(About a week later)

—Taemin’s POV—

“Taeminnie? Wake up,” hyung shook me lightly.

“Ne hyung?” I rubbed my eyes groggily and squinted.

“It’s time for breakfast. After that, we’ll go find Teen Top, Infinite and Boyfriend and discuss Niel’s birthday surprise. Appa and umma already left for work,” hyung told me.

“Really? Arasso,” I replied, yawned, and got up.

Hyung followed me into the toilet and waited for me to finish washing up. He helped me to fix my hair while I brushed my teeth and washed my face too.

“Thanks hyung,” I said and we went downstairs. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Some porridge with fried egg and bacon. There are strawberries, cheese and kimchi beside your bowl,” hyung told me and pulled my seat out for me. I sat down and he went to sit opposite me.

We ate breakfast in silence cause I was kind of worn out from staying up last night. Technically I slept at 11pm but it seems that my body can’t even handle that anymore. Meh.

After breakfast, hyung washed the dishes while I went to look for something to change into.

I dug through the closet and I couldn’t find anything suitable to wear. I know that Niel has a schedule today while the other Teen Top members don’t, that’s why we chose today to plan.

Should I wear that maternity dress that I bought at Dongdaemun the other time? Hmm… Then I’ll just get my wig and whatnot out after I change.

While I was pulling the dress over my head, hyung came into the room, saying that he was done with the dishes. He seemed a little surprised at first, but he snapped out of it immediately.

“You’re wearing this? I like it,” hyung smiled and helped me to pull the dress down to my knees.

“I need to put on some makeup. Can you get my wig for me?” I asked. Hyung nodded and pulled the wig out of the dressing table drawer. Yes, we have a dressing table for me.

He seated himself beside me and put the wig on for me, adjusting it accordingly until it was in place. Meanwhile, I was experimenting with a shade of blusher. It looked a little heavy so I removed it and redid the blush.

I managed to put all the makeup on within fifteen minutes. By then, hyung had gotten my stuff – handbag, phone, wallet and all – and was waiting for me on our bed.

“Let’s go!” I exclaimed. Hyung stood up and held my hand. We walked downstairs with our hands interlinked and we went to hail a cab.

If I remember right, we were supposed to meet at the train station near Teen Top’s dorm. Then we had to pretend to talk for a while and disperse. We would then go to their dorm separately so that Inspirits and Bestfriends wouldn’t be able to follow us all.

Before long, we reached the train station. We were a little early so we decided to go to the café nearby. I know I can’t drink coffee, but some hot chocolate is fine right? It’s getting chilly.

“One hot chocolate and one frappe macchiato,” hyung ordered. The barista nodded and gestured for us to sit down while we wait for our drinks.

“Should we call them and tell them where we are?” I asked.

“Sure. You call Jongie and I called Jeongmin,” hyung said and took his phone out.

I dialed Jongie's number and waited for a few moments before Infinite’s maknae picked up.

“Yeoboseyo?”

“Jongie, this is Tae. I’m at the café near the train station with Jinki oppa,” I told him. Oh my god acting as a girl is so hard sometimes.

“Hyung? Why’re you speaking so secretively and why’d you say ‘oppa’?”

“I’m cross-dressing you idiot,” I hissed.

“Ah… Ok I’m with Key umma right now so we’ll see you at the café.”

“Ne. See you soon!” I exclaimed.

“Bye hyung,” Jongie told me and ended the call.

Our drinks arrived and hyung thanked the waiter before continuing his conversation with Jeongmin hyung. After a minute or so, hyung ended the call.

“Why aren’t you drinking your hot chocolate? Your hands are so cold. Aigo,” hyung sighed and rubbed my hands to warm them up.

“I thought that it’d be fine if I just came here wearing this. I don’t have a jacket with me…” I pouted.

Hyung shrugged his jacket off and put it around my shoulders.

“Better?” he asked.

“Ne. Thanks for being considerate, oppa,” I smiled. I love having Onew hyung as a boyfriend cause he’s real caring towards me. He always has my interests at heart.

He blew my hot chocolate for me and tasted it to check the temperature. He deemed it as warm enough to drink and passed it to me. He then started on his own frappe macchiato.

