Yuna thought venturing to IKEA to distract Eunha was a good idea. There was an odd charm to the giant Swedish megastore, and even if she wasn’t looking for anything to buy, it was fun enough to wander around.

 

She glanced at her phone. 3:30 PM, it read.

 

Eunha’s hand was warm in hers as her girlfriend dragged her along. Her steps were light and it reassured Yuna that she was having fun. “Yuna, look.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Don’t you think that would look nice in our home?”

 

“We’re not getting a beanbag. You know our cat would rip it apart.”

 

Eunha pouted. “Count it as a birthday gift?”

 

“...let’s take down the number.”

 

In retrospect, maybe Eunha was having too much fun impulse buying.

 

Her wallet was going to suffer, but she would take a happier Eunha on her birthday than the stressed-out Eunha from days ago. Work was troubling her and she desperately needed a break. It took a lot of coaxing from Yuna to even get her out of the house today to celebrate her birthday.

 

“Where are we going to eat dinner?” Eunha brought up once Yuna was done writing yet another number into their shopping list. “We’ve already had lunch here.”

 

‘Danger Question!’ Yuna’s mind blared in alarm. ‘Be natural, Yuna. You can do this.’

 

“I...uh,” she fumbled instead and scrunched her face. Great.

 

Eunha’s laugh was melodious as she bumped her shoulder against her side. “Is it a secret? I won’t ask you where you reserved then, relax.’

 

God. She thought Yuna reserved a table at a restaurant. “Y-yeah.”

 

Maybe she wasn’t the best person to do this. Eunha could see right through her with those perceptive eyes and Yuna was the worst liar in the world.

 

They strolled around for some more before their legs got tired. The store was bigger than either of them expected.

 

“Let’s sit for a bit,” Eunha guided them to a sofa and they plopped onto it with a sigh.

 

Yuna leaned into the soft backing and silently observed the rest of the visitors. It was a weekday so the crowd wasn’t as bad as she heard. Which was a godsend. Eunha hated suffocating crowds.

 

Eunha rested her head against her shoulder, turning Yuna’s hand over and fiddling with her fingers idly. They sat in a peaceful quiet as they rested their sore legs.

 

Her girlfriend shifted slightly, putting one hand on the sofa and pressing down. Then, she reached for the information tag.

 

“You know, this sofa isn’t too bad.”

 

“No, Eunha.”

 

Eunha stuck her tongue out at her. Yuna flicked her forehead jokingly. She let out a cute whine and sulked until Yuna kissed her hand as an apology.

 

Bzzt.

 

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Yuna flinched at the vibration, trying her best to discreetly pull it out while Eunha sat beside her. A message notification lit on her screen.

 

Sinb

 

Why the hell do you not have eggs.

 

And where is your light soy sauce? Red chilli paste?

 

A WHISK? SALT? SUGAR? MILK?

 

DO YOU GUYS NOT COOK IN YOUR HOUSE!!!!!!

 

Yuna paled. Maybe she should have reserved that dinner at a restaurant after all.

 

~

 

Their plan was simple.

 

Yuna would distract Eunha with their date until it was time for them to go home for dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of them would decorate the house, bake a birthday cake and cook a few dishes.

 

Simple. If it wasn’t for the fact that the two lovebirds lived like they ate take-outs every day.

 

“I swear, they have nothing in their fridge!”

 

Sinb heaved a sigh and closed the refrigerator door. She had been opening and closing it for the past few minutes hoping the ingredients they needed would materialize in front of her. Especially eggs. Who doesn’t have eggs in their house?

 

Ting!

 

Yuna finally replied to her messages. She checked them.

 

Yuna

 

frgt to rell yu gys, sry

 

‘What in the world is she typing,’ Sinb scowled and texted back, ‘Turn on your ing autocorrect.’

 

“If it wasn’t for Yewon, you wouldn’t have anything in your house either,” Sojung snarked from beside her.

 

“Oh shut up, you giraffe.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“We should have expected this, honestly,” Yewon cut in between them and opened the fridge again. “The ingredients we brought along are mostly baking ones. Except for the whisk. Which we need.”

