"Happy Birthday!" Eddy gives her a hug,

"Thank you." Hope grins, handing her coat for him to hang before joining their friends in the Jung's living room.

"Who would have thought, a simple gathering with only friends would amount to actual party?" Hope jokes when the chatter from the room reaches them,

"And who do we have to thank for that?" Eddy teases, confusing her,

~

"Happy Birthday, Angel." Taehyung kisses her cheek and hands her a glass of red wine. (Sunmi approved.)

"Where's Jaemin?" Bomi asks Hana and Eddy,

"He should be here soon," Eddy mumbles, glaring at his older sister sitting on her boyfriend's lap, "Are there not enough chairs?"

His friends roll their eyes, knowing just how protective the younger brother is.

"He's a decent man and he makes Elle happy." Bomi nudges her best friend.

"We should be more worried about Jaemin's reaction to them." Hana points to Jongin kissing Hope's forehead while she's greeting his friends,

"I agree." Seol nods.

Hope is ignorant of their conversation, as Chanyeol greets her with a kiss on her cheek causing Jongin to glare at him.

"Can they keep it a secret for the night?" Hana sighs, not wanting her younger twin to ruin Hope's night.

"I'm not su-" Taehyung is cut off as Jayden lets out a happy yell.

"JAE!" The little boy runs to Jaemin, who is prepared and easily picks Jayden up and manages to keep the bouquet in his other hand safe.

While Jaemin is distracted with Jayden, Seol discreetly pulls Hope away from Jongin,

Jaemin sets Jayden down and hands him a small bag as he scans the room.

"Sunshine." He beams, heading straight for Hope, "Happy Birthday!" He hugs her tightly, picking her up and pressing a long kiss on her head.

Chanyeol and Haechan share a look as they note Jongin clenching his fists and then looking away from the hugging pair.

"You look good." Hope cups his cheek while Jaemin keeps one arm around her waist and hands her the bouquet,

"And you're gorgeous." Jaemin states, slowly looking over her face as if he's memorizing the details.

"I need to talk to you about something." Hope glances at her boyfriend, "Apparent-"

Hope's interrupted as a soft voice calls for Jaemin. Everyone pauses as a gorgeous lady hovers at the entrance, her eyes focused on Jaemin and Hope.

"Who?" Hope looks at Jaemin, but the male tenses and pulls away from Hope,

"Maya Cadiz, CEO of Esmeralda. Her grandfather and Lito are close friends." Jaemin introduces, as Maya comes to stand beside him.

"Why is she here?" Hana snaps, forgoing niceties with the uninvited guest in her home, 

"Heeyoung Park, nice to meet you." Hope greets, drowning out Hana,

"Nice to meet you." Maya warily greets,

"You must be Jihana. I've heard great things from your grandparents and Jaemin." Maya smiles, extending a hand towards Hana, but the latter gives her a quick nod and dons her fakest smile.

"Funny, I've never heard anything about you." Eddy wraps an arm around his wife's waist, subtly asking her to be polite, but he's ignored.

"Hana." Jaemin tiredly sighs, hugging his sister, while Taehyung is quick to put on his best smile and sidle up to Maya.

"I'm not sure if Jaemin's mentioned me? I'm T-"

"Taehyung Kim. I'm a huge fan." Maya blushes as Taehyung grabs her hand and presses a kiss on her knuckles. 

"Wow, Taehyung Kim." Hope internally praises her best friend, before the rest of their friends politely greet the Spaniard.

"Why is she in my house?" Hana wonders, glancing at the hazel-eyed lady.

"Hana." Eddy tries, but one glare has him backing off.

"Girlfriend?" Taehyung looks at Jaemin,

Jaemin shakes his head, "Lito is hoping for an alliance between our families."

Taehyun looks disappointed and pouts at his best friend, "How does he always get lucky?"

"Lito arranged this?" Hana scoffs, glancing at her husband chatting with Maya, 

"He's quite adamant." Jaemin adds,

"When isn't he?" Seol jokes, distracted as Jayden wants permission to eat the chocolates Jaemin gave him, she refuses since they still haven't had dinner.

"Did you have her checked?" Hana wonders, continuing to eye the unfamiliar lady,

"Why should I?" Jaemin is confused,

"Did you forget Camela?" Hana gives him an are-you-serious look,

"Camela? Camille, What about her?" Jaemin asks.

"What happened with Camela?" Hope asks, their friends briefly confused, before remembering the memory loss.

"Gold digging bi*ch played with Jae's feelings." Hana summarizes,

They don't get to ask more questions as Maya joins them.

"You have a beautiful home," Maya compliments Hana, though the latter only appears annoyed.

"It's all thanks to Yiming." Bomi jumps in, "Her team did a wonderful job."

"I apologize if my presence has caused an inconvenience. Jaemin assured me it would be alright." Maya hesitantly smiles, ignoring the glare Hana levels Jaemin, which he shrugs off.

