Jessica and Sooyoung walked arms linked towards the SNSD dorm room. The rest of the group had finished their small dance practice earlier than the two girls, and had headed off to the dorm room quite some time before. Sooyoung was pretty sure she had an idea why the rest of them had gone earlier. It was easy to decipher if Taeyeon was hiding secrets. Today it was her birthday, which meant the girls would throw her a surprise party. Every year it went like this, with Sooyoung suspecting, yet still acting surprised when she entered the dorms and the girls popped up and gave her a surprise.

She liked it that way, because it completed the sense of family she had with the girls she trusted and loved as if they were her own blood related sisters.

When they reached the door, Jessica leaned forward to open the door, with a smile on her lips, “After you, Soo,” she gestured and Sooyoung grinned lightly, knowing fully well what awaited inside as she stepped forward into the dark room.

As expected, the lights suddenly and a loud shout of, “SURPRISE!” echoed throughout the room. Only this time, Sooyoung was surprised to see that it was not only SNSD that inhabited the dorms, but also Super Junior, Shinee, fx and DBSK. A wide, truly happy smile encased Sooyoung's lips, and Jessica walked in behind her.

“Ah, you guys are the best!” she could barely get the words out, in the shaky happiness she felt. This birthday definitely felt different, because all her friends had found time in their busy hectic schedules to plan a birthday party for her. She felt blessed to have them in her life.

She felt a pair of arms embrace her, “Sooyoung, you look like you're going to cry,” Siwon's voice reached her ears and she laughed.

“Out of happiness, oppa,” she nodded.

She had just finished wiping the small tears that formed at her eyes, when Hankyung, Ryeowook and Hyoyeon stepped out of the kitchen, with a five layered cake. Sooyoung's eyes grew wide as she feasted her vision on the sight of the cake.

“It's beautiful!” she concluded, and a smile split on her lips once more, with a small round of applause from her hands. Laughter shook the room. They knew that it would please the shikshin. Sooyoung stepped forward and gave Hankyung, Ryeowook and Hyoyeon embraces and thank yous, before she was swept away in a party that her friends had formed for her.

- - - - - - -

It was quite some time later, after eating the cake and chatting amongst each other, that Sooyoung sat in the middle of the crowded living room, completely enthralled in opening all of her birthday presents, while Taeyeon recorded everything, intent on capturing this birthday memory.

She had received things from her friends that she would keep dear to her heart, no matter what size, because they had already made her birthday by getting together. It was all she could ever ask for. Well...maybe there was one more thing she wanted, but that was entirely up to one person to make it count. And that made her wonder why Cho Kyuhyun hadn't given her anything for her birthday. Not that she was in need of more presents, but just that the fact that he didn't giver her anything seemed to make her heart sink.

When Sooyoung was done unwrapping all of her gifts and thank each individual for the present, she looked up from her place surrounded by colorful wrapping paper and smiled genuinely at her friends and group members, “Thank you guys, so much, for this,” and the way she spoke, the tone she used, nobody could ever doubt that the love she held for her fellow SM artists was one that bound her to them forever.

Just as she was about to start cleaning up around her, Leeteuk spoke up from the crowd around her, “Hey, hey, wait a minute, you've got one more present!”

Sooyoung looked up at the leader of Super Junior with a quizzical expression, “I do?” she laughed. She stood up, just as Donghae and Eunhyuk pushed Kyuhyun from the crowd and out into the center, so that he was face to face with Sooyoung. Right on top of his head was a bow, and it took Sooyoung several seconds before she realized that the present Leeteuk was talking about was Kyuhyun. Her eyes widened in realization and a blush crept up on her cheeks. Seeing the response from the shikshin a chatter of laughs and chuckles radiated from the artists in the room.

Kyuhyun wasn't without his smirk, as expected, as he looked at her, “So what do you think? Best present ever?” he asked.

“Maybe...if the present wasn't so smug-

But the rest of her words were abruptly stopped when Kyuhyun pressed his lips to hers, the room was full of gasps, laughter and flashing phone cameras.

And when he pulled back to look at her, Sooyoung could only respond with, “Yeah...best present ever,” causing another round of laughter, and Kyuhyun to wrap his arms around her.

Even though she was still in a daze from his kiss, Sooyoung's mind didn't forget that there had been camera flashes, “Wait, none of you guys are going to post this up somewhere on the internet are you?” she asked, in a worried tone.

“No, of course not,” answered Taeyeon, with a grin, “but I wouldn't say the same for Henry and Zhou Mi, because if I send this tape to them, you won't be in China to threaten them.”