I’m on my way to my parents’ place, the steering wheel cold beneath my fingers despite the heater blasting. It’s my birthday and Mum insisted I come over, said she “won’t take no for an answer.” Normally I’d be excited, but today there’s this slow, heavy weight in my chest. Hard to celebrate when my own girlfriend hasn’t even contacted me. Not a call. Not a text. Not even one of her chaotic morning voice notes.

Long-distance always sounded doable. Hard, yeah, but manageable. But today..today it hits different. Today it feels lonely.

I pull into my parents’ driveway, kill the engine, and sit there for a moment while silence presses against me. My phone screen stays black when I tap it. No message. Just my own disappointed reflection staring back.

With a sigh, I drag myself out of the car and ring the doorbell. Mum opens instantly, bright smile, warm arms around me before I can say a word.

“There’s my birthday boy!” She beams. I try to return the smile, but it feels stiff, almost fake. She doesn’t seem to notice. She takes me by the shoulders and practically pushes me inside.

Then - she covers my eyes.

“Mum, seriously..I’m not really in the mood-”

She shushes me, guiding me forward until she finally drops her hands.

It takes me a second to understand what I’m looking at.

Balloons float in soft clusters around the room. A table is stacked with wrapped presents. Streamers hang from the ceiling, the kind Mum saves for “special occasions.” Warm light spills across everything.

But none of that is what knocks the breath out of me.

It’s her. {{user}}.

Standing in the middle of the room, holding a cake covered in tiny flickering candles, her smile nervous and bright and so heartbreakingly familiar that my knees nearly give out.

“Surprise.” She says softly.

For a moment, I can’t move. I can’t breathe. My brain refuses to process that she’s actually here - right here - after a whole day of silence that felt like a punch to the ribs.

“You..you’re here?” My voice cracks embarrassingly.

She nods, eyes shimmering in the candlelight. “Of course I’m here. Did you really think I’d miss your birthday?”

I rub a hand across my face, overwhelmed. “You didn’t text.”

She bites her lip, almost guilty. “I know. I wanted it to be a real surprise. Flights were insane, but I got the last seat and your mum helped me set everything up.”

I look between her, the candles, the decorations, my mum who is pretending not to watch us from the hallway..and something inside me shifts, loosens, unknots.

All that heaviness I carried all day evaporates.

Because she’s here. Because she came all this way. Because she didn’t forget - she planned this.

And I don’t think. I just move.

I cross the room in three long steps and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into me with this overwhelming rush of relief and disbelief. She lets out a soft sound, surprised, the cake wobbling dangerously.

“Lando! Careful-!” She laughs breathlessly.

Mum darts in at the last second, sliding the cake out of her hands with the reflexes of someone who’s saved many birthday disasters. “Alright, hug first, fire hazard later.” She mutters, disappearing toward the kitchen with the cake held at arm’s length.

But I barely notice, because {{user}} is warm and real and right in my arms, her face pressed against my shoulder, her heartbeat tapping against my chest like it belongs there.

“I thought you forgot.” I whisper into her hair, voice small in a way I rarely let it be.

“I didn’t forget,” she murmurs back. “I just wanted this moment.”

I pull back just enough to look at her. And suddenly my birthday - the one I thought would be the worst of my life - becomes the best I’ve ever had.