Jessica Jung was surprised with a loud ‘boom’ sound when she entered her room engulfed in dark. She felt very light things—confettis—brushing her brown hair lightly. The tiny papers Then the lights were on and a cheerful ‘happy birthday’ was heard. She blinked at the sudden light and saw Choi Sooyoung holding a cake, Taeyeon holding the thing that was likely the source of the boom sound and Tiffany with her phone probably recording for an instastory.

The surprise was classic, well Jessica thought it was old-fashioned, but Tiffany wouldn’t want to hear that. So, classic it was. However Sooyoung beat her to it when she apologized nonchalantly for the old-fashioned little birthday surprise. They did a great job with decorating Jessica’s room. The hostess saw some pink in the decorations, courtesy of Tiffany, she assumed.

“Alright!” Jessica clapped. “Settle in, girls. We’re not going to sleep until morning.”

They ended up curled up in the king-size bed of Jessica’s with lots of blankets telling stories that could only be told to girls and girls only with Jessica and Tiffany speaking in English to each other occasionally. Taeyeon was mostly listening and responding. Jessica finally told them about this particular party but she didn’t call it a party as she said it was only a night to have fun with their friends, inner circle only. Jesscia didn’t like most people after all. She had, every year on her birthday, held a party and invited all of her friends and acquaitances, even people she didn’t like. The brunette didn’t want hosting an event like that again.

Sooyoung didn’t like parties, but she was usually present because it was Jessica’s. She was glad the girl with the trademark cold ice look didn’t have anything like that again this year. Apparently Jessica’s list of people she disliked just grew longer it was impossible to find other names that she could tolerate beside the girls in her room right now.

“You have a beach house?”

Jessica threw a look at Tiffany. Of course she had. Her family was rich although Jessica always denied that. Her father was a cafe owner and her mother was a designer and has her own boutique.

“Honestly why are you so surprised? Of course she has a beach house.” A fake annoyed look appeared on Sooyoung’s face as she said that. A teddy bear hit her in the head. Sooyoung was about to attack Tiffany when Jessica spoke again. “I don’t want any other answer. You’re all coming or you’re dead to me.”

Sooyoung thought this wasn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, she was quite looking forward to that very much needed vacation.

“Tell your lifetime neighbours to come too, Sooyoung. Your friends are my friends too.”

“Is my boyfriend your boyfriend too?” Tiffany asked. A sly smirk made its way on Jessica’s lips. “Only if you allow me.” A second passed and the two Americans were still glaring at each other. The talles of them suspected that they shared a certain history. After one last glance, Jessica faced Sooyoung again. “Honestly we need a Baekhyun in every party but don’t tell him that alright? His head is already big as it is.”

No one disagreed.

Sooyoung cleared . She really wanted to ask a question that had been in the back of her mind for quite a while. Baekhyun would kill her if he knew but she decided to have a go. “Speaking about Baekhyun,” she began, “what do you think of him?” Taeyeon thought she was asking to all of them but then noticed that her eyes were only on her. The girl blinked once. “Baekhyun?” Sooyoung nodded impatiently. She really needed to know if Baekhyun stood a chance. She already knew that Taeyeon was single currently.

“He is funny and kind. His behaviour was childlike sometimes.” Sooyoung noticed of the use of the word childlike instead of childish so it was positive after all. She found his antics quite endearing, Sooyoung made a note.

“Aren’t you going to ask me about Chanyeol too?”

This time it was Sooyoung who blinked, thrice. She finally nodded. Right, she thought. It would be weird if she only asked her opinion about one of her neighbours only. “Yeah,” she said finally. “I was going to ask that actually.”

“He is the normal one, isn’t he?”

“No! I am the normal one. Why does everyone always think that he is the normal one? None of those boys is normal.”

“Well he is tall and quite handsome too, I think.” Taeyeon mused and Tiffany suddenly chimed in. “I thought you and Baekhyun were together at first.” Before anyone knew it, Sooyoung had roared in laughters she had to bury herself underneath the thick blanket.

“Hey! I’ve only know him and Chanyeol for a while you know.” Tiffany said in defense for her absolute poor observing skill.

“No no. I mean a lot of people told me that actually.” She took a quick glance at Taeyeon’s direction and was her eyes tricking her or did Taeyeon really look almost relieved? However that look disappeared as quick as it came.

***

The next afternoon she found herself sitting on a bench at the nearest open field in the neighbourhood. It was a good afternoon, not a single drop of rain had dropped since morning. April rains bring May flowers, they say. However the rain had been too much that Sooyoung started to hate it. Flowers be damned.

