On May 13th, Minah found herself standing in front of the mirror, waving her hair for the first time in a while. She applied her favorite make-up and straightened her uniform with an iron, making sure that it was neat as possible. As she dressed and ate her breakfast, she sat at the lonely dinner table, swinging her feet up and down in excitement. Her eyes were glued to the clock, eager to leave the house as soon as she could.

Today was her seventeenth birthday, and she couldn't want to meet her friends. Birthdays meant presents—presents given from the depths of her friends' hearts. These presents would determine how her friends viewed her and how they thought of how worthy she was to be their friend. The amount of "happy birthdays" she would get from her peers would only add up to her popularity, and she could soak in the sweat words that swooned her hearts. 

Since the day she saw Jieun and Jiho clean her table, Chanyeol had become nicer to her. He still was oblivious to who had erased the table. He only assumed that the people he assigned to do the tasks had not done it.

"Since everyone else seems more useless than you, I'll lift up your punishment a bit," Chanyeol had told her a few days ago.

After those words were out, Minah's "friends" had returned to her side and did their usual tactics: making fun of her or threatening her to do their evil deeds. She didn't mind, though. She was grateful that she had her companions back. Deep inside, she kind of wished to thank Jieun and Jiho, who also didn't know that Minah had been watching them clean her desk with hard effort. 

You look bea-u-ti-ful! Minah praised herself, smiling rightly as she checked herself in the mirror before leaving her house. Once she thought that she was ready, she took a deep breath, slipped on her shoes, then left the house.

"Mom, Dad! I'm off—" She stopped momentarily, then let out a soft chuckle. "What am I saying? They're not in the house…"

Her father had gone off to work, and he had told her beforehand that he would be coming home extremely late. He was very apologetic that he couldn't celebrate his daughter's birthday, but his wife had assured him that she would be staying back. However, at last minute, her mother remembered that she had an important business trip and had to break it to her daughter that her parents weren't going to be there on her birthday.

Naturally, she told them that it would be fine and that she would be celebrating her birthday with her friends. She didn't have any specific plans planned out, but she was sure that her friends had held up a surprise party or some sort. Even if they didn't give her a surprise, they would surely hang out with her. After all, it was her birthday. How could anyone refuse the birthday girl?

I'm off! she mentally shouted in her head. She closed the door, locking it with the spare house keys she had in her bag. She turned around, took a deep breath, then began to skip her way towards the school, excited to meet all her friends.

On the way, she had bumped into Jiyong. The two stared at each other, surprised. They weren't sure of what to say, but Jiyong broke the silence and began to conversation.

"You did your hair?" he asked her, using his hand to point at her hair.

Minah blushed and smiled. "How is it? It's cute, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. What's the occasion?" Jiyong inquired.

"Want to guess?" Minah challenged. Her smile became bigger and she tip-toed forward, waiting for Jiyong to guess. 

Jiyong began to feel a heavy feeling on his shoulder when he saw Minah's wide smile. It felt like she was anticipating him to guess correctly. Several possible events ran through his head: wedding? school ceremony? date?

"It's her birthday," a familiar voice said behind them. Minah froze, then turned deep red. She glanced behind her shoulder and saw Jiho walking towards them with a lollipop in his mouth. "It's her birthday, and that's why she's dressing up like this."

I-Idiot! Minah screamed in her mind. Why would you tell him that? You were supposed to let him guess!

"Ah, birthday," Jiyong said, nodding his head. "Now that I think about it, your birthday was written in the employee's form. Happy birthday, Minah!"

"T-Thank you," Minah said, blushing a bit. She glanced at Jiho, waiting for him to say a few words to him. She wanted him to congratulate her for turning seventeen. She wasn't sure why, but she just wanted him to tell her that.

"Jieun's birthday is in three days," Jiho mentioned. "Did you know that?"

Jiyong shook his head. "Nope. She never told me."

"Hm. At least I know something you didn't," Jiho mumbled. He smirked, then began to walk past them. 

Minah's shoulders drooped down as her facial expression dropped. She sighed to herself and scratched her head. She stopped when she realized that she could be messing up her new look.

