January 2007

"Say helloooooooo," Minji, the bubbly and excited fifteen year old, exclaimed to Ha Yi, holding her videocamera across the kitchen preparation table, trying to get her to look up. Ha Yi was only focused making her brother's cake perfect, since she had woken up the earliest in the morning to start it. Minji leaned her arms more foward, the screen displaying Ha Yi's face so clearly. Minji was quite amused seeing her nose so vividly on the display screen of the video camera, but she continued standing there patiently, waiting for Ha Yi to at least look up at the camera. 

Minji was waiting for her as Ha Yi just ignored her, starting to write in her brother's name in blue icing for the top of the white cake. She tried to ignore Minji and her camera the most that she could.

"Yi," Minji called, by calling her nickname, "At least say hi to the camera or just look up. It's an important day."

Ha Yi smirked, slightly shrugging her shoulders to ignore Minji, making her more impatient. Minji was holding the camera for a minute and a half already, without no sight of Ha Yi's face on screen. Minji pushed the camera even close to her face, zooming into her eyes and repeating, "Yi Yi, come on. Please say hi to the camera. I need to get some footage of you, you're the most important part to your Oppa's birthday party."

The camera was so into Ha Yi's face that she pushed the camera slightly away, getting a little of the white powder onto the front part. She didn't look up, only shaking her head and whining, "Minji, can you please not take any videos of me? I woke up at six in the morning today and I look terrible."

"You always use that excuse when I want to record you."

She sighed, shaking her head, "And you always know that I don't like my face on camera." 

Minji only pouted, a little frustrated that Ha Yi had an insecurity problem about her looks. Minji only begged, getting tired of holding the video camera, "Please. You can look up and wave for all I care about."

She smiled, trying to talk Minji out of recording her, "Girl, it is almost six o' clock and the party starts at seven. I need to finish this before Oppa even steps foot at the door. It'll be embarassing if he walks through the door and there is no cake to surprise him for his birthday". Minji pouted, still half determined to get Ha Yi's face on camera; she wanted to use it for putting the videos and photographs in collages that she has in her photobook. Minji was always the type of person to photograph her memories and wanted to have it all the time. 

"Come on, Yi," Minji whined, "Tell your feelings about Jong In Oppa's acceptance to his dream university and his big 18th birthday party. We've never thrown him a party this big before. How do you think he'll react? Especially since the fact that he's not gonna know about his acceptance until he actually comes through the door." 

Minji never really understood why Ha Yi was so shy to the camera; she was just as pretty and gorgeous as any other girls out there, Ha Yi was just always so insecure about seeing herself on camera. Minji looked at her delicately applying the flower icing decorations to the cake, doing it perfectly step by step. Minji really admired her passion for baking and how much effort she was putting into her own brother's cake. 

Minji still wanted her to look at the camera, though. Just for once, for at least three seconds for all she cared. 

"You should go film Dara, she's a lot more photogenic than I am," Ha Yi said, applying the last "N" to "Happy Birthday Jong In", "Or better yet, film yourself. You're the natural beauty in this group of people." 

"Yi Yi. You're really not gonna look up at all? My hands are getting really sore just pointing the camera at your face that has been looking down for the past three minutes." 

"You know with all your heart that I dislike being on camera, especially looking like this." 

"Like what? You always look like that." 

"I woke up at five in the morning to start this cake!" She exclaimed, still looking down, "Are you saying I always look ugly, Ji Ji." 

"Girl, no," Minji snapped back, "I am saying you are always a pretty girl so you should at least look up at the camera to give me a small wave. And second, only Jong In Oppa can call me Ji Ji." 

Ha Yi rolled her eyes, smiling sweetly, "Oh gosh, of course. Only your precious Jong In Oppa can call you that, no one else."

"But I'm serious though; you are just as pretty and photogenic, Yi. You're just really shy towards the camera," Minji said, glaring at her. Ha Yi looked at her with widened eyes, replying, "I'm serious too, go film Dara... I'm sure she'll love the camera attention. And I'll just film you when Jong In Oppa walks in the house, I think you'll have the best facial expression for it." 

