Still hungry, Baekhyun had barely taken two steps into the kitchen when Jongdae jumped on his back (Baekhyun took a hold of his legs out of pure reflex) and the ballsack screamed into his ear — the audacity! The nerve!

“DO YOU HAVE A PREGNANCY TEST?”

“What the , dude? GET OFF!” Baekhyun screamed back. He tried to drop him but Jongdae clung onto him like a sloth. So Baekhyun started to shake up and down. It was a slow and hard work.

“Dude, stop, it looks like we’re doing a weird non-ing ing.

Baekhyun stopped. His legs were ready to give away anyway.

“Will you stop screaming?”

“Yes,” Jongdae promised. “Can you get to the fridge? I heard there was a cake in it.”

“His birthday cake?”

“No, of course not. It will be delivered right before midnight as usual — I heard Irene got this one as a gift,”

Baekhyun sighed. “And did you ask for permission?”

“What the dude? Of course I didn’t! Now move!”

“If she, or anyone else, asks, I’ll tattletale,” Baekhyun said.

He opened up the fridge and sure enough, there was a beautiful pastel pink and white cake, decorated with cream flowers, petals and tiny trees, and there was a green-hooded figure in the middle. No doubt made to honor the iconic look Irene wore for last year’s Halloween.

“I heard she sold her cloak in an auction, “Jongdae said, finally letting Baekhyun free and settling down on a counter.

“Yeah, I heard that too,”

Baekhyun couldn't find any clean plates but he managed two spoons and handed one to Jongdae.

From the first bite of the cake, Baekhyun knew he would end up eating at least half of it. The cake was phenomenal. It was extremely soft and creamy and wasn’t overly sweet, which was not an easy feat to find in cakes.

“Holy ,” Jongdae chuckled, “whoever made this should totally open up their own place.”

Baekhyun frowned and checked the box. He hadn’t really noticed the lack of writings on it.

“This is hand-made? I mean — this was personally made for her?” he shouted. “Dude — stop eating!”

But he himself just swallowed what was in his mouth and immediately took another spoonful.

“You stop eating!” Jongdae replied, getting as much cake as possible in one-go.

“I’ll stop if you stop eating!”

“No way, dude! off!”

“You off!”

“I let you know about the cake, you ungrateful, stupid, bent ! Now kindly off!”

Baekhyun slapped Jongdae’s hand away from a cream rose — Jongdae was trying to eat all of them, the greedy — and smashed his face into the cake, gulping down as fast as he could.

Jongdae yelled in frustration. “Why you — off!”

Baekhyun, without bothering to lift his face, yelled into the cake, “You off!”

“ off, Baekhyun!”

“No, you off!”

“How about both of you off?”

Baekhyun and Jongdae shared a moment of fearful look and looked back. Irene was standing right behind them, her beautiful face full of disgust.

She was one of the pretty girls who got a ‘legendary’ status in the school’s history. On her way to get a master’s degree in library science, Irene liked to spend most of her time quietly with books. She loved taking care of her plants and knew how to knit; every year she presented her friends with something handmade. Baekhyun had heard from someone, who had heard someone saying that someone else was saying that apparently Irene used to do ballet from a young age and was at least a medium-level piano player.

Most people were intimated by her classic vibe or just straight up bored by it, but if one took the time to get to know her, she was pretty fun and nice and could casually talk about slitting your throat before lending you her neatly-written, color coded notes.

“What the is wrong with you two?” she said, pushing them aside and looking down at the cake to assess the damage.

She sighed deeply.

“This is no good now,”

Something in her voice sobered Baekhyun and Jongdae up right away.

There was obviously something wrong.

“Eh, Irene?” Jongdae said, as if he was talking to someone who took a bullet for him and was slowly dying. “We’re sorry — who sent the cake to you?”

“Yeah, we’re really sorry,” Baekhyun mumbled, ashamed of his foolishness.

