“Birthday girl is here !!” Baekhyun howled as soon as he opened the front door of Sehun’s inviting house. “Or should I say, the lovebirds are !”

He winked at Hana teasingly as a pink blush scattered on her cheeks. She wanted to turn around and walk back home but Taehyung pushed her lightly on the back, motioning for her to get inside.

This guy was up for a beating, Hana cursed to herself.

Earlier that morning, Taehyung and Hana had went through the first half of the school peacefully, despite the awkwardness when they first saw each other in homeroom. They quickly got over that and Hana was glad that she could still feel comfortable and joke around with him now that they had taken a new leap in their relationship.

It was all still very new, though.

He was not her first boy. Nor was it her first relationship. Or her first kiss. She had wasted all that for another guy who does not deserve anything from her. But it was more nerve wrecking and comforting at the same time.

She trusted him. No matter how scary that seemed to be, she found herself trusting him not to hurt her.

They had decided to go to the cafeteria since Hana was craving for their crepe. They were about to head to the rooftop with their lunch in hand when Baekhyun called them over to their table.

Taehyung was reluctant at first since he had wanted to spend the lunch hour together with Hana but the girl was already dragged by Sooyoung to the full table.

“You're coming right, tonight ?” Sehun asked Hana.

Taehyung sighed, “You just asked that in class like two hours ago. I said I am.”

Sehun scoffed at the brown haired guy, “Who ask you ? I was asking Hana, .”

Hana laughed watching the two bicker, “I am, Sehun. And you asked me, too.”

“These girls want confirmation.” Sehun rolled his eyes as he motioned to the girls. Sehun was in the same class as them, along with Minho. But the others were in different classes.

Jinri squealed, “I'm so excited. This could really take my mind away from Suneung even for just a while.”

That's right. Suneung was a month away, in the middle of November. And it has been stressing them out so much. All they did was buried their heads in books and notes.

This little party was like a stress reliever before continuing with their routined schedule.

“Come at 8, okay ?” Sehun said to Hana.

The girl gave him a nod, with a smile on her face. She was giddy herself, the first birthday party she was going to have after 18 years passed by without one.

Suddenly, she felt her wrist being pulled, and when she looked to her side, it was Jinri with her eyes wide, “This is very pretty ! Who gave it to you ?”

Hana sneaked a glance at Taehyung before chuckling dryly at all the eyes that was suddenly waiting for her answer, “Oh, this ? Well, ah, it's a birthday present from Taehyung.”

The rest of the table began teasing them. Minho asked, “Are you guys finally dating or what ?”

Taehyung who was drinking his cinnamon frappe choked at the blunt question that was apparently true.

“.”

“No way.”

“Am I dreaming ?”

“About damn time.”

Hana flushed tomato as the girls gushed her. She could only looked over at Soojung for help but the latter girl only grinned wickedly.

Well, shoot.

She knew then that they were going to for this forever. Sighing, Hana could only prepare herself for the endless teasing that was surely came her way.

And damn didn't news spread fast in that school. By the time they went back to their class after lunch, the students started to point and smile teasingly at them, Hana wanted to drown herself.

But here she was, nine hours later, in the house filled with their friends that will surely teased them to no end. Well actually, Baekhyun already started.

“Shut up, idiot.” Taehyung grumbled, shoving the pretty boy aside as they passed him to get to the main hall of the house.

As soon as she the hallway to the room, she was surprised by the sound of a dozen party poppers going off, making her jump at the loud sound, as everyone yelled Happy Birthday. It rained confetti. Everyone laughed at her reaction, a success indeed.

“You guys are twelve.” Taehyung laughed from behind her, brushing her shoulder as he moved.

Hana opened her eyes to see, well confettis dangling from her head like curtains. She cleaned most of it off her with a light laugh as she glanced around the room before Jinri pulled her into a hug. She wanted to gasp in pain as the cute girl was pressing on her fresh bruises from the beating that she was trying so hard not to show. Taehyung would flipped if he knew that her dad was still hurting her.

Taehyung had tried so hard to make sure that Hana won't be home when his dad was, but sometimes his dad left his car in the airport when he was going to be home for just a couple of days.

She couldn't run to Taehyung and Hanbin every single time. Both boys have enough already on their plate without having to add her problems to it. And it's exactly that, her problems.

Every time her father would hit a little too hard where she knows she can't hide the pain, she would bail on everyone, telling them she needed to study alone.

She got this, she told herself so many times, chanting it over and over again, drilling it in her brain. She had endured it for years before both of the boys came. A little more won't hurt, right ?

“Happy belated birthday, Hana.” Jinri cheered. Hana beamed, thanking her. Everyone started wishing her a belated birthday, as if they haven't already on the actual day, and Hana swallowed the hiss that was threatening to come out every time she was hugged a little too tight.

