It was Donghyuck's birthday.
This much, Jiseol knew. Even if she didn't want to and even if it wasn't for her brother reminding her by sending her twenty-two potential birthday gift ideas for the captain he wouldn't admit he adored so much, she would naturally remember each time his birthday came around. She cursed the date for being so easy to stick in one's mind, especially with how it perfectly suited Donghyuck.
Sixth of June. 6/6. One digit away from being the number of the beast.
In their time of knowing each other that was much longer than Jiseol would like, she'd never gone out of her way to wish him a happy birthday, not that he had ever done the same. They had never exchanged greetings like this even during the mini birthday parties that Astral would throw for each editor. But now that they were roommates and even spent time together without breaking out into a fight a few days ago, Jiseol considered that maybe there was no harm in wishing her most loathed person a happy birthday. It wouldn't mean that she disliked him any less, but who knew if it could make him more tolerable.
Except Jiseol was Jiseol and Park Jiseol had problems with expressing her emotions verbally, unless that person was a lover, especially if that person had been a parasite leeching off her torture for the past few years. So rather than saying a simple "Happy birthday!" with a humane smile, Jiseol could only blurt out "Good job on being alive for the past twenty-two years," with what she thought was a smile but actually came off as a painful grimace.
Donghyuck gaped at her in surprise—more at how she actually bothered speaking to him than the fact that she remembered—before his loud laughter filled every inch of the living room.
"Wow, is this how Park Jiseol wishes people on their birthday? I'm so honoured," he dramatically held a hand to his chest and faked a sniffle. "Maybe try not looking like you're severely constipated next time though."
Jiseol rolled her eyes. She had officially reached her full quota of daily conversations with Donghyuck. She walked past him while he was still putting on his shoes and was halfway out the door when he called out after her.
"We're both heading to the same place, why don't you just a hitch a ride with me? Birthday boy's treat," Donghyuck grinned. Jiseol didn't know whether to be amazed or concerned that he was this normal after sobbing his eyes out to her while eating chicken only a few nights ago.
"Bro, really, I honestly enjoy every single second that I have without you in it. No thanks," Jiseol mumbled.
"Come on, sweetheart! Maybe this five-minute ride is all we need for you to realize how awesome I am and maybe I'll realize how you're not that bad to be around."
Unsurprisingly, Jiseol chose to take the bus after Donghyuck's backhanded compliment. Donghyuck leaned against his car as he watched Jiseol's crankiness prevailing in each step she took towards the bus stop, smiling in amusement to himself. Once he saw that she'd gotten on the bus, he climbed into his driver's seat and checked his phone, admiring the number of well-hearted wishes that bombarded his notifications nonstop. When he saw the text from a certain number, however, his smile disappeared.
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.
All those years his parents had given him expensive gifts to try and compensate for what they couldn't give him: a better childhood. To be gifted the worn out teddy he carried around as a child instead, signed by both parents, Donghyuck couldn't help the ache in his chest.
"Do you have to cry so loudly?" an irritated voice came from behind him.
Donghyuck snapped around to see his roommate, clearly unhappy at the volume of his pathetic sobbing that disturbed her intense study session.
"Sorry, dude," he mumbled. "I'm just so happy to see Coco again."
"I'm happy for your reunion, but really man, I've got a quiz in the morning. Cry softer," Jiseol said.
"Thanks for the present, by the way," Donghyuck muttered, tipping his cap in her direction.
Jiseol's eyebrows arched together. She secretly complimented herself for her impeccable taste, seeing how well the cap matched Donghyuck. Yet what left her mouth was, "I didn't get you a present."
"You think I don't know Jisung already spent all his pocket money on in-app purchases for his phone games? Where else would he get the money for this?"
"Yeah, yeah. Do me a favour and pay me back by crying softly instead of wailing like a sea animal."
A week and a half after the controversial video that swept Astral into chaos was taken down, peace had been restored in their office, though all the editors were significantly more careful with ensuring that their accounts were safe and secure. That day in particular saw most of the editors chilling in the office as they updated their respective sections, with Mark supervising them while passing around potato chips.
Donghyuck winced when the glare of his computer became too much, tearing his eyes away from the screen and relaxing them by slowly scanning the room. He observed the other editors playfully feeding each other or whining about how they had writers' block, then his gaze lastly landed on the person sitting right in front of him. He subtly adjusted his swivel chair so he could see her without their computers in the way; Jiseol had been entirely focused for the past hour, barely having said a single word and reaching out to grab a chip from Mark without even looking at him. Donghyuck found it funny how she always looked intimidating even when she was doing something as mundane as washing the dishes, yet somehow looked so peaceful when focused on rather stressful work.