 

Yerin spread out their current sauces and ingredients on the dinner table. “Yewon and I will go get them. The two of you can decorate the house in the meantime.”

 

“Sojung-unnie and I?” Sinb baulked. “Do you want a disaster to happen?”

 

“The main ingredients we’re missing are for Yewon’s tteokbokki dish and some of the baking ones which I remember best. Sojung’s tall enough to decorate the high places and if I send you we’ll be missing half of the things we need.”

 

“I wouldn’t—” Sinb cut herself off and deflated. “Yeah. You’re right.”

 

Sojung stifled her laugh. Sinb glared at her and moved past Yewon to elbow her in the side.

 

“Ow! Respect your elders.”

 

“Oh, you’re right. Sorry, grandma. Are your old bones okay?”

 

“Stop fooling around,” Yewon pulled her back to her with an exasperated look on her face. “Promise me you won’t argue with Sojung-unnie and actually decorate the house.”

 

“I can’t promise the first bit.”

 

“Sinb.”

 

“Okay, fine,” Sinb grumbled and crossed her arms. “I promise not to kill her and I will make this house look like a princess party.”

 

“You little brat, I swear—” Sojung’s voice was abruptly muffled.

 

In Sinb’s peripheral vision, Yerin had moved to Sojung and leaned towards her on her tippy-toes. She snapped her eyes away and covered Yewon’s face with her hands.

 

“Don’t make out in front of us! I won’t let you desecrate my girlfriend’s eyes.”

 

“I hate all of you,” Yewon pried her hands off. “I wish Eunha-unnie was here.”

 

~

 

“Are we…”

 

Yuna buried her face in her hands. “Don’t say it.”

 

“Lost?”

 

Her shoulders slumped. Yuna took one look at their surroundings and had no idea where they were or how to get out of the decorations hell they were trapped in.

 

“We are lost,” Eunha giggled. “In IKEA.”

 

“Yes, we are,” she admitted. “Why do you sound so happy about that?”
 

“I never thought we could get lost here.”

 

Her cheeriness was infectious. Yuna found herself grinning even though they just walked past the same tableware section they saw earlier on. For the third time. “I shouldn’t have been the one guiding us.”

 

“We could ask a staff member to help us out,” Eunha suggested, searching around the store for signs of the blue-yellow uniform. When she spotted a staff restocking one of the cutlery products, her eyes lit up and her feet moved.

 

A threatening message popped into her mind.

 

‘We’re going to need you to delay Eunha-unnie longer because your house didn’t have FOOD.’

 

“Not yet,” Yuna tugged Eunha back before she could go to the staff. She bumped into her front with a confused noise. “It’s embarrassing. Can’t we keep walking? We’ll find the exit one way or the other.”

 

Eunha hummed in thought, wrapping her arms around Yuna as she didn’t move from her front. They were being more touchy than they should in public but barely anyone was around in the tableware section.

 

“Let’s make a bet then,” Eunha’s eyes gazed up at her with a mischievous glint. It was the scheming look that always made Yuna regret her words. The warmth pressed closer against her chest. “If you can lead us out by five, I’ll give you a present.”

 

Yuna felt go dry. “And if I don’t?”

 

“I guess you’ll never find out what that present is,” Eunha said and her arms left her, leaving Yuna cold and empty. “Dare to take it up?”

 

Navigating a labyrinth of furniture and endless decorations with Swedish names. Shortcuts that lead to nowhere. Arrows that lied and pointed to confusing directions. It was all of Yuna’s weakness combined and she couldn’t even navigate a grocery store without getting lost.

 

But there was another weakness she had that triumphed over the rest. Eunha’s cheeky smile and her tempting promise for more.

 

“You’re on.”

 

~

 

Decorating was going well.

 

Sinb hadn’t argued with Sojung yet and they were working together smoothly to hang up the party decorations they bought. One of the major ones they were handling now was the individual letters that spelt out “Happy Birthday Eunha(-unnie)” connected by a flimsy string.

