31st July, Friday

"Why do we need to get dressed from home for the photoshoot?" Lay questioned as he straightened his button-up light pink shirt. He looked at the rest of the boys who wearing similar clothes to him. 

"They probably want to save time." Luhan suggested.

Xiumin nodded and touched his own clothes, "Atleast these are comfortable."

Kris smiled and released a breath of relief, "I think I'll be liking this photoshoot."

"Yeah."

"Today's a great day." Some of his younger group members agreed with the eldest.

They got in the car without any fuss, not wanting to be late. The 6 younger ones were in a car with Kyumin while the other 6 were in the car with Minwoo. 

Baekhyun traded his place with D.O because D.O wanted peace and quiet instead of the noise and mayhem the younger ones are always up to in the car.

"Hey this road seems familiar." Baekhyun spoke as he placed his nose on the window, looking at the road through the tinted windows of the van. Chanyeol who was sitting across him coughed out of nowhere and tried to distract his friend, "Hey where did Clara and Youngie go?" 

Baekhyun looked at the younger man suspiciously and answered, "They went ice skating. Youngie?" 

He rubbed the nape of his neck, "Ugh i mean Chaeyoung."

The shorter man squinted his eyes and shortened the distance between both of them by leaning towards Chanyeol, "Youngie ayyy"

"Ugh get your face out of mine skunk." The latter pushed Baekhyun's face lightly with his right hand. 

Baekhyun clicked his tongue, "This skunk face is the reason why you earn money." 

"Yah are you saying without you we, the great Exo can't make it?" Chanyeol questioned loudly. The other 4 members immediately stopped what they were doing and glared at Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun grinned innocently, "It was a joke~" 

"I hope you get bad throat nodules Byun Baekhyun."  Chen cursed.

Baekhyun's eyes widened, "Ya ya ya i was just joking take it back take it back" 

Chen rolled his eyes, "Words can't be taken back brotha" 

Baekhyun's eyes were accidentally locked with Sehun's. The latter was pouting in dissatisfaction, "Hyung you should just jump of this car." 

Baekhyun started to panic as he thought of ways to fix the situation. Suddenly the car stopped. Kai looked out the window to check the surroundings and spoke, "Isn't this Baekhyun's house?" 

Baekhyun shot him a puzzled look before looking out of the window himself. Sure enough he was looking straight at the park opposite his house, where he spent  half of his life playing every evening, "Oh it is--" 

Tao cut him mid-sentence as he excitedly pointed out the window, "Oh! Clara is here too!" Baekhyun didn't ask anymore questions and pushed Chanyeol out of the way, running like his life depended on it. 

The latter rolled his eyes and followed him out of the door. Suho was having a mini reunion with his parents and so was Baekhyun. He spotted Clara grinning, waiting patiently for Mr Byun to stop hugging her boyfriend. 

Chanyeol's eyes wondered around looking for the only girl he could think about at the moment. Chen patted his back, "Hey why are standing here?"

Chanyeol shook his head, "Ah-- nothing. Let's go~"

They exchanged hellos and bows before the Kim parents led them to the backyard while Suho explained what was going on. 

"It's Chaeyoung's birthday?!" Lay gasped. It was followed by chattering of Xiumin, Kris and Luhan who said that they should have brought presents. 

"Where are her parents?" Tao questioned. Kai elbowed him in the stomach and glared at him.

Tao winched and mumbled an apology. 

Clara laughed, "No worries.Unfortunately~ My uncle has to work in order to pay for Lee Chaeyoung's expensive taste. And my aunt has some book club meeting--"

She looked at the boys who looked like they were either disinterested or bored and continued, "--you don't want to know."

"Yeah books and us don't go along." Baekhyun agreed with a cheeky smile before pulling her hand to the other side of the garden. The boys groaned in disgust while D.O complained that books are fun. Suho was speechless as he pointed at the two holding hands to their parents. 

Mrs. Kim laughed and patted Suho's back before going back into the house.  

Mr. Byun shrugged and laughed, "I guess my youngest son is as smooth as I am." Mrs. Byun snorted before following her neighbor back into the house. 

Mr. Kim laughed as well. Suho whined looking at his father's reaction "Dad! Your daughter is holding someone else's hand! Shouldn't you be skeptical  towards your daughter's boyfriend?"

"Well my son," He gave a friendly pat on his son's back, "I've known Byun Baekhyun since he was in diapers and I trust him as much as I trust you." 

Suho groaned and stomped away, "Get them married already!"

The two dads laughed while the half of the boys imitated their leader's funny outburst. The other half was more interested in the food. Chanyeol was standing near the dessert area but his eyes were wondering around for the birthday girl. 

He mustered his courage and approached the two fathers, "Erm can I know where's Chaeyoung?" 

