Na Ra's PoV

I stretch my arms towards the ceiling as the warm, bright sunlight brushes against my skin in the morning. I yawn. Another day. I get up, brush my hair and then head to the closet to find something to wear.

I feel sad that I didn't find Hyo Ri's phone yesterday, but I heard that she has a backup. I pick out some black skinny jeans, a green flowy shirt and green flats with a golden bow to match. Grabbing my purse, I head out the door and towards the perfect boy named Baekho.

~~~~~~

Sang Mi's PoV

"Ok, she's leaving the house with Baekho, come on, come on, leave already girl," I whispered to myself.

"So this is Na Ra's house?" Hyo Ri asked, looking around.

"I guess so. But what's important is that we talk to her aunt and get her to let us decorate everything like crazy," I replied.

Yes, we know that Na Ra lives with her aunt. We found out yesterday that she lives there because she doesn't have a family anymore. It was when we were planning everything with Nu'est. We were talking about how we had to go to Na Ra's parents and get their permission and Baekho started fidgeting and looked worried. He said we couldn't really ask her parents. When we asked why, he said that he has no choice but to tell us the truth. And he did. 

Of course we were all shocked and sad about it. I mean, when you're friends with someone, really close friends with someone, you'd expect to know basically everything about them. And when it comes out last minute, at the most unlikely time, it's..surprising. 

Everyone had a quiet moment, but we knew that us being upset now wouldn't help considering we only had less than a day left to plan. it up, though it was hard, we continued to make arrangements. Everyone went and bought her a present, but we didn't show each other what we got her. We ordered a cake. We got candles. We bought balloons. Streamers. Confetti. All that's left, is to speak with her aunt.

"Come on Baekho-ah!" I murmured inpatiently. Baekho was taking Na Ra out of the house all day while we prepared. It was a little distraction to give us some time.

"They're leaving," Hyo Ri pointed out. "And......They're gone! Let's go!" 

We dashed from behind the bushes we were hiding in, crossed the street and knocked on the door we just saw Na Ra exit from. I heard footsteps and a voice called out, "Just a second!"

The knob turned. "Na Ra honey did you forget some-," the voice began before it stopped suddenly after seeing us. "Oh, hello there. May I help you?" the lady said with a smile.

So this must be her aunt

"Annyeonghaseyo," Hyo Ri and I bowed. "We're close friends of Na Ra and we have a favor to ask if you wouldn't mind."

Her aunt raised her eyebrow. "Oh? And what's this favor?" 

"Today is Na Ra's birthday, so we were thinking of surprising her with a party. We were wondering if it was alright for us to come in and decorate everything."

"Oh!" her eyes lit up. "That's a wonderful idea! Come in, come in."

She stepped aside and we came into the house that Na Ra now lives in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Baekho's PoV

I just have to keep her distracted.

I can do this

"Baekho-ah, where do you want to go?" she asked.

"Anywhere you want. You lead the way," I replied.

"Are you sure?" 

I nodded. "100% positive."

"Arasso..hmm..can we go swimming?"

"Swimming? Why swimming?" I asked

"You don't want to?" she frowned. "That's alright. Then we could-"

"I didn't say no, you goofball. But I thought you couldn't swim."

She gave a toothy grin.

"You'll just have to teach me then. What are you waiting for? Gaja!"

Thankfully it's nice and sunny, and we could just head to the public pool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you bring a swimsuit?" I asked.

"Oh..no I didn't," she frowned.

"Well, guess we'll just have to buy one." 

I grabbed her arm and we walked together into the market. Splitting up, she went to look for her swimsuit, and I went to look for a pair of trunks. After a while, we both found each other again. 

"Should we go?" 

She nodded. "Im ready to learn!" she said cheerfully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we got to the pool, we had to seperate again to go put our swimwear on. I finished fairly quickly and put my regular clothes in the lockers that they provide. I walked out, stood by the womens door and waited for Na Ra. I saw many women enter and exit, but Na Ra didn't seem to be coming. 

Nervously, I started to pace a little. I didn't know what to do. Hesitatingly, I lifted my hand and knocked on the door.

I coughed slightly. "Na Ra? You in there?"

"Huh? Oh. D-deh," she softly called out.

"Is something, er, wrong?" 

"A-ani. I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute."

At least nothing happened to her while she was in there. I stood silently with my back against the wall. After a bit, I heard the door creak open slowly. Turning to the door, my jaw dropped.

Na Ra was standing there, one leg over the other and head facing the ground. She kept tugging the top part of the suit up more to cover her..er..areas that should be covered in public. It was a plain black one piece, but she could kill in it. I never noticed that she had such long legs for someone so tiny.

"Uhm, I'm sorry. I didn't know that it was this, uh, low for the world to see," she said, turning red.

