Heeyoung looked at the sky as she stepped out of the building. Wooyoung and Jieun had left before her, saying they had things to do. Jieun had met Wooyoung, days after the orientation, when she went to see Eunjung at her department. According to Eunjung, they just ‘clicked’. Weeks have passed since that day and they have been inseparable.  Heeyoung did not think much of it, she was just glad that Jieun was able to find a new college friend.

They had invited her to come along but she had denied the offer, wanting to stay a little longer to work on her new project.  Her hand slid to the zipper of her backpack, taking out a black tuke hat. She stared at it. *His favourite tuke hat.* She was close to reminiscing the past when it was interrupted by this feeling of her being watched.

Heeyoung turned her head to the side, a black haired boy came into her sight. He had his back against the wall and his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. “Yo.” Heeyoung was about to run away, until she saw how red Doojoon’s ears had become, her heart softened.

She blew hot air into her hands and rubbed them together, she walked up to Doojoon and lifted her hands to his ears.

“How long did you wait for me?”

Doojoon froze at the contact and the gentleness of her voice. Heeyoung giggled, taking out the black tuke hat again from her bag, placing it on Doojoon’s head and over his ears. “Keep warm. Don’t want those ears dropping off, do we?” A small smile emerged on Heeyoung’s lips. Doojoon could feel his chest warm. That was what he used to say to her when they were younger.

The seven year old Heeyoung ran behind the tree. “Oppas! This is unfair!” Her brother and Doojoon smirked at each other as they picked up snow from the ground and rolled it into a ball. “No teaming up!” Heeyoung whined as she tried to find a better hiding spot.

“Now.. Now.. Why not?” Her brother laughed at Doojoon’s voice, the way it became so low and weird. “Oppa! I thought you were on Heeyoung’s side!”

Her brother gasped, “Since when did I say that?” Heeyoung scrunched her nose, as she tried glaring at her brother. “Doojoon Oppa!” Doojoon roared in laughter as he caught Heeyoung in his arms. He kissed her ear, “Where are those ear muffs of yours? Don’t want those ears dropping off, do we?”

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Doojoon came jogging towards Heeyoung with two cups of hot chocolate from the vending machine. Cold wind blew at Heeyoung’s hair while she sat on the bench looking at her wallet.

The scent of the hot chocolate entered her nose, she looked up and smiled. “You didn’t have to..” The older boy pushed the cup into her hands, “I wanted to.” Silence settled in as Doojoon took his place next to Heeyoung. Heeyoung held the hot beverage between her palms, debating on what to say to Doojoon. She lifted the beverage to her lips, letting the hot drink soothe her cold body. “Let me start..” Heeyoung breathed out, relieved that she need not start but at the same time nervous about what Doojoon was going to say.

Doojoon looked up at the sky, the steam rising from the drink into the air. “I wanted to come back so badly. I really wanted to. But I was obligated to stay in the part of town longer because the tests were coming up, if I left, everything would have been messed up. I called your brother multiple times. I kept telling him that I was going to go over, but he insisted I stay to finish up my tests properly. He said it was important because this was going to decide whether I could follow my passion or I had to follow my parent’s expectations. He knew how important it was to me. Yes, I was selfish not to have gone back. I could have easily tried to find my way back into the program, and went back to see your brother, but I didn’t. I was too caught up in the mass of things. I did not know your brother would leave so soon. I was devastated when I received the news; it was the day after I received the results of the tests. I had passed and was accepted into the program. Now I am here, living my dream because of your brother. I am sorry, Heeyoung. I knew you needed me back then. There are absolutely no excuses why I did not go back.”

Something warm slid down Heeyoung’s cheeks. No matter how many times people had talked about her brother, she could never listen to them without crying. She held her tongue. No. She was not going to scold him. She was not going to shout at him. Now she understood why her brother kept telling her not to hate him.

“Thank you for telling me.” Heeyoung looked at Doojoon. “Thank you.” As calm as she could, she stood up. “I need to go.” Doojoon expected as much, he was already grateful that she had taken her time to seat down with him.

His fingers had wanted to run through his arm but he felt something obscuring its path. The tuke. “Heeyoung!”

Heeyoung walked backwards so she would be facing him, “Keep it. I know he would have wanted you to have it.” Heeyoung turned around and walked out of college.

Things were going to be better.

She could feel it.

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Leaves crushed under her boots as she crept into the elementry school.

When Heeyoung saw the twin's teacher, she held her finger to her lips. The teacher giggled and nodded. “Seonsaegnim. Is Noona coming?” Jaehwa pouted as he fiddled with his bag. Their teacher smiled and shrugged.

