EDITED VERSION. 

~~~~~

“We need beers. I’m sure Hongki-hyung will go crazy if we don’t have any, after all, it’s his birthday,” Jaejin said as he, Jiyeon, Jonghun and Yoona gathered around the table at lunch. It’s March 2, Hongki’s birthday and they were planning a surprise party for him.

As far as they were concern, Hongki was somewhere in the campus, maybe being mobbed by girls, giving him gifts, kisses and whatever they give him, which always made him so tired by the end of the day on the same day every year.

“No, alcohol is banned in the house,” Jiyeon immediately argued, “besides Seunghyun and Minhwan are not even legal to drink.”

“But noona~ it’s just beers, nothing hard I promise. And Seunghyun and Minhwan already drunk one time—but they we’re caught by the police, those idiots, I told them they should have someone legal with them. But that’s not the point, the point here is that, noona~ it’s a house party so there will be no drinking age limit.”

“Are you saying this for the good of Hongki or for you?” Jiyeon narrowed her eyes on Jaejin. He grinned, “I’m saying this for the good of all of us.”

She sighed, “I still I don’t like it. It retards the normal function of the brain, which makes you do things you don’t want to. It’s—”

“Alright, let’s have a votation—before my nerd best friend could even go medical, which I’m sure none of us will understand even if it take us our life time to ponder upon it.”

Jiyeon frowned at Yoona. How dare her defend her soon to be mate. She’s like an animal, ready to bite her best friend in the if it were in favor of her partner.

“Okay so raise your hand if you want beers tonight.” Yoona had her hand raised up even before she finished her sentence.

Jaejin raised his hand too, of course.

Jiyeon gawked at them. This two are unbelievable.

“I’m neutral. Either would do,” Jonghun said.

“Alright that would be 2.5 to 1.5. That settles it, Jonghun will be in-charged with the liquors,” Yoona concluded.

“What? Why me?" Jonghun raised his brow.

“Because it’s your best friend’s birthday. Don’t worry, we’ll make Hongki pay for the beers in your birthday in a few days.”

Jaejin clapped his hand twice, “Alright then. Jonghun-hyung and I for the drinks. Minhwan and Seunghyun for karaoke. And Jiyeon-noona and Yoona-noona’s in-charge of the cake and buying some other foods. Sounds like a plan?”

“Yeah,” everyone agreed.

At eight, as soon as Jaejin received a go signal message from Jonghun. Everyone huddled up at the door, Seunghyun with the cake; Jiyeon with Minsoo; and everyone else with a party pops.

As soon as Jonghun and Hongki opened the door, everyone started singing the birthday song. Hongki smirked at them but there was hint of astonishment in his eyes. Jiyeon, especially, could see that.

There were laughter, greetings and playful mocking as the boys settled in the living room. The girls made their way to the kitchen to slice the cake. Afterwards, Hongki followed them to bring out the alcohol from the fridge.

“How many boxes did they buy?” Jiyeon asked him.

“Five,” he answered loading the boxes in his arm.

The girl gapped, “What? That’s like thirty bottles.”

“Hey, you’re good at math,” he sneered sarcastically. But when he saw the unsure look on her eyes he sighed, “Don’t worry, geek. Jonghun and I could handle our liquors pretty well. So if all of you are already knocked out even before we finish it all, him and I will drink the last bottles for sure. Also, it’s my birthday, remember? Cut me some slack.”

Jiyeon frowned.

“And oh hey Yoona, beware of Jaejin when he gets drunk. He gets pretty aggressive, if you know what I mean,” Hongki winked teasingly.

Yoona’s eyes widened as her cheeks turned pink, “How did you—”

“It’s pretty obvious,” he smiled meaningfully before hopping back to the living room while singing, “Seunghyun~! Minhwan~! You’re still not allowed to drink~!”

“But hyung~~~~”

“Just kidding! Drink as much as you want~!”

“AASSSAAAA!”

Yoona’s eyes were still wide open as she turned to Jiyeon, “How did he—“

“Because he’s Satan, Yoona. Satan knows everyone’s deepest darkest secrets.”

Almost an hour has passed from the time when Jiyeon excused herself from the chaos downstairs to lull Minsoo to sleep. Jiyeon had just tucked him in his crib when she heard a knock on the door. She was surprised to see Jonghun standing there.

“Hey,” he greeted loudly.

