The girl brushed her shoulder-length hair over her shoulder as she let out a huff. She was waiting at the pickup point for Yerin and Eunbi. Just as she was about to give them a call, the sleek black Mercedes appeared in sight, sharply turning and stopping right in front of the girl. The door swung open and Eunha hopped in.

“What took you so long?” Eunha asked as she passed the paper bag she was holding to the younger Eunbi who was in the backseat.

“I forgot to write a card so…” Yerin smiled sheepishly.

“Scatterbrain.”

“Hey!”

“We’re not late so it’s alright. Are Yuna and Yewon there yet?” Eunbi interrupted the bickering from the back.

“I texted Yewon while I was waiting, and she said they’re on the way. Maybe we’ll reach around the same time.” Eunha replied, drumming her fingers on her phone that was resting in her lap.

“Why is she working on her birthday anyway?” Yerin asked as she eased on the brakes. “Shouldn’t she be resting on her birthday?”

“I dunno. She says it’s because they have a new pastry chef and she wants to assess his skills or something like that.”

“Really dedicated to her work huh.” Yerin chuckled. The light turned green and the girl stepped on the gas.

“By the way, how did that picnic turn out?” Eunha asked.

“It was great! If Yerin wasn’t a photographer, I’m pretty sure she would be working with Sojung-unnie in the restaurant.” Eunbi smiled, reaching forward to pat the girl’s shoulder.

“You think too highly of me, B. I’m just an average cook.”

“I beg to differ. Oh, make a left turn here, it’s a shortcut.” Eunha said and Yerin quickly signalled to filter to the left before she could miss the turn. They cruised down the scenic and quiet road before arriving at Namsan Tower. It was a lovely restaurant that specialized in French cuisine. Sitting atop the tower, it boasted a magnificent view of the city skyline, making it the perfect place to have a romantic candlelit dinner.

“Yerin-unnie!” a voice called out as the trio got out of the car. Yerin turned towards the voice and a wide smile spread across her lips when she saw who it was.

“Yewon!” Yerin beamed and spread her arms as the younger girl ran towards Yerin and into her arms. “I missed you!”

“I haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been?” Yewon asked as she pulled away.

“I’ve been good.” The photographer smiled, patting the younger girl’s back.

“Unnie.” Yuna smiled with a nod as she approached them.

“Shall we?” Eunha said as she gestured towards the lift.

“We have much so much to catch up on!” Yewon chirped as they walked towards the lift.

“How are you and Yerin?” Yuna asked Eunbi as the lift doors closed and began its ascent to the last level.

“We’re living together now so it’s great.” Eunbi chuckled as she looked at Yerin. “You?”

“Same old, same old. We did refurbish the café, so you should come by some time.” Yuna said.

“Sure!”

“How about you, unnie? How’s being a psychologist?” Yewon asked Eunha.

“Ah, it’s alright. My patients tell me I’m the best so…”

“Ey…” the rest of the girls said in unison.

“Why?” the girl whined. “Still picking on me after all these years.”

“Because your reactions are still the best.” Yerin sniggered. There was a soft ding as the lift doors slid open. Yerin held the door open for the others before she walked out.

“Hello, welcome to N grill. Table for 5?” a waiter greeted them with a warm smile.

“6 actually. We’re here to pay your executive chef a visit.” Eunha said.

“Ah, Chef Kim? I see, right this way.” He snapped his fingers in realization and led them into the restaurant. “We understand that it’s her birthday today. She has mentioned a group of very… cute friends that she has. And I will assume that you are her girlfriend?” he said as he looked at Eunha.

“I hope she didn’t say anything embarrassing.” Eunha chuckled.

“Not to worry, she told us only the best things about all of you. I believe she has told you something about coming to assess our new pâtissier?”

“Pati-what?” Yuna cocked an eyebrow.

“Pastry chef.” The waiter clarified. “Well, we have seen him before and he’s more than capable of producing quality deserts. The real reason we got her here today is to surprise her. The pastry chef will be making Mille-Feuilles for us; including the 5 of you.”

“Oh, that’s nice!” Eunbi chimed in from the back.

“Sorry that we had to call her back when she could be out celebrating with you.” He said as he pulled out the chairs for them at a table by the window. “Our staff just love her so much that we just have to surprise her.”

“It’s okay, we’re here to make it a double surprise.” Yerin said with a smile as she took a seat.

“She doesn’t know you’re here?”

“Nope. So, if you could…” Yuna trailed off and the waiter chuckled, nodding.

“I understand. Here’s the menu. May I get you any drinks?” he asked as he handed out the leather-bound menus.

