BGM: Wonder Girls' Sunye - Maybe

"Oi! Jaemi Chingu! Where are you going?"

After meeting with your best friends in the subway station, you and Jongin treaded along the familiar streets of Apgujeong on the way to the venue of Kevin's 21st birthday party. You were about to turn towards the next alleyway in Rodeo Street when Jongin suddenly grabbed your arm.

"Where are you going?" he repeated.

"Aren't we going to Happy Bubble?" you asked back.

Scratching his temple, Moonkyu exchanged looks with Jihye before staring at you puzzlingly. "Don't tell me you didn't know we're having a noraebang party."

"WE'RE HAVING A NORAEBANG PARTY?!?" you exclaimed.

"Yeah, a noraebang party," Jongin nodded. He then put an arm around your shoulders and pointed to the four-storey Everysing building in front of you. "That's why we're going in there now. We're going to sing!" 

credit to StephysJourney

"I swear, nobody tells me anything these days," you complained.

"In our defense, if we told you that Kevin's birthday would be celebrated in a noraebang, you would probably come up with some lame excuse just to get out of it," Jihye argued, resting a hand on Moonkyu's right shoulder.

You fixed the sleeve of Jongin's jacket that was about to fall off his shoulders. "Of course, I won't! I wouldn't do that to Totoro! There's no way I would skip his birthday party! I'm his friend Number Two!" you argued, but none of them really understood what you meant. "Oh~ nevermind. Let's just go inside. It's getting chilly out here."

The Everysing branch in Apgujeong is located on top of the GS25 convenience store - just two shops away from Ahjummeonie's very own Happy Bubble Tea Shop. You pass by this particular establishment at least twice every single day, and yet, today would be the very first time when you would go up to take a peek inside.

The main reception area of the SM Entertainment-owned noraebang is located on the second floor along with a waiting lounge, a show room, a souvenir store, and a photo booth where you can take pictures with virtual images of your favorite idols.

While Moonkyu was speaking with the receptionist, you and Jongin assisted Jihye in taking pictures of her beloved Super Juniors. You were about to snap a photo of a huge Dong Bang Shin Ki poster when you saw Kyungsoo and Joonmyun coming down from the third floor. "Oh, there you are!" you exclaimed, automatically causing Jihye, Moonkyu, and Jongin to turn their heads towards the other two's direction.

"Oh, great! You're here! They're in Room 306 on the third floor!" Kyungsoo informed.

"We're going to get the cake first." Joonmyun pointed to towards the exit, hitchhiker's thumb-style, before nodding to your sunbae. "C'mon! We have to go back as soon as possible!" he urged as the two of them disappeared into the next set of stairs.

As soon as you reached the stair's landing, you caught a glimpse of the familiar-looking set of rooms on the third floor. You were about to enter one of them when Jongin suddenly pulled the strap of the knitted satchel that was slinging over your shoulder. 

"Not in there," he said.

"But- but-" you stuttered, pointing towards one of the rooms.

"Yeah, there's no way we can afford that. We're going inside the smaller one," he insisted, holding your arm as he led you towards the other side of the hallway. "Room 306, remember?"

You tugged on Jongin's arm with your free hand, urging him to stop. "Can I just take one tiny peek inside, pretty please?" you pleaded, pouting cutely in an attempt to convince him. "Please, please, Jongin Chingu~! Please let me just take one quick look, please?"

"Fine," he submitted, chuckling when he saw your face lit up. "You two go ahead," he told Moonkyu and Jihye, urging them to head towards Room 306 without you. "Jaemi Chingu and I will follow you in a minute."

You pulled Jongin hands and led him inside the vacant room.

credit to everysing global 

"Happy now?" he chuckled.

You nodded. This is, no doubt, the same room where they filmed the couple talks for the All About DBSK 3 DVD. Yes, this is the exact place where you almost died of jealousy when Yunho and Jaejoong declared that they just want to be 'together forever', thus sealing their status as the OTP of all K-Pop OTPs.

