A knock sounded from my room and I called for who was outside. I looked away from my music as the door opened to see I believe all the members of Astro members minus Lee all in their sleepwear coming in looking very excited and giddy.

"Happy birthday Faye!" San Ha was the first to greet me. A chorus of greetings filled the room and I smiled at their kind gesture of greeting me at what must now be midnight.

"And Merry Christmas Eve!!" I believe Moonbin said to me.

"Thank you guys," I spoke lightly. My heart throbbed in pain at Lei's behavior earlier. My excitement and burst of energy no longer existed as I now felt I was trouble to him. I put my cello on its side and stood and walk over to them towards the center of the room. I first hugged San Ha before hugging each and one of them.

"You're still practicing so late?" Rocky questioned.

"Yeah," I smiled faintly. "I thought to calm myself to practice for a little while." I would have loved to be spending the time with Lei, but he continued to show he did not want to get too close with me.

"Well..." Moonbin smiled. "We have a surprise for you."

"Waiting for you downstairs," Jin commented.

"Okay," I spoke lightly and they gestured for me to go. I led the way down the hallway leading towards the front foyer. Commotion seemed to be going on in the living room and I turned the corner.

A soft bark sounded and my eyes widened at the sight in front of me. A puppy was in Ximen's arms and I could tell he had a questioning look of uncertainty as he looked over towards me and he smiled at me.

"Happy birthday Faye," Ximen greeted and I slowly walked over to him in shock as he was holding a golden retriever puppy.

"Y-you..." I questioned him, feeling so grateful to be surprised in this way. "You adopted a puppy?"

"We did," Ximen spoke calmly. "You and I are both the owners." I looked at the adorable golden retriever and smiled as it looked towards me. "Do you want to hold him?" I nod as I put my arms up and Ximen carefully passes our puppy over to me. I look down at him in my arms feeling warm and bubbly. I noticed Lee here smiling at me as I met my new puppy. I looked at Ximen wondering what his name was.

"Have you named him?" Ximen shook his head.

"I've waited for both of us to agree on a name." I nodded and leaned forward to kiss Ximen's cheek. The whole room erupted into awe and realized some of the boys were taking photos of everything going on.

"Cha's turn!" San Ha beamed. Ximen rolled his eyes before smiling and looking at Lee. I myself turned to Lee and realized he held a guitar. Not noticing this before, I felt very excited about what he was performing.

"Happy birthday Faye," Lee greeted.

"Thank you," I smiled once again for their thoughtfulness.

"I think we will have you sit down for the performance." I nodded and looked towards the boys who made way for me to walk over one of the couches to take a seat. I let the puppy rest on my lap as I saw her anxiously wondering what he would be performing. "This is a song I hope you will enjoy. It's a song I wrote for one of the unreleased episodes for the show. I hope you like it," Lee said and my heart melted. He was doing this for me. He began strumming his guitar and the familiar tune to Lee's sneak peak solo.

He must have had to ask permission of the producers to perform this song today for me when the episode wouldn't be released until the new year. I continued to watch and listen and perform the song trying to imagine what could be occurring in the episode. Once Lee finished his performance, everyone cheered for him and Ximen took our puppy from my hands as I stood up. I walked over to Lee and hugged him thank him several times for his gift.

"Did you like it?" He asked and I nodded my head.

"I loved it. That was amazing!" Lee smiled and looked at the rest of the boys here.

"I appreciate it. There's one more gift waiting for you." MJ walked forward and I noticed he had a pair of blue ice skates.

"These are for you to put on," MJ commented and I looked questionable at all of them. They want me to go outside to ice skate.

"It's freezing out there at this time..." I spoke lightly.

"Just for a few moments," Sa Ha smiled. "Someone is out there waiting for you." I nodded and took the skates before sitting down to put them on. Once having them on, I stood and Ximen held out my long coat for me. I put that on when I felt a hat and scarf being put on me. Lee wrapped the scarf around me a few times to make sure my neck was covered.

"Gloves are in the pocket," Ximen said to me before linking his arm with mine and leading me towards the back of the guesthouse where I knew the frozen pond would be.

"Have fun Faye!" I heard Rocky call out and soon after the other joined in. No one followed us to the back of the house. I remained quiet as we reached the back door. Once we approached the door, Ximen stopped and turned towards me.

"I hope you and Lei have a wonderful rest of your birthday." I looked at him confused about what was going on and Ximen took the indication of my expression before he let out a chuckle. "We all know how much you've missed Lei and wanted to give you both some time together. We all decided we'd let Lei spend your special day with you and we'll all celebrate when you both come back on Christmas Day."

"Oh," I said, unsure about this. "Lei and I are...?" I wasn't sure how to word this. "Are we also going somewhere?"

"Hmmm. He did not say." I nod before thanking Ximen and putting on the mittens that were in my coat pocket. At the moment I felt toasty wearing these inside. I opened the door and looked towards Ximen once more before going outside.

Once I reached the pond, I took off the blade guard to my skates and placed them on the bench before stepping onto the frozen pond. I went towards where Lei stood and saw his back was to me. Upon approaching him, he slowly turned towards me and I stopped a few feet feeling now emotional to see him.

He looked really cute bundled up like this. He skated towards me and I stood there and averted my eyes to the ice feeling sad again before everyone greeted me happy birthday. His presence close to me made me slightly warmer.

"H-happy birthday Faye," Lei spoke and I looked up towards him , staring into my eyes. I could tell he was already cold.

