The Fall of Gods (A Welcome to the Underworld Novel, Book 2) (58 page)

“You know…for most girls…when they give their boyfriends something to eat, they’re a bit more modest about it. They usually say
, ‘I don’t know if it’s good or not so you don’t have to eat it.’ Then, I’ll feel guilty and eat it regardless of how it tastes.”

“What are you, my relationship coach?” Yoori asked impatiently. “I think it’s pretty clear that I’m not like most girls, so don’t compare me to the rest. Oh and you’re not my boyfriend, so don’t get confused on that either. BFF
, remember?”

Despite her newly acknowledged feelings for Tae Hyun, Yoori was still uneasy about admitting it to him. She felt safer just being his BFF, no matter how ridiculous and annoying it sounded to her now. She was mature enough to get out of denial with herself. However, she wasn’t mature enough to let him know that.
 

Tae Hyun frowned at the term. She could tell that she was getting on his nerves with the BFF thing. She didn't blame him for being annoyed; she was annoyed with it herself.

“I know that BFF isn’t exactly a curse word, but why does it feel like you’re cussing at me every time
you shove that term in my face?”

Mindlessly, he grabbed a handful of rose petals from the table and threw it into the air. The petals danced for a moment and flew away with the wind.
 

“BFF you, Tae Hyun,” Yoori instigated, knowing that it would piss him off. It was terrible of her, but she loved pushing his buttons.
 

The glare on his face told her it worked. “You know what, Choi Yoori?” he prompted gravely. His eyes were firm.

“What Kwon Tae Hyun?”

He held up three consecutive fingers and then said, “BFF you, Choi Yoori.”

“You’re supposed to say, ‘read between the lines,’” she said cleverly, thinking she outsmarted him.

“
I’m sure you did already, Princess.”

“I…I…I…”
 

Damn it! She did! She
did
read between the lines herself! Damn!

She couldn’t even maintain
any further energy to bug him to love her cake. She was too pissed off about allowing him to outplay her in her own “read between the lines” game. 

“Here!” She shoved the box into his hands. She needed something to cheer her up before she spent the entire night being bitter.
 “Open your gift!”

Though he spoke of apprehensiveness against her gift, Tae Hyun’s eyes were only filled with excitement when he finally lifted the cake box up. Sitting modestly in the to-go box, the white frosted cake stared up shyly at Tae Hyun, who was staring at it quietly, his eyes running over the calligraphy-like writing that said “
Happy Birthday
,” and the messy red writing that said “Snob.” 

“I don’t know if it’s good or not,” Yoori provided tentatively, not even caring to play around anymore. She made sure to use Tae Hyun’s coaching advice, not because he told her to, but because she actually meant it. “This is my first time baking and Chae Young and Kang Min were helping me. Hae Jin said that you really liked Red Velvet cake so Chae Young and I went online and got the recipe from some forum. The recipe got good reviews from that site, so I tried my best to follow the directions.”
 

She gazed at him gently. “If it doesn’t taste good, don’t force yourself to eat it. I won’t be mad.” She didn’t want Tae Hyun to think that he would have to guiltily digest the cake just because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “Does it at least look presentable?”

“You baked it?” he asked, not even calling her out on using his “coaching” advice. He took more interest in the fact that this was something she actually made herself.

Yoori beamed proudly. “This i
s a once-in-a-lifetime event so you better treasure it.” She smiled timidly, her expression not matching the severity in her words. She shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant. “It’s not much. I was actually thinking about buying a cake but I figured it’d mean more if I baked it. You know the whole ‘it’s the thought that counts’ thing. But like I said, you don’t have to – ”

“It looks perfect,” he spoke up, gazing at her like she had just brought him a cake from heaven.
 “Thank you.” His voice was so genuine that Yoori knew he was more grateful than he led on. This made her crazy happy. He went on, unaware that she was inwardly doing cartwheels. “I’ve been craving for Red Velvet cake for some time. I’m honored to be the guinea pig for Choi Yoori’s first baked good.”

Although there was teasing humor in his voice, he looked really excited. He couldn’t even take his focus off the cake.
 His eyes journeyed over the inscription on the cake again. His lips quirked in amusement. She knew he was focusing on “Snob.”

“And thank you for the harmonically beautiful pet name,
 Brat. I’m sure all the romantics out there are envying me right now.” 

“Wouldn’t you be freaked
out if I called you ‘Suga Bear’ instead?” 

Tae Hyun shuddered. She didn’t know if it was from the cold or if it was because Tae Hyun was disgusted with that name. She had a hunch that he most definitely preferred “Snob”.
 

“I wish you would’ve told me that you wanted this place to be decorated for your birthday,” she commented while he admired his cake. She glanced around the balcony and craned her neck to look inside the decorated apartment. “I would’ve helped.”

“This isn’t for my birthday,” he said offhandedly.

“So this is just for the ‘romantic dinner’ and the ‘I’m so happy to be firing Choi Yoori’ day?”
 

He chuckled. “This is actually all for you.”

His answer didn’t make sense to her.

He didn’t give her a chance to ask a follow up question when he abruptly jumped off the table. His bare feet slammed against the foundation with a thud. He bent down and picked up something.

Air left Yoori’s lungs. Her eyes blossomed as she watched Tae Hyun place a white, transparent covered cake box on the table. He lifted the lid and Yoori saw it: Oreo Cookies & Cream ice cream cake. Her absolute favorite cake. 

A torrent of emotions flooded through her. She fought back the tears that were ready to glaze over her eyes.
 

