Yoonjo suddenly wakes up with the sound of someone knocking on the door. She turns to look at her alarm clock and it says 6:01 AM. She closes her eyes really quickly then opens them up again and blinks several times to make sure she's really seeing things right. She can tell that now she's in her room. Her real room, not the alternate reality one. The knocking begins once again. "Who is it?" Yoonjo finally asks.

"Hi, can I come in? It didn't seem like you heard me the first time so I knocked again. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" The boy who had been knocking on the door asked, already taking a few steps into Yoonjo's room although he was still asking for permission to do so. That boy was Luhan.

"Omo! You can't see me like this, I probably look all messy!" Yoonjo responded, thinking her skin and hair must look awful since she just woke up.

"It's alright, I'll leave. You can call me when I can come back. I just wanted to be here early for your birthday, and your grandmother said I could come up to your room..."

"No, no! Stay. I just need you to go down the stairs so I can really wake up and change." Yoonjo quickly said, while Luhan was still trying to find words to finish his sentence with. "Okay?"

"Okay." He said, both of them laughing a bit. "See you soon." He continued, raising his right hand a little for Yoonjo to see the flowers he was holding and he then put them down on the table next to the door, closing it as he left. Yoonjo hadn't noticed the flowers until that moment, so she stood up, rubbing her eyes softly, and headed to the door to see the flowers Luhan brought her. She leaned in to smell the flowers. "Aw... They're beautiful!" She told herself, thinking about how thoughtful Luhan was.


∘∘∘


Yoonjo went down the stairs and everybody was already there just waiting for her to come. Luhan, her parents, her grandmother, her aunt and uncle, her cousin and many others. Everyone cheered when she appeared by the last flight of stairs. Her aunt approached her. "6:21, by my experience, you're late." She dragged Yoonjo across the room and as they walked, it seemed like her aunt was taking her to Luhan, as if he was her husband-to-be. Yoonjo could even see a little glow exuding from him, as funny as that thought might sound. And as a result of that, Yoonjo ended up laughing a little against her will and, seemingly for those in the room, for no reason. But the funniest thing of all was that her aunt actually liked Luhan a lot, and told Yoonjo that she wanted her to marry him. In the future, of course. Yoonjo smiled with the corner of once again before making herself appear serious.

"Happy birthday, Yoonie!" Her mother, who was standing right next to Luhan said, as she hugged Yoonjo tightly. Her mother then switched places with her father. "Nineteen is a big one!" He said, smiling brightly at Yoonjo. Anyone could tell Yoonjo and her dad had the exact same smile.

"Now, everybody!" Yoonjo's aunt instructed everyone to begin singing "Happy Birthday." And so they all began. Yoonjo clapped along with everybody else, just for fun, as she would always do. Now this felt like her real birthday.

"Happy b-day, Jo." Luhan whispered while everybody else chanted. Yoonjo turned to him and smiled. "Another tradition..." She thought. But it was clear that year it would be different. Not just her birthday, but many other things to come. But Yoonjo wasn't even thinking of her other life anymore, she just wanted to enjoy herself and be with the loved ones she really knew. Everything would be the same, until she fell asleep again...


∘∘∘


"Thank you, auntie." Yoonjo told her aunt as she put the last present down. "That's a wrap with the gifts, everyone!" She announced, happily. "I think this was my best birthday ever. Thank you all so much." Yoonjo brought both her arms above her head and with them she formed a heart shape, making everyone laugh over her cuteness.

"Our aegyo princess!" Yoonjo's grandmother shouted. Everyone continued to laugh, this time so did Yoonjo, and Luhan comically brought his glass of soda up to the air to keep the laughs coming. Yoonjo looked at him as she thought "cheers to that, indeed." Her aunt repeated Luhan's comic move and Yoonjo then followed.

