heaven is you (i never knew if it was true)

ever since i met you

— SEOUL,
08 DECEMBER 2021

happy birthday dear, riki. happy birthday to you. jungwon finished signing. anything to make the birthday boy happy, even though his birthday was the next day and not today.

no, jungwon didn't get the days wrong, he could never do that. but when riki asked him to attend his little birthday party including a zoom call from his family, nurse mikyong, and his friends jake, jay, and heeseung, jungwon told him he had a surgery of some sort.

and so, to make it up to the soon-to-be birthday boy, jungwon prepared a pre-birthday party.

with just the two of them.

riki freaked out the week, day, and morning before the party. he had never fell in love, being in a hospital before he had even thought about the feeling. but after writing out his poem from their first actual hang out in his room that one day, he figured out if this wasn't love, he didn't know what was.

they had hung out almost everyday for a whole month, which only led riki to certify his feelings for the dimpled-boy.

riki always talked about time. one of the most hated things by nishimura riki. but when he was with jungwon, he always liked how time was slowed down. when they weren't together, time always sped up to the day that they were.

time was finally on his side.

"you really didn't have to do this, wonie." he made sure to annunciate his words correctly, to not cause confusion for jungwon as he read his lips. it always made him blush internally because jungwon always stared at his lips, even if he wasn't talking. maybe the brunette was so used to reading lips or maybe he wanted to kiss them as much as riki wanted to kiss his.

it was something riki needed more courage to do, and it really wasn't anytime soon. but time was on his side, he believed.

it's okay, i wanted to. jungwon smiled as he signed and mouthed the words at the same time. he had been teaching riki for an hour everytime they hung out because riki always begged him. he wanted to impress his crush, to say the least. riki was a fast learner and jungwon was a great teacher so there really wasn't any difficulty that posed between them.

the candle was still burning, wax dripping down to the chocolate cake that jungwon had bought. so he signaled for riki to make a wish and blow out the candle by demonstrating both of the actions.

'i wish to spend the rest of my time here with jungwon and those who i love.' riki closed his eyes gently, and blew out the candle that was the only source of light at the moment.

before riki could ask jungwon to turn on the light, the room lit up as the sound of the light switch was flipped up by nurse mikyong.

"oh sorry, i just heard you talking and thought you had a friend over." nurse mikyong softly spoke. riki raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked over to his friend that she had mentioned, who shrugged in return.

"i do have a friend over? he's right in front of me." riki said, hesitantly. he wondered if nurse mikyong was just tired as it was 11:39 p.m. or if it was because she was adjusting to the light she had just turned on.

"oh i'm so sorry! i guess i didn't see your um friend. i'll leave you to it, then." she quickly closed the door, and left the two teenage boys alone.

"that was weird." riki took the cake from jungwon's hands and set it down on the desk in the middle of the room.

yeah, but it's great to see that nurse mikyong is as nice as she was a year ago. jungwon smiled sadly, only to be covered up by him clearing his throat and walking over to riki's sink where the forks were held. he handed riki one as the both of them sat down at the table, ready to eat the desert. riki decided not to question his friend, seeing as he probably didn't want to talk about it.