The Missing Eleventh Gift

Ailine sat on the carpet, clutching Owen’s small card tightly against her chest. Tears continued to fall, warm and uncontrollable. She didn’t bother wiping them away; the broken, uneven sobs made her chest ache as if something inside her were being squeezed too hard. For a moment, the room felt utterly still. Only the soft hum of the air conditioner and the distant murmur of the city beyond the tall glass windows filled the silence.

Layla knelt beside her and gently brushed Ailine’s damp hair away from her tear-streaked face.

“It’s okay, Ai,” she said, her voice soft but firm. “Let it all out. You’ve been holding this in for far too long.”

As her manager, Layla understood well enough—Ailine truly loved Owen that deeply. She wasn’t surprised by this truth, even if Ailine had never openly confessed her feelings in words.

Emma stood a little farther back, her hands folded in front of her, her eyes gentle and full of sympathy.

“He never forgot you, Miss Ailine,” Emma said quietly.

Ailine shook her head, her breathing uneven as tears continued to spill.

“I… I was always afraid of being forgotten,” she admitted in a broken voice. “That… maybe I was the only one who cared. But… he remembered. Every single year.”

“Dr. Owen must have had his reasons for leaving back then,” Emma said carefully.

Ailine turned toward her, eyes red but suddenly hopeful.

“Right? You think so too, don’t you? He must have had a reason. These birthday gifts… every year… they prove he still loves me, right?”

“Yes,” Emma replied with a soft smile. “I’m sure he still loves you, Miss Ailine.”

Ailine closed her eyes and took a long, steady breath. When she opened them again, the tears had mostly dried, but something else lingered there now—warmth, a faint sparkle, a mixture of realization, relief, and fragile joy.

“I need to stop crying,” she murmured. “Because… because this is Owen, after all.”

Layla smiled faintly.

“You really are dramatic, as always.”

Emma smiled as well.

“He may not say anything directly, but you know he cares. Just look at these gifts. Ten of them. Each one carries his feelings.”

Ailine lowered her gaze to the neatly arranged presents.

Ten gifts.

From age nineteen to twenty-eight.

But then—

She froze.

This year, she had turned twenty-nine.

Ten gifts?

That meant… one was missing.

Her eyes widened.

“Wait… this doesn’t make sense. Twenty-nine minus eighteen is eleven. There should be eleven gifts, not ten!”

Layla and Emma exchanged glances, both struggling to hold back laughter.

“So,” Layla said with an amused tone, “you’re planning to demand an explanation from him?”

Ailine pursed her lips, but a mischievous smile curved upward.

“Of course. Someone owes me an explanation.”

Emma laughed openly this time.

“Miss Ailine, fighting!”

Without hesitation, Ailine grabbed her phone and dialed Owen’s number. Her heart raced, adrenaline rushing through her veins.

The call went straight to voicemail.

“Owen…” she whispered. “Where are you?”

She tried again.

Still nothing.

All day long, Ailine waited with her phone in her hand, hoping for even a single reply. None came. It was as if Owen had vanished from the world entirely. She was certain her number hadn’t been blocked—yet there was no response at all.

Is he in the middle of surgery? she wondered anxiously.

“Argh, this can’t be left like this!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Manager Layla, I get a week off because of my birthday, right?”

“Yes,” Layla nodded.

“Then that means I’m free to do whatever I want, right?”

Layla nodded again, but added firmly,

“Remember, you’re still a public figure. The media and the public are always watching you. Be careful with your actions.”

“I know that already.”

Emma tilted her head slightly.

“Are you planning to chase after Dr. Owen?”

“Yes,” Ailine answered without hesitation. “I need to collect my twenty-ninth birthday gift from him!”

---

The Next Day

The following morning, Ailine decided to go to the hospital, accompanied by Emma as usual. There had to be some news about Owen there—someone must know where he was. Wearing a mask to hide her face, she slipped inside quietly, doing her best not to draw attention.

By pure coincidence—or perhaps luck—a nurse who had once taken care of her during her previous hospitalization walked past them from the opposite direction. Ailine immediately approached her and gently pulled her toward a quieter corner.

“Oh my God, Miss Su!” the nurse exclaimed. “This feels like a dream—you’re really standing right in front of me again!”

“Shh! Not so loud,” Ailine whispered urgently.

“Oh—sorry, sorry,” the nurse quickly lowered her voice. “No matter how many times I see you, you’re unbelievably beautiful. No wonder Dr. Young—the famously cold one—fell in love with you.”

