I sighed and wiped the invisible bead of sweat off of my forehead as Myungsoo and I sat back, crashing on the sofa as we looked around at the living room and open kitchen, proud and beaming at its appearance. All of the moving boxes had been thrown in the dumpster and all the furniture had been moved into place. Thanks to Myungsoo, electronics were now plugged in and everything was working perfectly.

"I love it," Myungsoo smiled. I leaned my head on his chest as he pulled me in closer smiling back at him, "I love it too."

"I love you," Myungsoo whispered.

"I love you too," I beamed back. We sighed contently one last time before I clapped my hands, placing them on my knees to hoist myself up and off of the couch.

"Hungry?" I asked, giving him a hand.

"Yeah," Myungsoo replied. He took my outstretched arm but instead of getting up, he pulled me by my wrist and made me lay on the couch with him. "But we just finished unpacking so I was thinking that we could do something special."

"Like what?" I asked. Myungsoo smiled, trailing a single finger gently around my torso, making me shiver. He leaned in closer to my ear and kissed my cheek as he whispered, "You can sit right here..."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't move, wondering what he was talking about.

"... and I will make dinner for today," he said, finishing his sentence off with a wink.

I looked up at him, frowning a little, "You can cook?"

"Oh, you don't know anything baby. I've been hiding my culinary skills for a special day like this. So you can just turn on the TV and sit here like the pretty girl you are so you can eat a lot of my delicious food when I'm done with my masterpiece," Myungsoo said matter-of-factly.

"You know, in the..." I paused to count, "eight years I've known you, you've never cooked one meal for me."

"Well now it's time to reveal my true skills," he replied, slipping out of my embrace and heading to our newly furnished kitchen. "Be prepared," Myungsoo said wih no hint of joking in his tone. I rolled my eyes but laughed, looking over every now and then from the television to see Myungsoo fumbling with pots and pans or trying to figure out how to work the stove.

"Myung?" I called from the couch after hearing him curse at the oven.

"What?"

"Do you need help?"

Myungsoo turned around and shook his head, "Trust me, I got this."

"Okay..." I said uneasily, "If you need anything feel free to tell me."

"Mhmm!" he called. I laughed to myself, watching him amusedly as he ran around tasting things and adding in random spices to various dishes. When I thought that I was never going to get dinner, Myungsoo finally called me over to the dinner table as I heard the cooking fan quiet down. I practically skipped over to the table in excitement and sat myself down at the set table.

Myungsoo came in from the kitchen with two plates of pasta in his hands, placing one plate in front of me. He sat himself down across from me and sighed, rubbing his wet hands on his already dirty white t-shirt.

"Your shirt's dirty," I cringed.

"It's not like I'm going to wear an apron," Myungsoo retorted. I laughed at his response and picked up my fork, staring at the food before I hesitantly dug in. I saw Myungsoo staring at me, manipulating my every move before he stopped me right as I was about to put the noodles in my mouth, "Wait."

"Yeah?" I looked up.

"I just want to thank you for always making me food. It's a lot harder than it looks," Myungsoo said sheepishly.

"Oh, but I thought you were a professional?" I joked.

"Yeah, about that - I lied," he answered. I rolled my eyes. No duh. Myungsoo continued, "I just wanted you to have high expectations. I need to practice anyway."

"Practice for what?"

"For when we have a baby girl. I wanna be able to make her actual food," Myungsoo replied. I felt my heart beat faster. When we have a baby girl. I felt my face heating up and I couldn't help but beam at how certain Myungsoo sounded that last second.

"Huh?" I said, dumbstruck. I could've said something a little more intelligent but with my mind at the state of pure joy and giddy that it was ; nothing seemed to come out of my mouth except for that one syllable.

"What do you mean 'huh'?" Myungsoo teased, "We're gonna get married, aren't we? And we're going to have a beautiful daughter that looks just like her beautiful mother." He tapped my nose and I cringed at him.

"You just keep getting cheesier the more I spend time with you, Myung," I chuckled.

"No, you just keep getting less responsive to my expressions of love," he replied with a shrug. I sighed and picked up the fork once again, bringing the pasta to my lips. Myungsoo leaned in closer, staring as I opened my mouth slowly, teasing him.

"Oh, one thing," I added, leaving Myungsoo to groan, wanting me to grade the taste of his pasta, "I want a baby boy."

"We'll have both," he smiled. I smiled back and finally took a taste of the pasta. Or what was supposed to be pasta. I chewed slowly and looked at Myungsoo, trying not to gag at the taste.

