Out of the depths of my sleep, I heard my alarm ringing but instead, I chose to ignore the annoying beeping sound, being too lazy to shut it off. After a few more minutes, I realized that I could no longer ignore the sound. I stretched my arms and turned off the alarm. I guess it’s time for school then. I kicked off my blankets dressed only in a white wife beater and my boxers. As I headed to the bathroom, I noticed that the lights were already .

Darn it.

I pressed my ear to the door and heard soft humming along with the sound of the shower running.

“Luhan, don’t take too long this time! Some people still need to shower,” I exclaimed hoping I was louder than the shower.

“You should’ve taken one last night,” I heard my twin brother Luhan shouting from inside the bathroom. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Luhan and I are fraternal twins. I’m the older one. Luhan was born six minutes after me. It’s not really fair. I was born first but he got all the looks. And yet, he still takes more time on his appearance than I do.

While waiting, I decided to go downstairs and eat breakfast.

“Good morning, sweetie,” my mom said to me sweetly.

I smiled at her, “Good morning, Umma.”

“Is Luhan in the shower,” she asked as she watched me sit down.

I nodded and started to fill my plate.

She sighed, “I don’t want you two to be late for your first day of school…”

“We won’t be late. I promise.”

I heard the front door opening and a girl who was the same age as me and Luhan walked into our kitchen. She was dressed in her school uniform, her hair untied and flowing about freely. Grabbing an apple, she sat down next to me.

“Good morning, umma,” she said kindly to my mother, “Good morning, baozi.”

I rolled my eyes at the nickname she gave me when I was four, “Good morning to you too, Sohee.”

Sohee is our next door neighbor. Her parents are really good friends with our parents, and we were there for her parents during their divorce. Currently, Sohee lives with her father while her older sister is away at college. We're still good friends with her mother. Sohee has been friends with Luhan and I for as long as I can remember. She's also kind of sort of the girl I have a major crush on.

“Oh, Sohee, you just keep getting prettier and prettier. You look just like a pretty princess. Isn’t that right, Xiumin?”

I flushed at my mother’s statement and nodded.

“You’re so cute, Xiumin,” Sohee said as she pinched my cheek gently.

At that moment, Luhan decided to come downstairs. He was dressed in his school uniform and was fixing invisible fly-away strands of hair.

“Speaking of pretty princesses,” I mumbled and struggled to keep a smirk from forming. Sohee elbowed me gently in the ribs and bit her lip trying hard not to laugh as well.

“What was that,” Luhan asked as he took his seat on the other side of Sohee.

“Oh, nothing,” Sohee said sweetly as she started to eat her breakfast.

“I should go get ready now,” I said as I bounded upstairs. Twenty minutes later, I was dressed in my school uniform and ready for the first day of our junior year of high school. I grabbed my backpack from my room and headed downstairs. At the foot of the steps, my mother handed me my lunch box and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"They're waiting for you at the gate," she said.

I nodded and gave her a quick goodbye as I headed out the door. Just as she said, they were there waiting for me by the front gate. They were standing side by side whispering to each other. I could hear Sohee's soft giggle and Luhan's low chuckle. Considering how long we've all known each other, it wasn't unusual for them to be so close. It just seemed... different this time.

"Didn't leave without me," I asked in a joking manner as I punched in the code to lock the gate. The two separated as if they weren't just chatting.

"Well, we were thinking about ditching you," Luhan said with a teasing smirk on his face.

"Aigo, don't be so mean," Sohee said to Luhan with a disapproving look. She turned to look at me, "Of course we'd never leave without our baozi."

"Thank, Sohee," I said as I wrapped my arm around her neck. The three of us started walking to school. We had small conversations here and there. It was mostly between Luhan and Sohee, and for the first time, I felt  awkward being with them. Like I was the third wheel.

When we arrived at school, the three of us went to our lockers and found out schedules.

"Wow, it looks like we have most of our classes together," Luhan said happily as he reviewed his schedule alongside Sohee.

"Yeah, it does," Sohee said as she looked over her schedule. She took a peek at mine and frowned, "We don't seem to have any together..."

"Well, we all have lunch together," I said with a half smile trying to think of the positives. That was disappointing. I have to spend most of my junior year without the people I'm closest to.

"Yeah, that's true," Sohee said with a smile as she ruffled my hair, "Well, we have to get to class. Don't be late Xiu."

I watched Sohee and Luhan walk to their class together and sighed. I couldn't help but feel a little lonely.

Class after class went by and finally, it was time for lunch. I hurriedly fled my class and headed for the cafeteria. I found my twin brother quickly. He was sitting at an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria. Strangely, Sohee wasn't with them.

"Hey," I said as I sat down next to him.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"Where's Sohee," I asked confused.

"She had to talk to a teacher or something," Luhan said with a shrug and started eating.

I started eating as well, feeling uncomfortable with the awkward silence between us.

