Knock, knock, knock

“Myungsoo, come down and eat breakfast!”

Myungsoo could hear the voice of his mother before groaning in annoyance. “Mom~” he whined, still half asleep. His mother did wake him up after all with her calling him, and it was kind of annoying for him since he wanted to sleep for longer. “Just a few more minutes.”

“Alright, but if you don’t come down by the time breakfast is ready then don’t blame me when your food turns out cold,” she said. She didn’t know what her son looked like at that time since the closed door was in between the two of them, but she bet that he was surely annoyed by her knocking on his door and calling his name, making him wake up from his slumber.

Myungsoo could hear his mother’s footsteps as she started towards the stairs. He then snuggled into the blanket that was draped over him and nearly went back to sleep, but then suddenly sat up with his eyes barely opened in the state of not being fully awake. *Why is there a blanket over me?* he asked himself while staring at the blanket in confusion. After staring at it with a blank mind for a few minutes, he turned his head towards the bed and saw Yoomi sleeping all curled up with a pillow lying on top of her.

He then stood up to get a better view of her sleeping position and saw that she was using her arms to hug herself while the pillow was probably there to substitute for the blanket that she was supposed to use. He looked at his blanket again, which was lying on the ground below his feet, before picking it up and replacing the pillow on top of her with the blanket.

“You’re such an idiot, Song Yoomi…” He looked at her with soft eyes while carefully picking up her head and placing her pillow under it. “Such an idiot…”

He brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes and before he knew it, he was lying on the bed next to her. He then started lightly her cheek with his thumb while unknowingly smiling at the same time. He thought that it was weird how he felt fluttery when he’s next to her with his heart beating uncontrollably fast, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. He actually liked it and he already knew why he was feeling that way anyway; he just didn’t know when it had started. When did he first felt this way around her? When did he even discover his feelings for her in the first place? When did he fall in love with a girl from the future that came to him with a broken time machine?

Those were the questions that he couldn’t answer, and they will probably never be answered. All he knew was that something had drawn him to her ever since the first day that they met at the park. That fateful day when he found her sitting there, drenched from the rain, with her head buried in her arms. His very first words ever spoken to her… ‘Are you okay?’

Myungsoo lightly chuckled to himself as he remembered. He realized that he was being overly sentimental at the time and couldn’t help but to laugh at himself.

“Song Yoomi, what have you done to me?” he asked her in a quiet voice.

He continued her cheek while staring at her face when suddenly, he noticed the slight movement of her closed eyes. He froze for a few seconds before retreating his hand from her face, not knowing what to do.

“Yoomi…” he called. “Are you awake?”

He saw one of her eyes open slightly while the other stayed closed. “Yoomi,” he called again. “You’re awake, aren’t you?”

Both of her eyes finally opened this time and she stared back at him with her big, round eyes. “Yeah…” she replied slowly.

“Since when?”

It was silent for a moment before she answered. “Since you placed your blanket over me.”

“Why didn’t you open your eyes then?” he asked.

“Well…” she started as she bit her lip hesitantly. “…I woke up when your mom started knocking on your door and you telling her to give you a few more minutes to sleep. I tried to go back to sleep after that, but I couldn’t.”

Myungsoo nodded in understanding. “So… you heard everything I said?”

Yoomi slowly nodded before breaking out into a smile. “I heard you call me an idiot,” she said. “And I’m not so happy about that, so if you don’t mind then please take back what you said.”

Myungsoo started smiling also as if her own smile was contagious to him. “What if I don’t want to?” he said in a teasing manner.

“Then I will use you as a human guinea pig for a future invention,” she replied.

“Is that a threat?” he asked amusedly.

She shook her head. “Nope,” she answered. “It’s just a heads-up.”

Myungsoo let out a small chuckle and looked at her with loving eyes that were completely noticeable to anyone that might see it, except for the one person who did see it at the time. “But you are an idiot,” he said. “Only an idiot would sacrifice a blanket that was generously given to them, only to give it back to the owner while they shivered in the cold instead.”

“No,” she said while shaking her head. “Kind people would do that. If I wasn’t kind then I would have just let you shiver in the cold on the floor without taking a second thought about offering you back your blanket or anything. Be thankful that I was being generous last night as a thanks for helping me yesterday. There might never be a next time that I would be that kind again.”

She stuck her tongue out at him which caused for him to chuckle again at her childishness. He also knew that she was completely lying. He knew that there would be many times in the future where she would be that kind again, even if she never admits it. It was in her personality to be kind after all, especially towards her one and only best friend; him.

