As Melanie read the notes from last night shift work, her sight instantly turned dark. Two cold hands covered her eyes.
"Who is it?" she asked, clueless.
"Happy birthday!" Mary shouted enthusiastically in her ear while giving her a friendly hug.
Melanie snorted. "Thanks," she replied with a lack of happiness in her voice.
Mary frowned. "Hey, it's your birthday!" She shook her shoulders. "Shouldn't you be more excited than that? You look... dead."
"It's 7:50 in the morning, Mary."
"And you're working for your birthday, okay I got it." She held up her in surrender, her white smile fading to a bitter one. "But don't worry, it will be less depressing with me around. I'll do all the dirty tasks and let the easy ones for you."
Melanie then went inside the utility room starting preparing stuff for the quick morning wash for the residents before breakfast time. On the racks were displayed white towels and washcloths, liquid soap, gloves, sheets, and other useful things.
"So, what are your plans after work?" Mary watched her as she leaned against the door, arms crossed.
"Going home, like always," Melanie replied indifferently.
"Okay... and then?"
"How should I know? It's not like I should prepare my own birthday event or whatever it is," she whispered not wanting to wake up the seniors that were still asleep.
Mary shrugged. "Why? Some people does, though."
"Well, I don't. It'll feel lonelier."
"Maybe you'll have a surprise, who knows... Mark will surely take you somewhere." Mary tried to lift up her mood as she looked pissed off this morning.
Melanie took out her notebook from her uniform pocket, along with a pen, and started organizing her day.
"Why should he?" she said.
"Why not? Mary replied back. "You're his girlfriend."
Not officially yet.
This made Melanie becoming quiet for a moment, avoiding any eye contact with Mary as she was busy writing her tasks for today.
Mary tilted her head, searching for her attention. "What's going on?" she asked softly.
"Nothing."
"Liar."
Melanie turned around. "I hate December 7th."
"...You hate your birthday? That's the day you were born."
"Yeah... receiving phones calls from relatives you barely talk to during the entire year and listening to their 'happy birthday' wondering if they really mean it or they just do it because it's a sort of hypocritical habit or custom. Asking and telling you those same sentences... 'What have you done today? What are you doing now? Did you receive any gifts?'" She scoffed. "As if they truly cared. I haven't received any birthday cake since a long time ago because, well, we assume I don't need one and that I'll be okay with that. Past friends forgetting my birthday date unless they get the notifications on Facebook. Even so, they held parties for others, not me. I've never loved December 7th because I don't remember the last time I've been celebrated by people who cared for me. This day only reminds me that I'm not worth being celebrated. Even a single candle on a cupcake would be more than enough but... Yeah... I hate my birthday," she ended on a dry tone.
Mary had a twinge in her heart hearing her saying all of this. She had no idea she actually suffered like this and didn't know what to do about it. The lack of recognition perhaps or, even affection.
"It's almost eight, we should start," Melanie told her while leaving the utility room with an expressionless face.
At the end of her shift work, Melanie headed straight home, like always. Mary proposed to bring her to a restaurant and they could go anywhere else; women's night. But, Melanie denied the invitation.
As soon as she arrived home, it was completely quiet. She sighed as she walked inside. Her sister wasn't there yet, and since her mom's car wasn't parked outside, she assumed the house would be empty. But, a familiar fainted mist remained in the air.
When she walked the hallway and turned to her room door, this last was closed.
She frowned curiously.
"I never close my door."
She turned the door handle slowly and pushed the door violently as if she was about to catch a thief but there wasn't anyone; only a hundred balloons filled it completely, from floor to ceiling. It explained why the door slightly bounced back to her.
"What the..." She gasped with wide eyes. "Who did this?"
Her handbag slid down from her shoulder, her soul leaving by the shocking surprise. She now remembered about Mary saying that maybe Mark would do something for her. "Impossible," she whispered. She tried to get inside the room but the balloons pushed her back outside. "Mark wouldn't do this alone? And how would he get inside my house?" she muttered to herself.
