Mimie shot her eyes open as she heard the sound of her bedroom door flung open. Crept out, she glanced to the corner of her eyes, carefully scanning if any burglars had trespassed into her house and had now found her room. Her back was facing the door, so she slowly turned to get a better view, with her legs ready as ever to jump off the bed and run as fast as she can if it was really a burglar. Only that, when she did turn around, no one was there; except the door being wide open.

She scratched her head. “Was it a strong wind...?” she muttered. Shrugging it off, she stood up to close the door. Just when she thought everything was clear, she felt someone breathing so close behind her. Being in a panic mode, she quickly shut her eyes. “Dear Lord, if I have never been a devoted believer up till now, I truly regret everything and I promise I will turn into one if You save my life this time around,” she prayed silently as her legs grew weaker and was so close to collapse onto the ground.

A few seconds later, Mimie heard a familiar chuckle. She promptly turned around, only to see the figure of her boyfriend standing tall right before her eyes. For a moment, she felt at ease. Well, at least it wasn’t any other individuals she had no idea of. It wasn’t for long though; Mimie raised her hand to hit his chest. “You scared me for a split second there!” she screamed. Her boyfriend, Mingyu, let out yet another chuckle. “Sorry,” he mouthed, only to earn a roll of the eyes from his girlfriend. “I just wanted to be the first person to wish you a happy birthday,” he said.

Mimie nodded half-heartedly before proceeding to plop herself on the bed, except that Mingyu decided to stop her by blocking her with his long arms wide open. “Let me sleep! You disrupted my nap, okay?” she faintly shove him away. Mingyu whined like a kid as he tugged onto her sleeve. Mimie felt her heart weaken. She might tell him that his whine is annoying, but deep down, she did find it cute. She turned to face him; only to see him puffing his cheeks, pouting. Mimie giggled at the sight of her boyfriend as she extended her arm to pinch his cheeks.

Still pouting, Mingyu proceeded to give her a backhug. “You smell, go and take a bath,” he murmured, resting his head on her shoulder. Mimie groaned. “Why do you have to be sweet and cute yet annoying at the same time?” she complained. Mingyu grinned at the word ‘cute’. “Because if I don’t, wouldn’t it make me just as similar as other guys?” he snickered. Mimie rolled her eyes as she pushed him away before leaving her bedroom to go to the bathroom. “MOM, DON’T LET HIM ENTER MY BEDROOM NEXT TIME!” she shouted at her mother downstairs.

After she got herself ready for school, she intertwined her fingers with Mingyu as they walked downstairs to the kitchen. “Have a breakfast with us, Mingyu,” Mimie’s mother invited, flashing a loving smile towards him. “Don’t be too nice to him, Mom. He’s easily spoilt,” Mimie complained with stuffed with food. Mingyu was about to reach for a slice of ham until she slapped his hands away from the plate, only to receive a shot of a glare from her own mother. He proceeded to steal a slice in the process of getting up from his seat, which was easily done since his height could tower Mimie no matter how hard she tried to fight him.

“Bye, Auntie!” he yelled as he ran out of the house, with Mimie chasing him as fast as she could from behind. “Kim Mingyu!!” she screamed, shortening the gap between the both of them; that is either Mingyu was slow, or Mimie ran exceptionally fast today. She hopped on top of him, slapping his back while she was at it. “Ouch! How do you have so much energy this early in the morning? You’re usually lethargic,” he winced in pain, rubbing the skin Mimie just smacked, before adjusting his hands to support her weight. Mimie leered. “Because it’s my birthday,” she casually spoke.

At school, Mimie made Mingyu continue piggybacking her. While having their lunch break, they decided to go for a walk at the school field, that is until they heard a couple of girls calling Mimie from afar. They turned around just to find two of Mimie’s close friends came running towards them from the back. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN, YO!” they chanted. Mimie was so sure that the other students around there were giving them a judging look, but to her they can judge all they want; it was her birthday anyway, so bruh, WHO CARES?

