40
nayoung
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIEUNNN
jieun
thank youuuuu
nayoung
how does it feel to be 18
jieun
feels great💪
jieun
btw
jieun
if you have time later
jieun
im having like a little birthday
party thing at jisungs, if you
wanna come
nayoung
dude ofc
nayoung
i'll definitely be there
jieun
okay :)
—
"okay, keep that over there," jisung hastily hung up party decorations, ordering people where to put things. elijah, sungchan, chenle, minhee, and isla were all helping the boy set everything up, though he insisted on doing it on his own, they insisted on helping.
jisung stepped off of the chair he stood on as he finished hanging up the sign that read 'happy birthday' on it. the boy took a step back, placing his hands on his hips and nodding with satisfaction before turning his attention elsewhere. his eyes landed on elijah, who seemed to be lost on where to hang streamers, jisung watching as isla snatched the decoration out of his hand with a huff.
"does everything look okay?" a voice said from behind, to which the boy twisted his body around to face minhee. knowing he'd wanted everything to be perfect for his crush and his good friend, minhee knew to be as precise with the decorating as possible.
"yes! thank you, i hope she likes it."
"she will, don't worry."
before the conversation could go on, elijah came stomping dramatically towards the two with an irritated expression. "my sisters being a bitch."
"maybe if you weren't just throwing everything around?" minhee replied, the sound of her voice instantly making elijah melt in his own body. both jisung and minhee laughed at the reaction, the long-haired girl pulling him away by his sleeve, leaving jisung alone.
the group eventually got too tired to continue, and everything was pretty much done at that point. jisung had turned into a perfectionist trying to make everything look as nice as possible, wanting jieun and mark to have a good birthday. jieun more, but he would never say that out loud.
hours later people finally began showing up to his house, until the house was full with everyone there besides a few people. jisung instructed the birthday boy and girl to arrive at a later time than everyone else, wanting it to be somewhat of a surprise even though they already knew what was going on.
then finally, the two main guests made their way up to the front door of jisungs house. mark and jieun smiled at each other as they arrived at the exact same time, laughing at themselves. mark placed his hand on the doorknob, but not twisting it, turning to jieun. "it's literally silent in there."
the younger placed her ear just up against the door, nodding in agreement with a laugh. "are they trying to surprise us? when we all planned this?"
mark then finally twisted and pushed open the door, moving to the side to allow jieun in first before going in himself and shutting the door behind them. they stood in pitch black for a moment, before mark felt around the walls for a light switch. once he was successful, he flickered on the lights as the crowd of a friend group shouted 'happy birthday!' to the two. though they expected it to happen, because of the silence and the dark, both of them still jumped at least 10 feet in the air and let out blood-curdling shrieks.
"holy fu—"
"happy birthday!" jieun heard the voice of her best friend who pushed through everyone to engulf the girl in a tight hug, eventually feeling more arms around her, realizing she and mark had just been practically tackled into hugs.
when she was released, jieuns cheeks were bright red, feeling embarrassed by all the attention. "thank you." she said quietly, avoiding anyones and everyones eyes. nayoung came soon after, also pulling the girl into a quick hug and wishing her another happy birthday.
everyone got into their own conversations, the two girls moving to the side and allowing jisung to stand in front of jieun. the girl shyly scratched the back of her neck and pursed her lips, eventually breaking out into nervous laughter.
"happy birthday! i tried to make everything look.. nice? it's not that great, but, yeah. it's okay." he shook his head, stopping himself from rambling on about how he wishes he could've done more with the decorations. jieun already thought it was too much, not expecting him to put in so much effort, and couldn't believe he was questioning it.
"you didn't even have to decorate, or anything, i was fully expecting your normal house," she laughed, "but it's great. i love it, thank you."
jisung let out a slight sigh of relief, "thank god. i'll be right back." he said before turning away quickly.
jieun watched him walk away fully before turning to nayoung and minhee, whom she'd forgot were even there. their eyes were on her intently with skeptical grins across their faces. mainly nayoung, who seemed to have not even known what was going on between the pair. "holy shit, are you guys...?"
"uh," jieun started, "we like each other, yeah. i don't really know what we are now though, to be honest."
nayoungs lips parted slightly in shock, her eyes going wide. "jieun, i had no idea. i was just at his house the other night because i needed comfort, and i didn't wanna bother either of you. i'll definitely back off him now, though."
