Life Lessons [Park Jimin]

Chapter 18

Yeji

"Noona, do you know what day it is tomorrow?" Haein asks excitedly as he licks his popsicle beside me. We are watching his cartoons together in the kitchen.

"Hmm, Friday?" I pretend to not remember.

I glance up at him just in time to see his lower lip stick out in a pout before he sucks on his popsicle again.

"Yeah, but are you going to do anything special?" he asks.

"Well it'll be the weekend so after school I'll probably just come home and sleep since I don't have to do my homework," I continue to tease him.

"Ah okay... Was this week really tiring Noona?" he asks, trying to hide the fact that he is upset.

"Yeah," I let out a dramatic sigh, pausing to see his reaction.

To my surprise, he just continues to eat his popsicle with a slight frown.

"But I'm never too tired to celebrate your birthday!" I finally say with a grin, and he looks up at me in surprise.

"You did remember!" he giggles happily.

"Of course I remember. You're turning 5! That's so big!" I smile, reaching over to pinch his cheek.

"Does that mean I'm a big kid now?" he asks adorably.

"You get bigger every day, but you're still small. Sorry bud," I tousle his hair.

"One day I'm going to be bigger than you," he pouts.

"Yes, that's probably true," I laugh.

"But Haein-ah, if you thought I forgot your birthday, why didn't you remind me?" I ask.

"Cause you said you were tired... I didn't want you to have to celebrate if you wanted to sleep," he says, making my heart ache.

"You know you are more important than sleep to me. You are more important than everything else," I remind him seriously, but he just giggles.

"So what do you want to do for your birthday? I can ask Soohyun's Eomma if he can come over. Do you want to invite other friends from daycare?" I ask him.

"I don't want Soohyun to come over," he says.

"Why? Did you guys get in a fight?" I ask, concerned.

"No, we are still friends!" he quickly reassures me. "But I want to celebrate with Jimin hyung," he explains.

"What? Why?" I ask, shocked.

"Cause hyung is my best friend," he answers simply.

"Shouldn't your best friend be your age?" I say, concerned. 

"But I'm not the same age as you and you always say that I'm your best friend," he says confused.

"That's different because we are siblings," I laugh. "But Jimin-ssi is probably busy tomorrow," I try to let him down easy.

"You can still ask though," he says with pleading eyes.

"Okay, I'll ask," I cave. I can never say no to him and he knows it. 

Haein grins excitedly, quickly finishing his popsicle. Then he rushes out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, starting to wash up.

"Why are you being so speedy right now?" I ask, watching him brush his teeth at two times speed.

"Da sooner I sweep, da sooner is my birfday," he tries to say with his toothbrush still in his mouth.

I just chuckle at him, before walking into his room. I pull out a set of pajamas for him and grab his favorite bedtime stories.