At least he remembered my birthday, she thought, trying to light up the mood. "Anyway, what are you doing around this neighborhood?"

Jiyong paused, then rubbed his chin. "Oh! The manager wanted me to get something for him. It just happened to be that I had to come all the way here."

"Hm. It always seems like the manager is bossing you around to do a lot of things," Minah said.

"Does it?" Jiyong asked. "I can't tell. I don't mind, though." He smiled at her. "Well, have a good birthday, Minah!"

Minah smirked and continued to walk forward. "Of course I'll have a good birthday! I'll have a blast!"

* * *

Going to school was certainly not like anything Minah had excepted. She thought that people would pass by her and wave, saying "happy birthday" while giving her a friendly hug or a high-five. However, when she stepped onto the school grounds, her classmates were oddly…normal towards her.

That's perfectly okay, Minah thought, pressing her lips. I'm pretty sure they're kidding around. Chanyeol did lift my punishment…right?

She took a deep breath and walked into her classroom. She waited for a big welcome from her friends, but all they did was sit at their usual spot in the class and talk. She looked at Chanyeol, who seemed too busy to notice Minah's presence.

Maybe they haven't noticed me. My make-up and hair did change, she pointed out. She took another deep breath and walked over to her friends. "Hey guys…!"

Her friends glanced over at her, gave her a small smile, then went back to their conversation.

"You know, I heard that this guy confessed to this girl!"

"Oh my gosh! Didn't the guy have a girlfriend, though?"

"I heard they broke up two weeks ago."

"Two weeks? Dang!"

Minah continued to smile. When she realized that she wasn't at the center of attention, she cleared —loudly.

Her friends stared at her, giving her a glare for being disruptive. Minah shrugged it off and looked at her friends with a chummy smile.

"Anything different about me?" Minah asked curiously. She flipped her hair and blinked rapidly to emphasize the change of looks.

"Um, oh! You…changed," one of the girls commented, unsure of what to say.

Minah only smiled. "That's right! I made my hair more wavy and applied this really nice make-up. Look, look!"

"That's great…" Another girl rolled her eyes, earning giggles from the group.

"Anyway, since it's my birthday," Minah continued, understanding that her friends didn't have an interest to her new appeal, "why don't we go around and sing some songs at the karoke! Or, how about we go and eat something sweat at the cake shop?"

"Oh…" The group of girls exchanged awkward glances at each other. When they finally nudged another girl's shoulder to speak, she cleared and gave Minah a sheepish smile.

"We're so sorry, Minah, but we have plans today!" she belatedly revealed.

Minah's smile faltered a bit. "Plans? Like what?"

"Well, we were planning to go to the beach," the girl said. "Chanyeol suggested everyone to go to the beach. We, um, thought that you were going with us."

"I guess Chanyeol forgot to invite you or tell you," the second girl added. Minah froze, unsure of what to say.

That wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. Chanyeol didn't deliberately forget to tell her. He purposely didn't tell her. It was at that moment Minah realized that she was being excluded from her own group—on her birthday. Her heart raced, palpitating with fear as her smile quickly disappeared.

"W-Was this supposed to be a surprise party?" she asked nervously.

"Um, we don't know," the first girl muttered. She gave Minah a strange look, and Minah clearly got the message. They were mentally asking her to stop asking questions. She was getting on their nerves, and they didn't like that.

Minah blushed, embarrassed as she tucked a clumsy amount of hair behind her ear. There was no need for her to persist them. She wasn't sure if she was kicked out of the group or anything, but she was sure that her presence was slowly dying. She could only reason that Chanyeol knew something about Minah that caused him to exclude her, and she couldn't pin-point the reason why.

She continued to feel her heart race, beating and slamming against her chest. She began to feel small, like a dumb ant under a foot that tried to stomp on her, but the foot kept failing to kill her. Cold sweat poured down her neck, and Minah could only use her long hair—her long, curly hair that she spent hours to curl in order to impress people—to cover up the shameful drops of water. She her dry lips, trying to say something, but her mind was jumbled up and something caught her breath and made her unable to speak honestly. When she realized that she was at the corner of the conversation, she forced a dumb smile.

