Today is a big day.

Not for you, exactly.

More for someone else. Someone very special to you.

You fiddled with a small yellow rectangular box adorned with a light blue ribbon decorated at its corner. You were currently skipping to one of the practice rooms; you were scheduled for a vocal practice session with Eunwoo and Sungyeon. Normally, this was routine and nothing to be that excited about, but it’s a special day today! You couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when you pass your gift to her.

“Hi!” you brightly announced your presence as you opened the door to the practice room. The sunshiny smile on your lips lowered in bewilderment when you discovered that nobody was occupying it. Even your normally punctual vocal teacher wasn’t in there, surprisingly. You wondered if you got the timing and date wrong.

“Yewon!”

You turned around to the sound of a very familiar voice, and was greeted by the sight of your fellow blonde 98-liner unnie. Eunwoo, dressed in a simple red and white striped one-piece dress, walked up to you in a hurry from the other end of the hallway. She was holding on to a clutch bag in one hand and what seemed to be a small box in the other.

“I just got word from our teacher that she couldn’t be able to supervise us for our lesson today,” Eunwoo said once she has caught up to you. “Apparently, she has to help Sungyeon out with our songs for the new album.”

“Oh…” you failed to hide your disappointment.

“Aigoo, don’t be sad,” you felt her patting your arm in a comforting way. “You look like an abandoned puppy. But then again, you always look like a puppy.”

You frowned and pouted. You arenot a puppy.

“You don’t have to be in such a hurry to give that to her,” she pointed to the precious and special box in your hands. “I haven’t even given my present too.” From what you could see, the small box in Eunwoo’s hand was pastel blue; small enough to fit a ring in it.

Your eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you’re planning to propose to her…”

Eunwoo almost tripped over herself. “What?! It’s just a friendship ring!” the older girl exclaimed, her expression in disbelief. “I had it custom-made for her.”

Damn, you thought as you pressed the present tighter to your chest. You kind of wished that your gift was ‘custom-made’ too.

“Yewon, she’ll love whatever you give her. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve ever given her something. Heck, you’re her BFF for life.”

Your lips curved into a smile; fighting the urge to giggle over the way your unnie tried to pronounce the acronym the best that she could. It comforted you to some extent. The both of you entered the room regardless. Practice was still practice even if it is technically cancelled for today. You went over to the desktop tucked in one corner of the room and sat on the chair, Eunwoo following in tow. You booted the computer up, taking up the moment to chat with your unnie.

“So, what are you in the mood to sing?” you curiously asked.

“Oh no no no.”

You looked back at Eunwoo in confusion. “What?”

“Yewon, you can’t just change the topic like that,” Eunwoo shook her head as she pulled up another chair to six next to her. “What did you get for Baesoong?”

“But unnie, it’s a secret!” you pouted again. Unfortunately, it didn’t work to your advantage.

“It’s not like I’m going to rush out of here and snitch on your present to her once you tell me.”

“I know, but it kinda defeats the element of surprise.”

“You’re surprising Sungyeon, not me.”

“You’re not going to let this go, aren’t you?

“Nope,” Eunwoo simply grinned.

You sighed and surrendered. “I bought for her a necklace.”

“Oooh,” the blonde cooed teasingly. “How fancy. Tell me more!”

Lightly chuckling at your unnie’s antics, you decided to just go ahead with it. “It’s nothing too expensive. I was just walking around the shopping district, pondering over what to get as a gift for her.” You stared warmingly at the yellow box in your hands – a sense of comfort brewed as you it gently with a finger. “I must have been so lost in thought, I almost walked into a lamppost.” A laugh could be heard, but you continued on with ease. “I don’t know why, but this year I want to give her something extra special.”

“It’s because you two have gotten close.”

“Aren’t we all close?”

“Of course, but judging by the way both of you interacted over the years, I can safely say that you are like soulmates now.”

You could already feel the heat of a blush making its way up to your cheeks. “That’s a little…”

“Cheesy?”

