Minseok wasn’t in the apartment when Semi woke up. He’d left a large cooked breakfast out for her, and for a moment Semi thought he’d done it as a birthday treat—she had told him when her birthday was, after all, even though it was a long time back—but there was no card, and the only note he’d left with it was one to say that he’d gone to help Lay out with something. Upset, Semi retreated to the living room, this time with The Vampire Diaries and the apartment’s entire stock of chips, but not after an attempted raid on the first aid box to discover that they were clean out of Advil.

By lunchtime, she was feeling positively miserable. Sehun hadn’t yet had an opportunity to ring, and neither Tao nor Jongin were answering their cellphones. She did get a text from Wendy, who had finally found signal in the middle of a national park she and Seulgi had gone to. After matching Wendy’s enthusiasm for the landscape that Semi couldn’t see (though Wendy did send her some pretty impressive pictures), Semi felt the conversation had gone on long enough to drop the fact that she’d just turned twenty. The result was an instant phone call from the two girls, both apologizing for being such bad friends and wishing that they were with her and hoping that she was having a lovely day, but the signal was so bad that the line filled with static and it was almost impossible to hear them. Wendy was midway through telling her that they’d make it up to her by getting her the best present they possibly could to give her when they got back when signal at her end cut out altogether, leaving Semi feeling even more alone. Frustrated, she texted Jongin asking what he was doing and to ring her as soon as he was free, and then tried to ring Minseok, only to discover that his phone was off.

The cramps got significantly worse as the afternoon wore on. Resigning herself to the Worst Birthday Ever, Semi scrunched herself into the corner of the couch and gave up on trying to keep her section of the room tidy. The corners of her lips and the roof of began to feel tender from the amount of salt she took in due to the chips, and by the time she’d got through the last packet, she was feeling tired, cranky and bloated. Her cell lit up with an incoming call from Jongin just as she was crumpling the packet into a ball, but she was too irritated and annoyed with life in general to pick up.

It was almost evening before Minseok returned. Finally heaving herself off of the couch when she heard the familiar beeps of the apartment security system, Semi eyed him from the doorway through to the living room as he took his shoes off, placing them on the rack with his usual precision (and neatening hers up too after scowling at them). He seemed a little surprised when he looked up and caught sight of her. For a moment or two, it looked like he wasn’t sure whether to smile or adopt a more serious expression. A stoic one that gave nothing further away won out. He straightened up and held up a bag.

“I bought you a dress.”

Semi’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

He hung the apartment keys on the hook before coming further down the hallway. “I thought we could go out for dinner.”

“And you want me to dress up for that,” Semi repeated, utterly unconvinced. “Is there any particular reason why I should?”

Minseok came to a halt. “You’re angry with me.”

Semi just snorted.

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she scoffed, and Minseok was a little flustered when her eyes started b with tears. “I only woke up alone, you know, and you’ve only ignored me the entire day, and Tao’s still in hospital and you weren’t free to take me there when you promised you would and Sehun hasn’t been answering my calls—”

“Here.” Minseok dug in his pocket and drew out a packet of painkillers. “I got them when I was out at the shops.”

It was enough to shut Semi up mid-sentence. She made no move to take the painkillers, but she did at least look somewhat placated, even if the surprise was evident.

“H-how did you—?”

“It’s been three months. It’s not hard for me to notice. Plus you said yesterday.” He slipped the Advil into her hand. “We’ll walk to the restaurant rather than taking the car. It’s not far and it’ll relieve the cramps a bit. That solves one of the smaller problems, doesn’t it? It’ll make it easier to address the bigger ones.”

Semi bit her lip. He did sort of have a point. Particularly with exercise. She’d just been feeling too sorry for herself to even bother.

Minseok set the bag with the dress down beside her. “The dress should fit. I asked Sehun for your size.”

Semi sniffed quickly, wrinkling her nose and wiping it on the back of her sleeve.

“Oh, and Semi, happy birthday,” he added in a much gentler voice. “I hope it hasn’t been completely ruined yet.”

“These aren’t my present, are they?” Semi asked in a weak attempt at a joke, holding up the Advil.

A small smile stole across Minseok’s face and he shook his head.

“I have a much better present planned for you. You’ll get it later.”

Just like that, the aggravation lifted. Semi flashed him a small smile in thanks. “Sorry for snapping.”

“It’s all right,” he assured her, patting her shoulder as he passed her. “We all have off days. And if you want to get hold of Jongin, I’d ring him now. They’re about to start on the Seungri operation and he was a bit worried that you weren’t returning his calls. I don’t know if you’ll have the opportunity to speak to him later. See if Sehun’s around, too.”

He disappeared into the office. Semi turned the painkillers absently over in her hands and then headed into the kitchen to get a glass of water to take them with.

Twenty minutes later, she was feeling much better. She went and cleaned up the living room first, because she wasn’t sure she wanted Minseok to see the state she’d managed to get it into, and then retreated into her bedroom to ring her brother, who was on his way back from a meeting a few towns over.

“Minseok says he’s taking you out for dinner,” Sehun said after the usual birthday pleasantries had been exchanged. “I wanted to join you, but I’m not going to be back until at least ten, so I’ll pop round to the apartment then and probably stay the night. I’m sorry I can’t spend more time with you.”

“It’s okay,” Semi assured him as she pulled the dress out of the bag. It was navy blue, with gauzy sleeves and silver brocade down the front. Semi reckoned that Minseok had asked Sehun about more than just her size, because she could remember back around the time she first met her brother when she’d spent nearly two hours boring him to death with a lecture on which colors went together and how she r