The next morning came as a shock to Maliha as she opened her eyes and saw Donghae right next to her. She shot out of bed and tried to remember if he has seen anything. Then she remembered, Flushing. Right, he was gone the entire time. She relaxed and sank back down into the sheets. His large brown eyes opened and he reached across to hold her hand.

                “Hiya, good morning,” he mumbled, the sleep obviously wasn’t gone from his head. Maliha giggled and pushed him into the bathroom, helping with the waking up process. She walked out the door and began to make breakfast.

                By the time she walked upstairs with a plate, Donghae was up and he looked furious. She knew exactly what was going on and felt a twinge of regret at the anger she was obviously causing him. She placed the tray gently down on the shelf and waited for him to explain.

                “Maliha, yeobo, I have to apologize,” he began. His eyes held an unspeakable sorrow and she wanted to cry now, knowing she caused it. “I just received a very… annoying phone call from SM. Apparently, they realized I had a very important one day schedule to do. I tried to tell them to cancel it; I wanted to spend my birthday without worrying about work. Normally they would, but this time it’s urgent.” He repeated the word with disgust as if it was a piece of slime that ended up on his shoes.

                Maliha reached behind him and rubbed his back. “It’s okay. Go, it’ll be fine. Just be back tomorrow.”

                He jerked away from her abruptly and looked deep into her eyes. “No, stop. You’re always so sacrificing. How can you just accept this? No, I won’t leave. SM and a thousand angry horses will never tear you away from me. Nope, I refuse to leave today.” He flopped back on the bed, clearly throwing a fit.

                “Donghae, it’s okay. I’m not being sacrificial. Trust me. I know this is important. But promise me you’ll be here tomorrow? That’s all that matters. You’re an idol! Do your job.”

                This was the wrong thing to say. Donghae clenched his jaw and began nodding slowly. He stood up slowly and continued nodding. Now she was scared. The only time she had seen him like this was when he found out someone had made fun of her. And now it seems like all the anger was directed at her.

                When he glanced at her, all she saw was a wild hurt in his eyes. “Fine. I’ll go. You obviously don’t want me to stay enough.” He threw on his jacket and closed the bedroom door. It was the way he closed it, not with an expected slam, but with a firm quiet thud that made her finally cry.

                Her hand trembled as she called her friend. “Hello?” her voice came over, and immediately Maliha found herself spilling all her problems.

                “Donghae’s really mad. He got the phone call, and he didn’t want to go. But I had to make him go. It’s after all the plan, but now he’s mad. He thinks I don’t want him around. And that’s not the point! Aish, it’s just one more day. Why do I feel like everything’s going to fall apart?”

                “You stay calm, I’ll send Hyuk in and have them do the schedule together. Maybe he’ll calm him down. I’ll be right there,” her friend promised.

                When she came, she barreled into Maliha, hugging her in a viselike grip. “It’s going to be okay. It’s all for him. Once he realizes why, he can’t be mad. He would be so bowled over. For now, just breathe it in. Come, we need to make sure the people are setting up the things right!” She whispered into Maliha’s ear, and patted her head.

                Maliha sniffled and nodded. “Right, it’s all for him. I have to remember that.” Her friend smiled and the two headed into the city where the whole shebang was taking place. When they got there, Maliha watched critically as she observed them putting up the decorations and the scenery. The entire Hall was going to be transformed into a fabulous theme, just for him.

                She walked into the next rooms and saw the multiple themes coming together. But before she was going to step into the last room, her friend grabbed at her arm. “No! That last room is my surprise to the both of you.” Maliha giggled, already anticipating and walked to the kitchen.

                The large kitchen was bustling with chefs as they hurried to get all the necessary foods ready. She walked around supervising, and tasting. There was a wide assortment of foods, and she felt a rush of pride for her mother. She has planned the entire menu. Maliha smiled at how smoothly things were running, finally feeling able to relax.

                The last thing she has to get done is her present to him. In her mind, she had three things for him. The first was the party, the second was this and the third, well the third, was her secret. She smiled to herself and went back home, eager to finish her drawing of Donghae. For weeks now she’s been working on it, secretly studying him when he was there, and relying on her memory when he wasn’t.

