May 30th

May 30, 2011

It was another day of dancing relentlessly until you couldn’t even feel your limps moving.   Luhan and some of the other SM trainees lay on the floor panting. “I think I’m going to die…” gasping for air, Chen complained.

“Here,” the ever older brother-like Kris hands Chen a bottle of water. “And stop exaggerating, it’s not good for you to speak of death so openly right Han?” When Luhan didn’t respond, Kris chucked his bottle at the dazed man.

Feeling something hit his leg, Luhan blinked his eyes a couple times. “Eh?...yeah.” Realizing it was a water bottle that hit him, he took a big gulp of the fluid. “Ge, xie le.”

“Xie sha?”  Kris replied with a smirk.

“Yah! You know the rules, no Chinese! I can’t understand a word you guys are saying.” Whining like a three year old, Chen pouted.

“You do realize once we debut, we’re going to be promoting in China right? It’s the country that speaks Chinese?” Kris refuted back while Luhan just sat there watching.

“Yes, well you guys need to improve on your Korean bef—”

“Yah! Stop pushing!” “Where’s the food?” “Where are the presents?” “Shoot! Taeyeon just texted me they’re already in the parking lot!” “Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Random shouts from the hallway effectively cut of whatever Chen was going to say. “What’s with the noise?” Tao questioned, while the rest nodded along.

“I heard some of the idols are throwing a surprise party for Yoona-ssi.” The dance trainer answered.

“Jinja?” the young man sitting in the back corner’s eyes widened. Jumping up faster than a leopard pouncing on a prey, Kai rushed to open the door to catch a glimpse of the girl being mentioned. Just as the door was swung open, Luhan was able get a quick look of a girl with opened as wide as an alligator and another girl who was following closely behind quietly. He had seen enough news to be able to identify the two girls as Yoona and Seohyun.

Seohyun…Strangely he had a sudden desire to see more of the gentle girl that had passed minutes ago.

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May 30, 2012

“Hurry hide!” Luhan sighed in exasperation. He really didn’t get the point of hiding. I mean she was bound to know since it seemed like they did it every year. And why was he even here? A sharp tug later, Luhan finds himself crouching behind dozens of balloons with Kai. “Please explain it to me again why I—”

Whatever he was going to say was cut off when the door swung open and the crowd in the stuffed room all jumped up shouting the words, “Happy Birthday!” at the top of their lungs. If it wasn’t for his quick reflexes of blocking his ears, Han could’ve sworn he would’ve gone deaf.

When fellow idols and employees moved for Yoona to walk inside, that was Luhan saw her. The girl/woman he had been following and acting like a crazy fan for. He gulps, suddenly feeling ridiculously parched. What was wrong with him? He had never gotten this nervous before over a girl.

Right when he was finally able to find the courage to approach her, he feels a pat on his shoulder. “Han, we need to introduce ourselves.” Kris explains. Luhan frowns but nonetheless follows his leader close behind.

“EXO, Luhan-iminda.” He bowed, briefly catching the birthday girl’s gaze. “Umm…s—s heng ri ku--kuai le…and nice job on Love Rain.” He mutters the last part out softly and cringes. Could he have been any more awkward? He doubted it, he hadn’t meant to, but somehow his mind had wondered off to the innocent maknae of SNSD. And then the next thing he knew he was stuttering. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Im Yoona wasn’t pretty or talented, he would have to be crazy and maybe gay for him not to think she was beautiful…but to him somehow when Seohyun stood next to her, the face of SNSD seemed sort of plain…and loud.

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May 30, 2013

Luhan had always been a smart boy. So it didn’t take long for him to figure out it was some sort of tradition for all available SM employees and idols to do a surprise party for Im Yoona. One thing he wasn’t sure of was why he was at this party again. It wasn’t like they were friends, to be more exact they weren’t even really acquaintances. Sure, they had worked together once about a year ago, but they were still strangers. Strangers who knew nothing about each other yet somehow had grown a habit of nodding curtly to the other person whenever they saw each other.

“Happy Birthday!” They shouted. This time he doesn’t block his ears because he had been already been used to high pitches of screams. When he catches the sight of the birthday girl, automatically he stands up straighter in hopes of seeing her dongsaeng. Nothing. In an instant his small smile turns into a frown. Why didn’t she come?

So deep in his misery, it was only when he felt a tap on his arm did Han notice Yoona was standing in front of him with an overly bright smile. “Luhan-ssi! I’m glad you came!”

“Oh…happy birthday!” He tells her in fluent Korean but becomes flustered when he realized he had nothing to give her. What kind of a person goes to a birthday party and doesn’t at least bring a present? “Eh…” His head lowered in embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about getting me a gift, I’ve received enough that I don’t think I’ll be different who gave me what.” She tells him, laughing off his troubles. Luhan’s head snapped up in disbelief. “Anyways how is EXO doing? I saw the PV for your next album. I have to say I am totally excited to see what kind…” she gushed on.