"it's okay, you don't have to explain anything to me. don't feel like you're bothering me though, okay? we're friends now." the younger explained, nayoung giving a genuine smile and nodding.
"okay... since we're friends then, i've kind of been talking to mark lately." the confident, poised girl was nowhere to be found. she looked down at her feet shyly, a slight closed-mouthed smirk over her lips.
minhee gasped, fake surprised, knowing the two already knew. "mark? how do you know him?"
"tinder. he's so cute, and so nice. i don't think he's noticed me yet since he got here. i hope not, because i hope he isn't avoiding me on purpose."
"no way, come on," minhee urged. jieun laughed and watched her two friends walk away into the direction of the birthday boy, who was surrounded by his own friends laughing and drinking whatever was in the plastic cup he held. she found it especially funny because minhee herself had never even spoken to mark, and he didn't know she existed.
"hi birthday girl!" another voice beamed, jieun turning her head a bit to come to face with eunkyung and kun. she'd almost audibly gasped at how pretty eunkyung is in real life, but kept it in when she handed her an enveloped card.
"oh, me? thank you." the younger gasped, as if surprised that she received a gift on her own birthday.
"of course! don't open it yet, we just wanted to give it to you before we forgot. have fun today, okay?" the woman left a comforting tone in her voice, jieun nodding as she was given a quick squeeze on her free hand.
being as introverted as she is, jieun kept wanting to drift off from her own party, too anxious to jump into anyones conversations. jisung mostly remained at her side, not wanted her to feel left out because she hardly knew anyone. it wasn't until isla noticed the two being standoff-ish, when she insisted on introducing jieun to everyone. everyone already knew her of course, she was 1 out of 2 stars of the show, but she couldn't remember everyones names no matter how hard she tried.
"happy 11th birthday!" hendery playfully nudged the girl as he approached the group.
jieun naturally played along, "thanks! you'll get here eventually!"
"why are you being so shy at your own party? i have literally not seen you once until just now."
"i don't know, probably because i hardly know anyone here."
"stop, you know us. we're no different from how we are in the groupchat."
"you definitely aren't."
hendery frowned, "is that an insult?"
another person joined between the two, "is he bothering you, jieun?" the girls eyes flickered over to who she knew as zara.
the frown didn't leave henderys face as he side-eyed her. "this conversation doesn't concern you."
"poor girl looks like she doesn't even want to be talking to you."
jieun watched in amusement as the two went back and forth, spewing sarcastic insults at each other like it was a normal thing. zara comfortably slung her arm around jieun and they got back into their conversation. the younger girl amongst the three was given the honor of being given super in depth detailed explanations about just about everyone in the group.
"don't feel intimidated by anyone. everyone is actually hella nice and wouldn't hurt a fly." zara reassured. "we're family, honestly."
jieun appreciated the talk, but it wasn't much help. she went from having no friends at the beginning of the year to standing there at a birthday party thrown for her by the now unbelievably big friend group she ended up being a part of, and she knew she only had jisung to thank. the trio didn't realize how long they'd been talking until jieuns name was being called from the kitchen.
attention was on her once again as she and mark were put in front of a cake that read 'happy birthday,' with lit candles on top. "y'all honestly didn't have to do all this." mark laughed, shaking his head.
"shut up, you deserve it," isla scolded, "alright we're gonna sing happy birthday."
"oh god," jieun mumbled, immediately going red over the genuine smile on her face. instead of standing there awkwardly while they were being sung to, mark took the oppurtinity to wrap his arms over the girls shoulders at an attempt to make it look like they were close. they definitely weren't, having only had a brief conversation in the groupchat, but jieun appreciated that he was trying to make her feel comfortable.
when the song was finally over, the two leaned in to blow out the candles together successfully as the rest of the group cheered and clapped.
all the way until the sun went down, everyone stayed talking and laughing amongst themselves, jieun spending more time to get to know each individual even if it was just a tiny bit. jisung wanted to give her space to do so, but he liked being next to her so much that he excused it by saying he'd help introduce her to everyone even more.
"did you have fun?" he asked her once everyone began leaving.
jieun, exhausted, "i had a lot of fun, thank you. this was really nice. i almost wanted to cry when you were singing happy birthday to us." she laughed.
"cry?! why?" the boy exclaimed.
"i never had, like... people do this for me. it was kinda bittersweet in a way," she replied.
jisung smiled as he looked down at her, happy to have been able to give her such an experience. "you deserved it."
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