"D-de. It's alright. I mean, there's nothing to, well there is something..wait that's not what I meant-"

"Let's just go swimming," she said embarrassed.

Phew. Close one

"I agree." 

This time, there was a bit of an awkward silence, but we would have to get over that. I walked directly into the pool, going down the small steps, and Na Ra dipped her foot in first. She kept wringing her hands and looking around. I swam back over and put out my hand.

"Just hold on to me. Trust me," I said.

She bit her lip, but took my hand. I slowly backed into the water more and more, pulling her along with me. I stopped when the water was at the level of her stomach, which to me, only came up to a little more than half my thigh. 

For the next half hour, I showed her how to position herself, how to kick, how to paddle. The biggest thing was getting her to throw away her fear of drowning. But when she finally did get over it, she kicked and pushed and she made it. 

"Ah! Look! I'm swimming! Baekho-ah! Look!" she said excitedly.

I chuckled. "Yes, I see. Keep going."

She made circles around me, smiling the entire time. "I can swim! I can swim!"

"You enjoying yourself there?" I cross my arms.

"Mmm!" she went below the surface and swam underwater. She propelled herself to the other side of the pool and came back slowly. 

Is she trying to sneak up on me?

I pretended I didn't see her, and looked around in fake curiousity. She kept getting closer and closer. Just when she was about to touch me though, I quickly reached out. I pulled her up and out of the water, holding her high in the air. I spun her around, well as much as you can in a pool, and Na Ra began to giggle. I set her down softly, and she put her arms around me in a gentle embrace. 

"Kamsahamnida Oppa," she said.

My mouth was slightly open and I was a little surprised. She began to pull away, but I pulled her back. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my head in the crook of her neck. It fit perfectly.

"O-oppa?" Na Ra asked quietly, with her arms by her side.

"You hugged me. Now it's my turn to hug you back."

"Oh.." she slowly placed her arms around me too. 

"Is this better?" she asked.

"Mmm," I mumbled.

After a moment had passed, I heard her voice. 

"Oppa," she said softly.

I nuzzled closer. "Yes?"

"Am I..I mean," she began. "Are you.. Are we..dating now?"

My eyes flashed open. 

Is that what she's been worrying about?

I didn't answer her. It would wait for later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sang Mi's PoV

"Put the balloons there. Yes. Ok, no move that over by the window. JR put the mirror down and work! Minhyun, please stop recording yourself singing and help me put this banner up," Hyo Ri was really taking control of the situation. It was a good thing. We were getting down pretty quickly.

"Ren, can you help me get the cake ready?" I asked.

"Of course. Where is it?"

"In the fridge for now. I'll go get the candles. We won't light it yet though. When we see them coming we will."

"Arasso," he said.

The cake we bought was gorgeous. We had it specially made for Na Ra. It was pure chocolate and had yellow frosting around the outside with music notes everywhere. A huge blooming daisy was drawn in the middle of the cake, and that's where the candles would go. There were two candles. 1 had the number 1, and the other had the number 7. All around the side of the cake and on the top was Na Ra's name, and the words "Saengil Chukha Hamnida!"

"I can't wait for her to see this," I said to no one in particular.

"I can't either," Ren answered with an easy smile flitting across his lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They're coming! They're coming!" JR warned.

"Quick! Hide! Everyone hide!" I shouted. We shut off the lights and everyone hid behind some furniture while Ren and I ran to the kitchen to light the candles on the cake. With clumsy fingers, we somehow managed to light the candles just as the key was heard in the door.

"Hurry!" I whispered. The door opened to reveal Na Ra and Baekho walking into the complete darkness of the room. Na Ra's hand skimmed along the wall, searching for the light switch. When she found in, the second the brightness fillled the room, so did the voices of everyone else.

"Saengil Chukha Hamnida Na Ra! Happy 17th!!!" everyone yelled, blowing into birthday horns and tossing confetti everywhere.

She stood at the doorway. "You..did this for me?" 

"Of course!" Hyo Ri responded. 

"How'd you know though?" she asked.

"Na Ra. You have to learn you can keep nothing from me. I will find out sooner or later," she winked.

Na Ra laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

I coughed. "Ready everyone?"

"Ready!"

I brought out the cake and we all began to sing Na Ra happy birthday. Her eyes got watery and she blew on the candles. One of the candles fires got extinguished from her blowing it out, and the other candles light was extinguished by a dropping tear.

"Did you make a wish?" Baekho asked her.

She looked down and nodded.

"Ok let's cut this baby up and then we'll start with presents!" Hyo Ri suggested.

"Presents?" Na Ra asked. "You guys got me that too?"