"What's better than filming his little sister though?"

"Umm," she chuckled, "Filming the girl whose madly in love with him."

Minji's eyes widened, as she put the video camera on the kitchen table and sprinted up to Ha Yi, hitting her on the upper arm, "Hush up with that. Someone could hear you, you know how many people are here today?" Minji thought about all of his aunts, uncles, cousins and other friends who were there, that could pass by after she heard that. Ha Yi saw that the camera was finally not in her face, so she made eye contact with Minji this time. 

Ha Yi smiled, making fun of her, "Sweetie. You act like our entire family, inlcuding yours, doesn't know." 

Minji squinted , trying to think of a completely different topic to talk about. She was completely stuck and speechless because of how straightfoward Ha Yi was. Did that mean Jong In knew that she had the biggest crush on him? He had to know if his entire family knew; unless Ha Yi had been exaggerating about it, but she wasn't the type to do that either. Ha Yi has always been upfront about everything and never really hid anything; Minji was always the one to deny everything. 

Minji groaned to herself, rubbing her forehead with her palm in frustration with herself. Did she really make herself that obvious? 

Ha Yi smirked, knowing that she won this conversation, "Now you should go take pictures of Dara. I did say she's more photogenic than me."

Minji clenched her teeth, walking out of the kitchen while grabbing her camera to actually go see Dara, "Yah! I take videos!" Minji marched to Dara in the living room, who was decorating the room with balloons, ribbons and a birthday banner. Minji walked to her with heavy footsteps, while Dara was at the door, pointing the video camera right at her face, angrily saying, "Say something."

Dara's eyes widened, raising an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why Minji looked so frustrated right now, "Umm. Did you get icing stuck in your hair something? Why do you look so angry?"

Minji dropped her arms to her side again, looking at Dara with a pouty face, "Am I obvious?" 

"Obvious?" Dara questioned, very confusingly, "Obvious about your random anger right now?" 

"I am not angry!" Minji shouted back, causing Dara to reflex a step backward, widening her eyes, "I am just embarassed." 

Dara put half of the ribbon down, seeing Minji calming down. She looked foward at Minji, smiling her pretty smile a little, "Embarassed? Did Yi tease you about Jong In Oppa again?" 

Her eyes widened even more, exclaiming, "Yah! How do you know about that?" 

"Your face is always like that when Ha Yi teases you, what else would you be embarassed about?" Dara replied, "I mean, I kind of have to know that you have a crush on Jong In Oppa. you kinda talk about him every single day." 

Minji pouted and sighed, lowering her voice, "Is my crush on him that obvious?" Dara looked at her, very amused, saying to her softly, "As your best friend who stands in the middle of this situation, do you want me to lie or tell you the truth?" 

Minji pursed her lips together, with her eyes widened, replying, "I asked you a question that requires the truth. Obviously, I want the truth." 

She smiled, with her brown hair dangling over her neck as she tapped Minji's shoulders three times. Dara also hummed a little before wanting to answer, trying to think of what to say so Minji wouldn't shout back at her. Making Minji impatient, she said loudly, "Dara! Don't do that to me, I'm asking you to give me an honest answer." 

Dara chuckled and sighed, "Well if I told you the truth without you denying it and pouting your mouth at me, then maybe it'll be easier to tell you my friend." 

Minji was slightly ashamed of herself and took a deep breath, continuing, "Well I am asking you, for an honest answer, is my crush on Jong In Oppa really that obvious?" 

Dara slowly nodded her head, scratching her head at the same time, nervously implying silently that she was obvious without the words actually coming out of . Minji's facial expression changed negatively, finally arguing, "I can't be that obvious. If I were him, I probably wouldn't be able to tell myself; I'm so mellow when I'm around him. I reserve myself around him a lot, you know?"

