20th September 2013, Friday

It was really lucky of him to be free from any schedules that day. That day, to him, was a really special day. It was Ga-in's first birthday she was going to spend with him so he's not going to let this go without a memorable surprise for his wife.

Acted unaware of her birthday in the morning by seemingly insensibly sleeping in late without wishing her a happy birthday on her birthday . He might look like a mature gentleman at work but he's really childish when it comes to things like these.

He spent nearly the entire morning after Ga-in left for work creating recipes for the day's dinner and also what surprise gift he should buy. He was stuck between a pair of designer earrings he saw his labelmate Hyorin wearing and a crystal diy statue days ago and still couldn't make up his mind . Nonetheless, he decided that he must add in a bouquet of forget-me-nots which he'll display in the middle of the dining table later. It doesn't matter whether she understood what it signifies or even noticed them or not. As long as he knew...

He returned from grocery shopping and brought the gifts home, going two places for the two gifts .

"Buy both you babo! Why didn't you think of that?" He mentally reprimanded himself. After all it was her first birthday they're spending together after their reunion.

He still had an hour more to go before he should start cooking. He settled himself before the living room table sitting on the floor with varieties of wrapping papers and decorated Scotch tapes before him. Fidgeting with the wrapping papers, awkwardly folding them but straightening them again,  it was obvious that he at handcrafts. But since the recipient of his hard work was Ga-in, he was oddly patient and careful while wrapping when usually, he would have lost his cool. It took him an hour to come up with two weirdly and untidily wrapped presents but at least he tried his best and was happy with the results.

He moved on with decorating the dining area and living hall. He asked himself few days back to choose between a romantic formal atmosphere or a party atmosphere. He wanted very much a romantic one but it was a little awkward for him to go ahead with that. But a party would make this dinner too informal which also feels uncomfortable when there's only two of them.

"Aish! Just go for a formal atmosphere!" He went as he wished.

He spread the velvety red silk tablecloth on the dining table and smoothen the creases. He placed a large candle in the middle and then two vases containing a bunch of forget-me-nots. He diligently did the table setting and smiled to himself when he looked at his work of 'art'.

He changed the cushion covers and curtains to match the mood. He put a few scent diffusers around the house as well.

Next, he finally started on cooking. Thankfully, his cooking skills could easily make up for his handcraft. After all, his aunt is an award-winning, well-known chef. He prepared a three course meal and even made strawberry cheesecake with a recipe he searched online. He remembered on their "second meeting" she told him about strawberry cheesecake being her favourite.

By 6.30pm, everything was done. He tidied up the kitchen first and waited for his wife to be back at about 7pm. He moved to his position which was right behind the front door. Hoping she will get a wonderful surprise with what he had done, he let out a satisfied and coy chuckle.

...

It was finally 7pm and he awaits his yeobo's arrival. He felt really tensed as compared to moments ago. The sound of the metal gates opening might be heard any moment and he had to pay attention.

...

7.28pm

She wasn't back yet. He did hear a faint metal gate opening sound fifteen minutes ago and he quickly stood up straight to welcome her but no one opened the front door. He then realised that it was just his neighbour returning home. He sighed. It's nearly half an hour. She wasn't late though. She told him she would be back around 7, not exactly 7. It was just Kwill being too eager and anxious.

The metal gate, however, did open at that moment and he stood further away from the door, knowing the door was going to be swung in. As he saw the knob turning, he cleared his throat and began singing.

"Saengilchukaha..." He projected his jubilant voice loud and clear but stopped when he saw something unexpected.

"What are you doing?" Ga-in's eye brows raised as she asked, bewildered by his odd actions.

"Omo! Gain-ah! I guess we shouldn't have come," JeA rushed in from behind Ga-in into the house, noticing at the decorations, apparently hinting at a dinner for two between the married couple.

Narsha and Miryo followed behind, carrying all the party stuff, takeaway fast food and a birthday cake they bought for the birthday girl.

Kwill stood still, stuck to the ground as he was too shocked and even disappointed to move away.

"We didn't disturb you or anything like that, right?" Miryo asked Ga-in courteously, embarrassed that their presence might have hindered Kwill's romantic plans. Ga-in shook her head and then turned to Kwill. "I invited them over. You don't mind, do you?"

"Ah. I see. Of course not," He said very hesitantly since he really did mind their presence.

They sat around the living table since the dining table was occupied with the  table setting. Kwill took out an extra three chairs and dining sets to the dining table since he had to be hospitable no matter how much he didn't want them in his house then.

The dining table was soon in a mess when the unnies spread their fast food and cake across the table. Kwill was tongue-tied as he was unable to tell them without feeling awkward that he already prepared a three course meal and strawberry cheesecake for Ga-in.

Narsha suddenly walked towards the kitchen to get some cups for the drinks and before he could stop her...

"Ya! Gain-ah! Look at these!" She yelled from the kitchen.

Everyone ran there and were shocked. "You made these for Ga-in?" Miryo asked Kwill guiltily, knowing that they really did spoil his dinner plans with his wife. Ga-in was touched but not in a good way since she didn't know who to side with. She didn't want to make her unnies feel embarrassed and at the same time, Kwill to be disappointed if she assured her unnies that it doesn't matter.

"Um... Well.. Let's just eat both meals then. Mianhae Hyungsoo-ah. I didn't know you prepared all these so I brought my unnies to celebrate together since it's JeA unnie's birthday just two days ago." She apologised to her husband. It will be awful of her to chase her friends away now that she knows about Kwill's plans.

...

"Woah! It's your favourite Strawberry Cheesecake, Gain-ah!" JeA exclaimed. "Now that you have your own cake, the cake we bought earlier is mine now, okay?"

The ends of Ga-in's lips curled upwards unknowingly. He really remembered what she liked.