He almost let out a sigh at the thought. Sure, he liked being close to her and liked how she considers him an important person in her life, but he’s not happy that he’s like that to her only as a friend. He wanted to be more than that. He wanted to be more than just her ‘first best friend that she had ever made by herself.’ Instead, he wanted to be involved with her in a romantic relationship, become her very first boyfriend – which to him, sounds way better than being her very first best friend – and maybe even become the guy that she spends the rest of her life with.

“But Myungsoo,” she said.

Myungsoo snapped back to reality and looked at her. “Hm?”

“Why did you ask me that question?” she asked.

“What question?”

“You know,” she said. “The question where you said, ‘Song Yoomi, what have you done to me?’”

Myungsoo blinked and said, “Oh… um…” He looked around for a moment since he didn’t know how to answer.

“Did I make you mad?”

“What? No! Not at all,” he immediately answered.

“Then did you experience any side effects of my previous inventions?”

Myungsoo thought about it for a minute. “Actually, I think that I might have a little bit of paranoia from all the near death encounters,” he replied. “But that’s not why I asked you that question.”

“Then why did you?” she persisted with the question.

“Because…” Myungsoo contemplated over what he should do. This could be the moment to confess everything; his feelings for her, his wanting to become more than a friend, and everything else that he wanted to tell her. “…I…” He opened his mouth with the words waiting to be spilled out. “…I… like…”

Knock, knock, knock

“Myungsoo, are you awake yet? Breakfast is ready and it’s on the table. If you wait any longer than it will get cold!”

They both heard his mom as they turned to look at the door. They then looked back at each other, and Myungsoo put a finger up to his lips to indicate that she should be quiet. “Yeah, I’m awake,” he replied to his mom’s question. “I’ll be there in a minute!”

“Okay, but why won’t you open the door and talk to me?” There was a sound coming from the doorknob as his mother tried to open it, but she then stopped when she noticed that it was locked, and knocked on his door again. “Myungsoo, why is your door locked?” she asked.

Myungsoo widened his eyes and both he and Yoomi started to panic. “Um… I locked it last night when I was changing and I guess that I forgot to unlock it,” he answered.

“Oh,” his mother said. “Then come over here and open it now. I want to see my son’s morning face before I go back downstairs.”

He could hear his mother’s cheerfulness and her wanting to see her son’s face after being away from him for so long. That made him feel quite bad since at that time, all he wanted was for his mother to leave. “Um… ok,” he said unwillingly, but he couldn’t say no since he didn’t want to hurt his mom. “I’ll go open it now.”

He got up and quickly took the blanket before pulling it over Yoomi’s head, covering her whole body with it, and making it look less like a human body under the blanket and more like a pillow’s instead. He then went over to the door and pulled it open after unlocking it.

“Myungsoo…” His mom smiled while placing a hand onto the side of his face. “…I missed you a lot.”

Myungsoo ended up smiling too at his mother’s words. “Me too, umma,” he replied.

His mom couldn’t help but to give him a big hug with her arms wrapped around him tightly as he did the same. They then pulled away and he could see that her eyes were kind of watery, which probably meant that she was nearly going to break down from tears of joy. “Happy birthday,” she said. “I made seaweed soup downstairs, so come down before it gets too cold, okay?”

Myungsoo nodded and smiled back at her. “Ne, umma.”

His mother continued smiling at him, but then her attention shifted to the suspicious looking lump on the bed. Myungsoo saw where her eyes were looking before quickly blocking her view. “Umma!” he said. “I’ll come down later. I still need to make my bed.”

“Since when did you make your bed?” she asked.

He didn’t expect her to ask that question and it took him off guard. “Um… I just wanted to do that since I don’t want you to make my bed for me,” he answered. “I know that if I don’t make it then you’ll surely come in and make it yourself. I don’t want you to do that, umma. Especially since you just came home yesterday from your business trip.”

 His mom was touched by his words, but she still stared at the lump on his bed with a curious look on her face. “Are those pillows?” she asked.

Myungsoo immediately nodded after he heard her question. “Yup, those are my pillows.” He then went over to his bed, and as a way to convince his mom that he was telling the truth, he sat on the lump and smiled over at her.

“I need to make it now,” he said.

He heard an ‘oof’ when he sat down, but quickly covered the clearly human-made sound by coughing and clearing his throat. “I think that there’s mucus in my throat since I just woke up,” he said while rubbing the front of his neck with his hand.

His mom looked at him worriedly. “Do you want me to bring you water?”