 

It took them a while to put it up the wall. The string kept falling and the banner would tilt to one side. Both of them got irritated when it wasn’t centred properly on the wall so they kept repeating the process.

 

“Finally,” Sinb groaned when they were done with the banner. “I’m tired and we still have twelve balloons to inflate.”

 

Sojung collapsed into the corner of the sofa, stretching her long legs out. “At least the major ones are done.”

 

“Mrreow.”

 

“What the !” Sinb jumped at the sound and her heart pounded. A pair of green eyes glinted from the darkness of the hallway as dainty paws padded down. “Is that their cat? Rasca—?”

 

“Pascal.”

 

“—Pascal? Shouldn’t we do something about her?”

 

“It’ll be fine. What would she even do?”

 

The black cat sauntered to the wall where the banner was hung on. Sinb eyed it with distrust but Sojung knew the cat better than her. Eunha always told her how adorable her cat was, so really, what could go wrong?

 

~

 

“CATCH THAT RASCAL, UNNIE!”

 

“IT’S PASCAL!”

 

“DOES IT REALLY MATTER NOW?”

 

Yewon came back to the house to a scene of chaos. fell open at the sight of strings strewn all over the floor and a few of the letters spelling “Happy Birthday Eunha(-unnie)” adorned with scratches. Her girlfriend was perched on the sofa and overlooking the bottom while Sojung laid on the floor staring at the same spot beneath with her arms outstretched.

 

“I should have sent them to get the groceries instead of us,” Yerin deadpanned beside her.

 

Yewon pinched the bridge of her nose. “I agree.”

 

“Thank god, you’re back,” Sinb ran to them and clung onto her. “Their cat is harrassing us and the grandma can’t catch her.

“You can’t either, you coward!”

 

“Yuna-unnie and Eunha-unnie probably have cat treats kept somewhere,” Yewon said as she shook Sinb off her arm. “Sinb, go get them.”
 

“Fine.”

 

“Sojungie, leave the poor car alone,” Yerin beckoned and Sojung begrudgingly stood up.”Come help me unload the groceries.”

 

“M’kay.”

 

Silence befell the house once more. Yewon and Yerin exchanged amused looks at how easily their partners listened to them.

 

Time wasn’t on their side anymore though, and they rushed to get everything into order. Yerin focused on baking the vanilla birthday cake while Yewon and Sojung worked on their main dishes for dinner. Sinb, on the other hand…

 

“Come here, you little .”

 

“Be nice to Pascal. She’s just a cat who wants to play.”
 

Sinb repeated her words in a nauseating cute voice while holding out the cat treats. “Come here, Rascal~”

 

‘This is why I love and hate her at the same time.’ Yewon shook her head fondly.

 

~

 

Yuna did it. She beat IKEA’s infuriating floor plan just shy of five. It took a lot of near-crying and cursing but she did it.

 

And now they were stuck in the plant section that Eunha didn’t want to leave. It was the last section before the exit.

 

“I think I should grow a cactus,” Eunha said as she crouched to look at the bottom row of the display. “Succulents!”

 

Yuna’s brows furrowed. “We don’t know if they’re cat-safe though. Pascal will eat them.”

 

“We can keep them on the balcony. It’s off-limits to her.”

 

When Yuna didn’t answer, Eunha turned to her with yet again another cute pout and her cheeks puffed out. “Last one?”

 

She melted. “Whatever you want, birthday princess.”

 

Eunha’s eyes crinkled and her lips curled upwards. She pulled out a cactus wrapped with a bow. “Meet our new child Paul.”

 

“I take my words back.”

 

~

 

When they finally made it out of IKEA, Eunha was sleepy and followed Yuna home without protest. Their impulse purchases were stowed away in their car to be brought up later when they had the energy to.

 

‘This is it,’ Yuna took a deep breath. ‘I hope they managed to finish.’

 

She had received a text from Yewon forty minutes ago giving her the green light to come back home with Eunha. It was eerily quiet inside the house as Yuna entered the keycode to unlock her door.