Minutes passed and we were nearly done with our drinks just as Jongie tapped my shoulder.

“Hi noona,” Sungjong greeted. He got into the act quite quickly.

“What’re you drinking, Taeja-yah?” Key umma asked.

“Don’t worry; I won’t let him drink coffee. It’s hot chocolate,” hyung said.

“So we’re supposed to just spread out and head to their place, right?” Gyu hyung asked.

“Yup. That’s what Changhyun told us, anyway,” Hoya hyung confirmed.

“Then we set off,” Sungyeol hyung exclaimed and dragged Myungsoo hyung with him. YaDong and WooGyu left as well. JongKey went off with Jongie.

As hyung and I drank the last sip of our drinks, Jeongmin hyung appeared.

“Hi guys! Tae…” Hyunseong hyung started, but Onew hyung covered Hyunseong hyung’s mouth with his hand and told him to keep quiet.

“Taeja doesn’t want to let others know about her name. Well that’s a lame excuse but don’t use her real name! She doesn’t like it,” Onew hyung said.

“And I’m a girl, ok? I know some of my features are masculine but most of them are feminine!” I argued. The message seemed to have gotten across well enough.

“Where are the others?” Youngmin asked.

“They’ve already left. It’s time for us to go too,” I told them. Hyung left a tip on the table and we walked out of the café.

“Couples go together. See you in a while,” I waved to them and took the shortest way possible to Teen Top’s dorm. I have priority, got it? Hehe.

When we arrived, Donghyun hyung and Minwoo already reached. I don’t know how they even got there faster than us. Maybe they flew…? Nah.

We waited for the last four people to come before we settled down and began to discuss.

“As everyone knows, we’re all gathered here to discuss Niel’s birthday that’s in three days. We’ll celebrate it two days later so we have to plan everything today. Niel won’t be back until evening or even later cause he has a schedule,” Minsoo hyung briefed us.

“We all know that, Minsoo. Tell us what Daniel likes,” Donghyun hyung said.

“He likes cooking. He’s super scared of the darkness and horror stuff. Hmm… he likes surprises and obviously, singing,” Minsoo hyung ticked off his fingers.

“Hyung, you missed out the most important thing,” Ricky stated, smiling deviously.

“What?”

“You! Hyung, you can be so shallow at times. Niel hyung likes you the most!” Changjo exclaimed exasperatedly. “How could you forget?”

“Oh, yeah. That…” Minsoo hyung scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“We could always give him surprise as a present. Not that it’s any special,” Chunji winked at his leader playfully. Minsoo hyung turned red and shook his head.

“That’s my personal present…” Minsoo hyung muttered. Since I was sitting beside him, I heard him clearly and smirked.

“Really, hyung?” I asked.

“You heard that?” he looked at me, shocked.

“Yup,” I grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

“Won’t tell what?” Sungyeol hyung asked curiously.

“That Minsoo hyung wants to give Niel surprise as a personal present,” I revealed and hid beside Onew hyung. Knowing Minsoo hyung’s nature, he’d hit my head for sure.

“Yah!” he yelled at me.

“Chill. You do NOT hit my son,” Key umma glared daggers at Minsoo hyung.

“I agree,” L.Joe said and pulled the leader back onto his seat.

“So what are we going to do?” Sungjong asked.

“We could bake a cake and cook for him. Some people can bring him to a karaoke, maybe an amusement park as well. Then after everything, he’ll return to the dorm and see the cake, food and surprise party. We could start playing around after that,” Youngmin suggested.

“There isn’t a need to bring him to the amusement park then. Anyway, it would attract too much attention. Just bring him to a karaoke for a few hours while we set up everything. We’ll need three teams,” Sunggyu hyung planned.

“One team to prepare food, one team to prepare the house and presents, and the last team to bring Niel to a karaoke,” Minwoo added.

“I suggest that all the vocalists go to the karaoke. Chunji shouldn’t go so that it seems like Teen Top forgot his birthday. Niel will be disappointed and when he gets back… Bam! A birthday party waiting for him,” Dongwoo hyung said enthusiastically.

“So that means Hyunseong, Donghyun, Jeongmin, Jonghyun, Sunggyu, Woohyun and I will bring Niel to the karaoke?” Onew hyung asked.