Myungsoo shook his head. “Umma, I’m fine,” he replied. “I only need to clear my throat a little.”

His mom nodded in understanding. “Then alright then, I’ll wait for you downstairs,” she said. She then started towards downstairs, and when he was sure that she was gone, he instantly went over to the door and locked it again.

Yoomi shot up from the bed and sat there while taking deep breaths, inhaling as much air as she could. “Fresh air…” She said while continuing to breathe in deeply. “…it never felt so good until after you stay under a blanket for too long.” She then shot Myungsoo a glare. “And you sat on my stomach. I could barely breathe at all when you did that, not to mention that it was hard enough for it to breathe before.”

“Well, sorry,” he said. “But it’s better to sacrifice a little of your oxygen intake and not look too suspicious in front of my mom rather than coming clean about you staying here in my bedroom all night. Now what would you do if we did have to come clean?”

Yoomi made a face before saying, “I have no idea. If it happens then I’ll wing it.”

“And I bet that you would totally fail at that,” he said. He then unlocked the door and held the door handle before turning back around to face her. “Now I’m going down for breakfast.  Do you want me to bring you anything?”

Yoomi shook her head. “I’m not hungry yet,” she replied.

“Okay then,” he said. “I’m going now so remember to keep the door locked while I’m gone and do not open it for anyone but me. If my parents ask me why I kept my door locked then I’ll make up an excuse, but no matter what just do not open the door.”

Yoomi nodded in response. “Then I’m going,” he said.

“Bye,” she said while waving. “I’ll just stay here and do nothing.”

“My laptop is on the desk over there,” he said as he pointed at the location of his desk. “You can use it if you feel bored.”

“Okay,” she said.

“Then I’m going,” he said. And just when she thought that he was about to leave, he turned around again and pointed a finger at her. “And do not open the door for anyone else but me, and remember to keep it locked,” he repeated, emphasizing the ‘do not’ part.

Yoomi nodded. “I know,” she said.

“Alright then, I’m going for real this time.” He turned the doorknob and relocked the door before finally leaving.

Yoomi left out a huff as soon as he left the room. “What am I going to do now that I’m stuck up here like a prisoner?” she asked herself. “And I also need to go to the bakery later to work on the preparation.”

She looked at the clock and saw that it was 10:56 am. “There’s still 4 hours left,” she muttered. “There is still a lot of time.”

She then got off the bed and went over to the area where Myungsoo had placed her inventions, to look for one thing in particular. “Aha! Here it is!” She held the red remote controlled car out in front of her with a big smile. “Now should we test you out and do a little spying?”

There was a glint in her eyes that signaled mischief as she went over to the door, ignored Myungsoo’s order for her to never unlock the door or open it, placed the toy car out in the hallway, and locking the door again. She then got the remote control for the car and Myungsoo’s laptop before bringing it over to the bed with her. She spent a few minutes setting the laptop up for what she was about to do and when she was done, she took the remote control and turned it on.

“I wonder what Myungsoo is doing right now?” she said with the same mischievous smile as before.

She then started to drive the car using the remote while looking at the laptop to know where it was going. The rc car that she was currently using was tweaked a little to go on all terrains – stairs, snow, water, dirt, etc – and she also added many things to it. She added a camera to it, including speakers, and any platform could be set up to view the footage live as the car drove around.

She also added a medium sized screen, where the windshield was, which lets it display messages to be read by people. Oh, and not to mention the printer that she built into it. She wasn’t planning on using it that much, but she thought that since she had plenty of time after adding the others, why not also add a printer to it?

So that’s how the car ended up being more than just a regular rc car, and there it went as it gracefully went down the stairs in a way that wouldn’t make it flip over to its back and become immobile.

“Happy birthday, Myungsoo!” the speakers picked up.

Yoomi recognized the voices as Myungsoo’s parents as their faces finally came into view when the car drove over to where they were. The car went a little farther and she made the camera move upwards to view the people better.

“Umma, appa…” Myungsoo’s smiling face also came into view as he looked at his parents. “I’m so happy that you came back to celebrate my birthday with me.”

“We are too,” his mom said. “And I can’t believe what luck it was for us to make it the day before it was actually your birthday.”

His father nodded. “The last time we were able to spend his birthday on his actual birthday was how long ago?” he asked no one in particular.

“6 years,” his mother answered. “It was 6 years.” She then turned back to Myungsoo. “Myungsoo, how is the seaweed soup that I made?”

Myungsoo gave her two thumbs up. “It tastes amazing, umma,” he replied.

His mom smiled back at him. “I guess that my ability to make tasty seaweed soup has not deteriorated at all.”