Dara sighed loudly, clenching her teeth a little, knowing that Minji wouldn't have listened to her anyway; on top of not listening, she also denied it, just like she would do. She didn't know what to do, so she started looking around for Podo, the only dog, which was a Siberian Husky, that the Kim household had. Dara tempted, grinning, "I mean... Would you like me to call the dog for you? I'm sure he could tell you better than I could tell you." 

Minji's eyes widened, shocked and embarassed that Dara thought that even the dog would know. Trying to ignore Minji and her stubornness, Dara hummed and tapped her left cheek with her index finger, purposely asking herself out loud, "How could I get the dog to actually do that? Maybe I could..."

"Okay!" Minji yelled, "I get it!" Minji sat down on the nearest cushioned chair, crossing her arms, pouting , trying to hide her embarassment. All she was doing was fidgeting around like crazy. Dara was actually satisfied and happy that Minji was aware of herself instead of denying everything like she always does; least she realized it. Minji frowned, completely embarassed with herself and trying to absorb the fact that people actually know.

The more stressful one was how many people knew. 

Dara sighed, coming up to her and patting her shoulders, "Hey. Look on the bright side. At least Jong In Oppa still talks to you. If some guys met girls with how you crush on Jong In, they'd probably run away or just not talk at all."

"Ugh," Minji groaned, feeling more embarassed, "That is not going to make me feel better." 

Dara chuckled, trying to console her best friend, sitting on the arm of the chair next to her. Dara wrapped her arms around Minji's shoulders, resting her head on the top of her head, "I'd rather be honest with you than lie to you. I'm not trying to say all of this to be mean or anything, I just don't want to see you have high expectations. Jong In Oppa's personality is kind of, eh, stiff... You of all people should know. I mean, you're the one who observes him the most." 

She sighed back, nodding her head, appreciating the care that Dara had for her. She pulled away for Dara to lift her head up as well, feeling a little better after her concerned words. She let out a deep breath, calming down a little, getting up, "We should get back to what we were doing. Oppa's gonna come back home soon, everything needs to be ready."

"Damn," Dara replied, "I wanna get a surprise birthday from you, I've never ever seen you plan anything so thoroughly." 

"We all helped planned it," she replied, rolling her eyes at Dara. She shook her shoulders a bit, shaking her back and forth, "But you were the one who thought of this, planned it all out and the one who organized what everyone should do... In anyway, this is all of your work." 

Minji rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, "I just wanted to make him happy." 

Dara nodded, knowing that Minji truly liked him and if he even had some feelings back for Minji, she would be madly in love with him in a heartbeat. Minji was already on that line of crossing love at the moment; Dara just always felt bad because Jong In never reacted to her or said anything to give her any hope that he liked her.

He was like a rock; a stiff rock who doesn't really say anything. In Minji's eyes, he just stands there looking handsome without needing to say a lot. Everyone knew that Jong In wasn't the really type to open up or say anything about himself to anyone; the only person who really knew him was his best friend since birth, Park Chanyeol. Although he doesn't talk, he does make it obvious that he loves his family more than anyone in this world.

Minji, being the girl who grew up with his family, living right next door to them, knew even she couldn't even compare at least one centimeter of his love for them. Although Ha Yi was one of her best friends, she always wanted to get closer to Jong In, but it was obvious that he didn't really let her in. Taecyeon, being the oldest brother of the family, was also the other sibling in the family that she was close to; leaving her stuck and hoping that she would get closer to him over time.

Then again, she was almost turning sixteen and he had just turned eighteen years old; and they've known each other ever since Minji was on her birth bed. Who knows when Jong In will ever open up to her? 

Minji started walking around, still with her camera wrapped around her hands, as Dara called for her, "Minz." 

"Hm?" She replied, turning back right around the space leading back towards the kitchen area. Dara smiled, tilting her head, "Oppa will appreciate what you did for him though. I hope that makes you happy."

Dara knew that Minji was always happy if Jong In was happy; that's how her personality was... She may have been like a spoiled brat who gets everything she wants, in the end, she still would be willing to sacrifice everything to make someone she loves happy. Don't even talk about love, if she liked somebody even just the littlest bit, she'd be willing to do anything for them already. 