“Can Onew hyung not go?” I asked. “I feel unsafe without him with me.”

“No problem,” Jonghyun hyung said. “Six of us will accompany Niel. Who’s going to cook?”

“I will! With Key, Chunji, L.Joe, Minwoo and Taemin,” Hoya hyung volunteered. It is true that I enjoy cooking. It’s fun.

“Aigo I want to cook too…” Woohyun hyung pouted.

“Then why don’t you stay with them?” Kwangmin asked.

“I can? Then I will!” Woohyun hyung exclaimed excitedly.

“The remaining people can prepare the house then,” Minsoo hyung stated.

“That’s like ten people…” Changjo pointed out.

“We can clean up the dorm,” Ricky said. “After all, it hasn’t been cleaned properly in months. Maybe Niel hyung will be more relaxed knowing that he doesn’t have to clean the dorm.”

“Fine,” Changjo gave in.

“Gather in your teams and discuss what you’ll do,” Minsoo hyung instructed.

The cooking team assembled in the kitchen and sat around the dining table.

“What do you guys want to cook?” Woohyun hyung asked.

“Let’s just think for a while…” Key umma suggested.

We all began to brainstorm about our favourite foods and ChunJoe thought about Niel’s favourites.

----------------------------------------------

“Why don’t we cook a well-being meal for Niel? Something good for the throat, maybe? I mean since he’s the main vocal and his throat is overused everyday,” Key umma thought aloud.

“That’s not a bad idea! We should make pear juice as the drink,” Hoya hyung started.

“As for the main course, we can make kimchi fried rice!” Minwoo added.

“We should make seaweed soup,” Chunji said.

“And there’s this steamed winter melon dish that I saw once on a cooking show,” I said.

“We could do bulgogi as another appetizer. Niel likes pork,” L.Joe continued.

“And his birthday cake will be the dessert!” Woohyun hyung ended enthusiastically.

“Did anyone write that down?” I asked.

“I’m writing it! Pear juice, kimchi fried rice, steamed winter melon, seaweed soup, bulgogi, birthday cake. But Taemin, why steamed winter melon?” Key umma asked curiously.

“It’s cooling and since idols don’t usually have time to eat proper food, we always end up eating fast food which increases internal heat,” Woohyun hyung explained. The cook will be the cook.

“Then what kind of birthday cake shall we do? ChunJoe, what flavourdoes Niel like?” Minwoo asked. Chunji thought about this for a while before looking at L.Joe.

“Chocolate and strawberry,” they said in synchronisation.

“So we should make chocolate cake and use strawberry icing. Add strawberries on top of the cake too. Key, are you getting all this?” Hoya hyung asked.

“Ne,” Key umma replied and scribbled on the piece of paper.

“We have to practice how to cook all that stuff and bake a cake to test things out. Are you guys free tomorrow?” I asked.

What? SHINee was free until a month after I give birth, but the other idol groups aren’t. Considering that Infinite, Teen Top and Boyfriend all recently finished promotions, they should be getting some free time, probably two or three days a week.

“We have practice in the first half of the day but we’re fine after that,” Woohyun hyung said.

“Niel and I have vocal training after practice till 3pm,” Chunji groaned at the thought of practicing for hours on end.

“I need to work on my rapping with Minsoo hyung until 2pm,” L.Joe told me.

“As for me, I’m helping the other members with their dancing. We need to synchronise this move in our dance, but we should be done by noon,” Minwoo said confidently.

“Then we’ll meet at Infinite’s dorm at 4pm,” Key umma decided.

“Why us?” Hoya hyung complained.

“Cause your dorm is the newest and most spacious. Besides, our dorm is a mess and our kitchen hasn’t been cleaned in ages!” Minwoo exclaimed.

“It’s like our old dorm when we were doing Sesame Player 2. Aren’t I right, Hoya?” Woohyun hyung smiled at the old memories.

“Yeah. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were cheated by the producing team,” Hoya hyung agreed and smiled as well.

“What happened?” Chunji asked.

“The production crew lied to Infinite, saying that a girl group would be visiting their dorm. They all worked diligently to clean up every single spot in the house. In the end, there was no girl group and the crew only lied for their well-being,” I answered.

