Donghae was bouncing with excitement as we exited the elevator and walked towards our apartment.  As we got closer I heard music drift down the hall from our apartment and raised an eyebrow at him.  "Did you invite over one of your girlfriends?"  He hadn't had in awhile, so the thought of getting some action would definitely explain his enthusiasm.

"Nope!"  He gave me a fat grin and no further information.

"Okay?"  I opened the door to find our apartment full of inebriated friends and coworkers. 

"Happy Birthday Monkey!" he squealed happily in my ear.

"How did you know it was my birthday?"  And why did you throw me a party for God's sake?!  I started backing away from the door slowly to keep the others from noticing me.  I thought I might be able to escape back to the elevator and run away, but Donghae captured my arm and dragged me into the noisy apartment.

"I only found out this morning when Leeteuk ordered me to get you out of the apartment for awhile."

"I thought it was weird that you wanted to go to a gardening expo..."

He shrugged his shoulders while looking around the apartment.  "It was with you, so I had fun."  He waved to someone on the patio and a few minutes later Leeteuk walked up to us.

"Happy Birthday Hyuk."  My friend gave me a quick hug then nodded a greeting to Donghae.

"It was until I got home."

"I can fix that!  Let me get you a drink," he said with a smirk.

Donghae and I were a lot later getting home than Leeteuk had expected, so most of the partygoers were already totally sauced by the time I made my rounds as the guest of honor.  Leeteuk made sure I always had a drink in my hand, but I didn't actually drink much.  Leeteuk figured out, pretty quickly, that I was only carrying around an empty glass and made it his goal to hand me a new drink every 10-15 minutes.  Whenever he gave me a fresh drink I would pass it along to whoever I happened to be talking to at the time, which worked out fine. 

For being unexpected and unwanted, the party was actually pretty fun.  The only down moment came while I was watching some sloshed guests karaoke in the living room.  The couch was full, so I sat on Donghae's lap to watch the performance.  The first few songs were okay, but then someone picked our song.  The song that belonged to Sungmin and myself.

I must have tensed up because my roommate started gently massaging the back of my neck.  I gave him a quick smile of appreciation then slid off of his lap and made my way to my bedroom.  I didn't want to spoil the party with one of my mood swings.  The apartment was small for such a big party and some of the guests had managed to spill into the bedrooms.  There were only 2 people in my room, but they were kissing against the wall and I didn't want to disturb them, so I just kept walking until I was on the small patio that connected the two bedrooms and overlooked a courtyard far below.  I rested my arms on the balcony, closed my eyes, and tried to chase away the unwanted thoughts in my brain.

I didn't know Donghae had followed me and I didn't hear him let himself onto the patio, but I did feel him when he stood behind me and I recognized his smooth deep voice when he spoke.  "The stars are pretty tonight."

"Yeah," I agreed even though I hadn't noticed them at all.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"  He moved next to me and leaned his hip against the balcony, so he could see my face.

"Yeah, it's just... what do you think Sungmin is doing right now?  Do you think he remembered my birthday?"

"I don't know.  Maybe."

"Even if he doesn't want to talk to me he should at least send a quick text, right?  He doesn't even have to spell it out.  He could just say, 'Happy B-Day!' and that would be okay."  Was my phone still charged?  Did I miss his call because it was too loud inside?  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked it.  The battery was still m