-----

 

Flashback

 

The day was a drag away from misery, one yard close to utter desolation. Suddenly, Seung-hyun found himself trudging along the nearest mall to buy a ticket to the worst movie of the season just so he could avoid them all – happy people, happy people for him.

 

No matter how eloquently wrapped in the sweetest of words from the most sincere colleagues, friends and family, he was just having the worst nightmare come to life…

 

…his first birthday without Bom.

 

He had imagined this scene a little over half a century later. Him walking down memory lane as every treasured moment became his source of light-heartedness as he accepted that he could no longer spend the best day of the year with the best woman in the world. But that was in the event of her death due to old age after bearing fifty kids which would have sufficed for her legacy to be vibrantly present even as she dies.

 

In a nutshell, Seung-hyun hadn’t prepared himself mentally that he would be spending holidays, Christmases, and birthdays alone at such an early phase of his life.

 

Moreover, the period after his divorce with Bom hasn’t been all that long. It was only a little over three months after that dreaded day. Somehow, his birthday only seemed to put salt in the wound.

 

Seung-hyun’s eyes drooped at the heaviness of how his life felt at that moment. He no longer had tears to shed, nor angriness to let out. What he wanted, which he had wished for his birthday as a matter of fact, was not to feel – more precisely, to stop feeling what he felt because it hurt. Everything seemed to feel in’ wretched after Bom left him.

 

“Enjoy the movie!” the movie receptionist chirped loudly, reverberating what everyone else has been trying to tell him the whole day.

 

 

-----

“Noona!” Seung-ri called, waving his hand goofily as he proceeded to Bom’s workstation with two cups of Starbucks in hand.

 

“Wae? You’re here but I don’t remember setting a 9 am schedule?” Bom asked as she gladly took one cup from Seung-ri’s hand. “Avoiding work again, I presume? The design team should definitely fire you.”

 

“Ani, in fact they should promote me.” Seung-ri wagged his index finger in front of Bom. “Yesterday night I was doing over time to help the socialized housing team edit their designs. It was pretty easy stuff, really. It’s just that I don’t think Daniel has ever lived in a box-type house to make him realize how stupid his design scheme was, and his minions were too overwhelmed by him to say otherwise.”

 

“So you think after all you did, you deserve a coffee break blocks away from your office?”

 

“Well, I was hoping you could help me with hyung’s surprise birthday party.” Seung-ri revealed weakly. “You do know that it’s his birthday today right?”

 

“Why would I know?” Bom stopped before replying defensively as she took a sip from her coffee. “We’re no longer together, have you forgotten?”

 

“Yah, how could you forget if it’s been only a year since your separation?” Seung-ri observed apprehensively, raising his brow as he did. “Tsk, tsk, tsk… The river of denial. And here I was, thinking that you two were in good terms to the point that inviting you to his birthday would be socially acceptable.”

 

Bom furrowed her brows, denying defeat. “In any case, I should tell you that no, it is not socially acceptable to have your ex-wife attend your birthday party. I’m surprised you don’t know that, given the tons of women you’ve thrown away.”

 

 

-----

Seung-hyun was unusually groggy that morning. He opened his heavy eyes and scanned his room with his barely able vision. He slowly turned to his left where his cell phone dangerously rang at the edge of his bedside table, a few centimeters away from falling. He carefully picked up the phone and saw eighteen missed calls from different people and the bright lights of his alarm that read with difficulty ‘Meeting with socialized housing team, 2 hours overdue.’

 

“Sh!t.” Seung-hyun whispered as he tried to sit up properly. His head was pounding intensely. It was just now that he realized he was having one of his migraine episodes again. He dialed Seung-ri’s number as the head ache persevered. “Seung-ri…”

 

“I took care of it. Jin-ri and I showed the designs to President Kim.” Seung-ri replied calmly, as though he foresaw this scenario already. “I told him you got caught up with another client.”

 

“Thanks. And what about the project?” Seung-hyun prodded.

 

“Of course, when I say I take care of things I get them approved, right?” Seung-ri boasted haughtily on the phone. “So tell me, from the scale of 12:30 to 5:00 pm, how bad is it?”

 

“Huh?” Seung-hyun uttered clueless.

 

“How bad is your migraine this time?” Seung-ri inquired sharply. “Come on, Jin-ri and I both know that you’ll skip work only if you have those blasted migraines of yours. So if you say 5:00 pm that means you should be in the hospital now.”

 

“Ani, it’s not that bad.” Seung-hyun responded. “1:00 pm.”

“Good boy.” Jin-ri uttered as Seung-hyun nodded set his phone back to the bedside table so he could get more of his badly needed rest.

-----

Flashback

 

“Waaaae?!” Seung-hyun exclaimed as he cozy his feet up on the couch. He pointed his icing filled spoon at the cupcake where one tall candle lit barely in the darkness of the living room. “You got me a cupcake?! That’s just half a cake!”

 

“YAH! That’s the best cupcakes in town! A-ajumma from our favorite coffee shop baked it!” Bom lied heartily as she sat on the opposite side of the coffee table, waiting for Seung-hyun to make his wish. “Come on, stop being so picky and just make a wish!”

 

“If I make a wish using a cupcake, I’ll only get half of what I’ll wish for!” Seung-hyun shook his head in defiance. “Aigoo, let’s get the cake my mom brought this morning.”

 

“DON’T.” Bom shouted, grabbing her boyfriend’s hand before he could head for the kitchen. “Listen, it has to be this one.”

 

“Wae?” Seung-hyun leaned towards Bom to hear her explanation.

 

Bom looked at him reluctantly.

 

“I’m listening, Bom.” Seung-hyun said.

