---

"Happy Birthday."

---

 

Months had passed since Ryu twins and Jo twins got together as they entered a new year. The school was busy with students running around to prepare for the Spring Festival. It was an annual celebration to let the students take a break and express their creativity.

"Hyoyoung-ah, can you help me with these?" Hyoyoung's classmate, Sera asked, barely holding up a tall stack of books in her hands. "Sure!" Hyoyoung rushed from her painting spot and grabbed half of the books. "Thanks." Sera grinned.

Everyone has been slowly accepting the Ryu twins back into their lives after the incident that last happened. A few still didn't approve their relationship with the Jo twins but they didn't try to get in the couples' way as the twins' supporters in the school were large enough to prevent them.

Putting the books carefully on top of the main desk, Hyoyoung walked back to the half-painted blue wall of her class. She was in charge of re-decorating the class to suit the theme her classmates were working on.

"Unnie!" Hwayoung popped up beside Hyoyoung, startling the latter as paint flew across her cheek. 

"Geez, Hwayoung. You scared me for a minute there." Hyoyoung sighed, trying to wipe the paint off but accidentally smearing more onto her face. "You look funny." Hwayoung giggled silently.

"Why are you here? What about your class?" 

Hwayoung shrugged. "We're done for today. Someone forgot to bring the decorations so we need to continue doing everything else tomorrow." She said, feigning irritation on her face.

"Hey, I said I was sorry." Kwangmin interrupted as he leaned against the main desk, crossing his arms in his own defense. "You're here too?" Hyoyoung sighed. "Don't you two have anywhere else to go?" 

"No." The couple replied in unison.

Hyoyoung mentally facepalmed herself as she rubbed her cheek, spreading the used-to-be dots of paint evenly on her cheek without realizing it.

"I see you two are nice enough to keep your mouth shut about this." Youngmin appeared behind Hyoyoung as he pulled her hand away from her cheek, glaring at the sniggering couple. "Sorry." Hwayoung tried to hold her laughter in.

"You have a 'kind' twin, huh?" Youngmin muttered to Hyoyoung in which she frowned to. "Well, yours is the same." Kwangmin was trying to look serious but failed miserably as his face was all scrunched up as if he was about to barf.

"Sorry unnie~" Hwayoung regained her composure, apologizing cutely. Kwangmin tugged on Hwayoung's wrist, "Let's go somewhere else before-", he took a glance at his twin and gulped. "-he kills us." He whispered the last part.

Hwayoung blinked and finally noticed the murderous look on Youngmin's face as she felt goosebumps just by staring at him. "G-Good call."

"Bye unnie~ Bye brother-in-law~" She cooed before leaving quickly with Kwangmin pulling her. 

Youngmin drew a long sigh. "They are giving me headaches." 

"But I guess that just shows how suitable they are with each other." Hyoyoung smiled, staring at Hwayoung and Kwangmin as they escaped the class. Youngmin looked down at Hyoyoung before drawing her head towards him.

"We're suitable for each other too, aren't we?" He mumbled, rubbing the paint off Hyoyoung's cheek lightly. 

Hyoyoung blushed in response, "W-Well, sure..." Youngmin leaned down slowly as Hyoyoung widened her eyes in realization but before their lips could touch, someone jerked Hyoyoung away.

"Woah woah there. Everyone's working hard and here you two are, being lovey-dovey." Donghyun protested, shaking his head to show his disappointment.

Youngmin's face twitched with annoyance when his almost-kiss was cut off. Hyoyoung's face turned crimson as she broke herself away from Donghyun. "I-I've got work to do.", she stammered before going far to the other end of the class with the paint.

"You're getting pretty bold lately." Donghyun chuckled. "If only you were younger than me.." Youngmin grumbled as Donghyun pretended to be offended by his words. "Ouch, that hurts."

"Why are you here anyway, hyung?" Youngmin complained, "Didn't you already graduated last year?"

Donghyun, Eunjung, Soomi, Boram, Soyeon, Jeongmin, Hyunseong and Chanmi had their graduation ceremony a few months before school started. Last year was their senior year and now they're attending different colleges although some of them still haven't decided which college application to take.

"The festival is next week, right? So I had taken a week off to visit you guys." Donghyun simply grinned, "The teachers invited us to check in on everyone since last year we were The Student Planning Committee."

"Wait, 'Us'? You mean-"

"Yeahp, we're here too." Hyunseong walked in with Jeongmin trailing behind him. "Great." Youngmin rolled his eyes. "Hey, don't be so sour. We came here for you, y'know?" Jeongmin nudged Youngmin, giving a frown. 

Hyunseong nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you should be grate-" "Hyunseong~~~!!" "-crap."

A few seconds later, Hyunseong was knocked down, "Oof! Chanmi, what are you doing here?" He managed to ask despite his throbbing back, the effect of hitting the concrete floor suddenly.

Chanmi beamed, "I came with the other girls to see Hyoyoung and Hwayoung~ We couldn't find Hwayoung though, her classmates said she disappeared with Kwangmin.", she pouted.

"Tsk, Tsk. Why don't you just accept her, already?" Donghyun crouched down, poking Hyunseong's cheek playfully.