Apparently, staring at her was the one way to break her concentration as she suddenly made eye contact with Donghyuck, surprising him so much that he fell off his chair.
"Fucking weirdo," Jiseol mumbled under her breath. She continued her work like nothing happened, same concentrated yet relaxed expression on her face, while Donghyuck glared at her as he pulled himself up.
As the evening matured, the editors began to pack up and leave, including Mark. The two purple-haired roommates—now nicknamed Grapeheads by Chenle—were the last ones to remain in the office. Jiseol because she ran the most complex section that required the most research, Donghyuck because he had soccer practice earlier before he could start his work for Astral.
"You're done," Donghyuck stated rather than asked when Jiseol started to pack up.
"Yeah," she answered simply, turning off her PC.
"Why don't you just wait up for me? I'm almost done." Donghyuck said. This was his second offer to carpool but this time, his tone was more casual and sincere than just to mess with her.
This time, too, Jiseol actually weighed her options. She then shook her head.
"I have to get home now, I left my laundry in the machine."
Donghyuck blew a raspberry and told her to suit herself. It wasn't uncommon for him to be the last one in the office; the other editors were mostly only committed to Astral, but he also had commitments to the soccer team and the student council. Since the editors had the flexibility to do their work whenever they wanted as long as they met a certain quota of updates each week, he'd prioritize meetings or practice first, and once he was done he'd walk into the office to get started while the other editors were already preparing to leave.
As Jiseol left, Donghyuck cracked his stiff neck and turned up his music, wanting to get his work done as soon as possible.
With all the time taken for Jiseol to take the bus home, shower and change into fresh new clothes, Donghyuck still wasn't home. Jiseol paid it no mind since sometimes her roommate would waltz in through the front door past midnight. Tying her hair into a short ponytail, she knelt down next to their barely functioning washing machine and unloaded her clothes into her basket. As she pulled out the very last sock, she belatedly noticed that her phone that she left on top of the washing machine was vibrating endlessly like nonstop notifications were coming in.
A little concerned, Jiseol reached for her phone and watched as messages came pouring in from Chenle, Jisung, Mark and the Astral groupchat all at once. Out of habit, she checked the texts from her best friend first, especially since he'd sent her a total of 57 messages within two minutes. Most of them were emojis and frantic keyboard smashing and from what Jiseol could deduce, Chenle was going on and on about a video, whether she meant for that video to be posted and what the other videos had to do with hers.
Jiseol typed out a quick reply asking what video he was talking about and he urgently told her to check the updates on Astral's gossip column. Before checking the website itself, she firstly saw the latest text from Mark about how he was on his way to the office, then she checked the buzzing groupchat and couldn't understand what her fellow editors were screaming about, but she noted a text from Mina that said Our Jiseol is involved too with crying emojis. Biting down on her bottom lip until she could taste blood, both Jiseol's mind and heart raced as she opened the Astral website.
She didn't know what to expect—she was terrified.
Her hands were shaking as she pressed on the latest update in the gossip column, entitled Let's Have Some More Fun. Her trembling fingers scrolled through the post; its introductory paragraph talked about how all the fun in the unsolicited sharing of students' personal lives shouldn't have stopped with shaming the student who slept with their professor. At first Jiseol didn't understand, then she scrolled further and realized there was a numbered list. At each number was a title, followed by a paragraph on what the student—or professor, Jiseol realized in terror when she got to number 4—had done with media to back it up. Screenshots, photos, videos, anything at all to serve as proof that the "fun" wasn't just gossip.
It was all such personal content that Jiseol felt like an intruder just by reading. The campus's most popular heartthrob being revealed to have a brother in prison for murder; the professor who was recovering from alcoholism and a bad divorce; the couple who were on the verge of breaking up because of a lull in their sex life.
Then, Jiseol got to number 15. The last one.
15: Like A Virgin
She didn't get the chance to read out the final paragraph because her phone dropped into her laundry basket when she saw the media that was attached. It was a video that she couldn't recognize at first, but as it played, the memory of what it was about and where, when, by whom the video was taken came rushing through her mind.
It was the video Donghyuck took when they got drunk together that she completely forgot about. The video in which Jiseol described the account of her losing her virginity in graphic, humiliating detail, now open for the entire school to know.
teehee