The person who sent the brief, business-like message was Taeseo.
Of course I’m home
No sooner had he sent the reply than the next message arrived.
Taeseo
Come out
What?
Taeseo
I’m in front of your place
Get out here right now
What kind of situation was this now?
He hurriedly left the house wearing just his jacket. When he reached the apartment entrance, he saw Taeseo leaning against a black SUV.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Before he could even finish asking why she came, she opened the trunk and gestured for him to come over.
“Hold out your hands.”
“Why do you suddenly need my hands?”
“Just hold them out first.”
“So why did you come?”
“If you want an explanation, hurry up and hold out your hands first.”
At this rate, it seemed like they’d end up in an endless circular argument.
Having no choice, he held out his hands, and Taeseo began taking items out of the trunk one by one and handing them to Hyowoo.
“This is cake, this is chocolate, this is champagne, this is an OO Coffee gift card, this is the main present, this is flowers.”
There was no time to react. A large cake box, shopping bags both big and small, and a huge bouquet of flowers piled up one after another in Hyowoo’s arms. The tremendous weight made his arms tremble.
“Wh-what is all this?”
“Here, this is the large-size coffee you like.”
Without answering his question, she just said what she wanted to say and did what she wanted to do. After finally handing over a 1-liter iced coffee to Hyowoo, Taeseo closed the trunk.
“…Excuse me, Lee Taeseo-ssi? What exactly are you doing right now?”
“Happy birthday. I sincerely congratulate you on your birthday.”
For a moment, Hyowoo was dumbfounded.
“Don’t tell me… these are birthday presents?”
Finding his flustered appearance amusing, Taeseo giggled.
“Well, of course they’re birthday presents. Did you think I was giving them to you because you’re pretty?”
“Stop joking around. Why did you bring so much stuff? When have we ever celebrated birthdays?”
The two were best friends, but up until now, birthdays meant just treating each other to lunch or a cup of coffee at most. They had never exchanged presents like this before.
“I’m not the one giving them—they’re birthday presents oppa is sending.”
Seeing Taeseo laugh and say she only bought the coffee made him even more flustered.
“How does Player Lee Seohee know my birthday?”
“I told him.”
“What for?”
“When he asked me something I knew, how could I not tell him? Oh, and I picked out the flowers. Aren’t they pretty?”
At the sight of her proudly showing off the red rose bouquet that looked to be at least a hundred stems, Hyowoo was momentarily at a loss for words. He felt sorry for his friend who looked so pleased with herself, but he was just troubled.
“…Open the trunk again.”
“Why?”
“Why? Take them back.”
They had exchanged messages often, but they’d only met face-to-face once. It was ridiculous to receive such excessive presents from someone like that.
However, even when he urged her to hurry and open the trunk, Taeseo didn’t budge.
“I worked hard to prepare this since dawn. Just accept them.”
“How can I just accept them? Player Lee Seohee and I aren’t close enough to exchange presents… And besides, something this expensive…”
Hyowoo’s gaze turned to the shopping bag that had been called the ‘main present.’ A familiar overseas brand logo was clearly printed on it. Based on the size and packaging, it was definitely the expensive smartwatch he’d wanted for a long time. It was too much of a burden to buy as a student, so he’d decided to buy it after getting a job and receiving his salary.
Of course, Lee Seohee couldn’t have known that. Taeseo must have tipped him off.
“You worry about the strangest things. That oppa has so much money it’s rotting and about to ferment. Even if you asked him to buy you a diamond-studded Swiss luxury gold-plated watch, he’d buy it for you.”
“Never say that. I don’t need that kind of watch, and I don’t want it either. No, that’s not the point. Hurry up and open the trunk.”
“I can’t. If it really bothers you that much, tell oppa directly and send them back yourself.”
“Taeseo-ya, don’t be like this… Please open it.”
“I said no.”
Though he pleaded as if begging, Taeseo showed no signs of backing down.
“This is driving me crazy, seriously… I said it’s burdensome…”
“What’s burdensome? I told you. Oppa has a lot of money. This much isn’t even the price of gum. If someone gave you gum and you said to take it back, would anyone actually take it back?”
It was an absurd comparison, yet it was oddly persuasive. Hyowoo finally let out a long sigh as if giving up.
“Honestly, I don’t get it. Why your cousin oppa is doing this for me…”
“Why think so hard about it? It’s because he likes you.”
She didn’t seem to find it strange at all that her cousin oppa was being so devoted to someone he’d only met once for a meal.
‘Does Taeseo… know something?’
He could find out right away if he asked directly, but somehow he couldn’t muster the courage.
“I’ve completed my mission, so I should get going. You hurry up and go upstairs too. It must be heavy.”
“You’re just leaving?”
“Yeah, I have plans with my boyfriend. Well then, have a good birthday.”
“Thanks for coming all this way. You be careful driving too.”
He thought about asking her one more time to take the presents back, but soon closed his mouth.