Donghyun had been helping Chanmi to get Hyunseong but although Chanmi had obviously given signs that she likes him, Hyunseong didn't seem interested in her even though he sometimes would get jealous when he sees Chanmi with another guy.

While Donghyun was busy teasing Hyunseong, Youngmin shifted his gaze towards Hyoyoung.

"Hyoyoung-ah~ How's the love of my life doing?" Eunjung squeezed Hyoyoung with a hug. "The love of your life? Who?" Hyoyoung choked out, begging for air as she pulled away from Eunjung. "You, of course!" Eunjung tilted her head, blinking as if it was the most evident answer.

"Aye~ Really?" Soomi slung an arm around Hyoyoung as she gave Eunjung a doubtful stare. "What about Donghyun? I thought he was the love of your life."

Eunjung's cheeks burned up as she fanned herself. "W-What? Well, you know, t-the love of my life could be more than one person.", she faked a cough.

Hyoyoung chuckled. She was surprised when Eunjung called her a few weeks ago. Apparently, Eunjung and Donghyun got into the same college. Eunjung told her that they became a couple not long after. It was hard to accept at first but now that she saw how Eunjung reacted to Donghyun's name, she finds it too cute to not congratulate her best friend.

"Where's Hwayoung? We tried to look for her but she was nowhere to be seen." Eunjung changed the topic casually. 

"She was here a moment ago but ran off with Kwangmin." Hyoyoug explained. "Have you talked to Jiyeon and the others?" 

Soyeon nodded in the girls' behalf. "Yeah, but we didn't talk much cause they were busy helping their classmates. We did agree to meet up after school though. You and Hwayoung should come." 

Hyoyoung gave her friends a bright smile. "Sure! I'll text Hwayoung later." 

 

"Hey!" Donghyun snapped his fingers in front of Youngmin's dazed face. "What?" Youngmin coldly muttered out.

"Sheesh, I asked you where Minwoo was." 

"How should I know? Maybe he's busy preparing like the other students here." Youngmin shrugged, seeming to honestly not care. 

"You're still the same, huh? I thought that after a few months not seeing you, you'd be a bit more caring." Donghyun sighed as Youngmin blankly stared at him, keeping his silence.

"Anyway, aside from being the festival week, you do know what next week means, right?" Hyunseong was already up to his feet by the time Youngmin turned to him. Chanmi still wouldn't let go of Hyunseong though as she was curled up to his arm.

"Yeah, Kwangmin and I've been discussing about it at home." Youngmin glanced at Hyoyoung. "We still don't have any idea on what to do." 

Donghyun's grin became wider as he confidently raised his head up. "Well, that's why we're here for you."

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Where are we going, anyway?" Hwayoung turned her head, waiting for Kwangmin to answer her.

"Nowhere." Kwangmin let Hwayoung's wrist free only to intertwine their hands together. Kwangmin was taking Hwayoung to the school's field, kicking the grass as they walked aimlessly around.

"I wanted some time alone with you," Kwangmin mumbled out, "I saw Eunjung noona's car driving through the school's gate when you were saying sorry to Hyoyoung."

Hwayoung's head perked up. "Really?!"

Kwangmin frowned, "See. You're so excited. I bet you'll be spending more time with noona than me."

Hwayoung pulled Kwangmin's cheek. "Of course! I haven't seen Eunjung unnie since like, forever!" She exclaimed, "You, on the other hand, I see everyday."

 Kwangmin slipped his hand away from Hwayoung's and into his pocket. "Fine, go then." He walked ahead of her as Hwayoung tugged his arm backwards. "Don't tell me you're jealous of Eunjung unnie."

"I'm not jealous of Eunjung noona." Kwangmin looked away. Hwayoung had to gather a lot of strength to withstand from bursting out in laughter as it would upset Kwangmin more than he already is.

"I thought Eunjung scolded you for calling her 'noona'?" Hwayoung crossed her arms, "Or are you just purposely calling her that to make her angry?"

Hwayoung remembered one time when Kwangmin first called Eunjung along with the word 'noona'. Eunjung facepalmed herself and told Kwangmin to stop calling her 'noona' cause she was only older by a year and she felt old when guys call her 'noona' but Kwangmin argued that a year older still meant being older. Since then, they were always at each other's throats.

"She's older so she deserves to be called 'noona'." 

"Alright, I give up on trying to reason with you anyway." Hwayoung surrendered and hooked her arm around Kwangmin's. "By the way, do you know what next week is?" Hwayoung asked, glancing at Kwangmin's face to check on his expression.

"What?" Kwangmin returned the question, seeming oblivious to what Hwayoung is hinting at.

"Nevermind." Hwayoung sighed, retreating her arm to her side. 

"Where are you going?" Kwangmin shouted when he realized Hwayoung was already half-way back to the school's building. "Class!" Hwayoung shouted back with a sulky tone.

Kwangmin couldn't help but chuckle at her response. "She's so cute."

 

~~0o0~~

 

"So what are you going to do now?" Donghyun asked, taking a seat on the couch. 