                She grabbed out the large canvas and tapped her pencil against her teeth. The hardest part was his eyes. How was she supposed to capture the expression in them? How could she possibly show how beautiful they were? She sighed and decided to work around it. She focused instead on perfecting his nose and hair.

                There was a loud slam as the door opened and shut. Maliha jumped, and scrambled to put away the drawing. She managed to roll it behind the curtains when Donghae walked in. Why was he here? SM was supposed to keep him busy for the entire day! Behind him was Hyuk who gave her an apologetic look.

                Donghae walked past her without a word, and she sensed the chilly air around him. She hugged herself, hurt by his obvious rejection. Oh Donghae, if only you knew, she thought sadly. He went upstairs to their room and she remembered that she had left pictures of the Great Hall lying on their bed.

                She ran upstairs and grabbed Donghae’s shoulders just before he was about to step foot into the bedroom. “Wait! Come down here, why are you so mad at me? I don’t want you to do anything else until you explain to me. I don’t not want you here. I want you here very badly. But it’s your job. Think of how disappointed ELFs would be if you decided not to do this.” She pleaded with him.

                He looked at her with lifeless eyes. “Yeah. I went didn’t I. I just came back because I realized that I left my composing notebook. It’s in the room. Let me get it.”

                She panicked. “No! Let me do it. I’ll get it. You go downstairs and take a break.”

                He raised an eyebrow. “What do you have to hide? I’m here anyway. You didn’t have to come up here. Go back down. You don’t even know where it is.”

                Maliha used her body to block the door. “Stop! I, uh, I left my diary out. And I don’t want you to read it, at least see it. It’s pretty embarrassing. I wrote a lot of things about you. And it’s only going to make your ego inflate. Please let me hide it first?” she gave him her big puppy eyed look.

                Donghae sighed. “Go. I don’t know what you’re playing at, but go ahead.” He gestured wearily with his hand and she quickly slipped in and hid all the pictures in her pocket. She scoured the room to see if there was any other incriminating evidence before walking back out with his notebook.

                “I’ll be thinking of you today,” she told him sweetly. But he only grunted and walked back out the front door. She sat down in a chair, and waited for her heart to stop pounding. That was close. She glanced at the clock. It was already four in the afternoon. She just has to survive a good twenty-four hours.

                It was six by the time she finished her drawing. Her phone rang and she rushed to pick it up. It was Hyuk. “Maliha, I don’t know where Donghae went. We were mainly fooling around, trying to find ways to entertain him, to keep him busy. But the director couldn’t think of any really convincing plot for our program. He got mad after a while and stormed out. I don’t know where he is.”

                Maliha felt the world spin. In an hour, all the party planners were supposed to gather to put everything together. They had the tribute to finish and the final touches. He couldn’t be coming back now. “Find him. Somehow, track him. Hire private agents if you have to. He cannot come back here tonight.”

                Hyuk then chuckled over the phone. “Oh he’s back. He said he went to Flushing to relieve him of his stress. What a weird child. Okay, we’re safe. But we need another activity for him. Oh wait, I know! I’ll send him off to take a health examination.”

                Maliha paced around the room. Who knew containing the fish was going to be so difficult? She wanted to scream. The doorbell started ringing and she ran to let in all the people who have put in their time and effort to make this party happen.

                Meanwhile, Hyuk was busy convincing his best friend to go to a health examination. “Donghae, the manager wants you to get a thorough checkup. Apparently since you hurt yourself at Dream Team we’ve been worried. And now that you’re getting older, kekeke. We want to make sure our Lee Donghae is still in tip top shape. He has a lot more promoting to do!”

                Donghae shook his head. He’s been in a bad mood the entire day. “Why? It’s pointless. And besides, I’m healthy.”

                Hyuk shook his head. “No, he insists. He wants the entire report too. Let’s go.” He dragged his best friend to the nearest doctor’s clinic. The doctor happened to be an ELFish who was well aware that they needed to hold Donghae for a while.

                “Mr. Lee, we’re going to do a very routine, but thorough checkup. You’re required to run on the running machine for a good thirty minutes, and I will measure how fit you are. Then you have to take a nap so I can judge how mentally healthy you are. It’s going to take a good two hours, at the least.”