JR patted her shoulder. "You see Na Ra, when it's someones birthday, they typically get something called a present."

"I know what it is, you silly," Na Ra laughed.

"Well then what am I explaining for?" 

Everyone joked around and had a great time. When the cake was all finished, we moved on to the gift part of the party. "I hope you like the gifts," I said.

"Yeah, we all picked something individually that we thought you would like," Ren said.

"I'm sure I'll love it guys," she replied.

Ren handed her the first one. "This one's from me."

She slowly opened the bag, removed the pink tissue paper that Ren had so carefully wrapped it in. Na Ra slowly pulled out the present for us all to see. It was a gorgeous white dress that had small frills at the bottom and laces circling the sleeves. The sleeves came down just below shoulder length, and the dress itself would stop a few inches above the knee. Bottom line, it was extremely pretty and most likely really hard to find. 

He must have had it shipped.

"Wah! This is..gorgeous Rennie! KomawoNex!" she held the dress to her in a happy moment. 

"You really like it? Chincha?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I? It's amazing!"

"I'm glad," he smiled.

Hmm. Ren looks a little too happy..what's going on here? ..Eh, I must be overthinking it.

Next was the gift from Minhyun. He had bought her a black and pink bookbag with the words Nu'est. LO/\E written on the sides. Inside there was a book on random subjects, since he knew Na Ra loved learning new things and picked up on them fairly quickly.

"I wanted you to always think of Nu'est and to know we're always here for you," he said.

"That's sweet Minhyun, thank you."

Next was Aron's gift. He scratched the back of his head. "Er, I didn't know exactly what to get you. Mianhae if you don't like it."

Na Ra held a box of pastels and a sketch book. "These are great! I can finally learn how to draw! Thank you Aron!"

Up next was JR's gift. She pulled out a picture frame with several different photos of JR in it. 

"Since I know you like looking at me, what better gift to give you, than ME?" he asked.

Everyone smacked him upside the head. "Yah!"

"Well I put your pictures in the other frames! Gosh, don't hit so hard!"

Na Ra pulled out another frame and it had everyone's photo in it. 

"Awh. I love this! Kamsahamnida!"

Baekho's up.

"Baekho, your turn," I called. Taking a breath, he went over and pulled out a small box fromm his pocket. He handed it to her and when she opened it, she saw a silver ring. She blinked.

"This is?"

"A couple ring. Oh and by the way," he got really close and whispered, but I still heard, "the answer to your earlier question... is yes."

I looked down at the same time that Na Ra looked down and saw that Baekho was already wearing his ring.

"Are you serious Baekho? Really? You're not teasing?"

He laughed.

"Never would I joke about this."

Na Ra looked at the ring and started to cry. 

"Na Ra?" Baekho asked in concern. "Are you alright?"

Na Ra ran into his arms and held him. "I'm just so..happy."

He grinned. "So will you wear it? And let everyone know you're mine?"

She wiped her tears and nodded. "I will, I promise."

He took the ring out of the box and put it on her finger. She looked up and they shared a sweet birthday kiss.

Everyone began to clap, hooting and whistling. Na Ra was, of course, a tomato by now. I turned and noticed Ren was just standing there though.

What's with him?

I shrugged it off.

The door opened, and Na Ra's aunt rushed in. 

"Oh I'm late aren't I? Gosh darn! I thought I would make it on time. I'm sorry honey." 

"It's alright. It's stil my birthday, right? You didn't miss it," Na Ra answered.

"Yes it is. Oh! That reminds me. Sang Mi sweetheart?"

"Yes?" I answered.

"I left Na Ra's present in my room. Would you be a dear and go bring it please? It's the door before Na Ra's on the second floor. The present should be by my bed, in front of the nightstand."

"I understand," I said.

I marched up the stairs and tried to locate the door. I walked into the room, after I found it, shut the door and didn't flip on the light considering the lamp on the nightstand was . Making my way over, I saw the bag with the present in it. I grabbed it and was about to leave, when I noticed something was off. I thought it was just the shadows from the lighting. I looked again, and I saw a corner of something sticking out from underneath the mattress.

What is that?

I tugged on it gently, and it turned out to be a book. I set the present down for a second while I examined this new discovery. 

It's not a journal, right?

I wouldn't feel right reading it if it was. But it was a strange book. It was made like journal, but didn't have a lock on it or anything.

Must be old.

The strangest thing about it though, was the title. Yes, the book had a title. Mommy's Little Butterfly.

I flipped open to the first page, and it was written in an unfamiliar handwriting. Looking at the date, I could tell that the last time someone wrote in it was about 7 years ago. I quickly skimmed the pages and Na Ra was mentioned a lot. Stuff about when she was a kid. It was cute.

Wait...this couldn't be...

Does Na Ra know about this? My eyes searched the room, as if that was going to help me.

I think I just found her mom's diary..