They began eating their long awaited dinner first, trying out Kwill's dishes. Impressed was what they felt since it was rare for a guy to even know how to cook.

Narsha, however, suddenly nudged JeA on the shoulders. "Start sounding him out." She whispered really softly.

"Kwill-ssi, what is uri Gainnie to you?" JeA began, asking him the first question she thought of.

"Ughh... Unnie... What kind of a question is that?" Ga-in cringed and closed her eyes shut due to the awkward nature of the question.

Kwill was thrown off by that question. "What is Ga-in to me?" He repeated her question as if to check if he heard her wrongly.

"Yep~ Answer us!" She waited as she rest her chin on her knuckles.

"Ga-in... she... is a nice person... really chic and cool at times and I respect her for how she can be so calm in sticky situations." He slowly mumbled as he thought of the good characteristics he thought she had. Her unnies look at him as if that wasn't the answer they wanted so he continued, "Umm... She's cute when she smiles with those eye smiles... and y as well..."

Narsha and JeA burst in laughter. "y?!" One of them yelled. "Omo! If she's cute when she does those eye smiles, when is she y?" Narsha hinted at something.

Miryo then changed the topic, noticing the couple blushing and embarrassed by the two noisy women. "We are asking you what is Ga-in to you, not what do you think of her." Miryo cleared up his misunderstanding.

"Ya! When is she y? You haven't answered me?" JeA laughed uncontrollably. Miryo signalled the two to keep their mouths zipped with a strict look. They didn't come her just to have fun.

"She is my wife?" He acted as if he and Ga-in didn't have that childhood relationship. "Urm... It's been months since we got married and we've really understood each other much better and hence, became closer... I've been thinking of her as my own family member other than my aunt and Lizzy so... she's really precious to me."

Ga-in and the unnies were disappointed. They were hoping to get more clues on the couple's past relationship in their childhood but seemed like Kwill's acting oblivious about it. It's a fact that the two knew each other when they were younger and were close because he did showed signs of recognising her since he asked about her childhood memories and who would put a picture of him with an acquaintance or maybe someone distant to him on display in his room? They must have been close or at least Ga-in must have been really deep in his memories. Can't be that he didn't know she's the girl in that picture since the name must have rang a bell as well. He must have known Ga-in was someone from his childhood since everything made sense if Kwill met her, his fan, to get closer to her since she's his long-lost friend and it was really suspicious that he knew lots of things about her that she never told him. Things like her favourite flavour... Him asking her about her amnesia on their wedding night closed the speculation as he MUST have known about their past relationship. And now, Kwill's acting oblivious but it was expected since he never revealed anything and kept this a secret.

"You're someone really close to me...as close as my aunt and Lizzy is to me. I was an orphan before my first birthday and my aunt had been there for me. I didn't have any friends but when you were born, you immediately became my first friend. You were there whenever I was down and I shared my joy with you. I was there when you took your first steps... I was there at your major firsts. I've become someone important in your life and vice versa. You understood my every emotions, read through me like a book. Chemistry between us is nearly perfect. We clicked really well and I could say you're my soulmate. It's a relationship beyond family. I can't live without you. You are my life," was what Kwill had in his mind but didn't share.

...

The unnies threw more hints, tried to sound him further but nothing came out of their efforts, except noticing the forget-me-nots on the dining table. They left after two hours.

Ga-in and Kwill cleared the table as well as all the decorations and washed the dishes. As they both washed the dishes, Ga-in finally spoke.

"Please don't mind the unnies. They're really not sensitive to others," She said a little harsher as the embarrassment earlier had hit on her hard even now, she blushed slightly again.

Noticing her harsh words, he quickly assured her that he was okay with it and had lots of fun with them actually. He admitted he was a little disappointed she didn't come home alone but he did had an awesome day with her friends. "The more, the merrier," He told her.

"Thank you for your birthday treat and the gifts. I really appreciate your effort a lot." She smiled genuinely. If she hadn't known their past relation, she would have just told him to not do things like this anymore politely. She, however, saw this as his way of showing his care for her since he didn't have the chance to in 18 years. She had no idea how close they were in the past but a sense of familiarity and closeness to Kwill crept into her as more and more flashes of memories were experienced. She felt she should just let her guard down and let Kwill be closer to her to fulfil his wishes.

...

She finished her bath and she laid herself in bed, checking her phone one last time before she goes to bed. No missed calls but she had 11 messages. She glanced through them but none was from the person she loved. Kwon always sent her really unique and long messages wishing her a happy birthday but seemed like she wasn't going to receive one from him this year. It's an hour more to midnight an her birthday will thus end in an hour's time. She understood their conflict must have been the reason but her birthday didn't feel complete without his well wishes... or at least his presence...

She knew Kwon probably wouldn't do the same this year but a part of her still had hopes for that. She kept vigil, observing her mobile screen for the next hour and as midnight struck, she still spent another minute staring at her own reflection on the screen before she gave up and went to sleep.

..............................................................................................................................................................................................

Word count: 2321 (not including a/n)

Long chapter^^ I know this past few chapters there're lots of Ga-in & Kwill more than Ga-in & Jokwon mentions. I guess I haven't told you yet that this fanfic, rather than an Adam Couple fanfic, is a more Ga-in centric fanfic. It revolves around her life. That's why the title 'Forget Me Not' is more on Ga-in & Kwill's relationship and yet the main couple in this story is AC. It's how Ga-in's meeting with Kwill, in a indirect way, resulted in Ga-in and Kwon's relationship. It revolves around Ga-in and that's why there's more focus on her than on Jokwon. Confusing... I know... Because these are excuses I made up to justify myself:b

SPOILER:

Return to the orphanage and an unexpected meeting.

I hope you like this chapter and please do comment^^