“The coast is clear! Penguin is on the move! I repeat, penguin is on the move!” Dahyun called the others as she watched Mina leave her house from the apartment across.

It was finally the day. March 24th. The day Chaeyoung has been waiting for for months. The sky was clear, with just one streak of cloud. The baby blue sky met with the apricot of the setting sun in the horizon.

“Today has to be perfect.” Chaeyoung said.

______________________________________________________________________________

A few weeks prior, Chaeyoung contacted the usual crew members and invited them for a surprise party for Mina. It had been many years since the last time the one true nine have met altogether, so today was definitely a special one.

“Mina unnie will be glad to meet everyone again.” Chaeyoung thought.

Chaeyoung assigned each person with a mission to complete, and they were all to meet back at Mina and Chaeyoung’s house by 8 P.M.

“Mina unnie is coming back by 9 P.M, so we need to decorate the house and be ready before then.” Chaeyoung said.

______________________________________________________________________________

Chaeyoung, Momo, and Jihyo were responsible for the party goods and decoration, so they went to Daiso mall.

“So, we need some confetti, ribbons, party hats, LED lights, balloons, and- are you guys even listening?” Chaeyoung asked as she read the list of things to buy on her phone.

“Yeah, yeah, we are.” Jihyo said as she put a bumble bee hair band on Momo, while she put on a bunny ear hair band.

The store was filled with colorful party hats and balloons, to which Momo and Jihyo were obviously distracted.

“Don’t worry, Chaeyoung-ah. Loosen up, have some fun.” Momo explained while she put on a heart shaped sunglass. “How does this look on me, Jihyo?”

“Absolutely fabulous.” Jihyo clapped as if she witnessed a piece of art.

The two ran around the store trying on every accessory and blowing on every single party horns.

“Unnie!” Chaeyoung whined.

“Relax, Chaeyoung.” Jihyo said, as she put a sunglass that said “Happy Birthday” on Chaeyoung.

“You look so cute, right now. Oh my god. Not even joking.” Momo said in awe.

“Really?” Chaeyoung was slowly being convinced.

“Of course!” Jihyo agreed. “Put this on.” Jihyo handed a polka dot party hat to Chaeyoung, to which she followed.

“Say cheese!” Momo said as she took out her phone to take a selfie with the other two.

“Cheese!” All three of them smiled happily at the camera, but Chaeyoung had to be on her toes to be in the picture.

______________________________________________________________________________

“I’ll have this and that and that, too, please.” Sana happily told the worker as she pointed at each cupcake that she wanted.

Behind Sana, Tzuyu was busy placing other pastries in her trays. “They’re all mine!” Tzuyu told herself.

“Unnie, do you think this will be enough?” Tzuyu asked Sana, showing her the two trayful of pastries.

“I don’t think so, Tzuyu.”

“Right? I bet I can finish all of this by myself.”

“You’re going to get fat, if you do.”

“Will you leave me if I become fat?”

“No! Of course not! I love you no matter how you look, Tzuyu.” Sana said as she softly kissed Tzuyu’s lips.

“Guys, are you all done?” A figure asked surprising the two, making them jump away from each other.

“Jeongyeon unnie!” Tzuyu shouted.

“What?” Jeongyeon replied.

“You scared us!” Sana added on.

“Well, you guys should stop making out in public then.” Jeongyeon said as she walked closer to see what the two were buying.

“Heol! This is too much! We’ll never finish it!” Jeongyeon was shocked by the quantity of the cupcakes that Sana and Tzuyu were intending to buy.

“It’s not that much.” Tzuyu whined.

“Yeah, it really isn’t.” Sana whined along. “Can we just buy them?”

“Absolutely not!” Jeongyeon made a strong rejection.

“Pwetty pwease~” Tzuyu tried to act as cute as possible.

“Omo! Since when did our Tzuyu learn how to do aegyo?” Sana asked as she grabbed Tzuyu’s cheeks. “You are so adorable!” Sana repeatedly pecked Tzuyu’s lips.

Jeongyeon gagged as she looked away from the two.

“We’ll just buy that cake.” Jeongyeon told the worker.

______________________________________________________________________________

It was finally 8 o’clock and everyone started to meet in Mina and Chaeyoung’s house.

“We gotta set this up quickly!” Chaeyoung said as she started to blow the balloons.

The eight girls worked in unison to decorate the house in ribbons, balloons, and fancy lights.

“We’re almost done! Did everyone write their letters?” Chaeyoung asked.

“Yup!” Momo said.

“We finished that before we came here.” Nayeon added.

“Okay, then I guess I’m the only one left.” Chaeyoung said as she began writing her’s. “Let’s see…” Chaeyoung pondered for a while, until she began to write.

After ten minutes of intense writing, Chaeyoung was finally satisfied. She kissed the paper, and folded it into an envelope. “Done!”

“Wow, the place looks so beautiful!” Momo said as she stared at all the beautiful and colorful lights.