Looking at the balloons, she felt a little claustrophobic. The idea of kicking them out of her room went through her mind. Ready to get to work, she noticed something more. A written message caught her eyes on one of them. She grabbed it and read: "Thanks for the vitamin C pastilles and the hot lemon tea." –Mark
"Hm?" She found it so random that it confused her.
She put the balloon out of the room and decided to grab another one. There was another message.
"My quiet cheerleader. When will you come cheering for me again?" –Jackson
She raised an eyebrow. She put it away and searched for another one.
"Why am I always the one to be there for you when you cry? you asked. I don't know, but I'm glad to be the one to comfort your tears. This fake oppa is a good friend for you." –Junior
She exhaled while laughing, her lips forming a smile. She held up her tears inside having a hard time believing what was going on.
"Do you know when the bus is supposed to come?" –Mark
A drop of tears melting together rolled down her cheek.
As she continued her reading session while emptying her room at the same time, she realized most of the messages were from Mark. She caught some by Jackson saying "Hello Cupcake!" Or again, "HEY! MÉYONCÉ, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!" which made her laugh and cry of joy.
In the middle of the ocean of balloons, she found those coming from the younger ones.
"Noona~ You're first in my ❤" –Bambam
She chuckled. "Yeah, right. Babo."
"A mother who takes care of naughty boys like us. Thank you for the cookies, omma!" –Yugyeom
"Haha, cuties. What would I be without you?" She wiped off a tear.
"Noona, annyeong! Saengil chukahaeyo!"–Youngjae
"Youngjae-ah..." Her smile suddenly faded away while glancing around. There were still a lot of balloons taking space in her room. "Where's your brother at?" She almost crawled down to the floor, searching with laser eyes any messages from JB, but like said earlier, most of them were from Mark which was understandable, or some were left naked without written messages on them.
At last, it seemed like she found one. It said: "You'll always be, and remain my one and only favorite dancing partner. ★Dancing partners for life★" –Jaebeom
Few tears dropped on the message. She hugged it for a moment until her eyes noticed a blue note on her now half-revealed bed. She went to unfold the paper.
'If those messages have brought laughter, tears (we hope so), happiness, and even anger (we hope not), you know where to find us. The place of your 7 lucky charms.'
Hint: Our common interest.
Her eyes wandered in the void as she was thinking and in less than one minute, a smile showed on her face.
"Let's get ready," she said as she kicked some left out balloons that blocked her way to the wardrobe.
"Oh?" She expressed when a single one fell from the upper shelf as soon as she opened the door. The balloon directly kissed her forehead, making her giggle. "Why were you hiding here?" she said in a cute tone.
This time, it only said: "A soulmate will never leave you."
A frown formed itself as she read the phrase many times. There was no name written. It could be anyone. Was this a reminder, or a warning? She had no idea. In a hurry to get ready, she simply put it back from where it dropped.
After a great warm shower, she chose the clothes she would wear. Since the weather was cold outside, there was no way to wear a dress. So, she decided for a cream blazer following up a sequin tank top underneath with dark jeans and matching ankle boots designed with metal toecap.
To her way out, she shuddered of excitement; she never really dressed for her own birthday party. Well, she still wasn't sure if there would be a party. The ten-minute drive in the bus came to end and she walked to the place she thought she could find her seven lucky charms.
First, she inhaled deeply the fresh air while closing her eyes. Her heartbeat needed to relax because the thrilling sensation inside her stomach was melting with fear of the unknown. She composed the code number and the door unlocked. The room was submerged in an intense darkness and silence that it seemed empty. Closing the door behind her, she felt the wall beside her with her hand for the light switch.
"It's way too quiet," she mumbled to herself, "It doesn't seem to be-"
"Surprise!" Everyone yelled when she finally turned the lights on. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!" They all sang immediately.
