The next day, during the evening, I stopped by next door and waited around in the living room for Seungyoun as we had planned to go out and eat dessert. I noticed a stack of boxes sitting on a table in the room and walked over out of curiosity. They came in varying sizes and colours but had one thing in common. I was bewildered by the fact that Sungjoo’s cheery face was printed on everything.
‘You ready?’ Seungyoun popped his face in front of mine from the side.
‘Yeah...I am but, what’s all this for?’ I pointed to the boxes and bags.
‘Birthday presents from Sungjoo’s fans.’ I nodded and then a question struck me.
‘Wait, when’s his birthday?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow!?’ I exclaimed, surprised. Wow, two days after Valentine’s...
‘Mmmhhhmmm.’ Seungyoun grinned. ‘Ooohohoho, someone didn’t know. Oh man, Sungjoo is going to be sooooo upset.’ He teased me.
‘Well it’s not like you guys know when my birthday is...’
‘Yes we do...’ Seungyoun averted his gaze to the side. He wasn’t a very good liar.
‘Oh? Are you guys heading off already?’ Yixuan asked as he casually entered the living room, scratching his shoulder.
‘Yixuan, it’s Sungjoo’s birthday tomorrow.’ I frowned.
‘Um...yes, it is.’ Yixuan looked at me, confused. Of course he knew that.
‘Chi found out just now.’ Seungyoun chuckled. ‘Don’t fret though. Maybe you can bake him a cake or something.’ He suggested.
‘Are you just saying that because you want me to bake...’
‘Maybe.’ Seungyoun smiled playfully.
‘It’s not a bad idea though...I’ll need to go buy some more flour and milk later though...’
‘Oooohhh…speaking of which…’ Yixuan suddenly went over to the fridge and examined it.
‘We’re very low on food too.’ He popped his head over the fridge door and grinned. ‘You guys want to go grocery shopping instead?

~

‘Eggs, flour, mushroom, eggplant, milk, tomatoes…’ I started reading out loud as I scrolled through the shopping list we had put together on my phone. Wenhan and Seungyoun were excited about being able to buy food and Yibo tagged along because he didn’t want to be at home by himself.

‘Woah, woah, okay, slow down.’ Yixuan chuckled as he stopped the trolley and beckoned me over so he could look at the list himself. I could sense a few people watching us from afar but tried to ignore it.

Seungyoun and Yibo ran past us, slammed bags of chips and lollies into the trolley and immediately dashed off again. Then a few seconds later, they came back with more junk food in their arms. Wenhan, who was supposedly the expert on picking out vegetables, then insisted he teach me his techniques and walked me over to the fresh produce section where all the fruit and vegetables were.
“Alright, see this?” Wenhan pointed to the tub which had just two bags of carrots left. “It’s nearly empty, which means it’s a good deal.” He grabbed one bag and handed it over to me. I rolled my eyes but knew I had a stupid smile stuck on my face. I glanced back at the tub of carrots and saw two people, one a pretty girl with long wavy hair and the other a tall guy with hair which covered the top half of his face, in a quarrel over the last bag of carrots. Yikes.  Yixuan caught up to us with the trolley and the three of us went to look at the fresh fruit they were just taking out.

~ Next Day ~

I popped the cream piping bag down onto the counter and wiped the excess cream off the plate. And done~! I had finally finished decorating Sungjoo’s birthday cake after tirelessly deciding what sort of cake I should bake and how I wanted to decorate it. 7PM. Just in time too. I gleefully picked up the plate with the cake on it to transfer it to another counter, away from all the mess I had made. However after just a few steps, one slipper got caught onto the edge of a tile, consequently causing me to tumble down to the ground with the plate flying out of my hands. Splat. I looked in awe at the smashed cake on the ground right in front of me. Oh...my god. That did not just happen. I stood up and wiped myself down, trying to stay calm and collected. Sh*t, what do I do now? I knew I had to get my hands on a nice cake right now...but from where? I picked up my phone and desperately made a call.

    ‘Hello, you’re speaking with Joowon, how can I…?’
‘JOOWON!’

‘Chi!? This is the most excited you’ve ever been to hear me...’
‘Are there any cakes left at the store?’
    ‘Cakes? Um...let me check...yeah there’s like 4 left.’
‘Is it alright if I stop by to pick one up?’
    ‘What? Now?’
‘Yeah, now. I know it’s closed already but I was hoping someone would still be there’
    ‘I can bring it to you if you want.’
‘No, no it’s fine. I’ll be there in 10.’