The entire gang excluding the Ryu twins have decided to crash Youngmin's and Kwangmin's place to get their plan straightened out. After hanging out with the Ryu twins, the girls sent them off to their house first before sneaking away to the Jo twins' house.

"I don't know." Kwangmin sighed, throwing himself next to Donghyun, laying lifelessly until Youngmin sat on his back. "Hyung!" Kwangmin groaned. "I don't have any ideas either." Youngmin simply muttered out. 

"Where's your parents?" Jeongmin questioned the twins. "I told them you guys were coming and they said they didn't want to get in the way so they went out to have a date somewhere." Youngmin leaned against the couch, putting more weight on Kwangmin as the younger one grunted.

"Wow, your parents are so nice unlike you two." Jiyeon said, earning nods from the other girls and even from Donghyun which Youngmin noticed and responded with an icy glare. "Let's get back to the main topic." 

"My brain isn't helping me out here." Donghyun said, giving up on brainstorming for ideas.

"What about you, girls?" Hyunseong asked. The girls glanced at each other, no one seemed to have something bright to suggest to the others. 

"Let's just have a normal surprise party then. We can rent the cafe and decorate it. It's simple but I think it's already enough to touch their hearts." Eunjung spoke up, eyeing the others' expressions. "I think we can just do that. What do you guys think?" Donghyun agreed and looked at the others for their answers. Eunjung smiled at him, glad that Donghyun supported her.

"Sure, but there's one problem." Jiyeon hesitated, "How do we surprise them? The Ryu twins know that us, the girls, will never forget their birthday so how can we do the party without letting them suspect a thing?"

"Now that's a problem." Donghyun sighed. Youngmin seemed to be in deep thoughts as Kwangmin wriggled under him. "Youngmin? Kwangmin? What do you think? Should we still do it?"

"Sure." Youngmin mumbled as Kwangmin stopped his movements and paid attention. "But Hyoyoung and Hwayoung will know that-" Before Kwangmin could express his worry, Youngmin cut him off, "Don't worry."

"I have an idea."

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Can you believe him?" Hwayoung lashed out, flopping on her bed as Hyoyoung laughed silently. "Oh, come on. He couldn't have forgotten about-" 

"Yes, he did! You should've seen him!" Hwayoung shouted through her pillow which she stuffed her face in. "Maybe he was joking. Did you tell him when our birthday is?" Hyoyoung sat next to Hwayoung. 

"Yes, a couple of times. What about you, unnie?" Hwayoung raised her head up. 

"To Youngmin? I did, once or twice." Hyoyoung nodded which made Hwayoung sit up. "And? Did he say anything about it recently?" 

Hyoyoung blinked at Hwayoung as the latter stared earnestly at her. "Well.." When Hyoyoung thought back about it, Youngmin seemed to show no sign of remembering her birthday. "No, he never mentioned it." Hyoyoung's shoulders slumped when realization hit her. 

Hwayoung puffed out her cheeks in anger and stuffed her face back into the pillow. "Those devils!"

"Hey," Sandeul popped his head inside the girls' room. "Hi oppa." Hyoyoung smiled while Sandeul eyed the frustrated Hwayoung. "What's wrong with Hwayoung?" 

Hyoyoung gave him a nonchalant shrug. "Don't mind her. She's just upset that Kwangmin forgot her birthday." Hwayoung puffed her cheeks out and snapped her head to Hyoyoung. "I bet Youngmin forgot about yours too since it's our birthday." 

"Oh right~ I forgot we were twins." Hyoyoung's sarcasm did not amuse Hwayoung at all. 

"Oh come on, don't be so sour." Hyoyoung patted her twin's back while Sandeul sat beside Hwayoung. "Yeah, Hyoyoung's right. Be positive about it, maybe he'll remember it soon." Sandeul tried to console Hwayoung but the latter only pouted at him. "When? After my birthday?"

Sandeul opened his mouth only to close it back when Jinyoung interrupted. "Sandeul, Chorong is on the phone."

Sandeul's head jerked to the doorway as he excitedly jumped up from the bed. "Really?" 

"Yeah, she wants to talk to you." Jinyoung leaned against the door. "Obviously." Hwayoung continued, rolling her eyes with envy. "Don't be sad. At least not all of us has a tragic relationship." Sandeul patted Hwayoung's head before dashing out.

Hwayoung growled silently at him, a bit upset that Sandeul is paying attention more to his new girlfriend than her.

A few weeks ago, someone from Sandeul's campus confessed her feelings to him and surprisingly, he shared the same feelings. Hwayoung wasn't jealous about them becoming a couple but as a little sister, Hwayoung was used to Sandeul giving his full attention to her. She soon realized that she had to get used to Sandeul having a girlfriend.

"And what's happened to you?" Jinyoung walked in. 

"Our boyfriends forgot our birthday but Hwayoung is the one getting frustrated." Hyoyoung explained while Hwayoung gave the former a side glare. 

"Want me to kick his for you?" Jinyoung looked down at Hwayoung as he stood beside the bed. "You should handle your own love life first, oppa." Hwayoung retorted which made Jinyoung clear his throat in embarrassment. 