"What? How is it?" he asked with big eyes.

"How about you try it?" I twisted some of my pasta onto my fork and fed it to Myungsoo who replied by cringing himself after having a taste.

"Oh..." he said as he chewed it as slow as I did, displaying a contorted expression. I laughed, "It's not that bad, Myung... There's just a little too much cheese and it's a little oily and the noodles are overcooked."

Myungsoo gave me a look.

"Nothing that a little cooking class won't fix!" I said with a grin and a thumbs-up. After about five seconds of giving me the glare, Myungsoo gave in and ruffled my hair affectionately.

"I promise I'll learn how to cook. I'll make you a decent meal before the year ends," he held up his pinky and I happily locked mine in his.

. . .


"Happy birthday Seohyun," my co-worker congratulated. I looked over at the calendar sitting on my desk that read the date.

Pretty Seo's birthday, it read in Myungsoo's scribbled handwriting with a little heart next to it.

Oh.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile. No wonder everyone was treating me better than usual today. They probably all got those cheesy emails from our company president telling them to treat the birthday girl well. Sweet? No - it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart ; but so he wouldn't lose workers and recieve more complaints about mistreatment.

"Yeah, happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, Seohyun."

"Happy birthday!"

More people's voices echoed from various employees and I smiled, thanking them all.

Birthdays.

I didn't grow up celebrating birthdays. I didn't know how important they were to people until I met Myungsoo. The first birthday I spent as his girlfriend, he hadn't even known that it was my "special day" until Howon gave me my surprise birthday punches after school as Myungsoo and I were walking home together. Howon hid under the bushes in front of my house and emerged like a serial killer, attacking me out of nowhere. Of course I laughed but Myungsoo gave Howon a death glare until he raised his hands in defeat. "What's wrong, man?" Howon asked.

"Why are you punching her?" Myungsoo retorted, taking my wrist. I remember Howon and I looking at each other and emerging in laughter as I explained what was going on. Myungsoo's mouth dropped and he let go of my hand as he hit himself in the head, scolding himself for not knowing my birthday and scolding me for not telling him.

"I didn't think it was important," I remembered mumbling. I smiled at the memories flowing back. I was proud to say that I could look back at those times and tell myself that I was truly happy then.

At the few times like this, I thought of my parents. I never really ever wanted to bring them up and I never talked about them in detail to anyone. Not Myungsoo and not even Howon. Even I wasn't sure what happened. I overthought what could have possibly happened to make everything turn out the way it did that gradually, I had forgotten the memories of being left alone.

I wasn't going to start crying, I was done with that. Because in the end, I got to meet my prince anyway.

Another day of work was over and for a change, I took the bus home. It was a Friday night so it was a bit crowded due to the mass amount of people trying to make it home before dinner but I didn't mind. I got to my apartment and opened the front door after a fumble to find my keys in my big bag.

"Happy birthday, Seo," was the first thing I heard when I came in. I looked up to see Myungsoo standing there with a chocolate cake and brilliantly lit candles. The yellow flame highlighted the shadows of Myungsoo's handsome face as he smiled.

"Don't think that you can run away from me," Myungsoo grinned. He knew I hated surprises and celebrations.

I just rolled my eyes and smiled as Myungsoo started to sing his own version of happy birthday in a silly voice. I laughed, amusedly watching his performance, and almost screamed when the cake almost tipped over out of Myungsoo's hands.

"Make a wish, baby," Myungsoo whispered.

"Hm," I pondered out loud, "I wish..."

"Don't say it out loud!" he stopped me, startling me. "Or else it won't come true," he said a little quieter.

"Oh yeah..." I continued on thinking in my head. Truthfully, I didn't know what to wish for. I didn't even believe in the power of birthday wishes anyway so I just wished for happiness and blew out the candles.

"Whoo!" Myungsoo cheered as he danced over to the kitchen table and put the cake down. He swiftly turned around and gave me a hug and then scoot back a little, twirling me around his finger. "You look beautiful today," he smiled.

"I look the same as I always do," I laughed.

"Exactly. You look beautiful today," Myungsoo repeated.

"Again with the cheesiness?"

"You like it," Myungsoo whispered before me leaned in to plant a kiss on my lips.

"I do," I admitted. "And thank you, Myungsoo. You didn't have to do this."

"Do what?"

"This," I motioned to all of the balloons in the living room and the cake.

