You're All I Need - Nishimura Riki

Chapter 42 : The Birthday

"Good morning, Hana..." I hear my mom say as she gently pats my shoulder to wake me up. I open my eyes and she's looking down, smiling at me. "Oh, you're awake now. Go ahead and get dressed for the day."

I sit up, yawning and looking around. My curtains are open and the sunlight is shining in my face, causing me to put my hand up to block the light.

I get out of my bed and wash up in the bathroom, changing into a pair of jeans with minimal rips on the knee and a light purple shirt that I have. I am about to open my door and go downstairs when I get a call on my phone.

I answer it and immediately see my dad's smiling face.

"Dad!" I yell excitedly, sitting back down on my bed.

"Hey, Han, happy birthday!" He says, smiling.

"Thank you Dad! I wish you were here," I say, sadly.

"Yeah, I know. But I will be home soon for Christmas, which is in only 3 weeks. So you don't have much longer to wait," he says. "It'll go by quickly, especially since you have midterms soon."

Oh, I forgot about midterms! I have to start studying for them so I can get good grades on them.

"Yeah, we do. We have them the week after next week, so I should probably start studying soon."

"Okay, Han. Don't stress yourself out too much about it. Have a little bit of fun. You graduate next year. You should at least have some good memories with friends before then," my dad says. I smile, thinking about all the memories I do have so far, however they aren't all with my friends. "What are you smiling about?"

I snap out of my trance and look back to my dad.

"Nothing, Dad. I just thought of something that my friend showed me the other day," I say, laughing to cover up my smile.

"Okay. I should probably get going now. I have some important things to handle but I'll call you again later, okay?" I nod and say bye to him before he hangs up the phone.

I walk downstairs as I was planning to do before my dad called me and I smell the breakfast my mom made.

"Oh, you're down, finally," she says from the dining room table. "Oh, I didn't make you any breakfast because Ni-ki said he was going to pick you up soon to eat."

"Oh... did he say when?" I ask her.

"Not exactly. He just told me that he would message you when he gets here."

Just then, a message comes in on my phone saying that he's here.

"Oh, that's him now. I'll be back later, Mom. I love you," I say. She waves bye and I walk out the front door. I see Ni-ki's car parked in the driveway and he gets out to greet me.

"Hi, Hana, allow me," he says, hugging me and proceeding to open the car door for me.

"You didn't have to open the door for me, Ni-ki. You could've stayed in the car."

"I wanted to, I promise," he says, smiling at me before starting to drive.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask, still clueless on our destination.

"Somewhere special," he says.

"Like what?"

"Think about it," he says, smiling as he drives along the main road in our town. Nothing comes to mind, so I just wait until we get there to see.

He pulls up into the parking lot next to the park, unbuckling and getting out of the car.

I also unbuckle and Ni-ki comes to open my door before I get a chance to open it myself.