Everyone just wished Jong In would open up and be happy for Minji to see for once in a while. 

Jong In got out of Chanyeol's car from the passenger seat, immediately noticing something different about his own house. As Chanyeol closed the door shut on his side, Jong In studied his house, trying to figuring why it was too quiet. 

Usually the lights were on, the front entrance was bright and open, there were more cars parked and he could hear the maids talking since their rooms were nearby. He narrowed his eyes, wondering what was going on; his brain was not functioning correctly either because he had been with his friends since the morning, doing too many activites that caused him to be sore by the end of the day.

"Chanyeol," Jong In called for his friend, making Chanyeol turn around, "What's up?" 

"You notice something different about my house?" 

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, pretending not to know what was going on, looking back at him, "I don't hear the maids talking about no kiss scene in soap operas today."

"I'm serious, dude," Jong In said with a glare, slightly smirking at him. Chanyeol shrugged, answering, "I don't know man. What's up?" 

"You haven't noticed that it's super quiet today?" 

Chanyeol looked at him with a distraught face like he didn't know and didn't care; he just wanted to get Jong In in the house faster so the surprise could've been successful. Chanyeol really wanted to surprise his friend so he could have an enjoyable birthday party and know that actually got accepted to the college that he's been waiting to hear from. But Jong In was just standing there so long, trying to study why his house was so quiet today. 

Jong In has always been a suspicious and careful person ever since his father passed away when he was ten years old. He doesn't like anything different or changed when it comes to his house and his family; it worries him a lot. Chanyeol squished his mouth together, looking at him with narrow eyes, "Unless your house sank down under a hole or something, I think it still looks the same to me." 

Jong In pushed his face together in confusion, nudging his head foward, still trying to figure out why his house was so quite and dark today. 

"Maybe they fell asleep?" Chanyeol asked, pretending to help Jong In, since he knew his friend wasn't moving until he figured it out.

"At 7?" He asked, with an unphased face, "Unless they're going through some type of fasting, my family does not sleep early." 

"Maybe your mom didn't pay the electricity bills?" Chanyeol suggested further, trying to get Jong In not to worry too much. Jong In glared at him, shaking his head, bugged out by Chanyeol's responses. Chanyeol saw his unsatisfied face and pointed at him, "I don't know man, I am no psychic doctor. And you standing there analyzing any longer is not going to turn me into any psychic doctor." 

Jong In tried to ignore him, continuing to be suspicious about his house. Chanyeol became impatient, shaking his head, "Can you hurry up though? I need to pee." 

He looked at Chanyeol, rolled his eyes and nudged his head towards the front door, "Go in first then. I gotta get my bag out of the trunk". Chanyeol threw him his own car keys, catching it perfectly. Chanyeol ran first, knowing that the door had been unlocked for Jong In to open easily. Jong In had Chanyeol's car keys in his hands, going to the trunk to get his shoulder bag, closing the trunk down and then walking up towards the front entrance of his home. He walked up to the large marble stairs of his own home, whispering to himself, "Where is everyone? Why did Chanyeol disappear so fast?" 

He shook his head in confusion, as he pushed the enormous doors of the front entrance. As he got in, the entire house was pitch black and he couldn't see anything as he headed towards the living room; the place where he always go to sit when he comes home. Holding his bag tightly to his arms, he still an unsatisfied facial expression as he walked through the pitch black room. Chanyeol went to hide behind the couch with Taecyeon, Jong In's oldest brother. 

Minji had been hiding behind the living room, making sure Jong In had not seen her at all as she heard him complaining to himself when he walked towards the living room. She saw Ha Yi's face cueing that she was ready, then she slowly walked out. When all the lights , everyone jumped up, making Jong In reflect back as they yelled, "Surprise!" 