~~~~~~~~~~~

WAHHH It's been a rough week, but your guys' comments kept me going and helped me kick some PSAT !!!!!!! *fist pump*

Hope you enjoyed the chapter cuz here's the shoutout...

Oh Soy un Doritooooooooo

Singing our theme song til dawn

Now it's time for shoutouts and food

Gotta eat em all, TACOMON!

Did that make sense?...Nope..Didn't think so. MOVING ONNN

The shoutout of the day goes to..... 

mimi81797 !!!!

Maru is your oo kins huh? ;D He's so CUTEEE >< Even though here it looks...well,not the most appropriate he's ever been, but surely not the dirtiest I've seen in my time as a kpopper.

When they debuted, Maru was my bias..but then I saw TK    O.O

Hehe. I haven't really been paying much attention to them lately *she said regretfully*, but since you seem like a huge CROWN, can you please explain to me wtf (what the flapjacks) is TK doing in this one?..It's cute though O.O

Aish, chincha.... -.- Are there no normal kpop singers?

Nope..that was a stupid question, never mind.

OMG BAP NEW SONGS CAME OUT!!!! ASDFGHJKL;'~~!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAJIMA, YES SIR (saw this one coming), AND STOP IT! 

Just....perfection 

BAP why'd you have to release such beauty??!!? I'm dying and you're all the way in Korea