"Oh, . ." Zelo cursed under his breath as he saw the little black words that were scribbled in black ink on the calendar under the 21st.

Haneul's Birthday.

*OH. MY. GOSH!! How come she never told me?! . . . Maybe there's a reason behind all this. .* Zelo thought, as he slowly made his way out the room, and back towards the living room.

"Back," Zelo mumbled, plopping himself onto the couch again and staring up at you. You nodded your head in response, and pretended to read a magazine with a blank face on. "You look cute even like that." Zelo smiled, sitting up and staring at your shocked face.

"Y-yah," You stuttered, "That is not something a friend says."

"Aish, so? Can't a male friend just be a little nice and give his female friend compliments?" Zelo questioned with a playfully smile on his face.

"Tsk, whatever." You said annoyed, and continued pretending to read your magazine. "However Haneul-sshi, I thought friends weren't supposed to keep secrets between each other. So why are you keeping such a big secret from me?" Zelo asked, looking deep into your eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Secret?" You asked, staring up into Zelo's eyes, "What secret?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now you're denying it, Haneul?" Zelo said, a tiny smile tugging at his lips, "Babo. Happy birthday."

Your eyes widened and jaw instantly dropped. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Those two words rang in your ears, continuously replaying themselves until you finally were knocked out of your trance by a sudden voice. "Haneul-ah!" Zelo shouted playfully, "You're good at keeping secrets you know that?"

You nodded absently, and stared at Zelo as he stood up and grabbed your hands, hauling you up too. "Since it's your birthday, I'll treat you. Arrasso?"

---

Twenty minutes later Zelo was running down the street with two grocery bags in his hands as he ran down the sidewalk towards your house. He had left you immediately, after saying that he would be back and he had flung himself out the door and down the street.

He had one goal in his mind at the moment, and one goal only. He would make this your best birthday ever.

"Haneul!!" Zelo shouted, bursting through the door, immediately seeing that you were curled up on the couch with a pale face.

"Omo, you scared me." You said, sitting up straight and slowly rubbing at your red puffy eyes. Wait, what?

"What happened?" Zelo asked, as he gently placed the grocery bags down and rushed to your side.

"Oh, n-nothing. I just fell asleep." You lied.

"So that's why your eyes are all red and puffy? Were you crying?" Zelo asked, rubbing his thumbs under your eyes and feeling your wet soft skin. You stared up at him with big eyes, but swiftly looked back down and towards the bags on the kitchen table, "What did you get?" You softly asked.

"Ah, just some things." Zelo quickly said and ran towards the bags, putting them on the kitchen counter, where you couldn't see them, because of the blocking wall.

"Aish, whatever." You smiled, "It's getting late. Shouldn't you be getting home?" You asked, as you glanced up at the clock that was mounted on the wall. It was 6:30 pm and all you could think about was curling up in your warm bed and crying yourself to sleep.

"What are you talking about? It's still early, and I'm wide awake!" Zelo grinned, "You hungry? It's your birthday, so you choose what you want to eat."

You stood quiet for a moment, and then smiled up at Zelo, as you jumped back up on the couch and buried your body under a thick blanket, "You choose!!" You shouted, before covering your head and closing your eyes, hoping Zelo wouldn't interrupt you from taking a nap as he cooked. Zelo smiled, taking out the ingredients he had already bought and began cooking, glancing at your sleeping figure every once in a while with a soft smile plastered on his face. Little did he know, you were silently crying under