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*Crack*

Everyone set off their party poopers at the same time. “Surprise!” A dumbfounded Sungyeol stood in the doorway, staring back at the party doers comprising of their company staff and fans. He recognized few are his ultimate fans. Most notably, the president of his fan club was here.

“Jihyun, you all…” Sungyeol smiled, clapping in disbelief.

“Go in.” Woohyun urged, pushing him forward.

Sungyeol gave a soft cry when he looked around the conference room. The staff and fans had decorated the walls with balloons and colourful party streamers.

“Wear this.” Hoya helped the birthday boy wear the specially made party hat. At the same time, Sungjong walked out from the group. He held out a birthday cake and started singing the birthday song.

“Happy birthday to you…”

Jiyeon was singing and clapping along to the birthday song when Myungsoo looked in her direction and smiled. She blushed and clutched her heart. Her heartbeat was racing even though they were distance away, separated by twenty-odd people.

“Are you taking photos?” Sunggyu asked.

“Of course…” Myungsoo snapped a photo of Jiyeon and turned away.

“Happy birthday to you..!”

The song ended and Sungyeol blew out the candles on the chocolate mousse cake in one breath. Sungyeol cut the cake into half and the staff helped to cut the cake and distribute to everyone.

“Thank you everyone.” Sungyeol said appreciatively.

Instead of eating, Sungjong smashed his slice of cake into the birthday boy’s face. “Hyung, happy birthday!” The maknae squealed and took off.

“Woohoo! Did you take his epic expression?” Sungjong asked in a hurry. Youngjun nodded. He was doubling role as the cameraman for the party.

“Yea…” Youngjun chuckled.

“Well done, maknae!” Sunggyu howled.

“Damn it, that’s my birthday cake.” Sungyeol complained, wiping the cream off his face and ran after Sungjong.

“It’s hyung’s idea.” Sungjong fled to Myungsoo immediately. “Hyung, help me!”

“Go away, Sung-” Myungsoo said, shoving the boy away.

Sungyeol suddenly threw the cream at Myungsoo. “It’s too late.” He snickered. Everyone, especially Jiyeon roared with delight.

The visual boy swabbed the chocolate cream off his face angrily. “Yah, Lee Sungyeol!” Myungsoo retaliated. The staff passed him tissue.

“Sorry, Myungsoo…” Sungyeol spun around and sought for his next victims. The female fans screamed and scattered. “Don’t go, President Jihyun! Didn’t you come here to celebrate my birthday?” He pouted.

“Yes, but not the cake!” Jihyun cried, dragging her fan club vice-president.

“You’re my No.1 fan, aren’t you?” Sungyeol joked and smeared the girl with cake.

“Ah… Go, Areum.” Jiyeon yelled as Sungjong waddled towards them. They split up and darted in different directions.

“Gotcha!” Sungjong pumped his fist in the air.

Areum shrieked as the cake hit her hair. “Oh my god!” She ran after the idol and threw the crumbs at him. 

“Oh dear...” Hoya raised his brows in dismay. It was one of the worst cake fights that he had been taken part. Everyone in the room was hitting each other with cakes and laughing away. “Everyone …” he started.

*Splat*

A piece of cake hit his neck and fell to his shirt. Hoya groaned; his favourite shirt was mudded with chocolate mousse.

“Sorry Hoya.” The group’s wardrobe assistant said sheepishly.

Nearby, Dongwoo and Woohyun had Sunggyu pinned down to a chair. Hyomin giggled as she took pictures of the distressed man. “No… Hyomin, help me.” The leader pleaded.

Hyomin folded her arms and shook her head. “Why should I? Smear more, Woohyun.” She demanded. Sunggyu blanched.

“Roger, Madam!” Woohyun saluted her with a bow.

“Not my face, you rascals!” Sunggyu shrieked, struggling against his brothers. Dongwoo laughed hysterically, dabbing more cream cake onto his face.

“This is fun!” he cackled.