Minji saw Jong In's face completely surprised and happy, then she began walking towards him with the birthday cake, singing, "Happy Birthday to you..." Everyone began chiming in, singing for his birthday, "Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Jong In... Happy Birthday to you..." Minji put the cake in Jong In's face, wanting him to blow out the candles, "Make a wish, Oppa." 

Jong In gave her a grin, linked his hands together, closing his eyes and blew out all the candles in one sitting. All of his family members who were there, which was around 30 to 40 people, clapped their hands and all wished him a happy birthday by just being there. Jong In was pretty happy because it completely slipped his mind that it was actually his birthday today, since he was so caught up in school and hanging out with Chanyeol, and some other group of friends. 

"Thank you everyone," he said loudly and happily. He looked back down at Minji, smiling, "Thank you, Ji Ji. But why does the banner over there say congratulations?"

Before Minji could answer that question, Ha Yi popped out to stand beisdes Minji and handed him the acceptance letter that everyone knew about, "This came in the mail for you yesterday Oppa". Jong In grabbed it, seeing the logo of Seoul National University towards the left top corner of the envelope, immediately widened his eyes with excitement taking over his entire emotions. The envelope was a given that he had been accepted since it was clearly written on the envelope; he smiled, turning slightly pale, also looking excited and shocked the same time. 

Jong In turned to Minji, leaning a little closer to her face, making her eyes widen and face turn red, "I got in?" 

Minji smiled, nodding her head amusingly at her crush, grinning widely. Jong In unexpectedly turned to his mother, who was behind the couch at least three meters away from them, standing next to Taecyeon. He asked again loudly, "Omma. You're serious? I really got in?" 

"Who would play a cruel joke like that if you didn't get in?" Jong In mother's, Eun Hee, replied with a massive smile, "Congratulations sweetheart. Another son to be proud of." 

Jong In turned to his older brother, Taecyeon, who only raised his eyebrows at him being proud of his younger brother. He then stared Ha Yi down, glaring at her and pointed, "You?" He started hitting the top of her head and roughly rubbing it, making her hair even messier than it was before, "You planned all of this, didn't you? Did you make everyone struggle with you?" 

Minji silently frowned, bringing the cake down below her waist. Taecyeon saw from behind, shaking his head in disappointment. Why couldn't his brother spare any feelings for her at all? Why'd he have to be so stiff around people he wasn't close to? 

Ha Yi looked at Minji, trying to figure out a way to help her, "Umm, Oppa -", she rolled her eyes around, looking at Minji's dejected face, "You should really thank Minji, Oppa. She's the one who came up with this entire idea of surprising you. If anyone struggled, it was all her." 

Jong In took his hands of Ha Yi's head, slightly grinning at Minji. Even though she knew it was somewhat force, she still felt a little less neglected. 

"Thank you, Ji Ji," Jong In said, shifting to move right in front of her. He put his hands on her head softly, slowly rubbing it, "You didn't have to do all of this for me. You must be worn out." 

Minji shook her head, assuring, "I'm perfectly fine, Jong In Oppa. I just wanted to make sure your birthday this year was special." 

Taecyeon let out a sigh of relief, a little more satisfied that Jong In paid even a little attention to her. Minji's head had been spinning since the day she started planning this surprise party. Even though Taecyeon knew it was forced on Jong In's part, he still knew just a simple thank you would make Minji smile the entire night. She was just that type of person. 

"Thanks again kiddo," Jong In sighed, taking his hands off of her and leaning his face close to hers, causing her stomach to churn, "I will definitely remember this birthday." 

Minji smiled, a little more happily this time. She started blushing, making Ha Yi sigh, amused that only those words could get Minji blushing. She didn't have to say that she liked him, her facial expression just made everything so obvious because she couldn't hide anything. Taecyeon clapped his hands loudly, getting everyone's attention, "Food and everything is in the main dining room. Go ahead if you guys are hungry, Minji ordered a bunch of food." 

Dara, standing next to Chanyeol, in another corner of the room nearby, clapped her hands loudly as well, adding in, "Minji also made some of the food and the desserts. You guys need to try the cupcakes, they're amazing." 

