Enigmatic feeling (markhyuck)

21

four months later

The past several months remained uneventful.

At this moment, Donghyuck was sitting on the couch in his apartment along with Serim, Renjun, Serim's friend Hyojung, and Jeno.

Why the hell Jeno was here was beyond Donghyuck, but the bastard had enough decency not to start anything.

They had pulled chairs into the living room, so they were all sitting around the coffee table that was sporting a couple of wrapped gifts, their beverages, and one fairly large, generic cake.

Donghyuck stared at the cake with its white and green icing, the words, "Happy 19th Birthday, Donghyuck!" written across it.

Donghyuck looked at the cake with greedy eyes. He loved sweet things and this cake looked pretty good. His concentration broke when Serim got up abruptly and headed towards the kitchen.

"Hold on, Donghyuck, close your eyes. I've got a surprise for you"

Donghyuck perked up at the word 'surprise' and obediently closed his eyes, trying to use his hearing to guess what was going on.­­

He heard Serim come back to the living room and a soft scrap of plastic against the coffee table's surface.

"Okay, you can look now"

Donghyuck slowly opened one eye in trepidation of what he would see, but quickly opened both when he saw what was before him.

What sat on the table in front of him was a little personal Chocolate cake. This type of cake was Donghyuck's absolute favorite and he hadn't eaten it in years.

His mom used to make it for him for his birthday and it was one of the main things he used to look forward to when it reached June.

The first birthday after she died was the last time he'd seen one. Serim had tried to make it like his mom did, but Donghyuck couldn't even look at it without crying.

After that, Serim didn't try again and instead stuck with the safe, generic cakes. Donghyuck knew that she had only meant well, but the cake reminded him so much of what was lacking in his life.

Tears started to well up in the corners of his eyes at the sight of the chocolate dessert. He had to grab ahold of Serim's wrist, because she saw the tears in his eyes and was about to take the cake away.

Donghyuck shook his head and gave her an apologetic smile for being so emotional.

"It's fine. Thank you so much"

He heard Serim let out a loud sigh of relief, "I thought that maybe you would finally be ready to eat it again"

In his peripheral, Donghyuck saw Jeno giving Renjun a confused look and Renjun just shaking his head while mouthing, "I'll tell you later".

He watched Serim place one small candle in the center of his cake then step back to let Hyojung light it with the lighter she always kept on her.

"Okay, Donghyuck, are you ready?"

Donghyuck nodded his head. This was always his least favorite part of birthday parties. He didn't know what to do when everyone was singing, besides sit there like a dumbass.

All at once, everyone began to sing.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday, dear Donghyuck.

Happy Birthday to you!

Donghyuck closed his eyes and blew a puff of air out. He opened his eyes and grinned, secretly hoping his wish would come true.

"So, what did you wish for?" Renjun peered at him curiously, the question drawing everyone's attention back to Donghyuck.

"I'm not saying. If I said it aloud, then it wouldn't come true"

Renjun chuckled with a nod of his head before clapping his hands together, "Well, who's ready for some cake?"

Everyone eagerly grabbed a paper plate and waited as Serim cut into the white cake. Donghyuck grabbed a plastic fork from the coffee table and began to dig into his little personal cake.

He stared at the piece on his fork for a good thirty seconds, wondering if it was going to be as good as he remembered.

He was almost hesitant to eat it, because he didn't want to be disappointed if it wasn't exactly how he remembered.

He glanced up to see Serim staring at him, worry written along her face. He decided that either way, he was going to have to do this.

This was a step forward in his life. He knew that he still clung onto the past, hoping that it wouldn't disappear. That if he kept it in the back of his mind, he would never be able to forget it.

He realized now that he was never going to forget his mother's face. He didn't need to cling to small things like this. Eating this cake wasn't going to erase all of the happy memories he had of his mom.

It was like an acknowledgement that he knew things wouldn't ever be the same, but it will be okay.

His mom will always be in Donghyuck's heart and he knew she wouldn't want him to lose joy in things he loved just because she wasn't around anymore to enjoy them with.

He gave Serim a lopsided grin and hurriedly enveloped the sugary goodness with his mouth. The moment the cake hit his tongue, he closed his eyes in bliss.

It was exactly as he remembered it to be, if not better. The chocolate and coconut were a perfect mixture and he let it melt a little before swallowing and opening his eyes.

Serim was smiling and Donghyuck could have swore he saw tears in the corner of her eyes before she quickly looked away.

The others were talking amongst themselves while eating their cake. Donghyuck didn't talk at all, he was too busy savoring his cake and trying to figure out if he should eat all of it in one go or save some for tomorrow.

~

Everything went pretty smoothly. Once everyone left, it was around five in the afternoon and Donghyuck was getting ready to head out.

Serim gave him a questioning gaze, but didn't try to ask where he was planning on going. He figured it was only because it was his birthday and she didn't want to ruin it with a bunch of questions.

"I'm going to stay the night at a friend's house. They'll take me to school in the morning, okay?"

Donghyuck tried to put on his sweetest smile in hopes that it would calm Serim's nerves.

She opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it and bit down on her bottom lip.

Donghyuck continued to pack some clothes in a duffel bag while he waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts. He knew she was going to say something, so might as well not push it.

After a few minutes, Serim nodded her head and spoke up, "Okay. Just promise me you'll be safe and don't do anything stupid"

Donghyuck wrapped her up in a tight hug to hide the grin that was spreading on his face,

"Yeah, I promise"

Donghyuck had to hold back a laugh as he felt Serim's shoulder slacken and he knew she was rolling her eyes. He felt a light smack on the back of his head and took it as a signal to let go.

He turned back to his bag and double checked everything to make sure he hadn't forgotten any necessary items.

When everything was accounted for, he slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and headed out the door to wait for Mark to pick him up.