"I see there's no progression between you and Suzy?" Hyoyoung playfully asked, giving Jinyoung a mischievous look. 

Jinyoung feigned ignorance about the whole conversation. "What are you two talking about?"

"You know what we're talking about." Hyoyoung teased, "We saw you two going on a date at the park last month, remember?"

Jinyoung's ears grew red. "I told you guys numerous times before, it wasn't a date-", he averted his gaze elsewhere, "It was a friendly walk between friends." 

Hyoyoung chuckled, not believing a single word Jinyoung said. She knew there was something going on between Suzy and Jinyoung. Suzy is actually a year younger than the twins and they met her once when Suzy was working part-time at the cafe they always go to ever since the encounter with Seunghee there. It was a surprise to see Suzy and Jinyoung at the park.

Only then they knew that Suzy was also volunteering at an orphanage, the same one that the twins were sent to when they were little. Jinyoung and Sandeul met the twins there when they were kids because their parents were the founders of the orphanage. Now his parents want Jinyoung to handle the orphanage before his dad let him handle the family's company.

Suzy didn't know that Jinyoung was from a rich family, she assumed that he was just a nice guy, visiting the kids. Jinyoung wanted to keep it that way until he was ready to open up to her. 

"She seems to be a nice girl and I think she likes you, oppa." Hyoyoung resumed, "Give her a chance."

Jinyoung seemed burdened by Hyoyoung's words. "I'm not ready to fall in love again." His words saddened Hyoyoung as she knew she was the main cause of his reluctance to love someone again. "But when I am, you'll be the first one to know." Jinyoung assured Hyoyoung as he smiled softly at her.

"What about me?" Hwayoung pouted again. "I'm still here, y'know." 

"Of course, you and Hyoyoung both." Jinyoung laughed lightly, ruffling Hwayoung's hair which earned a smack to his hand. Hyoyoung smiled, watching both of them as they bickered. As she stared at Jinyoung's face, she was absolutely sure that he will find his happiness with Suzy soon.

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Hyoyoung!" Sera came running, slipping in between the Ryu twins as the three of them strode down the hallway. "I need to talk to you about the preparations for our class' event." Sera seemed to be in a rush as she turned to Hyoyoung, spitting the words out in a fast motion.

"Oh, okay. Let's meet up later." 

"Sure. After lunch, in class." Sera stated as Hyoyoung only gave her a small nod. Sera ran off, leaving the twins alone. 

"You seem busy, unnie." Hwayoung muttered out, nudging Hyoyoung. "Everyone's busy at this time of the year." Hyoyoung nudged Hwayoung back, chuckling. "Well, not me. My classmates are almost finished so I have pretty much nothing to do or help them." Hwayoung shrugged.

"Are you bragging?" Hyoyoung pushed Hwayoung away lightly in a playful gesture. "Maybe." Hwayoung grinned.

"Hyoyoung-ah! Hwayoung-ah!" Eunjung called out when she spotted the twins. "Unnie!" The twins chorused, walking closer to Eunjung. "Hey, have you seen Youngmin anywhere?" Eunjung seemed to hesitate when asking that question.

The twins glanced at each other. "Uhm, no. What about you, Hyoyoung unnie?" Both Hwayoung and Eunjung turned to Hyoyoung. 

Hyoyoung blinked to both of them before shaking her head. "No, I haven't seen him today. Why?"

Eunjung gave the twins an awkward smile. "It's nothing. I just had some suggestions for your class' event but I couldn't find him anywhere today." 

"Only Hyoyoung unnie's class? What about mine?" Hwayoung pretended to be offended. "But your class has already started the preparations for the event, remember? I visited you just a few minutes ago." Eunjung narrowed her eyes at Hwayoung as the latter grinned. "Oh, right."

"Anyway, I gotta go. Tell Youngmin to see me if you bumped into him, okay?"

"You can tell me if you want, unnie." Hyoyoung suggested. Eunjung seemed to be looking for words as she blinked at Hyoyoung nervously. "Uh.. No, it's okay. I'd prefer to talk it out with Youngmin cause uhm... cause he said that if I had some suggestions, I should talk to him." 

"Oh, okay." 

"You sure you haven't seen him, unnie? I mean, you're in the same class." Hwayoung gave Hyoyoung a weird look. 

Hyoyoung realized that Hwayoung had a point. "I haven't seen him, I think he didn't even come to school." 

Eunjung seemed surprised by Hyoyoung's conclusion. "No way. He needs to start preparing though." Eunjung's words flew out as she barely managed to stop herself. "Prepare what?" Hyoyoung stared at Eunjung suspiciously. "Prepare the event, of course. I mean, there's not much time left till the festival, right?" Eunjung quickly covered up.

"I really have to go now." Eunjung slipped pass the twins, waving before she turned back. "Oh, by the way, the girls and I want to take you two shopping next week. It's your birthdays right?"

Hyoyoung and Hwayoung beamed. "You guys remembered?"

"Of course! We remembered every year, didn't we?" Eunjung smiled. "Alright, we'll go." Hyoyoung agreed as Hwayoung nodded.

