Chapter XXVII – Surprise!

The morning alarm buzzed within Arthur’s room. It was 8 AM and he decided to sleep longer.

With the sun peering through the window, Arthur got up into a sitting position stretching his arms upwards. Yawning loudly he cracked his neck from left to right before glancing out the window.

“Feels good to sleep in from time to time,” he said to himself as he moved his legs off the bed putting on comfy flip-flops. “It’s already the 30th of April huh. . . My birthday. If it wasn’t for Grandpa’s visit last night, I would’ve completely forgotten,” he sighed. “Well, whatever. . .”

Finally getting up, Arthur opened the window to let the air freshen up. Leaving his room, he headed straight for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Grandpa should’ve already gone to work by now. Though, I wonder if Sophie woke up yet.

Downing a full glass, he checked his phone. Arthur made checking for messages a part of his morning ritual. To his surprise, there were a few from Sophie.

Sophie - Oppa. . .

Sophie – I’ve gone to meet up with Ari, so go running without me

Sophie – She might come over tonight so maybe we can catch a movie?

Did I forget to tell her that I’m meeting up with Max today? Well, whatever.

I’m meeting up with Max at 10 so I’ll be skipping on the run as well. Did you bring the keys with you? I don’t know when I’ll be back tonight. – Arthur

Turning his phone off, he went to wash up in the bathroom. With a few splashes of cold water, Arthur looked himself in the mirror realizing he needed a shower. Luckily, he still had enough time. He preferred cold showers.

At least the nightmares settled down.

He didn’t know why he suddenly started dreaming of the past but speculated that it had something to do with fighting Jeon Sung-Ho, triggering something buried deep within. It seemed as if his mind tried convincing him that he didn’t belong in this world. Especially because he didn’t reincarnate the usual way. Truth was, he never kept his rebirth a secret in the past, but this time things were different. Arthur felt a strange sense of guilt.

Why am I feeling this way? I hold neither attachment to the name nor the body, the original gave up on all that. Is it because Sophie views me as her brother?

Arthur sighed.

No, not it either. If anything, Sophie and I forged our relationship completely separate from whom I was before the accident. She is attached to me, of that I am certain. Friends? Nah. . . I've made those bonds on my own as well. Sure, Grandpa doesn't know, but we don't really interact as much so I've not formed the same connection. Who am I fooling. . . It's cuz I keep holding it a secret. Welp, not like anyone would believe me if I tried telling. . . Don maybe?

He chuckled imagining how he’d react.

Surely he’d pry about every little detail. I can’t tell him. . . Wouldn’t want to crush his view on so-called heroes. . . The rest of the guys are a no-go either. They’d probably think I’m insane or I’d just end up feeling uncomfortable around them. . . Irene?

Thinking of her made him smile as he left the shower to get ready to meet Max. Glancing once more towards the mirror, he gazed into his own eyes.

Why does she pop into my mind so often? I guess we did grow closer since we met. I’m glad to have made friends with her. I doubt she’d believe me though. Might even make her avoid me thinking I’m crazy. Pfff. . . Maybe I’ll manage to tell someone about me one day. . . For now, I have to keep moving forward.

“Alright!” he yelled out slapping himself on both cheeks as his eyes sharpened.

Arthur felt better afterward.

I needed that.

His goals hadn’t changed.

Having finished getting ready, Arthur set out to meet up with Max in front of the school as agreed.

He had no clue what Max wanted from him, but whatever it was it gave Arthur the excuse to hang out.

To his surprise, Max arrived earlier than him. Compared to Arthur who was dressed a bit more casually, Max seemed ready for a date.

“Hey, Max. You’re not secretly telling me that you’re in love with me and came to take me on a date, are you? If so, I would have dressed up a bit as well. . .”

His hair was styled, and Arthur could smell perfume as well. Wearing tight jeans, an untucked short-sleeved shirt, and what seemed to be a piercing on his left ear surprisingly.

