3rd Person’s POV

[Seoul, South Korea…November 11, 20XX]

Erika had just came back from America and she headed immediately to a private club, where she’ll celebrate with her fellow idols. It was her birthday, after all. And she was already old enough to party in clubs, and her mother doesn’t mind as long as she’s with her idol friends.

“Happy Birthday, sweet cheeks.”

“Thanks, Namjoon oppa. Where’s the rest of Bangtan?”

“Partying around. I told them to come and greet you, but they said they’ll do it later.”

“I don’t mind.” Erika handed a drink to RM and raised her glass. “Cheers to another year.”

“Cheers.” they clicked their glasses together and drink. “By the way, where’s your members? Taehyung told me about one of them, actually.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re at the dorm, they’re not really old enough to be here.”

“I see. Well, I hope that you’ll have fun later with them after here. I’ll see you around, cous.” with that, RM walked back to her members and friends while Erika stayed at her seat. It was her birthday but her mind was somewhere else, at the moment.

“Hey, birthday girl. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Jihyo unnie.”

“Are you having fun? You don’t look like it.” Jihyo took a seat besides her and grab a drink. “I heard that you just came back from America, what’d you do there?”

“My mom wanted me to come, and didn’t let me go for one week.”

“I knew it. And? What did your members said?”

“They didn’t know about anything, except that my mom wanted me to come. I didn’t told them about my situation, because it’s easier that way. So, they flew to America and thought they can just take me away. But I made them leave, in the nicest way possible.”

“Why don’t you just tell them? That way, it wouldn’t be so hard on you.”

“Nah, it’s the leader’s job to carry the hard situation. That’s the same for you, right? Hiding your members relationship in public.” Jihyo chuckled and nodded.

“You’re right. But I still want you to be honest with them, they’re your members after all.”

“I’ll tell them when the right time comes. For now…let’s just party. It’s my birthday and we’re talking about heavy topics here.” Jihyo raised her glass and clicked with Erika’s.

“I’ll cheers to that. Happy Birthday.” they talked for awhile with the TWICE members, who came after a few minutes Jihyo came, while Erika greeted the people that came towards her.

“Excuse me for a second.” Erika said to the TWICE members before walking to the bar. “Yo.”

“Hey, hot shot. What’d you want?” the bartender asked.

“Two bottles of cranberry champagne.” Erika sat down in the bar stool and drank the remaining of her drink. “Can you charge my phone? I left my charger.”

“Sure.” she handed her phone to the bartender and grab the two bottles of champagne then made her way back to the table. Jeongyeon got the bottle from her and popped it open.

They continued partying and it was already 11PM when they left one by one, until Erika was the only idol in the club. After ten minutes, she made her way to her car and drove back to Sae Young Dormitories. She walked towards their dorm room and opened it with her key.

What she didn’t expect was her members were still up, the three of them were watching a movie together in the couch. “You guys are still up?”

“Yeah, we waited up for you.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s you birthday. Son Lei Min, grab the cake.” Lei immediately stood up and went to the kitchen. She came back holding a chocolate cake with strawberries on top as she sang the happy birthday song with Anika.

“We cooked your favorite foods when we know you’re coming back today. But ofcourse, we didn’t know that you were already having a party. But it’s fine, we had fun doing this for you. Now, why don’t you blow the candles and make a wish so we could eat?”

“I’m sorry, I’m full. I had enough food and drinks, I think I’m going to just sleep.” Erika made way to her bed and lay down.

“But I texted you about your birthday party here, saying not to eat too much.” that made Erika stand up from her bed and let out a deep sigh.

“I left my phone at the bar, damn it. I didn’t see your messages, I’m sorry. Why don’t you guys just eat that? I appreciate the effort, but I’m not hungry right now. Just tired…”

“Alright, you’re right. You had a long day, you should just rest. You can eat the foods we cooked tomorrow. Sleep well, unnie.” without waiting for a response, Lei walked back to the kitchen while carrying the cake with the candles that wasn’t blown out.

“She was really happy you know.” Anika glanced at the direction where Lei had left. “When she saw on the news that your flight had landed, she jumped around the house and demanded that we gave you a birthday party. And it’s sad to think that you didn’t even informed us, or her. She’s your bestfriend. We’re a family, didn’t you said that?”

“I’m sorry. I just have enough on my plate right now and I can’t deal with this while I’m a lil’ bit drunk. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Erika plopped back to her bed and closed her eyes.

Knowing that they can’t do anything, Anika and Jeril started cleaning up the dorm room. After Lei was done cleaning the kitchen, she helped the other two while stealing glances at Erika. When they finished cleaning, Jeril turned off the lights and they went to sleep.

Erika waited until they were deeply asleep before standing up, she couldn’t sleep at all.

With a sigh, she went to her study table and grabbed 3 papers to write on it. She wrote her thanks for the party, her sorry for being a jerk and her messages for them. After writing all the letters, she placed it on each of the girls’ study table and made her way to the kitchen.

She got some tupperwares and put the food her members cooked on it. She also sliced a cake for her and put it on another tupperware. When she finished putting foods, she put the tupperwares in her prepared suitcase, which was the only thing she had left in the room.

Taking her books from her study table and her favorite blanket and pillow on her bed, Erika made her way out of the dorm. With one last look of her sleeping members’ serene faces, she smiled sadly and slowly closed the door for the last time.

“Goodbye.”

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