"Great! See you later, girls." Eunjung waved before disappearing into the hallways.

"I guess we can only count on them, huh?" Hwayoung sighed, remembering she had to get back to class and face another session of having to ignore Kwangmin. "Don't be too hard on him, okay?" Hyoyoung nudged Hwayoung as the bell rang. 

"I have to go meet Sera. Be nice!" Hyoyoung waved as Hwayoung shuffled to her class.

Hyoyoung was jogging her way to class when she slowed down as a figure came into her sight. "Sera?" She called out, noticing Sera with someone else. "Oh! Hyoyoung!" Sera seemed surprised as her company turned around in a flash.

"Youngmin?" Hyoyoung glanced between the two in curiosity. "What are you doing here?" 

Youngmin kept a calm face as he stared back at Hyoyoung. "I was just asking Sera about the event we're planning for our class."

"Oh. Well Eunjung unnie is searching for you about that too." Hyoyoung walked closer to Youngmin, reaching her hand out to him. "Where were you today? I haven't seen you-" Hyoyoung halted her steps when Youngmin avoided her touch. "Nowhere." 

"O-Oh." Hyoyoung retreated her hand as Youngmin avoided eye-contact with her. "I should go find Eunjung then." He mumbled before walking past Hyoyoung in a rush.

The room was filled with awkward silence after Youngmin left. 

"Hyoyoung?" Sera snapped the dazed Hyoyoung into reality. "H-Huh?" 

"Are you okay? Should we do this some other time?" Sera cautiously asked.

Hyoyoung quickly shook her head. "N-No, it's okay. I'm okay. What do you want me to help with?" 

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Are you going to give me the silent treatment all day?" Kwangmin grumbled as he leaned across the table, staring straight at Hwayoung's face. 

Hwayoung turned her head to the side, "Hmph.", was all she gave as she crossed her arms. With a grunt, Kwangmin gave up on trying to make her talk to him. He wanted to tell her that he knew about her birthday but that would blow the whole plan away. 

"Kwangmin! Your twin is here." A male classmate of them called out. 

Kwangmin turned his head and saw Youngmin lingering near his class' door. "I gotta go now." He said to Hwayoung as he got up from his chair. Hwayoung snapped her head back at him, wanting to ask him where he was going but she was too stubborn to give in.

Kwangmin waited for Hwayoung to say something but Hwayoung only stared at him. He sighed softly as he went off to his twin.

"What's up with her?" Youngmin asked when Kwangmin was in front of him. The former noticed the sulky look on Hwayoung's face. "She's still mad at me." Kwangmin's shoulders slumped. "I can't wait for Monday to come." 

"Come on, we have work to do." Youngmin said as the twins disappeared from Hwayoung's sight.

A few hours passed and Kwangmin still hasn't come back as Hwayoung waited for him. Even after the day ended, Hwayoung stayed back just in case. It wasn't for long though as Hyoyoung came, picking her up.

"What are you still doing here?" 

"Waiting for Kwangmin." As shameless as it sounded, Hwayoung still said it. "I thought you were mad at him." Hyoyoung was amused at Hwayoung's bi-polar actions.

"I am but I still want to see him before going home." Hwayoung mumbled shyly. "What about you, unnie? You would usually go home with Youngmin."

Hyoyoung walked inside Hwayoung's class, looking around at the decorations. "Well... Youngmin went off somewhere. I only saw him with Sera once." 

"Maybe he's cheating on you with Sera." Hwayoung joked thoughtlessly which made Hyoyoung froze to her spot. Hwayoung noticed Hyoyoung's reaction as she quickly tried to laugh it out. "You know I was kidding, right? There's just no way that would happen."

Hyoyoung forced out a smile as she glanced at Hwayoung. "Y-Yeah, of course." But when she retreated her gaze back to the decorated walls, she wasn't so sure anymore.

"Hwayoung? You're still here." Kwangmin appeared at the door and stepped inside the room, revealing Youngmin who was standing behind him. "I was waiting for you." Hwayoung confessed which earned a surprise look from Kwangmin.

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me."

"I have been thinking when I was alone. We need to talk." Hwayoung's tone of voice was serious. It was unusual of her and it made Kwangmin wonder what she wanted to talk about. 

"See you at home then." Youngmin whispered to Kwangmin, not even giving a glance at Hyoyoung as he already felt her presence there. Hyoyoung noticed Youngmin going away as she nodded at Hwayoung, 'I'm gonna go too.', she mouthed out the words at her twin.

Hyoyoung slipped past Kwangmin and went to catch up with Youngmin, leaving the younger twins alone in the classroom.

"Sit down." Hwayoung offered, emitting a serious vibe around her. Kwangmin gulped nervously, "It's okay, I'll stand.", he smiled awkwardly. Hwayoung was acting way off than usual.

"I'm just going to say it." Hwayoung took a deep breath. "My birthday is coming. It's this Monday." 

Kwangmin's tensed shoulders relaxed. "Oh." He was relieved as he thought Hwayoung wanted to say something worse. 

"Oh?" Hwayoung misinterpreted his relieved tone to something else. "That's all you could say?"

