I didn't wear anything special for his birthday. Hyerin was constantly nagging me to make somewhat of an effort to look half-decent, but I refused to wear anything except shorts and an old sweatshirt. I couldn't be bothered to try to win him over now, with him leaving and all. I was much more sadder than I let on, because it felt like all the times we spent together would result in absolutely nothing. He would keep in touch the first couple of months, and then the daily calls would become weekly, monthly, until his name would no longer show up in my 'recent calls' list.

This had happened to me before. Our family had moved to Busan so I could attend high school here, so I had to leave my old school friends back in my hometown. I had a really close group of friends and we were inseparable, but the move kind of pushed us apart. At first, we would spend hours on the phone talking about our days and what we did. Gradually, they moved on to other people and the only contact I had with them were their Facebook updates. Hell, the last voicemail my "best-friend" had sent me was nearly a year ago.

I shivered as the cold autumn breeze hit my legs. Hyerin chatted away happily next to me, overjoyed by the fact that she would be able to Skype Junghyun tonight. 

"...So what do you think, Jihye?" She turned to me, flashing a wide smile.

"Huh?" I shook my head. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

Her smile faded away as she sighed. "Moping around isn't going to help you."

"Yes it is." I stared directly in front of me. "Just...let me feel sad. It's better than pretending to be happy."

"Fine." She patted my head. "Hey, did you remember to bring him a birthday present? Your hands are empty."

I froze in my tracks. Oh .

Hyerin's eyes widened. "Oh my god."

I looked at her helplessly. We were quite a ways from my house, and there were no stores in sight.

"We're already an hour late, Jihye." She glared at me. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

I stared at my shoes in defeat. I would give him money, but all I had in my bag was a few dollars and coins.

Wait, my bag. I set it down on one of the benches on the sidewalk, an idea forming in my head as I rummaged through its contents.

"A-ha!" I exclaimed, pulling out an unopened bottle of perfume. Hyerin stared at me in shock.

"You just happen to have a new bottle of expensive perfume in your bag?" She asked, in a very condescending tone.

"My uncle gave this to me, like, five years ago." I examined the label carefully. "I had shoved this in my bag back then, since I don't wear perfumes all that much."

"So you're going to give him women's perfume?" She chuckled. 

"It's either this or one of those rocks over there." I said nonchalantly. "Besides, I don't think he knows the difference between men's and women's fragrances."

"I think the pink liquid and the fact that the bottle is shaped like a tulip bulb is a dead giveaway." She picked up the box in which it was packed in. "Not to mention it says 'Elizabeth Arden: Fragrances for women' in fancy handwriting on the cover."

"Hyerin?" I looked at her.

"Yes, Jihye."

"It's time to shut the up."

The house was surprisingly quiet when we showed up. Sound of quiet chatter drifted from the open windows and a few children ran around in the yard, playing tag.

We walked up to front door and rung the bell a couple of times. A middle aged man, presumably his dad, opened the door.

"Ah, you guys must be Hyerin and Jihye." He smiled warmly. "We were waiting for you."

I smiled sheepishly as he led us inside. A few people gathered here and there, and smells of barbecued meat filled the house.

"Our Jungkook didn't want a big party." His dad sighed. "That's why we just invited a few relatives and his close friends."

I nodded in understanding while Hyerin kept looking at her phone expectantly. I nudged her a little and she put it away, frowning deeply.

"The boys are all upstairs." He informed us. "We'll call you guys down during the cake cutting ceremony."

Both of us bowed politely and rushed up to his room. The door was closed, so I knocked. Normally I would have barged in just to irk him, but I didn't feel like it today. I didn't feel like doing anything today. 

Jimin opened the door and greeted me with a huge hug. Then, realizing Hyerin was there, he let go and bowed to her shyly.

"Jimin, this is Hyerin. Hyerin, Jimin." I introduced them briefly before stepping into the room. Tae was playing some video game on the computer, but he jumped up and tackled me the moment I came in.

"Yay! Jihye's here!" He yelled happily.

I ruffled his hair affectionately. Jungkook looked up from his phone and smiled, patting the space on the bed in front of him. I hopped up on the bed and crossed my legs, trying my best to look cheery and happy.

"Welcome to the greatest party in the world." He said sarcastically, making me laugh a little.

"It's just low-key." I flapped my sleeves around. "You don't want paparazzi surrounding your house."

"I'm not even famous yet." He lips twitched into an amused grin.

"Wrong!" I pulled my phone out and started snapping pictures of him. "You can't hide from the camera of the world renowned Jihye!"

He rolled his eyes and snatched my phone from my hands. 

"Hey, no fair." I pouted.

"Aw, hush." He took a selfie of him flipping off my camera. "Just give me my gift already."

I drew the bottle of perfume out of my bag gingerly. Suddenly, my brilliant idea didn't seem so brilliant at all. 

"Uh, here." I shoved it in his hands and drew in a sharp breath, trying to gauge his reaction.

He examined the box carefully, then took out the bottle and sniffed it. His lips flattened into a thin line as he looked up at me, eyes shining with disbelief. "...Isn't this for women?"

"No, no...it's just...aimed towards feminine people?" I laughed forcefully. 

