ONE YEAR OLDER,

Summer rain is the worst kind of rain.

Maybe Juwon should have been a little more grateful, after having gotten no rain at all for the past year. She should've been excited, too — she'd always preferred rain to snow. But there was not an inch of excitement or happiness on Juwon's face. Instead, she was annoyed. ("She's always annoyed," Heeseung says.)

She scowled, mumbling to herself as she walked around the apartment, cleaning as she had nothing else to do. Her classes had been canceled due to heavy rainfall and though she should have been happy to have a break once in a while, Juwon knew what rainy days meant.

"So," Heeseung started from the kitchen, where he and Riki were playing Jenga, carefully pulling a block out from the middle of the tower. They had made a bet to see who would cause the tower to fall first. "Family bonding?"

"Get out of my house," Juwon said, glaring at the boy. "You're not invited. Do not make yourself at home. There will be no live, love, laughing. Get out."

Riki stifled a laugh, taking his turn and pulling out a block at the base of the tower. "Calm down," Heeseung said, searching for a lose block. "Don't tell me you don't remember what day it is?"

"It's the day you get out."

"No," Heeseung said, carelessly pulling a block from the tower, causing it to topple over. He sighed and put a five-dollar bill on the table, meaning he'd lost the bet to Riki. Then, he turned to Juwon, smiling from ear to ear. "It's your birthday!"

Juwon stared at him, becoming more and more confused as the time continued to pass by. "Really?" she asked. "What day is it?"

"Did you really forget?" Heeseung frowned, "Why would you forget your own birthday?" She ignored him and searched for her phone (she hadn't touched it all day) and turned it on, checking the calendar.

"Huh. Seems you're right, princess," she said. "How did I forget that?"

"You didn't tell me it was your birthday," Riki said, collecting the Jenga blocks that Heeseung had let fall to the ground. "I would've bought you something."

"With what money?" Heeseung asked.

"I would've asked Lee to buy you something on my behalf."

She puts her phone down and walked towards Riki, patting his head. "It's okay," she said. "There's always next year."

Heeseung gasped. "This is horrible!" he yelled, dramatically falling onto the floor. "What kind of birthday is this?! No presents, no cake — what are we to do?!" Juwon hit him lightly, his sign to stop overreacting. "Sorry," he mumbled with a smile, getting off the kitchen floor. "What do you want to do, Juwon?" he asked, as if he hadn't just made a scene in the middle of her kitchen.

"Movie night!" Juwon said instantly. "Movie night right now!"

He groaned, once again falling to the floor like the drama queen he was. "That's all we ever do!" Heeseung whined, glaring at Riki who laughed at him. "And you always put the same movies - we get it, you're sad."

"I'll have you know Corpse Bride is a masterpiece!"

Heeseung sat through another round of Corpse Bride nonetheless, mainly because it was Juwon's birthday (definitely not because he secretly enjoyed the movie). By the time their "movie night" ended, Riki had already dozed off on the couch, snoring softly. Juwon ran to his room and grabbed his blanket, carefully covering him. Heeseung watched, "You look like a mom," he said quietly.

"Are you making fun of me?" she scoffed. "Is it because I'm old now?" Heeseung shook his head but didn't say anything else to explain what he meant. Juwon glanced at him, noticing he still hadn't looked away. "What?" she asked.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

They went.

It took a while for Heeseung to get her to leave the apartment, but he did it. The rain had finally passed, leaving puddles everywhere. Juwon found them annoying, having stepped in one just a few moments ago, but beared with them, only because Heeseung looked happy to be outside.

"Heeseung," Juwon called, holding her hands behind her back, picking up her pace to keep up with him.

"Hm?" he hummed.

"What do I do now?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, turning his head. She shrugged and stared down at the ground, sighing.

"I'm twenty now," she started. "I didn't even remember that today was my birthday and now I'm twenty." Juwon paused. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"First of all, you're as old as you feel."

"I'm forty-seven, then."

Heeseung laughed. "You do whatever you want now," he said. "You do what you've been doing this entire time and continue your life. It doesn't matter how old you are now, Juwon. You're just one year older."

She stared at him. "You sound like my grandpa," she deadpanned, making Heeseung gasp in an offended manner. She laughed at him, a smile resting on her face afterward. He stopped walking and turned around, facing Juwon who waited for his next words.

"What do you want to do, Juwon?" Heeseung asked her. "You only have—" He looked at the watch on his wrist and smiled, "—three hours left until today's over."

Juwon hummed, thinking. "I don't know," she said. "There isn't anything I want that I don't already have, so why not do nothing?"

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," she smiled.

Heeseung nodded. "Well, I guess I am a great birthday present, aren't I?" he said, walking forward once again. She followed after him silently, not bothering to respond. They walked a little farther until Juwon spotted the park. She smiled and started running towards it, jumping up and down as she pointed at it. Heeseung watched her continue to run around until she finally settled down on the swings.

"Push me!" she said to Heeseung, excited.

"Aren't you a little too old for this?" he asked, pushing her nonetheless. Juwon giggled childishly, a quiet "wee!" coming from her every time she got higher. After a few minutes, she jumped off the swings, startling Heeseung, and ran towards the lonely playground, sliding down the old, red slide. By the time Juwon had finally ran out of energy, there were only thirty minutes left until her birthday was finally over.

Heeseung sat on the swings, watching Juwon play with the cat that had come up to her minutes before. "Juwon," he called, receiving a hum in response. "Aren't you tired yet?"

"I am," Juwon said, petting the cat. "I'm very tired — so tired, I could fall asleep right now." She paused and smiled, "But you wouldn't let me. You'd probably complain about how dirty the ground is." He chuckled and nodded agreeingly, sighing tiredly.

"Juwon," Heeseung called again, waiting until the girl turned to face him.

"What?"

"Happy birthday."

Juwon was quiet, watching as the cat got off it's back and ran away from her. She waited until it had finally left her sight to get off the ground. "Thanks," she said, making her way towards Heeseung. "We can go home now."

They walked home in silence, both trying their best not to fall asleep. Every now and then, Juwon would grab onto Heeseung's arm, using him to stay standing. It was then that he offered to carry her on his back, to which she accepted (she was too tired to say anything against it).

"Do you want to know a secret?" Heeseung asked as Juwon rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

"Hngh."

"I didn't mean to call you ugly that day," he started, "when I threw the stick at you." She was quiet and Heeseung couldn't tell if she was silently listening or if she had already fallen asleep. He smiled, "I just thought I'd let you know."

"I knew that," she mumbled, her eyes still closed. "Your secrets suck." He laughed again, silently agreeing with her. His secret did, indeed, suck — it wasn't even worth considering a secret — but that was because it wasn't his real secret, one he had wanted to tell but couldn't. He sighed.

It's okay, he thought to himself. Just one more year.

• • •

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seung the rat 🐀
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