"…Oh! Okay, then! Alright. It's no big deal. Really, it's not. I'll be spending my birthday with someone else, I guess. You three have fun at the beach, okay?" With that, Minah turned around, leaving the girls slightly dumbfounded, but more happy that they had gotten rid of the clingy girl.

* * *

Damnit.

As the rain poured down and blackened the ground, Minah furiously tried to search for an umbrella in her bag. She had sworn that she had brought one with her and placed it on the umbrella rack, but she found hers gone. She usually kept a spare in her bag, but she found the smaller umbrella gone as well. People around her gave her funny looks, but she continued to act like she was naturally trying to find her umbrella without any trouble.

No birthday party, and now this? Ugh! Do I go back home and tell Mom that I had absolutely no one to hang out with? No, I can't. She's not home today, and Dad's coming home late. Which basically means that I'm celebrating my birthday alone, Minah remembered. She muttered a few curses to herself as she continued to search for her umbrella in her large bag. When she finally accepted the fact that her umbrella was missing, she clenched her teeth and threw the bag against the floor. She bent her knees, curling herself into a ball as she hid her head in her crossed arms. Fortunately for her, not a lot of people were left at this time to watch her silently rage about her unfortunate birthday.

In the few minutes she had to think, her anger had become sorrow. Her eyes softened and glossed as she continued to refuse to lift her head. Her fingers curled around her elbows, the nails digging into her pale skin. 

This is just like before when Jiho found new people to hang out with, Minah thought. She recalled the memory of spending one of her earlier birthdays alone, with absolutely no one else to hang out with. She remembered the cold isolation where she had nothing but a piece of bread as cake and a stick as the candle stick. Looking back, she shivered at the memory of how lonely it was to celebrate a birthday alone and how her ten-year old self learned questioned about the purpose of birthdays when there's no celebration to be done.

The birthday girl heaved a sigh and sniffed. Damn it. This .

"What are you doing?" a familiar voice asked her. Minah didn't even need to look up to know that it was Jiho speaking. "People are staring, you know?" She kept silent for a few minutes. "Bang Minah, are you sleeping?"

"No," she managed to croak out. She could feel herself about to tear up, and cursed herself for letting him know that she was going to cry.

However, he made no comment about her possible tears. Instead, he kept quiet, standing right behind her. The two stood still for a few more minutes, and Minah could only hear other students leave the building, the rain hitting the umbrellas they had brought with them. Her heart dropped when she realized that she would be that one loser who would be running in the rain without anything but her bag to cover her head and come home, drenched from the rain.

"Did you bring an umbrella?" Jiho asked her.

At this moment, Minah glared at him by turning her head and glaring at him with one visible eye. "I did, but I can't find it. Leave me alone!"

There was another moment of silence. She hid her face, curling herself into a smaller ball. The sound of rain continued to ring out across the room, and the rhythmic footsteps had become softer and quieter as more people left the building. By now, Minah could tell that it was only her, Jiho, and at least five more students hanging out near the entrance, taking in shelter from the rain.

Suddenly, she felt something heavy tap on her head. She slowly looked up, and found Jiho kneeling next to her, showing her a large umbrella.

"I have an umbrella with me. If you're not too ashamed, I can walk you home. We live close by, anyway," Jiho offered.

She stared at him for a long time, wondering if he was serious. It was odd for her to talk to Jiho, especially at school. It was even more strange for him to offer a generous act. She thought that his generosity was only for Jieun, so she was genuinely surprised to know that he could be nice to others.

She was going to reject his offer and let her pride get to her. However, when she listened to the rain and looked up at the dark skies, she could tell that the weather wasn't going to lighten up. Sniffing, the rubbing her teary eyes with her arm and quickly nodded her head. 

"Yes, I would like to share the umbrella with you," she mumbled softly. She saw Jiho smirk at her and get up on his feet.

As he stepped outside, he opened the umbrella, watching the fabric bloom up like a red flower. With the umbrella hovering over his head, he placed on hand in his pocket and turned around. 