“Maybe some tea?” Yuna asked as she looked at the rest.

“English breakfast? Earl grey?” He suggested.

“Chamomile would be nice.” Eunha said and the others shrugged.

“Sure, I’ll have that prepared in a bit.” He smiled before walking off.

“I wonder what she would say later.” Eunbi said as she looked out of the window, admiring the breath-taking view. She had came a couple of times with Yerin whenever they visited Namsan, but the view never fails to amaze her.

“She’s probably going to cry.” Yewon sniggered.

“If she does then maybe we should do this more often.” Yerin hummed, flipping through the menu. Another waiter came by with a pitcher and 5 glasses of water. “Yuna, how are you and Yewon?”

“We’re…”

“Getting married?” Eunha asked which made the youngest choke on her water.

“No.” Yuna sighed as she patted Yewon’s hand across the table to calm the girl. “But we’re getting there.” This time, Yewon spat out some water and Eunbi instinctively raised the napkin on her lap to shield her face.

“God!” Eunbi shrieked, causing a couple of patrons to look over at the commotion. Yerin gave them an apologetic smile before they turned back.

“Geez, you guys…” The oldest shook her head. The waiter returned with the pots of tea and teacups, setting them gently down on the table top.

“Enjoy.” He smiled after pouring the tea.

“Well?” Eunha asked, unfazed at the mess that she had caused.

“I just told Eunbi earlier that we renovated the café into a more modern environment, but we kept the cosiness of the previous retro style.” Yuna said. “Apart from that, we’re doing fine. We visited her parents on Thanksgiving and they asked us the same question but of course, the answer was not yet. I mean, we still have some stuff to do so why not wait for a little more?”

“That’s true.” Eunbi nodded, running her index finger around the rim of the glass.

“When will she be coming out though?” Yerin asked and everyone looked at Eunha who shifted in her seat from the sudden attention.

“Don’t ask me, I have no clue.”

“Ask someone.” Yerin said and the psychologist waved her hand to catch the attention of a waitress that was walking around.

“Yes?” she asked as she stood by their table.

“Is Chef Kim in the kitchen?” Yerin asked.

“Ah, you’re her friends, right? She’s watching over the preparation of desserts. We plan to surprise her at around... 4. We closed the restaurant after 4 so that we have the entire place to ourselves.” She said, and they nodded in understanding. “Would you like to have some small bites in the meantime?”

“Sure. We have an hour to spare anyway.” Yerin smiled. “Anything will do. We trust your judgement.”

“Sure.” The waitress laughed before walking to the kitchen.

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

The last guest left the restaurant and the glass door was shut. The waiter flipped the sign to closed and switched the front lights off.

“Guess that’s our cue.” Eunha said. the rest of the staff came out and moved the tables, arranging them to form a long dinner table.

“We’re blindfolding her now.” A waitress said. Not long after, they could hear Sojung whining from the kitchen.

“What are you guys doing? We have patrons outside!” she hissed as she was led out of the kitchen by the head and sous chef.

“Relax, boss. Just walk till we say stop.” The Sous chef chuckled as he tugged at Sojung’s hand. The head chef too, had a grin on his face as he nudged Sojung to walk forward from behind. The girl begrudgingly trudged forward till she was given the signal to stop.

Another chef emerged from the kitchen with a small two-tier chocolate cake with gold glitter over the top and white chocolate dripping off the edge of the top tier. As expected of a fancy restaurant and a competent pastry chef. A waiter had a hand over the candles to prevent it from snuffing out and they placed it carefully on the table in front of Sojung who was oblivious.

“You can take off the blindfold now.” A waitress said, and the executive chef immediately pulled it off, blinking a couple of times to let her eyes adjust to the brightness of her surroundings. When her vision finally focused, Eunha started the first note and everyone followed along.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sojung, happy birthday to you~”

Everyone whooped and cheered as Sojung looked at them speechlessly, hand over her heart. She could feel her eyes beginning to water from the lovely surprise.

“You guys…” She said, sniffing.

“Cry later!” Eunbi yelled.

“Make a wish! Make a wish!” Yewon said and the restaurant fell silent. Sojung clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. A tear rolled down her cheek when she opened them, and she blew out the candles, wiping the tears away as everyone clapped.

“Such a baby.” Eunha teased as she walked over to Sojung who embraced the younger girl.

“Thank you, guys. You’re so sweet…” Sojung mumbled.

“Here.” The Sous chef said as he handed her a knife to cut the cake.

