47-

Letting You Go

Kibum’s birthday came around soon enough and you stuck to your plan of making him dinner and baking him a chocolate cake for his birthday. Things were looking up for you because Kibum had actually been saying for the past few days that he was craving Korean food. Even though you purposely woke up earlier than normal because you had to take a bus to Koreatown, which was quite a few streets away, to get the ingredients you needed, you still found that Kibum had already left the house. He had made you breakfast as usual and left a note saying that he had to go to school for an emergency meeting and that he would be home only for dinner.

You shrugged it off, not thinking too much about it since he was part of an event planning committee and had been going out early very almost everyday for the past 2 weeks or so. You just figured that he was busy with the planning so you went to the kitchen to sort out all the groceries and decided to start on the birthday cake first since the cake needed to cool down sufficiently before you could cover it with the ganache. Your neighbours had nothing but good things to say about the cake so you were pretty happy and confident about making it again.

After making the ganache and while waiting for the cake to cool, you had a bit of time to spare so you paused for lunched and went online to check your email to see if you had received a reply from Jinki but when you checked, you still hadn’t received a reply. You briefly wondered whether he was avoiding you before dismissing it. You sent him another email asking if he had gotten your previous reply before heading back to the kitchen to finish making the cake and then starting on dinner. You ended up working through most of the day just to get everything to be just the way you wanted it to be.

You were placing some of the dishes on the dining table heard the distinct jingling of keys and immediately put everything down and strode as quickly as you could to the door. You hid beside the door and waited for Kibum to walk through the door. “I’m hom-“ He cut off his sentence when you got on your tippy toes and covered his eyes from the back. “Wha-?” His hands automatically went over yours.

“Nope. No peaking Kibummie. Just walk straight…” You instructed and he surprisingly complied without arguing. “Ok, turn left and take a few steps forward.” You directed him to the dining room. “Surprise!! Happy Birthday Bummie!!” You uncovered his eyes and said enthusiastically while beaming at him.

He stared at all the food on the table for a moment, not saying anything.

“You did this for me?” He finally broke the silence and gave you a wide-eyed look.

You nodded, still smiling and feeling quite proud of yourself.

“Wow! It smells and looks so good! I didn’t know you could cook!” In a split second, his happy-shocked expression dropped and he narrowed his eyes at you.

“You never asked me if I could or not! You just assumed!” You retorted in a teasing tone.

“You!” He began but never got a chance to continue.

“Come come! You need to try the food!” You tugged his hand gently and pulled him over to his seat.

You headed to the kitchen to dish out the seaweed soup and rice before setting them in front of him. “You even prepared seaweed soup?” He asked.

“Of course! What kind of birthday celebration would this be without seaweed soup?” You answered before going back into the kitchen again.

Kibum watched you as you bustled around in your purple apron before you finally settled in the seat opposite him. He gave you a smile. “You know… you look like you’re really my wife when you bustle around the kitchen and fuss over the food.”

He had expected you to blush at his comment but when you tensed up and frowned instead, he got worried. “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?” He asked.

You shook your head. “No, it’s just… he said the same thing to me before too.”

“Oh.” He said simply. “Are you still hurting over him?”

“Not as much as before. I guess it helps that I’m in a country where I have no memories with him.” You answered, scrunching up your face slightly.

“Ok, I know this isn’t the best time to do this, but what else did he call you before then? Let’s just get this over with so that I know what not to say. Alright?” He leaned back in his chair and said.

“Well…” You pondered for a while before answering, “He didn’t call me anything else except that, once, and -------ah.”

“Ah. So it was just bad luck that I had to say the same thing as him huh..” He trailed off, clearly thinking of something. “I know! Let’s give each other unique pet names! It’ll be like our code! I already know what I’ll call you.” He announced, excitedly.

“What?” You became interested and wanted to know.

“Pumpkin!” He said smugly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

You arched one of your brows. “What?! Are you teasing me?” You looked at him and then down at your very pregnant self and pouted.

“No no! I didn’t mean it that way!” He clarified with a laugh, making you pout even more. “It’s true! It’s just that pumpkins always remind me of you because of your craving for it when we first met.” He controlled his laughter and said.

You softened but still pouted, though not as much as before. “But I don’t know what to call you. Kibummie? Bummie?”

He shook his head. “Nope. My members call me that already, You must call me something that no one uses to call me. Yeobo and omma are out too.” He stated.

“Hmm…” You pondered. “I got one but you’re probably going to laugh at me if I tell you.”

“Just tell me. I won’t laugh.” He promised with a serious face.

“Cupcake?” He burst out into fits of laughter and almost fell off the chair.

“You promised not to laugh!” You pouted but it just spurred him on and he laughed even harder.

Eventually, he managed to calm himself down enough to notice that you were now sulking. “Aww, don’t be mad, pumpkin. I really didn’t mean to laugh. I just didn’t expect you to suggest that.”

“So you don’t like it?”

“No no. I like it since you chose it for me.” He grinned. “But why that?”

“Umm.. I don’t know. That was the first thing that I thought off.” You said sheepishly.

He laughed again. “Alright, fair enough. Let’s hear you say it then.”