“My mother,” said Irene. “She sends me a cake every year for my dad’s birthday. I once said, when I was a kid, that I was cheated a cake every year because — you guys know my dad isn’t around, right?”

Baekhyun nodded. Even though he didn’t know. He was pretty sure Jongdae didn’t know either but decided to nod along anyway.

“So anyway, I love cake and I said that if I had a dad, I would be eating a cake on his birthday too … didn’t, of course, realize how hard I was hurting my mom with my words — it’s okay!” she added, as Baekhyun and Jongdae tried to intervene.

“After that, we got a cake every year. Later on, my mom really got into baking, and now she sends me one — it’s a birthright.”

Baekhyun didn’t know what to say. He only had heard that Irene’s mother was a big deal in the beauty industry, and, now that he thought about it, he had never heard a word about Irene’s dad.

It wasn’t weird that he didn’t know though; nobody bothered with parents unless you were extremely close, and even then it was usually wise not to bring them up unless the other person talked first.

Jongdae looked thoroughly miserable.

Then, “Ah, you guys really bought that,” Irene said and she burst into a loud fit of laughter.

Baekhyun nervously laughed along, not knowing whether he was more relieved or pissed.

Jongdae protested, his sharp voice filled the kitchen. “I can’t believe — THAT’S NOT A JOKE! You don’t lie about stuff like this, Irene! Stop laughing, I aged so much just now —”

Still laughing, Irene daintily wiped the tears from her eyes. “I didn’t lie, you dip. Well, not all of it was a life — I should say,

“My father really isn’t around. During the early 90’s, when the economic crisis was the worst, my dad left my mother and me — there’s a good chance he married a rich lady. I really did say those things about the cake, and my mom did buy me cakes and then later on started baking them. I always felt like it was my birthright to spew whatever I want about my father because of what he did, you know?”

Baekhyun’s face dropped again and Jongdae slowly spilled down onto the floor. “Why’re you doing this to us — oh yeah, we ate your mother’s cake —”

“Oh, this isn’t my mom’s cake. My father’s birthday was last month,” Irene said, and Jongdae aimed a kick at her. Irene smoothly stepped aside to dodge it and then kicked him back.

“Serves you right, you filthy scum of the earth,”

As Jongdae howled and whimpered in pain, Irene took out a napkin from her pocket, which was wrapped around a pair of chopsticks and a spoon.

“So who made this cake?” Baekhyun asked, after, of course, taking a picture of Jongdae on the floor, who flipped him off.

Irene raised an eyebrow.

“One of my many many admirers, of course,”

“Respect,” Baekhyun said earnestly, and joined Irene on the holy mission of finishing up the cake.

Irene, Jongdae and him had a nice little time chatting about disappointing garbage of fathers, and animatedly abused all the trashy men they knew in their lives.

“Hang on,” Baekhyun said, suddenly remembering.

He threw his spoon into the sink and turned to Jongdae. “Were you asking me for a pregnancy test?”

“Oooooh,” Irene whistled and sat down smartly. She opened up a can of beer and watched them, as if she was watching a show.

Jongdae laughed sheepishly.

“Yeah, my girlfriend was late and she’s always on time — ”

Irene and Baekhyun’s mouths dropped open.

“Dude —”

Baekhyun found himself, once again, not knowing what to say. Congratulate him? What if they weren’t planning to keep it though? And Jongdae and his girl were still both students — not that there was anything wrong with it, it just wasn’t the most ideal time to have a baby on your hands …

“Bastard, say something!” Irene shrieked. “So we know what to say!”

Jongdae grinned, looking bright and mischievous, and Baekhyun knew before he spoke.

“We already had an argument over baby names,”

“Dude, congrats!” he said, in a little bit of shock. This was a huge deal!

“But then — you’re here!” Irene said. “Aren’t you supposed to be with her? Go to her, you idiot!”

Jongdae smirked. “Well, she took the test like 2 months ago, she’s now almost 4 months pregnant — why do you think I was almost never here these days? She gave me a night off since tonight is … well, tonight.”