 

“Go in first, Eunha,” she guided her drowsy girlfriend in front of her while she pretended to struggle with taking off her shoe. Eunha yawned and wandered in.

 

Yuna waited. The lights in the house flickered on. ‘Why is it still so quiet?’

 

Eunha let out a soft gasp before she broke into stifled giggles. Yuna shook her boots off and rushed in.

 

“Yuna,” Eunha’s shoulders shook as she tried her best to stop laughing, “Look at them. Is this why you were so secretive today?”

 

She almost choked on her saliva at the sight that greeted her. Their four friends were scattered throughout the living room and dead asleep. Sinb was lying on the floor facing up and on her chest laid their black cat, rising up and down as she breathed. Yewon was curled beside her and an arm was thrown over her waist.

 

Sojung was sleeping on their sofa and Yerin was sprawled over her with her face buried in the crook of her neck. Pink balloons were inflated and stuck on their wall around a banner scratched into torn bits. It barely read “Happy Birthday Eunha(-unnie)”.

 

“Surprise?” Yuna chuckled. Her heart was going to burst from how much she loved her friends for going so far to celebrate Eunha’s birthday.

 

“I love this, Yuna,” Eunha gestured to them, the smile on her face so wide it drove away all of Yuna’s exhaustion. “This is so like them.”

 

“How should we wake them up?”

 

Eunha knelt on the ground and cooed. “Pascal, come here.”

 

Their cat awoke and immediately stepped over Sinb’s face to get to them. Sinb spluttered and shot up.

 

“You rascal—Eunha-unnie!” she flinched. “You’re back?”

 

“You’re so noisy, Sinb,” Sojung complained. A split second later, Yerin tumbled off her chest as she jerked up from the sofa. “Eunha?”

 

“Ow!”

 

“Yerin!”

 

Yewon was the last to wake up. “Eunha-unnie?”

 

The four of them scrambled up to their feet. Someone cleared their throat and whispered 1,2,3.

 

“Happy birthday Eunha!”

 

“Happy Birthday Eunha-unnie!”

 

“Thank you,” Eunha couldn’t stop laughing even as she spoke. “I love all of you, really.”

 

Her eyes teared up. Yuna didn’t know whether it was from laughing too hard or being overwhelmed by her feelings, but she drew Eunha into her arms and she sobbed into her shoulder. With a nod from her, the rest of them gathered and joined the hug.

 

“Stop crying, you idiot unnie. We have food.”

 

“I made your favourite dish, you know. I added dumplings even though I hate them.”

“There’s vanilla cake too.”

 

“And tteokbokki.”

 

Eunha’s crying soon died down. Her voice was muffled into Yuna’s shirt as she spoke. “Why are all of you talking about food?”

 

Sojung snorted. “It got you to stop crying, didn’t it?”

 

“...You know me well.”

 

~

 

Their birthday celebration went well into the night. When Yuna got to rest on her bed, it was already nearing midnight and the end of Eunha’s birthday.

 

“Did you have a good birthday?” she spread her arm out as Eunha sunk into the spot beside her.

 

“Mhm,” Eunha mumbled. “I had fun getting lost in a furniture store. You surprised me. I thought you wouldn’t be able to find your way out.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Yuna sighed. “Someone was tempting me with a present.”

 

“I thought I was the birthday girl?”

 

“Not anymore in five minutes.”

“Choi Yuna, you flirt,” Eunha teased. “You can wait until tomorrow then.”

 

Yuna turned to lay on her side to face Eunha. Her eyes softened as she leaned in to kiss her on the lips. “Happy birthday, Eunha. I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Yuna.”

 

~

 

Notes:

I wrote this tonight after having an impromptu idea and I wanted to write something to celebrate Eunha’s birthday. I wasn’t really sure where I was taking this really and it ended up half-comedic and fluff. What did I just write??

 

I don’t know if you can tell but I’m a er for rare pairs. Hope all of you enjoyed reading as well! Thank you and leave a comment if you’d like! :)