Jiyeon immediately put a finger on her lips hushing. Jonghun capped his mouth.

“Sorry,” he whispered approaching her silently.

“It’s alright,” she whispered. “How are they?”

“Well they’re pretty drunk. Except for Hongki, he’s the loudest, I know, but he’s not that drunk-drunk yet,” he answered softly.

“I hope not, because we’ll have to clean up afterwards. I don’t care if it’s his birthday.”

Jonghun snickered, “Yoona’s wondering where you’ve gone anyway. She’s drunk, everyone could tell that. I think if it wouldn’t be for Jaejin, she would have sulked because her best friend wasn’t there.”

“You knew about it too?” Jiyeon blinked twice.

“Jaejin and Yoona? It’s pretty obvious.”

“Oh,” she giggled softly. “And thanks for your making me feel guilty about taking my leave downstairs by the way.”

“If you are, then come down. It won’t hurt to have fun once in a while. You’ve been in too much stress lately, you should relax a little. If you’re not into drinking then don’t drink, I mean you could just laugh at how ridiculous those guys look like when they’re drunk.”

Jiyeon smiled genuinely, “You’re right. I’ll come d—“

”Hey, is Minsoo asleep yet?” Hongki suddenly burst from the door.

“Shhh!” Jiyeon put a finger on her lips.

“Oh sorry,” Hongki said lowering his voice. “I thought I’d come here to take my turn but turns out he’s already asleep.”

“Yeah, thanks for the effort,” Jiyeon said sarcastically.

Ignoring her remark, Hongki suspiciously eyed his best friend who was standing next to Jiyeon, “What are you here, Hoonnie?”

“Just checking up on Jiyeon,” the other answered casually.

“Why would you check up on her?”

“’Coz she’s not coming down. Why are you asking?” this time, Jonghun gave back the same suspicious stare.

“Just curious.”

When Jiyeon reached the living room, she was immediately welcomed by Seunghyun, who was well—ed up drunk, “Noona where have you been?! You just missed my performance and outstanding singing skills!”

“He’s lying noona, all he did was to make noise,” Jaejin, who looked a little bit tipsy yet still in the right mind, said.

“Hey, that’s not true. I’m a singer!” Seunghyun retorted.

Hongki, who just came in with Jonghun, dragged the second maknae by the ear, “Get your face off her, Seunghyun.”

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch hyung~. Hoonnie-hyung help me!!!”

As Jonghun ignored the poor boy’s cry of help, Yoona clumsily draped her arm around Jiyeon. “Yeon!” she yelled as if she was on the other side of the universe. “Here I saved you a bottle,” her speech was slurred as she handed her best friend a beer.

Jaejin draped his arm around Jiyeon too, but the thing is it was on top of Yoona’s arm.

Jonghun and Hongki shook their heads at this.

“Let’s drink?” Jaejin encouraged raising his bottle.

“Jaejin, stop pressuring her,” Jonghun said when he saw the hesitation in Jiyeon’s eyes.

“Yeah, it’s alright if you don’t, geek,” Hongki immediately back it up. “If you get drunk, I won’t carry you upstairs.”

Jiyeon was silent as if considering the highs and lows of drinking. After a moment though, she took an ounce of breath and turned to her best friend, “If I drink, will you stop pestering me about going to parties and clubs every Saturday night?”

“Yes! I won’t! I promise!” Yoona jumped up and down excitedly.

“If I drink, will you stop giving me those skimpy outfits, you know I would never wear anyway?”

“Yes! Yes! I won’t! I won’t!

“Promise?”

“Promise!”

“Alright then,” she clicked her bottle with Jaejin and held it to her lips. She tipped her head backwards and started drinking with her eyes shut. She didn’t really like the taste and so to prevent her from tasting it, she started gulping continuously without taking a breath.

Everyone was gawking at her as took it in one shot. When she finished with a burp, Yoona whistled, “Damn girl, you can drink.”

She laughed. But when she started walking to the couch, she suddenly tripped on her own foot.

Hongki was fast enough to catch her. Everyone else except Jonghun, didn’t notice this.

“You okay?” Hongki asked concerned. His face was so close to Jiyeon that she thought she was about to combust into tiny little pieces of hearts.

“Y—yeah, I’m okay. I’m alright. Everything’s cool,” she stuttered getting back her arm and straightening up.