“Over the top, but Sungyeon would definitely say it’s cheesy,” you giggled.

“You know her best. So, continue with how you got the necklace.”

You spent the rest of the time with Eunwoo doing just that, and maybe a little karaoke session in between.

---

“For me?” Sungyeon pointed at herself.

“Of course, silly! Who else would it be for?”

“You really didn’t have to.”

You tilted your head at her. “But I wanted to.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that,” she said as she accepted the present from you. “Listen, I gotta rush for my Vlive later. I’ll open this up when we get back to the dorm.”

You incidentally bumped into her in the hallways after you were done with your ‘vocal’ session with Eunwoo. You almost wanted to hide your gift from her – well, you attempted to hide it quickly behind yourself but Sungyeon’s sharp wit got the better of you.

“Sure, I’ll see you later!” you said. You stepped to the right to let her by and walk off to the opposite direction of hers.

You didn’t expect to be blocked.

You stepped to your left.

Blocked.

And the other way again.

Blocked. With a cheeky smile added in.

Alright. You’ll play her game.

“Something you want to say to me?” you put on your best confrontational face, using that 0.1cm difference in both of your heights to your advantage.

This only made that cheeky smile grew ever so wider.

“No, but you’re cute when you get annoyed.”

This was the third time you’ve pouted today. Any more and you’ll probably break your own record.

“See? Cute.” Sungyeon gleefully pointed at you.

In a heartbeat, you reached out to your best friend and proceeded to do that one thing she hated the most – pinching her plump cheeks. With a non-fazed gaze into your eyes, Sungyeon just stood there accepting the attack on her poor cheeks. She wasn’t too bothered by it, to your surprise. Almost as if she was expecting you to do it. “You gotta do better than that, Yewon. Pinching my cheeks every time as payback and when you don’t know how to respond to me is gonna get old real quick. Don’t you have anything else?”

You stopped your attack, and dropped your hands back to your side. “Uh, I…”

“You’ll think of something better. I know you can. Well, gotta run!”

With that, she headed off to one of the rooms in the building, leaving you alone in a state of confusion.

---

The Vlive was a lively, noisy mess of a stream. Also, since it was a birthday Vlive, that meant more crazy shenanigans to torture the said birthday girl. Sungyeon was thrilled. After wrapping things up and saying goodnight to the fans watching, everyone returned to the dorm a little after midnight. You decided to check in on Sungyeon in her room since Kyulkyung was currently on vacation in her homeland of China.

“Hey,” Sungyeon casually greeted you when you entered the shared bedroom. You noticed the bunch of gifts on her bed and discarded wrapping paper strung all over the floor. What caught your eye the most was your own present in Sungyeon’s hands.

“Sorry for disturbing you while you’re in the middle of something,” you smiled knowingly.at her.

“It’s fine, Yewonnie,” she reassured you while patting the empty space beside her on the single-sized bed. “I could use some company right now.”

You happily sat down next to her, observing the way she was unwrapping your gift.

“You’re making me nervous,” Sungyeon stated.

“Should I leave you alone then?”

“I can totally handle you breathing down my neck as I open this gift of yours.”

Preparing yourself for her reaction was nerve-wrecking. Sure, this was a small thing when compared to performing your debut song for the first time on air, but it still made your heart pound in anxiety.

“Wow.”

You darted your eyes between the now-opened box and your best friend. In it was a necklace with a glistening silver guitar as the pendent. Adorned on the body of the guitar was a musical note etched on it.

“It’s beautiful,” Sungyeon gazed at it in amazement as she took the jewelry out from the box. “Please tell me this wasn’t expensive.”

“I might have bargained with the seller over the price,” you sheepishly replied, to which Sungyeon sharply turned her head to face you. “Don’t worry, I didn’t break out all of my savings for this!”

“You’d better not, or else I would have marched off to where you bought this from and threatened them for a refund.”

“So dramatic,” you giggled at her antics. “Nayoung unnie’s motherly mindset must have rubbed off on you.”

