Deer Luhan,

Sehun can be romantic without trying.  It’s a skill.  And he’s also not cheesy.

Leigh

I really did try my best not to laugh for Sehun’s sake, but it was genuinely very hard, given his predicament and how proud of themselves the others looked.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it?” I directed at Chen.

He slung an arm around D.O.  “Yup.  D.O. helped with the lyrics, ‘cos his English is better.”

“Yeah, we had another five or six choruses in reserve,” D.O. said.

“I want her to call me Sehun oppa, yes, it’s true!” Chen sang immediately.  Sehun practically growled at him, and Chen backed down with a soft “is it something that she’d want to do?”, sending an inquisitive glance in my direction.

D.O. grabbed the Sehun mask.  “Hyungs, could you refrain from teasing me all black and blue?” he continued.  “I’m sure that Leigh would want you to too.”

“Nope, she was definitely enjoying his pain,” said Kris.  “I think it’s fine to continue.”

“You ,” Sehun grumbled.

Lay started tugging on my arm.  “Well, what are you waiting for?  Unwrap him!”

By far the scariest glare I had ever seen pass across Sehun’s face went full force at Lay, who actually backed off a couple of paces.

“If you’re hedging my clothes as wrapping paper, I’m genuinely going to kill you.”

“Well….”  Lay scratched the back of his head and looked Sehun up and down, apparently losing his nerve.

“That was the plan,” Kris admitted.  “But we’ll leave you two alone now to catch up.  Bye!”

They were all out of the room before I could blink.  Sehun and I were left in an awkward silence, me looking at him and waiting expectantly for him to break it and him looking pointedly away, his tongue darting between his lips every so often.

“Can you untie me?” he asked eventually in a quiet voice, twitching his toes.

Shaking my head with a wry grin, I shifted over so I was right next to him and set about freeing his arms from his sides.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he complained as his arms came free.  “We were just supposed to perform a few things and then throw you a surprise dinner or something when you figured out who we were.”

“I can’t believe how much thought and effort went into this,” I commented, reaching up to undo the bow from his hair.

The door slammed open.

“Kiss for the camera!” trilled Chen.

“Wanna die?” Sehun hollered at him.  The door slammed again and Chen was gone.

I got off the couch and sat heavily on the floor to untie Sehun’s ankles.

“Hey, I can do that,” he said.  “I don’t want you making your condition worse.”

“I’m already here,” I pointed out.  “Seriously, though, how did you manage to organise all this and get Abbie not to freak out when she was setting things up with Chen?  And what’s with all your labelmates suddenly disappearing?”

He shook his head wearily.  “I’m starting to think I don’t know.  Luhan just burst into the dorm on my birthday saying he’d found out where you lived through your university records, but it looks much more like Chen and the others were the ones who set everything up.  I don’t even know what to think anymore.”  He tilted his head back.  “I’m so embarrassed right now.  I can’t believe they did this to me.”

I patted his ankles to let him know they were free.  “If it’s any consolation, this is the best birthday celebration I’ve had in years.”

He didn’t respond to that, only his lips and looking like he was trying to work up the nerve to say something.

We were interrupted by a knock on the door before he could get there, and Jason poked his head around.  Sehun practically bristled when he saw him, and Abbie making comments about people being jealous earlier suddenly made sense.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Jason said, “but your dad’s here, Leigh, and he says you ought to get some rest.  Your body’s still recovering.”

“But it’s only eight-thirty!” I protested.

“And you’ve been up for a solid twelve hours without any rest whatsoever.”  Jason gave me a flat look.  “What did the doctors say about overexertion, hmm?”

“I normally rest in the afternoons, but you and Abbie made me go to the salon,” I grumbled.

He just blinked at me.  “We had to make you look beautiful.”

I nearly threw something at him.  “Oh my God, you were in on this too, weren’t you?” I demanded, suddenly realising why he’d been so quiet up until today.  “Abbie told you to stay away so you wouldn’t spill the beans.”

“Bingo!”  He pretended to shoot me.  “Anyway, come on.  Your dad’s waiting – where are your crutches?”  Jason looked around for them, and I suddenly remembered I’d left them behind.  I pointed in the direction of the party.

“I can carry her,” Sehun said stiffly, rising to his feet.

“Oh, wow,” said Jason, letting go of the door and looking Sehun up and down.  “Your accent is really good.”

“I’m fluent in English.”

A decidedly frosty atmosphere was building between them.  It was like Sehun was a territorial lion who had sensed a threat and was waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

“Oppa, calm down, he’s just a friend,” I murmured in Korean.

It was like I’d hit him over the head with a brick.  He stared at me, absolutely st