"We're absolutely delighted to have you here. The more the merrier and all." Taehyung states, ignoring the betrayed look Hana gives him,

"I didn't realize you spoke Spanish." Maya smiles,

"I can get by. Would you like something to drink?" Taehyung smoothly pulls Maya away from his friends and leads her to the dining room where all the food is being set.

"Wow!" Yiming stares behind the model,

"Taehyung Kim in his natural setting." Jaemin jokes, though he ends up with an elbow to his ribs thanks to Hope. 

"Are you going to be encouraging this?" Bomi turns to Jaemin, seeing as he's not at all affected by Taehyung trying to charm his supposed partner.

"I'm not interested in her and I'm sure once Taehyung turns on his charms, she'll no longer care for me." Jaemin answers, as he keeps glancing around the room.

"Jaemin-"

"I'm starving. I'll talk to you later." Jaemin walks away.

~

"Hey."

"Hi."

"I missed you." Jaemin wraps his arms around Hope, pulling her back to him as the two look over the view of the Jung's backyard.

"I missed you, Jaemin." Hope hold his hand, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"How have you been?" Jaemin starts,

"Lost. I have these deja vu moments, but they're not helping." Hope sighs,

"Those are the worst, especially when you know you're missing something important but you're unable to recall what." Jaemin adds,

"I hate it. I'm so fu*king angry with grandpa, but I don't have the courage to go against him." Hope sighs,

"My therapist would suggest having an honest conversation with your grandfather and airing out your frustration. No arguing, just discussing." Jaemin says,

"Funny, my therapist suggests the same." Hope pokes his hip, considering they're both seeing the same therapist.

"She suggested a hypnotic session, to try and see if I can bring the memories back myself."

"I tried it, but the results were not favorable, thus it's not a viable option for me." Hope sighs, pulling away from Jaemin and plopping on the sofa.

"I had one session and I was able to recall something and over the past few weeks I've been getting back other memories, though they're very random." Jaemin informs her, grabbing a blanket from the storage ottoman and handing it to Hope.

"What did you remember?" Hope perks up,

"The first accident."

~

Past ~ Sometime after their accident, Age 16yrs.

The closing of the door is loud even as the constant beeps of the machines echo through the room. The couches are bare of people, but they're occupied with little remnants of the family and friends that have been hanging around.

There's bouquets all over the room, along with helium balloons with "get well soon" messages stuck by the couches. The boy does his best to be quiet, but he's still recovering and slowly limps to the chair by the bed.

As gently as he can, he grabs her hand and holds it to his chest and cries.

"Hope. Please wake up. I promise I'm going to stop hiding my feelings and confess to you. I love you and I'm honestly tired of hiding it. I want to be able to hold your hand freely and kiss you whenever I want. I want to be your boyfriend, fiancee and husband. I'm scared of losing you. I promise to stop being a coward and hiding behind stupid beliefs. The second you open your eyes, I'll be right here to kiss the daylights out of you after I ask you to become mine. And after that, I'm never letting you go. I promise Hope, the minute you're mine, I'm never going to lose you. I'll spend the rest of our lives making sure we spend it happily. I love-"

The silence is shattered with the rapid beeping of the machine and the shaking of the patient on the bed. Her face seems to be losing color and the numbers on the machine are dropping at an alarmingly fast rate. The boy is forgotten as a group of people rush in. No one notices the boy in the corner of the room with his eyes glued to the pale figure in the room. He watches a lady in light blue scrubs get on top of the teenager and start pressing down on her chest, he can hear the soft crack of bone breaking and that's what causes him to stop breathing and tumble onto the table by a couch. The breaking of the glass vase, in the now calm room turns all attention on him and he can't stop his vision from blacking and suddenly he's on the floor gasping for air but the burning in his chest won't allow him to breathe. There's voices asking him to breathe out, but the only voice he can hear, is the one that's echoing in his head. His own voice screaming "You're the cause of this."

"Jae, I-"

She's interrupted by Jayden running towards them,

"Jae appa." Jayden climbs into Jae's lap,

"I remember the day, Jayden Spencer Choi entered our lives. The sleepless nights we endured due to his screeching and crying." Jaemin teases, pressing a kiss on Jayden's cheek as he looks at him with loving eyes. Hope finds herself slightly envious at Jaemin regaining his memories, while all she knows is a dark abyss.

Knowing the look on her face, Jaemin is quick to snap her out as he starts tickling her and Jayden.

~

The trio is unaware of the eyes on them, nor can they hear the discussion surrounding them.

"They look good together." Elle comments,

"Minho and I were certain, they would end up adopting Jayden as their own." Taemi chuckles. The elder generation were suspicious of the relationship between Jaemin and Hope and some were shipping them. When Jayden entered the picture, everyone assumed he would bind them together.

The women don't notice a certain male standing behind them, as he watches the picture perfect family trio.

