Third time, the charm!

- CHAPTER 3 -

Birthdays are weird.

People go through so many highs and lows to celebrate a single day in a year.

Some people go through said highs and lows to make those days special for other people.

Yua doesn't have any attachment to her birth date.

The warmest memory she has of celebrating her birthday was in a small, cramped room. The unit was barely big enough to be her bedroom, but it had to accommodate a whole family. All their belongings were strategically stacked along the floors and, a few footsteps was more than enough to completely explore the space.

On a small low table there was a round plate. A corner of its edge was chipped and the outdated swirling flower pattern around the trim was indicative of its decade old age. Instead of cake, there were two Choco pies piled on top of each other. It was breaking the budget using two Choco pies instead of one. And yet, there was still a small candle glowing on top of her 'cake.'

The dim yellow colour from the candlelight filled the room and made it look like time would always hold still in this moment.

Despite her poor living conditions, Yua was happy. She was celebrating her birthday with people she loved, and her heart felt warm.

She closed her eyes and made a wish.

"Please let me celebrate many more birthdays like this."

She opened her eyes and blew out her candle.

A voice that reminded her of home, asked her, "What did you wish for?"

Yua held back her grin, "It's a secret."

Fate is funny that way.

Yua would have never seen it coming that that celebration would be her last.

Now it seems like such a distant memory. Yua doesn't even remember it anymore. Until she sees the server wheel out a gigantic cake on a trolley.

People come closer together to form a huddle and like a synchronised orchestra, they break out into a song.

"Happy birthday to you."

Several voices overlap to finish the song and finally they cheer out for the birthday person while saying "Hip hip hurray!".

Yua politely claps as the person of honour blows out his candle.

In her mind, she thinks the man is too old to be celebrating birthday at his age. If they arranged the number of candles according to his age, his cake would resemble a forest fire. When he blew out the candles, he was lucky he managed to keep his dentures in.

The cake is cut into smaller pieces by the server and the guests start to help themselves, especially the younger children as they excitedly rush to the table.

Yua quickly checks the time on her phone.

9:03 pm.

It is only the middle of a week. Yua has school tomorrow. She still needs to arrange her notes and continue to work on her assignments.

Her mother told her she doesn't have to catch up with business summaries tonight, but she still has her schoolwork.

Yua is slightly annoyed that she cannot go home yet to finish her pending tasks. But she schools her face into a polite smile and doesn't show the smallest hint of discontentment on her visage. She is the epitome of a young lady belonging to the 1 % of high society.