The two of you sat on the red couch and admired the doodle-like murals on the white walls. Gently nudging him, you told Jongin that the couple talks from the AADBSK3 DVD were filmed in this very room, so he leaned back on his seat and folded his arms across his chest. "Are we supposed to say something about each other too?"

"What? Like a Chingu Talk?" you joked.

He chuckled again. "Yeah, a Chingu Talk. Okay, I'll go first," he volunteered, adjusting in his seat before resting his right hand on your left knee. "Jaemi Chingu, you are-" His grip on your knee tightened, clumsily oscillating your leg in protest. "Ya! Don't laugh!"

"We look silly!" you giggled.

"Hey! This was your idea!" Jongin argued.

You shook your head. "No, you were the one who suggested it! I just came up with the 'Chingu Talk' name for it!" you reasoned, poking his bicep. The next thing you know, the upper part of your body was already lying on the red couch as you suffered through an attack of tickles from your subway chingu. "Wah~ stop it! I swear, I'll- ah~ it tickles!"

"What are you two doing in here?" Sehun asked in a very serious voice.

As soon as he heard Sehun, Jongin immediately stopped with the tickling and pulled you up so you could sit properly. "We're having a Chingu Talk. Why?" Jongin replied, obviously having difficulty saying it with a straight face. 

"The hyungth are already looking for you," Sehun said instead, turning around to make his way back to the room you rented for Kevin's party.

Jongin got up from the red couch and brushed his hair upwards. He then extended his right arm to offer you his hand. "Let's go?" he asked, a sincere smile plastered on his face. Nodding, you took his hand and allowed him to pull you up.

As soon as you reached Room 306, Minseok immediately asked you to place your gifts on the small black table beside the karaoke machine. Apparently, Little Baozi wanted to everything to be nice and neat before the birthday boy arrives, so he took matters into his own hands by re-organizing the room by himself - and this includes the allocation of a specific place where all the presents for Kevin would be displayed.

"I see you've already wrapped your gift," you told Jongin.

"Well, I took Chanyeol hyung's advice and had it wrapped in the store," he replied, placing his present for Kevin on top of the pile. "I can't always ask you to wrap presents for me, can't I?" He then looked at the tiny box you just took out from your bag and said, "Yours look pretty fancy." 

"Oh this?" you asked, holding up your gift. It was a small, rectangular box wrapped in a dark gray-colored paper that you attempted to personalize by drawing in the cartoon character Totoro's facial features using a black marker. "I actually got him a really simple gift, so I tried to compensate for it through presentation," you explained.

Jongin crossed his arms and nodded at you. "You got him a little Totoro souvenir, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't!" you denied. In a desperate attempt to stop yourself from your chin, you suddenly poked his arm with your left index finger. "I really didn't!"

Squeezing himself between you and Jongin, Youngho snatched the gift from your hands to examine it. "Yeah, I think it's a Totoro souvenir!" he decided, shaking the tiny box near his right ear as if to confirm his guess.

"It'th a keychain, ith't it?" Sehun butted in.

"Geez. I already told you. It's not-" When the three boys raised their left eyebrows at the same time, silently judging you for lying, you just let out a sigh of submission and said, "Just... don't tell him okay?"

Youngho put down your Totoro box with the rest of the presents. "Even if we don't tell Kevin hyung, I'm sure he'll already figure it out for himself," he said, squeezing your cheeks with both hands. "Jaemi-ah~ you're so cuuuuuute sometimes!"

You were suddenly let off the hook when Jihye suddenly took out her gift from the huge paper bag she has been carrying since you met her at Apgujeong Station today. It was a huge, square box wrapped in a shimmering, silver-colored paper with an enormous red ribbon on top of it.

"Now, that is a present!" Moonkyu remarked. 

"Ya! Jung Jihye! You're supposed to bring a birthday gift, not a wedding present!" Chanyeol pointed out, scooting closer to your best friend. He was about to play with the big, red ribbon decoration of Jihye's gift for Kevin, but his hands were quickly slapped away by your best friend.

"Where's Jinho, by the way?" Jihye asked.