She totally froze on the spot with her eyes spread wide at the entire room. There were many helium balloons of her favorite colors hanging from the ceiling with streamers. A grand table displayed in the middle of the room was filled with food and two gift bags. You could notice sparkles of gold around the place; it looked magical. However, what attracted her eyes the most were the seven guys standing few meters before her, dressed in handsome clothes with hairstyles on point. And, Mark had a cake in his hands.
"Happy birthday, Melanie~ Happy birthday to you! Woohoooo!" They cheered wildly. Bambam and Jackson sprayed confetti everywhere while the others were applauding with the party blowouts in their mouths.
"What's going on?" Jackson grabbed her shoulders seeing how she remained quiet.
Then, everyone shut down and stared at her with concern. She glanced at every single of them until she glanced at the cake once more.
"Wow..." her little voice started in a whisper, "it's a cake," she quivered before exploding in tears.
Youngjae, Yugyeom, and Bambam were dumbfounded by her reaction. They seemed a bit embarrassed to see her cry so suddenly. Jinyoung was the only one in the room who understood her tears; they were mostly happy tears. He knew how much she went through; she didn't remember the last time she had a cake. Mark who listened to her was a bit flustered. And JB, seeing Melanie crying hurt him.
"Are you... happy?" Jackson asked feeling uneasy.
Melanie nodded while hiccupping.
Jackson stood the closest to her. He deducted she was touched by the surprise and his high-pitched laugh finally broke out in the entire studio, releasing his stress. He wasn't mocking her, of course, that was only his own way to react to the situation. "Don't cry! Hahaha! Stop crying!" He went to embrace her in his arms and she wept, even more, when he hugged her tighter. "Don't cry!" Jackson repeated while rocking her side to side in his arms.
Bambam finally release his laugh. JB was about to run to her but Junior stopped him. Instead, he grabbed the cake in Mark's hands so he could freely go to his girl.
"Hey," Mark said softly.
Jackson then released his arms and pushed her toward Mark where she naturally buried her crying face in his chest. She didn't want anyone to see her cry like that. Mark snaked his arms around her fragile figure. Jackson went on laughing but still patting her back gently to comfort her. JB then followed, caressing her hair, the most he could do. Junior handed the cake to Yugyeom and joined the others. They were now all around her, in a group hug, except for Yugyeom who was now in charge of the cake.
He lighted up the candle and chuckled timidly as he had to interrupt them.
"I think you should blow your candle before it melts in the cake."
They turned around to him, breaking the embrace, but Mark and Melanie were still one body. When she wiped her face non-stop with her bare hands, Yugyeom stepped forward to her and they formed a circle around her. She glanced at the cake from the side. It was white with three black stripes around it and little pearls on the white part of the cake. On the top, a golden flower was displayed on the left side of the big sparkling twenty-three candle.
"Who bought the cake?" she said, her voice cracking slightly.
"Me," Mark said, which made Melanie looking up at him warmly. "But, I got help from the others for the design," he smiled.
"It's beautiful," she glanced back at it. She got shy because it seemed to have cost some money since it wasn't a plain, ordinary cake. They did this for her birthday.
"Now, make a wish,"Junior told her.
Melanie walked away from Mark's embrace and got closer to her cake. She put her hands together while closing her eyes and started wishing. When she finished, she blew out the candle and everyone clapped their hands once again.
"We should take a selfie while your eyes are still red and puffy," Jackson commented while taking out his cell phone. Everyone now stared at her eyes and chuckled, thanks to him.
"No!" Melanie slightly punched him. "Not now. Later."
"Oh, why so chic?"
Melanie showed him a threatening fist and he backed away. Then, he did a heart with his hands.
"I love you, cupcake," he said in a sweet voice so she could easily forgive him. "And I know you love me too if not you wouldn't be here." He winked. The others started laughing again as he was being cheesy and extra. Melanie smiled at him because, hey, he was right. What would she do without them?
