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It was almost midnight when your boyfriend, Ji Hakho, took you for a walk in the middle of the park. The autumn wind that night mercilessly slipped through the thin of the cardigan you were wearing, but strangely, you didn’t shiver because of it. Hakho has put on his frame like a windbreaker to protect you from the cruel autumn wind that night. The warmth radiating from his body beside you feels like a heat pad, warding off the cold night wind from penetrating deeper into your skin.
It was unusual for him to take you along when the sky was dark with the stars and the moon hanging high above. You didn’t protest at all. In fact, you always wait for this night to come quickly. The second reason you didn’t protest was that you liked the sparkle of those dark brown eyes when hit by the moonlight. It felt like you could drown in it with the reflection of thousands of stars there. The rest was just because you really like the boy in front of you. The drowsiness that you usually couldn’t hold back immediately disappeared when you listened to whatever he was talking about. His low, yet charming voice makes you awake in a weird way.
Without you realizing it, your cheeks turn slightly pink when his eyes look back at you. He paused mid-sentence while looking at you with a quizzical expression.
“Your cheeks are red. Are you cold?” His hands raised to cup your cheeks, thumb caressing your cheekbone softly.
“No,” you instinctively press your cheek against his palm, “Your hands feel nice.”
Something warm felt like it was creeping from his nape up to his ears when your lips pressed to his palm. Now his ear tip is as pink as your cheeks. A shy, boyish smile tugs at his lips, and those dark brown eyes soften even more as he looks at the scene in front of him. Hakho chuckled softly and playfully squeezed your cheeks with his palms, making you gently pinch the backs of his hands. He laughed again, as if making you pout was the most enjoyable thing in the world. And once again, you let him, because right after tonight was a special day for the boy in front of you. In five minutes, he would turn seventeen.
Hakho’s eyes were darting from yours and landed on a box inside your cardigan pocket. He gasps dramatically, a playful smirk tugs at his lip. His eyebrows rose, adding a dramatic look to his face. He gives you those puppy eyes, but the stretch on his lips betrays his ‘innocent’ expression, “Is that for me?”
You press the urge to roll your eyes at his dramatic antics, so you just shake your head in disbelief. But before you made any further comment, and before he continued his teasing, the alarm on his phone rang, indicating it was past midnight. You take his hands from your cheeks and slip your fingers to his, giving them a few squeezes. A smile appears on your lips.
“Now, close your eyes, pretty boy,” you asked him playfully, which made him giggle at the pet name, but still obeyed your request.
“Are you ready?” You ask him and he gives you a squeeze on your hands as a confirmation.
You step closer to his space, let go of your hands from him, and land them on his chest. You tiptoe a little to close your face to him. There’s a quiet moment where only the sound of your breath can be heard before he feels the soft and warm touch of your lips against his. One of his hands flew to your lower back to help you maintain your balance while also keeping your body pressed to him, and his other hand on your cheek, cupping it gently while caressing it.
You give him a few pecks on his lips, testing the water, before you tentatively linger your lips on his. Your lips begin to move after a while, giving a gentle suction on his lower lip and occasionally grazing your teeth carefully, making him exhale softly through his nose in the process. Hakho’s eyes flew open the moment you started giving him a shy peck on his lip. Those dark brown eyes are watching your expression while you kiss him with a glint in them. He let you set the pace for a while before he carefully started mirroring your movement. He’s dragging you closer to him with his hand on your lower back until there’s no space between you. You gasp at the sudden closeness, and he takes advantage of that to deepen the kiss like it’s the most natural thing in the world. His hand on your cheek moves to the back of your head, tugging it slightly to the right angle before he starts invading your mouth. Tongue and teeth clashed as he deepened his kiss. His movement is eager but gentle, stealing every breath and making your lungs burn, leaving you dizzy in the process. But even though the lack of oxygen makes your head feel light, you try to keep up with his movement, giving back every lick he gives to you. And again, you didn’t protest at his eagerness because it felt nice even though you’re the one who was supposed to be kissing him, and now it looks like he turned the tables. Your hand fisting on his hoodie when you felt your legs almost give out. You can feel him smirking in the middle of the kiss as he keeps going to steal your breath. Only when you tap his shoulder twice does he let go first.