Jaesun was ready to leave, she had her hat on her head and gloves on her fingers. “Is Unnie even coming?” Heeyoung looked at Jaesun with a smile on her face, she looked adorable when she was angry. Heeyoung took out the party streamers from her bag. Where was that switch? “Unnie promised…” The lights went out.

Hana. Dul. Set. “Happy Birthday!” Heeyoung popped out of her hiding place with the streamers scattered everywhere, as the lights were switched back on. “Unnie/Noona!” The twins had big smiles on their faces as they raced to her, engulfing her into one of their hug.

“You’re late!” Jaehwa squeezed her tighter as she scolded. Heeyoung laughed, “Sorry I had to settle some matters.” “Seonsaegnim, I will clean…” The teacher shook her head, “No need. Go and celebrate. They have been waiting.” Heeyoung smiled and bowed, leaving with her siblings.

“Unnie! Unnie! Are we going to…”

“Yes. Yes.”

Ever year for their birthday, Heeyoung would bring them to go ice skating at Lotte World. It used to be a distraction for them as their parents set up a small party at home. However,as years passed, those plans sometimes failed. There were years that their parents remembered to set up the party, which made that birthday for the twins extra special. And there were years where they came home to an empty house, and Heeyoung would have to improvise. After so many years of experiencing each situation, Heeyoung always had a back up plan.

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It was a lucky day for them; Lotte World was not as crowded as they thought. There were families, couples and friends roaming about the place, but there were only a few people on the ice.

Heeyoung sat her siblings down on the benches as she went to the counter to rent the ice skates. She took that chance to call her mother, “Yebosaeyo? Umma?” The line was muffled; she could hear her mother panting. “Shhh.. Shhhhh.. Yebosaeyo?” “Umma... “Agashi.” “Oh. Umma, I'll call you later?” “Okey dokey!” “Annyeong.” Heeyoung put down the call as she took the skates. “Kamsahabnida.”

*Umma sounded very excited. Maybe she planned something this time.* Jaehwa was the first to react when he saw the skates. “Yay! Noona got the black ones for me!” “Unnie! Komawo..” Heeyoung smiled at Jaesun as she handed her a pair of white skates.

Jaehwa quickly took off his shoes as he pushed his feet into the skates, “Noona! Noona!” Heeyoung bent down to tie the skates' laces for him, because Jaehwa’s hands were shaking with excitement that he could not tie the laces properly. “Noona! Pali!” Heeyoung shook her head as she went on tying the other foot. Once Heeyoung was done, Jaehwa went running awkwardly into the rink. Jaesun kept looking at her excited brother, “Unnie..” The older sister bent down to help the twin girl tie her laces as well. “Go. Unnie needs to put our items into the locker.” “Araso.” Jaesun stood up slowly trying to balance on the skates and catch up with her twin.

Heeyoung took her time to put on her skates; allowing her siblings have fun on their own before she captured the moment. It would be more natural that way.

Once her laces were tied into a ribbon, she stood up to put their things away. She placed all the things into the locker, before carefully retrieving her video camera from her bag. Heeyoung took careful steps towards the skating rink, not wanting to fall or drop her camera.

Before entering the rink, she noticed a lone phone on the bench. She looked around trying to find the owner, thinking of passing it to the information counter, she picked it up. “That is my...” “Oh. Here you…” “Unnie/Noona!” She quickly passed it to the stranger and entered the rink.

The stranger followed the girl’s movement into the rink, noticing the two kids shouting for her. The stranger felt his lips spread into a weird way as his eyes found the girl again.

The thin metal made contact with the ice, and made its marking as Heeyoung skated towards the twins, her camera was ready in her hand to start recording. The red light blinked.“What’s so special about today?” Heeyoung asked as she skated backwards. She had been here so many times that she was very familiar with the skates and the rink.

“Our birthday!!!!” She giggled at the excitement on their faces. “How old are the both of you?” “Eight years old!” Twelve years separated her and the twins, but that did not stop them from being close to each other.

Jaesun giggled as her twin brother tickled her neck, “Jaehwa!” Jaehwa stuck his tongue out, taunting his twin sister to chase him.

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Hello! Woah... I'm on a roll today! Two updates in one day! Well... You guys do deserve it... So here you go! I hope you enjoy this chapter.. Yes.. Yes.. Don't worry.. I know this seemed a little faster than usual but I did check it before posting it. Do leave some comments for me if you don't mind! Any comment is accepted :) So feel free to say anything you want :) Oh! There will be a special guest apperance by someone in Special Birthday Part 2 *wink* Thank you readers for being patient with me! I will work harder *bows*

Korean Vocab:
Agashi- Young lady