Whatever it was, she felt good about the whole night, despite the things that happened at home. Her insides warmed in giddiness even though they already hanged out together a few times after the camp. Especially the last two months as the exam was nearing and they often did study group every few weeks. She can't believe she has so many great friends.

Hana loved how welcomed they were about her joining even though they just met. All of them were especially nice and friendly, not letting her feel like the odd one out.

The last time Hana was here, crowds of teenagers were dancing and partying so hard she couldn't even make out the real interior of it. However, now that there's only a few people sitting on the leather couch, Hana could tell that it was designed very nicely.

She had to laugh at the plausible attempt at trying to decorate the room into a private mini birthday party with the balloons and ‘Happy Birthday’ cutouts hanging on the walls. Cute.

They all had a party cap on, and Minho had made her wore a mini princess crown that apparently belonged to Sehun’s little sister. Sooyoung had wrapped a pink boa around her neck, that was oddly comfortable. Hana didn't know boa was even comfortable.

She could only chuckled as they started singing Happy Birthday when Soojung got out of the kitchen with a cake in hand. She blew the candles and clapped along with everyone else, a huge grin on her face.

Sehun asked his housekeeper to take a picture of them and Hana had asked for an extra shot since she wanted to keep a polaroid of tonight too.

The whole party was kept very PG but it was the most fun they had in quite a while, with the dreading exam nearing. They played games, savoured the food and the blueberry cheesecake that the girls baked from scratch.

It was easily the best birthday ever, and  even the black and blue on her stomach couldn't ruin it for her.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

It's 31st of October and even though the exam was exactly 20 days away and all those who will be seating for it were literally burning the midnight oil, Hana refused to let Halloween passed by without doing anything.

Hanbin held a party in his new house that he just moved into last month. He had invited both of them but he said it was okay to bail since he knew Suneung was a few weeks away.

Hana wanted to go though. She had always loved Halloween. She remembered  so many good memories of her childhood with Hanbin during Halloween. They would dressed up like the next horrifying thing or characters in her favourite fairytales. They would go knocking from one door to the next, giddy at the thought of what candy that house might give.

She knew they were too late to even get a proper costume or play dress up like a character since the party was only a few hours away, but she could always enjoy the creativity of others.

Taehyung however, don't feel like going to any party. Hana sometimes forgot that before she came along, this boy never went to party, much less a costume party. However, she really want to go there with him.

Besides, he had been so stressed out about the whole exam as it gets closer. She figured that he needed to let loose a little because once they entered November, she was sure he won't even get out of his room.

“Taehyung, please.” Hana tried to persuade him as she flipped the grilled cheese on the pan. “Just tonight. We've been studying all day !”

“I don't know.” Taehyung looked up from his Chemistry book. He was seating on the island in the kitchen, revising, as he waited for her to finish making her food. “You could go without me. Hanbin will be there.”

The girl pouted as she put the plate of her food on the counter. She went around to sit next to him.

“He's going to be busy with his guests and there will be many guys there and I'd be awkward alone.” She tried again.

His eyes perked up at the sound of many boys will be there.

He was never one to enjoy going to places where people gathered, mostly because of the scars. But even now that the scars didn't bother him as much, he had already trained to be more comfortable in his house even on Halloween. Even on the previous years, he never really cared about dressing up or even going to the Halloween party that Sehun held every year, that he thankfully didn't this year.

However, the thought of letting Hana went by herself became less and less appealing.

He couldn't keep the notes that he was reading to stay in his brain as it was clouded with worry and something he was reluctant to admit.

Hana put the plate and the glass on the drainer after finishing her meal. She watched as Taehyung’s eyebrow knitted as his eyes read through the page but Hana noticed that he had been on the same page of the rusting experiment since she started eating. It was a simple experiment that shouldn't have him all frowning.

Hana went behind him, looking over the page. She wrapped her arms around his waist, propped her chin on his shoulder. Soft chuckles left as he flinched in surprise.

“Are you conducting that experiment virtually ?” She asked.

Taehyung who was snapped out of his thought was speechless as he felt her pressed to his back. He tilted his head a little to the left, until their cheeks were pressed together.

“You really want to go ?” He asked.

Hana mumbled, “I really want you to go. Please.”

He snorted as she pulled off the cutest face she could muster, “You look ridiculous.”

Hana huffed, “Pleaseeee.”

As if there's anything Kang Hana couldn't cajole him into doing. She might as well sweet talked him to rob a bank and he'd probably did.

“Fine.”

Hana gasped before twirling in circles around the kitchen, jumping up and down in celebration of her victory. Taehyung could only sighed as he watched the girl but an amused smile formed on his face.

Overjoyed by her success, Hana went to him and planted a peck on his lips, taking him by surprise.

“I love you.” She said before running upstairs to start getting ready, leaving the guy dumbfounded in the kitchen, alone.

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