“Is there anything you want to do for your birthday?”

“How do you guys usually celebrate?”

Taekwoon shrugged, “if we have practice then it’s usually a cake smashing session in our studio. If we have time then we go out for a meal.”

“Then let’s do a meal with the guys!”

I share the same birthday as Hongbin, so I thought it’d be great to celebrate together. But obviously Taekwoon thought otherwise.

“With the guys?” he frowned, “I thought it’ll just be the two of us.”

“Did you forget that it’s Hongbin’s birthday too?”

A look of realization formed on his face, “oh, that’s right.”

I laughed, “you guys really don’t remember each other’s birthdays, huh?”

“We have reminders set in our phones,” he shrugged, “but I really want to spend it with you alone, though. Can’t we ditch the guys?”

“Don’t make Kong sad on his birthday!” I cupped his face in my hands, “let’s go on a date after we celebrate with them, okay?”

Taekwoon’s expression immediately brightened and he nodded.

----

“Great, where do we go now?” Hongbin sighed.

VIXX had come by my place that afternoon with bags full of groceries – said they were gonna prepare a feast for Hongbin and I. I barely managed to make them swear they wouldn’t burn my kitchen down, and then we were kicked out of the apartment.

“Go have fun and don’t come back till 6!” were Hakyeon’s words, and Taekwoon handed me his wallet (mine had mysteriously gone missing) before shooing us out the door.

I shrugged, “anywhere you want to go particularly?”

Hongbin seemed to be in thought for a while, and then he looked at me with a huge grin on his face.

“Noona, how good are you at playing games?”

We ended up at a nearby PC café, where Hongbin taught me the basic rules of his then favourite game. I was hopeless at computer gaming, of course, and I was surprised he even bothered to keep teaching me when I was failing so miserably. I later found out he just enjoyed laughing at my desperate but failed attempts. He said I was a worse gamer than Hakyeon and Jaehwan combined so it was really entertaining for him. Hyukkie’s evil maknae twin, indeed.

I eventually gave up trying and told Hongbin to carry on while I watched. I know nothing about gaming, but judging from the way his fingers were poised on the keyboard accompanied by the rapid mouse-clicking, I could only assume he was really good at it.

Hours flew by without either of us noticing, until we got a notification from the group chat we shared, telling us we could go back to the apartment.

“How boring are you guys that the only text I received for expense on my card is at a PC café?” Taekwoon asked the moment Hongbin and I stepped through the door.

We both shrugged.

“We couldn’t think of anywhere to go.”

Taekwoon took my hand and sighed, “I wanted you to go have a good time.”

“I did have fun!” I said, pointing to Hongbin, “Kong taught me a few tricks.”

“Yah, Lee Hongbin, what did you do to your noona? I’m blaming you if she gets hooked to computer gaming!”

Hongbin laughed, “then you have nothing to worry about, hyung. Noona’s horrible at gaming.”

--

“Don’t tire him out too much, noona,” Hakyeon grinned, “we have a performance tomorrow.”

“Of course,” I sent the 5 of them out the door, “and you’re doing your own makeup tomorrow. Bye!”

I heard 4VIXX’s laughter amidst Hakyeon’s protest after I shut the door in his face. Taekwoon snickered behind me.

“You’re probably the only person who can handle Hakyeon.”

“You’re welcome.”

Taekwoon suddenly pulled me towards my bedroom.

“Y-yah, we can’t…we have a long day tomorrow…”

We stopped in front of the closed door and he turned to me, a smirk on his face.

“What are you thinking about?” he teased, “your present is in there.”

Oh. I felt my face getting hot and awkwardly cleared my throat. He chuckled at my reaction, then opened the door to my room. There was a huge box sitting on my bed; he probably put it there while I was out with Hongbin – I hadn’t been in my room the entire time the boys were around.

“How did you sneak that in without me noticing?”

I certainly didn’t remember seeing him carrying that when they came over in the afternoon.

“I arranged for it to be delivered while you were out. Now go open it.”

His eagerness peaked my interest. When I saw what was in the box, I knew why.

“OH MY GOSH!” I squealed, and he laughed at my reaction.<