Evenstar

20. Wishes to the Sky

Taehyung smiled at Dae Eun who was visibly surprised. It had been hard for him to make it to this gathering, and earlier that day he thought it was no longer possible, but here he was. He was probably meant to be here.

"You came!" Dae Eun exclaimed, looking at him with unbelieving eyes. Her face had gotten so warm and she knew that she was blushing.

"I was invited," Taehyung explained, and nodded to Sunhee who was capturing every moment on video.

Dae Eun gave Sunhee a wide-eyed stare with a warning that she would take this up with her later. For now she led Taehyung to her Nana and introduced him properly. Nana was starstruck, as the other girls had been, and held his hand with both of hers when he bowed to her. Dae Eun also introduced him to their guests as her friend from Seoul. Everyone drew close to him as he bowed to their direction and loud murmurs could be heard of how handsome he was.

"This is a big celebration," Taehyung said as he and Dae Eun sat at the center of the long table beside each other, facing the stage.

"It's Appa's way of making it up to me," Dae Eun replied, and she told him that they had all gone to Bulgaria on business.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"I know what will happen. They'll be stuck in the hotel the whole time." Dae Eun shook her head. It wasn't how she wanted to spend her birthday.

"I hope you get to go to Europe someday, if you haven't."

"I'm really not much of a tourist, and I love it here." Dae Eun watched the glow of the firelight in Taehyung's eyes, and before she got lost in them she motioned for them to eat so that the other guests could start eating too. Everyone was just staring at their table.

"Wait, I have to get Do-Hyun hyung. He doesn't want to come up because he couldn't bring a hanbok."

"No, I'll ask someone to get him. He can sit with us." Dae Eun motioned for her Uncle Jun-Ho's nephew, Baek-Hyeon, to fetch Do-Hyun. When Do-Hyun arrived they all started eating, and both he and Taehyung were elated at how delicious everything was, especially the pork. People started passing around cups of makgeolli, and Do-Hyun wanted to decline since he was driving, but they kept saying he should just have a sip to taste how good it was. And indeed it was very good.

Someone passed Taehyung a cup but he apologized and declined politely. "My stomach doesn't react very well to makgeolli." He was actually too tired, and a bit of alcohol might make it harder for him to stay awake. In order to have today and tomorrow free, he'd had to shoot his scenes in the TV series for over 30 hours straight.

As they were eating, one of the team leaders on their farm got up on the stage with a microphone. She told Dae Eun that they had all prepared special numbers for her. And each family began taking the stage to sing or dance to the acoustic accompaniment. Dae Eun was so touched by their effort, especially when the children sang in a chorale number. After their performance, she clapped her hands in delight until her palms had gone red. And her joy just kept on overflowing as Nana, her Uncle Jun-Ho, Sunhee and Baek-Hyeon rocked the whole gathering with a K-pop number in their hanbok. Everyone was laughing so hard, and Dae Eun just couldn't believe they prepared that for her.

Taehyung was happy to see Dae Eun enjoying herself. He realized how much she loved her life here and made a mental note to never get in the way of that.

As the numbers ended, the quartet onstage continued playing instrumental numbers to keep their mood up. Then someone shouted for Taehyung-ssi to sing.

"Me? What do you want me to sing?" Taehyung asked them. There were many suggestions of old songs, but he wasn't so familiar with them.

"Sound of Winter!" Someone pleaded.

"Oh? Hyo Shin?"

"Yes! Please..." Even the pianist onstage brightened up.

Taehyung was familiar with the song but it was beyond his vocal range. He could probably do it if he wasn't so tired. He asked them to wait a bit as he dialled his hyung's number.

"Hyung, I'm in Geumsan at a friend's birthday party. They want me to sing Sound of Winter. Can I?" Hyo Shin would know if this was out of his league. They had different singing styles and his hyung was a multi-awarded singer. When he got the response, he thanked him and hung up.

"You're friends with Park Hyo Shin?" Nana asked from behind them.

"Yes, Nana. He said I could always try. So here goes." He stood up and walked to the stage to everyone's cheers. He chatted with the pianist to ask if he knew the song, and the pianist confessed to being a Jung Jae Il fan. They both laughed as Taehyung took the mic. "This is for you, Dae Eun-ah."

Hyo Shin's songs always required a lot of control, and Taehyung tried his best to do justice to his friend's artistry. When the song ended he looked at his audience who were sitting so still. It took a few seconds before the applause erupted, and as he looked at Dae Eun he saw that she was teary-eyed.

"Thank you, everyone!" He said as he stepped down the stage.

"No! More, more!" came the resounding response. "Wild Flower! Wild Flower!" they chanted.

"Oh, this is getting harder. I don't think I can sing that." The song was more difficult than Sound of Winter, but the guests refused to let him go.

"Okay, hyung said I can try." He looked at Jae Il's protégé again and nodded as he faced his audience. The song was a sad one and he would fill it with the pain it asked for.

As the last notes ended, he smiled at Dae Eun's guests who were cheering through their tears. He didn't wait for them to ask him to sing another song - he didn't have any energy left - and he hurried to his seat. He gave Dae Eun a big smile and sat next to her again.

"That was beautiful, Oppa. I don't know what to say."

"I'm glad you liked it. Are you having a nice time?"

"Yes! I think this is the best birthday I've ever had." Dae Eun's eyes were brimming.

Taehyung took her hand and kept it in his for the rest of the night. All his efforts had been worth it if she was this happy.

After a while wish lanterns were distributed to their table, and they were all asked to stand as the lanterns were lighted.

"It's not the lantern festival, but we wanted to raise our wishes to the heavens for Dae Eun's happiness, for the growth of our farm, and for the good health of the whole Kwan family," their emcee said.

One by one the colorful lanterns were released to the sky, carrying their well wishes. With the help of those around them, Dae Eun and Taehyung lighted their lanterns together and released it to the night sky with their unspoken wishes. And as the moon broke out of a clump of clouds, their lanterns drifted upwards to meet it.