One part of the staff room was completely filled with various heart shaped decorations such balloons, tablecloths and candles. Curious, I put on my half apron and headed out.
‘What's all the decorations for?’ I inquired, carefully closing the door behind me.
‘Not sure if you're kidding or not...’ Minny eyed me doubtingly as she hugged a tray. I just continued to stare blankly at her. 'It's Valentine's day tomorrow.'
‘Oh...you're right.’ I was a tad surprised. I had been so caught up with living in a new place that the international holiday of love had completely slipped my mind.
‘It's going to be couples galore tomorrow so you better be ready. Ugh, I have to go buy some chocolate tonight...’
‘You have a boyfriend?’ For some reason, it felt like a detail I would not have missed.  
‘Yeah, Kim Jongin.’ Minny smirked.
‘Ooohh, I see.’ I nodded, not sure if I had correctly sensed the sarcasm in her tone.
‘I was kidding. I was kidding. I wish Kai was my boyfriend…' She let out a big sigh. 'I’m buying chocolate out of courtesy. It’s what girls give to co-workers and friends usually. Doesn’t have to be chocolates though, some girls bake and stuff but I’m waaaaaay too lazy for that.’
‘Hrm, interesting.’ I nodded, just absorbing in the information.
Baking… I played around with the idea in my head throughout my shift. I had never really celebrated Valentine’s Day over in the US because it was such a couple-centric holiday. Well, except for when I had a boyfriend in high school but even then I don’t remember what we did. But over here, it seemed like it was actually fun to get into the spirit of the day even if you weren’t in a relationship. Later on in the day, having finally decided what I was going to do, I beamed with satisfaction and got excited. I counted all the people I had to bake for...5, 4...10. After work, I headed off to the nearby grocery and picked up a few ingredients and tools for making cupcakes.

~Next Day~

Aaaannnnddd DONE!  I took a step back and triumphantly looked at the cupcakes gifts I had made for everyone. I had wrapped 2 red velvet cupcakes per person in clear cellophane and tied them up with red ribbon. I carefully popped them all into a large bag and rushed off to give them to my dear neighbours, hoping that they were at least awake.

I quietly entered their place and spotted Sungjoo just sitting on the couch doing something with his headphones on. I sneakily crept behind the couch and then propped myself right next to his head and dangled the cupcakes in front of his face. He was slightly startled at first but his expression relaxed immediately after seeing my cheery face. He carefully took the package into his hands and then slid his headphones down to his neck.
‘What’s this for?’
‘Happy Valentine’s!’
‘Oh...hap-happy Valentine’s.’ Sungjoo said with a cute smile. He warmly looked at the package and looked back  up at me, parting his lips to say something but was promptly interrupted as Seungyoun suddenly hugged me from behind and pulled me down to the ground.
‘Chi! What brings you here so early in the morning?’ Seungyoun cheerfully said, sitting cross legged in front of me. I pulled out his gift and his eyes twinkled with excitement as he took the gift and lightly embraced it.
‘Oh, oh, oh, oh, is this for Valentine’s today?’ He beamed, already untying the bow. I nodded and then saw the others walk out of the bathroom and their rooms. Seungyoun leapt forward and cried ‘YEESSS VALENTINE’S BREAKFAST!’ whilst tightly hugging me. I started laughing and for a moment, I saw what seemed like an annoyed expression on Sungjoo’s face as he watched us from the couch. Sungjoo then grabbed the back of Seungyoun’s shirt and pulled him back away from me. I took the chance to give the others their gifts as well as they gathered around me.
‘These look fantastic. Thank you!’ Yixuan happily accepted his gift.
‘No problem!’ I laid against the back of the couch and keenly watched them open up their gifts and tasting my cupcakes. 
‘Chi, I fwhinished mwine awlready.’ Seungyoun was still chewing with his whole mouth full and sending me adorable eye-smiles. Already!? With his free hand, Wenhan reached out and wiped the excess cream off of Seungyoun’s lips with his thumb and shook his head. I couldn’t help but giggle at Wenhan’s look of disgust as he wiped his own fingers.

‘Mmmmm, these are delicious.’ Yixuan said, the cream off the top. ‘Maybe you should give me baking lessons some day.’
‘Yeah, please do that, he needs them.’ Wenhan snickered before devouring what was left in his hands whilst Yixuan glowered at him from the side.
‘Why didn’t you make us chocolate?’ Yibo sneered at me, still proceeding to take a big bite of his cupcake.
‘You ungrateful little...’
‘I’m kidding, I’m kidding.’ He charmingly grinned and raised his cupcake. ‘It’s very good.’
‘Better be kidding... Well, I’m glad you guys like them.’ I checked my phone and panicked.
‘Gah, I have to go now. I’ll see you guys tomorrow?’
‘Why tomorrow?’ Sungjoo asked. ‘Are you on a date tonight?’ His long arm reached over the couch and force-fed me a small love heart piece from the cupcakes. 
‘No but don’t you guys...have dates?’ I asked, crushing the heart candy with my back teeth. I had assumed they all had plans for the night because they were so popular after all that it'd be strange for them not to have anything planned. They all looked at me, a bit stunned, so I nervously laughed to break the silence in the room.
‘Yeah, with ourselves.’ Seungyoun sniggered, followed by the chuckles of the others. ‘We have a dating ban.’ In response to my look of utter confusion, he explained that they were not allowed to be in any romantic relationships as part of their contract as idols. The whole idea was so bizarre to me that I couldn’t quite believe it and just sat there, absolutely bemused.
‘That’s...crazy.’
‘Well, it’s a pretty common condition in contracts so it was no surprise to us.’ Yixuan said. ‘Not that idols don’t date at all but you don’t want to get caught if that's the case. We’re lucky to even have our own phones.’
‘So...none of you are dating?’ I asked reluctantly. They all simultaneously shook their heads. Seungyoun then got on all fours and whined, ‘This is sooo sad to talk about!’ I began feeling guilty about bringing it up first but then the others playfully pushed him over to lighten up the mood.
‘Um...don’t you have somewhere to go?’ Yibo questioned, raising his brow up. Work!!!
I panicked and got up right away, making sure I had the bag of cupcakes with me. 'I'll see you guys later then!' 

