A self-para written in celebration of @advxnaeun‘s birthday !
There are events in one’s life that never ought to go by unnoticed.
Birthdays in specific are days when Lu Han goes the extra mile, when he takes more time than usual to map out a plan that is no less than close to perfect. Whether a family member, a friend or even an acquaintance, the gifts he selects are well thought-out - practical, which defines him as a person.
Gifts alone are not sufficient, or so he believes for this particular birthday. For Naeun, whom he’d spent years of his life alongside, a perfectly wrapped present is far from ideal; there is a constant need to do more, to add on to what already exists written down onto a list. His choices are always vast, because for her, there is nothing that he wouldn’t give - his life and heart. Material goods are incomparable to gestures that feel heartfelt, though he cannot outstretch his hands towards such a goal just yet.
That remains a song which will never be sung; words laid out on paper, seen only by the composer himself, but never revealed to the world. This is how he prefers it to be - unchanged, just as they have been since their days of childhood.
So, while he allows no room for certain feelings to be voiced out openly, Lu Han settles on worldly goods that suffice to bring a smile to Naeun’s lips; he has known her long enough to know what they are. Clothes, accessories, china sets, tea, candies, flowers, novels and various other books that tackle topics which she takes interest in are all options that he takes into consideration when going out in search for something meaningful.
He passes by various shops and boutiques, even feels daring enough to enter a famous-brand makeup shop to try and see if there’s maybe something which catches his attention over there. While he is not a severely picky person on the regular, the exact opposite applies to these times - he won’t settle for less, not when knowing that there is something out there that would be fine.
A visit at a local library has him select a few novels that seemed interesting, based off of the summary at the end and the glance he cast through them by turning pages and reading small excerpts from here and there. The bouquet is surely an easier pick, seeing that Lu Han already knows the color combination that he wants to go for - white and light pink, to go perfectly with the color of Naeun’s chamber. It takes longer to decide in between two dresses, so he ultimately opts for both - one beige and another grey. They are both folded and packed away nicely, only to be transferred later on into a gift box, along with the books, which get settled on top.
With everything being bought, all that remains to be done is to contact Soohyuk and discuss about the three of them heading to one of the local restaurants to serve dinner during the evening. Once that is sorted out too, Lu Han is left with one final thing to do: visiting the birthday girl herself. It takes an oddly long time for him to brace himself and calm his nerves. It feels as if the day itself brings out a nervousness in him that is usually dormant on most days, making it seem as if this was the first time that he and Naeun would encounter one another.
He steels his nerves, calms his breathing and exits his own dorm with the bouquet in one hand and the neatly wrapped up gift box in the other. The way to the female dorms feels longer than normal, even if it takes him the same amount of time to navigate around and get there; it’s always precisely ten minutes. The corridor from the lower floor seems to grow longer with each step that he takes, though that is only his imagination playing tricks on him - it seems that he is unable to shake off the nervousness.
Standing in front of the room E1, Lu Han hopes that he looks presentable enough - he does, but it’s impossible for worries to not slip in. Furthermore, he wishes that it’s the birthday girl herself that would answer to the knocks which he clumsily delivers to the door, instead of her roommate. It wasn’t that he took issue with seeing Bingbing, but he wasn’t entirely certain on how well he could articulate his sentence and request to see Naeun. Luck has it that it’s not the older woman that answer, but the person he was looking for.
His breathing stops for a moment and his heart skips a beat at the sight of her - she is an angel, or the very closest thing to one that he has ever laid eyes upon.
She smiles up at him and he reciprocates, allowing the long awaited words to finally roll off of his tongue, “Happy birthday, Naeun-yang!” Excitement seems to bury nervousness deep enough for Lu Han to get a good grip of himself, so he leans forward and extends the gifts towards Naeun - first the bouquet, then the box itself. “These are for you - I hope you’ll like them.”
