"Surprise!" 

How Mingyu, Vernon and Hyeyoung procured so much confetti and nonsense to throw at Minghao, I had no idea. All I knew was that Minghao was now grinning from ear to ear, and giving me the look for deceiving him the whole day. 

"I thought you guys forgot," he said sheepishly as we welcomed him back into his own room, which the rest have decorated with a simple and but grand display of kermit pictures (Minghao's favourite) and party essentials. Vernon had stacked his books on the floor so that his table had space to put an array of food and most importantly - the birthday cake. It was clear from the slightly unprofessional look that it was a product of the couple again, except that the flavour was different from the one for my birthday. A small pile of presents was stashed on Minghao's bedside, including the ones that Vernon and I had hurriedly shopped for the night before. I mouthed a "thank you" to Vernon, who had helped me wrap my present while I was out for the day distracting Minghao and buying time. From what I saw, Vernon did it pretty well. 

Perhaps it was because I was the one with the closest proximity to Minghao, but I was the first whom he grabbed into a tight embrace. It took a few moments for the rest to register that Minghao meant for it to be a group hug, so Vernon joined us and the couple quickly followed suit.

"I thought for a moment something happened during your afternoon date," Mingyu's mouth was blabbering nonsense again, earning a kick from both Vernon and I.

"When did you guys plan this?" Minghao said, helping himself to the food on the table. They included many of his favourites - mostly Chinese food. 

"Ages ago. It was so hard trying to hide it from you since we see you everyday. The food is from Jun by the way. He has a shift tonight but he helped with everything around. Mostly the food," Vernon explained, "he's a good chef." 

I gave him a side-eye, knowing that he probably helped himself to some food before the party started. Vernon had major dietary control issues. He looked away when he saw me rolling my eyes at him. 

"Anyway Minghao tell me, do you prefer the current gold-theme decorations, or would you rather have baby blue?" Mingyu asked out of the blue. Beside him, Hyeyoung seemed interested to hear the birthday boy's answer as well. 

I could tell Vernon was trying to catch Minghao's eyes to give him a signal, and it was then that I recalled the text messages he was sending me the whole day as we tried coordinating this event. One of the many disagreements that the couple have today then, I thought. Yet Minghao was too engrossed in his food that he barely took notice of Vernon's subtle gestures. "This," he answered without thinking. 

Mingyu gave Hyeyoung a triumphant look, which made the latter smile but also look disappointed at the same time. She caressed the back of her neck sheepishly, and for the rest of the party she was mostly laughing along jokes and smiling meekly without initiating much conversations. Not that this was very unlike her usual behaviour, but anyone close to her would be able to tell that she was on the moody side. I nudged Vernon lightly while the other three were distracted by Mingyu's stupid story about how he walked into a tree branch because of his unfortunate height, "were they arguing really bad in the day?" I asked. 

"I wouldn't call it bad, but lets say they only decided to rest their case when you texted saying you were on your way back. I think they left a few arguments hanging. About the food, the gift, the decoration." 

"Sounds like everything," I whispered.

"Yep." 

How Mingyu could be such an adorable giant but dense human at the same time was a mystery to me. There he was, earning a few laughs from his friend and girlfriend, about yet another stupid story when Minghao and I had successfully tricked him to jump into the pool on a cold night. What an idiot. 

"Guys, it's time for the presents!" I declared loudly to interrupt Mingyu in the midst of another story that was obviously boring Hyeyoung and Minghao (about how he wore his uniform inside out in high school). Minghao and Hyeyoung gladly jumped on the opportunity to move away from the talkative giant, and we all circled Minghao to watch him unbox our gifts one by one. 

He started with Jun's, which he left behind along with the food. It was a Chinese novel written by Minghao's favourite author, and he had apparently been searching for it for ages. He beamed even brighter, if that was possible at all. 

Next were Mingyu and Hyeyoung's gift. There were two in the box - one was a kermit keychain and the other a tank top with HIP HOP emblazened on its front. He was really happy with those too, especially with Kermit. Mingyu gave another victory smile to Hyeyoung, but Mingyu thankfully pulled the shirt over himself immediately to entertain all of us, much to Hyeyoung's pleasure. 

Next was Vernon's, which I already knew about since I went shopping together with him. He pulled out a pack of back patch that were good for mu