Shim Changmin drove towards the city with a smile on his face. It was eleven minutes past twelve when Sooyoung disrupted his conversation with Yonghwa and literally pushed him out of the house to fetch Seohyun.


"YAH! You have to fetch Makdoongie now! It's way past lunchtime already!"
Sooyoung had one leg propped up against door, keeping it open, as she shoved Shim Changmin outside. 
"Let's have a longer talk later, hyung! Nice to see you again." Yonghwa laughed softly as he walked with the taller man out of the house. The boy had already readied himself for the probable awkwardness in front of the strangers but was amusedly surprised when he found himself face-to-face with a long-lost friend.
"You have a lot of things to tell me, Yong!" he shouted at them as Sooyoung pushed her towards the location of their truck.


He let childhood memories flash on his mind as he rounded the corner going to the university where Seohyun had taken the examinations. 

Jung Yonghwa had been Changmin's best friend back when he was going through the last stages of his so-called childhood and was treading the first lines of his adolescent years. It was during their Kajeong visits with their umma that Changmin and Siwon got to know the talented young boy. Being only a year younger than thirteen year-old Changmin, young Yonghwa easily won his heart. It was, after all, a crucial moment too in the former's life as his best friend Kim Kibum was sent to States then for his high school education. What he missed most on his best friend, the young orphaned has filled up. They were partners in crime to say the least; occasionally giving Ahjumoni and even Siwon a run for their sanity. It has been five years since the last time they saw each other. Yonghwa left the town after he decided to pursue his dreams and Changmin, being busy with his university classes at Seoul, had only exchanged a few letters with him before the recurring responsibilities brought by young adulthood swallowed most of his time. The last he heard about the boy was when Madam Shim informed him that Yonghwa has dropped a message for the kind lady telling her that he was working in Japan as a composer. 

His reminiscing was cut off when he saw Seohyun in a waiting shed outside the university gates, her nose buried on a book. 

"Makdoongie!~" he poked his head out of the window as he called the young girl.
"Oppa?"
"Get in!" he unlocked the passenger door to let Seohyun in.
The girl went inside and carefully placed her belongings in the compartment before securing the seatbelt on her waist. "I thought unnie's going to fetch me."
"Ah, you're unnie has a lot of things to do so I went to fetch you." he looked down to check whether his seatbelt was securely in place and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief to see that he had it on. "How long have you been waiting?"
"Oh, about forty minutes."
The boy gulped as he started the car. "I am so sorry it took me long to get here."
"Ah, it's not your fault oppa. I finished the exam early which is why I was allowed to go earlier than expected."

Seohyun then filled the boy with the details of her examination, specifically stressing how much she enjoyed answering the situational questions in philosophy and the definition of concepts for biochemistry. The long ride seemed shorter than it actually was with Seohyun's story-telling that she only realized they were already near the house when Changmin blew the horn signaling their arrival.

"Omo, oppa! I talked too much, hadn't I?"
"Haha, it's okay Makdoongie. It's a normal situation when someone is excited." Changmin continued driving and stopped short a few meters before the woods. He checked the side mirror and smirked when he saw Yonghwa going outside the house and taking his place at the porch. He then faced the girl and smiled.

"Go first. I'll take the truck back to the shed." He then extended his long arms and opened the door to Seohyun's side to let the girl out. Seohyun barely had time to turn around and thank him before he stepped on the pedal and drove on.


Meanwhile...


Yonghwa was watching the scene from afar and the boy automatically turned his back when he saw the girl turn around and walk towards the direction of the house. He could hear the commotion from outside and he laughed softly at the thought of imagining Sooyoung as she goes on with last minute instructions. The girl, who was then chatting animatedly with Kyuhyun, basically jumped a mile when she heard Changmin's signal. Panic written all over her eyes even when everything has already been set and that the last twenty minutes they've waited for Changmin and Seohyun was spent laughing and talking with the rest of the guys. 

"Who are you?"
A soft but, surprisingly, strong voice broke his lines of thought. His jaw fell freely as he looked at the angelic sight in front of him. 

"Who are you?" the girl repeated the question and Yonghwa shook his head, remembering the reason why he was sitting in the porch at the first place. Instead of answering, he swallowed nervously before he struck the strings of his faithful guitar.

I don't know you 
But I want you
All the more for that...

He was gazing at Seohyun as he sang the lines and it felt as if the difficulties he imagined while trying to memorize the song vanished into thin air as music seemed to flow naturally out of him. 

Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react...

Seohyun's stare softened as she looked at the singing boy in front of her. The thoughts of a possible serial killer running through her mind a few minutes before now replaced with amusement and curiosity. She was about to open and ask him, in a much gentler voice, for his identity the third time around when a wavy-haired boy appeared outside the door and sang along with the guitar-playing stranger.

And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

They were singing to her a song in a strange language and even if her supposed immediate reaction was to scream, she simply stared in amusement. The boy with the guitar then played a chord and the song changed. 

Saengil Chukahamnida!~
Saengil Chukahamnida!~
Saengil Chukhae Seo Joohyun, Saengil Chukahamnida!

A singing Hyoyeon, Yoona, Yuri, Eunhyuk, and Kibum came out of the door followed by a smiling Sooyoung who was holding a cake in her hands. They were then joined by Changmin as he took his place beside Sooyoung.

Seohyun blinked one too many times at the spectacle in front of her. It took the brilliant-headed maknae a few seconds before fully understanding the situation. She was so surprised the no words left even we she opened .

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEOHYUNNIE~" they all chorused before slamming the cake on her face. The action woke her up. She was laughing while wiping the icing off her face as she felt the love showered upon her. The boys looked amusingly as the older girls swarmed around the youngest; Hyoyeon laughing as she helped wipe the icing from her face, Yoona and Yuri were busy brushing the crumbs on her shoulder while Sooyoung whispered 'don't worry, we still have another cake for you inside."

They broke off her when the last of the food was taken off her face. 

Kibum then pushed open the door as he hollered.

"Alright, let's go inside and feed you those darn sweet potatoes!"

Seohyun sat on the living room at around two in the afternoon with piles of gift surrounding her. She was sorting out the presents into categories -keroro stuff, school stuff, miscellaneous - when Yonghwa sat in front of her.

"Are you having fun?"
She looked up and her eyes met sincere brown orbs looking at her. 
"Neh. I should be the one to ask you that, right?" She gave him a shy smile before continuing with her work. 

The silence was getting a bit longer than expected and being the lively boy that he was, Yonghwa broke it eagerly.

"So you really like sweet potatoes?"

It was a random statement that Seohyun looked up to see the boy staring at the two buffet tables on the far side of the room. The first table laden with food for everyone and the other table filled with everything that has sweet potatoes in it.

The girl giggled upon remembering her unnie's promise back then about the party's theme being sweet potatoes, causing Yonghwa to look at her direction.

"I've never met a person like you before." the boy said outspokenly.
“Someone who likes sweet potatoes that much?"

He scratched his head in cute embarrassment upon hearing her answer. 
"Hehe, yeah. That's one of them."

Seohyun simply stared back innocently before going through her presents again.

"Uhmmm... I would actually like to say thank you for giving me a slice of your sweet potato cake." he said it a little too softly that the girl might have not heard it had she been sitting a few inches farthe