"Hey," I said softly as I stared down at my food. I could feel him staring at me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. You're my hyung," he replied as he patted my shoulder.

"Well, there's this girl I like.. And I really want to tell her how I feel, but I'm afraid that I'll make things awkward between us and she'll never talk to me again."

"Ah... Well, first, you have to be confident. If you're not confident, she'll totally brush you aside. And second, you're not very good with talking, so I suggest maybe writing her a letter," Luhan said with a smile.

I smiled back, " Thanks. I'll do that."

"Now it's my turn to ask you something," Luhan said.

"What is it?"

"Sohee's birthday is next weekend. I was thinking of throwing her a surprise party. Help me out? You know what she likes and doesn't like more than I do."

"Of course I'll help you out."

After our little chat, Sohee came and sat down in front of us and smiled. "Sorry I took so long guys. What's up?"

"Nothing," Luhan and I said in unison.

The whole room was decorated with pink and black balloons and pink and black streamers. In the kitchen was a pink lemonade flavored three tiered cake with "Sweet 16" placed on the top. Decorating the cake were little Tinkerbell silhouettes and frosting roses. Red rose petals scattered the floors and Sohee's favorite songs were being played on the stereo.

"Wow, you really outdid yourself," Luhan commented as he patted my shoulder.

I smiled brightly, "Anything for Sohee. Is the food here?"

"Yup."

"And there is no vinegar, pickles, or garlic?"

"Yup."

"And there's no fish?"

"Yup."

"And there are grapes?"

"Yup."

"And there's plenty of Coca-Cola?"

"Yup."

"And there's-"

"Oh my goodness, hyung, please stop! Everything's here! It's all perfect! No more questions!"

Luhan grabbed me by my shoulders and started shaking me. I chuckled and took his hands off of me, "Well since everything is taken care of down here, I'm going to go get her present ready. You go distract her."

Right now, Sohee was about to have lunch with her dad and her older sister. Luhan was going to meet up with them to make sure that she did not come home until the evening.

"Aye aye captain."

And with that, Luhan was out the door leaving me alone. I took out the blank birthday card that I bought and started writing. I began with how we met, little memories that we only shared, how blessed I felt to have met her, and finally, how I felt about her.

After I was finished writing the card, I decided not to put it in the bag with the present. I wanted to give it to her personally so I can see her reaction when she read it.

I heard knocks on the door and I went to open them. One by one came smiling friends and family of Sohee. Her mother came in last. She gave me a tight squeeze and tears were running down her face.

"Thank you so much for letting me be here," she said as she rocked me side to side.

"Thank you so much for coming," I said as I hugged her back. She went and joined the other guests in the room and I felt my phone vibrating.

"Okay everyone! Sohee's on her way!"

Quickly, the guests dashed to the living room while I waited by the door. When the door opened, I was greeted with the sight of Sohee, Luhan, her father, and her older sister.

"Happy birthday," I said as I gave Sohee a tight squeeze.

"Thanks so much Xiumin," she said as she squeezed me back.

Luhan and I led her to the living room.

"Surprise!"

The guests shouted and embraced Sohee as she cried and hugged them back.

"What did you do to keep her away," I asked Luhan.

"Oh you know. Shopping," he said with a slight shake of his head. I chuckled. "I said that I would take her shopping as my birthday present."

"So how broke are you?"

"I think I can hear my wallet crying. Or it might just be me."

We both laughed and headed off to start eating dinner. We sat down on the living room couch and ate our sliced of cake.

"I'll be right back," I said to Luhan as I got up to find Sohee. She was talking with her friend Sunye.

"Do you mind if I steal her away for a bit," I asked as I walked up to the duo.

"Sure," Sunye said as she flashed a wink to Sohee and walked away.

I led Sohee outside to the back porch of her house while the guests were busy talking amongst themselves.

"Thank you so much for throwing me this party," she said as she hugged me tightly once again.

"Well, I can't take all of the credit. Luhan helped me a lot," a said with a light blush starting to form on my face.

"Oh, speaking of Luhan, there's something I need to do," she said with realization written all over her face, "Do you think we can talk later?"

"Yeah, of  course," I said slightly disappointed. I watched Sohee walk back inside and she quickly got the attention of the guests.

"Everyone, please meet me in the living room," she called out as she grabbed hold of Luhan's arm.

The guests crowded into the living room and I stood in the back, slightly confused about what was going on.

"Everyone, I'd like to tell you that Luhan and I... have been dating for a year now. Today is our one year anniversary!"

"What? A year? How did you guys hide it so well?"

"Congratulations!"

"I never knew you two were dating!"

"Good for you two!"

While the crowd was congratulating the happy couple, I was glad I stood in the back. My mouth hung open. Ummmm.... What just happened?

Still in shock, I saw Sohee coming towards me.

"So what did you have to tell me," she asked.

I could barely form words. My mind was still in the process of making sense of her and Luhan.

"What's that?"

The birthday card I wrote for her was taken from my hand.

Oh brother.