met you by the pile of straw

birthday!

"good morning."
felix said, sitting next to hyunjin.

today was a bit of a different day.
since it was mingi's birthday, that meant that a dinner will be special.

that's what grandma always did for everyone's birthday.
if someone celebrated, she would make their favorite meal for dinner, and bake them a cake.
it was a very sweet gesture, truly.

so while mingi, san, wooyoung, jake, yunho, jay and yeonjun did their normal day tasks, grandma called the other ones to come and help her.

so, jisung and minho were currently helping grandma with the cake, while hyunjin and felix were pealing potatoes.

hyunjin was looking at jisung and minho.
it was quite obvious that they started dating, even tho they didn't really tell nobody.
they were just really bad at hiding it, and the way they were leaning against each other looked like they have been married for many years already.

"so, you gave up on jisung?"
felix asked, taking a potato.

hyunjin sighed.
"why would I be giving up on jisung?"

"please, be serious. everyone on this ranch knows that you have feelings for him."
felix said.
"well, except jisung himself of course. he's kinda stupid."

hyunjin snorted.

"so...what are you gonna do now?"
felix asked.

"move on."
hyunjin answered without looking at felix.
"what other thing can I do?"

"good point."
felix nodded.
"but I'm glad you're not coming up with some insane plan how to get rid of minho. the Wattpad fan fiction style."

"because that's actually insane."
hyunjin said.
"it's best for me to move on. minho told me something that I have been thinking about a lot."

"and what is that?"
felix asked, curious.

"nothing."
hyunjin shook his head.
"it's not important."

felix nodded, before looking back at jisung and minho, seeing them both smiling from ear to ear.

"I think they are cute together."
felix said with a small smile, taking another potato to peel.
"no offense of course."

hyunjin snorted.
"I still think they won't last tho."

"you never know. stop being so pessimistic all the time and try to look at it from a better perspective."
felix said, giving hyunjin a small smile.
"I wish them the best, you know?"

"I never said I didn't."
hyunjin defended himself.
"I'm just saying...it's gonna be hard for them to stay in contact after minho leaves. you know, with both of them going to school, jisung helping at the ranch, the bad wi-fi..."

"you're being pessimistic again."
felix said.

"I'm being realistic."
hyunjin corrected.

"well, you never know."
felix put the peeled potato into a big pot.
"I think you should stop thinking about the future and concentrate on now. no one knows what will happen, but you live right now, in this moment. so who cares what will happen in the future?"

"I like to plan ahead."
hyunjin said.

"maybe that's why you're so pessimistic."
felix chuckled, gently nudging hyunjin.

"I never understood how can you be so happy all the time."
hyunjin said.
"I mean, you're basically smiling every single time
I look at you. how are you doing that?"

felix shrugged.
"I don't know. I just...enjoy life, you know? I enjoy the fact that I'm alive, and that I can do things other people can't. I'm grateful for my life, truly."

"how? it's not like you have an easy life."
hyunjin said, finally looking at felix.
"you have gone trough some shit."

"and that made me stronger, and made me what I am today."
felix said, giving hyunjin a small smile.
"of course that you can't change how you look at world, but maybe...try to find happiness in the smallest things. I don't know, just maybe when you're eating an apple."

"eating an apple?"
hyunjin chuckled.

"yeah."
felix shrugged.
"you're eating a perfectly tasting apple on a ranch full of people who care deeply about you, with family you never had."

hyunjin looked at felix in amazement.
"you know what? you never fail to impress me."

felix chuckled.
"let's just finish peeling the potatoes."

•~•

"happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear mingi, happy birthday to you!"
everyone sang, while mingi blew out the candles.

everyone clapped, smiling.

"so, what did you wish for?"
grandma asked jokingly.

"we all know that we can't say our birthday wishes out loud, or they will never happen."
mingi said.
"if I could, I would tell you tho."

"keep it to yourself."
grandma said, patting his back.
"we all want your wish to come true."

"bro wished for bitches."
yunho whispered to yeonjun, making yeonjun choke on his saliva, before bursting into laughter.

mingi look offended at the two.
"why you guys laughing?"

"oh nothing."
yeonjun waved his hand around, still smiling to himself.

"anyways, who wants a piece of cake?"
grandma asked with a smile, as she started to cut into the amazing looking treat.
"the first one will of course go to the birthday boy!"