"Good morning, Hana..." I hear my mom say as she gently pats my shoulder to wake me up. I open my eyes and she's looking down, smiling at me. "Oh, you're awake now. Go ahead and get dressed for the day."
I sit up, yawning and looking around. My curtains are open and the sunlight is shining in my face, causing me to put my hand up to block the light.
I get out of my bed and wash up in the bathroom, changing into a pair of jeans with minimal rips on the knee and a light purple shirt that I have. I am about to open my door and go downstairs when I get a call on my phone.
I answer it and immediately see my dad's smiling face.
"Dad!" I yell excitedly, sitting back down on my bed.
"Hey, Han, happy birthday!" He says, smiling.
"Thank you Dad! I wish you were here," I say, sadly.
"Yeah, I know. But I will be home soon for Christmas, which is in only 3 weeks. So you don't have much longer to wait," he says. "It'll go by quickly, especially since you have midterms soon."
Oh, I forgot about midterms! I have to start studying for them so I can get good grades on them.
"Yeah, we do. We have them the week after next week, so I should probably start studying soon."
"Okay, Han. Don't stress yourself out too much about it. Have a little bit of fun. You graduate next year. You should at least have some good memories with friends before then," my dad says. I smile, thinking about all the memories I do have so far, however they aren't all with my friends. "What are you smiling about?"
I snap out of my trance and look back to my dad.
"Nothing, Dad. I just thought of something that my friend showed me the other day," I say, laughing to cover up my smile.
"Okay. I should probably get going now. I have some important things to handle but I'll call you again later, okay?" I nod and say bye to him before he hangs up the phone.
I walk downstairs as I was planning to do before my dad called me and I smell the breakfast my mom made.
"Oh, you're down, finally," she says from the dining room table. "Oh, I didn't make you any breakfast because Ni-ki said he was going to pick you up soon to eat."
"Oh... did he say when?" I ask her.
"Not exactly. He just told me that he would message you when he gets here."
Just then, a message comes in on my phone saying that he's here.
"Oh, that's him now. I'll be back later, Mom. I love you," I say. She waves bye and I walk out the front door. I see Ni-ki's car parked in the driveway and he gets out to greet me.
"Hi, Hana, allow me," he says, hugging me and proceeding to open the car door for me.
"You didn't have to open the door for me, Ni-ki. You could've stayed in the car."
"I wanted to, I promise," he says, smiling at me before starting to drive.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask, still clueless on our destination.
"Somewhere special," he says.
"Like what?"
"Think about it," he says, smiling as he drives along the main road in our town. Nothing comes to mind, so I just wait until we get there to see.
He pulls up into the parking lot next to the park, unbuckling and getting out of the car.
I also unbuckle and Ni-ki comes to open my door before I get a chance to open it myself.
"So, why did you bring me here?" I ask him. Looking at the playground, so many memories flood my mind. However, the most special one to me was my first kiss.
"Uh, I wanted to bring you to the place where everything became official. Where..." he says. His cheeks get red and he looks down at the ground. He plays with his fingers nervously.
"Where we kissed for the first time," I say. His smile grows and he keeps his face down.
I pull him in for a hug, allowing him to relax. When he pulls away, he drags me over to the swing set. We sit down and swing together.
"Uh, I got something for you too," he says, reaching in the bag he is carrying around today. He pulls out a small-ish box wrapped in red wrapping paper. He hands it to me. It's pretty heavy, so I'm careful not to drop it. I study the wrapping paper.
"Wow, you wrapped this really good. It looks perfect," I comment. "I almost don't want to unwrap it."
"I learned last Christmas because my mom taught me. It's actually really fun to wrap gifts," he says, letting out a small giggle. I stare into his eyes with a loving smile, eventually making him flustered again. "Okay, just open the present."
I open it carefully, revealing a small snow globe. Taking it out of the wrapper completely, I see that instead of a house on the inside like usual, there's two people kissing.
"Awww, where did you find this?" I ask Ni-ki.
"Actually, I... I had it made specifically for you. The people represent us," he says, pointing at the people in the snow globe.
I lock eyes with Ni-ki, and everything seems to stop. He smiles seeing me smiling and he moves closer to me. His lips are about to meet mine until my phone starts buzzing in my pocket.