“Everyone here in this crazy group has rubbed off on me in one way or another,” Sungyeon snarked. She placed the necklace back inside the box and admired it for a moment. “I’ll definitely wear it. Thank you for this, Yewonnie.”

“You’re welcome,” you gave her a bright sweet smile.

She placed your present on top of the others from your members.“Crazy group aside, it’s still nice to be appreciated for existing. Especially from the people you care about.

“I’m sure you had a great time,” you knowingly smiled at her. “I mean, who doesn’t like being smothered with kisses by their group members?”

Sungyeon groaned heavily, while covering up her embarrassed face. “Don’t remind me. I wanted to die right then and there.”

“You’re overreacting,” you said as you placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“I am, but that doesn’t mean I want it to happen again.”

“You’re lying. I saw the way you sneakily smiled whenever Minkyung unnie and Yaebin unnie kissed you.”

“Don’t tell em’, Yewon,” she aimed a menacing glare at you.

“Only if you let me do something.”

“Which is?”

“Smother you with kisses.”

Sungyeon almost fell off the bed. “What!? Why!?” she gaped.

“Because it’s your birthday!” you said matter-of-factly. “You don’t want me to?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Then...why do you sound so against it?” A twinge of hurt coated your words. “You were okay with the others doing it to you.”

“It’s just really embarrassing, okay…”

“You’re not being recorded and it’s just us in this room.”

“How scandalous, Miss Yehana.”

You rolled your eyes. “So…Is that a yes?”

You saw her take in a deep breath and exhaled, mentally preparing herself for what was to come.

“C’mere,” she surrendered, reaching out her right arm to you.

Your eyes lighted up at her answer, a jovial smile curving its way up onto your features as you scooted closer to your rather apprehensive friend. Encircling your arms around her, you stared in amusement over her behaviour. “Don’t be shy. It’s just me.”

“Easy for you to say,” she locked eyes with you, deadpanned.

You couldn’t help releasing a light giggle. Inching closer to her, you let your lips land gently on her right cheek. Not like the quick peppering of pecks you saw Yaebin and Minkyung did, nor the swift smooches that Siyeon is experienced with handing out. Yours was…

In the moment. Comfortable. Sweet like honey. And most of all – full of love. You lingered for a while after the kiss, trying to gauge whether your best friend was still alright with this. There were no signs of disgust in her eyes when you stared back at her, much to your relief. You couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it somehow looked like she was filled with adoration and acceptance for you. Your heart raced at the thought.

“That’s it?” Sungyeon broke the silence. “That’s not a smothering of ki-”

Sungyeon didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as you pulled her head down and helped yourself to kissing her forehead.

“Hey, no need to be rough!”

Then turned her head to kiss her other cheek.

“Yewon!”

You repeated the cycle – sometimes leaving one or two more kisses at a spot. Sungyeon (bless her soul) flailed around and kept making sounds of complaint every time a kiss landed on her. Trapped in your tight embrace, there was really nothing she could do to escape. When you finally stopped your onslaught, Sungyeon looked like she just went through a vigorous experience. You burst into laughter.

“Sure, laugh at a victim of kissing assault,” she snarkily commented as she rested her head on top of your shoulder. “You’re horrible. Why am I still friends with you?”

You took a few seconds to calm yourself and gather back your composure. You pushed Sungyeon slightly off of you, getting her to face you again. “Happy birthday, Baesoongie.” With that, you placed a final loving peck on her nose. Sungyeon was basically as red as a tomato.

“Good thing there’s no one here or else they’ll never let it go,” she muttered. “I-I’m not saying that I didn’t appreciate what you just did.”

As always, you couldn’t help the amused smile on your features at her adorable embarrassment. But something at the back of your mind wondered what would have happened if you kissed her on the lips instead.

Maybe not anytime soon, but one day when you’re ready.

Author's Note: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) So... I hope y'all enjoyed that long chapter. Nothing much to say other than thank you for reading! Upvotes and comments are much appreciated!