"So, for women." He raised his eyebrows.

"Not every feminine person is a women!" I cried, trying to distract him from the worst gift in the world. "You could be a man and be feminine too. Take yourself, for example."

"Hey! I'm manly!" He screeched.

"Tell that to your slender legs." I laughed again. "Seriously, my legs are more manly than yours."

" you." He grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Now, now, Jungkook." I tsked. "Proper ladies should never use such foul-language."

He glared at me and pulled his hood over his head, hiding his face. He then proceeded to curl up into a ball.

"Why do you have to be so ing obnoxious on my birthday?" He sniffed. "It's so annoying."  

For some reason, I felt really guilty when he said that. I'm pretty sure he was just playing, but I realized that I was being pretty obnoxious. I hadn't even bothered to give him a real gift.

He peeked out of his little cocoon and looked at me. I stared down at my hands, too ashamed to make eye-contact. His mom called out to us from downstairs, so Hyerin ushered Tae and Jimin out of the room. Jungkook and I stayed right where we were.

"Hey, Jihye." He got up and crossed his legs, frowning slightly. "Are you ok? I was just messing with you."

I didn't say anything in response. Instead, I leaned forward and rested my head on his shoulder. My eyes stung with tears. I was a horrible friend as it is. How could I even think about becoming something more?

"I'm sorry for being a ty friend, Jungkookie." I mumbled.

I felt his arms wrap around me as he patted my head lightly. I snuggled in a little closer, but my hands stayed in my lap. I was too scared to move and ruin everything.

"I don't think a ty friend would answer my calls at four in the morning." He chuckled softly. "And they would most definitely not be willing to put up with a brat like me."

I smiled against his shirt. "Well, at least you agree that you're a brat."

"Takes a brat to recognize a brat. Which means you're a brat too." He announced smugly.

"Well then, you're a double brat." I scoffed.

"Wow." He exhaled. "You were crying about being a ty friend not a minute ago, and now you call me a double-brat."

"Sorry." I muttered quietly. 

"Nah, don't worry about it." He ruffled my hair. "It would be really strange if you weren't so rude all the time. It's like your weird little quirk."

"Really?" I turned my head slightly to the right, so I was facing his neck. His skin was really nice. 

"Yeah, like some people have a loud laugh, or a crooked smile or an eye-freckle or something." His arms hung loosely around my shoulders. "Your quirk is that you can be gut-wrenchingly mean one second, but incredibly polite the next."

"That's not a very nice quirk." I grumbled.

"It's badass as , though." I could tell he was smiling. "It's really amusing to look at people's faces when you call them out on their bull."

"You mean when I call you out on your bull." I corrected him. "I'm only mean to my friends."

I heard him mutter 'Pfffft yeah, right' under his breath. This ing double-brat.

"So what were you saying on the phone this morning?" Jungkook turned to me. The cake cutting ceremony was over and the party was wrapping up. All of us were sitting in his front yard, enjoying the last summer night before school started. Tae was busy striking up a conversation with a random firefly, while Hyerin sulked in one corner because Junghyun had canceled their Skype date due to an emergency. Jimin was curled up beside me, his head resting on my lap. I was absentmindedly braiding little strands of his hair when Jungkook's question snapped me back into reality.

"Uhhh." I felt my cheeks heat up. I had completely forgotten my blatant confession of love from this morning. Thankfully Jimin had attacked Jungkook then, giving me enough time to hang up and die internally.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't 'uhhh'." He stated sarcastically.

"I just said I would miss you too." I said hurriedly, praying that he would drop this topic.

"No, you said something li-" He began, but Tae cut him off.

"Ugh, you guys are being really boring." He complained, winking at me. I mouthed thank you and he flashed me his famous box-grin. "It's the last day before we leave and we're just sitting here."

"Well, there's not much you can do at ten at night." Jimin mumbled, half-asleep.

"Not for you, there isn't." He chuckled. "You're too busy basking in the comfort of Jihye's affection."

"Damn right I am." Jimin smiled proudly. "Life is not going to get any better than this."

We talked about random things for a while, occasionally having a good laugh over a funny memory. All of us were in good spirits then, with the exception of Hyerin. She was leaning against a tree, her head resting on her knees. 

They hadn't talked face to face in weeks, so I could understand why she was so heartbroken. Normally, she would come over to my house in the mornings and Skype him from there. I had honestly never seen her smile or laugh as she did when she talked to Junghyun.

"I don't like it when Hyerin's sad." Jungkook mumbled, pulling out bits of grass. 

"Junghyun must feel horrible too." I sighed, running a hand through Jimin's hair. "Did he tell you what kind of an emergency it was?"

"He said something about a sudden training exercise they had to do somewhere in Busan." He recalled. "Ironically, it's actually pretty close to here."

"Well," I began, an idea forming in my head. "Do you know when he's going back to the base?"

"He said he would be going back today night, since it's a really short exercise." He looked at his watch. "They're probably headed back right now."

"Jungkook, call him up." I said, getting up suddenly. Jimin whined a little when I pushed him away, but I didn't care. 

"Why?" He asked, cocking his head to one side.      

You'll see." I dug around my pockets for the spare keys to my dad's car. "I have an idea."

.