 

“I-baked-a-cake-but-it-was-a-failure-so-all-I-could-make-do-was-this-cupcake.” Bom shut her eyes close and confessed hurriedly what truly happened. “Come on Tabi, don’t make me say it twice.”

 

“You baked a cake for me?” Seung-hyun repeated in admiration. His girlfriend was the worst cook in the universe, she would have been ten times worse at baking.

 

Bom slumped her shoulders in defeat. “I know, I know. It’s going to be the worst cupcake you’ll ever taste.”

 

Seung-hyun smiled; his girl friend was certainly oblivious that he was just fooling around with her. He rose up from the couch to sit beside Bom and blow the candle. He closed his eyes, and with one hand squeezing Bom’s, he blew his birthday candle. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?”

 

Bom pouted. “I’m sorry this was the best I could do.”

 

Seung-hyun kissed her forehead and grinned. “I’ll try to eat it without grimacing or vomiting because I love you so much.”

 

“YAH!” Bom exclaimed as she nudged him aside, not even realizing what Seung-hyun had just said. “Eat it with a grateful heart. I don’t usually bake for my boy friend.”

 

That was the first time he said he loved her; and she didn’t even notice.

------

The next time Seung-hyun woke up, it was eight in the evening. His head still hurt, but he knew the pain came from over sleeping.  He sat up, feeling less heavy than he did this morning, and proceeded to heading out to the kitchen to have his first meal of the day.

 

As he walked towards the refrigerator, he saw a note plastered on a little box located on the counter. The note read:

 

‘We tried to wait for you to wake up but you were sleeping soundly so we just left you this birthday cupcake. Get well soon.

P.S. Thoughtful Seung-ri here bit a piece when he got hungry. All you had in your fridge was soju.

 

Jin-ri, Seung-ri and Bom’

 

 

------

“Why didn’t you tell me that was the only piece?! I thought you brought a box.” Seung-ri said as he, Jin-ri and Bom were walking inside the mall nearest to Seung-hyun’s condominium.

 

“Yah, be thankful Bom even bought one. What kind of surprise party were you planning when you didn’t even think of buying a cake?” Jin-ri argued as she shook her head.

 

“It was on my mind but we were both so busy taking over Seung-hyun’s tasks for the day remember?” Seung-ri bickered back. “But thanks noona, I didn’t think you’d go with us to surprise hyung.”

 

“I figured if it was you planning, you’d forget all the essentials.” Bom lied. After she’d learned from Daniel that Seung-hyun was down with his migraine, she felt restless. She just wanted to see him that day. “Like what happened just now.”

 

“Well that’s done, I’m going home. You guys need a ride?” Jin-ri offered, looking at Seung-ri and Bom.

 

“Yeah, I left my car in our office, you can just drop me there.” Seung-ri replied, now looking at Bom. “How about you noona?”

 

“Nah, I feel like sticking around here for a while.” Bom politely refused the offer. “You guys go ahead.”

 

 

------

After an hour of trying not to think of the cupcake, or Bom, Seung-hyun decided to go for what usually takes his mind off of everything: the cinema. He did it last year and it worked; it should be the same the second time around.

 

“Here you go. I3.” The receptionist handed out Seung-hyun’s ticket.

 

“Thanks.” Seung-hyun said to the cinema receptionist as he grabbed the ticket to the new action movie showing in the theater.

 

He was already walking inside in the hall leading to the dark theater when he heard someone cursing from the side.

 

“Ow!” The familiar voice shouted. It seemed like the woman tripped on the stairs. This made Seung-hyun grin inside. The last person he saw to trip on those stairs was his clumsy ex-wife. He watched as the woman stood up and fixed herself.

 

When his eyes started to focus at her figure in that dark hall, his eyes widened.

 

Song: The National – Hard to Find

 

He stared at her confoundedly, letting out a random grin with what he was seeing. That blasted wish on a half bitten cupcake actually came true? Bom was right there, in that moment, at the same time, where Seung-hyun was.

 

“Am I dreaming?” Seung-hyun asked himself. He folded his hands and rested his shoulder onto the wall. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I don’t know. I just felt like watching a movie.” Bom answered sheepishly as she fiddled on the hem of her loose sweater. Her eyes moved from one place to another, avoiding her ex-husband’s melting gaze. “You?”

 

Seung-hyun walked towards her, not breaking his stare until he was near enough to see his ex-wife vividly even in the darkness of the cinema house. She seemed nervous at his presence. “Same thing. Just felt like watching a movie alone.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be home? I know you weren’t feeling well on your birthday…” Bom pried instinctively, regretting it as she did. “I mean happy birthday.”

 

“T-thank you.” Seung-hyun replied giddily, his heart pounding with happiness. “I’m glad you remembered. I saw the note you guys left.”

 

“Yeah so, I’ll go ahead. Movie’s about to start.” Bom informed, preparing herself to walk away from Seung-hyun though she was still planted firmly next to him.

 

“Wait.” He said.

 

Seung-hyun took his chance, slipping both his hand into hers and intertwining it firmly before she could take off to her seat in the movie house. Bom’s eyes widened; though he was surprised she didn’t leave him instantly.

 

“W-what?” Bom posed as her senses finally got to her.

 

Seung-hyun smiled, pulling her gently onto his firm grasp. He enveloped his arms around her securely as he whispered: “I still love you.”

 

The opening credits began with a loud bang, preventing Seung-hyun from hearing what Bom said after.

 

Although what registered to his mind was a sweet "I still love you too."  

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(A/N:Hello! sorry for the delays! Here comes the next chapter :) Hope you guys enjoy! Thank you for all the comments and new subscriptions!