my eyes fluttered open to the sound of laughing coming from downstairs, and i groaned, rubbing my eyes.
fuck. i'm 25.
sun streamed into the room through the curtains, casting soft golden glows through our bedroom.
i grabbed my phone to see the time, 8am, stella has been up for hours. i was scrolling through birthday wishes and other notifications to see joji and tagged me in an instagram post.
i opened instagram and my heart swelled as my eyes landed on a picture joji must of taken recently, it was a picture of stella and i at the cabin we all went to a few weeks ago.
i had just picked up stella from her nap and my hair was still up in a bun and a little wet because of our lake swim earlier in the day.
i had been staring at the picture so long i had barely noticed the long caption.
sushi trash:
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happy 25th birthday to my soulmate: my sweet mia, there are not enough words in the english (or japanese) language to adequately express how much i love you.
thank you for forgiving me time and time again even when i didn't deserve it, seeing you raise our daughter has been the most inspiring and incredible experience, and for sure tells me God was a woman.
I just wish i could've turned back the clock to find you sooner.
i love you endlessly, angel.
_________________
i hadn't even realized i was crying until i started sniffiling.
i could hear laughing in the hallway and i placed my phone down, pulling my legs up to my chest, still cozy underneath the white fluffy comforter.
"max! shut up!" i heard ian whisper, and stella giggled, "guys! shhhh!" i heard joji hush, and i could feel my heart swell.
"okay... 1... 2...3...." i heard joji whisper and then the door pushed open to reveal stella in joji's arms, max holding a mimosa and ian holding a stack of my favourite blueberry pancakes with a lit candle on top.
everyone was in their pajamas, including stella, who was still in her soft pink onesie with bunnies on the front.
"happy birthday!!" they all shouted and i grinned, "mama! b-birfday!" stella mumbled out, and i held my arms out as joji walked over, placing stella in my arms.
