"Ah, finally! Home sweet home!" Youngwon said, his arms opened as if glad he's reached a place where he could rest for the whole day. He turned around to face Daniel and Gen who have been dragging him all over the town for no obvious reasons. "My feet hurt, you know," he complained. "It felt like we've been walking for days, non-stop."

Gen waved off her hand. "Stop exaggerating. Now take a shower; you stink!" She immediately pushed him towards the stairs to go to the bathroom upstairs.

"Well, whose fault was that?"

Before the two disappeared, Gen looked back at Daniel and mouthed, "Ask the others to hurry up. I'll stall him."

Daniel nodded and gave an okay signal to her. He then ran to the big hall to find the rest decorating the room. "Hey guys, I can't hold him any longer. He actually threatened us that if we didn't get back home soon, he'd just whine like a little kid in the middle of the road."

Inati smiled. "Well, that's Youngwon for you. We're almost done anyway. So that's okay," he said from the ladder he's currently on as he stuck some balloons on the ceilings. "What's he doing now?"

"Taking a shower," Daniel answered as he made the move to take a bite of the fruit cake on the table. But before he could reach it, Fanny slapped his hand. He turned around to see the younger girl. "What? Can't I have a bite?"

"No. This is for the birthday boy."

Daniel pouted, hoping it would melt her heart and she would let him eat the small cake. He got a surprise when she suddenly turned to the oldest woman in the room.

"Lia Onnie~ Daniel Oppa wants to have the cake!"

The woman being called immediately turned around with a scary smile on her face. "Daniel, the cake and everything else can only be touched when Youngwon is here. Have I made myself clear?"

Daniel nodded his head several times as he was scared that she might just kill him on the spot with that look. This caused the others to laugh at him.

"Excellent!" said Lia whose smile has turned back to a sweet, innocent smile.

"Err, can I at least drink some water?" Daniel said slowly so Lia wouldn't turn 'evil' again. "I'm ... kind of thirsty."

Lia nodded. "Of course. I wouldn't want you to die from thirst."

Daniel laughed nervously before quickly disappearing into the kitchen.

Inati could only smile and shake his head as he saw how timid his dongsaeng has become. He then let out a breath as he finally finished with the balloons. "Okay, I'm done," he said before looking down. "Can somebody hold the ladder so I could get down from here?"

Dayday came to the rescue as he was the only one who has finished putting all the ribbons across the hall.

Before Inati reached the ground, Gen's voice suddenly rang across the big house, "Oppa, why don't you take shower like normal people do? You know, slowly? Are you sure you're clean enough?"

All of them widened their eyes as the ladder was still in the room, along with the scissors, glue gun, magic tape and a few others. They hurriedly hid the supplies under the tables. Inati and Dayday hastily ran to the kitchen under hushed commands of Lia to hide the ladder. They came back with sweat on their faces.

"Gen, why are you so noisy today? And where is everybody? Why is the house so quiet?" Youngwon whined.

Their voices and steps were getting closer, and Lia was still helping Inati wipe off the sweat with the tissue. Both of their faces were as red as fresh tomatoes.

"You don't have to help me, you know," Inati whispered. "I could do it myself."

Lia tried her best not to look into his deep eyes. "I know, but you might miss a spot." With a long swipe across his forehead, she finished. "There. Clean as always."

Inati laughed softly. "Thanks."

Even though it was just for a few seconds, the other girls thought it was the most romantic scene they have ever seen from the oldest couple. Meanwhile, the guys softly wolf-whistled. Lia quickly turned and hushed them down.

"Oppa!" Gen purposely shouted to signal the others that Youngwon was near. "Where are you going?!"

"To the kitchen." Youngwon narrowed his eyes as he thought her behaviour was suspicious. "Why?"

“No! You can’t!”

“Why not?”

Gen paused for a while, eyes wandering around the house, trying to come up with a reason. "Ah!" she shouted, surprising him in the process. "It's under construction! You can't go in there!"