Mr. Kim smiled, "She's getting ready." 

"Ah~~~" Chanyeol nodded. Mr. Byun laughed and looked at his friend, "Now I see why Jinmyun kept teasing Chaeyoung about Chanyeol all day long." 

Chanyeol looked at the two laughing middle-age men with a puzzled expression. 

"Are you seeing each other?" One of them questioned. Chanyeol felt his cheeks burn as they flushed, "No we're not!" 

They didn't seem like they were done teasing him when Baekhyun came running out from the house, "Chaeyoung's ready~!" 

Chanyeol jogged beside the short-puppy-like guy and whispered, "I owe you big time for saving me." 

He replied with a huge smile, "Nah we're even." 

They all gathered in the hall waiting for Chaeyoung's grand entrance.

"Why do girls get--"

"Shut up Baekhyun." Chanyeol said as he placed his hand on his friend's mouth. Chanyeol's mouth was agape as he observed the eye-catching girl in gold standing at the top of the flight of stairs.

"Ayy~ Royal brattiness looks royal as ever~" Chen joked and Sehun whistled jokingly.

The two cousins on the top of the stairs laughed as they walked down. Chaeyoung was wearing a breathtaking , short sleeved lace dress. The hem of the dress which looks like a tutu falls perfectly above her knees, showing off her pretty slender legs. The bodice of the dress had gold lace covering it with some black accents. Her hair was in a messy half-down half-up and she dressed it up with a white daisy flower crown.

It was no doubt Clara did her hair as the latter was smiling proudly as she showed her 'masterpiece' to the boys. Clara herself had change from her hoodie and jeans into a more dressy-yet-casual baby blue lace dress which looked like it belong by the beach.

Chaeyoung laughed, "Am I the only one who thinks I'm overdressed for this occasion?"

 "Nah you're the princess for the day." D.O said smiling.

"She's been a princess since forever. Princess of cold-hearted people." Kris joked as he winked at Chaeyoung. She rolled her eyes and walked towards the door.

"Let's get this party started~"

They cheered and followed her into the garden where all the delicious food were waiting for them. The ones left in the living room was Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Chen.

"You should wipe your drool my friend." Baekhyun teased with a wink as he slapped Chanyeol's back. Chen laughed and pointed to the corners of his mouth to his taller friend before leaving him alone to go join the others.

"I'm not drooling!" The latter protested but he wiped the corners of his mouth with his sleeves anyway. He cleared his throat and slapped his cheeks lightly, "Get it together Park Chanyeol." He mumbled repeatedly to himself.

As soon as Chanyeol got to the garden, he avoided Chaeyoung, bracing his heart the whole time to talk to her. He was being very careful, trying not to embarass himself in front of her again. He talked to the others, ate everything that was visible, took group photos, did everything everyone was doing but he made sure that he wasn't near to her. He knew he couldn't handle her in that dress, he might pass out if she talks to him in that dazzling dress.

He and D.O was in a middle of a conversation with Baekhyun's parents when he felt thristy, he excused himself to get a glass of cold sparkling apple juice. He looked at the refreshments table and made sure Chaeyoung was not there. "Good." He mumbled when he caught Chaeyoung laughing to a joke Xiumin made at the other end of the garden.He his tongue and grumbled, "Minseok hyung is not even funny."

As soon as he thought that everything was going fine and was pouring another glass of sparkling apple juice for himself when he felt a pat on his right shoulder, "Park Chanyeol."

He panicked and almost dropped the bottle but the person who called him, helped him to balance it.Their fingers were slightly touching and the baby pink nail polish confirmed the identity of the person. He knew it the moment she said his name, but he was trying to be indenial. However with her looking at him with dark brown eyes and that stupid smile that made his heart felt like it was dropping, it was no denying.

He cleared his throat, placed the bottle on the table and tried to act natural, "O-o-oh Chaeyoungie. What's up? You doing okay? How it's going? Long time no see." He clumsily spoke. He sighed and face-palmed himself, hard. "Super smooth." He mumbled as he avoided to look at her, super embarassed about what just happened.

She laughed and punched his shoulders, "Chanyeol-ah what's wrong with you?"

He couldn't help it but to look at her, she was still grinning, the type of grin that brought her eyes into two crescent moons that was too cute for his heart too handle. He must have looked dumb as he stared at her talking with his love-strucked puppy face. The fairy lights around the garden made him felt like he was watching an actress in a movie. It was as if everything stopped and muted and all he could see was her. She was too pretty to be real in his eyes.

"Yah. Are you listening?" She said as she waved her hands in front of his eyes.

He blinked and snapped into reality, "Oh?" 

She squinted and tip-toed to get closer to observe his face closely. She moved his face to the right slightly and nodded, "No red spots."

