Sunday, October 20th

Jessica woke up with a headache the next morning. She took some aspirin and laid back down in bed, trying to fall asleep again. She flinched when she heard noises from downstairs. She groaned and got up to see what was going on.

"Ren?" She whispered. He was in the living room collecting the bottles and cups off the floor when she came down.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, did I wake you? I was trying to be quiet."

"Clinking glass bottles together doesn't help with that." She sighed and say down on the couch.

"I wasn't sure when your mother would get home, so i wanted to clean the mess quickly."

"I'm genuinely surprised that you didn't call in an entire cleaning crew."

"Trust me, the thought crossed my mind several times. Especially when I cleaned the bathroom. But, I know how you hate having strangers in your home, so."

"What time did you get here?" She rubbed her head.

"Midnight. I was running through my public speaking assignment, and lost track of time, I guess."

"Homework on a Saturday night while there was a party? I'm sorry, you really are a nerd." She chuckled.

"Well, I'm your nerd." He sat down next to her and gave her a soft pecks on the lips.

"Cheesy." She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm glad you made it though. Sorry I wasn't even sober enough to welcome you."

"Don't worry about it. It was your party. You're allowed to get a little wild. Even if it is with Hyunseung and his friends." He sighed.

"Don't start."

"I'm not. I'm not, I swear. I'm glad I made it eventually. And, believe it or not, I'm glad I can at least clean this mess up for you for being late."

"That's so sweet. The infamous, spoiled little rich boy cleaning up the house by himself is definitely a cool gift."

"That's cute, but it's not my gift. Hold on." Ren got up and walked up the stairs. He came back down quickly, holding a flat square box with a ribbon. She eyed hom curiously as he put it in her lap after sitting back down.

"Wow. This is beautiful." Jessica was taken aback by the silver necklace in the box. She pulled it out and looked at the winged heart shaped pendant.

"Open it." Ren smiled. She pulled the wings apart and found a picture of Ren in a suit, outlined by a heart.

"Oh my god, Ren. You look so good."

"Oh, I know. This was taken shortly after I got my hair cut. Figured you'd want a reminder of how I was at my most handsome phase on life." He smirked.

"Then, why do I feel like you're looks are only going to get better by the day?" She teased. He leaned in and the two shared a long kiss.

"Put it on me." He took the necklace from her and put it around her neck. She kissed him again afterwards. "You know, I hate that I doubted you. But, for the bigger part of my party, I truly did believe you just forgot."

"Y-Yeah." He chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm happy I was wrong. Someone as sweet and smart as you would never do that to someone he cares about." She smiled at him.

"Of course I wouldn't." He cleared his throat and avoided eye contact briefly. "Just, go back to bed. You must still be tired. I'll clean the rest of this up."

"Will you come up for cuddles?" She pouted.

"After I'm done here, okay? I promise." He smiled. She smiled one last time before heading back up.

"Aron's right. I'm such an idiot." He muttered to himself when he heard her door close. He git back up with a sigh and headed to the kitchen to was all the glasses and cups.

"Seriously, how does anyone do anything without maids?" He grimaced at a dirty spot in one of the glasses.

 

Monday, October 21st

"Good morning." Jessica smiled at Jonghyun. Ren and Jessica walked over to his locker holding hands. Jonghyun raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you be, like, way grumpy because of how tired you are after getting way too stoned?"

"I'm fine. I mean, I'm a little tired, but that's common on Mondays."

"Really? Damn. First time I tried weed, I had to stay in bed for two days straight."

"Kill me." Minhyun joined the three. The boys chuckled.

"Like that?" Jessica pointed at Minhyun, who leaned his head on Jonghyun's shoulder while groaning. Jonghyun nodded.

"I swear, there's a group of tiny men in my skull with bulldozers." Minhyun rubbed his temples.

"Told you there wasn't a brain in there." Jonghyun mocked.

"I'm not surprised. You drank the entire liquor bottle Aron brought by yourself."

"Damn." Ren raised his eyebrows. "What heartbreak were you dealing with?"

"Yours. Your girlfriend's girlfriends were bugging me to get you because Jessica was such a buzz kill at her own party." He glanced at their hands.

"Good to see that's not an issue anymore." He muttered.

"After yesterday, I doubt there would be any issue." Ren smirked.

"Ew. Okay, I don't need the details." Jonghyun turned back to his locker and took out the books they needed.

"Get your head out of the gutter. We stayed in bed and cuddled. That's it."

"Well, I did mostly. You basically cleaned the whole house by yourself." Jessica smiled. Jonghyun and Minhyun paused for a moment.

"Ren cleaned?" Minhyun frowned. Jessica nodded.

"By himself? He can actually do that?" Jonghyun looked like he trying to figure out a difficult math problem. Jessica nodded again.

"Damn. Well, I mean, it's the least he could do for forgetting." Ren's eyes widened at Minhyun.

"What?" Jessica frowned.

"Dude, shut up." Jonghyun nudged him.

"Well, yeah. He showed up so late because he didn't even know there was a party until Aron called him. And, then he punched Hyunseung. It was epic." Minhyun chuckled. Jessica let go of Ren's hand. Her lips had formed a thin line. She glared at Ren and shook her head before leaving. Jonghyun and Ren sighed.

"One of these days, I swear, they're going to find your body parts buried beneath the lily garden." He said through gritted teeth. He went after Jessica when Minhyun swallowed hard.

"B-Body parts?!" His eyes were wide as he looked at Jonghyun.

"Moron." Jonghyun shook his head and left for class.

"Jess, wait! Let me explain!" Ren shouted after her.

"You forgot my birthday?!" She yelled back. She turned around at once and glared at him again. Ren finally caught up with her.

"Yeah." He sighed. Jessica scoffed and turned around again.

"Wait, let me say something first." He grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"About what? How sorry you are for forgetting something I talked to you about all summer?!"

"I know."

"We planned this party together and on the day itself you can't even be bothered to remember? What were you even doing?" Ren bit the inside of his cheeks. "Well?!"

"That assignment I told you about. The public speaking."

"So, homework?" Ren nodded. He looked down at his feet. He felt small.

"Then, what about this? How do you just grab a personalized gift put of thin air?" Jessica held the pendant. Ren looked around awkwardly.

"I have gifts lying around all the time. I just, don't give them to you all at once, because you said you didn't want me to spoil you too much." Jessica scoffed in disbelief and turned around again. She took a few steps and stopped. She took the necklace off and walked back to him.

"Keep it." She grabbed his hand and shoved the necklace in there. She turned around again and went to her classroom.

"Wait, Jess!" He tried going after her again, but was blocked by a swarm of students, scurrying to their own classrooms. Jessica ignored Nana's greeting and sat down behind her desk.

"Okay, that's not how a birthday girl is supposed to be looking after her big day." Nana commented.<