“How’d you know?” L.Joe asked.

“I wasn’t the busiest person last June you know. Besides, Jongie complained to me about Gyu hyung’s nagging,” I grinned cheekily.

“He wanted me to be disrespectful to HamGyu but I knew better. I have variety sense, unlike our naïve maknae,” Woohyun hyung remembered. “Then he was busted for being disrespectful.”

“Jongie was taking his anger out on the rag that he was using. I was just there, vacuuming the shelves as if he wasn’t there. I know my boyfriend well enough to know that he takes things out on inanimate objects so I didn’t say anything,” Hoya hyung said.

“I remember that! I watched that scene time and time again cause it was hilarious to see Hoya hyung’s expression,” Minwoo agreed. “How could you have kept such a straight face?”

“Like he said, Sungjong’s his boyfriend,” Chunji shrugged.

“So it’s set then? 4pm at Infinite’s dorm?” L.Joe confirmed.

“Yup. Let’s go to your room to look for recipes,” Key umma stood up and walked into Chunji, L.Joe and Changjo’s room. We all followed him in and turned the laptop on.

“I’ll just log in first…” Chunji mumbled and typed in his password. The first thing that appeared was, of course, his wallpaper. It was a picture of L.Joe cross-dressing. His leg was on a chair, half revealed since the dress didn’t cover much. He actually looked pretty y.

“Um, about that…” L.Joe chuckled nervously and snatched the laptop away from Chunji before he closed the cover. “I’m just heading to the toilet to change the wallpaper to something less embarrassing, ok?” And L.Joe dashed off, Chunji trailing behind him.

“That was awkward,” Minwoo stated. He plopped down onto Chunji’s bed and looked around the room. “Their room is cosy though.”

“It was organised by L.Joe’s umma. She wanted her son to feel at home, so she designed the room with that thought in mind. She’s an interior designer, by the way,” I said.

“No wonder. But this bed smells of ,” Woohyun wrinkled his nose.

“You’re on L.Joe’s bed. He gets lonely at night so Chunji accompanies him to sleep. Every night they have , I swear. They’re addicts,” Key umma clucked his tongue.

“Aren’t we all?” Hoya hyung reminded us.

“I’m just being the diva that I am. Jjong wants anyway,” Key umma shrugged.

“I feel somewhat disturbed by you guys,” Minwoo shook his head in disapproval.

“Don’t you have ?” Woohyun hyung asked in confusion.

“Not everyday! I mostly have on the weekends, when we’re usually free,” Minwoo explained.

“You’re still young. Give yourself some time to adjust. You’re only eighteen, after all,” Hoya hyung said and patted Minwoo’s shoulder.

“But I wonder how Changjo feels about hearing his ‘parents’ have daily. And he’s the only one who’s separated from his lover. Poor maknae,” I sighed.

“He has to live with it. Jongie has to switch beds with Dongwoo on alternate days and he hardly has time with Myungsoo. Sungyeol’s still in the same room so it’s a little awkward. But I think that Sungyeol sleeps outside every now and then to give Jongie some alone time with Myungsoo,” Hoya hyung said sympathetically.

“I don’t even understand why he’s continuing with this complicated love of his,” Key umma thought.

“We adjust well though,” Hoya hyung said.

“Yeah but he’s still a little sad, huh?” Minwoo asked.

“Sure he is,” Hoya hyung agreed.

Just then, ChunJoe returned, smelling a little like they just had .

“Sorry we took so long. Chunji had some business to deal with,” L.Joe explained. It was obvious that they had in the toilet just by looking at L.Joe’s swollen-from-kissing lips. As for Chunji, he was almost the same. Both of them had equally dishevelled hair.

“Start searching for recipes then!” Key umma ordered impatiently.

After an hour, Key umma wrote down at least five recipes for each dish that we were going to make. Apart from that, he planned to ask his umma and Onew hyung’s umma for extra recipes tomorrow morning.

As for the cake, we had around three recipes and we chose the one which used the least amount of butter. Hey, an idol can’t gain too much weight at one go or it’d be a little hard to lose.

“So which recipes do you guys want to use, of all these?” Key umma asked.

