“Zelo ah, help yourself to as much food as you want! Today’s treat will be on us!” Daehyun cheerfully patted the younger one’s back. They’d brought Zelo to his favourite Japanese restaurant, a rather expensive one which Zelo hadn’t had the privilege to make frequent visits to. He wasn’t the type to throw birthday parties, but every single year, the hyungs would prepare small events like such to celebrate among them. Being the youngest of the bunch, they couldn’t help but pamper him sometimes and Zelo always counted himself lucky for being surrounded by nice people.

“Thanks Daehyun hyung, Youngjae hyung, Jonguppie!” He turned to each one of them as he said his thanks. “In that case,” he turned to the waitress. “I’ll have everything on the menu, please.”

Across the table, Youngjae clenched his teeth as he reached out to give his cousin a good smack on the head with the menu he was holding. “I’ll make you pay that yourself!” He scowled. Zelo rubbed his head with a mischievous grin on his face. “Hyung! What did I do wrong? Daehyun hyung said I can have all the food I want!”

The others laughed at his playfulness. The cold hyung couldn’t maintain a straight face any longer and let out a chuckle. “Yah, birthday boy, can we take our orders seriously now so we won’t have to wait long for the food to be served?”

“I’d like to order a plate of sashimi and a bowl of cold noodles. Maybe some smoked salmon sushi as well...and I’ll add green tea ice cream too, for dessert.” Daehyun placed the menu down happily, only to find three pairs of eyes staring at him in disbelief. Puzzled, he cocked his head and blinked at the situation. “What? Are you guys not gonna have your orders taken?”

-----

After lunch, they had their own little things to attend to. Youngjae had to leave much earlier than the rest and ended up settling the entire bill secretly before he went off.  He received a call from his mom, who ordered him to head home as soon as he could because they were expecting important guests, he was told.

When the rest found out he had paid for everything, everyone but Daehyun thought it was a cool thing for him to do.

“He always does that! Hate him for acting all goody-two-shoes in front of his dongsaengs,” he whined to himself, mad – or perhaps in denial - that his best friend was indeed perfect in every aspect.

“Daehyun hyung! Be sure to come down later! You won’t wanna miss it!” Zelo reminded.

“I’ll be there! See you guys later,” he waved before they parted ways.

On the way to practice, Jongup was skipping to match his speed with Zelo, who was on his skateboard. Suddenly, out of the corner, a young girl appeared about two metres ahead of Zelo, causing him to abruptly make a stop. Jongup rushed over to check on her. “Omo, little girl! Sorry if oppa scared you. Are you okay?”

The girl nodded and waddled her way to Zelo, who was gaining back his balance. “This is for you, oppa,” she handed him a wrapped present. Zelo was clueless for a second, but received it - rather hesitantly - with both hands. He bent over to level their height and asked, “Are you sure this is for me?” The girl nodded. He glanced over at Jongup to see if he had a clue of what was going on. Jongup only shrugged and shook his head, obviously as oblivious to the situation as he was.

“Can you tell me who it’s from?” He asked again. The girl shook her head with a smile and ran off, not wanting to spill further information.

“Wow, looks like I wasn’t the only one receiving mystery gifts on special days,” Jongup said in an amused tone. “Does it say who it’s from?”

“Nope. Nothing’s written. This person probably knows it’s my birthday today,” Zelo reckoned.

“Let’s just hope it’s not from a guy,” Jongup joked. He thought it would be a good thing to tease Zelo about if it were true.

Zelo elbowed Jongup and sulked, “Hey, don’t you make fun of me!” He placed one of his foot on his skateboard. “I’ll race you to practice!” He rode off, leaving Jongup behind. “Yah!” Jongup shouted with a grin and jogged after his buddy.