"Oi Yoongi! Hurry up! We're gonna be late!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming, Hyung. I just have to finish this stupid homework."
Jin peeked over his notebook and grimaced. "Homework? Now? What were you doing yesterday?"
Yoongi shrugged, "The usual; eating, sleeping and watching Netflix with Hobi. Besides, who does their homework on time?"
Jin waved his arms as a matter-of-fact, "I don't know, people who don't want to fail?"
"Don't worry," Yoongi chuckled. "I had already started on it a week before. I'm just adding the final touches."
"You'd better hurry up because I really don't want to be late." He winced, "My first period is Math with Mr Lee today and I'm definitely sure he hates me."
Yoongi was scrawling something on the paper with high speed before putting his pen down and stuffing his papers altogether into his backpack.
"Yeah, let's go. And I'm pretty sure Mr Lee does not hate you."
Jin crossed his arms. "Yeah, I know he does. He gave me a B, Yoongi! A B!"
Yoongi snorted, "So?"
Jin smacked his arm. "He broke my streak, Yoongi. My beautiful, perfect streak." His shoulders slumped as he sighed, "I was competing against Namjoon."
Yoongi suppressed a laugh. "You were competing against Namjoon?"
Jin shrugged, "At least it gives me the motivation to study. That boy is really good."
Jin glanced down at his watch and his eyes widened. "Yah! I forgot we're late! C'mon hurry up, we'll miss the bus!"
Yoongi and Jin rushed out of the house, skipping breakfast, and reached to find that the bus had not yet reached. Jin let out a huge sigh of relief. Yoongi was breathing heavily, "Y-You made me run and skip breakfast t-to reach five minutes early?"
Jin raised his arms in defence. "What? It's better than arriving late. And don't worry, I've packed snacks in your backpack for eating on the bus."
Yoongi panted and sat on the hard concrete. "I love you but I'll still kill you, Kim Seokjin."
Jin laughed. He knelt down and pinched Yoongi's cheek. Yoongi scrunched up his face in disgust. He then tried to concentrate on steadying his breathing. Once he did, he looked around and he saw a man with a hat reading a newspaper. He looked a little creepy but Yoongi tilted his head trying to read the newspaper because well, he was bored. Besides, he didn't even know which day or date it was.
He glanced at the date of the newspaper.
16 February 2015
Yoongi's breathing and heart stopped. 16th February?! How was it February already? And 16th? Doesn't that mean-
Yoongi suddenly got up and asked the man, "Hey, is this today's newspaper?"
The creepy man abruptly looked up on hearing Yoongi's voice, "What?"
"Is this today's newspaper?" Yoongi frantically repeated.
He looked at the front page and nodded. "Of course. Today is February 16th." He looked at Yoongi up and down. His grey eyes suddenly lit up.
"Do you know which year it is?"
Yoongi raised a hand to rub his temples. "It's 2015, isn't it?
The man looked disappointed. "Oh, I thought you were a time traveller who lost track of time." He shrugged, "Never mind."
Yoongi blinked owlishly at him and the man squirmed uncomfortably. He hurriedly folded the newspaper and walked away with huge steps. Yoongi shrugged and turned to be met by a very confused Jin.
"What was that about?"
Yoongi remembered and held Jin's collar, screaming, "It's the 16th! Why didn't you tell me?"
Jin tried to pull away from Yoongi before he accidentally choked him to death. Yoongi loosened his grip on Jin and Jin took in a deep breath.
"What is it? What's so important?"
Yoongi slapped himself again and again. Jin now looked extremely concerned for the sanity of his best friend. He held Yoongi's both hands and looked at him directly.
"You tell me what it is before I start slapping you too."
Yoongi looked defeated, "I forgot."
Jin wordlessly stared back at him, signalling for him to continue.
"After two days, it's February 18th."
Jin finally managed to connect the dots.
"It's Hobi's birthday."
"How could you possibly forget it's Hobi's birthday in a few days?"
They were sitting at the back of the bus. The noise at the back was sufficient enough so that no one could hear his conversation. Namjoon, Hoseok and Taehyung would get on the bus after a few stops, so Jin and Yoongi had to make it quick.
Yoongi was still rubbing his forehead. "I don't know."