"Oh this is just the beginning," Myungsoo smiled.

"Wha-" I started to question but Myungsoo interrupted me. "Eat your cake first, birthday girl," he said with a wink. Myungsoo helped me slice the cake and take out the candles as I took a bite into the chocolate pastry.

"Mmm," I smiled, savoring the delicious flavor in my moutth, "It's from the bakery down the street, isn't it?"

"Your favorite," Myungsoo replied with a wink. We laughed as we talked about our day and just ate our cake.

"So, what do you want for your birthday?" he asked as our laughter died down.

"Nothing, really. This is all I need," I replied truthfully as I forked my cake.

Myungsoo gave me a look, "Come on, you should want something."

"I really don't!" I persisted, "I don't really have anything I want to buy o-"

"Is there anywhere you wanna go?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Maybe... Why?" I asked, suspecting something.

"Well," Myungsoo turned around and reached into the cabinet, grabbing a brochure. He held it out in front of me, "My friend's dad owns a hotel on Jeju Island and I got her to get us free tickets and free rooms to the resort with everything paid for."

"Myung..." I gasped as I flipped open the brochure. There were pictures of the beautiful Jeju Island beach and vairous tourist areas along with snapshots of the impressive resort.

"I already called in work for you already and made all the arrangements. We're going at the end of this month. Sorry, it's going to be kind of a late birthday present but-"

I cut Myungsoo off with my head shaking "no" desperately, "It's fine, Myungsoo. Heck, I was happy with the cake and balloons. You really didn't have to do this." I stared at the pictures on the brochure again and smiled, already excited for the trip ahead. "Thank you so much."

"This isn't anything, Seo. I just called my friend and she arranged everything," Myungsoo said with a smile, "All we have to do is go."

I looked at the costly prices over. "Are you sure it isn't a burden?"

Myungsoo chuckled and shook his head "no", giving me a kiss on the forehead, "Of course not. And I have one more thing so finish up your cake."

After I finished the cake, we went on a drive outside of Seoul. Although Myungsoo wouldn't tell me where we were going, soon enough, I figured it out. I remembered the familiar lone road to the one cliff Myungsoo drove me to on that one Friday night to see the gorgeous stars. It was the first time I had seen the stars and I remembered how happy I was at the time.

I glanced over at Myungsoo who was widely grinning to think: I should've just trusted my heart in the first place. It would've saved both of us a whole lot of confusion, time, and heartache.

"We're going to the star cliff aren't we?" I asked after my mini thinking-session.

He laughed, "Yes, the star cliff."

The familiar country settings whizzed by us as I smiled, raising my arms up into the heavens in Myungsoo's convertible. The cool summer midnight breeze ran through my hair and tickled my fingertips. The only sound heard was the roar of the engine running at 150 miles per hour and the sound of a young couple's happy laughter.

The further we went away from the outskirts of Seoul, the more brilliant stars started to appear in the dark sky. Before we knew it, we were parked on the edge of the cliff with the backseat layed down, cuddling and staring at the stars.

"It's almost 12," Myungsoo whispered in my ear.

"I don't want to leave," I murmured. I loved the feeling of being in Myungsoo's arms and just listening to his heart beat as we talked about nothing and everything, laughing and then going into serious conversations to start joking around again.

"We won't leave. We can stay all night if you want," he replied with his signature boyish grin.

"Can we?"

"Of course," he replied as he gave me a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Myung-ah?" I asked.

"Mhmm?"

"For the past year, I'm sorry for being so-"

"Sh," Myungsoo layed his finger on my lips, "It's my fault this happened in the first place and you know it. Don't bring it up now, it's all in the past and forgotten.

I nodded.

"You know I love you, right?" Myungsoo asked.

I nodded again. He held me tighter and gave me a kiss on my lips this time. Soon enough, our kiss deepened and I felt my exploding chest start to thunder as I panted, trying to keep up with Myungsoo's hands all over.

I tore away first and looked down, biting my lip.

"Sorry," Myungsoo muttured.

I shook my head.

"I love you so much. You're going to be the death of me," he smiled a little and I smiled back. I looked over at the car clock to see the clock blink 12:00.

"Birthday's over," I whispered.

do you guys like long chapters or just medium (?) sized chapters? lol either way, i'm wrapping up the fic in less than five more chapters!
i've figured out the ending but i'm deciding whether i should make it a cliff hanger or not.
would you guys kill me if i did a cliff hanger w/o a sequel? haha thanks <3