I was watching The Notebook for the 50th time. I enjoyed watching Allie struggle in her love triangle between Noah and Lon Hammond. And then for some reason, I replaced both actor's faces with Taehyung and Jungkook's, for my personal entertainment. Of course, I had a little difficulty pasting my face on the blonde protagonist, but all it took was a little push of the imagination.

I was at a good place right now. This same time last year, I had one 'friend' and her annoying brother. And now I had five, including the annoying brother, turned good guy; Jimin, Jaemi, Jin, now Jungkook and Taehyung. Friends, I'd text back and forth with, some more than others. While Jimin and Jaemi were part of my inner circle, I kept tabs with the others and sent an occasional 'Hi, how's it going?' salutation.

Jin and Taehyung were both in their junior year in college; although they hung out in separate crowds. Taehyung had made a new group of friends that shared his same Christian interests and beliefs, proving, even more, his permanent change. And Jungkook would send me brief texts on how busy he was with his study load as he was getting closer to graduating from his Bachelor's degree, only to dive back into 3 more years for his Masters.

I was just sailing through the rest of my senior year, which didn't have much left. But my birthday was around the corner. Sassy Nineteen! And boy had I changed a lot in a year, judging from my past events. But having passed through Valentine's Day with my eyes closed, I was starting to get that yearning feeling for a special kind of companionship. And I was reminded each time I saw Jimin and Jaemi like a love struck romantics, hating to be apart. Ugh!

"So what are we doing for your birthday?" asked Jaemi, Jimin's arm around her shoulders.

"Hmm, I'd like a small get together. I'm serious, big parties scare me for some reason."

Jimin gave me a look "I wonder why?"

I threw my crumbled up napkin at him and finished the last of my caramel iced coffee.

"Anyway, let me know if you guys have any ideas," I added.

"Let's have it at my house. Does it fall on a weekend right? So Jungkook and I can prepare for it." Jaemi offered.

"Prepare for what? You don't need preparations for a get-together. You just order a pizza and pop in a movie and presto! Besides, it's not like I have a hot long list of friends to invite."

"Doesn't mean it can't be equally special?" Jimin jumped in.

"No. Promise me guys. No party! If I see even one balloon…I will leave." I laughed.

"Can we, at least, dress fancy?" Jaemi spread a cheesy grin.

I shook my head and gave up.

I loved birthday weekends. Who wants to be at school celebrating with a bunch of strangers and doing class work? Not this girl! Luckily my bday fell on a Saturday, and I was on a special brunch with my mom. I was just about to open some cards from my grandparents which meant …a nice fat Benjamin.

"So how do you feel about this 'get together' tonight? Won't Jungkook be there?" She asked.

"Yeah… and that's what makes me kind of nervous. I haven't seen him since that Sunday and even though we text frequently, it's not the same as being in person." I said twirling a noodle with my fork.

"I'm sure you're going to have a great time and you'll be singing in my ear the next day."

"I don't know about the singing…but I'll tell you all about it. Where are you and the girls going out to tonight?" I had just remembered.

"Haera had a few tickets to a musical actually. It's out of town though so I have to leave a bit earlier; unless you want your hip and cool mom to crash your party?" She nudged me.

"Yeah, only it's not a party remember? And no parents allowed."

"No alcohol allowed either!" She winked; such a mom.

"Of course not, that tastes horrible with pizza…just kidding. He he."

Just then she lifted a glossy shopping bag onto the table.

"I was wondering if that was for me," I smiled sheepishly.

Rubbing my hands together I began to pluck out the tissue paper and pulled out 3 dresses.

"Now you have options to choose from for tonight." She smiled.

After showering her with a big thank you hug I observed them all and ended up picking a gray one with a thick pink diagonal line slashed in the bottom half. This looked unusual and pretty enough to hang at a house with. Jaemi did say we were going to have a nice dinner there.

We drove back home, both with plenty of time to prepare for our events. When we got out of the car my mom noticed something at the doorstep and told me to go see. As I skipped on over I saw a basket with birthday balloons attached to it. It was a basket full of what looked like 2 dozen roses in a variety of colors; there were even purple ones.

I bent over to pick the card up and read aloud:

"You didn't think I would forget your birthday did you. Have a wonderful birthday beautiful Iseul! Sincerely,Taehyung."

My mom's brows shot up in utter shock, and so did mine. How thoughtful and kind of I did like any girl would, I inhaled my flowers repeatedly. I placed them on my dresser and sent a text to Taehyung, thanking him for my gift. We exchanged a few messages and then I was off to the bathroom for self-pampering.

It was six o'clock and I was ready, feeling confident and classy. I wore a pewter colored belt and matching flats to go with my outfit and wavy hair. Jimin swung by to pick me up and we were at Jungkook's house in 10 minutes. The garage was left open and I was told that unfortunately Jungkook's father was remodeling the den so we had to stay in the dining room instead. Which if you asked me, I found extremely suspicious.

"Where's Jungkook?" I whispered while walking into the kitchen.

"He's taking a shower I think." Hmmm. Sketchy behavior…Check!

"Happy Birthday Iseul!" Jaemi shouted from the hallway.

"Thanks, Jaemi!"

"You look so adorable. I love the dress and your hair…" she spoiled me with compliments while giving me a hug. "Let me check on Jungkook and see if he's ready to eat yet."

I thought it was strange that he didn't greet me along with Jaemi, but maybe something happened that made him run late.

"Well, you look nice." Jimin crossed his arms.

"Thank you! I like your blue shirt. I feel kind of silly dressing up just to be in another house, though…"

All of a sudden I heard music coming from the den. I crossed my arms and glared at Jimin who threw his hands up in the air like he didn't know anything. Pointing my finger at him and about to punch his arm I heard sliding doors unleash the waves of music, actually recognizing the song and I ju