…What?

Ailine froze.

“Huh? Owen—ah, you mean Dr. Young… fell in love with me?”

“Everyone in this hospital knows,” the nurse said casually.

“H-How is that possible?”

Did Owen openly declare his feelings for her? That seemed impossible. This isn’t some daytime dream, is it?

“Well, not exactly like that,” the nurse continued eagerly. “He rejected Dr. Lisa’s confession and said his ideal type was a woman you could see anywhere just by turning your head toward the giant billboard across the street! Honestly, who would’ve thought Dr. Young was just as human as the rest of us? People used to joke that he only loved his surgical tools because he was so unreachable!”

Ailine found herself smiling uncontrollably. Perhaps the entire hospital thought Owen’s feelings toward her were just like a fan admiring a celebrity. But she knew—it was far more than that.

Her cheeks felt warm beneath the mask.

And more importantly—

Dr. Lisa had been rejected by Owen.

Wasn’t that… incredibly satisfying?

“Miss Ailine, stop smiling like a weirdo!” Emma nudged her lightly. “Remember why you came here!”

“Oh—right. Sorry,” Ailine said quickly. “I wanted to ask—”

“Yes?” the nurse replied.

But before Ailine could finish her sentence, her attention was pulled away by the large television screens mounted throughout the hospital lobby.

Breaking news filled the screen.

An earthquake and landslide in the Eastern Highlands.

And there—amid the rubble and frantic rescue efforts—was a familiar figure.

Owen.

He was helping a small child, carefully shielding the child’s head with his jacket as he guided them out from beneath the debris. The camera captured every movement—calm, focused, precise. A drone shot showed him lifting chunks of broken concrete, pulling another child to safety. Every action looked almost cinematic, undeniably heroic.

Ailine stood frozen, her breath caught in her throat. Tears welled up again, but this time they weren’t born from sadness—they were a mixture of awe and fear.

The man who had occupied her heart for so many years was now standing in the middle of a disaster zone, fearless and resolute.

“Oh my God… isn’t that Dr. Young?” Emma blurted out.

“Yes, that’s Dr. Young!” the nurse exclaimed.

“He… he’s really like that?” Ailine whispered, barely audible.

“Miss Su,” the nurse said softly, “Dr. Owen volunteered after taking leave due to his mother’s passing. He left the city to help the victims. It’s incredible—for someone who just lost his mother, to make such a decision.”

“H-His mother passed away?”

Both Ailine and Emma were stunned.

“It happened about a month ago,” the nurse explained. “She’d been in a coma for years—since before Dr. Young even started working here, I think. He’s very private about his personal life. Poor Dr. Young…”

A month ago.

The same time Owen had rejected her.

The same day she had driven him away.

Guilt crushed Ailine’s chest. Memories flooded back—how she had pushed him out of her life, how she had spoken in anger without knowing what he was going through. And now, seeing his courage and sincerity displayed so openly amid disaster… regret overwhelmed her.

“Why… why did I push him away back then?” she whispered. Tears slipped down beneath her mask.

She should have been more patient. She should have stayed by his side as a friend—so when he lost his mother, he wouldn’t have been alone.

“Did you say you pushed Dr. Young away?” the nurse asked, having overheard her.

Emma panicked—but Ailine spoke up before she could stop herself.

“Dr. Young—no. Owen Young… he’s my ex-boyfriend.”

“What?!” the nurse gasped.

“Ahem,” Emma said quickly. “Please don’t make a scene. This is true—but you understand what this means, right?”

The nurse immediately covered her mouth and nodded repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Ailine turned her gaze back to the screen. The heroic footage of Owen played again—him carrying a child in his arms, shielding them from falling debris. The video had already gone viral.

Ailine stood there, her breath shaky, one hand gripping the edge of her mask as she struggled to steady herself.

“I… I have to go there,” she murmured, her voice broken but resolute. “Right now. I can’t wait any longer.”

“WHAT?!” Emma and the nurse exclaimed at the same time.

Every detail she saw—his focused eyes, his steady hands, his fearless movements—convinced her completely. Owen wasn’t just saving lives. He was proving who he truly was.

And she needed to be there.

Ailine’s resolve hardened. The tears were gone, replaced by longing, responsibility, and regret that pushed her forward.

“I will find him… in the Eastern Highlands,” she vowed silently.

“No one can stop me now.”