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“Well?” his sister prompted him.

“Well what?” asked Tae.

“Aren’t you going to open it?  I, for one, am very curious to see what you got.”

His boxy grin popped out suddenly.  “So am I!”

He still remembered the regret Jungkook had felt when his present had disappeared before he could open it.  So Tae pulled on the purple ribbon before tugging the matching paper off the box.  This box was just like all the others his friends had received on their birthdays.  A white cube with a lid.  He reached out and picked up the lid before setting it down on the kitchen table.  Then he peeked inside.

“What on earth?” his brother asked.

But Tae was fascinated.  He reached inside the box and picked up the tiny, yellow bird.  It was made in such a fashion that it looked and felt like a real bird.

“A bird?” his brother scoffed.  “That’s a weird sort of present, isn’t it?”

Their eomma turned around and gazed at the small bird in her son’s hand.  “Not at all.  That is the perfect present for my little songbird.”  Then her eyes slid up Tae’s tall length, and she sighed, “Well, not so little anymore.  The perfect present for my tall songbird.”

“I remember this bird,” Tae murmured.  “I used to see these often as a child.”

It was his father’s turn to sigh.  “Yes, but they’re a rare sight these days.”

Tae glanced sharply at him.  “What do you mean?”

“It’s a yellow-breasted bunting.  They’re endangered now.”

Tae’s brow furrowed.  “Oh.  What a shame.”  His eyes seemed to be petting the tiny bird now resting in his palm.  

Yeontan was craning his neck to sniff the small creature.  Once he had satisfied himself that it wasn’t truly any competition for Tae’s attention, the little dog happily settled back down into the crook of Tae’s arm.

“But why would anyone give Tae an endangered bird?”

“Perhaps they’re trying to tell Tae something,” their mother murmured.

“What?” his sister asked. 

“Like this bird, Tae is a rare breed,” his eomma smiled at him fondly.

Tae’s eyes met hers.  “Eomma, are you sure this isn’t from you?  It’s not a commentary on the fact that when I was a child you saw me often, but now that I’m an adult, it’s a rare sighting that brings me to you?”

“Sweetheart, you didn’t have to grow into adulthood for you to become a rare sight.  We’ve barely seen you for nearly a decade now.”

Tae felt a wave of sadness wash over him at the sorrow hidden in both his eomma’s gaze and her words.  He set the bird down in the box and handed Yeontan to his sister before crossing the room to envelop his mother in a tight hug.

“I’m sorry, Eomma, that my success has pulled me so far away from you.  You sacrificed so much to make my dreams come true.”  He buried his face in her hair and wept.

“Oh!  Precious boy, I didn’t mean to make you weep on your birthday!”  Her arms hugged him close as she patted his back.  “I’ll save my tears for next week when you’re gone.  Today, I’m rejoicing because you’re here with me.  With us.  I just wish…you’d come visit more often.”

“I will, Eomma.  I promise.”  He drew a little distance away from her so he could look down into her eyes.  “In the future, I will come see you more often.”

“And don’t forget…”

Tae stared down into his mother’s deep chocolate eyes.  “What?” he queried as a tiny smile played about his wide lips.

“I want grandchildren from you someday,” she teased him with a mischievous glint in her eye.  “Tiny Tae-Taes running around my ankles.  And warming my arms.”  

She smiled up at him tenderly as tears misted her eyes.  So much for waiting for next week to weep.

“Then you had best pray I can find a girl like you to marry, Eomma,” he murmured affectionately.

His mother actually blushed.  “Oh!  Aren’t you a darling now?!”  She slapped him on the arm before turning back towards their breakfast.  Which she didn’t want to burn.

His father was examining the bird when Tae turned back towards the table.

“It’s such a unique gift,” the older man murmured as his fingers petted its feathers.

“Just like our Tae,” his eomma asserted.

Tae smiled at his mother before retrieving Yeontan from his sister’s arms.  He could tell the little dog was upset that he had pawned him off on someone else.  

Tae drew the pup up to his nose and whispered gently in a soft breath that caressed the tiny creature, “You know I love you, Yeontan, but Eomma needed a hug.  No need to be jealous of my eomma, you silly dog.”

“Tae, if you speak to a woman as sweetly as you talk to that little dog, you’re not going to have any trouble at all finding a good wife,” his eomma informed him warmly.

“Yeah.  If your ARMYs could hear you now, they’d all be melting into a messy puddle,” his sister chuckled.  “All I want to know is are there any guys like you whom I’m not related to?”

“Jungkook’s still available,” Tae offered.

To which reply everyone laughed.

His sister had to admit that Jungkook was adorable.