An Unexpected Reverse Surprise

Congratulations on your professorship.

With those words, they suddenly handed me a gift.

For a moment, I didn't understand what was happening.

Because I wasn't supposed to be the guest of honor that day.

Yesterday, I was invited by a close university colleague to go out for drinks with four of us.

The person who invited me had just recently celebrated their 60th birthday.

Since I knew the other two members as well, the three of us had been secretly coordinating to prepare a gift for them without their knowledge.

I fully intended to be the one pulling off the surprise.

However.

I was the one who was given a gift first at the restaurant.

It seems the three of them had been preparing a celebration for my professorship behind my back.

I was surprised and felt a little embarrassed.

More than anything, what touched my heart was the thought they put into caring for me and wanting to make me happy.

Of course, after that, we also presented our gift for their 60th birthday.

Two surprises that we had each been preparing in secret.

On a night I went out intending to make someone else happy, I, too, was made happy.

When I received the gift, I felt as though I had also received all the time the three of them spent discussing, choosing, and preparing it behind my back.

A night I went out intending to celebrate someone else.

There are people who look out for me and share in the joy of my milestones.

That made me feel a little shy, but it was also very heartwarming.

The gratitude I felt on this night will surely never fade from within me for as long as I live.