“We love you, chef!” “Kim Sojung is the best!” “Sophrodite mansae!”

“We still have one more surprise for you.” The pastry chef said with a smile.

“What is it?”

“A birthday dinner of course. Specially prepared by us.” The head chef declared proudly. “Desert included. This cake was made by him.”

“Really?”

“Yea, they lied saying I wasn’t that good just so you could come here for the surprise.” He chuckled.

“Ey, liars.” Sojung huffed playfully. “Thank you, really. I feel like even a thank you isn’t enough.”

“Don’t worry about it chef, you deserve it! You’ve worked hard so you deserve a big break.” A waiter said.

“Want to open your presents now?” Eunbi asked as they held up the bags they brought along.

“Presents too?”

“What’s a birthday without presents?” Yerin grinned. They placed the presents down on another table and beckoned for the chef to go over.

“I hope you’ll like them.” Yuna said, clapping Sojung on the back. The chef began opening the presents while the rest of the staff got to work, setting up the tables for dinner.

“A knife?” Sojung asked when she removed the wrapping paper from a rectangular box.

“Not just any knife.” Yuna said as the chef removed the sticky tape from the rest of the wrapping.

“Woah…” Sojung gasped as she stared at the box. It was an 8-inch Zelite Infinity knife, one of the best knives available for chefs.

“Like it?” Yewon asked expectantly.

“I love it!” Sojung beamed, holding the box up like it was some sort of holy grail. She then reached for Yerin and Eunbi’s present which was in a bigger rectangular box.

“It’s fragile so don’t shake it. I’m serious about that.”

“Alright… Is it a bomb?” Sojung joked as she looked into the paper bag. “Oh?” she pulled out a bottle of champagne.

“To go with the celebratory mood, we need to pop that champagne. Keepin’ it classy you know what I mean?” Yerin wiggled her eyebrow and Sojung chuckled.

“I get you. And it’s my favourite, thanks~” She cooed as she set the bottle down on the table. “Now, after saving the best for the last, I shall see what my dear Eunha has got.”

“The pressure is real here.” Eunha jested as she placed her gift in Sojung’s waiting hands. “Maybe I should have slapped a ribbon on myself and said I was your present.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.” The chef said with a wink which earned the groans of their friends.

“Just open it already.” Yuna shoved the oldest of the group. The executive chef peeled the tape off the bag and pulled out the first thing in the bag, a lovely black, long-sleeved dress with pink embroidered flowers that stood out.

“Heol, this is beautiful.” The chef said, admiring the dress before she reached into the bag to pull out a black leather jacket, a pair of diamond earrings and a pair of black shoes at the very bottom of the bag.

“I got you a whole outfit so that you will look stunning for the rest of today.” Eunha smiled sheepishly. Sojung practically tackled Eunha into a tight hug, earning the catcalls and cheers from the kitchen staff.

“Thank you so much, oh my god.” Sojung said as she hugged the clothes.

“Go change, birthday girl. Looks like they’re almost done setting up.” Yerin said with a warm smile.

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

The sun began to set, casting a spectacular mix of orange, red and purple hue across the sky. The restaurant staff had settled in their seats and Yerin decided it was time. She stood up with her wine glass and a knife, tapping the flat end against the glass to get the attention of everyone.

“My fellow… uh… friends. We have gathered here today to celebrate the birth of a very special person by the name of Kim Sojung. Without further ado, may we put our hands together to welcome the star of the night!” Yerin announced in her best narrator tone, earning the suppressed laughter of the crowd. Nonetheless, they did clap and Sojung walked out of the kitchen elegantly. The dress fit her to a tee, the earrings glinted in the light and the leather jacket draped over her shoulders gave off a cool and powerful vibe.

“So cool!” Yewon called out in a forced high-pitched tone as if she was a fangirl screaming for her idol. The second Sojung heard that, her suave façade disappeared and she burst out in laughter, embarrassed.

“Would you like to say a word or two?” Yerin asked, holding an invisible mic towards Sojung whose seat was at the head of the table.

“I’d just like to thank all of you for preparing all this for me. I definitely wasn’t expecting to be surprised like this today so I’m at loss for words but I hope you know what I mean.” Sojung said.

“We get where’s you’re coming from.” Someone said and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Enough talk, come, eat before the food gets cold.” Sojung chuckled and gestured for everyone to tuck in as she sat down.

“Happy birthday jagi.” Eunha whispered.

“Thank you, jjanyangi.” Sojung whispered back with a smile.

Happy birthday to our favourite giraffe Kim Sojung! Hope she has a great day celebrating and eat delicious food~ :D