Minji got a little shy, scratching her head because everyone seemed to look so fond of her but she was shy that everyone was staring. Well, everyone except for Jong In - who seemed like he wanted to go eat right now. 

"Let's go, let's go," Chanyeol urged happily, "I'm getting too hungry. You guys know the struggle I went through just so Jong In wouldn't know at all?" 

Everyone laughed and then started separating ways into the main dining room, making Minji want to stand there until everyone cleared away in the living room. Jong In grabbed onto Ha Yi's shoulders, dragging her away from Minji, with his voice drifting off as they walked off, "What time did you wake up? I saw you go to the bathroom so early this morning". Ha Yi stutted a little, looking back at Minji but Jong In's grasp was pretty rough at the moment. He just kept dragging her to get food. Minji stood there, holding the cake in front of her lifelessly. Was he even gonna think about asking her? 

Chanyeol saw Jong In walk out with his little sister, seeing Minji standing there, looking like she was left out. He skipped to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders, consoling, "You good Minz?" 

She looked up at him, since he was so much taller than her, being just a little below his shoulders. She was pretty caught by surprise that Chanyeol was actually trying to comfort her because ever since she's known him, they've never really had full blown conversations with each other. They were more of acquaintances with Chanyeol always asking if she made any sweet desserts. 

Minji nodded her head rapidly, forcing a smile, "I'm fine. Aren't you hungry though? Go get something to eat." 

He hesitated a little, looking like he was going to say something, making Minji lookg at him with a questioning facial expression. With his arms wrapped around hers shoulders, she wished her Jong In Oppa to replace Chanyeol Oppa right now. 

He smiled his extremely wide smile that he was known for, asking, "Did you make those cupcakes that you always make for Jong In? You know... The one I always steal from him?" 

She pursed her lips together, smiling again. If he actually showed that he liked the cupcakes and appreciated her making them for him, maybe it would make her feel a little better. She knew Chanyeol didn't really steal them from Jong In, it was more of Jong In offering it to him because he didn't care about it. 

She looked at him, delighted by his question, smirking a bit, "The ones that have the purple frosting are yours. I even put a C on it to make it extra sweet. You should go grab some before anyone starts taking it." 

He smiled happily, pinching her cheeks like a little kid, "Thank you sis". With that, Chanyeol walked off by himself, vanishing within walking out of the living room. 

Dara came up, wrapping her arms around Minji's shoulders and roughly shaking her entire body, "Come on, you sweet crybaby. Stop moping already, it'll all get better in time." 

Minji smiled, trying to agree with Dara. 

Yeah, if time never really seemed to be on Minji's side. Even though it's been over ten years, time still wasn't on her side and she didn't know when it would be. 

When it was nine at night already, everyone seemed to be scattered amongst their own groups around the house. 

Dara was talking to a bunch of Ha Yi's friends that were at the party. 

Jong In and Chanyeol were having a blast with their friends who were at the party.

All the adults were dispersed around different areas and corners of the house, conversing about bussiness, economics, politics, their children, stock markets and all other topics that grown-ups tend to discuss about. 

And Minji...

Well, Minji was standing by the food and refreshments table by herself, not wanting to join anybody. She was actually waiting to see when Jong In would actually walk by and pick up the cupcakes the she made for him.

She specially made sugar-free cupcakes for him so he would like them but he hasn't been acknowledging her at all or anything that she did for the surprise party. Minji was mentally screaming, wanting to strangle him for not paying attention to her. 

Dara saw Minji stand by herself at the food table, shaking her head at her best friend. Dara stopped talking to the group of friends, beginning to observe Minji a little as she saw her a sad facial expression coming upon her face. Dara really wanted Minji to be stronger than this but she didn't know what it would take or how long it would actually take her to develop a strong bone in her body. 

Then again, the two were raised completely different.

Dara's been by herself since she was fourteen years old while Minji has been smothered with love, happiness and warmth ever since she was born.