01
When Lisa said she wouldn’t tell anyone, her boyfriend didn’t count. Whatever darkest secrets, silliest mistakes, or deepest regrets you told her, Jungkook would know about it too, and vice versa.
This one, though, was an exception.
But then again, you don’t tell the birthday boy that you’re sneaking into his place because that is simply violating the basic rule of surprises.
Taking off her shoes before typing the passcode to Jungkook’s apartment, Lisa swung the door open slowly before sliding into the room with so much difficulty. Turned out, sneaking in twenty two balloons with her was harder than she thought it would be. A soft thud from the balloons that touched the ceiling tore the silence in the dark room. She froze on her spot for a second.
Clumsy balloons, she cursed under her breath. Thank god, her boyfriend was a heavy sleeper.
Tiptoeing to the living room, Lisa left her bag on the couch. Taking only the pink sticky notes with her, she took the stairs to the second floor. She stopped by the bathroom first to stick the notes—full of written wishes—on the mirror.
Lisa was trying to make a heart shape while picturing the reference that she saw last night on the internet. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do and she disliked doing things that were testing her patience, but it was for him.
Jungkook, things that I do for you, she rolled her eyes mentally.
Lisa wasn’t a romantic type, so was Jungkook. But both always—always—made an exception when it came to each other’s birthday. Some people tended to stop celebrating birthdays as they got older, Lisa and Jungkook disagreed. Instead, they took it as an opportunity to be quote cheesy and gross unquote. Only on birthdays—italicized, underlined, typed in bold.
Once, Jungkook sent a thousand of roses to Lisa’s flat to celebrate their one year anniversary. Instead of hearts and kisses emoji filling up his phone screen, Jungkook got one clear message:
Come straight here from work. Clean the mess you’ve made.
That day, they ended up giving the roses door to door to all the residents in Lisa’s building because they took up so much space in her flat.
Romantic attempt failed.
Back to Lisa who had done sticking all the notes, she observed the art before her eyes for a second. It wasn’t a perfect heart, but whatever. She tried, it just didn’t work. What mattered is the effort.
She left the bathroom and headed towards the far end of the hall. Stepping into Jungkook’s bedroom, she untied the ribbon that was holding the balloons together and began to scatter them over his bed. They touched the ceiling and the notes that were tied to each balloon were hanging free over Jungkook. While moving from one spot to another, Lisa kept glancing at Jungkook who was still in a deep slumber.
Once she was done, Lisa approached Jungkook and seated herself beside him, trying to wake him up. He was lying on his back, topless under the sheets like usual. Lisa ran her fingers to stroke his hair and once in a while bent down to leave light kisses on his face. Jungkook shifted, rolling to his side, making Lisa moved her pecks to his shoulder.
He still didn’t wake up.
Trying another alternative, Lisa inched closer to his ear. “Reveilles toi mon amour,” she murmured.
It took ten seconds for his eyes to flutter open, and his lips to form a lazy smile when their eyes met. Lisa loved every look of her boyfriend, but this—this disheveled bed-head look was always her favourite.