Jin pursed his lips and thought. "Let's plan after school, yeah? Try not to let the cat out of the bag in front of Hobi." Jin knew Yoongi was really good at keeping secrets, but he had to make sure.
"Of course."
After Yoongi finally stopped panicking, the three brothers arrived. Taehyung went straight towards his music friends at school and sat with them, which contributed more to the total noise of the bus.
Namjoon walked towards the end of the bus to Yoongi and Jin and pouted. He reached out a hand to Jin.
"Jin Hyung with me."
Jin smiled at the younger's cuteness. "Aw baby, I'm coming."
He took Namjoon's hand and his face brightened immediately. They found free seats and sat together. Yoongi watched as Hoseok arrived with his arms crossed.
"Is this seat taken?" He smirked.
Yoongi raised an eyebrow. "Maybe?"
Hoseok was still smirking. "Mhm, can I know by who?"
Yoongi smiled, "By a certain angel."
Hoseok smacked his arm and sat next to him. "Ew, Hyung. When did you get so cheesy?"
Yoongi laughed, "I didn't say it was you, love."
Hoseok smacked his arm harder. "Ha, ha very funny. I hate you, Hyung." Hoseok turned and pouted.
Yoongi rubbed his arm. "It was a joke, angel."
Hoseok's face suddenly changed. "Aha! So I am an angel."
Yoongi took his hand in his and squeezed it. "Of course."
Jin asked what Namjoon was doing for Hoseok's birthday. Namjoon replied that Hoseok said he didn't really want a big birthday and "as long as his friends and family are together and happy, he's happy."
Namjoon rolled his eyes. "That's absolute garbage. Who in their right mind would believe that?"
Jin shrugged, "Me, I guess? I mean, that's what he asked for, right?"
Namjoon held the bridge of his nose and sighed dramatically, "Ai, ai, ai, Jin Hyung. It is Hoseok we're talking about here. He acts all nice and humble, but in reality, he wants a birthday with rainbows, sprinkles and actual unicorns."
Jin looked at Namjoon with disbelief.
"Okay," Namjoon admitted, "Maybe I over-exaggerated a bit. But I was serious about him not having a big party."
Jin laughed. "Yoongi realized today that there are only two more days for Hobi's birthday. Poor guy will keep track of days more now."
Namjoon chuckled softly. He entwined his fingers with Jin's and looked down at their wrists. Jin was wearing a rose gold watch and Namjoon wore the same watch but it was ice blue. With his two deep dimples showing, he asked, "You know what I remembered?"
Jin looked back at him and flinched, "Oh, no. You're showing your dimples. Someone help me, I'm dying! I witnessed perfection!"
Namjoon giggled, "No, pabo-"
Jin squinted and interrupted, "Pabo Hyung."
Namjoon laughed harder, "Okay, pabo Hyung, what I was going to say is, I remembered my birthday last year."
A warm smile crept all over Jin's face. "Ah, your birthday. It was one of the best days of my life."
Namjoon returned the smile as he squeezed Jin's hand. "Yeah, mine too."
"You wanna relive it?"
Namjoon sunk his head into Jin's shoulder. "Sure."
Jin stood at the entrance of Namjoon's home. He took out his phone and read the time.
11 September 2014 11:41 PM
Giddily, he unlocked the phone to send a text to Mrs Jung. He had told her he would arrive at their home to give Namjoon a surprise visit.
Before Jin could press the send button, Mrs Jung slowly opened the door and greeted him.
"Hi, Seokjin!" She quickly hugged him. "Thank you for coming."
Jin smiled, "I would've come anyway, Mrs Jung."
Mrs Jung waved her hands, "Nono, we've reached beyond that. Just call me omma. I'm practically your omma anyway."
Jin's heart soared on hearing that and he felt his face heating up. Thankfully, Mrs Jung continued, "Come in really slowly, without making any noise."
Jin followed her silently. She looked back at him, "You know what? Joonie's really lucky to have you."
Jin playfully smiled, "I know."
Mrs Jung snorted, "You're very good, Kim Seokjin. I like you." She looked towards Namjoon's door. "But be very careful because I think Joonie already suspects something fishy is going on."
Jin laughed quietly, "He's very smart, isn't he?"