Irene, with a furious inhale of air, opened up but then, presumably, deciding Jongdae had a right in getting back at her, shut it.

Baekhyun frowned. “Then why did you ask for a pregnancy test?”

“Ah, yeah,” Jongdae chuckled. “She wants me take it,”

“Pardon?” Irene and Baekhyun said together.

Jongdae shrugged. “Apparently if it comes out positive it means I have cancer or something — wants me to test it out,”

“Well, then, we must get you one,” Baekhyun said, holding in his laughter; this was probably the first of many many strange things Jongdae’s girl would ask him to do while she was pregnant.

“Come here, you,”

Irene pulled Jongdae into a hug and Baekhyun hugged him from behind.

“Your baby is gonna be the cutest!” Irene squealed. “You simply must bring it to campus sometime — free babysitter anytime you need!”

“I’ll hold you on to that,” Jongdae whispered.

Baekhyun heard him sniffling and his breaths were shaky.

Somebody, a saint, probably, had ordered a ton of pizza, and people had made a short line from the entrance to the kitchen, passing the boxes to each other.

Baekhyun stole a random box and went upstairs, with all the intent to sit down and eat his pizza while watching people make their most cursed memories.

His path was blocked by Junmyeon, who was sitting in the middle of the staircase alone, looking at the door with a sad face.

“Heeeeeeey,” Baekhyun said, knowing that Junmyeon saw his pizza and now he had to share it. “What’s up, buddy?”

Junmyeon looked at him, but didn’t speak. His eyebrows were slightly lifted and his eyes were glistening … with tears.

Oh .

“Pizza?” Baekhyun opened up the box and saw that he had snatched a plain cheese one.

Without saying a word, Junmyeon took a slice and started to eat.

Thinking he was witnessing the saddest pizza eating that ever happened in the history of humankind since the invention of this holy-level food, Baekhyun took a slice for himself and decided to enjoy it before Junmyeon started crying over how old he was.

“I’m so old,”

Oh . That was fast.

“We’re only one year apart,”

Junmyeon finished up his slice and clutched his head between his hands. Baekhyun winced. All that grease …

“I’m so ooooooooooold,” Junmyeon drawled. “What am I going to do? I haven’t changed or improved since I was like, fifteen! Except, I got better and smarter when it comes to treating women right. I’ve no idea what I want to do — why do I even live?”

He sniffled and looked up at Baekhyun, his lips were shriveled up.

“Why do I live, Baekhyun?”

“ should I know, man,” Baekhyun said, remembering how he had the exact same talk last year, and the year before that.

Every year, Junmyeon had a brief existential crisis on his birthday. It was easy to miss since it didn’t last long and there were always so many things happening at the party.

And for some ed up reason, Baekhyun had been caught in it every year. He knew that Junmyeon would remember none of this tomorrow — lesson learned the hard way — but he couldn’t just leave him or say nothing when Junmyeon was genuinely vulnerable at the moment.

Baekhyun heaved a sigh and kicked his legs long.

“You live to throw this party every year,” he said. “You live to call your parents and your grandparents on your birthday, to thank them. You live to open up the presents the next day, knowing most of them will just become that random in your room, and still love them. You live to play with your friends, sing with them, study with them, go on trips with them and come to their aid when they call you at odd hours.

You live to see the sunlight everyday, to feel the wind against yourself. You live to make yourself a proper breakfast and feel like a champion. You live to go for a run in the morning because you really want to.”

Nana smiled at both of them as she walked up the staircase, she quickly bent down to give Junmyeon a kiss on the cheek.

Junmyeon grinned goofily and scooched in closer to Baekhyun. He snuggled in and rested his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“More,”

Baekhyun chuckled.

“We live to eat. Just think about all the delicious things out there. We could actually eat something different every single day, for three meals a day, and we still wouldn’t have scratched the surface. We live to dance, to sing, to act, to read, to cry, to laugh, to kiss, to have and yell and scream and howl and to kiss babies’ feet.

