It's her birthday and he didn't even remembered. She's fine with just a greeting. Or a call. Or just a post in Facebook. Or even a text. She's fine with that, just as long as he remembers. But, no. Three more hours and it's gonna be midnight, the end of her special day and the start of her twentieth year in the world.

She has been struggling to stay up on her feet for the past few years, with all the stressful events happening in her life. Exasperating work environment. Having to be away from her family. Unorganized housemates and a somewhat-annoying ahjumma for a landlady. But when she thought she'll break down from all the weird episodes that came, a weirder occurrence turned up. More like a weirder person turned up.

She was buying fried rice at a fastfood chain to bring to the office. Carrying the carton on one hand and a soda can on the other, she was about to exit the door when a man came rushing in. Not a man, but a boy. That looks like a girl. But that was not really the issue. The problem was that the rushing man crashed directly to her, and it was a split-second late to stop things from getting messed up. It's a good thing that she was not thrown to the floor on her , however, her food was scattered on the floor and the soda rolled near the door.

"Mian! Mianhaeyeo." The boy looked up at her and she saw how apologetic he was. "I'm really sorry, miss. I was in a rush." He went to pick up the soda can and gave it to her. "Here. I'll just buy you fried rice again. Just a minute," he said to her and went to the counter. She stood there wondering where and when she saw the boy who just bumped into her. He wore a cap that covered his hair, but there are still some strands falling on one side of his face and not surprisingly, those strands were highlighted red. Living in the busy city of Seoul, South Korea opened her eyes and mind with all kinds of things such as fashion trends, which includes never-ending hair changes for artists and normal people alike. But there was something with this boy that bothered her. It was not just his loose shirt that's too big for his slim body, his skinny pants that hugged his legs, or the big neon colored sneakers that he had on. It's the totality of him that bugged her. It felt like she had seen the boy before, but she can't figure out on what circumstances did they met.

"Here's your food. i am really sorry about what happened."  He turned to the crew who was busy cleaning the mess. "I'm really sorry about that. Jwesonghaeyeo," he said, then bowed to the service crew. He faced her again. "Sorry about your food. I'll have to go now." With one last apologetic smile, he ran outside the food store, and boarded a black van. It was then that she noticed a group of girls on the street trying to follow the vehicle. They had banners with them and when she saw a black banner with bold yellow letters on it, she suddenly remembered who the boy was. 'G-DRAGON'.

The name reverted her back to the present, which made her sigh.

"Kwon Jiyong! Just wait, and you'll see what you're looking for," she said in frustration. She dialed the number and waited for other end to pick up.

"Yoboseyeo?"

"YAH! Chugeulae?!"

"Stan? Jagiya, I'll call you later, okay? I'm really sorry, I'm just busy with a few things. Bye."

"Kwon Ji-hello? Hello? Yoboseyeo?" Hearing the busy tone of the phone, all she could do was to rumple her hair. "Aish!"

After the 'incident' at the food store, she went on her way to work with the newly-brought fried rice and her soda. She worked her way from the streets of Seoul to their office, an advertisement company for all fields: entertainment, food, clothing, hardware, construction. She was practically a newbie, working for just a couple of months, but she was considered as one of the most productive employees. She directly went to her work station to start her day in the office. She was thirsty and remembered the things that she bought. She grabbed the soda and immediately opened it. It was a mistake, for her corporate pants were soaked with coke. "AAAAISH---!!!"

"It seems that he's not my good luck charm. More of a bad luck. What am I going to do with you, Kwon Jiyong?" All she could do was to sigh. Everyone: her family, her relatves, childhood friends, schoolmates, and co-workers already greeted her, but the person whom she expected to be the first to remember didn't even give a damn.

"I'll just sleep. This will pass, anyway."

After having a short shower and had her clothes changed, she was about to go to sleep at around 10:30 in the evening when her phone rang and she saw that it was GD. "What the heck. I'm sleepy." But nevertheless, she answered the call.

"Hmm."

"Jagiya~"

"Yeah. What?"

"C'mon, don't be that cold to me, jagiya."

"What? What cold?"

"Jagiya..."

"..."

He sighed. "Okay. Can you go outside for a second? I will just show you something."

"It's already late, Jiyong-ah."

"It will only be short, jagiya. Please?"

"What can I do..."

"Pleeease~?"

"Okay! I'll be there in a minute. I'll just get my jacket," she said, and immediately grabbed a sweater from the closet. She was trying to wear one sleeve on her arm when she ran to the door and was surprised when she opened it.

The weird boy with the weird fashion sense was there. Still in his outfit for the day's music program, he was standing just outside her apartment's door, holding a cake on one hand, a bouquet of flowers on the other, and had a human-sized teddy bear sitting beside him.

"I hope I'm not that late, yet. It's still your birthday, right?" He tried looking at his watch but since he was using both of his hands, failed.

She stood there, not believing her eyes. For the past hour, she gave up on hoping that he will greet her on her birthday, but there he was, exceeding her expectations. She didn't even imagine an event like this, prepared by her boyfriend. It may be just a small thing compared to others who go out on dates, but given the fact that her significant other is an idol, sparing a few minutes of his time would mean a lot to him, specially to her.

With tears b in her eyes, she walked toward him and was about to give him a hug when she heard him say, "Oops! I have a cake here, jagiya."

She got the cake and the bouquet from his hands and placed it in the table inside her room, then ran back outside the door, and into the arms of her boyfriend. Not holding herself back, she let the tears flow freely.

"I thought... I really thought that-"

"That I forgot your birthday? I would never forget the day that you were born in this world." He forced her to looked at his face. "Stan..." he whispered and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "I don't want to see you crying, well, except when you are happy, but I don't want to see you sad, okay? I will not promise anything, but I am gonna do everything, e-ve-ry-thing, to make you happy. Araseo?"

She managed to laugh. "Ne. Araseo."

He held her face closer to his, making their distance just inches away.

"Whatever happens in my life, I will make sure that you'll be with me. You don't have any other choice, woman."

"I know."

"And one more thing."

"Ne?"

 

"Happy birthday, love. Saranghamnida, yeongwoni."

 

He lowered  his lips and met hers.