FIREFLIES

【 序幕 】

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「　prologue ; the letter。 」━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAY to you," the family members sang in harmony surrounding the birthday girl. the girl's smile stretched widely as she felt the comfort of everyone around who sang for her.

"happy birthday hwayoung!~" and with that, hwayoung fervently blew out the candles in seconds. the crowd cheers as hwayoung pulls away and stares at the burnout candles.

19, was the number the candles were carved into. and what better way to celebrate your 19th birthday than to celebrate it at your backyard with the people you love.

after the candles were blown, the crowd dug into their food that was provided on their table. hwayoung walks back to her table, where she's accommodated by her parents and sibling, and she herself starts eating.

"so hwayoung," hwayoung's brother, hwiyoung, who was situated next to her spoke up. "now that you're 19, dad said you can date now—"

hwayoung immediately shoved her elbow at her brother, stopping him from continuing his thought and simply whimpers. hwiyoung covers his mouth, shielding the profanities that were slipping past his mouth. hwayoung smiles triumphantly before she turns back to her food.

"i mean, hwiyoung isn't wrong..." hwayoung's father, who was sitting across the two and was watching and hearing the scene unravel, chimed in.

"dad!" hwayoung whines before her lower lip pops out, creating a small pout. as her father and brother laughs and continues on teasing the girl; her mother walks up to hwayoung, thinking that her mother would back her up but instead adds more fuel to the fire.

her mother approaches them with a present that was wrapped in a pearl neo champagne green gift wrapper with a gold like coated ribbon wrapped around the present for the finishing touches. the wrapper was embedded with small patterned circles as it's design. as for the cherry on top, below the ribbon was a letter attached to it.

hwayoung's eyes bulged out of her sockets and was quite intrigued by the present because of its uniqueness. the majority of the gifts given to her were cash or objects that were directly wrapped in a gift wrapper without putting it in a box; which makes it easier for hwayoung to discern what it is.

however, with this one, you could tell that effort was put in this present and you could tell that it was a box and something was inside of it. "is this from you?" hwayoung asks, to which her mother shakes her head in response.

"i found it on the porch." her mother carefully hands it over to hwayoung to avoid anything that was encapsulated in there from breaking. "plus, there's a letter on it. i figured that this was kind of more important than the other presents if you know what i mean." hwayoung's mother threw a playful wink at hwayoung to which her brother, father, and now her mother, laugh hysterically at.

hwayoung simply rolls her eyes at them before grabbing the present and runs to their house. after locking the door into her room, hwayoung gently places the gift on the floor before she settles down alongside it. hwayoung eyes the mysterious present to see if there were any tags to it, only to find out that there weren't any tags.

hwayoung gently tugs the ends of the ribbon before the tassels fall off, breaking free the letter. hwayoung picks up the letter and holds it out to examine the piece of paper. hwayoung carefully unravels the paper and embedded in it were words that form a long letter for hwayoung to read.

"hey hwayoung,

i noticed how your skin changed the last time i saw you. your eyes are now more beautiful than the last time we spoke. finding your address was quite difficult. i hope you received my present. happy birthday! do you remember me? ..."

just by those first few sentences, hwayoung's mouth agape and assumes that; it was a letter from her stalker.

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