“Now?” You suddenly felt very shy. He rested his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers before leaning forward to rest his chin on his fingers, an expectant look on his face. “Must I?” You whined.

“Well, it is my birthday.” He smiled, evilly.

“That’s mean, cupcake.” You complained but the smile that spread across this face was amazing.

“I change my mind. I don’t like it. I love it! Now, let’s dig in!” He said.

After dinner, Kibum was helping you clear the dishes when he suddenly stopped. “Seriously, I don’t even know why you bothered to put up with my cooking when you cook so much better!” He exclaimed.

You chuckled and continued clearing the dishes. “I thought you were very confident of your cooking skills?! What happened?” You teased.

“That was before I found out that you’re practically a chef!” He defended.

You laughed out at that. “You should give yourself more credit than that. All the food you cook tastes wonderful too! Trust me, and besides, baby likes your food too!” You pointed to your belly.

He smiled and came over and placed his hands on your belly, caressing it gently.

Later in the night, at around 10, you snuck back into the kitchen, while Kibum was in his room, and took out the cake you made from the cupboard you hid it in. Kibum didn’t know about the cake and thought that the dinner was his only birthday surprise. You stuck the candles in the cake and quickly went online to connect a webchat to Jinki and the rest of the members.  When the chat was connected, you quickly lit the candles and gestured to the camera to tell them to be quiet and wait while you went to get Kibum from his room.

You knocked and cracked open the door to Kibum’s room. “Cupcake?” You called out.

“Hmm?” He walked out of his walk-in closet and gave you a questioning look.

“There’s something wrong with the wifi. I can’t go online. Come help me!” You said as you pushed him out of the room.

Shouts of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kibummie/omma/yeobo/hyung!!” rang out when the both of you reached the living room and Kibum turned around to look at you with a raised brow. “The wifi seems to be working just fine to me.”

You blushed. “I had to say something to get you out of your room. Anyway, Happy Birthday cupcake!!” You took the cake and held it in front of him.

He made a wish and blew out the candles after you and the rest of the members sang him a birthday song. The rest of the night was filled with so much banter and laughter – from the members complaining about not being able to taste the cake, to Kibum complaining that the cake is too good and that there was a conspiracy to make him fat, to Jonghyun grilling the both of you about your new pet names for each other, to Kibum telling the members that he still expects gifts when he gets back and then trying to force Taemin to go to bed. And just like that, the night ended on a really happy note.

 

================

It's CHRISTMAS!!!! YAY~~~

I'm dead beat. LIterally. I can barely open my eyes as I type this but have a very Merry Christmas everyone!!! Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays :D

I'll reply the comments as soon as I wake up. Promise!! 

As always, thanks for reading!!! <3

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-2Mirae-
14 streak #1
Chapter 109: Awwww kibum xD my feels for taemin ><
jaydeetea
#2
Chapter 109: Haha I just read this fic again. XD well, starting from when Kibum comes in.

It's just so good.
jaydeetea
#3
Chapter 106: This is the last chapter? Noooooo~~

I mean, it was great, but I wanted them to reunite.

Just so you know, if you write a sequel, I would definitely read it. XD
Demilee_16 #4
Chapter 34: If key really did have an appartment like that I would be like "can I pwease~ stay with you??"
your_mom
#5
Chapter 106: I honestly read this story over 8 times
ChoiSeunghyunVIP #6
Thank you for writing such an amazing fic. I loved the ending with so many things popsicle. <3
Yeoleum
#7
I can't believe it ended already. It seems like a few days since I first read this fic, but in reality it has been a year. I also can't believe that I waited for your updates all through out my last year of high school. I've been a ghost reader then a nice one who leaves flattering comments then a ghost reader again. Do you still remember me? Haha. It's okay if you don't, considering the many other not-so-silent readers/subscribers you have. Anyway, I don't have much to say about the final chapter, other than it's still the same ol' awesome writing style, so I want to take this opportunity to thank you. :) for being a selfless author and not abandoning this lovely fic. Now I'm not gonna ask you for a sequel, because I don't to sound so whiny and stuff, and also I think equels ruin a piece of work. :) that's all.
lkbumkeyk
#8
Chapter 106: Awww, it ended already :(( Oh gawd, I really love your story author-nim~! I want a sequel author~!! Jebaaaaaal :)) This was one of the most daebak story here. It was worth the wait, author-nim~! ^^ ♡
hopelesswriter #9
Chapter 106: aww, it finished...:/
bittersweet but i like open ending n this is sort of open-ending for me. i like seeing endings with so many possibilities laid ahead. n i'm glad she went ahead to finish her studies.
anyway, haven't gotten much time to comment eversince the chaps got really long...xD...but but...love it of course...longer chaps=more great stuffs to read...just...lost on how n where to start commenting...xD
aww, and a bit bittersweet for Junhyung too...well at least he got to spend some time n be a father to Minhyuk even with limitations and all...lucky kid to have so many idols fanboying him...lol.
nothing to say on cupcake...since it'd be just repetition of my old comments on him so yeah...xD
Congrats for completing the fic^^ and thanks for the awesome journey!
KpopLoverHaruHaru
#10
Chapter 106: Yay~ Updated and Completed! :D Im gonna finish this now! Thanks AUTHOR NIM