"Well?" he said. "Aren't you coming in?"

Minah only nodded, and got up on her feet. Straightening her skirt, she quickly jogged over to his side, taking shelter under the other part of the umbrella.

The two continued to walk in silence, looking either at the ground or straight ahead. Rain continued to rush down to the ground, splashing and creating ripples various of size. The tip of their shoes were sprinkled with droplets of rain, wetting their sneakers and socks. They kept walking, though, not sharing complaints about the rain or about how they were sharing umbrellas. Words weren't really needed, though: Jiho didn't want to talk, and Minah was in a situation where her gratefulness didn't allow her to talk.

"Oh, right," Jiho finally began. Minah, startled, looked at him with wide eyes. He gave her a nonchalant glance. "I need to go to the convenience store real quick. Do you mind if we stop there?"

She figured that Jiyong would still be working. Maybe she could ask to work a bit and send Jiho back home while she would depend on Jiyong to take her back home or something. She knew that it would probably trouble Jiyong, but she really didn't want to walk with Jiho. It was awkward, and she didn't want to be in any other awkward situation again.

"Sure, I don't mind," she replied, nodding her head. "I actually need to ask Jiyong to do me a favor."

"Okay, cool."

Their conversation ended. The two resumed walking, passing trees and several buildings. Minah bit her tongue, feeling too uncomfortable about the situation. The walk, which should take a few minutes, felt like hours. It was as if time was purposely dragging itself, making her feel more edgy, taunting her.

"Now that I think about it, it's your birthday, right?" Jiho suddenly mentioned.

Minah looked away. "Y-Yeah."

"What are you doing for your birthday? I heard that your mom is on a business trip in Japan. Your dad comes home pretty late, too, right?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"So that practically means that you're not going to hang out with your family on your birthday…" His voice trailed off for a minutes. Then, he looked back at her. "How about your friends? Are you meeting up with them later?"

"They're going to the beach," she told him, "because Chanyeol invited them to go to the beach."

"In this kind of weather?"

"Anything is possible."

"No, seriously. You think that they're going to the beach in this kind of weather?"

"Jiho, stop it. You're making me feel like an idiot."

Jiho laughed. "That's because you are an idiot! Come on. Don't tell me that you really believed in that."

She shot him a glare. "What else am I supposed to do, huh?"

"Fight back. Demand a real response."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Oh, right. You're bad at fighting back. I remember, you even let Chanyeol make you call a stalker and traumatize Jieun." His laughing stopped. "I'm still mad at you for that. Jieun might've forgiven you, but I haven't."

She narrowed her eyes. "I said I was sorry… I really was…"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So what I'm hearing is that you're spending your birthday alone?" Jiho asked her.

"Yes, that's right! I'm spending my birthday alone!" she confirmed, rolling her eyes. "Now, can you stop talking about it? It's really ticking me off."

"Right, right. I'm sorry," he replied. "Oh look. We're here."

Minah looked up, finding the convenience store standing in front of them. For some reason, the see-through walls were draped with green curtains, covering the windows. However, the store, as usual, seemed quiet, so she didn't find any reason to suspect the manager for doing something out of the box with the shop.

As Jiho's hand gripped around the door, he stopped momentarily and looked at her. "Oh, Minah?"

She looked up with a curious look. "Yes?"

"Happy birthday."

Ba-thump.

She didn't have any time to think when Jiho swung open the door. As she entered the room first, she was introduced with a loud blaring noise from one side of the room and confetti falling on her like spring flowers floating down from the high trees.

"Happy birthday!" the group shouted.

Minah quickly scanned across the room. The old manager was giving her a cheesy grin, smirking at the sight of her astonished face. Jieun stood next to Jiyong, holding a small present while Jiyong held the cake with the candles lit. Jiho's three friends—Kyungsoo, Wonshik, and Changshik—stood at the other side, acting wild as they childishly dumped the basket of confetti on her. She whirled around, staring at Jiho who had closed the umbrella and the door behind them. She turned back to Jiyong, who approached her with the cake.

