;;;;;

“What’s wrong, unnie? You seem moody these days,” Yoona pointed out following her up the stairs.

“Nothing,” Taeyeon replied.

“Have you seen Changmin at all?” Yoona asked. “You haven’t gone out at all.”

Taeyeon suddenly fell silent.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” she asked. After a moment of silence Yoona went on, “You miss him? I’m right, right?”

Taeyeon turned to look at her with a small glare but Yoona just smiled teasingly.

“Ahh! Unnie!” Yoona threw her hands onto Taeyeon’s shoulders. “I knew it! You’re in love!”

“Aish! Be quiet! Kids these days,” Taeyeon complained walking into her room.

“Unnie, your birthday is the day after tomorrow. Why don’t we do something and invite him over? Huh? Huh? Huh?”

Taeyeon couldn’t help but allow a smile to creep onto her face at the thought of it.

“I’ll invite him to save your face,” Yoona offered.

“No. Forget it,” Taeyeon told quickly becoming discouraged.

The monk’s ‘word of advice’ still rung heavily in her ears.

“It’s better if we just celebrate ourselves.” Taeyeon said. “It’d be rude to bother others.”

“But it’s your birthday! Celebrating something that should be celebrated isn’t being rude.”

“You’re right…but still.” Taeyeon shrugged. “Don’t do it, ok?”

Yoona pouted, “Gyuri and I will make a feast for you. At least we can eat together.”

“Sounds good,” Taeyeon smiled sitting down on her bed. “I’m tired, so I’m going to lay down a bit.”

Yoona eyed her a bit before walking out.

After sighing Taeyeon to her side and grabbed her mp3 player. It was true. She missed the sight of his face. What was he doing now?

;;;;;

Changmin watched his mother step into the truck with his father after telling him not to go out. He just waved and nodded with a slick smile. However, as soon as the truck was out of sight and down the road he quickly found himself hurrying off through the woods. Coming across the pond he’d taken Taeyeon to to help cheer her up he observed the area. Slowly nodding to himself in satisfaction he knew how he’d celebrate her birthday. He wanted to make it special and memorable since it’d been two days they’d seen each other.

;;;;;

Gyuri and Yoona had left a note for the caretaker who came every week to stock up the fridge to get some extra goodies for them. After lunch both the girls had begun getting busy with their cooking while Taeyeon was kept entertained and busy by the guys. They made her watch sports with them, they played charades and cards before they finally set her free to roam around the house so they could go into the kitchen and get a taste of the food.

After grabbing her phone from her bedroom she headed down the stairs to find Leeteuk waiting for her.

“You busy?” he asked.

“You already know, so why are you asking?” she said.

Leeteuk immediately smiled, “You want to follow me?”

Taeyeon gave him a curious look, “Why? You have something up your sleeve again? Or are we taking a walk?”

“It’s not a, or b. I can tell you that.” he said then turned around before turning back to her. “You coming?”

“I’m right behind you,” Taeyeon told, “you haven’t started walking yet so how can I follow you?”

She was sure she saw him smirk before she entered the backyard with him. At first Taeyeon looked around expecting to see a present or something but instead Leeteuk told her to close her eyes.

“What? Why?” she asked alarmed and suspicious.

“Just do it. You’re making me nervous.”

Taeyeon frowned, “Why?”

“I’m confirming something,” he told.

“Confirming what?”

“Close your eyes first.”

She eyed him once more before silently closing her eyes. At first nothing happened but then she felt something weird. Opening her eyes she found that Leeteuk was giving her a kiss. He was close…too close. Quickly backing up Taeyeon stared at him.

“Wha…” she began but her mind became a quick blur before she just walked pass him.

Walking pass everyone else in the mansion Taeyeon found her way to the front door and began to walk down the road. She needed some air and time to collect what just happened. However, she stopped when she saw a familiar figure standing in front of her.

Turning around to walk away she heard him say, “Where are you going?”

Taeyeon couldn’t turn around even if she wanted to. Today was not giving her a chance to think clearly.

“Are you still angry about what I said to you the other day?” Changmin asked wondering if that was the reason why she had her back turned to him.

“No,” Taeyeon immediately spun around without thinking.

He smiled at her and it melted her. “I have something for you.”

Without hesitation he reached for her hand leading her after him. She glanced around the familiar trail before they stopped upon the pond and she found a dinner table set up with a cake along with some snacks.

“What’s this?” she turned to him.

“July 21,” he reminded, “you told me it was your birthday on July 21.”

Taeyeon felt a smile crawl onto her face. She felt touched…glad because no one had prepared a cake for her by themselves before.  Everything from earlier disappeared from her mind, especially the party Yoona was setting up for her back at the mansion.

“Thank you,” she thanked before she felt him suddenly pull her toward him.

It happened too suddenly that Taeyeon felt too shocked. She could clearly feel his arm around her waist. She gulped once wondering what was with today? Her heart was pounding so hard and loudly in her ears that she began to feel nervous.

“Happy birthday,” he said before slowly kissing her.

She felt like melting in his big arms. The memory of Leeteuk kissing her earlier appeared in her mind but disappeared once she returned his kiss. She didn’t know how long the kiss lasted but when they let go of each other Taeyeon felt a smile of happiness slide onto her face. She felt crazy. She could feel every bit of his warm breath against her skin. Yea, she was crazy.

“How did you set this up?” Taeyeon questioned later when they finally turned their attention to the food.

Changmin smiled and held up a finger to his lips as if it were a secret, “I snuck out from home.”

“Snuck out?” Taeyeon repeated. “Why?”

He shrugged, “My mom’s been strange lately so I’ve been locked in the house a lot more than usual.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”

“Probably not. She’s probably crabby about something or she had a few arguments with my father,” Changmin shrugged again. “Lets hurry up and eat.”

;;;;;

“Where’s Taeyeon?” Yoona asked walking into the living room where music was playing from the TV and the guys were surrounding the coffee table playing cards.

“I think I saw her head out earlier,” Junsu told.

“She went out? How come she didn’t say anything?” questioned Yoona.

“Why would we know?” Junsu continued.

“Ah…I remember. Leeteuk said he had something to surprise her with. He was probably the last one with her,” Zhoumi recalled pushing up the frames of his black lenses.

“Leeteuk?” Siwon asked turning to look at his friend who seemed to be avoiding attention.

“Did unnie say anything to you?” Yoona said.

Leeteuk turned to skim their faces almost nervous, “No…she just…left.”

“What did you surprise her with?” Jang Hyuk became curious.

“Oh well…” Leeteuk smiled, “that was…nothing.”

“I’ll just call her then.” Yoona replied eyeing him closely before walking off.

Leeteuk watched Yoona exit the room and averted his attention toward the cards on the table. He felt ashamed for doing what he’d done earlier. Taeyeon was probably angry at him. He was suddenly beginning to think that he shouldn’t have kissed her if he wasn’t sure of his feelings for her. Even if it seemed like a test to him a kiss meant more for her. For a guy to kiss her…she must have imagined a more romantic scenery.

***Ok, so I never planned to work out the story this way. Two kisses in one chapter just happened that way

***However, Taeyeon decided not to listen to the monk's "words of advice"

***And sorry for not updating. I'm pretty sure, like everyone else, I am back in school and filled with so many things to read and homework to do-and of course i feel like dying already xD but literally i do feel that way. Lets all bear through this school year and hope that our holiday break comes soon!!!