Was she serious? Most women would have a fit if they found out someone at their party didn’t bringing a gift…And there was also about the fact she, his sunbae, was talking a mile a minute about how excited she was about his groups’ yet to be released album. Seemingly not even realizing he wasn’t really listening, she kept rambling on. She was talking to him as if they were friends and here he had thought they were only strangers. “So umm…can I ask for a favor?”

“…Sure?” Han questioned back to her, unsure of what she could possibly ask of him. He hoped it wasn’t anything personal or…illegal. He had heard plenty of stories from Kai to know Im Yoona liked to pull pranks. Even illegal ones.

Out of nowhere she pulls out a piece of paper with a permanent marker. “An autograph?” Smiling shyly, unlike her usual self, she held out the paper and marker for him to take.

His jaw dropped.

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May 30, 2014

Would you call showing up once a year at a party he didn’t belong to a habit? He supposed it could be somewhat of a tradition for him now, considering this would be his second year showing up at a place where he didn’t really belong. But at least this time he brought a present so there wouldn’t have to be any awkward and embarrassment on his part if he happened to stumble into her. Which he knew was going to happen because the young woman was kind or crazy enough to greet every one of her guests.

“Luhan-ssi” He hears her saying his name after she appeared an hour ago. He turns and smiles.

Before she could say anything else, Han shoves a medium sized box into the birthday girl’s arms. “Your gift…” he scratches the back of his neck, feeling suddenly timid. “from me.”

If she was surprised she didn’t show it. “Thank you…” her arms wrapped themselves tightly around the roughly wrapped gift. “Can I open it?”

He didn’t see why not. “Yes.”  

In the blink of an eye, she had already unwrapped the present and is now pulling out a blue stuffed toy in the shape of a deer. “Oh!” Yoona yelps out, whether in excitement or awkwardness Luhan wasn’t sure. 

The next second, he found himself being wrapped around the waist by a skinny pair of arms. His eyes widen by a centimeter. “Umm…” Guess that means she likes the gift.

Faster than the speed she had hugged him, she pulled away.  “…Mianhe, I got a little carried away. It’s just I really like no… love this gift. This has to be the cutest stuffed toy I have ev—”

“Noona!” A figure skids and stops next to Luhan. “Kai is looking for you.” The young man then turns and smiles at the slightly peeved Chinese man. “Hyung, I think I saw *cough cough* over there.” Sehun points to the right, and nudges his friend in that direction. The older man didn’t budge, however the maknae didn’t seem to notice. “Come on noona, I can’t wait to show you what I got you.” Disregarding the intimacy rules, Sehun takes a hold of Yoona’s right hand and pulls her to where Kai was waiting patiently.

For an unknown reason Luhan had a sudden feeling of hitting his dongsaeng. Yoona had been talking, how could Hun just interrupt like th— he loses his train of thought when he sees the birthday woman turn around and mouthing the word ‘Thank You’ while clutching the deer he had given her tightly in her free arm.

He chuckles to himself, he finds it abnormally amusing that she seemed to love something he had randomly pulled off the shelf while shopping with Kai. The same Kai who spent hours researching online for a ‘perfect’ gift… Well it hadn’t been exactly random since he heard Kai at one point rambling of how her eyes were doe-like and she like the color blue. So basically, as Luhan was bored out of his mind shopping with his close Korean friend, his eyes find their way onto a stuffed animal…and well you know the rest.

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May 30, 2015

It was that time of year again, the birthday party everyone seemed so anxious about even though it would more than likely be a repeat of last year, or before that. Only this time the party would be thrown at a popular restaurant since most of the SM band groups have separated ways. It was bound to happen, after all as people change with age so does their needs and wants. And what the SNSD members wanted was to establish their own identity or in Hyoyeon’s case, to marry a man and start making babies. Besides being already at the age of twenty-five, netizens tended to point out the fact they were no longer girls, they were women. Women who needed make their own mark in the entertainment history not together.

“Luhan…” a voice behind him draws him out from his thoughts. “ssi” she adds on, feeling uncomfortable with the lack of informalities. 

“Yoona.” He turns and smiles softly. Somewhere between her last birthday and this year’s, he and Yoona had became friends. It’s hard for him to recall how exactly they went from strangers to friends, but Luhan figured it didn’t matter since they were only friends. People only needed to remember those moments if they were to become lovers in the future. “What did I tell you about adding on the ssi part?”

“That you would hit me… but I know you wouldn’t do that.”  Smiling brightly, she takes a step forward towards him daring him to hit her.

Tempting as it sounded to hit her because she broke her promise to him, he didn’t dare hurt even a hair of hers. At least not in front of her oppas, whom he knew absolutely adored her. “And why wouldn’t I?”

 “Because you love me too much?” As soon as she blurted out her words a sudden cold tension enveloped the two idols. Of course, after being an actress for so many years she easily pasted on a smile acting as if nothing was wrong but he could see right through it. “…Anyways I wanted to let you know Seobaby is going to be late. She says she’s stuck in traffic.” Yoona informed him hoping to change the awkwardness.

He blinks and shakes his head. “I’m not here for Seohyun-ssi, I’m here because it’s your birthday.”

“Jinja?” she asks, finding it hard to believe he wasn’t actually here to see his crush.

He