Baby...happy birthday. How about you have dinner with your father and I tonight? We miss you.
                          
 "Of course you do," Donghyuck sighed. He tapped against his window as he thought of an appropriate response. Not that he still had manners to uphold, he'd already lashed out on his parents when he first found out and had been ignoring them since.
                          
Sucking in a breath, he gave his mother a call.
                          
 "My baby," her voice cracked when she answered and it immediately brought tears to his eyes. "You're finally talking to me. It's your birthday but you're giving me a gift."
                          
 "Hi, mom." Donghyuck swallowed the lump that had inevitably formed in his throat.
                          
 "Let's have dinner together, hm? The three of us."
                          
When Donghyuck hesitated to answer, his mom pointed out sadly, "You haven't forgiven us."
                          
 "I...I just need more time."
                          
 "Of course, baby. Take all the time you need. Your father and I would always be waiting for you," his mother said in that sweet tone that always comforted him. "If you don't mind, I want to send you a present. Can you give me your address?"
                          
 "Yeah, I'll text you my address."
                          
Donghyuck then bid his goodbyes and once the call was over, he groaned, harshly wiping his eyes with the hem of his shirt. As he buckled up, he encouraged himself to be strong and that everything was okay. Listening to Simon Dominic as he drove towards campus, he chanted to himself that he was a badass, he was cool and he wasn't going to cry like a five-year-old who missed his mommy.
                          
From the moment he stepped out of the car, he was showered with greetings. Even his scary international relations lecturer wished him a happy birthday. During soccer practice, the boys as well as their coach had given Donghyuck loving tackles, and his favorite freshman on the team had gifted him a brand new wallet.
                          
(From Big Ji and Small Ji, the small card wrote.
                          
 "Did your sister really contribute to this gift?"
                          
 "Well...she helped me choose what to give you. She said your wallet looks like it was bitten by street rats and not the type that lives in a chef's hat.")
                          
To end his day, Donghyuck had karaoke, dinner and drinks with his three best friends. Birthday gifts were forbidden between them, partly because they found it to be sappy, but a greater reason was because of a pranking war between Donghyuck and Jaemin that went wrong a couple years back. This birthday though, even without Jeno and Jaemin knowing, Renjun pulled out a velvet box from his backpack that silenced their whole table.
                          
 "Oh my God," Donghyuck's jaw dropped. "Yes, Renjun, yes! I will marry you!"
                          
 "Shut the fuck up," Renjun hissed at him and threatened to throw the box at his face. The velvet box was opened with a pop; inside wasn't a single ring presumed to be for Donghyuck, but there were four identical ones.
                          
 "Did you get us friendship rings?" Jaemin grinned, exchanging naughty glances with Donghyuck and Jeno. Who knew that Renjun out of them would actually go through with something so corny?
                          
 "Just shut up and take one."
                          
Donghyuck returned home with a brand new diamond on his finger—it was actually a thin silver ring that Renjun got for a Buy 2 Free 2 deal at the local market—and a new cap on his head. He was smiling the whole way; he was the type that appreciated every gift he received, whether small or big, cheap or expensive. The thought was all that mattered to him.
                          
But when he saw the box on the dining table with Love, mom and dad written beneath his name on the card attached, he wasn't sure if he appreciated it. As he slowly opened the box, the tears from earlier reformed and his bottom lip trembled as he tried to keep them in. In the box was a gift that he'd never expect, but was the gift that had him sobbing. It was a teddy bear, mostly brown fur with some white patches from where bleach was spilled and one of its eyes replaced by a button. It was so ugly, but it was exactly what he wanted.