I pick my phone up, seeing my dad calling me but I decline it.
"Who was that?" Ni-ki asks me.
"Um... that was my dad." Ni-ki's eyes get big when I say that.
"And you declined his call? Why?"
"Because I'm with you right now, Ni-ki. I'll call him back later, it's okay," I reassure him.
"But... it's your dad. I can be put on hold. I know how much you miss him." His gaze softens as he talks about my dad.
"No, I want to be here with you right now. It'll be fine."
"I just don't want to be the reason you don't get to talk to your dad," he says apologetically.
"No, you're not. I made the decision to decline the call, not you. Don't worry about it," I tell him. He looks at me and smiles. "Thank you again for my present."
"You're welcome, love."
"L-love?" I ask, shocked.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable? I... I can take it back if-"
"No! I, I like it," I admit and look over to him. He laughs shyly and looks down to hide his blush.
"Okay, I'll call you that from now on," he says.
"Just not in front of Jay, he'll probably kill you," I say. He laughs.
"Okay, I won't. It's a nickname for when it's just us then," he says and tucks some hair behind my ear. He stares at me, a small smile growing on his face.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that..." I ask.
"You're so beautiful..." he says. "I really could look at you all day."
Before I could open my mouth and say anything, Ni-ki pulls me in for a kiss. However, it's cut short when we begin to hear people talking.
I look in the direction of the voices and see three little kids running towards the playground with a lady that looks to be around my mom's age.
"Mommy, look, they're kissing!" The little boy yells. Ni-ki jumps up, pulling me up too.
"Come on, let's go eat now," he says, putting his hand on my lower back and guiding me back to his car.
As we pass the lady and kids, Ni-ki stops and turns to her.
"I am so sorry about that. I didn't consider the possibility that kids could come here right now," he says, bowing politely.
"Oh, don't worry about it, that's all right! He always points out everything everyone else does. By the way, you have a very pretty girlfriend," she says, gesturing to me.
"Yes, I am very lucky to have her. She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met."
"Oh, is it your birthday?" The lady asks me.
"Yes, how did you know?"
"I figured that snow globe was a present to you. Happy birthday," she says. "I hope you have a nice birthday!" She says, waving bye to us before running after her children who are already playing on the swings.
Ni-ki locks hands with me and we continue walking until we get to his car. He opens the door for me and then gets in himself.
"Where are we going to eat today?" I ask, starving since I haven't eaten anything today.
"Uh. I was thinking we could go to the same chicken restaurant that we went to last time," he suggests. "Does that sound good? We can go somewhere else if you don't like that idea-"
"No, no, that sounds great, Ni-ki," I say. We drive for about 5 minutes before reaching the restaurant.
We get out and enter the restaurant, waiting to be seated.
When the waitress comes to the front, she smiles and says, "Oh, you're back! Come right this way." She leads us to a table inside in the far corner. It's a bit busy right now because it is lunchtime, so there are many people sitting at the tables around us. There is an older couple, probably around sixty years old or so, sitting right across from us, and various families and couples around.
"Okay, do you know what you would like to order yet?" She asks Ni-ki and I.
"Uh, can we get this appetizer?" Ni-ki asks, pointing to the most popular appetizer at the top of the menu.
"Yes, I'll bring it out along with your drinks," she says and walks away quickly, going back to the kitchen.
"I didn't know it would be this busy, I'm sorry. If I'd have known, I would've done something else," Ni-ki says.
"It's okay, I feel comfortable right now," I tell him.
"Okay, but if you start getting uncomfortable or anything, just tell me and we can go. I know you don't like crowds of people," he says, holding my hand under the table.
"I will. Thank you," I say. He kisses my cheek and puts his arm around me.
"You've gotten more comfortable with me in public," I point out. He nods and smiles.
"Yeah, I don't worry about what people are thinking anymore. I've just learned that I love you and I want to show you how I feel, even when we're in public." Hearing that from Ni-ki makes me so happy.
Just then, the waitress appears with a tray full of our drinks and appetizer. Ni-ki takes his hand off of me and takes the plate out of her hand.