Myungsoo continued eating the soup when he noticed a bright yellow toy car at the corner of his eyes. And it seemed like he wasn’t the only one who noticed it since he also caught his parents looking over at its direction.

“Myungsoo…” his dad started. “…what is that?”

The screen on its windshield suddenly lit up right after he finished his sentence, and displayed a message as if to answer his question. “Annyeonghaseyo, I am your son’s and his partner’s science project. I am very smart and can converse to you and even drive around the place by myself as long as I am , so please do not be afraid when you see me. And it is also very nice to meet you,” the message said.

Myungsoo’s parents looked at Myungsoo in amazement. “Myungsoo, did you make this?” his father asked.

“Um… yes?” he replied. “It was mostly Yoomi though since she’s the one with talent in inventing. I just helped out.”

His father nodded in understanding. “Wow, Yoomi is quite amazing,” he said.

“Yeah, she seems very smart and kind, and her looks are not that bad either,” his mom added. “Myungsoo, why not go for her?”

Myungsoo ended up almost choking on his soup at her statement. “W-What?”

“Honey, I think it’s too early for him to be dating,” his father said. “What if his grades drop again once he starts dating? I never seen him place this high before and now I don’t want to see him drop back down to anywhere below 200.”

“Appa,” Myungsoo said. “Yoomi was the one who helped me rank that high. She made me study every day for the exam and was always there to help me study. Without her, I don’t think that I would have ever placed that high before by myself.”

Both of his parents looked quite shocked and surprised at his statement. “Is that true?” his father asked. Myungsoo nodded in reply. “Then I take it back. You can date now if you want, but only if you pick girls that are like her. Girls like Yoomi are a good influence to you and I guess that dating those types of girls would be completely fine.”

Myungsoo’s mom smiled at her husband. “I agree,” she said. “So Myungsoo, what do you think about Yoomi? Do you like her? Is she your ideal type?”

“No, I don’t think that she’s his ideal type,” his father said. “I’m pretty sure that he likes glamorous girls, like Sistar’s Bora.”

“No,” his mother argued. “He likes sweet and innocent girls like the girls of Apink, and Yoomi definitely fits with that image.”

“He likes glamorous girls,” his father said.

“Sweet and innocent.”

“Glamorous.”

“Sweet and innocent!”

Myungsoo sighed as he shook his head in disapproval. His parents were being childish again, but he was immune to it by now. So he just continued to eat his seaweed soup while the argument played in the background.

A few hours later, after spending the whole day with his parents, it was time for them to leave again because of their busy schedules.

“Myungsoo, I’m sorry that we couldn’t stay longer,” his mother said apologetically.

“It’s okay, umma,” he replied. “I’m just happy that you’re here.”

A wide smile grew on his mother’s face caused from being touched by his words. “Aww… Myungsoo,” she said as she went in to give him a hug.

Myungsoo also smiled as he hugged her back. “And I’m also very happy that you bought me new video games,” he added.

His mother instantly stopped smiling and pulled away from him. “Are you saying that you appreciate the presents that we gave you more than us being here ourselves?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered. He waited for his mom to give him the reaction that he was expecting – frowning and utter disbelief in her eyes – and when it came, he immediately laughed before pulling his mom back into a hug. “I’m just kidding, umma. Nothing is worth more than you and appa being here next to me, not even video games.”

His mother started smiling again as she returned the hug. “That’s what I thought,” she said.

“Group hug!” they heard his father say as he also joined the hug.

The family of three stayed that way for some time before letting go and saying their final goodbyes. “Do you want me to see you go at the airport?” Myungsoo asked.

“No,” his father answered. “We still have one meeting to go to before leaving for China.”

Myungsoo nodded in understanding before waving them goodbye. They then got into a taxi and waved back at him before the car completely disappeared out of sight. He sighed as he stared in the direction that they went with a sad smile on his face.

Beep, beep!

Myungsoo snapped out of his daze thanks to the sound that suddenly came out of nowhere. He then looked down and saw the yellow car from before.

“Yah, why are you following me around?” he asked it.

The whole day the car had followed him everywhere he went. It followed him when he went to the kitchen to get a drink, stayed near him when he was in the living room with his parents, and even followed him upstairs – much to his amazement. The only place that it didn’t follow him to was his bathroom since it seemed to make a u-turn whenever it saw that he was heading there.

“Myungsoo, sorry for following you around, but I had a reason to do so,” a message flashed onto its windshield.

Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows at it. “And how can you answer me?” he asked. “You even answered my parents when they saw you earlier. Are you really that smart?”