While Dongwoo and Woohyun had their sweet revenge on their leader, Myungsoo darted his eyes around the room and saw Jiyeon leaving. He followed her out of the room without a word.

-----

“I look much better in person.”

Jiyeon jolted at the voice and peeled her eyes away from the poster. Myungsoo stood in the corridor, looking smugly.

“Why are you staring at my individual poster when I’m standing right here?” He asked hilariously.

Jiyeon flushed. “Who says I’m staring at you? I was looking for the washroom.” She mumbled and walked off.

“The bathroom’s in the other direction.” Myungsoo pointed out.

“How would I know? This is not my company.” Jiyeon glowered.

“Follow me.” Myungsoo brought her to the ladies and waited outside.

Jiyeon came out few minutes later and was surprised to find Myungsoo waiting. She had her hands on her hips. “You’re still here?”

Myungsoo looked up from his camera. He was looking through the photos that he took earlier. “Just in case, you couldn’t find your way back to the conference room.”

“I’m not that clueless.” Jiyeon sulked.

Myungsoo gave an impish grin. “Wait.”

Jiyeon looked back. What does he want? Her heart was thumping crazily. Myungsoo raised his hand to her face and Jiyeon shut her eyes instinctively.

Myungsoo smirked. “You missed a spot here.” He said, pointing at the cream on her eyebrow. Jiyeon blinked. Her heart had stopped momentarily when he touched her. Embarrassed, she turned and walked away.

“Hey wait for me.” Myungsoo grumbled. He wiped the cream off his finger with his handkerchief and paused. “Oh. Did you think I was going to kiss you? Serious?” He cackled.

Jiyeon ignored his taunts and hastened her pace. She was mad at herself. Why the hell would I think he is going to kiss me? “Shut up…” she hissed back.

Myungsoo shrugged as he walked side by side with her. “Ah Jungyeop hyung?” He called out suddenly. “That’s our company CEO.” He whispered to Jiyeon, pointing at the man in suit waiting for the lift. He stopped talking to his assistant and strode over. “Hey Myungsoo…”

Jiyeon greeted. “Hello.”

“You must be a fan. Thank you for coming.” Jungyeop smiled.

“Uh yea…” Jiyeon nodded awkwardly.

The CEO looked at Myungsoo. “The party is over?” He asked.   

“Soon, aren’t you joining us, hyung?” Myungsoo replied.

Jungyeop shook his head. “I’ve a meeting in HQ later.” He glanced at his watch.  

“Oh…” Myungsoo said.

“Send my wishes to the birthday boy. Tell him that I’ll give a treat next week.” Jungyeop said.

“Korean beef?” Myungsoo asked hopefully.

“Yeah, Korean beef…” Jungyeop grinned. “I got to go now, Secretary Kim’s waiting.”

Myungsoo and Jiyeon walked the CEO to the lift, where his personal assistant was waiting. “We’re late, president.”

“See you hyung.” Myungsoo said.

“You guys seem awfully close.” Jiyeon remarked after the busy men left.

“Jungyeop hyung? We’ve known each other for more than six years.” Myungsoo replied.

“Six years?”

“Yeah, we’re like one big family. Before our debut, we had lived together for two years.” Myungsoo explained. 

Jiyeon blinked. “Training must be tough.”  

Myungsoo heaved a sigh. “No… I didn’t mean-” Jiyeon said quickly.

“Those days were really tough.” He admitted. “Woollim is a small company. We don’t have strong financial backing and resources. We don’t know if we ever are going to debut. All we do is trust Jungyeop hyung’s decision. Every day we do is dance, work out and study. Basically we live in uncertainty.”

Listening to him talk about his pre-debut days tugged at her heartstrings. “Well, Infinite did debut eventually. Look at you, all successful and well-known. You’ve so many fans now.” Jiyeon commented.  

