[intermission]

Kai opened her eyes and saw Yeonwoo’s cat, Leo, sleeping on top of her… again. Kai sighed, “Damnit… Yeonwoo-unnie.” No response from Yeonwoo, “Unnie!”

Yeonwoo stirred and she slowly open her eyes, “What now Kai?”

“Your cat is sleeping on me again.” Yeonwoo sighed and got up from her bed. She stretched and walked over to Kai’s bed to pick up Leo and take him to her own bed. Kai got up from her bed and stretch. “That’s the fifth time this week. I don’t understand why your cat keeps on sleeping on me. I’m not a bed!”

“Relax Kai.” Yeonwoo said as she pets Leo. “Leo just likes you that’s all. Maybe he thinks you’re soft and wants to sleep with you.” Yeonwoo kisses Leo’s head, “You like sleeping on top of Kai don’t you Leo? Yes you do.”

Kai gave Yeonwoo a strange look, “Unnie you’re so weird. Anyway I don’t want him on me or my bed. He’s starting to shed and I don’t want any fur on my stuff. Especially my clothes.”

“Don’t be mean to Leo. He’s just doing cat things.”

“Whatever. Just get ready. I want… pancakes please. Blueberry if you can.” Kai slightly blushes as she grabs a towel. “I’ll be in shower. See you in the kitchen.”

“Okay~”. Yeonwoo got off from her bed and made her way to the kitchen. She makes pancakes and coffee for Kai and for herself. When she was done, she sets the plates and cups down on the dining table and she waits for Kai to finish getting ready.

Suddenly she realizes something. “Oh no I left my phone in the room. Darn it.” Yeonwoo sighs and she went back to her room. She knocks on the door, “Kai are you done putting on clothes? I forgot my phone in there.”

“Yeah I’m done. Just come in and grab your phone.” Kai explained.

“Okay.” Yeonwoo opens the door but immediately yelps as she saw Kai in her undergarments. She put her hands over her eyes. “I thought you said you were done?!”

“Well I am technically. I’m not . I’m just in my underwear and bra. So what? But anyways, just grab your phone and wait for me in the kitchen. I’ll be there in like 10 minutes.” Kai said as she drys off her hair.

“O-Okay.” Yeonwoo still covering her eyes. She made her way to her bed and grabbed her phone. It was a struggle but it was bigger struggle trying not to look at Kai in her underwear. After she got her phone she immediately left and shut the door behind her. She dropped to her knees and she was blushing like a tomato. She scream internally, LORD HELP ME GET ME THROUGH THE DAY. CAN’T BELIEVE I SAW KAI LIKE THAT MY GOD!!

After calming down, she went back to the kitchen and sat down, playing on her phone while Kai puts on proper clothes. When Kai enter the kitchen in her usual attire, Yeonwoo sighed in relief. Good I can look at her properly again. Kai sat down and they both ate their pancakes.

Awkward silence filled the room. Yeonwoo was worried. Soooooo… is she gonna talk about the kiss on the cheek from yesterday? God this is so weird. What was I thinking?

Kai cleared , “So unnie…. about the kiss the other day…”

Yeonwoo gulped hard, almost choking on her pancake. Oh crap. Yeonwoo coughed, “Look Kai, I-I didn’t know what I was doing I was just caught up in the moment. Plus I was nervous and I wanted comfort and- ”

“Unnie unnie. I get it. You just did it. It’s fine.” Kai took a sip of her coffee.

“Yeah yeah. I just… did it.” Silence grew again between the two. “Y-You know I kiss the other members on the cheek all the time so it’s nothing unusual. It’s just a friend thing haha.” Yeonwoo chuckles nervously. “Umm… Kai, are we friends?”

Kai was silence for a moment. “Yeonwoo unnie, I’m just here for a year. Like I said I’m the beginning there’s no intention for me to make friends or bond with you girls if I’m just gonna end up leaving. I let things slide for a bit but I still stand my ground when I said I don’t need to make friends.”

“But Kai- ”

“There’s no buts. I repeat, there’s no point if I’m just gonna leave soon.” Kai sighed and took another sip. “Come on let’s finish eating.”

Yeonwoo pouted, “Okay.”

As Kai was about to cut into her pancakes, Yeonwoo quickly cut up a piece of her pancakes and held it in front of Kai. “Come on, Kai say ahhhh.”