“No,” it displayed. “It’s me, Yoomi. You know, the one that had to stay in your bedroom all day long with no way to escape the boredom that came with it?”

“Yoomi?” he said in surprise.

“Yup,” it displayed. “Oh, and by the way, I’m not in your room right now.”

“Wait, what?” he said. “Then where are you right now?”

“That’s for you to find out.” A printing sound could be heard coming from the car as a piece of paper emerged from the top of it. “Here, this is where you can find me.”

Myungsoo took the piece of paper and expected for there to be words or at least something that he would be able to understand, but all he saw were a bunch of dots and dashes.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Morse code,” it displayed. “You need to decipher it and find out where I am right now.”

“I’m not going to do that,” he said.

“But you have to. I really need you to come here, Myungsoo.”

He looked at the car in suspicion, but then a knowing smile came onto his face. “You want me to come because you’re planning on surprising me for my birthday, aren’t you?”

“Nope,” it instantly displayed.

“I know that you’re lying,” he said. “I’m 100% sure that you’re planning a birthday party for me.”

“Nope,” it displayed again.

“Then if it’s not my birthday party then why do you want me to come?”

“I didn’t bring any money with me. I need you to come and buy me food,” it displayed. “So please come! I’m hungry!!!”

“Psh,” he said, not believing her. “I still know that you want me to come to throw me a surprise party, so I can’t wait to not be surprised when I get there.”

He stuck his tongue out at the car before leaving towards his house with the paper in his hand, having a plan to go on the internet to cheat at deciphering the code.

“Yah, Song Yoomi!” Myungsoo said into the phone. “I’m finally here. Where are you?”

Myungsoo was sort of irritated and impatient at the time. It took him two hours before he was able to crack the code because for some reason, the internet just wasn’t working for him. He was pretty sure that it was Yoomi who was the culprit for getting rid of his internet, but after begging her to give him the internet back, she was only convince 30 minutes later. The next hour and a half was spent trying to find out what the code meant. He matched all the letters and numbers to the code and was met with a message, but it was a nonsense message that said, “Arbor beamish making seeing orbs aye. 3 4 kips 2.”

He spent so much time thinking that his brain was now depleted of energy and he could barely think anymore. That was when he finally gave up and begged her again for the answer, which she gave quite easily since it seemed like he spent way too much time trying to decipher it. It turned out that the message that he was supposed to get from it was ‘bakery’ for some reason that he didn’t know, so he questioned her about it. She then told him that the 3 and 4 meant that he was supposed to look for the third letter of the first 4 words, and that kips was supposed to be unscrambled to become the word ‘skip’ to mean skip to the 2^nd letter of the last two words.

And now there he was, in front of the bakery. After hearing her explanation, he felt quite stupid since deciphering it seemed so simple that he was sure that almost anyone could do it – except for him.

“Myungsoo, go inside. It’s not locked,” he heard her say.

Myungsoo suddenly smiled and said, “Is this where you’ll try to surprise me?”

“No,” she replied. “I just headed somewhere for a bit and I was afraid that no one would watch the store while I’m gone, but thank goodness that you’re there now. That means that I don’t have to hurry back and I can instead take as much time as I want.”

Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. “Then where are you now if you’re not inside?”

“Going to see what I can buy with 5,000 won,” she replied. “It turns out that I still had 5,000 won hidden inside my pocket, so now I’m trying to buy some food for myself.”

“Also, explain to me why you’re here at the bakery when today is our day off,” he said.

“I’m at the bakery today since halmeoni called me and told me to watch the bakery for her. She also said that it was an emergency, so I had to go and help her,” she explained. “That’s why I snuck out when you and your parents were focused on the toy car playing music and didn’t pay any attention to anything else.”

“So that’s why the car started playing ‘Hey Jude’ really loudly,” he said in realization.

“Yup,” she said.

Myungsoo heard her explanation, but wasn’t buying the part where she said that halmeoni called her. He still believed that once he walked inside, she was going to surprise him with a birthday cake lit up while the bakery was pitch dark with no lights . “Alright then,” he said. “I’m going in.”

“Okay, then watch the store for me while I’m gone. Thanks Myungsoo, bye!” she said before hanging up.

Myungsoo frowned when she hung up on him. “Psh, I know for sure that she’s lying,” he said to himself.

He then put the phone back into his pocket and pushed open the bakery door before going in. There was still an expectancy of the lit up birthday cake and Yoomi coming out of her hiding spot to surprise him as he the lights. But no, to his disappointment there was nothing; just the bakery being the usual bakery that he worked at.