"Practicing," Moonkyu answered.

"He's going to debut really soon," Minseok added.

"The day after my birthday, to be exact!" Chanyeol chimed in.

Jihye rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you're going to start bothering us with those irritating countdowns and constant reminders again like what you did before the premiere of the Genie PV!"

"I wasn't planning to, but now that you've mentioned it~" Chanyeol teased, his chin as if he was formulating another evil plan inside his head.

"Don't even think about!" Jihye warned, poking Chanyeol's chest with her index finger. The tall boy then raised both of his hands in surrender, but the creepy smile plastered on his face seemed to hint otherwise, so your best friend covered her own face instead. "Oh my God! Why did I even mention it?!? Ah~ seriously, Jung Jihye! You have such a big mouth!"

Just then, your mobile phone beeped to indicate an incoming text message.

"Who is it?" Jihye asked.

"Luhan," you replied. Without looking away from the tiny screen of your mobile phone, you added, "He said they're already on their way here," and went on to compose a reply for him.

When he heard you mention that the Chinese boys were finally on their way to Apgujeong, Minseok suddenly asked Chanyeol to contact the boys who were in-charge of picking up the cake. "Hey, Chanyeol! Text Joonmyun and Kyungsoo and tell them to hurry up. The birthday boy is coming!"

"I thought this wasn't a surprise party," you remarked.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be rude to arrive after the birthday boy?" Moonkyu pointed out.

Before Chanyeol could even send the text message he composed for both Joonmyun and Kyungsoo, the two boys came barging in Room 306 with a huge basketball-themed birthday cake.

credit to albemarlebakingcompany

"A little help, please~" Kyungsoo requested, so the pseudo-twins quickly came to their rescue.

"Ooh~ that looks really nice! Maybe I should ask for a football cake on my birthday~" you cooed, mentally kicking yourself for saying the second sentence out loud. 

"I'll make sure that Luhan hyung knows," Kyungsoo chuckled, but you just pouted in response. Ever since the 'Benadryl incident', your sunbae has never passed up the chance to tease you about Luhan; thus cementing your assumption that with regards to the topic of your secret crush, Kyungsoo has wagered his money on the wrong Chinese boy.

♫ Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè~ Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè~ Zhù nǐ xìng fú~ Zhù nǐ jiàn kāng~ Zhù nǐ qián tú guāng míng~ ♫

When the Chinese boys arrived about ten minutes later, you all welcomed Kevin by singing the birthday song. Although you didn't plan it beforehand, each one of you sang it Mandarin - surprising not only the birthday boy, but also yourselves. It was actually quite amusing how you all managed to remember the lyrics even if you have never sang it again after Yixing's party. 

♫ Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè~ Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè~ Zhù nǐ xìng fú~ Zhù nǐ jiàn kāng~ Yǒu gè wēn nuǎn jiā tíng~ ♫

"Make a wish, Totoro!" you urged.

"Wait- before I blow these candles out, there is something I want to say," Kevin announced. He quickly scanned the room and the rest of you wondered who was going to be singled out. "Luhan-" With a pair of wide eyes that cannot rival those of Kyungsoo's, the baby-faced Chinese boy pointed to his chest. "Yeah, you-" Kevin confirmed. "No cake frosting fights today, okay? We'll get into trouble if we mess this place up and I'm pretty sure the company will know if that happens."

Luhan grunted. "Fine."

"Yeah, besides I think Zitao will really beat us up with his wushu stick if we don't let him eat the cake this time," Yixing chimed in, giggling like a child as the panda-eyed Chinese boy blushed like a thirteen-year-old school girl with a crush when his obsession with cake was exposed.

Due to Chanyeol's insistence, you all repeated the last line of the Happy Birthday song, so Kevin could finally make a birthday wish. The towering celebrant, whose y pushed back hair for this special occasion caused Jihye to stare more often than usual, closed his eyes and made a wish. Although you didn't exactly knew what he really asked for, the way his thick eyebrows creased in concern while he was concentrating on his birthday wish hinted that it was probably not selfish at all.

And you were right.

Instead of asking for a long list of material things he wanted to possess or aspiring for a successful debut with the rest of his friends, Kevin actually wished for the safety and happiness of the mother he left in Canada.

"And now, to start things off-" Minseok handed one of the microphones to the birthday boy, urging him to sing the first song. "What song should I choose for you?"

With furrowed eyebrows, Kevin reluctantly received the microphone from his baozi-cheeked friend. "Why should I go first?" he questioned, slightly tilting his head as he gently scratched his temple.

"Because it's your birthday, that's why!" Yixing answered.

"Fine. I'll go first, then," Kevin agreed. He then reached for the song booklet and scanned through the pages to look for a song to sing. Desperate for suggestions, he asked, "What do you guys want?"

Without thinking twice, you and Luhan suddenly shouted "CANDY!" at the same time, and somehow, you felt like the two of you were inside the bubble tea shop again, bursting into fits of laughter as you imagined today's birthday boy singing and dancing to H.O.T's hit song while sporting one of those baggy overalls-silly hat ensembles.

"You two are so weird!" Kevin just shook his head as he watched you and Luhan laugh. "And no, I'm not going to sing that," he decided, browsing through the songbook again in search of a different song. "We always perform Candy before practice every day and I want to sing something different."

"Sing 'Baby, Baby' instead," Joonmyun recommended.

Zitao's eyes widened at his hyung's suggestion. "JUN MA HAO! WHY SO NYEO SI DAE, WHY?!?"

"I meant the song by 4Men, not So Nyeo Si Dae!" Joonmyun clarified, assuring Zitao that he wasn't asking Kevin to perform a song by a girl group. "I would never ask Kevin hyung to sing such a girly song!"

In the end, Kevin complied with neither you and Luhan's nor Joonmyun's song requests. Instead, he chose the song 'Limping' by Moonlight Fairy Reversed Grandslam, a Korean one-man indie rock band.

♫ Jeolluggeoline~ Hanado an himdeulo~ Geujeo gaseumapeul ppuningeol~ Aju gakkeumssik jeolluggeoline~ Kkaedaleun ji olaeya ige nae paljaraneun geol~ Aju gakkeumssik jeolluggeoline~ ♫

You nudged Jihye's arm. "If you stared at him for another three seconds, he'll melt like a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day," you kidded, quickly waking up your best friend's senses. Leaning closer, you whispered, "Ji, tone it down a little, please? You've been gawking at him ever since he arrived!"

"But he looks extra hot today, I can't help it!" Jihye whispered back. "And now that I know that he sings like that-" Your best friend finished off what she wanted to say by mouthing 'OH MY GOD' - the way she did it was so exaggerated it was totally impossible to misinterpret it.

Although he was sitting beside Jihye, Minseok couldn't hear what the two of you were whispering about. Well, he didn't really need to. He already knew that you were talking about Kevin, but instead of feeling bad about it, he became even more encouraged. He silently swore to himself that when his turn to sing comes, he will make Jihye fall for his beautiful voice. He was confident, after all, that he was a much better singer than Kevin actually is.

"But Yunho hyung has very few parts-"

When they decided to sing a Dong Bang Shin Ki song next, Minseok, Luhan, Joonmyun, Yixing, and Kyungsoo - arguably the five best vocalists in the room - inevitably fought over who's going to sing whose parts.

Because he was briefly distracted when you scrunched up your nose when Youngho complimented how cute you looked after hearing that a DBSK song was going to be performed next, Luhan failed to claim the rights to be the main vocalist for the next song and was left with the responsibility of singing U-Know Yunho's lines. The baby-faced Chinese boy, however, complained about the DBSK leader's very limited number of solo lines by poking Minseok's side with the microphone he was holding. "I want Jaejoong hyung's lines!"

"I already called dibs on Jaejoong hyung!" Minseok reasoned, poking Luhan back with the clicker.  After seeing how Jihye reacted to Kevin's solo performance, Little Baozi was determined to impress your best friend with his gold medal-awarded vocal skills. "Besides, if you want more parts, you should go after Junsu hyung's instead. He's got the most lines in this song," he added, successfully freeing himself from Luhan's pestering.

Kyungsoo, who already volunteered to be tonight's Xiah Junsu, widened his eyes upon Minseok's suggestion. "Ah~ Hyung! I told you I'll be singing Junsu hyung's parts! I've already practiced them in my mind!" he argued, his Keroro eyes getting bigger with every word. 

Your sunbae then leaned closer to Luhan to make a better suggestion. "Hyung, try stealing either Changmin hyung's or Yoochun hyung's from these two instead," he advised, pointing to Joonmyun and Yixing, respectively.

"YA!" Joonmyun and Yixing chorused, playfully hitting both of Kyungsoo's arms.

Folding his hands behind his head, Sehun decided to finally put an end to his hyungs' dilemma regarding the distribution of singing parts by simply pointing out that "Yunho hyung ith Bubble Tea'th ultimate biath."

"Fine! I'll be Yunho hyung!" Luhan quickly decided, making everyone else laugh.

Yixing scratched his nape. "But I thought you said-"

"I'll sing Yunho hyungs parts and there's no way you can steal them from me now," Luhan declared, carefully massaging his jaw as he gets ready to sing.

"What are you guys singing, anyway?" you asked.

Before any of the other boys could answer, Luhan said, "You're My Melody."

"Why doeth it theem like he wathn't just anthwering the quethtion?" Sehun commented.

"Sounds like a declaration to me," Kevin quipped.

Ignoring Sehun and Kevin's side comments, you clapped your hands together and beamed. "Ooh~ that's one of my favorite songs from the Mirotic album!" you mentioned, intertwining your fingers as you brought your hands closer to your right cheek. "I mean, along with Love in the Ice and Afterglow and Flower Lady and Wish and-"

"Just say that you love all of the songs from the album," Kyungsoo suggested.

"I love all of the songs from the album!" you obliged.

Face smeared with confusion, Joonmyun looked at Yixing and asked, "But I thought we're going to sing Love Is...?", automatically causing the forgetful Chinese boy to scratch the back of his own neck. "Yeah, that's what I thought as well..." he replied.

Noticing how your eyes lit up upon hearing another DBSK song that wasn't from the Mirotic album, Jongin gently patted your thigh to make another suggestion. "Go on. Enumerate your favorite songs from the Rising Sun album," he teased. 

Riding along with his little joke, you held out your right hand to start counting your favorite songs from Dong Bang Shin Ki's second album. "I like Tonight, Love is All I Need, Pabo, Beautiful Life-"

Your recitation of what is basically the track list of your bias group's second full album unexpectedly came to a halt when you all heard someone's mobile phone ringing. "Xing, your phone is ringing," Kevin pointed out, as if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world.

When he checked who was calling, Yixing handed his microphone to Youngho. "Sing my parts instead. I really need to take this," he said, transferring the responsibility of singing Yoochun's lines to the boy wearing a purple beanie.

"Okidoki~" Youngho agreed.

With one hand over his left ear, Yixing finally answered the phone call and stated sputtering words in a strange Chinese accent. He then signaled to Luhan that he was going to continue the phone call outside and walked out of the room.

"Must be a call from Changsha," Kevin assumed, and the other boys nodded in agreement. "His grandparents always phone him during weekends."

As soon as Yixing was out of earshot, Minseok, who was a little too excited to showcase his singing skills, immediately pressed play to start the song. Kyungsoo, the self-proclaimed Xiah Junsu for today, was the one who sang first:

♫ Ooh~ I'm gonna give you my love~ forever be with you~ ♫

"Kyungsoo's English pronunciation is really good, isn't it?" Jihye praised.

Kevin, the only person in the room who can actually converse in straight English, agreed with your best friend's observation. "Yeah, he speaks better English than me sometimes," he admitted, chuckling to himself as if he remembered a funny episode involving the English language.

♫ Eoneusae nae mame geunyeoga deuleowa beoryeoseo~ Amooreon