"Tae, come on! You should be happy! You're turning 21 next week! We should celebrate."

A red head is pulling a blond girl from lying on her bed.

"I don't want to celebrate."

"But Tae~ everyone will be there, I'll make sure of that. We'll party 'till morning."

"I'm not up for that this year."

"You never celebrate your birthday. You always go missing even. Our other friends always get your birthdays mixed up because no one knows when exactly it is because you never celebrate!"

Taeyeon slowly looks at the pouting best friend of hers. She's not fond of her birthday. She bet none in her family is. How can you celebrate when all that's in your mind is you're near your death.

"I'm really sorry, Fany-ah..."

The pouting girl gave a defeated sigh as she takes a seat beside her lying best friend. "Birthdays are important for me."

"You always tell me that. And I'm terribly sorry if I love breaking your tradition. You must get used to it by now. We've been friends for almost all our lives and you never see me celebrate any birthdays, well except yours."

"Because I always force you into it."

Taeyeon touched the hand of Tiffany and softly caressed it. "Maybe someday you will get a chance to celebrate mine."

'Once I'm gone.'

"Fine. You will come whether you like it or not when that time comes." Tiffany said sternly. Taeyeon can't answer. How can she? She's not sure if she can answer that. She won't be alive by then, that she's sure of.

"Tae?"

Tiffany called out still waiting for her reply. Taeyeon suddenly stands up "Umma must be done cooking, let's eat?" she asked while offering her hand hoping to divert Tiffany's attention from her previous question, but the latter knows better. "Fine, let's go." And so she grabbed the offered hand which earned her a smile from Taeyeon.

"Tae, your time is ge-"

"I know, Appa. No need to remind me." Taeyeon cut off her father's words without even looking up at the poor man. "Taeyeon-ah, we can't avoid the topic any longer. Your 21st birthday is coming up and you still haven't fulfilled the promise."

'The promise' a simple word to hide its real meaning, a curse. The Kim family is haunted by a curse that's been with them since the beginning of time. How it started, no one knows but the eldest or known as the first generation Kim's left 'the promise' in order to save the following generation. But does it really save them? For Taeyeon, no, it doesn't.

"I just can't ask someone to give me a kiss on my mark and be tied to me 'till our death, can I?" Taeyeon said. "Hey you kiss me here will ya? After that you can never kiss or be with other person beside me. Yeah, I don't care if you love me or not or if I feel the same, you are mine forever. "

The elder couple turned quiet.

"I don't want to end up like oppa." Their gazes turned sadder. "He did not die because of the curse but he's not living as well. You and Umma are lucky but I guess we just don't share the same fate despite having the same curse."

She stands up.

"I'm sorry, Umma, Appa. Thank you for the meal."

She gave them a small smile as she left the table.

Soft melodies, sad symphonies, crying tones, pleading soul, that's what Kim Taeyeon is playing with her piano. In just a few more hours she will be having her 21st birthday. In just a few hours she will only have a year to live. Not even the greatest doctor can save her from the disease that's been haunting them for centuries. Why them? She's been asking that question since the day she overheard her parents and her oppa from their study room, arguing. Her ancestors might have done something that angered the God's above to give their family such a heavy punishment. The name Kim, anyone would do anything to belong to their family. They are one of the richest, the top of the top. But for those who own the name, they will do anything to not have it. Since that day, she never celebrates her birthday. Her birthday which serves as a countdown to her death.

Tears, tears are falling from her eyes. How can she not cry? No matter how much she prepares herself for THAT day, she will never be prepared. She's been preparing for 14 years but it will never be enough. How can you prepare for your own death when in fact you never wanted to die? She doesn't want to leave everything, everyone.

"Why you? Why us, oppa?" she once asked her brother as he lies in his hospital bed, days after his 21st birthday. "Taengoo, I wish I knew the answer too. I'm sorry sis. I know you're afraid seeing me here. I'm sorry. I want to save you, Taengoo. I really do but oppa doesn't know how."

Her strong oppa, the one she looks up to have lost his confident smile and gentle eyes that day. All she saw was helplessness, fear and pain.

She watched from a corner as nurses tend to him, trying to ease the excruciating pain he was having. She listened to him scream, she listened to him cry, she listened to him plead to the God's above, to anyone to just stop the pain. But they all know it will never leave, the pain will last for a year, until he celebrates his birthday again.

Celebrate such a wrong word.

Months later, she saw their mother with a woman, a woman she knows, enter her oppa's room. Minutes later, doctors entered the room and carry the same woman, unconscious, towards another room. She peeked inside and she saw her mother, crying. Her oppa staring somewhere, with a blank expression but there was something odd about him, he doesn't look pale anymore, and that's when it hit her. The promise, the promise was fulfilled! She was happy. Her oppa won't die, he will survive. But he doesn't look happy, seconds later her oppa faced their sobbing mother, he too was crying.

"Why?! Why did you do that, Umma?! Why?!" he shouted. "S-she's innocent! Umma, she's in love with someone else! How could you do that to her, to me, to us?! She doesn't deserve this! "

"You love her, you love her, Jiwoong-ah... "

"But she doesn't love me! She's in love with our best friend!" he cried. And Taeyeon saw pain, pain she never saw before, it was as if he was experiencing more pain than he had experienced t