He then went to a table and sat down in a chair to wait for Yoomi. When 16 minutes passed and no one had surprised him with a birthday cake, his expectancy dwindled and he ended up playing on his phone while waiting for Yoomi to come back, now believing that she really didn’t plan a surprise birthday party for him.

All of a sudden, the lights started to flicker, making him look up from his phone. Myungsoo looked at the lights in confusion as it flickered for a few minutes before everything went dark.

“What just happened?” he asked himself. “Did the power go out?”

He sat there for a while to let everything process in his head when he started feeling something weird on his arm, like some type of insect crawling on it. The formication felt so real that he started swatting at the area of his arm with his hands and stood up with the plan to go outside to escape the uncomfortable feeling. But before he could take a step, he felt something behind him, something like a presence.

At that thought, his skin formed goose bumps and a cold chill could be felt down his spine. He didn’t know what to do at the time. He didn’t know if he should run and get the heck out of there or turn around to see what it was. Actually, choosing a decision out of those two weren’t hard at all since who would ever choose to pick the latter, but his mind was too blank with fear slowly creeping into him to make a decision quickly.

“Help… me…” a bone chilling whisper said. The voice felt so close to his ears that he could feel the person’s breath right on him. “…help… me… please…”

AHHHHH!!!!!

Myungsoo instantly jumped when an ear piercing scream suddenly came out of nowhere in the silent bakery. He then screamed also and sprinted towards the door, only to find it locked.

“Help! Get me out of here!” he yelled while banging on the door and using all kinds of methods to try to open it. “Help! Please! Get me out! Mommy! Mommy!”

He was nearly in tears when the lights again and singing could be heard. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Myungsoo~”

Myungsoo turned around and saw Infinite smiling at him while wearing cone shaped party hats; some of them were holding party poppers, and the others were holding party blowers. And Yoomi was in the middle of them while holding a cake in her hands and also wearing a party hat.

“Happy birthday to you!” they finished singing.

They then started blowing the party blowers, causing for horn like noises to sound, and also pulled the string of the party poppers for the colorful streamers to pop out of it.

“Woohoo! Happy birthday!” they cheered.

Myungsoo looked at them in disbelief. He still didn’t know what happened exactly, and nothing was processing in his brain after almost being scared to death.

“Myungsoo, blow out the candles and make a wish,” Yoomi said.

Myungsoo stared at his group of friends in front of him with a blank expression before finally glaring at them. “I almost had a heart attack!” he shouted.

The others started laughing at him and teasing him as he started to regain his senses. They then urged him to blow out the candles when he seemed to be fully functional again. After hearing what they said, he went up to the cake, paused for a moment to make a wish, and then blew out all of the candles in one blow.

“Hurray!” they shouted when he blew out the candles.

“We can eat now!” Sungyeol said excitedly. “Let’s go, let’s go!” He pushed Yoomi, who was holding the cake, towards a table before placing the cake down.

“But why did you guys have to scare me like that?” he asked. “Can’t you just surprise me like how normal people do it?”

“Nah, that’s too mainstream,” Woohyun said. “We wanted to petrify you and not just simply jump out of our hiding spots and shout, ‘Happy birthday!’ when you turn on the lights.”

“Yup, way too mainstream,” Sungjong agreed. “We want to be special and be trendsetters in the ‘birthday surprising’ world.”

“But you should have surprised me like normal!” Myungsoo said. “Did you want me to die on my birthday from a heart attack or something?!”

“Oh, you’re very thankful, you say?” Woohyun said while putting on a surprised and touched expression. “Well, you’re completely welcome.”

He then left with the others to eat cake as Myungsoo scowled at all of them. “Those guys are not my friends,” he muttered to himself. “They’re just heartless zombies that wear human costumes and pretend to be people.”

Myungsoo glared at all of them once more before going over to eat cake also.

“You lied to me. You completely lied to me.”

Myungsoo glared at her as they walked home together with him holding his bag of presents that everyone had given him. He had already opened all of them in the bakery, and they were all pretty small or at least medium sized which was helpful since it made it easier for him to fit it all into a bag.

“Sorry, but I had to lie to you to surprise you,” she said. A teasing smile then formed on her face. “And you were pretty scared weren’t you?”

“No,” he denied. “I wasn’t. I was just… slightly frightened.”

“Myungsoo, don’t deny it,” she said. “You know, I heard you call out for your mom when you were in panic mode.”