~

I had only taken one step into the store and was already overwhelmed by how busy it was for a morning. It was lucky that we had finished putting up the Valentine’s decorations last night. The atmosphere was unbearably smothering with couples and literally dozens of bouquets of roses and boxes of chocolates everywhere. Minny and Hyojin were the first ones to greet me so I gave them their cupcake packages.
‘Aaawww thank you Chi!’ Minny exclaimed, giving me a big hug. ‘At least you care about me...unlike someone.’ Minny sneered at Hyojin. ‘I’ll give you some chocolate later!’ She beamed. 
‘It’s just not my style, I’m sorry.’ Hyojin cooly said with her arms crossed. She had the look of someone who had heard all of this before.
‘Such an ice queen.' Sungho joined us, propping his elbow on Minny’s shoulder. 'I saw her reject like at least a dozen guys before the store even opened.’  Hyojin rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. Sungho looked pleasantly surprised upon receiving his gift from me.

‘Oh, cheers.’ He immediately tasted one of the cupcakes and his eyes widened with surprise as he chewed it. He then abruptly feigned nonchalance as soon as he saw me watching him.
‘It’s not as good as my baking...but still pretty decent.’ Sungho said smugly, nodding with approval.
‘Yah!’ Minny whacked him over the head. ‘It’s waaaaaay better than your baking.’
‘You should just quit to be honest.’ Hyojin smirked.  
‘What’d you say!?’ Sungho exclaimed with some cream still on the corner of his mouth. Minny’s only response was sticking her tongue out.
I left the circle and leaned over the counter to give Joowon the last two gifts in my bag.
'Happy Valentine's!' I gleamed. He seemed quite dumbfounded to receive them, almost at a loss for words for some reason and before either of us could say anything, Minny leapt onto the counter beside me and protested, ‘What? Why does Joowon get two!? THAT’S BIASED!’
‘Oh, one’s for his mum.’ I clarified to clear up any misunderstandings. 
‘Oooohhh...’ Joowon nervously laughed as his cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. He then cleared his throat and said, ‘I’ll be sure to give it to her. Thank you.’

~

It was already the end of a hectic day. Sungho had left earlier than usual and Minny had just gone home to catch a TV broadcast of some idol group's performance. Popping my bag over my shoulder, I was ready to leave the staff room when I heard Hyojin call out  ‘Joowon’ quite loudly with a certain sternness behind the door. Out of instinct, I froze for a second and thenslowly backed away. Ah , I shouldn’t be eavesdropping. Well, maybe it’s nothing...maybe I should just head out...

‘Joowon...here, I made these for you.’ I heard Hyojin say. Damn it.
‘Oh, thanks.’ Joowon replied to her.
‘I hope what you know what they mean.’
‘Just like every other year...courtesy, am I right?’ I heard Joowon brightly chuckle. It felt strange to not know what Hyojin’s expression was like. I mean if she doesn't give anything to anyone else, doesn’t that mean…? I shook my head. It was none of my business. Not long after that, they began talking about who was working next week so I made sure my timing was right and casually walked out of the staff room, acting as if nothing had happened.
‘Alright, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Bye!’ I waved and rushed past them. I tried really hard not to stare at what looked like a bag of home-made heart-shaped chocolates in Joowon’s hand.
‘Bye!’ They both cried out as I closed the store door behind me and stepped out into the cold.

~
 

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Next Chapter Preview:
'Wait, when's his birthday?
'Tomorrow.'
'TOMORROW!?'
 

Author's note: 
This was supposed to be the Valentines AND birthday (Sungjoo 16/2) chapter but it became surprisingly long so I had to split it! >< I really enjoying writing this story so I must absolutely thank you for your support! Lots of hearts to everyone! ♡♡♡ Anyway, I'm working on the next chapter already so it'll be up soon-ish, do look forward to it! ٩(╹౪╹๑)۶ Oh! I forgot to mention, I updated the character list from the last time I think so be sure to check it out! ^^
 

ATTENTION BTS FANS: I have also just published a BTS fanfic so be sure to check it out! Click here and let me know what you think! <3