"Thank you Lei," I spoke lightly. He reached for my hand. He also had mittens on and so it was difficult to keep a grip. I wasn't sure what to say, because he has upset me.

"Let's skate." I nodded and automatically decided on linking our arms as we started skating. We skated in silence and I felt tension between us. He knew I was upset with him and was wondering if he would apologize.

The night was calm and the stars were out. The moon was out and reflected on the lake making the site pretty. The trees were tall leading into some forest. I tried to enjoy the beautiful view as we went around in circles in silence.

"Faye..." Lei spoke out and came to a stop.

"Yes?" I asked lightly and he sighed looking conflicted. My right hand reached for his cheek worried about him. "What's wrong?"

"Are you happy?" Lei asked me. I am taken back by his sudden question like this.

"What?"

"Are you happy?" He looked nervous. "With me. Are you happy with me?"

"Where is this coming from?" I asked quietly as if something didn't seem right. "Of course I'm happy with you. You make me happy. More than you can imagine. I really appreciate everything you've done for me and everything we've gone through. I wouldn't change anything." Lei nodded slightly as he was in thought. "Are... you happy?" I asked.

"You're the best thing to enter my life." I felt slightly reassured. "You make me a happy person Faye. I would never imagine a life without you there. You've brought happiness more than I ever thought. Umm..." he paused hesitantly. "Please don't hate me for this," Lei said gently now. It took everything in me to not fall apart here for what he said next. "I did not want to do this now..."

"Then don't say anything now."

"I promised to be honest with you."

"Lie to me for today," I said lightly, wanting to enjoy this day with him. I had a feeling what he was ready to do and I couldn't bear that now. I'd rather prepare myself today for what will happen. "Please not today Lei, not on my birthday. I'd really like to spend this one day with you. That's my one last wish." Lei's expression knew of my pain and he nodded agreeing with me too. He knew I had a feeling of what was about to happen.

"Faye... are you sure?" I nodded and I felt my heart aching from my thoughts.

"Promise me you'll allow me to be happy for today."

"Okay," Lei spoke lightly before placing a hand on my cheek and leaned forward to place his lips on mine. Melting into his touch, my shoulders relaxed. Shiver slightly from how cold it was out here, Lei pulled away and smiled down at me. "Let's get you to your jeep."

"My jeep?" I was confused. "But I don't have shoes and my keys are i-".

"I have your keys and I have shoes for you with a bag packed for you for our day."

"Okay." He took my hand again and we skated towards the bench where I left my blade guards. We both put them on before he led us to my jeep at the side of the house. He led me to the passenger side and helped me up before taking a pair of my fur boots and handing them to me. He helped me take off my skates to put them on before going around to receive his shoes and put them on. He got into the driver's seat and turned on the vehicle.

"I hope you like what I planned," Lei's tone was light. I hummed wondering what he would have planned. He started the vehicle and immediately put the heat on. We sat here for a few moments before his hand reached over and gently took my hand to hold. I looked down at our hands.

///

"Happy birthday to you..." Lei finished singing off tune and I smiled tiredly as he placed the small cake in front of me. We sat in a cafe after having a busy and fulfilling day. Lei and I went to every possible event to possibly be occurring in Toronto. Now we were resting in a comfortable atmosphere.

"Thank you Lei," I smiled before looking towards the cake and blowing out the candle making my wish. Opening my eyes I looked at the now blown out candle and mentally sighed to myself as the time continued to pass. Lei sat down next to me and took my hand in his. He brought my hand to his lips to kiss and I felt my heart increasing from his touch for the millionth time today. A yawn escaped my lips and I leaned my head against his shoulders.

" I can get a box for the cake and we can head back to the cabin." I shook my head knowing what was to come if we returned to the nice cabin Lei rented for the day of my birthday. The fear and heartbreaking feeling would soon consume and I knew he would leave once the day was over. "You're tired. You should rest." If we hadn't stayed up for almost an entire twenty four hours, I would have been able to stay up with him until the day was over.

Lei quickly went to receive a box for the cake and we were on our way to the cabin. The location of the cabins was on the outskirts of Toronto. The ride there was silent the entire way and once we reached the cabin, Lei helped me inside where the fire was already going from not too long ago when we had left for dinner. Changing into sleepwear, I noticed Lei remained in his outwear. It took everything in me to finally ask him.

"W-Why?" I asked quietly. The only other sound's the fire crackling. He sat on the edge of the bed beside me knowing this conversation would eventually come up. He looked towards me with a calming expression making me wonder if he was hiding his emotions. He took a sharp breath before looking down at his lap.

"Faye..."

"What has changed since we left Shanghai?" Lei was silent for quite some time. My body was exhausted and my eyelids were heavy. Lei knew keeping me distracted today would quickly wear me out.

"There are some complications... I think it's best if we stop dating." I bit the inside of my lip. Complications?

"We can figure things out."

"Not this time Faye," Lei said, shaking his head. He seemed to be in disagreement for whatever reason he is breaking our relationship. "Please... don't make this harder than it is... I have my reasons and I'd appreciate it if you don't question my reasoning this time."

"But..."

"It's a reason for me not to give you a proper gift. My gift to you is inappropriate now that I am breaking up with you," he snapped. I took a sharp breath as my chest began to swell in pain. It felt like the time when he first ignored me in Paris and thought I was a burden to him. "I don't want to be your boyfriend anymore." His words came out colder than I thought. My eyes averted to my lap and slowly brought my hands together to fold. This was his way of pushing me away.

///

🥺