We spent some time selecting the recipes and were finally down to two choices per dish.

“I’ll get some advice from my umma tomorrow. Oh wait, she’s working… Taemin, can you get some advice from Mrs. Lee?” Key umma looked at me hopefully.

“Well I’ll be seeing her at night anyway. Why not? I can get her seaweed soup and kimchi friend rice recipes. Her bulgogi tastes awesome too! I’ll try to make the pear juice first, with umma. I’m sure she has her own recipe for that too,” I complied.

“We’ll try to keep a low profile about going out tomorrow. Niel might want to follow cause he’s always curious about stuff. As for Wednesday…” Chunji looked at L.Joe.

“Niel will go the karaoke, sure, but he might not stay for long. He’ll complain that he’s lonely without s,” L.Joe continued.

“Then get the karaoke team to stall him! I’m going to ask HamGyu to keep that in mind,” Woohyun hyung said and walked out of the room.

“How long do you think it’ll take the décor team to finish putting everything up? Whatever they’re putting up, anyway,” Hoya hyung asked. “Dongwoo may be hardworking, but Jongie will probably get pissed and start attacking the decorations.”

When we heard what Hoya hyung said, we all started laughing.

“Hoya hyung, isn’t that a little harsh?” Minwoo asked while giggling.

“Not really. Jongie has a temper on him,” Hoya hyung shook his head gravely. “If someone pisses him off, his diva temper will just explode on everyone.”

“I wonder who he got that from,” Chunji looked at Key umma accusingly.

“It’s not my fault that he’s my son too! Taemin doesn’t have that much of a temper,” Key umma hesitated for a moment before he added, “usually.”

“I’ve only lost my temper at you once and at Minho like a few times. That’s all,” I defended myself.

“I’d like to see Taemin hyung lose his temper,” Minwoo grinned.

“No freaking way. Last time he lost his temper at me, we didn’t speak for months!” Key umma shrieked. “I’m never going to go through that again.”

“True… Let’s go see what the others are doing,” L.Joe suggested and pulled Chunji out. Why not? The rest of us followed as well.

I walked over to Onew hyung who was talking to the rest of the décor team.

“So what’re you guys planning?” I asked.

“We’ll buy decorations that are of Niel’s favourite colour – Teen Top’s official colour. But since it’s almost impossible to buy things that are pearl lavender with white words, we’re going to buy both white things and pearl lavender things. That way, it can be put together to look like Teen Top’s colour,” Minsoo hyung explained.

“We’re putting up the standard ‘Happy Birthday’ on the wall and probably some of Teen Top’s official balloons,” Sungjong continued.

“I might rent some horror films to scare Niel out of his wits,” Dongwoo hyung smirked evilly.

“I’m not going to watch though,” Onew hyung said immediately.

“Anyway, we’ll also get Minsoo hyung to distract Niel hyung and bring him back to the dorm. The karaoke team will come back and prepare with us first,” Changjo said.

“As for the present, we want to get him a stuffed poodle. By that, I meant a toy, not a real poodle that’s been stuffed. He’s had ‘poodle hair’ before and he’s born in the year of the dog, so we figured that it’d be seemingly appropriate,” Ricky told me.

“I have an idea…” I started. “Does Niel like dogs? As in real dogs?”

“Yeah, sure. Why?” Minsoo hyung asked.

“Cause I have a toy poodle at home and I can bring her over. I haven’t seen her in a while, I think ever since I moved to Onew hyung’s house,” I said.

“Then you want to surprise Niel with your dog?” Youngmin asked.

“Yup. Do you think its ok? She loves people,” I tried to convince them.

I haven’t seen Eve ever since I’ve moved, like I mentioned. She must miss her appa. I know my umma takes good care of her, but I’m her owner and she sticks to me all the time. I miss her too.

“It should be fine, right?” Myungsoo hyung looked at Minsoo hyung.

“Fine. Niel does love animals,” Minsoo hyung smiled.

“But if she does any business, you’re cleaning up,” Changjo pointed at me.

“I can help, if you want,” Sungyeol hyung volunteered. “After all, we’ve kept DuNuCo before and we’ve had our fair share of cleaning up after dogs.”