“You’re obviously not my type dude,” Max laughed. “I’m not into guys who could beat me up. . .”

“As long as you admit it,” Arthur kept teasing. “No, but seriously. . . What’s with the get-up?”

“If we're gonna sit down for drinks anywhere, I have to dress to impress. Never know when you’d meet a good woman. You should try it. Though you do have Irene. . .”

“Got Irene?” he looked at him puzzled. “We’re just friends, don’t overthink it.”

“You two seem a bit too friendly if you asked me. . .”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Arthur sighed. “We’ve only known each other for two weeks. Even I don’t know how I’d feel about asking her out.”

“Fine, fine. . . I won’t bug you about it,” Max tapped him on the shoulder before leading the way. “Though, a piece of advice. . . Women like that should not be kept waiting, otherwise, someone might snatch her away from you.”

Arthur followed along.

“I’ll keep that in mind I guess. . .” he sighed wondering if he even liked her that way.

What would make Max think she likes me that way anyway?

He couldn’t help but think back on her sleeping in his lap and how relaxing it was. Touching his lip where the now healed cut was, Arthur remembered the kiss as well.

He might be right though. . .

Even though he remembered all that, he was still left wondering how he felt. What he knew for sure was that he wasn’t going to rush things.

The two finally arrived at a cafe in the downtown area. Ordering drinks, Arthur noticed Max was constantly checking his phone for messages.

“So. . .” Arthur tapped on the table with his fingertips. “You gonna tell me what’s going on or do you plan to be on your phone the entire day?”

Max glanced towards him before putting his phone down.

“Ah! Sorry. . . My sister keeps bugging me so I have to keep track of my phone. I’ll stop. . .”

“Oh, right! I wonder if Sophie replied to me,” he said taking out his phone noticing no new messages. “Ah, I guess not. . . Well, whatever.”

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. . . It’s just that Sophie left the house really early, so I didn’t have a chance to see her.”

“I see. . . Well, once we’re done, I’m sure you’ll hang out.”

“Right. . .”

“Anyway, I asked you out cuz I need your opinion on something. Besides, we didn’t have the chance to hang out, so might as well get to know each other.”

“So this is a date actually. . .” Both laughed at Arthur’s teasing, though Max wasn’t easy to fluster. “I don’t believe I’ve asked you this before, but who’s your sister?”

“Eh, you wouldn’t know her. She’s a year older, but I’ll introduce your one day I guess. . .”

“Touchy subject?”

“Not really, but at the same time, there was a lot of hassle around her recently. She tends to attract the wrong type of guys all the time and it’s up to me to sometimes clean up the mess.”

“Like the ones we fought in the alley?”

“Yeah. . . By the way, I’ve never truly thanked you for that properly.”

“Don’t sweat it. . . You’ve helped me out quite a bit as well.”

“Well, what are friends for, right?”

“Right. . .” Arthur responded with a dragged-out sigh, his voice a bit quieter but still reinforced with confidence.

Max looked at him confused.

“What’s wrong? You seem a bit down the past few days. . .”

“Eh, don't worry about it. This morning I’ve managed to snap myself out of it, but there is clearly still some things left unsaid.”

“Alright?” he leaned forward resting his hands on the table. “Talk to me.”

Arthur looked at him straight in the eyes. His expression was somewhat serious but casual at the same time. He wanted to clear up a few things.

“You consider us friends, right?”

“Umm. . . Yeah? What, you don’t?” he asked curiously.

“It’s not that I don’t, it’s just. . . Why?”

“Why what?” Max leaned back taking a sip of his drink. “Are you asking me why we’re friends?”

“Exactly. Why are we friends? Sure, we are classmates. . . But how come everyone seems so close without much of a reason. You especially. . . I’ve heard that you’re the cool kid in class, so what the heck are you doing with us. Don’t you have other friends?”

Arthur never had real friends in the past. Friendships that he had seen were formed over a long period, and it was hard to fathom why it was so easy for them to bond.