Mrs Jung smiled, "Sure, not very much, though. Don't let him into a kitchen or touch any sort of sharp objects." She shuddered, "Believe me, I learnt it the hard way."
Jin laughed a little loud. Mrs Jung clasped his mouth and put a finger to his lips.
"Shhhh.."
Jin nodded and smiled. Mrs Jung retreated her hand. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
Jin watched Mrs Jung go to the kitchen. He then glanced at Namjoon's door. It had a board which said: 'Namjoon's Room- Tae, Hobi, please knock.'
Jin grinned. But below that, there was a note stuck onto the door. He hadn't noticed it before. He slowly approached the door and read:
'Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday's me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that's me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become.'
A chill ran down Jin's spine. He knew for sure Namjoon himself had written it. Jin smiled and whispered to himself, "I'm the lucky one, not you."
He pressed his ear against the door. He couldn't hear any movements but stayed as silent as possible. He walked away from the door and looked down at his phone.
11:49 PM
Only 11 more minutes, Jin thought. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Jin jumped quietly and turned around. Hoseok retracted his hand quickly and flinched.
"Sorry!"
Jin asked, "Hobi?"
"And Tae."
Taehyung appeared beside Hoseok. He looked a little sleepy but he smiled at Jin. Jin wore a plain white full sleeve tee and black jeans. Hoseok and Taehyung were both in their pyjamas- Hoseok wore one with chocolate chip cookies all over and Taehyung wore pyjamas with cute bunnies.
Mrs Jung came back with a box. On seeing Taehyung and Hoseok, she clicked her tongue, "Don't make a sound, Namjoon is definitely wide awake. He must be scrolling through his phone right now."
Taehyung curiously asked, "How do you know that?"
Mrs Jung shrugged, "I'm a mother. I know stuff."
All the three boys nodded in agreement. Mrs Jung opened the box she was holding.
"It's his birthday cake! What do you guys think?"
The cake looked very pretty. It had beautiful flowers and swirls of chocolate of all kinds- dark, milk and white. In the middle, "Happy Birthday Joonie" was written in calligraphy. Jin whistled in admiration, "Wow, that's one beautiful cake."
"I know, right? My husband had bought it for Joonie but something really important came up and he had to go abroad. He's extremely sad that he couldn't come and so he bought this as an apology gift."
Taehyung looked at the cake and licked his lips, "Well, I have two words for appa: apology accepted."
Hoseok hit Taehyung's arm. "Patience, brother. Patience."
Taehyung pouted. "How much longer?"
Jin took out his phone and read the flashing screen.
11:56 PM
Jin started panicking, "It's 56 already?"
"Jin Hyung, listen. Inhaaaaaalee... Exhaaaleeeee." Hoseok signalled Jin by taking deep breaths himself.
Jin followed Hoseok's instruction and steadied himself. After his breathing became stable, he glanced at his phone again.
11:58 PM
Mrs Jung smiled. "We'll let you go in first, Jin. We'll join you both ten minutes later."
Jin smiled, "Thanks, omma."
Hoseok looked confused. "What are we supposed to do for ten minutes?"
Taehyung mischievously smiled, "We devour the cake!"
Taehyung reached out for the cake but Mrs Jung slapped it immediately.
"You may not devour the cake."
Taehyung's shoulders slumped in disappointment as he pouted. "Okay."
Jin frantically looked at his phone for the last time.
11:59 PM
Jin held the door handle and whispered. "This is it."
Hoseok started, "Hyung it's just Joon's birthday. What is so-" But he was shushed by his mother.
When it finally became 12:00 AM, Jin took a deep breath and opened the door slightly, to locate where Namjoon was. As expected, Jin saw Namjoon's back on the bed and he looked like he was scrolling through his phone. Fortunately, he had his earphones on or he could've heard everything.
Jin opened the door cautiously and stepped in silently. He closed the door behind him and walked towards Namjoon. Namjoon barely moved. But suddenly, Namjoon's head perked up. Jin was completely sure he hadn't made any noise. He could only hear his own rapid heartbeats. Namjoon slowly removed his earphones and spoke up, "Jin Hyung?"
Namjoon turned to find a very confused Jin.
"How did you-"