“Changjo, how could you ask a pregnant person to clean up after his dog? Shame on you,” Ricky sighed and looked at me. “Taemin hyung, I’ll help you clean up if you want.”

“Thanks,” I smiled at him. “But I think that the Infinite members have more experience, especially Dongwoo hyung.”

“Don’t push this to me. Ask Sungyeol and Sungjong to clean up if you want,” Dongwoo hyung said.

“Is anyone hungry?” Kwangmin asked randomly.

Onew hyung, Sungjong, Changjo, Ricky and I raised our hands.

“Good, cause I am too. Can I just order pizza or something?”

“Nope. Kwangmin, Changjo, come and buy proper food with me,” Onew hyung stood up.

“Why us?” Changjo whined.

“Cause Jongie’s not the strongest person around and Changjo, you’re the guy in the relationship aren’t you? Man up. Kwangmin, you’re the guy too right? Just come with me. Tae isn’t allowed to eat fast food,” Onew hyung explained and forcefully dragged the two out of the dorm to find food.

“Taemin hyung, Onew hyung’s really caring,” Ricky told me in admiration.

“Yeah, he’s caring whether you’re pregnant or not. I remember cause you’ve told me many things about Onew hyung when we was in a coma,” Sungjong agreed with Ricky.

“What can I say? He’s a great boyfriend to have,” I said. Sungjong caught the hint of sadness in my voice but didn’t say anything. He only looked at me worriedly.

“Come on, let’s go check on what the karaoke team is planning,” Youngmin said and went over to them. We walked behind him and saw everyone else there.

We started talking about what each team was going to do until the food ‘arrived’.

“Thanks for coming today!” Ricky exclaimed.

Everyone was leaving Teen Top’s dorm since Niel’s schedule supposedly just ended.

“Bye!” we replied and waved before heading back towards our respective homes.

Key umma had handed me the slip of paper with the recipes on it, giving me the task of getting advice from umma about which recipe would be better. I also offered to experiment on how to make pear juice. I was having a sore throat so it can’t hurt to make some for myself, right?

Within an hour, we were settled down on the couch at home. I snuggled up to Onew hyung and watched Running Man.

When it was 5.45pm, the door opened and umma called out to us.

“Ne, umma. We’re here!” I replied and got up to stretch for a while.

“Umma, I have something to ask you,” I said and pulled the piece of paper out.

“What is it?”

“Which of these recipes are better for the respective dishes?” I asked.

She looked through each of the recipes and sat down to explain which recipe was better and why.

“Thanks so much umma!” I thanked and pecked her on the cheek. “Then can you make pear juice with me? I need to try first and my throat isn’t feeling well today.”

“No problem. I’ll just cook dinner first, arasso? When I’m almost done, I’ll call you into the kitchen and we’ll make your pear juice, ok?” umma asked.

“Ne!” I said happily and went back to the living room.

We continued watching TV until umma called me into the kitchen at 6.47pm.

She showed me how to make pear juice while her soup was still cooking.

After I tried making it, I found that pear juice was rather easy to make.

When I was done, umma told me to drink it. I did, and it tasted good! I can’t believe that I made this!

I offered to make some more for everyone to drink and umma gladly agreed. By the time I finished making enough for the four of us, appa had come home and the soup was done.

We started dinner and began talking about our day. After dinner, Onew hyung washed the dishes while appa went to bathe. When hyung was done, we went to bathe together.

We came out of the shower and went downstairs to watch TV with appa. Umma was bathing now so we just sat there a little silently. Every now and then, we would speak a little, but that’s it.

At 9pm, I decided that I’d go to sleep. We said good night to umma and appa and retired into our rooms. I’m exhausted by today’s activities.

Tomorrow, we’ll just try to cook. Then if it fails, we’re screwed on the actual day.

“Night hyung,” I said and pulled the blanket up.

“Night Taeminnie,” hyung answered while yawning.

Just like that, our day of planning ended and I drifted off into dreamland.

Frankly speaking, I just crapped this chappie out -.-

I'm sorry if it wasn't as good as expected! ><

The foods that I mentioned are all real but random and I think I kinda confused myself while writing this...

See you guys next week and hopefully the next chappie will turn out fine :)

Annyeong! ^^