“Ouch!” he chuckled. “Yeah I do, but it’s just more fun with you guys. I mean look at us. . . We’re a wacky group of friends. You got the nerd in Nabi, who’s all about perfect grades but works her ass off for it. Ever since Mia, her ex-BFF, left for the US, she became even more distant. Don on the other hand is a massive otaku, socially awkward but a good guy nonetheless. Tjay is just an idiot that glued himself to us. . .”

Arthur laughed, especially knowing how close the two have gotten recently. Max hated the idea of admitting it, but he found Tjay fun to be around. Probably because the two challenged each other all the time.

“Sophie and Ari join us on occasions for obvious reasons. Though, I don’t think I need to tell you why they are close to you,” he chuckled. “I quite like them. Fun to be around.”

“Yeah, they are.”

“And lastly we have the newest addition to our crew, Irene. Honestly, even I don’t get why she joined us. Everyone in school practically wants to be friends with her, but I digress,” he sighed not bothering to convince Arthur that she might have taken a liking to him. “As for me, well. . . Yeah, I’ve had my fair share of friends but let's face it, none of them would dare do for me what you’ve done. Even if you know how to fight, there wasn’t a reason for you to get involved. If anything, you’ve earned my respect then and there.”

“So you’re friends with me because I helped you out?”

“What? No!” he let out an extended sigh. “Of course, you’d get it that way. . . For someone who is allegedly smart, you're dumb as bricks sometimes. . . Two of us are friends because you’re a cool and trustworthy guy. Sure, you have your quirks, but so do all of us. I’d rather surround myself with wacky and trustworthy friends, than the seemingly normal people in our class. To be fair, I haven't really talked to Don before all that much, but the rest and I do share some moments from last year.”

“I get that. . . It seems that I was overthinking things, especially lately since we hadn’t hung out as much. . .”

“I mean, we were preparing for the midterms.”

“That didn’t stop the three of you from hanging out,” Arthur paused for a second before sighing. “Alright, that sounded petty. It’s not like I think you guys can’t hang out without me.”

“What do you mean by that? You’re the one who told us you’d be helping Sophie with midterms. Don speculated that you’ve already prepped and we didn’t wanna disturb you two. . . Otherwise fuck yeah we’d call you over. Don says you're some sort of a genius.”

Wait. . . He’s totally right. I did say that. . .

Arthur burst into laughter left feeling stupid.

“Welp, seems your mood is up now,” Max chuckled. “Did you actually think we were ignoring you?”

“Yeah, I did if I’m being honest,” he settled down a bit but a smile was still left on his face.

“Why not just tell us?”

“Isn’t that kind of weird?” Arthur asked.

“What kind of bullshit is that. . . If we’re gonna be friends then you gotta speak up for things that bother you. I’ve lost too many friendships cuz people stayed quiet about things. Even in relationships, long-term communication is important.”

Max acted all-wise and smug about his claim.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time. Then I guess you’re fine to hang out next week after school?”

“I mean if we have time then yeah. . . I don’t know how you and Sophie manage to have so much free time, but the rest of us mortals have to study hard. Otherwise, we’ll just flop. . . Then again. . . There is Tjay,” he laughed.

“Sophie works hard though,” Arthur mentioned.

“Isn’t she always out and about? Ari has been complaining about her grades dropping due to how much time they spent together.”

“Now that I think about it, she's pretty much carefree. But I don’t know how her grades are. . .”

“Must be good enough since Ari praised her. . . I swear the two of you are just like my sister.”

“In what way?”

“She is an enigma. . . Just thinking about it makes me pisses me off. You secret geniuses can just make your own group. . .” Max’s carefree attitude and comments constantly made Arthur laugh. “So yeah. . . We’ll always hang out at school, but for after school hours we’ll see. . .”

“Thanks. . . I needed that.”

“Blah, don't worry about it. . .” Max smiled.

“You truly are the perfect date. . .” Arthur teased.

