This was the time of the year Hoya looked forward to the most. It wasn’t just because the winter was slowly saying goodbye, and it wasn’t just because it was his birthday, it was because Infinite was finally having their comeback. Yes, he and Dongwoo had debuted as a subunit but he still wanted to come back, with all seven of them.

            They had been working hard for their new song and everyone had put in their whole. Each of them stayed up late to work on the choreography and to perfect their synchronization. Because of the other activity, Hoya was extra tired.

            He was a bit of a perfectionist. After being away from Inspirits for so long, he was a little worried. What if he wasn’t’ good enough? He had to make sure he was good enough. And because of this, Hoya pushed himself a little harder than usual.

            The other members didn’t really notice. It was like him to work so hard. It wasn’t odd to see their dancer stay up late at the practice room to make sure he was perfect. In fact, all this was so trivial and so ordinary to them, they didn’t even comment. Each of them worked hard too so this was no surprise.

            But then Hoya came down sick. He started to cough and it was Dongwoo who noticed first. “Hoya, we’re going to be recording in a few moments,” he called.

            Hoya let out a loud cough and thumped his chest a couple of times. “Got it!”

            But Dongwoo frowned. “Are you sick?”

            They had the managers check on Hoya and found that he was coming down with a cold, mostly due to exhaustion and over exertion. Sunggyu shook his head.

            “Lee Howon, if you’re sick, what’s the point of having the comeback?” he scolded lightly, not because he was mad, but because it hurt him to see Hoya work so hard and then would have to potentially miss their release. So he ordered Hoya to stay home and recuperate.

            The other members felt bad and knew that his birthday was coming up. “We should try to set up our comeback date for his birthday. I think Hoya would be better by then and you know he would rather be run over by a truck than to miss promotions. So it would be our gift to him.”

            Sunggyu told him that their comeback was slightly delayed due to a problem within the company. If they hinted at all that it was his fault, Hoya would be very upset. Hoya quickly got better but the members made sure to control his practice time.          

            It was March 28^th. The members were hyped and ready to go. Hoya bounced nervously on the balls of his feet and he kept redoing his lines and picturing the dance in his head. The moment they were on, it felt like they never left.

            Inspirits cheered them on and the entire auditorium was filled with their yellow light. He danced their new song happily and belted out his lines, happy to have his voice back. During the small interview session, Inspirits stood up and started to sing a loud birthday song to him.

            Hoya turned bright red and he felt tears start to form. So this was sort of how Dongwoo felt when they had surprised him.

            “Happy birthday to our dance machine! Happy birthday to our Busan handsome guy. Happy birthday Lee Howon, happy birthday to you!” they chorused.

            Myungsoo clapped happily and went offstage with Woohyun. The two of them returned a short while later with a large cake in their hands.

            “Happy birthday! We delayed the comeback so you could get better and perform again.”

            Hoya’s mouth dropped open and the entire broadcasting station burst into applause. Dongwoo came up behind him and hugged his good friend tightly. “Go ahead and cry,” he whispered. “You know you want to.”

           Hoya raised the cake high over his head and bowed deeply to his fans. Without them, there would be no him. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOYA

sorry this one's a little late and a little short ;;