‘Whether I return them or say thank you… I shouldn’t ask Taeseo to do it, I should do it directly myself.’
Hyowoo smiled and waved at his friend who was gesturing through the window for him to go inside.
***
It was the perfect opportunity to peacefully spend time playing games or watching movies in an empty house, but Hyowoo sat in his room just staring intently at the clock.
After anxiously waiting for time to pass, he opened his messaging app as soon as it turned 3 o’clock.
‘Right now it’s 6 AM in England, so it shouldn’t be a time when he’s sleeping.’
At first he wrote “Did you sleep well?” as a message but immediately deleted it. It felt somehow embarrassingly cheesy.
I received the presents well
Thank you
After agonizing for several hours, he decided to accept the presents.
It might seem shameless to readily accept expensive gifts, but after having received everything, it felt awkward to refuse and he also felt unnecessarily sorry.
As expected, he must have been awake because the number ‘1’ next to the message disappeared right away.
Lee Seohee
It seems Taeseo delivered them well
I’m glad
At the question of whether he liked them, he hesitated for a moment, then honestly answered that he did like them but it was too much.
Lee Seohee
Because it’s your birthday, cake and flowers are essential
On a day that should be celebrated, champagne can’t be left out
The rest of the presents are just things I prepared based on what I heard Hyowoo-ssi likes or needs
I really appreciate you thinking of me
But you gave me too much
Lee Seohee
I wanted to do various things for you
And you seem to have forgotten
I make good money
Difficulty showed plainly on Hyowoo’s face when he heard that he could give presents like that as much as he wanted.
‘Even so, still…’
Thinking he might be someone who doesn’t know the meaning of moderation, Hyowoo stared quietly at the presents piled up on his desk.
‘Well, to a chaebol and Premier League player, this much probably isn’t even one day’s snack money…’
The more he looked at them, the more burdensome they felt. However, continuing to say it was too much seemed like ignoring his sincerity. Since there was no intention to show off his wealth either, he decided to just gratefully accept them.
Still, don’t you think flowers are a bit much for a guy?
Red roses at that
Lee Seohee
As I thought, I should have skipped the flowers
For celebration presents, I thought it had to be a set of cake, champagne, and flowers no matter what, so
It’s not that I dislike them, so don’t misunderstand
It’s just
I don’t know how to explain them to my family
Lee Seohee
ㅋㅋㅋ That’s true
He added an explanation that Taeseo was planning to drag her boyfriend to the flower market to make him buy roses, and that she had instigated him by saying ‘While we’re at it, buy some for oppa too.’ Hyowoo couldn’t help but chuckle at the poor excuse.
Lee Seohee
If it’s not rude to ask
How old are you now, Hyowoo-ssi?
I just turned twenty-four today
Lee Seohee
So we’re nine years apart again
Until May, I’m ten years older than Taeseo
With the talk of age, he suddenly became curious about his birthday.
When they met last December, he had said with his own mouth that he was nine years older. Saying ‘again’ meant that his birthday had also passed this year.
When is Player Lee Seohee’s birthday?
When asked, he only answered that it had passed but was rather reluctant to reveal the exact date.
He could feel him avoiding answering so as not to burden Hyowoo, but having received so many presents, he couldn’t just let his birthday pass by without knowing.
I can find out quickly if I search
So just tell me
Befitting a member of the L Group owner family, he never revealed anything easily, but at least basic profile information was publicly available on the internet. Perhaps accepting that hiding it was useless, a reply finally arrived.
Lee Seohee
February 29th
Hyowoo was shocked at the unexpected date.
Yesterday was your birthday?
The person who should have been congratulated was someone else entirely, yet he had absurdly received the congratulations. Embarrassment and guilt washed over him simultaneously.
Of course, they weren’t close enough to celebrate each other’s birthdays, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty toward someone who had carefully celebrated his birthday.
It’s late, but I want to give you a present too
Lee Seohee
I heard birthdays aren’t celebrated after they pass
Don’t worry about it
No
I can’t let this go because I’ll feel too sorry toward Player Lee Seohee
Lee Seohee
I’m really saying it’s okay
I’m not okay with it
I’m definitely going to give you one, so please tell me
What do you like?
Is there anything you want to receive as a birthday present?
When Hyowoo chose presents, there was only one criterion: ‘something I want to have but feel it’s a waste to buy with my own money.’ However, there was no way such a thing existed for a third-generation chaebol and Premier League player.
‘Like how I received chocolate before, it would be best to give a present of something this person likes…’
But unfortunately, he was a celebrity who didn’t even do news interviews. No matter how much he searched the internet, information about what he liked wouldn’t come up, so he had no choice but to ask directly.
‘If he won’t tell me until the end, I’ll just ask Taeseo.’
Perhaps sensing that declining would be useless, he who had only been saying it was okay finally sent an answer.
Lee Seohee
Can you talk on the phone briefly right now?