Mingyu flashed a smile as he let Mimie’s legs land on the ground. “Thanks again, guys!” Mimie cheered. A grin left the face of one of Mimie’s friends as she shifted her glance from Mimie to Mingyu. She scrutinised him from head to toe. “Why are you still here?” her tone was flat, and Mimie had never seen her friend acting as serious as that. “What’s wrong, Hyura?” Mimie asked, concerned. Just when Hyura wanted to answer her, Mingyu stepped in. “A-Ah... She must’ve wanted you for the whole day. I’ll get back to you later, babe. See you in... class! Yeah, see you in class,” Mingyu stuttered.

Before leaving the girls and walking off to school alone, he made a quick turn to Hyura and gestured her to seal her lips. Mimie pretended she didn’t see what just happened. She was curious, but maybe it was just a surprise planned by them for her; so before getting to blow their cover, it’d be better if she just keep silent. When she realised Mingyu’s figure had already disappeared from her radar, she couldn’t help but think of the surprise. Though, she felt like something wasn’t right. “If it was for a surprise, why would Hyura act all serious?” she thought to herself.

She was basically in her own world despite walking in between her loud-as-ever friends, until the petite girl on her left side snapped her out of it. “Uh, Earth to Mimie?” she clapped both of her hands together right before Mimie’s face. Mimie rolled her eyes, pushing away her friend’s hands from blocking her vision. “What do you want, Mihyun?” she asked, annoyed. “Are you serious? It’s your birthday and you literally look so emo right now,” Mihyun complained as she crossed her arms. Mimie could only heave a sigh.

“Why, Mimie?” Hyura questioned, worried over Mimie’s sudden change. “It’s about Mingyu,” she faked a frown, still wary of her friends’ face expression in case Mihyun would become the spoilsport for the nth time and expose their plan just by a single grin. Instead, she could only see Hyura groan. “Ugh, that jerk. Like seriously, does his last day have to be today, on his girlfriend’s birthday? If I were you-” Hyura paused abruptly when she saw Mimie raising her hand signalling her to stop talking. “His last day? What do you mean?” she asked. “You don’t know?” Hyura widened her eyes.

Mimie wanted to continue the pretence, but Hyura acted too serious for Mimie’s liking to the extend she couldn’t hold her laughter any longer. “Oh, stop it already. You and seriousness do not go well together, Hyura,” she laughed, only stopping when she saw Hyura still keeping a straight face. “Look,” Hyura placed her hand on Mimie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you have to go through this on your birthday, but just in case you think this is a surprise, it’s not,” she sighed. Hyura could see Mimie’s face expression turned as confusing as ever. “He’s moving to another city, Mimie,” she explained.

Mimie was about to have tears forming under her eyes, until Mihyun came out of nowhere with a cotton candy in her hands. “Who’s moving?” she questioned in a flat tone, unaware of the gloomy atmosphere around her. Hyura was so close to give Mihyun a tight slap, though she chose to just facepalm herself instead. Mihyun just continued chewing on her candy, until she noticed the look on the duo’s faces and started shouting on top of her lungs. “IS MIMIE MOVING?!” and that’s it, Hyura lost it – she whacked Mihyun’s side the moment she stopped screaming. “Enough of your , shortie,” Hyura muttered under her breath, only to receive a slap on the face as a revenge.

As Mimie blankly watched her friends fight, she found her palms sweating like never before. Her face turned burning hot out of the blue, and her ears were slowly turning red. Mihyun and Hyura stopped bickering, noticing the sudden change in Mimie. “Are you okay?” Mihyun poked her. “Dude, you’re heating!” she exclaimed, making Hyura reach out her hand to check Mimie’s forehead. “Let’s go to the infirmary,” Hyura said, the stern in her voice never left her lips. Mimie shove away Hyura’s hands as she looked up to both of her friends. “I have something else to do,” and with that, she strode off as fast as she could; leaving the duo confounded.

It wasn’t sickness that she felt; she knew she wasn’t unwell. Maybe anger? Utter confusion? Sadness? She couldn’t tell. All she wanted to do at the moment was to find Mingyu. She needed to get him to face her. He owed her an explanation; or just at least, a goodbye kiss decent farewell. Stopping at a corridor for a while to catch a breath from the fast walk, she took out her phone to text him asking where he was.