When you open your eyes, you find those dark brown eyes already looking deeply into yours. Hakho rests his forehead against yours as both of you catch your breath, his arms resting around your waist. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and a breathless laugh escaped his lips, “That… was amazing.”
You let a breathless laugh too as a response. You are still feeling dizzy, your body feels warm, and you think something funny is creeping in your stomach as his thumb flew to your lower lip, wipe it gently. His eyes glint with fondness when he looks at you again with that sweet smile he always gives you, only for you. Neither of you said anything for a while, still trying to calm down after those intense kisses a minute ago. His forehead is still resting against yours, and his hands are now holding yours, like he tried to ground himself.
Your breathing eventually returns to normal after a while. You huff a little bit before finally speaking, “I should be the one who kisses you. Why did I feel like I was the one who was getting a kiss???”
He’s just giving you a low chuckle while his face twists from amusement to a lopsided grin, the one he always uses whenever he wants to tease you. And you’re not wrong because he actually says, “Then, do you wanna do it again? Maybe this time I’ll let you.”
Oh, he’s lucky because it's his birthday, so you just let him be, because usually you’ll pinch his cheeks until he begs your forgiveness. Instead, you just glare at him, which makes him chuckle again as his smile stretches further until it reaches his eyes. But contrary to your (pretending) annoyed face, you actually move closer to him. He just looks at you while still smiling ear to ear.
You tiptoe again, closing your lips to his cheek. Give him one last peck before backing off, “Happy birthday, Ji.”
Hakho laughs again, cheerfully now, as he looks at the black box with an orange ribbon in his hand— you’ve managed to sneak it up while giving him that last kiss on his cheek. His eyes glinted with that spark again, like a child when they’re ready to open their Christmas present. You feel a flutter in your stomach that makes your cheeks as red as his now.
“Can I open it?” He asked with the eagerness still in his eyes.
“Of course, it’s yours anyway,” your smile faded a bit as you continued, “But I’m sorry if it’s too simple…”
Hakho scowls at your humility, “Oh, come on. You know, I don’t care about whatever you give me as long as it is from you.”
The look in his eyes tells you that he didn’t mock you despite his teasing tone. You know more than anyone else that his eyes never lie when he looks at you. And that gives you relief as your smile creeps back to your lips.
Then he starts to open the box. A glint from the lamp caught something inside the box to his eye when he opened the box fully. He’s silent for a moment, focusing on something inside the box. There’s a silver bracelet lying on top of a cushion. His eyes carefully traced its shape. The bracelet has the form of a chain with a pendant in the middle. He carefully lifts it from the cushion, and he traces the pattern on the pendant with his thumb. He knows it, something already clipped in his mind. His eyes glinted as he melted away. It’s their initial. A simple word that only they can understand.
Hakho’s eyes are a bit watery as he looks at you, “It’s so pretty, I like it. Thank you so much for giving me this.”
You smile at him with fondness glinting in your eyes, “I’m glad you like it.”
You take the bracelet from his hand and lift his other hand to you, “Do you mind…?”
He nods eagerly at your implication. You giggle at his reaction as you start putting the bracelet on his left wrist, and you’re glad that it fits. “Here you go. It suits you well.”
“Thanks again,” he smiles sheepishly now.
And then you tug up your sleeve, showing off the same bracelets that have their initials exactly on the pendant, “Tada! We are matching now!”
His laugh erupted. There's an unmistakable choked sound, as if he tried his best not to burst into tears right there. After his laughter subsided and he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye with his hoodie sleeve, Hakho quietly pulled your arm gently, tugging you closer to him to hug you. His chin rested on top of your head comfortably. Arms snuggle around you protectively. Your cheeks rest comfortably on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, while your arms sneak to his waist.
Hakho occasionally kisses the top of your head, lingering a bit longer each time as if he tried to say thank you without saying it verbally. He bowed slightly only to see you. Then he kisses your forehead gently while murmuring something playfully in the middle of the kiss, “I would never take it off.”
You laugh at his words, but you know better that he meant it.
And once again, you gave Hakho another memorable birthday in his entire life.