four to twenty four

four

"Umma!" The girl in pigtails cried, tugging at the hem of the older woman's shirt. As her mother turned her head, she pointed, gesturing at the rows and rows of tubs on display in the freezer. "What's that?" She asked, her voice excited.

"That's ice cream, dear."

"Ice cream… rainbow colours! Taengoo wants ice cream! Birthday present! Ice cream!" The girl beamed, eyes sparkling. She watched as her mother nodded, smiling, before she jumped onto the older woman and hugged her tightly, then ran over to the counter.

The short girl gripped the edge of the counter and tiptoed with all her might. She barely managed to peek into the freezer, and the stall owner chuckled. Her jaw dropped slightly as she scanned through the seemingly endless tubs of ice cream in the freezer, marveling at all the different colours and flavors. Deciding on the chocolate, she stared at the shop owner, then pointed to the tub. "Taengoo wants," she declared.

seven

Little Taeyeon looked through the brochure, hands twirling and playing with the ribbons on her hair as she listened to her mother drone on and on about the types if cakes she should have.

"Taengoo ah, how about a princess cake?"

"I don't like that."

"How about strawberry shortcake then?"

"I want cars."

"No no no, that won't do. What about hello kitty? Elmo?"

"Robot?"

"Taengoo, you're a girl!"

"But I want power rangers!"

"Powerpuff girls?"

"No!"

"Sigh. How about… an ice cream cake?"

At that, Taeyeon's head turned. She yelped a little as her pigtails hit her face due to the force of the turn. "YES. Ice Cream!" She shouted, her already high voice going up a few notches.

Her mother chuckled at the suddenly enthusiastic girl. "Hurry, Umma! Buy my cake now! I want a big big giganormous chocolate ice cream cake! Now!"

Nodding, Mrs Kim proceeded to order a 'big big giganormous chocolate ice cream cake' as Taeyeon had requested, to the absolute delight of the young girl who immediately hugged her mother tight.

thirteen

Taeyeon sighed, burying her face in embarrassment as her classmates belted out a very off tuned 'Happy Birthday to You' in the middle of the high school cafeteria.

Her best friend, in particular, was especially enthusiastic in the singing of the birthday song, and as much as Taeyeon appreciated it, the turning of heads from everyone in the room made her want to dig a hole in the floor and drag her cake down with her so that she could smash her face in it and never allow anyone to see her face again.

As the song came to an end and the entire class cheered, she put on a wide smile, albeit looking a little forced, but enough to convince
everyone that the birthday girl was happy. Blowing the candle on the chocopie cake, she braced herself for another round of cheering from the class.

Never, she swore, would I allow the class to celebrate my birthday again.

When she reached home that day, her mother questioned how her birthday in school was. "It was so embarrassing!" She groaned, cringing at the thought of what had happened in the afternoon. Her mother smiled, then pet her knee. "Your cake's in the freezer."

Taeyeon's eyes opened wide as her corners of her lips slowly went upward. Rushing to the freezer, she opened it to find a pint of chocolate ice cream with thirteen candles stuck on top.

"Thank you Umma!" She said, hugging the woman who was behind her, before grabbing a spoon and jabbing it into the container, not bothering about the candles.

fifteen

Birthdays were supposed to be a happy occasion, and yet Taeyeon found herself in her bed, nearly in tears as she thought about the times she spent her birthdays at home with her mother. It would be her first birthday she spent separated from her mother and she couldn't help but feel upset about it. Perhaps being a singer wasn't what she wanted to be after all.

She heard the door open and then someone slipped into the bed beside her before she felt herself being embraced by the other girl.

"Taetae… don't cry." Tiffany mumbled, not knowing what else to say with the limited amount of Korean she knew. She hugged the older girl tighter.

"Taetae?" She called after a while, opening her eyes to check if Taeyeon was still awake.

"Hmmm?"

"Ummmm… wait here." Tiffany mumbled, and then disappeared out of the doorway. Taeyeon sat up and stared at the door, wiping her tears as she waited for Tiffany to come back.

Tiffany reappeared about three minutes later, peeking in through the slightly open door. Her hand reached out to flick the light switch and the darkness engulfed the room. The door opened a bit wider and Tiffany stepped in, a small flame lighted atop a candle in her hand. She made her way to Taeyeon and sat beside her, before handing her a small cold container.

"Make a wish," she whispered, stretching out her other hand that held a candle. She watched as Taeyeon shut her eyes and clenched her fists together, mumbling something inaudible before gently blowing out the glowing flame.

Tiffany reached for the light switch near the bed and flicked it, the room brightening up again. Taeyeon looked at the small Ben & Jerry's container in her hand, then at the candle in Tiffany's, before throwing her arms around the younger girl, hugging her tight. "Thank you, Miyoung-ah. Thank you so much."

nineteen

"KIM TAENGOO!"

Taeyeon rubbed her eyes and rolled away from the noise, burying her head into the soft pillow.