“Sure is, unnie.” Dahyun said as she hugged Momo’s back.

“Ah, I wish my girlfriend was here.” Jihyo said as she sighed.

“Yeah, why didn’t she come?” Tzuyu asked curiously.

“She’s on tour right now in New York. You know how many fans she have.” Jihyo answered.

“Yeah, it must be hard dating a celebrity.” Sana added.

“Yeah…” Jihyo sighed once again.

“What time is it right now?” Chaeyoung asked.

“It’s 8:51!” Nayeon yelled.

“She might be here soon!” Chaeyoung quickly stood up to finish the decorations, when she heard the door open.

“I’m here!” Mina peeked her head in. “What are you guys doing?” She had the biggest gummy smile.

The eight girls stared at one another, unsure of what to do.

Jihyo and Nayeon quickly ran towards Mina, screaming and blindfolding her eyes.

Dahyun lit the candles onto the cake, and brought it over, while Momo put a party hat on Mina.

The eight girls made a circle around Mina and sang the birthday song.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear, Mina! Happy birthday to you!” the eight sang.

Tears started to form at the corner of Mina’s eyes, and she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Thank you guys!” Mina said as her voice cracked from all the emotions.

“Here’s your birthday present!” Nayeon said, as she handed Mina gift box.

Mina carefully opened the box to find a pair of pink sneakers. “It’s so pretty!” Mina screeched. “Thank you!”

“Don’t thank us.” Jeongyeon said. “Thank your girlfriend for planning all this.”

Chaeyoung blushed and stared at her feet.

“Thanks, Chaeng.” Mina said.

“It’s no big deal.” Chaeyoung quietly said.

The eight girls gave Mina their letters, and she decided to read them later in the night.

“Can we eat the cake now?” Dahyun asked abruptly.

“Yeah, can we?” Momo added on.

“Sure, let’s eat!” Chaeyoung said.

Mina cut the cakes into equal proportions, and everyone took a slice.

“This is so good!” Dahyun said with a mouthful of cake.

“You got something on your lips.” Momo said as she kissed Dahyun to wipe the cream on Dahyun’s lips.

Nayeon stared at the the two intensely and ate her cake, purposely spreading the cream around her lips. “Jeongyeon, do I have something on my lips?” Nayeon said as she closed her eyes and perked up her lips.

“Yeah, you do.” Jeongyeon replied as she grabbed a napkin to clean Nayeon’s face.

Nayeon furrowed her eyes, and slapped Jeongyeon’s leg. “You know that’s not what I meant!”

“Guys, guys calm down.” Jihyo said. “It ain’t a party without some music!” Jihyo the speaker and put it to max volume.

“Dance party!” Momo screamed as she pulled everyone up to start dancing.

There was no one who dared to challenge Momo to a dance battle, but everyone did their own dance move. Dahyun did a comical parody of Fire by BTS, while Mina did some elegant ballet moves. Chaeyoung just nodded to the beat of the songs, proving that with enough swag, even the tiniest motion can be considered dancing. Sana and Tzuyu were slow dancing to a mismatching song, while Jihyo, Jeongyeon, and Nayeon clapped along like ajummas.

______________________________________________________________________________

After a hardcore dance party, everyone fell to the ground as they were tired.

“We should get going now.” Jihyo said.

“Yeah, it’s really late.” Nayeon added.

“It was nice meeting you all after six years!” Jeongyeon said.

“Thank you guys for an amazing birthday!” Mina said as she hugged each and everyone.

The seven girls said goodbye and left the house.

Mina and Chaeyoung sat on the sofa staring mindlessly at the wall.

“Thank you, Chaeyoung.” Mina quietly said.

“For what?”

“For everything. For this birthday party, for the friends, for being you.” Mina turned to face Chaeyoung. “For being mine.”

Chaeyoung blushed. “You know unnie, you still didn’t read my letter.”

“Oh yeah!” Mina quickly stood up and grabbed Chaeyoung’s letter for her. She slowly opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.

“Dear Mina unnie,

Happy birthday! It’s finally March 24th. I have so many things I want to say to you, but I just can’t put it all into words, but I’ll try my best. Firstly, I want to say thank you for reaching out to me first during high school. Frankly, at that time, I was too shy to talk to you. I thought that an average person like me had no chance with a queen like you, but apparently miracles do exist. Every moment I spend with you, I feel alive. I realized that you are my sole purpose for living, and I can’t imagine a world without you. The feeling I have for you simply can’t be manifested or symbolized into a single physical object. However, I want to give you this. I love you, Myoui Mina. Will you marry me?”

Mina’s vision was clouded by the tears forming in her eyes. She put down the letter to find Chaeyoung on her knee, holding a small box with a diamond ring in it.

“Myoui Mina, will you be mine?”

Tears dropped from Mina’s eyes, and she let out a small laughter of joy.

“Of course.” Mina said as she passionately kissed Chaeyoung.