"H-How…?" She was left speechless, only able to listen to Jiyong's quick explanation.

"We knew that Jieun's birthday was coming up, and she said that your birthday was just three days earlier than her birthday. She told us that you weren't going to have anybody to celebrate your birthday with after eavesdropping on your conversation with your friends. I managed to buy you a small cake and the manager found some party stuff in the back. We decided to celebrate your birthday and Jieun's birthday today," Jiyong said, still smiling at her.

Minah stared at Jieun, who gave her a small smile. Minah looked away, ashamed as she realized that she was being kindly treated by the enemy. Her face burned red, and she was unable to think clearly.

"Happy birthday," Jieun said gently. "Go ahead. Blow the candles."

Minah paused, then looked at Jieun. "Aren't you going to blow the candles, too?"

Jieun bit her bottom lip. "Um, I wasn't sure if you wanted to blow the candles alone. You see, I thought you would get mad…"

Minah knew that she had no right to say anything else. Jieun was being perfectly reasonable to think that Minah would get mad. After all the times Jieun tried to help her, Minah had only hurt her physically. 

"I-I don't mind if you blow out the candles with me," Minah stuttered, gathering up her courage. Then, she whispered, "Besides, I owe you one…"

Jieun frowned, unable to catch the last few words. She stopped hesitating when Jiyong have her a soft nudge, encouraging her to do as Minah instructed. Jieun gave him a small nod, then looked at Minah.

"Ready?" she asked softly.

Minah smiled as she wiped away a single tear from her eye. "Ready."

The two closed their eyes at the same time, then blew out the candles after making their wish. The room was erupted with claps as the manager began to clip down the curtains from the windows. Jiyong placed the cake on the table and began to slice it, making sure that he was cutting the cake just enough for all of them to finish. The teenagers sat down at one table, finishing off their cake in a few bites.

As they were finishing their cake, Jiyong's eyes noticed Jiho's drenched shoulder. He stared at it for a few minutes, then opened his mouth to bring everyone's attention to the sight.

"Oh? Hey, Jiho. Your shoulder is all wet. What happened?" Jiyong asked, pointing at his clothes. Minah looked up, staring at the see-through cloth sticking to Jiho's shoulder. Jiho, who noticed Minah staring, slightly turned pink and covered it up with one of his hands.

"Oh, it's nothing. I guess I got a bit wet when I was holding the umbrella," he said.

"This is nothing, King Kwon! This is his personality. He keeps the girl dry while he gets himself wet," Changshik said. "We saw him do that with Jieun once."

"Then in a few days, he'll end up getting sick," Wonshik added.

"But he'll be back as healthy as a donkey," Kyungsoo stated.

"Would you guys mind shutting up?" Jiho snapped, glaring at the three.

"Make us!" Changshik challenged. Jiho got up on his feet and began to give Changshik a noogie, wrapping his arm around the victim's neck. Changshik began to cry in pain, asking for his friends to help.

Everyone in the room laughed as some of them tried to pry off Jiho's hands away from Changshik's head. Minah watched in silence, smiling until her cheeks began to hurt. She looked down at her half-eaten cake, then giggled when she looked back up to see Jiho with his friends again.

This is nice, she thought, smiling softly. This is definitely nice.

* * *

From outside, the group was oblivious of girls from the same school walking down the street. They stared at the group, trying to identify the boys and the girls who shared the same uniform.

"That's… Jiho, right?" one of the girls whispered.

"I'm so sure that's Jieun with him," another girl said in disgust.

"So who's that girl—Oh my gosh. That's Minah."

"Minah? You mean Bang Minah?" The third girl scoffed. "Of course it's Minah. Just because we told her that we were invited to the beach, that doesn't mean that she should be hanging out with people Chanyeol hate! Despicable!"

"Should we tell Chanyeol?" the first girl asked.

The second girl held up her cell phone. "Of course. Besides, Minah never belonged with with us. She's…annoying."

"True that. I'll take a picture, too. For back-up evidence. After all, we can't help out someone who betrayed Chanyeol," the third girl said, taking out her cell phone.

Click! Click!