“We should be flattered, really, I should, but holy crap!”

A lot more people came than I’d initially expected.

Five out of nine members of SNSD came along with some members of Super Junior, Amber, Krystal and Sulli riding in their patented SM van. The rest of SHINee were in the car behind them, carrying bags of chicken and beer with some SM managers and backup dancers trailing along. Yeonhee had arrived with Jaejoong—surprising me and everyone else as Changmin walked over to greet him with a beer in hand—followed closely by two members of Infinite (Myungsoo being one of them—he made a beeline towards Krystal almost immediately while the other was Hoya), Nickhun from 2PM, Kangta, Lee Minjung and Isak. Even Junjin and Dongwan showed up, enveloping me into a massive hug that I was too surprised to give back because holy hell Shinhwa was here too!

Taking a long swig from my 5^th beer that night, I glared at Changmin nursing a drink of his own—grinning at my sudden regret over inviting people to come over.

“I wasn’t the one who texted every person on my phonebook.” He replied easily, shaking his head at me as he took another sip, “Nope—that was you and your lightning-speed texting.”

I glowered at him, elbowing his side hard that he spilled his drink a little. “I hate you.”

“Ah, noona, I’ve missed you too.”

I rolled my eyes at the statement and decided to let it go for the time being, watching the people around us flit in and about to wish us a Happy Birthday. And as much as I agonized at the mess the party was making around my home, I was secretly ecstatic as well. Each hug ‘Hello’ and greetings of ‘Happy Birthday’ made my heart fill with gratitude at the fact that they’d taken time out of their busy schedules to be here.

It felt nice, to be remembered and celebrated—I’d almost forgotten the feeling.

A weird sounding “Unnie~” came out of nowhere just as I took another sip from my beer and I choked back a laugh as Yoona’s happy face came into view. My smile widened as she pushed a hastily wrapped package into my hands and threw her arms around me a moment later—hugging me so tight we almost toppled over.

“Yoona!” I exclaimed, pushing my bottle into Changmin’s hands before wrapping my arms around my hoobae, returning the hug she gave me so fiercely. He disappeared almost immediately once he finished his bottle, turning quickly towards the crowd as though he was running away from…

What exactly?

Or maybe who?

“Tiffany-unnie and I were actually debating on whether or not to come over earlier and surprise you but our manager’s made us practice two more hours before he let us go,” Yoona said in a rush, exhilarated by the adrenaline lingering from practice and maybe the buzz from her beer as well. She cocked her head towards the side, and following her motion I saw Tiffany from where she sat with her boyfriend Nickhun on the couch, eye-smile and all. Sooyoung was beside them, her head tucked under Siwon’s arm as the latter fed her a piece of chicken. Both of them (Tiffany and Sooyoung) grinned in unison as they saw me and waved,

I waved back and grinned pointedly at the affection radiating from the couples—promptly making them blush fire-red and ducking away—before turning back towards Yoona. She made a cute retching expression, rolling her eyes at the “PDA central” her unnies were enveloped in and we laughed loudly in sync.

“The Kyu-line beat you to it, I’m afraid,” I told her once our laughter died down, “But it’s okay. After all, if it wasn’t because of I wouldn’t have thrown an impromptu party.”

“I kinda hate them for not telling me. I would have ditched practice!”

“I’m sure you would.” I nodded, grinning at her.

Yoona sighed seconds later, leaning back against the wall Changmin previously occupied. Her eyes flitted elsewhere for a second as she brought her red plastic cup against her lips, and I had to wonder who she was looking for.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“It’s nothing, unnie,” she said, shrugging. Then she lifted her index finger and pointed at something in front of us.

My eyes followed and widened as they took in the sight of Donghae and Kyuhyun expertly manipulating the attentions of two very interested SNSD members. Yoona let out a soft giggle when Kyuhyun jumped slightly as Seohyun’s hands reached over to brush something off his shirt and they both sighed as Jessica’s eyes misted, listening to Donghae speaking to her ear.

“Well would you look at that. It looks like Valentine’s still not over.”

Yoona agreed.

“I know right. Finally!”