"KIM TAENGOO!" Taeyeon heard that loud and very familiar voice again, before she felt herself being shaken. She groaned and slapped them away before opening her eyes and sitting up. Staring into blank space for a few seconds, her brain finally comprehended the fact that her members were all in front of her. "What?" She mumbled, her voice hoarse. "What time is it?" She groaned when she didn't get a reply to her previous question.

"11.57!" Jessica said, an air of enthusiasm around her.

"Oh… and you're not sleeping?" Taeyeon questioned, finding it odd that the sleeping beauty of the group was, well, not sleeping. Jessica answered her with a wide grin.

Before she knew it, Taeyeon felt something being pushed down onto her head and realized that it was Tiffany's pink tiara. She pouted at the choice of accessory and proceeded to glance around the room, wondering what her members were up to this time.

Her questions were answered as the lights suddenly flickered out and in walked Yoona with a cake in her hands. Oh right, it was 9 March now! 12 AM. Her birthday! Her jaw dropped slightly and she felt the tears coming to her eyes and threatening to fall as the girls sang her a birthday song – absolutely in tune with harmonization at the back of course – and cheered for her. Her first birthday after the debut.

"Kim Taengoo! Make a wish!" Sooyoung shouted above the noise. Taeyeon closed her eyes, her head giddy and overwhelmed as she made her birthday wish.

"Kim Taetae!" She opened her eyes to see Tiffany heading towards the group, a pint of ice cream in her hand. Tiffany handed it to her and she politely thanked the girl before digging in.

Sooyoung walked fourth, attempting to steal Taeyeon's ice cream before getting pulled back by Tiffany. "Oh let the birthday girl enjoy her birthday ice cream, would you?"

Taeyeon laughed – a carefree laugh that echoed all around – before succumbing to Sooyoung's pout and offering the ice cream around.

"Kim Taengoo, you're the best!"

"Our kid leader jjang!"

"YAH! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"You didn't grow!"

"Unnie, ice cream isn't healthy, you shouldn't eat so much!"

"Shut up, baby girl."

"But unnie!"

"Taetae, I want ice cream too! Feed me!"

"Kim Taengoo! We love you!"

"Unnie, I want a hug!"

And that was the start of the chaotic mess of love, with Taeyeon giving the maknae a hug. Tiffany joined in next, hugging Taeyeon from the back, and soon enough, everyone was in a mess of tangled arms, and the poor kid leader was being buried and strangled with the love from the other members.

twenty-four

Taeyeon stepped into the dorm and, like any other typical day, announced that she was home. She was exhausted from dance practices and recordings and all that. Sensing the stillness of the house, she raised her eyebrow at the silence. Strange, she thought, their schedules should have ended by now.

She headed to her room, flinging her bag onto the floor. She was about to plop herself down onto her her bed when she realized the hot pink
post-it stuck onto her pillow: 'You should try something other than chocolate. There's another 149 flavors'

149? Chocolate? Ice cream? Her mind immediately led her to the ice cream stall near their dorm – the one with 150 flavors, all of which she had tried at least once. Was that why the dorm was so empty? They were all at the ice cream stall? Well, it was worth a try.

She headed down to the ice cream stall, and was not surprised to see the small crowd of girls there. She smiled to herself.

She pushed open the door, the tinkling of the bell above alerting the other members of her presence. "TAENGOO!" "TAETAE!" "TAEYEONNIE!" A chorus of shouts echoed around the shop, and almost immediately, she felt herself being dragged to the centre of the shop.

Yoona and Yuri left for the kitchen, and Taeyeon's jaw quite literally dropped to the ground when she saw the table that they were wheeling out. There were 149 cups of ice cream on the table – math told her so: 10 by 15, minus 1 at the right corner – all of different flavors.

"Happy birthday, Kim Taengoo!" screamed Yoona, snapping Taeyeon out of her daze. "Sorry, no candles this year… wish on ice cream instead!"

Taeyeon's lips started to turn upwards, slowly, as if she was gradually realizing what was going on.

"And here's the chocolate," Tiffany said, dropping the huge tub of chocolate ice cream onto the table next to them. "It's supposed to last you for the next 10 birthdays!" She continued with a grin.

Taeyeon didn't know what to say, so she simply hugged the eyesmiling girl and kissed her on the cheek before proceeding to do the same for the rest of the members. "Taeyeonnie, you're like Gru. We're your minions!" Jessica had said.

"Thank you so much, really." She smiled, touched by the whole thing. "How are we going to finish all these though?"

"Did you forget? We're Girls' Generation!"

"We eat like 9 pregnant women!"

"And we have Choi Sooyoung!"

"And Im Yoona!"

"And maknae agreed to eat ice cream today!"

"Did you forget how much ice cream you can eat, Kim Taeyeon?"

And Taeyeon couldn't help but smile at the sight – a smile that would have been able to light up the galaxy.