“How did you know?” The words came out of Chanyeol’s mouth in a whisper, as if he couldn’t trust himself with his own voice just yet.

If anything, her smile only grew wider. “Remember when you lent your student ID to me to borrow extra books form the library that time?”

His chest was about to burst from the storm of feelings that gathered inside and threatened to escape. The tall boy stared at her for a moment before throwing his arms around her shoulders and bringing her into his embrace because it seemed to be the only thing that he could do.

“Thank you.” He murmured into her hair, the unfamiliar happiness swelling inside his chest.

Haneul’s arms went around his waist as she hugged him back. The smile never left her lips. “You’re very welcome.”

“You’re right.” Chanyeol spoke a moment later.

“Huh?”

“I didn’t own a scarf.”

He felt more than heard her laugh. “Well now you do.”

“I do.”

“You do.” She confirmed.

“Did you make it?” It was obviously knitted, but he found himself asking her nonetheless.

He had hoped for an answer, but the back of his mind told him not to have any expectations.

“Yeah. I picked out the softest cotton wool the shop had and I put a lot of effort in knitting that so you better lik–”

Chanyeol cut her off by tightening his hold on her body, and he felt her slightly stumble forward at the sudden movement but he didn’t care. If she fell then he could hold her in place.

He was wrong. It mattered, it mattered that she made it for him.

“I love it.” He couldn’t help the wide smile that formed on his face. “I love it.” He repeated. “Thank you, Haneul.”

She gave a breathy laugh and buried her face into the warmth of his chest for a moment. “You’re welcome, Yeol. Happy birthday.”

Chanyeol did not plan anything special for his birthday, nor did he expect his best friend to know the date let alone give him a gift. He had specifically arranged the dates of the retreat when his parents asked so that he would be able to return on the day of his birthday with him spending half of his birthday with his family before they had to drive back up and then they would be back to being a four hour drive apart. He was also excited to spend the other half with his best friend, after all this was the first time spending his birthday with her.

So when he came to surprise her and pick her up from her part-time job, he’d suggested ordering take-outs instead of going out for dinner like Haneul had initially proposed. He didn’t really bot