I find myself enjoying the quiet out on the hall as the party raged on inside. I’m thankful I own an apartment in a building that didn’t have many occupants because if I had any they’d be complaining about the noise tomorrow.

That or they’ll be begging to join in. My apartment’s filled with Hallyu stars after all. I’m a little surprised there aren’t any sasaengs crowding the block.

I slide down the wall, gripping my bottle into my chest as I begin humming a tune. It’s nameless for a second, but quickly picks up into a song from a group who made a historical comeback. I start to sing before I can stop myself:

And it hurts, and it hurts so bad

Our heart and lips say different things, must be hurtful

And it hurts, and it hurts so bad, forever in my heart

You’re the only one, why don’t you know, why don’t you know*

Lord knows why I suddenly felt like singing a sad love song on my birthday, but since it is—my birthday—I don’t think I should even try to explain it either. It was a beautiful song, regardless of the lyrics. And besides, I don’t I was the only who thought so.

I was unaware I had an audience until I felt a body slide down to sit next to me. I pull my hands up to my face in a defensive position, ready to attack in case things got physical but all I received was a deep laugh, resonating across the silent hall. I knew that laugh. I hadn’t heard it personally for a very long time but I knew it because I loved it when I was young.

Slowly lowering my hands, I take a peek at my sudden companion—stifling a squeak once I realized who it was exactly. “Uh—hi… oppa.” I said, breathless for a second because HOLY CRAP why is Shinhwa’s leader, Eric Mun, here?!

Oh. Wait. Junjin and Dongwan were invited to my party.

Right.

“Hi, Jiyeon,” Eric replied easily with a grin, amused (probably) by my abrupt inability to close my mouth and breathe through my nose. “I got delayed at a meeting so I wasn’t able to make it with Junjin and Dongwan earlier. Belated happy birthday though.”

I’m still in shock when he suddenly moved a beat later to reach over and shut my jaw in place with his index finger under my chin. He doesn’t move away quick enough and I find myself paralyzed in place, doing not much of anything except to stare in utter and complete astonishment.

And I do—stare, I mean—for an unnaturally long time.

I mean, who wouldn’t? I might have auditioned for SM Entertainment because of H.O.T. but one of the reasons why I stuck to training for so long was because of Mun freaking JungHyuk and his perfect face. Even Yunho used to tease me so much about how big my crush was (is?) on him!

Oh good golly—Am I having an actual frozen fangirl moment?!

“Hello~” Eric finally moves away a full minute later, breathing the word in a sing-song manner to snap me out of my trance. I blink and cough in an effort to hide my embarrassment, my cheeks burning red at the thought of proximity rattling my mind.

Oh my giddy—

“That was waaaaay too close.”

The statement slips out before I could stop it and I clamp a hand over my mouth as fast as I possibly could. I berate myself internally for letting a drunken slur escape my lips, but it’s not like I could take the words back into my mind and kick it down. I lower my gaze and sigh aloud, shaking my head as I tried to come up with something—anything—to explain the stupidity of my druken self’s less than subtle articulation.

Eric doesn’t let me think for long though.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he replied, laughing as I blink up at him again. He takes the expression on my face as a sign of confusion (and I am—extremely confused but mostly embarrassed) and continues speaking, “It’s been a long time since I last saw you. You were still starting out in The Grace when I left SM that—I don’t know…”

“What?” I asked, nudging him with my elbow so casually I surprise myself. He eyes my movement for a second before locking gazes with me, a smile creeping up to his lips.

I try not to think of how handsome he (still) really is. I always did like his look more than Yunho…

I’m closer than I should be once I finally break eye contact but I don’t move away. Eric doesn’t seem to mind the proximity so I don’t as well. It gives me a better view to actually look at him and enjoy it.

I grin despite myself and finish off the remainder of my beer.

Was this his birthday gift? Did that mean he knows I had a crush on him before?

“What’s that grin for?”

I shake my head. “Nope. I’m not answering that question if you’re not going to answer mine.”

“You mean the ‘what?’?” Eric countered cheekily and I roll my eyes. My drunken buzz is really helping.

“Yep.” I replied, enunciating the ‘p’ sound.

“Well… I—”

“HYUNG! FINALLY!” The door’s sudden open makes us yelp aloud, pulling us apart and standing in front of a red-faced but laughing Junjin. He has a -eating grin on his face, looking at us in turns that makes my cheeks burn hotter than it had before when the ‘hyung’ in question was mere centimeters from my face.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Dongwan suddenly appeared—sticking his head underneath Junjin’s arm before giving us a curious look each.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

Help?

Author's Note:

*Song is Shinhwa's "Hurts" from their latest album 'The Return'.

And yes... Eric. ♥