"Thank you. And for our entree, can we get this?" He asks, pointing to a spicy honey flavored chicken dish. "Do you want anything else?" Ni-ki asked, turning to me.
I look over the menu and point to the strawberry milkshake.
"Okay. And a strawberry milkshake, please." She writes it all on her notepad and nods.
"Okay, we'll have your food out as soon as possible," she says and walks away.
I take a sip of my drink and Ni-ki hands me one of the small chicken wraps from the appetizer dish.
"Oh, it's really good! Try it," I say, handing him a wrap too. He agrees with me and we eat the rest of them.
We see several tables get their food delivered, including the old couple. They keep giving me and Ni-ki weird looks, but I try to brush it off and pretend it doesn't bother me. After a while though, I start to feel uncomfortable.
"And then when I went downstairs- hey, are you okay?" Ni-ki asks me, looking at me concerned.
"Yeah, continue," I say, once again changing my expression to to hide my discomfort. Ni-ki then looks in the direction of the couple, seeing the looks we're getting. His grip around my waist tightens and he doesn't back away from me like he probably would have when we first started dating.
When the waitress brings us our food, Ni-ki asks her if there are any other tables outside that we could move to.
"Uh, I think there is. Is there a reason you want to move?" She asks.
"The couple across from us keeps looking at us and making my girlfriend uncomfortable, so I just wanted to distance her from them," he explains. She looks over at them and sees what's happening.
"Sure, come right this way," she says, putting all of our plates and drinks on the tray she carried them over on and leads us outside. It's much calmer outside, and there aren't many people. "Is this better?"
"Yes, thank you so much," Ni-ki says to her.
"Enjoy your meal." Once she leaves, I turn to Ni-ki and look at him.
"You didn't have to do that, you know. I was fine at the other table," I tell him.
"No, you weren't. I could tell how uncomfortable they were making you and I'm not going to let them ruin your birthday lunch. Now be quiet and eat," he says, handing me a fork.
"But-" he glares at me, making me stop before I finish my sentence.
We eat the rest of our meal while talking about random things, and without me having to worry about people looking at Ni-ki and I. When we finish eating, the waitress comes to our table and gives us the check.
"Just sign here and here and you're done," she says and Ni-ki obeys.
He hands her a ten dollar tip, saying it is for the good service and also for moving our table in the middle of the meal.
"Thank you so much, I appreciate this a lot," she says, bowing. "I hope you have a great afternoon!"
We walk out and get back in the car.
"It's time for me to take you home now, sadly," Ni-ki sighs.
"No, why so early?"
"Your mom said she wanted you to be home for dinner, so I'm just following her order. I was going to take you to play games at the arcade, but I'll do that another day instead if that's okay with you," he explains.
"No, it's not okay. I want to spend more time with you..." I say, leaning my head on his shoulder and looking at him pleadingly.
"Hana, I can't just ignore what your mom told me to do. I agreed to these conditions when I asked to take you out," he says.
"Well... we can say we got stuck in traffic."
"What traffic would we get stuck in? We live in a small town in the outskirts of Seoul," he says.
"Maybe there are lots of people going through and they're clogging the roads," I counter his argument.
"Yes, because so many people pass through here," he says sarcastically.
"Fine. Just take me home then," I say, sounding disappointed.
"Don't be sad, love. I'll call you tonight after your mom is sleeping," he says and winks at me. I laugh and look out the window as I feel the car start driving in the direction of my house.
When we pull into the driveway, Ni-ki gets out and insists on opening the door for me once again, so I let him. He helps me out and walks me to the front door.
"Thank you for taking me out today, Ni-ki. You made my birthday more special than it's every felt before."
"And thank you for being so amazing and always nice to everyone you meet. I'm glad to have met you," he says as if we're in a movie or something.
He pulls me closer until our lips are about to touch, then the sound of the front door squeaking open startles us, making me jump away from Ni-ki.
Looking at the figure standing in the doorway, I recognize him immediately.
"Dad?"
(A/N : I feel so bad that I made you all wait so long for a chapter 😭 but I hope it makes up for the time it took me to write it :) thank you to everyone who is still here reading even after such unpredictable updates. That really shows your dedication and enjoyment in my story! Thank you all again and I hope I'll be able to update more frequently in the near future <3)