~

After relentless tickles, Hope needs a few minutes and sneaks into the one room, she's sure Jaemin and Jayden will not find her. The home theater. However, she's surprised to see the lights and locates a lone figure staring off into the space.

"Hope!" A loud yell from the opened door startles Hope and she hurriedly grabs the male seated in the front row and pulls him behind the heavy curtains that separate the seats and concession stand.

"Wha-"

Hope silences him with a finger to his lips and flattens herself against him when she hears the door opening. Jongin takes advantage of the situation and wraps his arms around her. Heeyoung is too busy keeping an eye out for the duo hunting her.

"She's not here." Jaemin states,

"Then why were the lights on?" Jayden points out, as he brushes the curtains the couple is hiding behind.

"Someone might have forgotten to turn them off." Jaemin shrugs,

"We can check the basement. Hope likes the pool." Jayden states, and the two hurry out.

After a few moments of silence, Jongin presses a kiss to the finger against his lips, causing Heeyoung to realize their position. She attempts to move, but her boyfriend maintains his grip.

"Happy birthday, love." Jongin wishes, kissing her nose.

"Thank you." Heeyoung kisses his Adams' apple.

The two enjoy the moment before Jongin breaks the silence, "Are you done avoiding me?"

Startled, Heeyoung gives him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry."

Jongin nods, "I understand, but can we not make it habit? I don't like that your first instinct is to run or avoid me."

"I can't promise it, but I'll try my best." Heeyoung states, "I need space and time to get my thoughts organized, which is why I take flight."

"I know, Heeyoung. I don't mind you taking space and time, however I just want you to let me know." Jongin hugs her tightly,

"Okay, I'll let you know." Heeyoung nods,

"Thank you." Jongin kisses her forehead and leans close to her ear, "Just so you know, I fell long before you were flung into my lap."

Heeyoung's gasp is cut off as Jongin slots their lips together.

~

"Where were you?" Jaemin questions, when Hope walks into the living room after close to an hour.

"Hiding from you." She teases, glancing around the room.

"Where's Maya?" Hope wonders, noting the absence of the Spaniard.

"Better question, where's Taehyung?" Bomi and Hana share an amused smile and Eddy snorts.

Hope raises her eyebrows at Jaemin, "You're okay with this?"

Jaemin ignores her question, staring at the purple bruise on neck, that he's sure wasn't there an hour ago.

Noticing his stare, Hope subtly pushes her hair forward and pretends to yawn, "I'm going to head home, I have an early morning tomorrow." 

"We can head back together." Jaemin nods, not seeing her smile falter as she glances at her boyfriend.

"I was planning on spending the night at Mom's?" Hope lies,

"I thought she wasn't in town? Mom mentioned an elder's trip." Jaemin frowns, turning to his sister for confirmation.

"You're right. I forgot about that." Hope nods.

"Let's go, then." Heeyoung gives her boyfriend an apologetic smile as she's dragged away by Jaemin.

Jongin sighs looking around the living room he had decorated for Heeyoung. The decor taunts him as he's reminded of Jaemin hugging his wife and clinging to her the whole night. He's tempted to tear everything down from the gold balloons to the birthday banner on the wall and the polaroids hanging from the ceiling. However, he's too tired to clean it up and barely makes it to the bathroom. After showering, he's climbing into bed when he hears a faint pop. Carefully making his way to the living room, Jongin is surprised to see the lady on the couch drinking directly from the champagne (non-alcoholic) bottle.

"You took too long, so I decided to get started." Heeyoung shrugs, extending the bottle to him.

Jongin lets out a relieved breathe and ignores the bottle and picks her up briefly.

"How did you manage to escape?" Jongin teases, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"I told him I had somewhere important to be." Heeyoung gives him a loving look, and Jongin can't stop himself from kissing her.

"I'm happy you're here." Jongin says, his relief evident.

"So am I." Heeyoung smiles,

"What's with the photos?" Heeyoung drags Jongin to look at the pictures hanging around.

"They're pictures from before your accident." Jongin informs her, though he made sure to chose pictures that were close-ups with no pictures during her pregnancy.

"Thank you for the surprise. I love it." Heeyoung stands on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck.

"I love you." Jongin replies,

"I love you." Heeyoung beams, jumping to wrap her legs around his waist and Jongin grabs her so she doesn't fall.

"I do have an early meeting tomorrow, so why don't we make the best of tonight." Heeyoung suggests, and Jongin has never been able to refuse her.

~

"Happy Birthday, baby." Jongin wishes as the clock strikes midnight.

He presses another kiss to her nose, "I promise to make the next one better. I love you."

"Hel-lo." Heeyoung pauses at the sight of the empty office, though she's sure Sec. Cha asked her to head on in. She's turning around when a noise sounds from the attached bathroom.

She makes her way through the office, confused at the tiny blanket on the couch and heads to the bathroom. Slowly pushing the door open, Heeyoung is shocked at the sight of her boyfriend with someone else.