"Uhm.." Kwangmin fumbled through his words mentally. "Happy...birthday?" 

Hwayoung bit her lips in anger as she stood up. "I know you forgot about it but can you at least not make it that obvious?" She fumed as she kept her arms crossed against her chest.

"Hwayoung, it's not that.. I just.." Kwangmin couldn't tell Hwayoung the truth as he struggled to find an excuse. "I forgive you." Hwayoung calmed herself down. "I forgive you cause it's my first birthday since we got together. I'm overreacting, I know. It's understandable for you to forget."

"Huh?" Kwangmin was weirded out by Hwayoung's sudden change of attitude. "But can I ask for one thing?" Hwayoung hesitated as Kwangmin stared at her, still weirded out. "What is it?"

"My friends asked Hyoyoung and I to spend time with them on our birthday but if you don't mind, I want tell them that I'd spend this year with you." Hwayoung took all of her courage to say those words to Kwangmin out loud. She averted her gaze to her hands which she kept busy as her hands fumbled around each other in a nervous act.

Kwangmin couldn't help but form a smile at her cute attempt on asking him for a date on her birthday but the smile didn't last long as he remembered that they already planned for Hwayoung to go with her friends.

"Hwayoung,"

It hurts him when he realized what he had to do.

"I'm sorry." He had to reject her.

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Youngmin! Wait!" Hyoyoung managed to grab a hold of Youngmin's sleeve. "Where were you all day?"

Youngmin unintentionally pulled his arm away in a harsh manner due to his nerves. It shocked Hyoyoung to see him acting so cold to her, it was as if her boyfriend turned into his old self but worse.

Youngmin seemed to be slightly taken aback by his own action and the shock on Hyoyoung's face. "Sorry." He mumbled out.

"It's okay." Hyoyoung replied in a soft tone.

Both of them stood in the hallway with silence surrounding them until Hyoyoung gathered her strength to ask again. "Where were you?"

"I was just handling some stuff for the festival." Youngmin lied, he was trying to avoid Hyoyoung all day because he didn't want to lie to her but now he has to. "Oh," Hyoyoung looked down to her feet. "What were you talking about with Sera?"

"I told you, we were talking about our class' event." 

Hyoyoung looked up and noticed the way Youngmin was trying to not look at her. "Why do I have the feeling that you're hiding something from me?" 

Youngmin unintentionally snapped his head to Hyoyoung in surprise. He was afraid that Hyoyoung caught on to what his friends and him were trying to do. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you seem distant. You won't even look at me." Hyoyoung muttered sadly.

"I..." Youngmin tore his gaze away from Hyoyoung. He didn't know what to say. "Are you.." Hyoyoung started, keeping her gaze onto the floor. "Are you in love with someone else?" She finished with her voice almost cracking near the end of her sentence.

Youngmin snapped his head towards Hyoyoung again, this time shocked by her accusation. "What?" He felt as if a brick hit his head when he saw the defeated look on Hyoyoung's face. She looked like she was about to break down if he said 'yes'. 

"Are you serious?" Youngmin kept his gaze on Hyoyoung, scanning to see if she was joking in any way. He couldn't believe that his girlfriend would think that he was in love with someone else. Heck, he was never in love with anyone until he met her.

Hyoyoung kept staring at the floor, unable to meet Youngmin's gaze. "I couldn't help but think that you might like someone else since you've never been this cold to me-" Before Hyoyoung could finish her sentence, she felt someone bumped into her.

Hyoyoung turned and found Hwayoung with her head down. "Sorry." Hwayoung mumbled without looking up and went off, running.

"Hwayoung?" Hyoyoung instinctively started to run after her twin until Youngmin pulled her back. "We're not finished talking."

Hyoyoung pulled her arm from Youngmin's grip. "I have to go. We'll talk next time. You seem busy anyways." Hyoyoung didn't give Youngmin a chance to react to her words before she ran off.

Youngmin could only stare at her disappearing back. He wished the days would go faster so he would be able to clear up the misunderstandings between him and Hyoyoung. "This was not what we planned though."

 

~~0o0~~

 

When Hyoyoung finally caught up to Hwayoung, she grabbed onto Hwayoung's arm to make her stop running. "Hwayoung!" Hwayoung turned and it was then that Hyoyoung noticed the tears running down Hwayoung's cheeks.

Hyoyoung instantly softened. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"He rejected me." Hwayoung's voice cracked. "It took me a lot of courage to ask him but he just rejected me without thinking twice." 

Hyoyoung didn't even need to ask who, she already knew it was Kwangmin. She pulled Hwayoung in for a hug. Hyoyoung wasn't joyful with her boyfriend either so she understood how Hwayoung was feeling. 

"I'm sorry." It was all Hyoyoung could say.

 

~~0o0~~

 

Days passed. Hwayoung avoided Kwangmin. It was easy because Kwangmin was doing the same. It hurt Hwayoung to see that he didn't even care. Hyoyoung and Youngmin didn't mutter a word to each other even though they're in the same class. 

Festival week came and it was a day before the Ryu twins' birthday. Everyone was running around in costumes and some busy serving others. The school was buzzing with people. 

