„HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOOUUUU! TO WHOO? TO YOOOU! „

It was the same every year, Samantha thought as she shifted on her small, one-sized bed. Hyoyeon would invent a funny (that was what she would say, not that Samantha agreed), new happy birthday song for her.

„The original ones are way too boring. Why would I want to sing a boring old song to you, especially on your birthday?”she would say whenever her friend asked her. It was funny, really, but the bad part about them was that they were really different every year, which meant you never really knew when to expect them to end. They just kept on going. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing if Hyoyeon actually possesed a nice singing voice.

It wasn’t the case though.

„Thanks I guess. This is worse than last year, though”Samantha laughed whole-heartedly.

„In my defence, I was really sick, okay?” she feigned arrogance and hurt in her voice. „And how can it really be worse than last year?” she then continued, arrogance long gone, now an almost innocent voice replacing it.

„I don’t know, Hyo.  Maybe you are just losing your talent. You know, maybe you just got worn out. Overused. No spark whatsoever.” Samantha teased.

„You know, maybe it’s true. I wasn’t even able to eat 5 cupcakes today at lunch. I always eat cupcaked, Samantha. Always! What if I’m getting old? „ she whined.

Samantha rolled her eyes. It was a good thing she got used to Hyoyeon. She almost remembered how angry she felt when Hyoyeon started phoning her at precisely 1 AM to sing her an original birthday song, every frickin year. She was 14 the first tine it happened, so you can imagine how much of a big deal it was to have your phone ringing at 1 AM in the morning. Then her 15th birthday came, and even though the thougt of being called at odd hours didn’t seem such a big deal anymore, the idea of being awaken was nerve-wracking for Samantha.

But eventually she came around, coming to enjoy these phone calls every year. It was something she looked forward to, because they were somehow special. The way they talked was somehow different aswell, more personal. Warm. Those phone calls were giving Samantha the impression of closeness. Well, this was the closest she came to being personal, and familiar with someone. It wasn’t face to face, which was sometimes really frustrating, but it was all they had.

„So tell me, any plans for tomorrow? Well, for today actually.”

She smiled faintly, remembering her plans for her birthday.

„Actually yes. Remember Haru?”

„Duh. I almost felt you wanted to replace me with her. You absolutely adore that cat, don’t you? I’m really sorry you had to give her back.”

„Well, about that.”she began, not knowing how to say it. „Her owner kind of overheard me speaking on the phone. He found out that today is my birthday, and he told me that I can go see Haru, to not spend my day all alone.”

„Well that’s nice. I guess. Unless he is an old cranky man.„she teased.

„He’s not!”she jumped, but immediately regretted it. Why be so uptight about it? „I mean he is quite..nice.” she said, a little shy.

She tried not to sound too excited, but it was too much to ask for, because she was excited, to the point where she didn’t even know if she was excited to spend the day with Haru, or with her owner.

Jongin.

What a nice name, she thought. It wasn’t a big deal, but it sounded really nice to her. It fit his warm, charming appearance. It didn’t sound fancy, just nice. Just like the way he seemed to behave. He didn’t wear fancy clothes, but simple ones. She liked that. He didn’t have a fancy hairstyle. She liked that aswell. He didn’t even seem to try to charm her, yet he did.

You can imagine she really liked that aswell. More than she wanted to admit, anyway.

„Nice, you say?”she said, her voice just a tad higher pitched. „Tell me about him, then.”

„I can’t. I don’t know anything about him yet. We barely talked.”

„So? You surely must have liked him if you think he’s nice. And we both know you don’t use the word „nice”to describe guys you just met. So you must have good reasons.”

„Well I don’t, okay? She defended herself. „It just seemed really nice of him to give me the chance to see Haru again. I don’t really think just anyone would have done that. That’s all.”

„If you say so..now tell me. Is he cute?”

The sun was warm, it’s light blinding Samantha as she tried to apply some foundation and mascara. It was a trick she learned in her early high school years : to always apply makeup by facing a sourse of natural light, even though that meant she needed to keep her eyes almost shut. It didn’t really bother her though, because the blinding light meant the day was about to be sunny and warm, which was perfect, since she loved days like these.

She checked herself once more, making sure she looked good. She tried to convince herself she wanted to look good for herself, not to impress someone else. It was her birthday after all, if she dind’t look good today, when would she?

She didn’t really feel bothered by the fact that she would go to his house, but it was strange nonetheless, because it was the first time she would go to a guy’s house. Moreover, a guy she barely knew. She understanded why he asked her to meet at his house, though. Haru didn’t really enjoy public, crowded places ( that, and he really didn’t want to lose her again ), which she truly understood.

Samantha assured him she would be fine finding his apartment, even though he said he should meet up with her somewhere she knew. She was okay taking a taxi after all.

Jongin didn’t mention he was living with someone else, so Samantha’s utter fear of misunderstanding the adress was understandable as she was face to face with an unknown guy, that opened Jongin’s apartment door. Well, the door she thought was his.

The guy was just a few centimeters taller than her, but small for a guy nonetheless. He looked at her from head to toe, then smiled subtly.

„Well you must be Samantha, right? Come in.”he said, his voice cheery.

„Uhm, who-„

„I’m not going to kidnapp you, okay?”he laughed as he stepped aside to let her in. „I’m Jongin’s housemate. He told me you would come. Happy birthday, by the way.”

„Oh.”she said, her expression blank. She really didn’t know what to say, since it was so much new information thrown at her.”Thanks.”

She stepped in, wondering if it would have been to rude to ask the guy where Jongin was. He seemed to be just as strange as his housemate, since he seemed to be able to read her mind just as Jongin had done the other day.

