Jongdae had given Brooke no indication that he remembered that today was her birthday and she was pissed. She had dropped several hints but he never seemed to get them. The only thing he had done all day was spend the entire afternoon with her, which never happened because of his schedule so she wasn’t entirely unhappy with that, but it would have been nice for a “happy birthday” or something.

“Do you want to go for bubble tea?” Jongdae asked suddenly, drawing her attention away from the movie they were watching.

She looked at him in surprise.

“What?” he asked, indignantly. “I thought you liked bubble tea? Plus this movie isn't very interesting.”

It wasn’t, he was right about that. But they never went on bubble tea dates.

“I mean, I won’t say no,” Brooke started.

“Great, then let’s go,” Jongdae said, reaching for the remote and turning the tv off.

Brooke shrugged and stood up. They put on shoes and started out for the nearest bubble tea place. Jongdae insisted on paying, saying it was a date, even though they hardly ever really went out on dates. He also insisted on sitting in the restaurant to drink their tea. Brooke was getting a bit suspicious by this time. But Jongdae avoided all of her questions.

When they were finished, Brooke expected them to just head back to her apartment, but instead he dragged her on a tour of Seoul, claiming that he still had not shown her enough in the half year that she had been in the city. She grudgingly went along with him even though she was not excited about walking around the city.

By the time she convinced him to go back to the apartment, she was sufficiently done with him. This was not the way she had envisioned spending her birthday; with a boyfriend who didn’t even remember that’s what the day was and being dragged around all of Seoul. So when they arrived back at the apartment and he wouldn’t let her enter the door right away she him, prepared to chew him out to no end. That was when he opened the door instead.

The entire apartment was illuminated. There was a banner across the entranceway that read “Happy Birthday!” and streamers everywhere. There were also people in her apartment wearing party hats and holding party poppers.

“Happy birthday, jagi,” Jongdae whispered in Brooke’s ear as she stared at the people in her home. She turned to stare at him as he ushered her into her apartment and closed the door behind them.