"But I don't hear anything. And stop shouting, will you? I'm right here."

"I'm actually training my voice, you see! Because people say that the higher the voice is, the ... err, healthier you'd be?" She ended the sentence with a question as she just made that up on the spot.

"That's ridiculous." He turned around, not caring whether there was really a construction going on or not. "I'm going to take some water."

The people who were in the party room immediately got into position: Meg and Fany holding the cake; Dayday, Dari, Deedee and Tammy holding the balloons filled with helium; Inati and Lia holding the party-poppers; Jeesu, Daniel and Tanya holding the toy-trumpets. They were all standing right in front of the door.

Meanwhile on the outside, Gen was holding Youngwon's arm tightly so he couldn't go anywhere. "Oppa! Why don't I get it for you? You're tired right?" She then pulled him to the nearest chair and pushed him to take a seat. "You want water right? I'll get it for you. You just sit tight." She ran to the kitchen as fast as she could.

"But you said -" the door closed before he could finish the sentence. He rolled his eyes as he waited for her.

"Guys?" She finally reached the party room where everybody was in their position. Her shoulders sagged as she saw everything was in place. "Oh you're ready? Why didn't you say so? I shouted for nothing."

"Just call him, Onnie. The cake is heavy, you know," said Meg, giving her a tired look.

"OK!" Gen turned around and ran again. By the time she reached the living room outside where Youngwon was waiting, she had sweat all over her body.

"Gen! Where is the water?" Youngwon asked as he stood up from his chair. "I thought you're getting it for me."

She smacked herself on the forehead as she forgot about it. "Oops, sorry Oppa."

"You know what, I'd get it myself." He then ran to the kitchen before Gen could do anything to stop him. He opened the door to the kitchen and found himself staring at a normal-looking kitchen. He turned around to face Gen. "There's no construction here."

Gen laughed nervously. "Err, oops?"

Youngwon rolled his eyes and walked to the refrigerator. As he was about to open the door, his eyes caught a ladder just beside him. "Why is the ladder here?" He shrugged his shoulders, thinking that someone must have used it and they were too lazy to put it back. He opened the door to the refrigerator and found nothing. "Where are the water bottles?" He turned to Gen. "Where are the bottles?"

"Maybe it's in the big hall."

He narrowed his eyes and decided to listen to her. He closed the door to the refrigerator and walked to the place where Gen has said just now.

"SURPRISE!"

Youngwon immediately clutched his chest as his heart started beating fast. Confetti fell from the ceiling; it was all Gen's doing who just pulled the string on the door frame. Party poppers were popped by Inati and Lia. Balloons held by Dayday, Dari, Deedee and Tammy were released from their hands. Jeesu, Daniel and Tanya happily blew the toy-trumpets to make everything sound festive. Meg and Fanny came closer with the cake as they all sang a Happy Birthday song.

"Make a wish, Youngwon-ah~" said Inati.

The birthday boy closed his eyes and made a wish before blowing out the candles. The others clapped and cheered; the toy-trumpets playing on the background.

"Hey Fanny," Meg called out to her, "Can we put the cake down? I think I got some cramps."

As soon as the cake was on the table, Meg sneakily walked to Tanya. "Hey, should I pour the potion now?" she whispered on the older girl's ear.

Tanya nodded. "Make sure nobody sees you. I'll distract them." She then walked towards the others who were congratulating the blue haired boy. With a loud voice, she cheered and clapped, doing her job as a distraction.

Meg smirked and like a ninja, walked to the table where the drinks were located. She took a cup and filled with soda. Eyes looking around to check that everybody else was still on the other side of room, she took the potion out of her jeans. With an evil smile, she poured it in an anti-clockwise direction just like the book has instructed her to do.

"What are you doing?"
 

---

Afterword:

Again~ I'll post the next part if I got some comments for this one..

I hope you'll enjoy it~ ^^