“Oh drop it already, people will think you’re serious!” he chuckled. “Oh, by the way, you should hear what stupid thing Tjay did! So, listen up. . .”

Time went flying as it was already past noon. They never got to talk about what Arthur believed Max called him for.

“It seems like Don endured lots of bullshit last week,” Arthur commented as he received a notification.

“I guess so. . . But he should also speak up!” Max chuckled.

Sophie – Umm. . . Oppa. . . I’m sorry but I was dumb and left my keys home! Would you mind coming back home? I’m stuck outside. . . SORRY!

Arthur sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked receiving a text as well.

“It’s Sophie. She forgot the keys so she’s asking me for help. . . Sorry Max, we never got to talk about that thing you called me for.”

“Oh? Don’t worry about it,” he said turning off his phone having checked the message. “How about we go help her out and we can just hang out at your place?”

“That. . . Actually sounds like a great idea,” Arthur smiled.

“You make it sound like I keep saying dumb shit. . .”

“Let’s just go. . .” Arthur chuckled.

Waiting outside the house on the street stood Sophie as she leaned against the wall. She was wearing makeup, a box-pleated black skirt, and a t-shirt making her look cuter than usual. With a wide smile on her face, she waited for them to approach.

“Hey Oppa!” she waved to the two.

“So this is where you live?” Max asked with his hands behind his head.

“Bring your keys next time. . .” Arthur sighed.

“Sorry. . .” she said but there seemed to be no remorse behind her words. “Let’s head inside for a drink.”

“Sure, sure. . .”

Approaching the front doors, he took out his key and unlocked it before opening the doors and glancing back at the two.

“Well, welcome to our humble home.”

The two stood behind him. He shrugged his shoulders and entered. Taking off his shoes, he walked towards the living room with Sophie and Max following behind weirdly. He couldn’t help but glance back and forth, but his attention was quickly averted back to the living room.

“Surprise!” everyone yelled out as all his friends jumped out of hiding.

The table was covered with food and drinks, and everyone was dressed up nicely.

“Wha. . .” he mumbled confusedly.

“Oppa, you didn’t think I’d forget your birthday, did you?” Sophie asked standing behind him jumping into a hug.

“Happy birthday Art,” Max said with a smug smile.

Arthur realized that this was his plan all along.

Everyone swarmed around him apart from Irene who waited for the dust to settle first.

“Happy birthday Art!” yelled out Nabi embracing him in a hug and kissing his cheek.

“Thanks, Nabi,” he smiled.

“Dude, happy birthday,” said Tjay next as he hugged him and tapped his back.

“Ouch. . . Tough love, but appreciated,” he chuckled.

“Happy birthday!” yelled out Don from the back.

“Thanks, Don!”

Arthur couldn’t stop smiling.

“Happy birthday,” said Ari as she approached him giving him a hug.

“Thank you, Ari,” he hugged her back.

“Oppa! Happy birthday!” Sophie yelled jumping on his back and hugging him from behind.

Everybody kept on laughing, and Irene slowly approached as well.

“Happy birthday Arthur,” she said giving him a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek as Sophie got off him. “We were trying really hard for you to remain clueless. . . Glad to see it worked out.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“I’ve mentioned it to Irene when we were having a study session, so she helped me out in getting everything ready. . .” Sophie cut in.

“So you weren’t with Ari?” he asked glancing over towards her.

He sighed with a smile. Tjay played the music and the rest slowly returned to their conversations and fun.

Arthur was left speechless.

“You like it?” Irene asked, standing next to Sophie and Max.

“Yeah. . .” he mumbled in disbelief.

“Good job keeping him occupied!” Sophie yelled out towards Max, leaning proudly against his shoulder with her arms crossed.

“Of course! Have you guys underestimated me?”

“I was sure you were gonna blab if I’m being honest. . .” Irene teased. “Anyway, let’s get this party going!”

My first ever birthday party huh?

Arthur smiled excitedly.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading!