BGM: Younha feat Jay Park - Driver

"At this rate, I'll use up all of my savings on birthday presents."

Jung Jihye pushed through the turnstile as she sashayed her way inside the subway station in Apgujeong. Instead of greeting you with 'Hello' or asking you how long you have been waiting for her to arrive, your best friend automatically complained about money when she first spotted you near the automated ticketing dispensers.

"Just wait 'til spring comes," you warned, loosening the striped scarf wrapped around your neck. "There will be a birthday party almost every week! You and Baozi in March~ 8g of Fat, Jinho, and Lulu in April~ Tao-Tao and Rich Kid in May-"

"-you were born in spring as well," Jihye reminded as the two of you joined the rest of the commuting crowd on the way to the exits. "Speaking of which, what are you planning for your 18th birthday? I mean, I know you usually just have dinner with your parents, but now-"

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Ji, isn't it a bit too early to think about that?" you interjected, gently scratching your nose. "I mean, it's only November. Besides, we still have to celebrate Kyungsoo sunbae, Moonkyu, and Jongin Chingu's birthdays on January."

"Argh! Too many birthdays!!!" Jihye stomped on the stairs towards Exit 3. "It feels like I'm buying a present for every single member of Super Junior! You're lucky there are only five members of Dong Bang Shin Ki!"

"Well, nobody asked you to splurge on Totoro's present," you chided as you reached the landing of the stairs. "By the way, what are we riding to Chanyeol's house? Do we take the bus? Do we fetch a taxi? Did he give you any directions?"

Jihye reached for the mobile phone in the pocket of her double-ed coat; expertly unlocking the screen with just a single swipe of her index finger. "Well, Moonkyu said they'll send someone to drive us there," she informed, pressing some buttons on her phone as she texted Jongin's pseudo-twin to inform him that you have arrived safely in Apgujeong Station.

"So, I guess Joonmyun will probably pick us up," she added.

"Uhm, Ji," you tugged on your best friend's sleeves, urging her to look up. "I don't think it's Joonmyun who will give us a lift." When her gaze finally left the tiny screen of her mobile phone, Jihye noticed the two boys walking towards your direction and blurted out: 

"Let me guess. You two volunteered to pick us up, didn't you?!?"

When Jihye told you that somebody was going to come over to give you a ride to Chanyeol's house, you also expected Joonmyun to arrive since he was the only one among the boys who actually drives his own car. To your surprise, however, it was Luhan and Minseok who showed up. 

According to Minseok, Chanyeol's father was more than happy to be freed from the responsibility of driving all the way to Apgujeong Station that he willingly handed over the keys of his car to Luhan as soon as they suggested the idea of fetching you themselves instead.

"Do you even have a Korean driver's license?" you asked.

"Of course, I do. I'm not as irresponsible as you think," Luhan smirked, not taking his eyes off the road. He was afraid that if he did, even just for a second, you'll yell at him like how your mother nagged at your father while he was driving Luhan to the hospital.

"You sound like your mother sometimes," he added.

"I do not sound like my mother!" you denied, pouting like a kid. "She's all sweet and mushy and I'm everything but that. Besides, I don't remember ever referring to anyone as 'sweetie' or 'honey' and I have never given out hugs to people I just met."

Jihye leaned over and poked her head beside yours as she held on to the backrest of your car seat. "I love Mrs. Han! She's a sweetheart, isn't she?" she smiled and Luhan immediately nodded in agreement. "It's a pity Jaemi didn't inherit her charm!"

"Geez. Thanks a lot, Ji," you rolled your eyes.

"I want to meet Jaemi's mother too," Minseok announced, also leaning over to rest his chin on Luhan's seat. "She sounds pretty cool and I heard she's quite an amazing chef as well. Luhan here has been raving about how delicious the sushi was even if he ended up in the hospital because of it."

Your best friend looked at Minseok and decided to make him envious. "I'm going to see Mrs. Han later. I'm sleeping over at Jaemi's after Chanyeol's party. I'm sure I'll be welcomed with a sumptuous breakfast when I wake up tomorrow morning!"

"Really? We're having sleeping over at Chanyeol's as well-" Minseok's gaze then traveled to the tiny handbag Jihye brought with her. "-wait a minute. If you're sleeping over at Jaemi's, then why did you bring such a small bag? Can all your stuff fit in there?"

You turned to Minseok and patted his head as if he were a puppy. "Oh, dear Baozi. Ji doesn't need to bring anything whenever she wants to sleep over at my house. She practically lives there! She has her own toothbrush, her own pair of slippers, her own towels..."

"Anyway, what I meant to say was that you sound like your mother when you nag," Luhan explained, effortlessly maneuvering the car to turn smoothly in the next corner. 

"I do not nag!" you disagreed. Your reaction not only made Luhan chuckle, but it also caused him to briefly look away from the road just so he can take a quick glance at your face. Just as he expected, Luhan immediately got scolded when you unconsciously emulated your mother by yelling "YA! LU HAN! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!!!"

"Sure Jaemi. It's quite obvious that you don't," Minseok snickered. Jihye swatted his arm for his sarcastic comment, but she couldn't hold in her laughter, either. "Well, to be fair, you really are motherly," Jihye commented. "Compared to me, that is."

You tilted your head and rested it on the glass window of the car door. "Jongin Chingu tells me that all the time," you mentioned, fumbling with your seatbelt. "He automatically says I'm in umma-mode whenever I tell him to fix his jacket or remind him to do something."

"Well this guy has his appa moments too," Minseok shared, pointing to Luhan. Failing to notice the glare Luhan was sending him through the interior rear-view mirror, Little Baozi went on to explain what he meant. "Normally, he's just a laid-back guy, you know, someone who takes care of people secretly, but there are times when Luhan gets even scarier than Kevin, Joonmyun, or Kyuwan hyung. For example, just the other day, he went back to the company at around 3:00 in the morning-"

Luhan temporarily removed his hand from the brake lever just to smack his friend's head.

"Baozi~ what did he do?!?" You tried persuading Minseok to spill the beans, but he still refused to reveal what he was going to say earlier because Luhan was glowering at him again through the car mirror. Completely giving up on Minseok, you turned to Luhan and tried your luck with him instead.

As soon as you tugged on his sleeve, Luhan tried suppressing a smile on his face. "Mimi, I'm driving," he said, almost failing to hold in a chuckle. When he noticed you pouting adorably through his peripheral vision, Luhan found it even more difficult not only to resist your unintentional aegyo, but also to focus his attention on driving properly.

"Look at him. He's giving in to your aegyo already," Minseok pointed out.

"I wasn't doing aegyo!" you argued.

"Sure you didn't. The Puss n Boots eyes and the puppy dog pout? Yeah, Jaemi. You didn't perform aegyo just now," Jihye snarled, patting the crown of your head. "If you guys must know, Jaemi normally doesn't do aegyo at all. Not even for her parents. Well, I don't think she needs to. I mean, she is an only child. And besides, all it takes for Mr. Han to give in to Jaemi's requests is a simple hug, anyway."

Luhan nodded enthusiastically. "I've seen her do that," he added. "When I was at their house, she gave her dad a hug and even batted her eyelashes just to distract him from the fact that she failed to look for the Rubik's cube he was asking her to find."

"I did tell him that I misplaced it somewhere," you corrected, poking his bicep, quite surprised at how firm it was. "Oh and why are we discussing my aegyo anyway? Stop diverting the topic and just tell me what you were doing inside the SM Entertainment building at 3 in the morning. Please? Pretty please~?!?"

Letting out a sigh of submission, Luhan scratched his head and confessed that he went back to SM Entertainment just to pick up Yixing. "The pabo has been pushing himself way too hard by practicing any chance he gets. If I didn't force him to come home with me then, he'll probably keep dancing until the sun rises again."

"Why? Is there another evaluation coming up?" you asked.

"Didn't we tell you? Yixing's substituting for Jonghyun this December. He'll be dancing in his place during SHINee's first concert in Tokyo," Minseok replied. "All of us are a little jealous, actually. Not only will he get the chance to perform with SHINee, but he will also get to fly all the way to Japan for free!"

"Wow! That's really impressive!" Jihye exclaimed.

You couldn't help but agree with her. "Yixing must be a really good dancer," you marveled, adjusting in your seat to face Jihye and Minseok. "I mean, to be chosen to dance with SHINee, who, as we all know, has some of the most complicated choreographies in K-pop, well, he must be a dancing machine!"

"Yixing's really good, but he's still second-best to Jongin," Minseok divulged.

"So why wasn't Jongin picked then?" Jihye asked.

Luhan tried stringing the proper words in his head before saying them with his mouth. Minseok was right when he said that Jongin was a better dancer than Yixing, and he wanted to explain this fact in a way that wouldn't make him sound like he was just convincing you that his best friend isn't as amazing as you think.

"Well, for one thing, KkamJong is still a student..." he started, impatiently scratching the back of his head. "Even if he is the best dancer among us trainees, he still has less time to practice as compared to, well, those of us who no longer attend school. It's more convenient to choose Yixing because he can devote more time in learning several choreographies all at once. In addition to that, he also has the most experience when it comes to performing in front of a large audience, so yeah, I think it was better to pick Yixing over Jongin."

"You have a point there," you agreed.

Minseok nodded. "I think it also helped that Yixing already knew some of the choreography before he was even chosen to dance in Jonghyun's place. All he needed to do was to synchronize his moves with the rest of SHINee," he said. 

"Besides, we can't have two Taemins onstage at the same time, right?"

The party was already in full swing when you arrived at the Park's residence.

Almost every corner of the house was filled with Chanyeol's friends: his fellow SM trainees, his classmates, his cousins, his Seiren bandmates, and a whole bunch of people whose relation to him is absolutely none of your business.

As soon as he saw you and Jihye arrive with Luhan and Minseok, the birthday boy, followed by some of your other friends, hurried to welcome you to the Park family's humble abode. Standing in front of you and your best friend, Chanyeol extended his arms, held out his palms, and flashed a big, creepy smile that says 'Hello! I'm ready to accept your presents now.'

"Aren't you a little excited, though?" Jihye noticed, handing her gift.

Based on what your best friend gave Kevin for his birthday, Chanyeol expected Jihye to give him something that was as huge or as flashy as that; so when he laid eyes on the small, rectangular box wrapped in glossy blue paper with the words 'Happy Birthday' printed all over it, Chanyeol's smile turned into a frown.

"Jung Jihye, why is my gift smaller than Kevin hyung's?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the box. "I mean, it doesn't even have that ribbon thing-"

"Happy Birthday, Chanyeol!" you perkily interjected, distracting the birthday boy by quickly shoving your present into his chest. "Here. It's much bigger than what I gave Totoro, right?"

When Chanyeol's eyes suddenly lit up again, Jihye let out a sigh of relief and mouthed the words 'Thank You' to you while Luhan whispered "Nice save!" into your ears before disappearing in the crowd.

Just then, you felt an arm snake around your shoulders and realized that it was your favorite commuting buddy, Jongin. He leaned closer to you and mumbled something in your left ear. "Ask him what Jinho hyung gave him for his birthday," he whispered.

"Why? What did he give him?" you asked, but Jongin just smiled and urged you to get the answer from the birthday boy instead. Following his advice, you tilted your head towards your chingu and asked, "Hey, Chanyeol! Did Jinho give you a present yet?"

When Chanyeol's smile vanished again, you instantly regretted asking him the question. "That jashik is officially debuting tomorrow and all I got for a birthday gift is a copy of his first mini album!" he revealed, pulling out a CD from the shelves before handing it over to you. "Look! He even signed it!"

credit to kpopautographs

"So, what are you complaining about?" you asked, flipping through the pages of the mini photobook included in the CD. "This is a very thoughtful present. He even signed it especially for you!"

"It's thoughtful, I know, but I would have appreciated it more if he didn't refer to it as his birthday present for me," Chanyeol said, taking the CD back from you. "All of us received a signed CD from him. I bet he'll give you one as well."

Jihye snatched the CD from Chanyeol and quickly skimmed through the photobook. "Was it signed by Kyuhyun oppa as well?"

Chanyeol started his chin. "Maybe I should just sell it online..."

"Pabo!" Joonmyun smacked Chanyeol in the head. "You can't sell it online! It was signed especially for you! Besides, no one is going to buy that unless there is another person named Park Chanyeol who wants an autographed copy of SM the Ballad's first mini album as a birthday present from his friend Cho Jinho!"

"Hyung! Don't hit me!" Chanyeol pleaded, rubbing the back of his head. "And don't call me 'pabo' either! It's my birthday today! Save the lectures and insults for tomorrow."

