Chapter Eleven 

When Hyejin first opened her eyes to the day she has been waiting for ever since February 1—her birthday, of course—she always thought it'd be the same; friends, family and a simple celebration.  

What she didn't expect was knowing that the entire nation—okay, maybe it did not involve everyone in South Korea, like, the entire 50.22 million—celebrating it with her. Gifts were left on her door. Too many gifts it already filled up the entire seven steps of the hallway. 

"Wow!" was the only thing Hyejin's mom said when she saw the gifts being transferred into the living room by the delivery man. 

"Is this really for our Hyejin?" Hyejin's dad asked the man, eyeing each and every gift. Every gift came with a different shape and size. Even in different gift wrappers. No two gifts had the same wrappers. 

"Yes," the delivery man answered, tipping his hat after he was done moving all the gifts inside. It filled three fifths of the living room. "Have a nice day and happy birthday, Hwan Hyejin. My son is a fan of yours. Would you be okay if I ask for a signature?"

Hyejin was surprised at first but she had to be polite. She smiled and nodded, signing a hanker chief for him before the man left. 

Well, this is a first, she thought, looking at the mountain of gifts. It wasn't even ten in the morning yet and she already had gifts awaiting to be open.

Hyejin's mom gave her a tight squeeze before saying, "Looks like you'll be busy on your birthday, Hyejin. I'll go ahead and make you a special breakfast. Oh, and seaweed soup."

"Thanks, Mom," Hyejin answered, smiling back at her mom. 

"Kiddo, you're so old now," her dad teased. His eyes moved towards the gifts and examined them. "I bet there's something you'll like in this pile, kiddo. What am I left to get for your birthday?"

Hyejin laughed as she leaped over the pile of gifts and gave her dad a squeeze. "It's okay, Dad. You can still pay for my birthday lunch later with Dae Jung. Speaking of which, I hear the bell ringing. I think that's him."

"Of course. Because food's your absolute favourite," her dad knowingly said before he let out a chuckle. "Go on. Dae Jung might be tired of waiting."

Hyejin nodded and finally went over to the door, opening it. "My dear best friend, you'll never believe it."

"It's all over Instagram. #hwanhyejinday," Dae Jung said, showing the screen of his phone to Hyejin. 

@weeeeeleeee3212: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HWAN HYEJINNNNN!! #hwanhyejinday

@morikari99: *sends virtual seaweed soup* HAPPY BIRTHDAY HWAN HYEJIN! HAVE A HAPPY DAY! #hwanhyejinday

@eun.lee.min97: Happy Birthday Hwan Hyejin ^^ #hwanhyejinday

@kieun123: wow! chingu, we're the same age but you turned a year older before I did! happy birthday, hwan hyejin! it's cool that you're so amazing and pretty! I wish I was like you! but I'm just like any girl :c but I hope you have a great day ahead of you! #hwanhyejinday

@raonlove09: Happpppppy birthdayyyyyyy! #hwanhyejinday continue staying pretty and continue making amazing books! you rock! I lobeu you! 

Hyejin was honestly really shocked and confused. There were a bunch of posts and pictures with different captions from different accounts on Instagram. Hyejin was mostly speechless but thankful for all the greetings. 

"Your account's still on private," Dae Jung noted as he switched over to stalking Hyejin's Instagram account. "I can see why. There's a bunch of derp pictures here. Why would you let the world see your revolting self, right?"

Hyejin punched Dae Jung's shoulder and gave him a quick glare. "Not funny. I'm on private because I don't want my Instagram blowing up. I already have my Wattpad doing that. I don't want another SNS blowing up, too."

"There's also your inactive Twitter account..."

Hyejin's eyes widened in response. "My Twitter account? The inactive one? What's up with it? Is it also blowing up?"

Dae Jung switched from Instagram to Twitter almost immediately to check. "Yup, it is. Should I tell them you're not inactive or do you want to do the honours?"

"Coming from you, fans will think you're a liar and will start bashing you. I don't want to risk you falling into depression over such things," Hyejin said. 

"Thanks, I feel loved," Dae Jung teased, putting a hand over his heart. "Why aren't you on Twitter anyway? It's a nice app. Easy way to say things when you don't want to attach pictures. Also another way to keep close with your precious Dino."

Hyejin punched Dae Jung's shoulder again. "I don't have a lot to say. Even if I did, I type them in my notes so I can use them in my stories. And, shut up, you don't know Dino and I."

At the mention of that, Hyejin blushed, remembering that she now had his number. She was closer to him than Dae Jung thought. Dae Jung caught her smiling and blushing and teased, "Is there something I don't know about?"

"No," she denied, giving space for him to enter her apartment. "Shut up and come in. You won't believe what's in our living room."