Myungsoo started blushing out of embarrassment before picking up his pace to get away from her. “No, I wasn’t!” he continued to deny. “You just heard wrong!”

Yoomi held back a laugh as she watched Myungsoo in his embarrassed state with complete amusement. She then picked up her pace also to catch up to him. They then walked in complete silence next to each other, but it was in no way at all uncomfortable; it actually felt pretty serene and quite pleasant. Myungsoo used that time of silence to think. He had something that he wanted to do, but he just didn’t know if he was confident enough to do it or not.

“Yoomi,” he finally said.

“Hm?” she said as she looked up at him.

“Let’s go to the park. I want to go there… right now.”

Yoomi had a confused expression on her face. “Why do you want to go to the park?” she asked.

“Just because,” he replied.

Yoomi thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Alright then, birthday boy Kim Myungsoo, let’s go to the park then,” she agreed with a bright smile.

Myungsoo ended up smiling back at her, and they then went towards the direction of the park. When they entered the park, they found a bench and decided to sit on it.

“Aigoo…” Yoomi said as she sat down. “I’m tired from setting up your birthday party for you.”

Myungsoo sat down also and chuckled. “Well, you didn’t have to do it. You didn’t have to go all that way just to surprise me,” he said. “Especially that part when I thought that there was some murderous, blood-thirsty ghost coming after me.”

Yoomi let out a small laugh. “Yeah,” she said. “But I wanted to. I wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t an important person to me, and it was completely worth it to surprise you like that.”

Myungsoo’s heart started to beat faster when she called him an ‘important’ person. It was not the first time that she called him that, but he still felt nervous either way. “Yoomi…”

“Yeah?”

“Am I just an important person to you as a friend?”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked back.

“I mean…” He faced her and looked at her in the eyes. “...do you see me as more than a friend?”

Yoomi looked puzzled at his question. “What do you mean?” she asked with a small chuckle. “If you mean that I see you as my ultimate best friend rather than just a normal ordinary friend then yeah, I do see you as more than just a friend.”

Myungsoo didn’t know what to do after hearing the answer from the clueless girl in front of him. She was so clueless and oblivious that anyone who heard her answer would be face palming themselves in frustration.

“Wow…” Yoomi looked at the twinkling stars in the sky with a look of awe. “The stars never fail to impress and amaze me. At night when I’m in my bedroom in my house, I would always look up at them from my telescope and observe them. Then I would forget to sleep since I would get too occupied at just staring at them.”

She let out a small laugh which made him smile, but that didn’t last long when he remembered something. From hearing what she said, he remembered again that she would have to leave one day. She needed to leave and go back to her own time, back to the father that she misses, and back to the place that she was talking about right now; her home.

“Yoomi,” he said. “I’m clearing all of your debt towards me.”

Yoomi looked at him in surprise. “Wait, what?”

“You’re free now,” he continued. “You don’t have to pay me back anymore since you paid me back today with what you’ve done.”

“But I only helped decorate the bakery for you, and I almost gave you a heart attack,” she said.

“Yeah, but I was still touched either way,” he replied. “So you’re free. You’re free to spread your wings and fly home now.”

Yoomi gave him an amused look. “Are you comparing me to a bird?” she asked.

“Yup,” he answered with a nod.

“Oh,” she said. “Then thanks… for clearing my debt.”

She didn’t really know what to say since she did not expect him to do something like this. His words were still processing in her mind when he spoke up again.

“Also, Yoomi…” He looked her intensely in the eyes. “I have been contemplating over this for a while now, and I think that this time, I’m really going to do it.”

“Do what?” she asked.

“You’ll find out,” he said. “But do you remember when I made my wish?” She nodded in reply. “The wish that I made today is something that involves you.”

“Oh, really?” she asked with furrowed eyebrows.

Myungsoo nodded. “Yeah,” he said.

“Is it something good like you being nice enough to buy me my favorite foods or is it something bad like you wishing that I would give you some space?”

“Well, it’s definitely not the latter,” he said. “And I don’t know if it’s good or not.” After finishing his sentence, he could see a confused look on her face. “And do you want to know what I wished for?”

She nodded her head. “Okay then,” he said. “But answer me this question first.” He waited for a moment to make sure that she was paying attention before asking the question. “Do you like me as a man or not?”

Yoomi furrowed her eyebrows and was about to answer his question, when he suddenly interrupted her. “And do not say, ‘Of course I like you as a man; you are a man after all’ since that is not what I mean.”

Her eyebrows furrowed even more and she looked like she was beyond confused. “Then what do you mean?”

Myungsoo took in a deep breath before continuing. “Remember this park?” he asked.

