Jungkook couldn’t sleep. He was missing Hyejin. He hadn’t seen as much of her as he would have liked lately. And he knew that soon, he’d be passing several weeks without her sweet company. Right now, she was out of town visiting her family in the countryside. He wouldn’t even get to see her before he had to leave for America.
As he lay in bed, his stomach rumbled. He’d been working out more frequently of late as he prepared for comeback. Which meant that he was always hungry. He rolled over and climbed out of bed. Then, he headed to the kitchen for a snack. He glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning. He walked towards a bowl of fruit. Suddenly, as he inhaled, he swallowed something. He turned on a light and discovered a cloud of fruit flies floating in the air around him.
Ugh!
He had just eaten one of them! That was not his idea of a delicious nighttime snack! Trying to smash them, he started clapping his hands together, but they just floated to the side. After several frustrating and unsuccessful attempts to kill them, he went in search of the vacuum cleaner. He plugged it in and began to suck the little irritants into the tube of the vacuum. A few moments later, Namjoon, rubbing his eyes, stumbled into the kitchen.
“Jungkook!” he shouted over the roar of the machine. “Jungkook!”
His young friend couldn’t hear him. Namjoon clapped his hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. The younger man jumped and swung around, nearly hitting Namjoon in the head with the wand of the vacuum. Jungkook dropped his arm quickly and bent to turn off the machine.
“Namjoon?”
“Jungkook, what are you doing?”
“Vacuuming up fruit flies.”
Dumbfounded, Namjoon just stared at him. “I must be dreaming,” he mumbled to himself and made his way back to his room.
Jungkook shrugged and began to wind up the cord to the vacuum. Just then, Tae wandered into the kitchen with a pile of popsicle sticks in one hand and a hot glue gun in the other. When he saw Jungkook, his face lit up.
“Oh, Jungkookie! Good! You’re awake! Do you know where we put that package of bamboo chopsticks? And I need a really sharp knife,” he muttered to himself. “Or maybe scissors.”
He dumped his armload on the table and wandered out of the room. A moment later, he came back with some white paper, a glue stick, and some cardstock.
“Tae, what are you doing?”
Tae grinned mysteriously. “Making Tia a birthday present.”
—
His masterpiece was finished. Jungkook had helped him collect the necessary supplies and had kept him company while he completed his project. Jungkook had made them both some ramen while Tae carefully glued the pieces together. When his friend had brought two bowls of steaming noodles to the table and sat down next to Tae, he had whispered, “So, Jungkookie, how are things going with Hyejin?”
Jungkook hadn’t wanted to answer that question, so he had shoved a bite of noodles into his mouth and nodded before glancing down at his bowl. Tae had frowned, detecting that all was not well in Jungkookie’s world. But he had decided not to pry.
His younger friend had sat noisily slurping up noodles while his own fingers had worked efficiently to assemble Tia’s surprise. When he was finished, Tae sat back and grinned as he observed the fruit of his labors.
“She’ll love it,” Jungkook whispered.
Tae glanced at him. “Who?”
“Tia.”
“How did you know it was for Tia?”
“You said so.”
Oh, yeah. He supposed he had. He must be more tired than he thought.
Jungkookie was the one who suggested the gold paint and glitter. The resultant shine was the crowning touch Tae had been looking for.
—
Several hours later, Tae arrived at Tia’s house. Her present was hidden within a box that he had wrapped in a shimmery purple foil paper. He’d found a white bow to put on top. He was so excited that he could barely contain himself. He knocked on the front door.
A moment later, Tia opened it and smiled at him. Then, her eyes grew wide as she stared down at the box in his hands.
“Ooh! Pretty! Tae, what’s that?”
His boxy smile appeared. “A little something for a special someone who is celebrating a birthday on the last day of 2019.”
She scraped her upper teeth along her bottom lip as she bit back her own grin. Then her eyes met his. “I have something for you too.” She turned around and walked across the room. “Your birthday is first, so you should open yours first.”
Tae was excited, so he murmured, “If you insist.” Though, he was really eager to see her open her present.
Tae pulled the purple tissue paper out of the purple gift bag. Then he peeked inside. He grinned as he reached inside to pull out a tiny replica of the Eiffel Tower. Now he was a little embarrassed. She had bought him such a beautiful replica of the Eiffel Tower. He stared at it. It was shining under the kitchen light. It looked like it was made of pure silver; though, he was sure it wasn’t. Still, it was stunning. And the perfect reminder of his time with her. He glanced up to meet her eyes. “I love it, Tia! It’s beautiful.”
She sighed. “It doesn’t do it justice. I wanted to find one that lit up, but it was a fruitless search. I had to settle for that one.” Then, her eyes did light up, their flames dancing. “Is it my turn now? Can I open my gift?”
He smiled at her a little ruefully. “Okay, but I…just remember I had less than a day to prepare.”
She glanced quizzically at him as she picked up her box off the countertop. She lifted the lid and gasped as her eyes took in the gift nestled inside the box. She reached in and delicately lifted a shining replica of the Eiffel Tower.
“Tae! This is it! This is what I was looking for! The glowing tower!”
Tae frowned. “Really?”
She gazed down at a little Eiffel Tower that Tae had made from cardstock, popsicle sticks, chopsticks, gold paint, and glitter. But a child’s craft project wasn’t what Tia saw. She saw the Eiffel Tower that she had stood in with Tae the day they’d met. She saw it glowing with golden lights. The tower that had lit up a city. The tower in which Tae had lit up her heart. She felt tears flooding her eyes. “It’s perfect, Tae. You built me a tower and made it glow with gold paint and glitter. I love it!”
She turned it around in her hands under the overhead lights and watched as the glitter sparkled. She stared at it a moment longer as those golden memories flowed through her mind, then she set it on the counter and stepped forward to thread her arms around his neck. She stood on her tiptoes and planted her lips against his own.
“Thank you, Tae,” she murmured against his lips. “Happy Birthday!”
He smiled before kissing her for several moments. A sweet, lingering kiss that gave her another reason to be happy that they were celebrating her birthday two days early.
Then he murmured against her mouth, “Happy Birthday, Tia. I’m glad you like your present. I stayed up all night making it.”
“You…what?! Tae, you’re boarding a plane tomorrow morning and flying halfway around the world! You need some sleep!”
“But I wanted to spend today with y—,” he yawned.
“See? Come on!” She took him by the hand and drew him towards the living room. She pulled him down onto the couch with her. Sitting side by side, still holding hands, they began to watch a drama. A few moments later, Tae had fallen asleep against her shoulder.