I had arrived promptly at the cafe and as expected, Joowon was the only one still there closing up. I picked out a strawberry cream cake amongst the options available because it was the only one with writing already on it. I insisted that Joowon put it in a box for me, fearing I'd drop this one as well. I let out a sigh of relief once there was a cake safely in my arms.
‘Okay, thank you so much, bye!’ I headed towards the door and through the windows, I could see that it was an absolute downfall outside.
‘Gah, it’s raining so heavily.’ I muttered to myself, disappointed. Maybe if I run...
As I was about to step out into the rain with my arm hovering over my head, my hoodie was pulled back by Joowon.
‘Where do you think you’re going in this rain?’ He sternly said, still holding onto my hoodie.
He bent over to stick his head out beside mine and watched the heavy downfall of rain terrorise the streets. I didn’t know how to answer him and just stared at him blankly. He then pulled me back into the store and closed the door in front of me.
‘Wait here.’ He said and rushed to the staff room as I watched the unwavering rain. He was back almost a minute after with an umbrella in his hand.
‘Alright, let’s go.’ Joowon casually said as we both stepped outside. He quickly locked the door before we departed. Feeling rushed because of the rain, I was unknowingly about to start running until Joowon wrapped his arm around my shoulder and held me back.
‘Don’t run, you might slip. Plus, you might ruin the cake as well.’ He said coolly.
I noticed the roads were fairly flooded as we were walking along. The bright headlights of cars rushed past us in a blur. Out of no where, one car swerved too close to the curb and the puddled water sprayed upwards. But in a blink of an eye, Joowon had pulled me inwards, away from the curb, in one swift motion with his arm and took on the most impact from the splash whilst I was still in his embrace. Flustered, I loosened myself from his grip after being held for arguably too long.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked.
‘It’s just water, Chi.’ Joowon chuckled. We continued to walk down one more block and then finally reached my place.

‘Take the umbrella.’ Joowoon insisted, pushing  the handle towards me.
‘But I’m literally just going to cross the road.’
‘Yeah, but if the rain is this heavy, the cake will be ruined too.’ I couldn’t argue with his reasoning. Taking advantage of my hesitation, he said, ‘And I’m already wet anyway.’ He looked down at his drenched jeans and looked back up at me, grinning widely. I thanked him as I took the umbrella from his hand.
‘Alright, have fun!’ Joowon yelled as he ran off down the street, shielding himself from the rain with his arm.

And you told me not to run in the rain… I shook my head and crossed the street.

~

‘I’m so sorry I’m late.’ I cried as I put the soaking wet cake box onto the coffee table. They assured me they weren’t even planning to do anything special apart from eating as I sat down to join them. Yixuan casually popped a towel onto my head for me to dry off my wet hair before sitting down on the couch himself.
‘You didn’t make that did you?’ Wenhan whispered into my ear.
‘I did bake one...but I dropped it so I picked one up from cafe instead.’ I admitted guiltily. Wenhan started grinning to himself, amused.
‘TIME FOR CAKE!’ Seungyoun gleefully cheered. I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping when he opened the box up. It must’ve been from all the sudden movements when I was walking that the cake had moved around and was squashed on one side, with the top layer sliding off.



I frowned at the sight. had failed to provide a proper cake for the night even though it was such a simple task. Sungjoo then swiftly pushed the top layer back into place with his hand and wiped some of the cream onto the tip of my nose.
‘Yah, why are you looking so sad?’ He smiled.
‘I’m so sorry about the cake...’ I gloomily said, wiping the cream off of my nose.
‘Chi, don’t worry about it, Seungyoun usually smashes up his cakes before eating anyway.’ Yibo chimed in.
‘I do not!’ Seungyoun retaliated and then casually placed his chin on my head.
Yixuan lit up one candle and as he placed it in the middle of the cake, he started singing ‘Happy Birthday to you...’ Everyone then joined in immediately as Sungjoo watched us, suddenly embarrassed. Yixuan, Wenhan and I tried to sing it normally, olding back our laughter at Seungyoun and Yibo's opera rendition of the song.
Sungjoo started cutting the cake and it seemed like he was not oing to cut down to the bottom until Seungyoun abruptly hovered from above and mischieviously pushed Sungjoo’s hand down.
‘Why’d you…!?’ Sungjoo yelled, the cream off his fingers.
‘Since you touched the bottom, the nearest girl has to kiss you now.’ Seungyoun said and then looked at me directly and winked. It was so hard to get angry at him because of his angelic smile but I knew he was enjoying himself immensely. All of a sudden, I looked around the room and saw everyone except Sungjoo staring at me with anticipation. Flustered, I started waving my hands in denial and felt my cheeks and neck getting warmer. I hadn’t even realised that I was sitting right next to Sungjoo. I turned and faced Sungjoo, who had a stunned expression glued onto his very rosy face.
‘Kiss...kiss...kiss...’ Seungyoun chanted with Yibo and Wenhan eagerly joining in. What do I do!?
‘Alright, alright, move aside.’ I watched as Yixuan stood up and headed towards Sungjoo. Mama Yixuan!!! ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ I said as I quickly grabbed some red lipstick I had in my purse and roughly painted Yixuan’s lips. I had never seen Sungjoo look so terrified as he made a futile attempt to escape with Seungyoun and Wenhan holding back his arms and Yibo hugging his legs tightly. With a final scream from Sungjoo, Yixuan planted a big sloppy kiss on his cheek which left a visible red lip stain and we all burst into a fit of laughter.
 

Author's note: Gyaaaaah, finally got this birthday chapter out! I had a draft for ages but kept on making changes here and there, haha. I hope you all enjoyed it! Don't be shy to leave a comment on what you think so far, I appreciate every single one! It won't be too long until the next chapter, please do look forward to it! (◡‿◡✿) Thank you for reading lovelies!

Also, curious about the pretty girl and guy with the long fringe fighting over the carrots? Click HERE. 💕