Myungsoo glanced at her. Yes, I attained fame and riches, but at the expense of my freedom and privacy. I had fewer friends as I gradually lost touch with them after I debuted. The members became my only close friends and support during the difficult times. In the beginning, I was astonished of my popularity among the women. Lately, I found myself detesting those unwanted attention. Majority of the females approached me because of my looks. They know nothing about the real me. He scoffed at the irony.

“What are you thinking of?” Jiyeon asked, breaking his trail of thoughts. Myungsoo shrugged. Such personal thoughts are better kept to himself. “Nothing...” he gave a small smile.

“You said Woohyun will do something to Hyomin, so I came.” Jiyeon puckered her lips. “But from what I saw earlier, he seemed normal. Though Hyomin unni doesn’t seem interested in him.”

“What do you know?” Myungsoo sneered, pointing her to a direction. They could hear loud music and chattering from the party. Jiyeon peeked in and saw Woohyun dancing provocatively in the centre of the room. The manager was filming him with the video camera and he purposely danced near Hyomin as if to get the designer’s attention.

Hyomin laughed nervously as Woohyun did a y wave.  

“Ah, oppa!” The fangirls looked jealously at them.

“See.” Myungsoo rolled his eyes. Beside, Jiyeon was gawking.  

Sunggyu had enough of the member’s fooling and went up. “Hey, Nam Woohyun… Stop dancing…” He said and dragged him away from his ‘stage’.

“Yea yea, I haven’t finished dancing, hyung!” Woohyun complained. Hyomin looked grateful to her friend. Hoya took over and began dancing his famous locking moves to the likes of the audience.  

“Where is the birthday boy? Oppa, we brought another cake.” Someone said.

“I think unni likes Sunggyu oppa more.” Jiyeon stated bluntly.

“Why do you say so?” Myungsoo inquired.

“Her eyes… She stared Sunggyu oppa more often than at Woohyun oppa.”   

Myungsoo listened to her explanation with an amused expression. “What about you? Do you like me? Since I caught you staring at me more than one time?” he chortled.

Jiyeon coughed unexpectedly at his question. Her heart tingled as she struggled for an answer. “That was just a poster!” She protested. Myungsoo chortled.

Areum suddenly came out of the room and interrupted their conversation. “Unni… Where did you go?” Jiyeon gave a quizzical look. “The fans want to take a group photo with the boys.” She grabbed Jiyeon’s hand and cast a fleeting look at Myungsoo. “There you are oppa. Come in!”

Sungyeol stood in the centre, holding up a Tiramisu cake. “No cake fights this time. My fans made this for me, okay. I’m so grateful to all of you who came down to celebrate my birthday.” The birthday boy said bashfully.

The other members groaned, not used to his shyness.

“Stop acting coy!” Hoya warned. Sungjong guffawed.

Youngjun was still filming the whole event with his camcorder. “Go in, hyung.” Myungsoo said. He had finished fixing his camera to the tripod and set the timer. “Everyone, look into the camera. We’ll be taking three continuous shots. Be sure to do a different pose.” He instructed and raced to where Jiyeon was.

“Why here?” She murmured grudgingly. Myungsoo made a face, placed his finger to his mouth and pointed her to look into the camera.

“How long did you set the time, Myungsoo?” Dongwoo asked.

“Ten seconds, hyung. Stay still.” Myungsoo retorted.

“My legs are getting numb.” Dongwoo grumbled, scuffing his feet.  

The shutter went off suddenly, much to everyone’s surprise. Myungsoo slipped his hand into Jiyeon’s while the camera flickered away. His gaze shifted to her and gave a boyish grin.

“It’s done?” Dongwoo gaped in horror. “I bet I look ugly in the picture.”

“He did tell you to keep still, hyung.” Sungjong said. Everyone else burst into laughter except Jiyeon. She was still staring at Myungsoo.

“Shall we take another shot?” Myungsoo asked.

“Hell yes!” Dongwoo simpered.  

That moment Myungsoo let go of her hand, Jiyeon realized one thing. She might have fallen for the man.