How did he…how did he know?
 

She
didn’t even remember.

How did Tae Hyun know?

Presenting her with a smile that would melt hearts, Yoori was left breathless when Tae Hyun finally uttered words she never had the opportunity to cherish.

“Happy b
irthday, Yoori.”

There was not much that Yoori could tell you about her past. If you asked Yoori how she was raised to become the person she had become, she wouldn’t be able to give you a straight answer. If you asked her about the lessons she learned as a child, then she wouldn’t be able to tell you either.
 

This was one of the precise reasons why she never cared to remember when her actual birthday was. To date, Yoori only had three birthdays. She spent the first one with her adoptive parents. The only thing she remembered from that night was them fighting about spending too much money on a cake that they couldn’t finish. It wasn’t a happy day for her because she was traumatized over not remembering anything about her life. The second birthday occurred shortly after her home in Taecin caught on fire. Needless to say, Yoori wasn’t in the mood to celebrate anything. She was alone in a new city and she was staying at a shady motel while trying to make ends meet with the little money she had. She also hadn’t found a job yet, adding to the stress and depression. The third
 birthday was spent with Chae Young who, despite Yoori’s protests, insisted on taking her out for sushi before they called it a night from work. They were close then, but not close enough where Yoori was able to feel at ease with herself. Overall, her birthdays never carried too much weight for Yoori. 

To a degree, she made the subconscious decision to forget about it. It didn’t matter so much to her because she didn’t feel that she had someone who cared about it enough to make a big deal out of it anyway.
 

It didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter until Tae Hyun came along.

“Happy b
irthday, Yoori.”

His words echoed in her mind like the softest melody, causing a tidal wave of euphoria to submerge her. The simple words lifted sadness off her and replaced it with bliss that she didn’t even realize she yearned for until this very moment.
 

“How…how did you know?” She was barely able to form a discernible sound from her dumbfounded mouth. She was still astounded with everything.
 

“When we had our dinner, the guys and I went outside to deal with some trouble that was brewing with the initiation for our new recruits. After we settled that problem, Kang Min and Jae Won used the opportunity to tell me that there was something about you that I needed to know. They told me that Chae Young informed them that your birthday had passed recently. She was going to set up a belated party for you, but then she thought that
 
I
 might want to do something special for it. So she had the guys tell me instead.”

Yoori recalled the dinner where Hae Jin and Chae Young pulled her aside and told her about Tae Hyun’s birthday.
 

Those four…they planned everything…
 

Tae Hyun went on. “I asked them for the date that passed and I realized that it was the same weekend that we left for the lake house.
That whole day, when we were sitting on the dock till a little after midnight, when we were on the boat, when we played the drinking game and when we danced in the gazebo…that was your birthday.” His eyes flashed at the remembrance of their first weekend away. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I…I didn’t remember,” she replied honestly. Then, something clicked in her mind that made her smile. “So the dress and jewelry they got me – ”

“Your birthday gift from them.”

“And dinner yesterday?”

“Our birthday dinner with them.”

“So they all knew?”
 

Tae Hyun nodded. “Hae Jin and Jae Won were here helping me set up for your gift. And I guess Chae Young and Kang Min were helping you with mine.”

And just like that, Yoori found the air lodged in her chest. She recalled all the other birthdays that never resulted into much of anything. Her birthday had long came and went (and God knows if it was even the right “birthday”), but she couldn’t help but smile as her eyes gleamed with gratitude. 

“But today is
 
your
 day,” she breathed out, feeling incredibly emotional. Her friends and Tae Hyun were
taking her breath away. It was something so simple. A birthday. Something so simple and it was making her emotional.

“You think I would make a big deal out of this day if I wasn’t celebrating your birthday too?” He laughed.
“To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of my own birthday. It’ll be nice to take the spotlight off me and give it to my girlfriend instead.”

“
BFF,” Yoori corrected out of habit. She wanted to smack herself thereafter. It was extremely annoying. Yet, it was the only thing she could use to protect herself from her feelings. 

“Maybe it’s time
 you read between the lines when you use those words with me,” Tae Hyun said sternly, stroking the bangs away from her eyes just after a puff of wind darted through them. He smiled, gazing back at the two cakes staring at them. “Should we put candles on the cakes?”

Yoori bobbed her head, still feeling dazed. She reached into the pocket of her pants and took out a package of multicolored candles and a lighter. When she pulled it out, she saw that Tae Hyun had the same package of candles. He
also had the same red colored lighter. 

“It’s too windy,” he complained, having trouble getting the candles to stay lit. The harsh wind continued to ripple around them.

“Yeah,” Yoori agreed, flinching when the fire from her candles burned her slightly before flickering into oblivion.

“You know what this means, right?” Tae Hyun asked coyly, staring at her and then at the table. He was still standing beside it and by the show of things, he wasn’t planning on jumping back on.
 

Yoori grinned knowingly. She blew out the rest of the flickering candles.
 

Delicately placing his hands on her hips, he helped her jump down. After Yoori landed on her feet, both reached out with their lighters in hand and picked up their respective cakes.

“Duck kickers first,” Tae Hyun offered, motioning to the area underneath the table.

“Duck lovers first,” Yo
ori counter offered. 

“Did you get attacked by another duck today? You know I’m not going in until you go in first. So hurry up. My ass is freezing right now.”

“You sure know how to do bed talk, don’t you?”

“You know it,
 baby. Now get your pretty little butt in there.”

“Don’t stare at anything,” Yoori warned, bending her knees and pushing the cake in before she crawled in under the table too.