                Donghae gave her an incredulous look. “What are you insane?”

                The doctor shrugged. “Sorry, Soo Man’s instructions.”

                So for half an hour, Donghae ran on the treadmill and tried to channel all his frustrations into the exercise. It helped somewhat, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that maybe he has to make it up to Maliha somehow.

                So when the doctor was in her office, typing up Donghae’s report and Hyuk was on the phone, facing the other way, Donghae slipped off the robe and ran out of the clinic. He ran into the subway station and hopped onto the train. Thank goodness for great timing.

                He got himself to the city and booked a hotel room for the fifteenth. It was going to be his birthday, and he was going to spend it with Maliha, regardless of what SM or anyone says. When Hyuk realized that his best friend was gone, he raised the alarm. Lookouts posted on the facebook page that they had spotted him entering the Waldorf, and was now scouring the shops of Manhattan.

                Manhattan. Maliha wanted to bang her head on the table. It would be just her luck that he would somehow enter the Waldorf, of all hotels. It was right across the street from the estate where the party was going to be held. If he got a glimpse of the decorations, or of anything, she would kill him then herself. She asked for the people’s help in trailing him, making sure he was nowhere near the party scene.

                Donghae walked inside a large stuffed animal toy shop. He looked around and was surprised to see a shadow looming behind him. This person has been tailing for a while now. What could be going on? Donghae stayed in the shop, and picked up a large fishy plushie and then a blue heart. Once he paid, he stepped out of the store and glanced warily around. The person was still there. Time for an experiment.

                Donghae clutched the bag to himself before sprinting up the street. When he stopped a few blocks away, he was amused to see that there was another shadow person tailing him from the other side. What in the world? There was more than one person tailing him? Why were they tailing him? He shrugged. Maybe this was SM sent bodyguards. Never mind that. He had an apology to prepare.

                He walked into a large café and breathed in the aroma of sweets and coffee. This was one thing he liked about America, their cozy pastry shops. He pointed at a large vanilla and strawberry cake. It had a heart in the middle, and inside he asked for an inscribed Haeliha~ The woman behind the counter had given him a weird look when he asked for her to make sapphire blue hearts and fish around the cake. But he just smiled. It didn’t matter whether she understood or not.

                When he was done, he hopped back on the subway, determined to go back home and apologize to Maliha right then and there. He pictured her face in his mind as he practiced his speech. He would have to dance Sorry Sorry, complete, he thought with an evil grin, with his pelvic s. It would make her blush, but that was the privilege of being her husband. He could do things like that.

                But when he stepped out of the subway, he saw a very grim looking manager and Hyuk staring at him. “Why did you leave the clinic?” his manager asked in a gravelly voice.

                Donghae stared up defiantly. “I had to buy things for my wife. I made her upset this morning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go home.” He tried to walk around them but Hyuk stopped him. He felt betrayed. Even his best friend was ganging up on him?

                “Donghae, she’s not home. She’s currently staying with Lia. She said it’s because her mother had guests over. Lia would not have you there though. Complications she says. Apparently Heechul doesn’t like it when she has other men over,” Hyuk fibbed on the spot.

                Now he was outraged. “Heechul-hyung knows that I have Maliha! Tell Lia to hand her over right now! Today has been such a horrible day. Gosh, I hate birthdays.”

                Donghae started sniffling. Hyuk put an arm around him. “It’s okay, come home and stay with us tonight. You know Jill wouldn’t mind. She loves having you over. But she’ll be with Lia too. Girl’s night out apparently. And it’s okay. Heechul has his idiosyncrasies.”

                I successfully have accosted him. He’s going to be staying with me tonight. I won’t let him run out again. Hyuk texted Maliha. He helped gather the bags and smiled at his best friend.

                “She’s really not mad at you. But once she sees this, she’s going to love you.”

                When the final credits to the tribute was put together and they watched the entire video, Maliha suddenly felt the exhaustion overtake her. This was it. All this pain she has caused him was for tomorrow. One more day. She just has to get through the morning, and then all will be revealed. She closed her eyes and pictured his smiling face.