"Your new pet crocodile named Charlie?" Dae Jung skeptically asked, walking in. "I'm the first one who greeted you on your birthday, right?"

"Of course," she lied. Actually, Dino was the first person to greet her, much to her surprise. Dae Jung was two seconds late. 

"Good." Dae Jung smiled and walked into the apartment, only to be stopped by the huge pile of presents in the living room. "Wow. What's all of this?"

"Fan gifts," Hyejin replied, placing them properly. 

"All of these?" Dae Jung asked, surprised. "Are you serious? You've got to be kidding, Hwan Hyejin."

"Do I look like I'm rich enough to buy myself this many gifts?" Hyejin asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, ever since you became famous, you can do just that, right?" Dae Jung teased. "You're earning money from selling all your copies."

"Maybe," Hyejin vaguely answered. 

"Breakfast won't be ready soon. The seaweed is still being soaked," Hyejin's mom announced, smiling apologetically towards the two. "How about, in the mean time, you two open up some gifts? If there's something you don't like, we can give it away or sell it."

Dae Jung and Hyejin looked at each other and grinned before they sat down on the floor, taking random gifts from the pile and opening it up. Hyejin didn't know what to expect for gifts. This was the first time she would be celebrating with the entire South Korea knowing. 

Most of the gifts were tasty treats such as cookies in different flavours. There were even a jar of handmade marshmallow pops. That one looked very promising. There were different messages written on different gifts. 

I heard you were a foodie, so I made you these delicious handmade chocolate cookies, said the one taped to the cookie jar. 

I read that you liked marshmallow and chocolates so I made you these! Hope you'll enjoy this and your birthday! ^^ 

That one came together with the promising marshmallow pops. 

There were two different scarves of different colours. One was in maroon red, the other was in teal. Because Hyejin knew her best friend was into teal, she handed the other scarf to Dae Jung. 

"Why are you giving me this?" asked Dae Jung, looking surprised. 

"You don't want it? Fine by me." Hyejin took it back.

"No, wait! I—" Dae Jung hesitated, his hand scratching the back of his head.

"What's that? I can't hear you, Cho Dae Jung," Hyejin teased. "Speak up. I can't seem to hear you."

"I want that. The colour's really nice. Can I have it?" Dae Jung finally asked, really softly as well. "That was what you were doing a moment ago, right?"

Hyejin laughed before she handed it to him. "Of course, Dae Jung. I've got three more scarfs in my room and it's not like I'm going to use all of them at once. You take this. Think of it as a gift for being such a great friend to me."

Dae Jung happily accepted it and snuggled warmly into it. "Thank you, Hyejin! My birthday's not up in eight months, just a friendly reminder."

"As if I won't remember your birthday, Cho Dae Jung." In fact, on the calendar placed on the desk in her room had important dates already marked so she won't miss anything. "Let's keep looking through these piles."

"Okay." 

Hyejin received a bunch of things. Totes with different and fancy designs. Charm necklaces she might not wear that often. Mugs that were either bought or handmade by fans were present as well. There were even handmade pillow cases with Hyejin's faces, which was slightly creepy yet creative. 

"Wow, look at this!" Dae Jung said, lifting up a pretty-looking box. He opened it up and revealed chocolate truffles. "Wow!"

Hyejin's eyes widened at the delicious sight and snatched a piece out of the box, stuffing it into her mouth. She seemed to be enjoying the taste of it. "Okay, the best gifts have to be food gifts."

"Agreed," said Dae Jung, enjoying the taste of the truffles. "Moving on with other gifts. I see scented soaps. That looks nice."

"Questionable, but I've seen a bunch of DIYs for these. I've always wanted one," Hyejin confessed, looking at the box filled with visually and nicely scented soaps. 

"You weirdo. Why are you watching DIYs?" Dae Jung asked, staring at her with a questionable look. 

"My cousins," Hyejin explained, moving onto the next gift, "whenever they come over, they always connect my laptop to the TV in our living room and watch DIYs. I have to be with them so I end up watching with them, too."

"And your cousins are..."

"Around the age of twelve and fourteen," Hyejin replied, opening the next gift. It was a customized key chain with her name engraved on it in English. HYE-JIN. 

"Two years age difference for everyone," Dae Jung randomly said, earning a weird stare from his best friend. He noticed the weird stare of hers and shrugged. "What?"

Hyejin dismissed him and opened another gift. She was surprised at the next gift. "What's this... What? A personalized golf ball with..."

Dae Jung looked up when he noticed her sentence trailing off. Since she wasn't going to respond to him, he grabbed the golf ball out of his hands to examine it. "Wow, what is this?"

"I don't..."