Scanning through the faces in the crowd, you asked, "Where is Jinho, anyway?"

"In MBC, recording for next week's Music Core," Kevin answered.

"He said he'll try to drop by later, but I'm not counting on it," Moonkyu added.

With eyes as huge as Keroro's again, Kyungsoo suddenly clasped his hands together when he remembered something important. "Oh! That's right! He asked me to remind you to come by SBS tomorrow so we can all watch his debut together."

"He's debuting tomorrow?!?" Jihye asked.

Youngho raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, didn't you check the tickets he gave us last week?" he asked, crossing his arms on his chest. "28th of November, year 2010. They are for tomorrow's Inkigayo, you know."

"Well, no. I mean, Jinho doesn't pester me with updates every chance he gets unlike someone I know..." Shrugging, Jihye slowly casted a glance towards the birthday boy, mentally cursing him for flooding her inbox and minihompy with constant reminders of the premiere of SNSD's Genie PV.

"Hey! It's my birthday! Be nice to me, will you?" Chanyeol requested.

Due to the insistence of his classmates, Chanyeol channeled his inner rockstar by performing several songs with his high school band, Seiren. Those lessons with Jungmo of The Trax seemed to have paid off because the guitar playing skills that the birthday boy showcased tonight were much better than his not-so-brilliant rendition of Canon Rock during the Smart Model Contest.

"LEMME HEAR YOU SCREEEAAAAAAAAAAM!!!"

After the third song, though, you excused yourself from the living room to give your ears a break. You were quite worried that if you tried to endure the loud banging of the drums and the deafening cheers of the crowd for another minute, you may never be able to hear again.

With a dry throat and a neck- thirst, you headed to the kitchen for a cold glass of water. The grape juice container was already empty and you don't have enough guts to try that red-colored punch after you accidentally caught one of Chanyeol's high school friends secretly spiking it with what you can only suspect to be some sort of alcoholic beverage.

When you stepped inside Mrs. Park's kitchen, however, you discovered that a certain Chinese boy was already raiding the refrigerator.

"What are you looking for?" you asked.

With his right hand still on the refrigerator door, Yixing briefly looked away from the assortment of bottled iced tea and canned soda to answer your question. "Something to drink."

"Is there a pitcher of cold water in there?" you asked, pulling out a chair to sit on. "I'm really thirsty as well and there is no grape juice left, so..."

"I'm glad you decided to stay away from the punch." Yixing took a pitcher of water from the refrigerator and placed it on the table. "It has soju in it, you know," he mentioned, opening the cupboard to get two glasses and a pair of coasters.

Resting your elbows on the table, you told him that you actually saw one of Chanyeol's friends emptying out an entire bottle in the punch bowl. "Even if I have never been inside a soju tent, the mere presence of that green-colored bottle was enough for me to realize that he was pouring liquor into the punch."

"Most kids would be curious enough to try it, though," Yixing commented as he filled both glasses with cold water. "To find out how it actually tastes like and stuff."

"Hey, just because you celebrated your coming of age this year, it doesn't mean you're a lot older than the rest of us," you pointed out, taking a sip from one of the glasses. "Aaaaaaahhh!!! A glass of cold water tastes so much better when I'm thirsty!"

Yixing chuckled. "Water doesn't even have a taste!"

"Sure it does!" you hastily retorted. When Yixing puckered his lips like he always do when he is either waiting for an answer or spacing out, you figured that he was expecting an explanation to support your claim, so you quickly racked your brain for an idea. "It tastes like... uhm... like... uhm... water! It tastes like water!"

The forgetful Chinese boy finally went off JPEG mode and burst into laughter. It was a good thing his glass was on the table when you spoke because God knows Yixing will probably have water coming out of his nose if you talked while he was in the middle of drinking. The two of you went on to talk about a couple of random stuff before the topic finally reached his pending trip to Japan with the members of SHINee. "So... Tokyo, huh?"

"Yeah, speaking of which-" Yixing put down his glass of water and slouched in his seat. "-is there anything you want from Japan? Like a souvenir or something?" he asked. Yixing held out his hands and started counting with his fingers. "Sehun already asked me to buy him a manga, Jiaheng wanted an action figure of Portgaz D. Ace from One Piece, Kyungsoo requested a bunch of weird-flavored KitKat bars, Zitao-"

"-can you even afford all of