The RyuTwins' friends invited them to go shopping after the festivities ended for the day. 

Hyoyoung and Hwayoung stayed a bit late in hopes that the Jo Twins would wish them a happy birthday despite the fact that they were on bad terms at the moment. But their hopes were crushed when Kwangmin and Youngmin went home without even a glance towards the Ryu Twins.

With a dejected sigh, Hyoyoung and Hwayoung packed their stuff. They made their way to the school's gate where their friends were waiting. 

Their friends didn't even ask about the Jo Twins so Hyoyoung and Hwayoung didn't find the need to tell them.

Youngmin and Kwangmin on the other hand, didn't really go home. They went straight to the cafe that they rented to help the other boys decorate and prepare for the surprise birthday party. Youngmin and Kwangmin felt bad about the whole thing. They couldn't explain even if they wanted to. They could only hope that Hyoyoung and Hwayoung would just trust them until the midnight strikes.

The girls tried everything to get Hyoyoung and Hwayoung to enjoy themselves but Ryu Twins couldn't shake off the sad feeling lingering in their hearts. After a few rounds in the mall, Hwayoung was the first to speak up. "Girls, I'm sorry. I can't do this. I just want to go home."

The girls went silent until Hyoyoung nodded in agreement. "We're very sorry, girls. You guys are amazing and the bestest friends we could ever ask for but we just don't feel like celebrating our birthday right now. Maybe tomorrow?"

"But there's only a few more hours before midnight. We always do the countdown to your birthday together." Jiyeon pouted. 

"We can always do that on Skype." Hyoyoung suggested. 

Eunjung glanced at the other girls. She knew they had to keep the twins with them so that they could take the twins to the cafe before midnight. "But we still have other places to go to."

"I really don't feel like it, girls." Hwayoung admitted. "Please, just until midnight." Jiyeon begged, "For your besties."

Hwayoung bit her lip in thought before eventually agreeing. "Only for my besties."

"Hyoyoung?" Eunjung turned to Hyoyoung. "Yeah, I'm in too." Hyoyoung gave her a weak smile.

The girls cheered and pulled the twins to their cars.

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Here, I tried to make the prettiest cake I can." Sera carefully handed the box of cake to Youngmin. They were getting the cake from Sera's car in front of the cafe. "Thanks."

"How did you knew that I like to bake?" Sera questioned as they started to walk back to the cafe. "I heard people saying that you like to bake for our classmates' birthdays and you were good at it too. Since you're Hyoyoung's classmate, I thought the cake would be meaningful to her." Youngmin settled the cake on a table that they finished decorating.

"I never knew you could be so warm to others." Sera chuckled.

"Only to Hyoyoung. He's cold even to us." Donghyun interrupted before he got a text from Eunjung. "They're almost here! Everybody hide!" 

The boys scurried to the back of the counter to hide while Youngmin tried to unbox the cake without ruining it. Sera tried to help as Kwangmin paced around the room. "Why aren't you hiding?" Minwoo whispered to Kwangmin.

"What? Oh right." Kwangmin blinked in realization and jumped behind the counter, landing onto Minwoo. "Ow!"

"Shhhhh!!!" The hyungs silenced the hurting maknae.

Donghyun switched off the lights and everything went pitch black. After finally unboxing the cake with Sera's help, Youngmin tried to find his way in the dark. He bumped into someone and came crashing down on the floor with a heavy weight on top of him.

Before he could get up, the lights switched on again, revealing a frozen Hyoyoung near the door. 

The boys all jumped out with confettis, yelling out "Surprise!" until they froze at the sight of Youngmin on the floor. What shocked them was the fact that Sera was sprawled on top of him. 

The girls couldn't even react when Hyoyoung fled from the scene. 

It took Youngmin a few seconds to process what had happened before her abruptly got up and ran after Hyoyoung. 

Hwayoung was about to do the same before Kwangmin caught her arm. "We need to talk."

"What's happening here? Why is your twin with Sera?" Hwayoung was confused with the situation. She was about to get angry with the thought of Youngmin cheating on her twin. 

"It was a misunderstanding. They fell when they were getting the cake ready. We were trying to surprise you two for your birthday."

Suddenly, everything clicked. "You mean, you remembered my birthday?"

"Of course I do. Way before today. I rejected you because of this surprise that we wanted to give you. I never forgot your birthday and I was dying to have a date alone with you but I couldn't say yes." Kwangmin looked down at Hwayoung. "Would you forgive me?"

Hwayoung felt her heart swell with happiness. *He didn't forget? He planned all of this for me?* 

"Only in one condition." 

Kwangmin nodded, "Anything."

"You'll go on a date with me tomorrow." Hwayoung said with more courage than before.

Kwangmin couldn't stop the grin forming on his face as agreed. "Only if you let me pick you up."

Hwayoung tackled Kwangmin with a hug. "Deal." 

The others couldn't help but smile at the scene. At the same time, they couldn't help but worry over how Hyoyoung and Youngmin were doing.

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Hyoyoung!" Youngmin managed to pull Hyoyoung to a halt. "Listen to me!"