For the rest of the night, they were having fun eating and chatting with each other. They turned the music on and improvised some dancing competition. Everyone had fun and Melanie never laughed as hard as she did that night. Indeed, they were her lucky charms and hoped to remain friends like today; her wish.
"Gifts time!" Jackson shouted while handing his present first.
"We don't have gifts, though," Bambam informed.
"But we did the decorations," Yugyeom replied back while slapping him.
"The messages," Youngjae joined them. And Junior, well, he supervised them so they wouldn't make a mess.
"It's okay," Melanie reassured them while grabbing Bambam wrist, "the party itself is already enough, and you all look handsome today!"
They were all sitting or laying on the floor, with beverages or foodies on their sides. Melanie took her time to take the paper off the gift bag then discovered what it seemed to be, "Oh, perfume?"
Mark snorted; he knew Melanie didn't wear branded fragrance.
"Thanks," she frowned as she looked at the box. A Giorgio Armani Sì Eau de Toilette.
Jackson did the puppy face, looking hurt at her reaction. "I think you will like it. I chose the eau de toilette because it's not strong. Open it and you'll see."
Melanie rip off the thin plastic paper and opened the pink box containing the flask. She sprayed some on her wrist.
"Oh!" her eyebrows raised up and grinned toward Jackson, "I think I could wear this. It smells good." Then, she waved her wrist in front of Mark for him to smell. "You like it?"
Mark smirked and Jackson noticed. "Ahhhh," he did while pointing at him, "he likes it! Actually, I know it's your birthday Mel but I bought this for Mark so he can stay close to you if you know what I mean..."
Both Mark and Melanie blushed while a timid smile appeared on their lips. JB felt a bit uneasy. Once in a while, he would stare away to forget about the feelings that connected him to Melanie.
Jackson smirked. "I'm an expert, you know," he bragged.
"Hey, stop it already." Junior pushed him making him lay on the floor.
Melanie put Jackson gift aside and when she turned back to the front, JB was already handing her his present for her. "Thank you," she said while they exchanged a sweet eye contact. JB sat back next to Youngjae and waited.
His gift revealed to be a sky blue hardcover journal with gold imprint feathers on it. In the back, a quote said: Like A Boss. At the bottom of the gift bag, there was a white and gold pen with dark dots and a 'hello' written on it coming from the Kate Spade collection. Melanie smiled and then glanced up at JB. He really encouraged her to write.
"Now you can write anything you want," he said.
"Thanks." She then opened up her arms and he came to hug her.
"Oh? Why haven't you do this to me too?" Jackson remarked.
"Oh my god, this man." They chuckled.
"Come here." She opened her arms to him while giggling.
In the meantime, JB headed toward the food table to grab something to eat. He was a big eater.
"Mark, your turn," Jackson said.
"Uh?" Mark seemed lost.
That was when Jackson wished he could see his eye signals but he couldn't. "Your gift!" he urged.
"Oh, that..." he scratched his neck while blushing, "Um, well, I bought the cake." He turned to Melanie. "That was my gift. I hope you liked it."
Jackson didn't understand and discreetly looked at Junior, making eye contact. Jackson made a 'what's going on' face and Junior shrugged. They were supposed to play the video, however, they didn't know Mark backed out at last minute. After listening to the confession video few times at home, he found it too embarrassing.
Melanie stared at Mark and whispered to him, "Seeing you holding my birthday cake, a cake you bought yourself, that was a beautiful gift."
"You think so?" he whispered back while leaning closer to her.
"Yes, that's one of the things that made me cry, and the messages on those balloons in my room... I sense there's still hope between us."
Mark came closer and Melanie finally met with his lips, a sweet and tender kiss for her 23rd birthday.
"Oh my--ahhhhhh!" Bambam screamed while passing out and Jackson screamed "Whoah!" and ran around while cheering for them. The others were simply shy and hid their faces. It was actually the first time they kissed in front of everyone so it was unexpected.
With a beer in his hand, JB stood still where he was as he looked at them. He tried to smile seeing them happy but it was harder than he thought.