Kai looked at her. “Yeonwoo unnie…”

“Come on,” Yeonwoo smiled at her, “please?”

Kai slight blushed. She sighed and open , “Ahhh.” Yeonwoo fed her the piece and Kai munched on it. Kai looked away in embarrassment. “...it’s good. Thank you unnie.”

“Your welcome Kai.” Yeonwoo giggled and smiled with satisfaction.

[PRESENT]

“Alright girls. I’ll be back in a bit. Manager-nun wants to talk to me about some stuff so I won’t be gone too long. Y’all behave, especially you JooE.”

“Bye Kai!” They all said.

JooE pouted, “Oi why are you always picking on me?”

“Bye girls.” With that Kai left the dorms.

Immediately after Kai left, Ahin went into the living room and shouted, “Let’s go girls! I have something important to say! Gather in the living room!” The others listened and made their way to the living room. “Okay now that we all are here, I got something to tell you girls.”

“What is it? Is it serious?” Nancy asked.

“Actually I’m not sure but here goes.” Ahin cleared . “So I discover last night as I came back here, Kai was in her room alone and she was singing happy birthday and having a piece of cake to herself. Her birthday was yesterday!”

“Her birthday passed?! How come she didn’t tell us?!” Daisy yelled with concern. “We could’ve done something with her.”

“Well remember Daisy. She doesn’t want us to be close with her nor does she want to be close with us.” Yeonwoo explained, “So I’m not surprised if she didn’t announce her birthday.”

“I’m not surprised too but here’s what makes me sad about it: she was crying. Girls, Kai was actually crying.” As Ahin told them that, the others drop their jaw, “We know that we mostly see a strict Kai with barely any emotion to her face but this is first time I’ve seen her in that vulnerable state.”

“She cried. I didn’t we would see this day come. And this early.” Jane said.

“So what can we do?” Hyebin asked.

“I’m glad you asked unnie.” Ahin smiled, “We're gonna throw her a surprise birthday party! I’m sure it’ll put a smile on her face. Well, at least it shows that we really care for her.”

“But how we going to do it? We’ve been busy with our tight schedule ever since the comeback that we barely have time to do stuff.” Nayun explained, “I mean we’re lucky to have the morning off right now.”

“That’s why we will plan everything for the party over the weeks. And when we finally hit the point where everything has calmed down then we have a party for her!”

The girls looked at each other. Then back at Ahin. “I just have one question.”

“Yes JooE?”

“What about gifts?” As JooE said that, silence filled the room.

“...Oh that’s right.”

“Yeah. We barely know Kai and what she likes. All we know is that she likes to work, be on her laptop for work, be on her phone for work, and suits and ties. But those are too boring for gifts.” JooE said.

“Okay well… oh! We can use the weeks that come by to find something that Kai has interest in. It’ll be a good way to get to know Kai and find something beyond her usually routine with us. It’ll help us find gifts for Kai and found something interesting about her.”

“Yeah that sounds like a good plan! I’m in!” Taeha agreed.

“Alright girls. Let’s do this. I call this Operation: Kai’s Birthday.”

As day comes to an end, Yeonwoo gets ready to hit the hay. She yawns as she walks to her dorm, “Man I haven't been this busy since the last comeback we did for Baam. It’s good to be busy again but nothing beats like a nice bed to look forward to.”

Suddenly she heard a loud noise from her room. “LEO! DROP THAT NOW!” Yeonwoo quickly hurried to her room. As she open the door, she saw Leo boating out of the room with something in his mouth. Kai soon follows him, “YOU CAT! GIVE THAT BACK NOW!”

Kai chases Leo throughout the dorm until she finally caught him under the couch. She grabbed the item from his mouth and put him on the floor. “You bad cat! Don’t take Hanamaru like that ever again!”

Yeonwoo approaches Kai, “Hey what happen? What did Leo take?”

Kai quickly hid the item behind her back and faced Yeonwoo, “O-Oh it was nothing unnie! Just a small thing Leo took from me. Don’t worry.” Kai cleared , “But please don’t let Leo near my stuff okay?”

“O-Okay Kai.” With that Kai went back to her room with her item in her hand.

Yeonwoo picked up Leo and petted his head. She looked ahead toward her room as Kai enters. What was in Kai’s hand that was important? …wait who’s Hanamaru?