Yoomi nodded her head as nostalgia overcame her. This was the park where she first met Myungsoo and she could clearly remember their first conversation to each other, which actually took place a few feet away from where they were sitting now.

“Well, when I first saw you, I thought that you were pretty pitiful to be honest,” he said with a laugh.

Yoomi frowned before shooting him a glare. “Well, I did almost get crushed by a dinosaur and my time machine did break at that time, but I don’t think that I looked that pitiful,” she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.

He chuckled at her actions before continuing again. “But then, after being with you for some time… things changed.” He glanced over at her and said, “Weird things started happening like my heart would beat faster when you’re around, I can’t stop myself from smiling when I see you, and overall…” He faced her with a smile. “…I felt the happiest when you’re right here, right next to me.”

Yoomi looked at him weirdly. “Myungsoo, are you okay?” she asked as she placed a hand on his forehead. “You’re saying weird things. Did you catch a cold or something?”

He gently grabbed her hand and pulled it down, away from his forehead. “No,” he replied.

“Then did you get too mentally exhausted after trying to decipher the code and then got extremely terrified right after from thinking that there was a murderous ghost coming after you?” Myungsoo shook his head. “Then why are you saying these things all of a sudden?”

“It’s because…” He paused for a moment. He was still contemplating whether he should really confess at that time or not, which caused for him to hesitate to actually do it. “…I like you,” he finally managed to say.

It took all of the courage that he could muster up to say those 3 words, and now that they were out, he felt like he should say more. He felt a sudden urge to tell her everything about his feelings for her, and the words themselves were waiting to spill out.

“I like you,” he repeated. “I wished for myself to have enough courage to confess to you since I have feelings for you. I don’t know when it started or how it even developed, but it happened and I realized them.”

He could clearly see that she was shocked as he saw her sitting there, staring at him with wide eyes.

“I do not like you as a friend, or even as a best friend, but I like you as a woman,” he said. He then stared intensely into her eyes. “So tell me, do you like me that way too? Do you like me as a man that you have romantic feelings for or do you just like me as a best friend?”

Yoomi was speechless after his confession. “I-I…” she started to say, but nothing else came out of from not knowing what to do or even believing that this was really happening.

Myungsoo saw that she couldn’t answer, before his eyes trailed down to her lips. Those soft looking, tempting pink lips that he wasn’t able to and wouldn’t kiss due to fear that Yoomi would hate him when he does. But now it was different. This time, it felt like it was the right time. The right time to try again – since he did try before, but she pushed him away.

“Yoomi…” he called. “I’m going to kiss you now.” Yoomi widened her eyes to the point that it couldn’t even get any bigger than it already was. 

“If you reject me, then stop me or push me away,” he said. “But if you accept me…” His eyes went back to her eyes, and the eye contact, including everything else that he said, was making her heart pound abnormally and rapidly. “…then let me continue.”

She then saw him close his eyes as his face slowly came closer and closer to her. Even when that was happening, she still didn’t know what to do and what decision to make. Her genius brain did not help at all at that time since it seemed like it shut down when she needed it the most. She still tried to think though, and still tried to choose between the two. The two choices being push him away and stop him from advancing, or let him kiss her and accept him into her heart. And maybe, just maybe, if she chooses the latter then she would finally understand her feelings for him even if she didn’t know that she had any at all.

The decision making took too long though. Before she could even choose, his lips had already landed on hers. The feeling of his soft lips was like a small push that helped her to finally make a decision. And the decision was the latter. She had accepted him. Her eyes were already closed and she was kissing back, which of course, made him delighted.

He pulled her closer to him by gently pulling her hand towards him, the hand that he was holding the whole time after she placed it on his forehead and tried to take his temperature, and his other hand slipped around her waist. They then pulled apart after some time, and she saw that he was smiling out of pure joy from her decision.

“Song Yoomi,” he said. “You didn’t push me away. You didn’t stop me. Instead, you chose to accept me, so because of that…” His face came closer to hers again. “…you’re mine now.”

He gave her another smile before bringing his face even closer and kissing her again.

Finally, after waiting for so long, Myungsoo had finally confessed! *throws confetti* I'm sorry for keeping you guys waiting this long just for one of them to confess, but now it really happened. And I hope that the confession scene wasn't dull, boring, and lame. I'm also very curious if any of you guys were able to decipher the code before I revealed the answer right after it. I bet that a lot of you guys were able to though, since it's a pretty lame code. :P

Anyways, happy Saturday and I hope that you guys have a great weekend!^^