly combed his hair with his fingers over and over again. After fixing his hair close to perfection, he thought he had finally saved himself from embarrassment when his stomach growled loudly.

Crap. I forgot I hadn’t eaten since I woke up

Jongin thought. He awkwardly leaned on the wall and looked around as if nothing happened.

“… I can’t go out today. I told my mom I would go out tomorrow.” Hye Seon broke the silence. Jongin’s face fell a little but looked back up at Hye Seon with a smile.

“It’s alright. Then I’ll be going now.” Jongin pocketed his hands.

“But you can stay over for a little while if you’d like. I didn’t eat breakfast yet.” She said quickly. Feeling a little bad for her friend who had come all the way here to deliver something for her mom, Hye Seon didn’t want to disappoint him.

A smile lit up on his face and he took his hands out of his pockets again, taking off his shoes.

“You cook and I’ll wash afterwards.

“Hye Seon!” Jongin called from a distance. The two had already met up yesterday and Hye Seon, being an indoor type of person, had already come out this week and had already stated that she would only spend time outside of the house for no more than once a week. Nonetheless, Jongin was still able to convince Hye Seon to come out the following day.

“Did you dress up nicely today?” He asked as soon as he came near. He scanned her for a brief moment from head to toe; a white tee with laced mid-length sleeves paired with a blue floral skirt that sat over her knee. He smiled and approached her, hands suspiciously held behind his back.

Hye Seon eyed him curiously as he move towards her in an unusual manner, a grin spread across his face. As he came nearer, she unconsciously placed her hands in front of her, suddenly feeling nervy to be wearing a skirt in public.

“So?” He asked as he stood in front of her.

“What?”

“Don’t you know what the special occasion is?” Jongin asked.

“…am I supposed to know?”  Hye Seon replied. It couldn’t be Kai’s birthday since she knew it was somewhere nears the beginning of the year and it wasn’t the grand opening of an amusement park of any sort. While she was in the middle of thinking, a rustle came from behind Jongin. As she snapped back into reality, in front of her was a small envelope.

“Open it.” Jongin said eagerly. Warily, she took it from his hand and opened it. Inside, loose sheets of paper were seen. As she took them out, messy but readable writing that belonged to Jongin was visible and also some simple drawings at the corner of each sheet.

“Carry your bag… Do your homework… make you lunch and dinner- “Coupons!” Jongin exclaimed.

“What for?”

“Isn’t it the beginning of summer? Time to celebrate!”

“Summer starts on June 21. It’s July.” Hye Seon said slowly. Her face was filled in disbelief at how she could be friends with someone so dim-witted. Seeing her expression, Jongin’s own shocked face turned into a smile.

“I’m just kidding. Happy Birthday Hye Seon.”

“How… did you know?”

“We’re friends right? Of course I would know something like this.” Jongin gave a small smile.

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat.” He said leading the way.

As they arrived to their destination, Hye Seon recognized it was Jongin’s aunt’s café. He took a seat at the place they had sat at the last time she came here. Hye Seon took the seat directly in front of him but Jongin patted the empty spot beside him, insisting her to sit beside him. He waved his arm at a waiter and pulled out a Polaroid camera from his bag, handing it to him. Slinging his arm around Hye Seon’s shoulder who had just taken a seat beside him, he put up a V with his hand.

“Stop moving and smile! It’s your first birthday we spent together!” Jongin said while still managing to keep his smile. Giving in, Hye Seon nervously turned to the camera, her face partly covered by her hair. Turning to look at Hye Seon, Jongin brushed her hair away, not noticing the waiter take a picture of that as well. After a few pictures, Hye Seon got slightly more relaxed and gave a tiny smile.

After the little photo shoot was done, Jongin thanked the waiter and pocketed the photos. He checked his phone and abruptly got up.

“Where are you going?” Hye Seon asked surprised.

“I’ll be back soon. Give me 5 minutes.” He said and rushed to the back counter into the café’s kitchen.

“Auntie, they’re ready right?” Jongin whispered.

“I just made them and chilled them for about 5 minutes so you can decorate it.”His aunt answered just quietly. Jongin let out a small sigh of relief and took the cupcakes he had requested his aunt to prepare out of the fridge. Quickly icing the cakes, he made each cupcake have a different design. One had rainbow sprinkles, one had stars on it, and the others had different colours icings that he made with different icing tips.  Lastly, he moved onto the last cupcake which was 3 times the size of the others. Thinking hard, he did a rose swirl with the assistance of the workers and squeezed some icing into the form of a two desks and a textbook.

After Jongin finished, he put them onto plates, preparing to bring them out to her. Jongin was about to go to Hee Young and tell her to close her eyes so that he could bring out the cakes. He could imagine her being bored by now for waiting for so long. However, what he saw was not the typical expressionless Hye Seon but a girl with a soft smile and hands folded patiently on the table. Her hair was not up in a bun but down in a ponytail that was tied on one side, loosely hanging down her shoulder.

Out of reflex, Jongin felt for the camera dangling on his chest and snapped a picture of the girl he had treated merely as a friend for up until this time. Remembering what he was supposed to do, Jongin rushed back in and out of the kitchen, placing the food on the table. He centered the largest on in the middle and took a seat in front of Hye Seon.

“You made all of this in 5 minutes?” Hye Seon was beyond disbelief.

“I ughh… my aunt and the workers helped out.” Jongin replied, finding it difficult to meet her eye all of a sudden. He inserted a candle in the middle of where the two desks joined and lit the candle.

“Hye Seon, do you remember this?” Jongin asked expectantly.

“The…first day…you came.” Hye Seon replied. How many years had it been since she spent her birthday with a friend? How long had it been since someone had sincerely arranged something for her? The feelings that had been building up inside her were on the verge of exploding. Somehow, Hye Seon still succeeded in keeping it all in.

I wish that I could spend my days happily, even if you are my only friend. Hye Seon blew out the candle and merrily ate the cake with Jongin.

“Oh yea. Let’s split.” Jongin said with his mouth full, taking out the Polaroid picture. Seeing the one that he secretly took, he quickly snatched it back before Hye Seon could see.

“What was that?” she asked.

“I-I had some old photos of myself.” He lied.

“This one has hair covering your face, you take it. I look good in this one, you keep it. OH! You smiled in this one. I’m taking that.” Jongin separated the pictures into two piles; one for Hyeseon and one for himself.

After stuffing themselves full with cake, Hye Seon packaged the rest for home and headed back to her house with Jongin. Waving goodbye to him, Hye Seon gently placed down the food before losing strength in her legs. Nobody was home for now. The emotions that had been boiling inside her were finally let out. The memories of her childhood were replaced by the memories she had made today. All the years of loneliness was sufficed with this one day.

Thank you, Kim Jongin.

*The present*

Hye Seon looked up into Jongin’s eyes, finally finding the strength in her legs and the courage in herself. The hand once warm and slung over her shoulder was now cold and indifferent. Hye Seon flattened her hands on the ground and pushed herself off the ground. She imagined herself slapping his hand away or even splashing water all over his face. Realizing if she had done that, she would isolate herself from everyone else even more and stand out in a negative way, she held back. Hye Seon unfeelingly brushed past Jongin, knocking shouldering. She headed to the washroom and bent over the sink. Fortunately for her, it was unoccupied at the time. Tears slowly seeped out from her eyes and fell down her face, rolling down her chin and sending droplets into the sink.

Kim Jongin, you really are the only person that can make me cry so easily.