Mijoo’s POV

‘Happy birthday once again Mijoo ah,’ Jiae wished me with a toothless smile on her face. I beamed at her, giving her a gentle hug with all the unwrapped presents on both of my hands.

The girls and I were still in the company, perfecting our upcoming comeback which was in a week’s time till late at night. We were taking a small break, resting our tired bodies from the long hours of practice we just had. My eyes were focusing on Jin and Yein as they suddenly stood up and left the area in a hurry. Wondering why the duo had left the room without notifying the rest, I assumed that it was probably our manager that wanted to have a talk with them. After the two had left, I could not help but to notice the rest acting all strange. They moved their pair of feet to where the door and the switch were and they kept on sending signals to each other with their eyes. I went towards them, trying to figure out what is going on but they were avoiding my presence. I questioned them about their odd behavior but all I get was ignorance. A hint of frustration builds up in my body as the members were pretending to not see or hear me.

I wanted to storm out of the room to get rid all of the negative energy that I have received from the five girls. Making my way towards the door, out of nowhere, the lights were all off. It took me by surprise and I was having thoughts that the power have been cut off or something. Unexpecting it, the two girls who have left the room, came walking in with a birthday cake. All of them started to sing the birthday song while circling around me. So all this time when they were being fishy, they were planning to surprise me. I was touched by their unexpected event and to make things more heart-warming, they did this exactly at 12 a.m. sharp.

After they had sang finish the birthday song, I blew out the candles after I had make a wish. Each one of the members passed me their gifts and I gratefully accepted it. Except for Jisoo who gave me a wallet, Jin and Kei who both gave me sweatshirts with cute design on it, the rest gave me books which are about life. I thanked them for their gifts and afterwards, we ate the chocolate birthday cake which was chipped in by the seven girls. Once the eating procedure was done, all of us were cleaning up the practice room which was filled with confetti papers and loads of other party stuffs. At first, I was helping out with the cleaning but I was stop by the members, telling me that since I am the birthday girl, I should not be doing any chores. So I just stood in the middle of the practice room, not knowing what to do. 

Seeing how awkward I was standing, that was when Jiae came up to me to wish me a happy birthday.

‘Mijoo, you have delivery here,’ I heard manager’s voice. I let go of Jiae and saw manager walking towards me with something on his hand. It was a bouquet of rose with a teddy bear sitting on top of it. The moment I saw the flowers, my face was lit up and I knew who had sent it.

I received the bouquet from manager and the members immediately surround me as usual whenever I have gotten a surprise gift from Mark. I noticed that there was a note beside the teddy bear. I took it and it read: Happy birthday love! Sorry that I would not be able to celebrate your special occasion with you as I have practice going on :( Hope you like this! Happy birthday once again! –M

As I read finished the note, a sense of disappointment hit me. I was kind of upset that Mark could not spend some time with me due to his practice. It was understandable though as comeback is coming up and he has to prepare for it. With a heavy heart, I forced a smile to my members and I could sense that a tear is going to fall out of my eyes. The girls patted me on the shoulder, trying their hardest to comfort me.

‘It’s okay. I’m okay. Everything’s okay. Shall we go back to our dorm now?’ I said with the most enthusiastic tone that I could bear out.

‘N…now?’ Sujeong stammered.

I eyed at her suspiciously. ‘Yeah. It’s getting late. Don’t you want to sleep?’

‘Oh…yeah. Let’s go,’ Sujeong said with a faint chuckle. While we were leaving, I saw the rest talking to Sujeong secretly with a pissing look on their faces. There goes the whole acting weird game again.

-

We had arrived back at the dorm and were waiting for Baby Soul to unlock the door. When she wanted to press the door code, she suddenly turn around and was looking at us with an embarrass smile.

‘You want to know something funny? I kind of accidentally left one whole box of snacks in our hidden place at the company. So I am going back to retrieve it and I need help to carry it,’ she said. Huh, I have no clue that Baby Soul has titbits in her possession. Usually, if anyone of us has smuggle in some food, we will tell each other about it. However, it was not for this case for sure and somehow, the other members know about this. Am I the exceptional one here?

Everyone was volunteering to help Baby Soul carry the snacks except for me. All I wanted to do right now is to take a warm shower and rest. In the end, the seven girls went back to the company just to bring back a box of snacks. This simple task which only require two people, is now being handled by seven. Evidently, there is no need for this much of manpower to carry su