"Pretty unique, indeed," Dae Jung noted, giving it a nodding approval. 

DINO + HYEJIN = LOVE! 

That was what was written on the golf ball in black. For some reason, Hyejin had a feeling it would have came from a fellow Carat, just like her. 

"You should take a picture of it and tag SEVENTEEN's official Instagram account," Dae Jung teased, handing it back to her. 

"What? Are you crazy! I'd be mortified!" Hyejin replied, keeping the ball safe between her palms. She definitely wasn't going to text Dino about that.

"I thought you two would be friends by now. There was that Hello Counselor episode with the two of you, after all," said Dae Jung teasingly. 

"Stop," Hyejin warned. 

"Maybe after that... lovers?" Dae Jung continued on teasing. 

Hyejin ended up shoving him to the floor and attempted burying her best friend under the opened wrappers from the gifts. He looked comfy enough under there so Hyejin didn't bother him afterwards. 

That was when Hyejin noticed something stuck between two square shaped gifts. It was lying right under one of the box and Hyejin managed to pull it out. 

Wow, whatever is in that box sure is heavy, Hyejin thought, dusting the envelope. It looked somewhat similar to the envelope she gave Dino on his birthday. Okay, she didn't personally hand it to him—i.e., she got her manager to snuggle it into the fan gifts but instead of doing that, her manager handed it to his manager personally and he probably already read the horrible poetry Hyejin wrote. 

It was her first time writing a poem. She had no idea what to do. 'It's to express your feelings', Dae Jung had said. But she kept trying to make things rhyme it started to get messy and it started to make no sense. 

She flipped to the front of the envelope, noticing the handwritten TO: HWAN HYEJIN in front. Hyejin could see the attempt of trying to make it look cute and curly, but it was slightly messy. In the small corner of the envelope, she could see a little scribble of a name. 

Dino. 

It said Dino. It was so small and messy she almost couldn't read it properly, but it, indeed, read Dino. 

She felt her cheeks start to warm up and immediately, without anyone suspecting or noticing her—the only person who could notice was Dae Jung, but he was currently buried under a pile of wrappers—she hid the letter somewhere safe in her pocket. 

"I need the bathroom," Hyejin said all of a sudden, standing up from the floor. 

"Go to the toilet then. I'll be here. It's quite comfy," said Dae Jung, still under the pile of wrappers. 

Hyejin rolled her eyes and entered the bathroom in her room. She made sure to lock the door and crouched next to the door, staring at the envelope. Inhaling a deep breath, she opened it up and read the letter. 

♬

Dear Hwan Hyejin, 

I heard you liked written letters or something coming from the heart so I decided to write you a letter. I'm not a writing expert like you are so please bear with my poor... skills. Or lack of skills. 

Um, what do you even write on letters?? 

No matter. I'll figure that out soon. Just letting you know, I probably asked Woozi hyung for help since he seems to write a lot of songs. Maybe you two should meet and write a song together. That'd be cool. Just beware of his professionalism. 

Wait, I should have started the letter with happy birthday. 

Stop. Rewind. Rewind. Rewind. Play. 

Happy birthday, Hwan Hyejin! That is so cool! Our birthdays are a day apart? Are we meant to be? He-he-he. I hope you're enjoying your birthday with seaweed soup and other delicacies. Like chocolate! And marshmallow! You seem to like them. (ahem, I know these because of those talk shows. I'm not your stalker, I'm your fan.)

And umm... thanks to your parents, too! For, you know, bringing you to this world. Just two years and a day apart. It's too bad it wasn't a year. Or just a day. It's okay! We're still the February babies, aren't we? February babies cross! 

Today is the day a beautiful baby girl was born, years, years, years ago! Okay, if I added that many 'years', it'll make you look old. You're not old, btw. You're like... really pretty. Beautiful. Eye-catching. Striking. You know what I mean, right?

Also! You look too young for your age, Hyejin. Has anyone told you that? You have a baby face! I thought you were twelve! But that's good. I heard you were the oldest among your friends. If you put your writing skills, age and face together, the three don't add up too well. It's like... wow. 

Just...

Wow. 

Is this what a letter is supposed to be like? I'm sorry if it's not what you expected it to be. I'm trying but I feel like I'm just drawing—or doodling—on an empty piece of paper with words, hoping it'd make sense and make the person reading this smile. Your smile's really... pretty... hehehehe.

I don't know what else to write anymore. How do you write a bunch of stories in a chapter so quickly? I'm so amazed! See, this is why I'm your fan. You writing superpowers never fail to amaze me. 

Psst... 

Thank you for existing in my life. 

♥,

Lee Chan.

♬

~Author's Notes~ 

I actually fangirled when writing this chapter. Hehe <3