„Jongin had something to take care of, so he told me to let you in and, you know, keep you company.”he said, his cheery smile never leaving his lips. He led her to a small but warm looking kitchen, shaking his head in the direction of a cushioned chair.  She sat down, taking in her surroundings. The apartment seemed small, but really cozy due to all the warm colors that were used to paint the walls and arrange the furniture.

The guy took a seat in front of her, resting his elbows on the tabler and slightly leaning forward.

„My name is Baekhyun, by the way.” He said, his eyes never leaving hers.

Strange guys, these koreans. They seem to read minds and they stare at you so openly.Weird.

Just as she had done with Jongin yesterday, she took a proper look at the guy in front of her.

Even though his height was small, his shoulders were broad, but his frame slender. He had honey colored hair, brown eyes and a V-shaped face. By the way he was behaving, he seemed the type of guy that would always make jokes and keep the mood up, always up to meet new people, always the guy who, when arriving at a party, started screaming and laughing with everyone to make his presence noticed.

His posture was relaxed, which somehow had a relaxing effect on Samantha aswell.

„Aren’t you going to ask me if he is coming back soon?”he said, his cheery smile now becoming a little cheeky.

She laughed.

„But I came here for Haru.”she played along. 

„Okay then. I’m just going to call Jongin and tell him there is no need for him to rush and get here because-

„No!”she bluntly said.

He  grinned, winking at her.

This guy, she thought.

„What I meant was”she started, carefully choosing her words, trying to cover her awkwardness „ you don’t need to call him. There’s no rush, right?”she asked, trying to get over the fact that he frickin winked at her.

„No rush whatsoever. I don’t have anything interesting to do. You seem interesting though.”he laughed again,  the sound booming through the whole house. „Want anything to drink?”

„Sure, whatever’s fine.”

Spending the next 2 hours with Haru and Baekhyun, she found she really enjoyed his company. They talked about lots of stuff, about how she moved from Korea to the US, and about how much she wanted to come back when she would finish high school; about her parents, about how different the two countries were. He told her about him and his passion for singing, and about how he and Jongin had become friends.

„He was really awkward at first, he was that type of guy that a lot of girls wanted, not only because he was handsome, but because he had that mysterious vibe going on, you know what I’m talking about?” She nodded. „ Yeah, and I was the type of guy the whole school knew, not because I was handsome or anything, even though I really am”he added with a grin and a hand to his heart „but because I was always talking with everyone, no matter if I knew them or not. It was really fun.”

„Yeah, you really seem like the type of guy who would go and talk to everyone.”she laughed along, while playing with Haru’s soft paws.

„The thing was, I never really dared to talk to Jongin the way I talked with everyone else. I wasn’t scared, but he didn’t seem to enjoy the company of a loud guy like me. He had a few good friends, that were basically just like him, intelligent but quiet.”

„What changed your mind?”

„It was one day in PE class that I saw him doing a complicated dance routine. He was all alone on the field, so I naturally watched him. I asked him if he wanted to go professional, and he told me he wanted to apply to Seoul Arts University. That was where I wanted to go aswell, but for singing. I told him that,  and from then on we immediately clicked. But I wasn’t the loud and cheery Baekhyun with him at first. We talked every once in a while ,until he slowly opened up, and now here we are, living together.” He finished, smiling.

Samantha smiled, happy  to find so much about Jongin. He really seemed a great guy from what Baekhyun told her, so she was naturally waiting to really be able to talk to him, and find out more about him.

Don’t go ahead of youself though, Samantha, she thought.

He went quiet for a few moments, then looked straight in her eyes with a dead serious look in his eyes. She gulped.

„I’m like..really hungry.”

„God”she exhaled „I thought you would kick me out. What was with that look?”she giggled.

„I’m just hungry”he laughed along. „Let’s eat something.Do you know how to cook?”

„Uhm..are scrambled eggs okay?”she asked hesitantly.

 „Heaven” he joked.

„So where are the eggs?”she asked.

„I’ll  get them, you heat up the pan.”

„I don’t know where the pan is. You’re smart”she said ironically.

She wouldn’t normally be ironic with someone she barely met, but Baekhyun just made her feel as if she was friends with him since forever.

„Oh, right.”  He said as his hands wandered somewhere in the fridge, his eyes focused on the cupboards instead. It wasn’t surprising for Samantha to suddenly hear a loud crack, along with a disgusted expression from the blonde guy.

„Oops?” he  smiled apologeticaly. Looking on the ground, 3 eggs were splashed on the floor, the shells cracked all over.

„Great!”she exhaled. „Let’s clean.”

He fetched a few paper towels for them to clean the mess. As they were wiping the floor, the door at the entrance made a silent thud. However, they were too concentrated in cleaning the mess, laughing along the way to be able to hear anything. They weren’t sure when Haru appeared next to them, but they were glad she was also helping them clean by small stripes off of the egg on the floor.

„I see you met Baekhyun.”a low, but warm voice said.

„Jongin, you’re finally here.” Baekhyun laughed.

When Samantha looked up, she was face to face with a tall, slightly sweaty Jongin, smiling down at her.

„Hi. „

„Hi.”

„Happy birthday.” He said, smiling warmly. In that moment, it was as if Baekhyun suddenly dissapeared. Haru aswell. Gone were the eggs on the floor aswell. It was just Jongin and her.

„Thanks.”

She didn’t remember ever smiling with such warmth for someone.

A/N

Yayy another chapter

I am sooo sleepy, it's like 11 PM, but I really wanted to write this and post it as soon as possible, so here you go!

I hope you enjoy it, lovelies! ♥

Don't forget to comment ^.^