She stands in front of her mirror, trying to relax herself. ‘This is not new for you so relax and just enjoy this night,’ she reminded herself.

“Baby, let’s go shall we?” her mother appears on her bedroom door and escorts her to the head of the staircase. “Happy birthday,” then hugs her daughter before leaving her on her own. She was instructed to wait there till she was announced.

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“Come on! Don’t sulk in there just because you are not given any invitation. Let’s get a parade with the change of your hair color! ” Luhan pulls the lazy Kris from the couch.

All of his friends were dressed to go to her birthday as guests after receiving invitations which were sent directly to their homes.

“Luhan, I am not invited. I don’t want to gate crash on someone’s party,” he pulled himself up, sounding irritated from the insistent tug of his friend.

“Don’t act like a baby; if you will not dress up with this, I will surely tell your mother that you are eyeing Jessica as a potential wife and let’s see how your father will act to that as well,” Fei gave him a challenging look.

“Can anyone of you tell me why I am attached to this brat?” he asks, finally standing up. With a bored sigh, he grabbed the bag and proceeds to his room.

It was probably half an hour before he steps out trying to pull the sleeves of his coat.

“Is this meant to be this short?” he looks at them, trying to fix his coat.

Fei chose the black coat with specks of gold dust while its front is purely gold with white as it’s complimentary on the right side. Underneath is not a black polo but a turtle necked sweater that goes straight to his wrist.

“What is the motif by the way?” he asks, finally stopping on pulling the sleeves of his coat.

“Black and gold,” Xiumin supplied, “Shall we head on? We can just present one invitation since we are leaving with Kyungsoo’s limo,” he added and heads for the door.

Luhan hands him a half mask, “Wear this so you will not create any scandal. After all, no one knows that you had dyed your hair into black.”

“It’s a masquerade too?” he raises a brow.

“Nope, but we have to make our own entourage as well,” he winks at Kris who is shaking his head.

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“Now, let us welcome the celebrant!”

Everyone immediately stops as they all turn their head to look at the Sooyoung who is standing at the up at end of the staircase.

She looks down at the sea of black and gold with all their faces looking up at her. She looks so out of place with her plain white off-shoulder gown that goes down the floor. Her hair is just tied loosely. Her get-up is simply simple, no extravagant jewelries and all, just a silver pendant that her parents gave her.

With a radiant smile, she steps down as the ripple of applause finally turns so loud. Chanyeol is already at the foot of the stairs, waiting for her. He steps forward and reaches for her hand which she gave as he leads her to the small stage at the end of the hall. Chanyeol is wearing a black three-piece suit. Instead of a fine vest, he had a leather one underneath the coat, above his black polo shirt. White piping adorns his coat which compliments her gown. This time, he wore lenses to avoid the discomfort of his glasses.

“We are very much glad for having all of you in here to celebrate the birthday of our very own daughter. Let us have a toast for her birthday and for everyone’s well-being,” her father raises his glass as Chanyeol hands her a glass as well.

“To my daughter, may all your wish and dreams come true. Stay healthy and happy; just as how you are everyday of your life,” he smiles, “Cheers!”

Everyone made a cheer before the slow music starts to fill the place for the dance. Chanyeol immediately led her to the dance floor as they sway into Eric Benet’s ‘The Last Time’ which the hired singer brought to life.

“Happy birthday Youngie!” Chanyeol grins at her.

“You should probably use lenses much more than your glasses, you look more handsome on it,” she smiles back.

“I am actually trying to make myself comfortable with it. It makes me uncomfortable,” he sighs as he twirls her.

They sway to the soft music till she finally leans closer to him, slowly letting her head rest on his chest letting him just lead the dance.

“Are you okay?” he asks after a while.

“I am just tired,” she whispers, slowly closing her eyes as she lets her head rest on his chest.

Just before the first song ends, a ripple of whisperings and murmurs made all the attendees look at the entrance where a parade of late visitors arrives. They were all clad accordingly as to the motif, but what made them stand out is their idea of wearing masks when it is not clearly a masquerade.

She lifts her head to look at the newcomers, “Who are they?” she asks as she tries to put up the faces of people she knows to guess who they are. She mentally counted them, ‘Six males and a female…’ she noted and only one name registered into her mind, ‘Kris?’

She tries to search for him on the new comers but the other guests had already covered her view.

The second song started to play. She was not as well able to see one of the masked guests approach them from behind her.

“Would you mind if you allow me to have the celebrant’s second dance?”

Her hea