The afternoon sun was humbly shining and it was pleasant. The boys from the neighbourhood was playing football, her dear Baekhyun and Chanyeol included. Baekhyun was particularly better at football while Chanyeol preferred basketball to football. The sound of them running made itself a melody to the already pleasant spring. A book was perched on her lap. Baekhyun was seen running around the field and yelling some jingle. The boy had probably scored a goal.

Sooyoung looked up from the book and soon saw the opposite team groaning. Hopeless Chanyeol included. They really were losing. Soon they continued playing and she reading. The brunette had only been halfway of the book when she saw one little drop of water fell onto the page. She craned her neck and looked up to the sky. Another droplet fell to the open book, and then another, then another one, and before she knew it, droplets of water just came running down from the sky.

The girl snapped the book closed, shoved it into Chanyeol’s waterproof backpack, and stood up, shielding her eyes from the merciless rain. She didn’t know if the boys were oblivious to the rain or just decided to ignore it.

“Ugh! Just when I thought today wasn’t gonna rain!” She groaned to herself. Sooyoung looked at the boys again. She didn’t even know why she was waiting for them. She started rummaging through Baekhyun’s backpack. Her eyes grew wider as she found nothing but a towel inside. “You didn’t bring an umbrella?” She yelled. Baekhyun stopped near her sitting spot. “I think I forgot.” Sooyoung didn’t even resist to roll her eyes. Of course! Her constant nagging about how important it is to bring umbrella especially in this month seemed to never got through his thick head.

The rain seemed to last for a long time. The boys clearly noticed that as they came to a stop. They came running towards where Sooyoung stood, fetching their own bags. They began to run for dear life, although it was almost useless as the rain fell harder and their clothes nearly soaked. However no one seemed to mind unless the only girl in the pack. She had been shielding herself with the waterproof backpack as they ran but gave up after not so long, letting the water dampen her shoulder length brown hair.

Sooyoung walked fast ahead of them. Halting in her step, her body turned quickly to the boys behind her. “None of you brings an umbrella, then?” One boy whose name she didn’t know shook his head. “Not at all surprised.” She snickered then quickened the pace and the boys followed her like little ducklings following their mom.

“Honestly woman, why don’t you bring one yourself?” The annoying voice of Byun Baekhyun’s was surprisingly clear in the rain. “You’re the one who hates rain that much anyways.” She turned back quickly again, facing him. “Because I’ve already told you again and again to bring one. I had thought you would listen.” Squinting her eyes, she tried to look at the distance. “Honestly how far are our houses...”

They reached the second intersection and some of the boys turned left and the others right, after bidding their goodbyes and ‘see you’s, to their respective homes, leaving the other three to keep walking straight. “Let’s race. The first one to get there will be uuuhhh...let’s see... a winner!” Chanyeol already was at the ready as Baekhyun continued for him, “one.. two.. three!” Then the two sprinted like their tails were caught on fire and the only girl was left dumbfounded. Catching up, she ran as fast as she could with both of Chanyeol’s backpack which was mysteriously being carried by her and her clothes weighing her down.

“HEY! That’s not fair!” She managed to yell between her run. She magically managed to close the distance between her and her dunderhead of neighbours, panting hard to catch her breath. The boys were laughing for a reason she didn’t know. Maybe they were just happy at being children again.

“Oh! We are so dead if we fall sick. We have a quiz the day after tomorrow.”

“No we aren’t planning to get sick now, are we Baek?”

“Oh no we aren’t,” Baekhyun replied like an automatic machine. They continued running until they finally reached their homes. Sooyoung quickly ran to the door but stopped midtrack when she felt the other two were still behind her.

“Why are you following me?” Her teeth chattered against another, she was cold to the bone. Baekhyun looked at her as if the answer was as obvious as the grass is green. “Oh come on! Why should we go back to being adults? Let’s dry each other’s hair like we used to when we were fetuses.” Baekhyun had already settled himself down under the safety of her house’s roof. “Besides, our houses are locked! You can’t just abandon us, your neighbours, now can you? It would be a while before both of me and Chanyeol can actually take a shower.”

Sooyoung eyed the door suspiciously. Her feeling told her that her parents weren’t home. Meanwhile her older sister had been gone since morning, she was probably still somewhere. High school reunion, her sister had said. The girl proceed to try twisting the doorknob and as she had suspected, it didn’t open.

“Great!”

Sooyoung let out an annoyed groan. If she was being honest to herself, she had been quite happy, running in the rain wasn’t so bad after all but right now all she wanted was a relaxing hot bath. Her parents weren’t even working anymore, they were retired years ago, yet they seemed to be rarely at home