"Why should I?!" Hyoyoung felt rage burning inside her. "You could've just told me! I would've let you go! I didn't deserve this!" 

"Is that how you always thought of me? A cold jerk who would have no trouble loving someone else that easily?" Youngmin stepped closer to Hyoyoung, feeling the same rage at Hyoyoung's accusations towards him.

"You know that I'm cold. You know I barely talk to people. I ignore people. I had a hard time trying to be kind to you. I almost never confessed to you at all. What makes you think that it would be so easy for me to fall for someone else?" Youngmin ranted. 

"I barely even talk to Sera. We're in the same class, you would've noticed if I was close to her." 

Hyoyoung only stared at her feet. Everything Youngmin said made sense. 

"Do you even know why she's here?" Youngmin looked down at Hyoyoung and tried to catch her gaze as she shook her head. "She's here because I asked her to bake a cake for your birthday. The other day that you saw me talking to her, that was me asking her if she could bake you a cake."

Hyoyoung opened until Youngmin knew what she was going to say so he cut her off. "She was on top of me just now because it was dark. We fell. It was an accident, I swear. Just ask Minwoo and the other hyungs. Even Kwangmin was there. If I wanted to be alone with Sera, I wouldn't have invited other people."

Hyoyoung kept her head hung low so Youngmin tilted her chin upwards, forcing her to look at him. 

"I was avoiding you at school because I was trying to avoid lying to you. It was hard for me to keep secrets from you. I'm sorry for being so cold to you." 

Tears welled up in Hyoyoung's eyes as Youngmin cupped her face. "What's wrong?"

Hyoyoung smiled and shook her head. "I'm just relieved." She wrapped her arms around Youngmin. "I'm sorry for not trusting you." Youngmin's ears burned in embarrassment at the sudden gesture. "It's f-fine." He knew he had to get used to it.

"We should get back to the others." He checked his watch and noticed it ticking a bit after midnight. "Well, it's a bit late but happy birthday." 

Hyoyoung pulled back and looked up at Youngmin. "Thank you." They held each other's gazes for a while before Youngmin leaned down until their lips met for a sweet, short kiss. 

 

~~0o0~~

 

"It's midnight!" The others hollered, "Happy birthday!" 

Hwayoung giggled and thanked everyone. Kwangmin grinned as he gazed down at Hwayoung. "Happy birthday." 

"Thank you." Hwayoung beamed. At that moment, Kwangmin could only see Hwayoung and he forgot about the others in the room. "I love you."

Everyone could only stare in silence at the couple. Hwayoung's heart fluttered as she wrapped her arms around Kwangmin's neck and answered him with a kiss. Kwangmin's eyes widened at the surprise kiss but they gradually started to close as he kissed her back. 

The others in the room could only watch with their eyes widened. 

"I did not expect that." Donghyun whispered to the boys. "Me neither." Minwoo replied. 

 

~~0o0~~

 

"Thanks for joining!" As the last contestant of their class' event left, Hyoyoung and Youngmin finally got to have a break. 

"I'm exhausted." Hyoyoung leaned back against her chair until she felt eyes watching her. When she turned, she found Youngmin gazing at her. "W-What? Is there something on my face?" Hyoyoung's hands flew to her face, trying to feel any stain or food stuck to it.

"It's nothing." As Youngmin scooted closer to her chair, Hyoyoung blinked in confusion. "What is it?"

Youngmin only sat close to her, staring. "I love you." He whispered only for her to hear. Hyoyoung's blood rushed to her face as she fanned herself. "Why the sudden confession?"

"In case you thought I wanted to cheat on you again." Youngmin shrugged. "Can we stop bringing that up?" Hyoyoung sighed, covering her face. "I said I was sorry."

"I know, I was just joking." 

"Hyung!" "Unnie!" 

Kwangmin and Hwayoung popped up with their hands intertwined. "Are you guys done here?"

"Yeah, what about you two?" Hyoyoung looked up to where the couple was standing.

"We were done an hour ago, we were about to go get something to eat. Wanna join?" Hwayoung beamed. 

"I'll pass." Youngmin yawned, he was too tired to even walk.

"I'm hungry," Hyoyoung poked Youngmin's shoulder as the latter glanced at her with sleepy eyes. "Fine." He easily gave in and reluctantly got up. "Let's go eat." 

Not far from them, Eunjung stood in the hallway, watching as the twins leave. Donghyun slung an arm around her shoulder. "What're you looking at?"

"I was just wondering, it's amazing how love can change people and bring us so much happiness." Eunjung smiled at her lover. Realizing who she was talking about, Donghyun nodded with a loving smile as he stared at Eunjung. "It is." Donghyun took hold of Eunjung's hand before they walked away.

 

 

~ The End ~

 

---

 

Sorry for the long long long wait! But here is the sequel! ^^ Not sure if my readers are still here waiting but I still wanted to keep my promise. So here it is! Hope you liked it! Thank you for the love that my subscribers and readers gave to this story. This is officially the end of the story. If you have anymore requests for the Ryu twins, please let me know in the comments. Thank you and sorry for the late update! ^^ <3 Goodbye! See you in future stories!