“The broadcasting room. Why? What’s wrong?” she read Mingyu’s reply out loud. “Idiot. You played with my feelings and you dared to ask me what’s wrong?” she murmured, placing her phone back into the pocket of her bag. On her way to meet Mingyu, she saw two of his friends walking in an opposing direction. “Minghao!” she called one of them. She could see him freaking out for a second upon turning to face her, despite him trying to cover up putting on a blank face. “Oh? Mimie? I didn’t see you there,” he said. Instead of responding, she only stared into his eyes. He was sweating indeed, given that it was his first time anyone ever stared at him creepily. “Is Mingyu alone in the broadcasting room?” she questioned, her eyes never left his.

Minghao gulped before answering. “T-that’s it? You stared at me for nothing? And yes, he is. Why?” he asked, scratching his temple. “Good,” she spoke as she walked past him. A few minutes later, the door to the broadcasting room flounced open. “Mingyu!” she yelled, ready to throw tantrums the moment she could see his face; except that what she saw before her eyes wasn’t what she was expecting.

“Happy birthday!” a crowd wished in synch. Mimie felt her cheeks turning red. “I was right when I first thought they were planning a surprise,” she muttered under her breath, happy tears started trickling down her cheeks. The whole crowd were now singing her a birthday song, but that wasn’t what mattered to her at the moment. She was busy scanning the crowd, and to her displeasure Mingyu couldn’t be spotted among them. “He’s not here...” she mumbled before wanting to turn around. “Wrong,” someone whispered from her back.  She turned around to find Mingyu holding a silver necklace up high before her eyes. “I’m here,” he smiled, lowering his hand to take a hold of her hand. “Isn’t that the necklace I had my eyes on the other day?” she asked, receiving a nod from him.

There was an awkward silence going on for a few seconds, before Mimie opened . “So... are you really moving?” she looked carefully into his eyes, searching for answers. Mingyu chuckled. “No, silly, that was just part of the surprise to get you to come here,” he poked the bridge of her nose, making her flinch a little. Mimie was taken aback that she almost succeeded in blowing their cover before having to fall for Hyura’s sly trick. She crossed her arms as she shot a glare towards Mingyu. “I can’t believe I fell for this,” she complained.

“Fell for what?” Mihyun came out of nowhere yet again, this time shoving a brownie into . Mingyu pointed to Mihyun’s direction. “It’s because this time, we decided to exclude her from the surprise,” he claimed, making the whole room burst into laughter. Mihyun’s jaw literally dropped to the floor. “WHAT? KIMBAP KIDDING ME?! How dare you guys do this to me? After all the hard works I did for all of you. Such friends,” she made a commotion before taking a sharp glance at Mingyu. He stuck his tongue out towards her and mouthed ‘party-pooper’ playfully. Mihyun puffed her cheeks. “I can’t believe y’all anymore,” she complained, not forgetting to stuff with another brownie.

Mingyu rubbed his temple. He knew this would happen, but if they ever included Mihyun again, Mimie would’ve easily discovered their surprise. “I’m ending this friendship,” Mihyun claimed, before stomping her feet out of the broadcasting room with one spare brownie in her hands. Mimie and her friends couldn’t help but laughing hysterically at Mihyun’s actions, though later when they realise she hasn’t came back after 10 minutes they’d nudge her boyfriend, Seungkwan, to bring her back into the room.

Leaving the mess behind, Mingyu and Mimie turned to face each other again. “Nice acting,” she commented, just to have Mingyu flashing his signature playful grin as a response. She was going to jokingly hit his chest when he suddenly remembered something. He looked down to the necklace he was holding and looked back at her. “Wanna try this out?” he asked, only proceeding to help her wear it around her neck when she smiled as a sign of a ‘yes’. After hooking it up, he examined the figure before his eyes. “Beautiful as always,” he complimented. “Me, or the necklace?” she teased, making the both of them chuckle.