"What the.." He grumbled and pushed her hand away. She ignored him and placed her hand on his forehead, "Body temperature seems right."

He frowned and flicked her head in response, "Yah I'm not sick."

She hushed him by putting her index finger on his lips, "One last check."

Out of the blue she placed her other hand on his chest, above his heart. She then made an 'o' with and stared at him with her eyes widen, "Yeol-da, are you a hamster?"

He felt his heart beating faster it that moment and quickly pushed her hand away. He felt uncomfortable knowing that she knows how fast his heart was beating at that time, "You're being weird youngie. What hamster haish."

She tapped her chin while frowning, at that moment he felt like hugging her because of how cute her expression was. "Hamsters' heart beats fast, your's beat as fast as their's. You know living things that have fast beating hearts die faster? Fun fact." 

He narrowed his eyes, "You're cursing me to die fast?"

She grinned and shook her head, "It was a fun fact." He rolled his eyes and pouted, "Tsk. You hate me that much."

She lightly slapped his arm, "I might change my mind and curse you if you act like that."

He chuckled, "Nae~ Birthday girl~"

She scrunched her nose cutely and laughed, he mirrored her actions and they laughed together. When the laughter died down, they stood there staring at each other with a smile.

"Lee Chaeyoung--"

"Park Chanyeol--" They said at the same time and laughed.

"You first birthday girl." He said with some sort of half bow.

"If you insist sir." She replied, bowing as well. He rolled his eyes while she chuckled and clapped her hand once awkwardly. "So..I just wanted you to know that..well this is really idiotic of me." She laughed again, tucking her hair behind her ears awkwardly. She didn't know why she was doing this, what triggered her to say it but she was starting to doubt her desicion.

"Go on." He said with a fake serious expression as he rested his elbow on the table which was a little too short for him. He knew it was an awkward pose for him and it looked extremely silly but that girlish giggle that she had reserved only for him was worth it. 

She cleared and bit her lower lip before continuing, "Well..out of all the people in this garden, this whole time, I could only see you."

She looked at with a smile but he could tell she was nervous by the way how she was moving her hands too much. There was a short period of silence but it felt so long for her so she quickly added with a joking tone, "Yes awkward confession from this brat to you giant." She then looked at the grass, avoiding eye contact with him.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, "Youngie." She looked up at him the moment he called her name in his husky voice. She bit her lip waiting for what he might say next. 'Well if he says something like 'you're really sweet but..' it's fine i can leave early can't i? i don't have to see him after this.' She thought as she waited impatiently and nervously for his next words.

He smiled shyly and looked at her, "I was dying to tell you that you look brighter than the sun and stars combined." 

She couldn't help but to grin and giggle awkwardly. He too was chuckling nervously as he rubbed the nape of his neck. She cleared and acted as if her heart didn't flutter at all at his confession, "Technically the sun is a star so really it's the same. But. Yeah."

He groaned and rolled his eyes, "You just had to ruin the moment huh young one?"

She shrugged and was about to say something sassy in return when her aunt called her, "Young-ah! Birthday cake!"

"Nae~!" She shouted back before signalling to Chanyeol to join the others.

They all gathered around for pictures with Chaeyoung standing in the middle, in front of the cake. Chanyeol managed to push his way and slid behind her, smiling at how close they were standing. 

Kris pressed the shutter on the camera which was on the timer setting before running to join into the group. The camera flicked a couple of times before flashed. 

"One more time!" Lay said as he ran to the camera. He waved his arms and instructed them to move closer. 

While they moved closer, Clara knocked into Chaeyoung and she was about to lose her balance but Chanyeol came to the rescue as he caught her my the arm and helped her to gain her balance.

"Careful princess." He whispered with a low chuckled that sent shivers down her spine. 

After the pictures they sung happy birthday to Chaeyoung while Clara took control of the camera. The celebrated girl couldn't contain her smile as all of the attention was on her. 

The song ended and they were screaming for her to blow out the flickering candles. She leaned down closer to the lace covered table and blew the candles. 

"Make a wish." Her aunt said looking at her with a motherly smile. 

She returned the smile and looked at Chanyeol who was still standing behind her, "I wish I can do this on repeat." 

Despite the sun setting down, and the noisy boys arguing over cake like 5 years old and the flashing lights coming from Clara's DSLR camera, all Chaeyoung could see was Chanyeol and the dim lights of the colorful fairy lights all over the garden.
 
They locked eyes and smiled at each other like they were the only ones in the world at the moment.

Guess who almost abandoned this ff for the 2nd year in a row~

But I'm not abandoning it.

Because I can't write a new ff

unless I know that this story has ended XD

xx il_eun

p/s : we're about 5~6 chapters away from the epilogue yeahuu