My life was complete with Hani in it. I woke up every day with Hani by my side. She was not a morning person, and she was so adorable with her “Five minutes more, Jiyong. Let me sleep for just five minutes more, eh?” every morning when I tried to wake her up. I would give her the five minutes she asked, got the coffee maker working to kill the time, woke her up again, got ready for work, and I would send her to the subway. After work, I would wait for her at the platform, and we would go home together. We would make love all night long.

“Seunghyun’s birthday coming up, right? Did you get him anything?” This was why I like having her around. She was my cute little personal assistant, reminding me of everything.

“We are guys, Hani. We don’t do gifts.” It was November, and Christmas was coming in a month. I usually gave Seunghyun his gift on Chrismas, it would be a joint present together for his birthday.

“Are we going to celebrate, then?”

“We will. Let’s book a table at that new steak house. Seunghyun has been talking about it all week long. We’ll eat until our stomach burst, okay?” This would be the first Seunghyun’s birthday celebration for Hani.

“Ah, okay then. Oh, should I find him anything? What about a tie?” She was calculating with her fingers, maybe she was thinking about other gifts that she thought would be better for Seunghyun.

“A tie is fine.” I knew I should do the decision for her, or she would spend the whole night thinking about it.

Hani had been stressing about Seunghyun throughout our relationship. She didn’t want my best friend felt left out because of her, she said. But I knew Seunghyun, I knew he wouldn’t mind that I cancelled our weekly playtime to be with Hani. I had been doing that for months anyway. I had a girl, so I got to do what I got to do.

His birthday came, and as I was getting ready to get home from work, I received a call from my boss. I had to substitute him at this some dinner, that very night. He said he had a family emergency. But that was not the point. The point was how on earth could I break the news to Seunghyun and Hani? Birthdays to Seunghyun were not a big deal, but Hani had been preparing for the event all week now. I was left with no choice, so I made a call to Seunghyun.

“Seunghyun, I won’t be able to join you and Hani tonight. My boss needs me to cover for him tonight. I’m sorry, but could you celebrate with just Hani? I’ll make up to you later, man.” Please say okay, Seunghyun.

“Okay, no problem, I guess. Will Hani be okay?” As I expected, he didn’t sound disappointed at all.

“I’ll call her after this. I couldn’t refuse his request, you know that, right? Sorry buddy.”

“Yeah, no biggy, Jiyong. Just tell her I’ll pick her up tonight, at eight.”

“Got it. Talk to you later, man. And happy birthday.”

We ended the call, I reached Hani’s line and told her everything. She hesitated to go alone at first, but then she gave in. She refused to be a party pooper.

“Okay Jiyong, I’ll celebrate his birthday, even if it will be just the two of us tonight. I’ll see you later at home, okay? I love you.”