Chapter Text
You had been trying your best to let the news of your ‘special day’ stay unknown, and it had been going pretty well actually. When you started getting to know Nichkhun, you told him casually, but then immediately changed the subject. Over the past eight months of getting know him and becoming good friends, you had never had the need to mention it. Now that it was less than a week away, you were happy to just let it go as another day.
Birthday’s were the worst for you. Bad memories of the past, and a waste of time. It was bad luck for you, at least in your mind, to acknowledge it at all. All the times it happened, something bad came up. Broken heart, broken arm, lost friendships, extreme hangover. Something that made life suck for you. It sucked to keep these stories from Nickhun, but he didn’t need to know. It wasn’t like you were dating or more than friends. You enjoyed hanging with him, the other 2PM members, and their friends when they were available. You even know his family, meeting them once or twice at get togethers.
On this particular night, you found yourself helping clean up the kitchen in Minjun’s place after dinner with the boys and some of their friends. Most of the people had left, and Nichkhun, Minjun, and Chansung were left. Chansung came into the room, and asked if you needed help slowly in English. You were still learning the Korean language, and preferred to speak English. Chansung was doing his best to stick to English and hand motions. He was doing better with communicating in English, while you did in Korean. It was a thing you guys did.
“Could you clear up some dishes?” you spoke to him in Korean, although you know you had messed up the arrangement of words and mispronounced one or two. He nodded with a chuckle and begin to dry a few and put them away. Chansung was younger than you by a few years, and you were the least close with him. Still, you enjoyed his company. Minjun came into the room a few moments later, with Chansung finishing the dishes on his own. You grinned at him.
“I told you I’d do it,” you said with a smug voice, sticking your tongue out at him.
“I said you didn’t have to,” he replied in English, raising an eyebrow in amusement. You used your hand to wave his words away and helped Chansung finish. Nichkhun had returned from outside doing something and appeared near Chansung. They spoke in Korean while you kept from staring too much at your friend. It was no secret you had a crush on him, and who knows if he noticed. You were too old to do the giggling schoolgirl thing, so you kept it to yourself. Minjun, though, grinned when you glanced back at Nichkhun.
“Shut up,” you muttered, glaring at him. You stepped around him and went to gather your bags. The party was over, you had helped clean up, and now you were off to your apartment. You still had to figure out how to get back - even after 8 months in this Korean city you still got lost.
“I didn’t say anything, yeo dong saeng,” he replied quietly, although he smirked. You knew that phrase - little sister - and sent him another glare.
“Why don’t you take yeo dong saeng home, Khun?” Chansung suggested in Korean. You understood little sister and Khun, which made you turn and smile, although it was a little forced. He glanced between the two of you, waiting for an answer.
“Sure,” Nichkhun answered with a casual smile. He sent it your way and butterflies flopped around in your stomach. Minjun put a hand on your shoulder and pushed you gently toward him. Chansung seemed to notice and grinned, too. You ignored the idiots and shrugged casually.
“Better than taking a bus. I still have no idea how to get to my apartment to be honest.” You let out a laugh. After saying goodbyes, you making the others laugh by your horrible pronunciation of the Korean way to say see ya later, Minjun winked at you as you followed Nichkhun out to his car. What a nice car it was. Fantastic and expensive and damn it was a turn on.
“You’ve been here long enough, you really don’t know where you’re apartment is?” he asked as you buckled into the seat. It was dark, so no one would see you two leaving together. After one incident that almost made your face explode in embarrassment, you did your best not to be seen with any of the boys. It had taken weeks to stop the stupid comments against you.
“I’m horrible at directions,” you shrugged and chuckled. Nichkhun laughed at that and you started off. It should take around 10 minutes to get to your place. Maybe. Probably. Hell, who really knew. “You know where it is, right?”
“Of course, I showed it to you, remember? That’s how we met.” He glanced at you quickly. Why was he always smiling? It made it that much worse to like him and not be able to be on the level to have him.
“Yeah, thanks by the way. It’s costing me an arm and a leg just to pay my bills.” You sent him a playful wrinkle of your nose. He fell silent, looking thoughtfully out the window as he drove. The quietness was making you want to stare at him, but you forced yourself to look out the window at the lights as you passed them in the dark.
“So you came here to start new - did it work out the way you planned?” he asked, becoming a little serious.
“Yeah, it’s not so bad.”
“You never told me why,” he added. He hadn’t pushed over the months for your exact reasons, but now it seemed he was taking the chance. It wasn’t something you enjoyed talking about, but he had been willing to wait this long to ask. Eight months.
“You really want to know the details?” you glanced at him, curious with the answer.
“Only if you want to tell me. It seems serious, considering you moved here from a different country.”
“Yeah… I did,” you murmured with a sigh, looking out of the window. You felt the car slow and realized you were parked near your apartment. He turned to look at you fully.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to you later.” Nichkhun leaned on the wheel a bit and smiled softly at you. He was still curious, you know, but was too polite to ask outright again.
“A lot of things happened at once, so I had to get away,” you started. You didn’t look at him as you continued. “I’ve been on my own since I was a teenager, but I was doing fine. You know that feeling when you kind of hit a wall and don’t know where to go next? I hit it, plus I hated my job and all that so…” You shrugged. “Time to start new. Best birthday present to myself, to be honest.” You chuckled, ad then realized what you had said. Crap.
“Birthday… isn’t it soon?” he grinned, changing the subject. You were grateful.
“Maybe,” you replied.
“Come on, you don’t look at all interested in birthdays. You’re a year or so younger than me, right?”
“Hm,” you grunted, unbuckling you seat belt. Still, you smiled at him. “Thanks, Nick. Appreciate the ride.” Most people know him as Khun, but you preferred to call him Nick. It felt kind of special that you got to call him something else than what the public knew him as.
“I’ll get you something,” he promised.
“No, no, no, I hate birthdays. They’re bad luck. For me anyway.” You get ready to shut the the door, but he reached over to stop it.
“This year won’t be so bad, I promise.” He winked and then shut the door himself. That comment and wink left you staring at the car as he pulled away, with wide eyes. What did that mean? He promised? Promised what?
It made you shiver, but that kind of reaction was all you. There was no way he had that kind of fun on his mind. Unfortunately. You sigh and shake your head to clear the dirty thoughts and made your way to your own home.