"Everyone, I know some of you still have to take a trip back to your own home, and only God knows how long that might take, so please don't worry if you need to go, and before you do, have another piece of cake. Because honestly, we still have plenty of that!" Yoonjo announced again, sometimes she was like a comedian when around her family and friends. Her two best friends that she knew from school came up to her, excused themselves for leaving and properly said goodbye. Since Luhan knew them by sight, he raised his hand a bit and waved quickly, even a bit shyly. More and more people came over to say goodbye and just like that a good amount of time passed. Luhan lives a bit far from Yoonjo's home, and he came for her birthday quite early anyway, so it was time for him to go as well.

"Jo, I have to go now." He said, capturing her attention even though she was a bit distracted with the family that was still in the house.

"Really?" She pouted, he nodded. "Ok... I'll go to the bus stop with you, then." Both of them stood up, while Yoonjo's mother watched from far, she pointed at the door to let her mom know she would be leaving, but she didn't think it would take long. The bus stop was not far from there. "Let's go," she told Luhan once again. They left the house, walked for a couple of minutes and they were there. They both sat on a bench nearby.

"Maybe... this is not the best time, but I want to tell you something." Luhan faced Yoonjo with a serious expression, as she listened. He had decided to leave the house at that exact time because he knew when the bus would be there, and he wanted to have some time to talk. "I actually said I had to leave this soon because I couldn't think of anything else ever since this morning, to be honest. With all of your family there, I wouldn't be able to make myself clear, especially because there was a lot of noise. And I'm glad you came down here with me, too."

"What have you been thinking about?" She asked, wary.

"Ever since we became friends, you. Your smile, your eyes, how cute you are sometimes." While he faced some trouble getting those words out, his thoughts weren't any better. "Ack, this doesn't sound like it should sound. I'm probably just ruining it." He debated with himself inside his head, but still he continued. "Today... I wanted to tell you that I like you. It was hard because it's your birthday, so I don't want you to have too much in your mind, but I also don't think I could hold this in for much longer." Yoonjo's eyes widened bit by bit as she heard him. She had no idea what she would say, a part of her just wanted him to keep talking forever so she wouldn't have to say anything, but she also couldn't bear to hear those words. It was hard for her, though she didn't know why. Both of them were truly confused and their emotions were on edge. After a bit of silence during which both were just staring at each other nearly expressionless, Luhan decided to say it as he perhaps should have said it from the start. "I like you." Actually, he didn't even realize he had already said those exact words before.

Yoonjo took some time before she said anything. "How can I put this nicely..." She could only wonder. "I think you were right when you said this isn't the best time." She sounded stable and sure of her words. Unlike Luhan did before. "We should discuss this when we have more time..." When she said that, Luhan knew something wasn't right, that wasn't at all what he expected to hear. He just wanted a yes or no. And she didn't give him anything. There was nothing to discuss, really. Maybe that's what she failed to understand. But Luhan didn't want to risk saying anything else at that point as he felt he'd just sound stupid and maybe a little desperate. Which he wasn't, he was just plain nervous.

When neither of them wants to speak anymore, perfect time for the bus to appear, although it was still early. When Luhan saw the bus, he stood up, making Yoonjo look up. He left without saying a word.

A/N
Hi! I have lots to say this time around, so brace yourselves. LOL
Firstly, let me apologize, it's been hard to find the right time to just sit and write. I started this chapter days ago but I lost the little bit I wrote so I had to start over now, and I had to setup my new computer first. It really takes your time. LOL Also, I said this chapter would be more interesting... not sure that quite happened. XD So double sorry.
Now for the good news, HELLO VENUS COMEBACK! Yes! :D Hopefully EXO can finally make their comeback too, you know... Perfect timing to be honest. XD Well, I think that's it. Please comment and subscribe and friend me if you want to LOL I'd appreciate it too if you guys could maybe talk to other shippers you know and let them know about this story~ They don't need to subscribe or anything already, just read some of it and see what they think. I feel like I shouldn't ask but I'm not sure what I should do to really get my story out there, can anybody help with that too? Ok, enough now, right? I leave you all this chapter #3, hoping you like it and see you next time!