There are dogs to pet, cats to spoil, and penguins to squeal at. Birds to feed, whales to marvel at. The wonders of the world don’t cease — it evolves and goes on, with or without us.

Speaking of the wonders of the world, we get rainy and stormy and snowy and windy and capricious days. It’s the most amazing thing to sit inside with warm food in your belly and a good book in your hands during those days. To hear the wind rattle your windows and have the rain beat against it … I could sit by the window and watch the snowfall for hours and hours ...

Think about the concerts we went to. I mean, we’ll never forget when Adele came, will we? Our throats were so sore and our voices were so hoarse the day after IU’s 5 hours long concert. And don’t forget our plan to go to Disneyland. It’s almost here, man. I, for one, plan to see as much as I can of this world.

There are languages to learn — hundreds of them, dude! Just think, sink it in, for a second, how marvelous that is. New songs get released everyday, new movies and plays and series to watch. Now, more than ever, we get new books in pretty much everything there is in this world. So so many books, man … The amount of games that are available to us now! From raising plants to dressing models to cleaning houses to surviving a zombie apocalypse — anything you want, you got it.

And once every four years, we get to watch the best ones of the world compete in all these wonderful fields of sports. The energy, the force, the concentration, the will and tears holding them together is fascinating to watch. It makes you feel like you could actually fly away.”

Baekhyun paused when he saw his friend coming into the party. Having today’s tiresome matters left behind, she looked radiant with her long wavy hair set loose, which was usually tied up into a bun. Her little black dress had two straps connected with buttons and it had two side pockets. It would have been a very modest, librarian-style outfit (she was even wearing a pair of round glasses), except that she was wearing nothing but a bralette underneath it.

She waved at him excitedly and cooed at Junmyeon, who was starting to drool with his eyes half closed.

Baekhyun made kissing faces at her and silently waved her to go on — it was too late for him, but she still had a chance.

Junmyeon nuzzled his face against Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Moooore,” he whined. “I’m not asleep yet, you know?”

“Our family,” Baekhyun continued. He took a hold of Junmyeon’s hand and played with his fingers.

“The friends we made on the way. Teachers, doctors, delivery-men, bus drivers, street vendors, that one employee who doesn’t give a about you checking out the new consoles by playing for hours at the store. There are more good people in this world than the ty ones, we have to remember that.

Our lovers. Ah, just thinking about my first love gets me giddy every time. She was the peace-maker of our class, did I ever tell you about her? She was loud and geeky and fun. I felt like she was made out of pure love; she was always so nice and helpful and forgiving. She was fierce too, and stood up for her friends all the time. I used all my tricks to sit with her in the 6th grade, and I would just rest my head on my arms and watch her during the classes. She would scold me but let me take her notebook for the day so I could write down the notes. I just really liked to have something of her, and I changed my writing style to match hers.”

Baekhyun thought about his first love fondly. She had moved away to another country at the start of the 8th grade. They had stayed in contact through Facebook, but after a few years, one day, her profile had been deleted and that was that.

He liked to imagine her being her usual loud and happy self. Wherever she was, she had to be happy. For Baekhyun, she would always be that child who burst into laughter when he gifted her with a pen that made farting noises.

“Love really is worth it. The feeling of your lovers heat pressed up against your body when you wake up is … just something else,”

Baekhyun sighed. He sneaked a peak at Junmyeon, and found him fast asleep.

Hoping he won’t drool on his jacket, Baekhyun took another slice of pizza for himself and decided to wait for Junmyeon to wake up, which, according to his experience, should take no more than twenty minutes.

“Ummm … hi,”

I'm sorry I couldn't update last week T T

The Covid-19 situation is pretty bad where I live. I've been self-quarantining for two weeks now, and will probably stay in for at least another month. So I had a lot of things to prepare and get it in order.

I hope you guys will enjoy this. Please comment, they feed me.

Wish you all healthy and better days~