83 "SURPRISE!!!" (Part-2)

"…How about this?" Ray asked So Hee about a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" sign by holding it in both of his hands and spreading it.

"No. Too simple." So Hee said as she went to get other one.

A colourful, glittery and sparkly one.

"Yeah! This is the one!" She said.

"….Really?" Ray looked at her with a weird face.

"Totally!" She was really happy with her choice.

"O-kay….Everything is done. Now we need just the birthday caps." Ray said ticking the things in the list in his hands.

"What? Birthday caps? No way!"

Ray was getting tired by shopping with her for all this time now. She has been disagreeing to whatever he was saying and she was doing what she wanted to do.

"Now what is the problem?" He asked being frustrated.

"They look so childish. I don't like them!"

Ray rolled his eyes.

"How about this?" So Hee found cardboard crowns. "This is perfect!" She said grabbing one of those.

'I don't know why April sent me with her….' He thought. 'It would have been better if Jun had come with her. He would have kept her mouth shut for sure!...Haha….Maybe that's why she didn't send him!' His own thought made him smile.

"What? Why are you smiling?" So Hee asked noticing him.

"Nothing. What happened about the cake?" Ray tried to change the subject.

"No worries. The cake shop is near her house. So before she arrives, anyone can go and get the cake!"

"Great then."

~

"Oh you all are here!" Mia's mother exclaimed as soon as she opened the door and saw Jun, April and Ye Rin standing before.

"Hello auntie!" April and Ye Rin greeted her.

"Oh come in quickly. It's really cold outside." She said getting everyone inside.

When all of them entered house, they found Jina lying on the couch and watching T.V.

"Jina!" Her mother called her name. "Get up quickly. See who's here."

Still lying, Jina turned her head towards the door of the living room. "Oh sis's friends are here…" And without any hurry, she got up. With her pace. Not at all embarrassed.

Mother glared at her.

April and Ye Rin exchanged glances, while Jun just rolled his eyes. It wasn't new for him.

'Thank god. At least she got up. Otherwise, she just keeps laying there….Unbothered….' Jun thought.

"Hello there. I am Mia's younger sister, Jina." She introduced herself with a hint of smile.

"H-Hello." April greeted hesitantly.

"Hi!" Ye Rin said.

"My sister has really grown up now that she has got so many friends; otherwise she just had one. And she also never had any surprise birthday party like this." Jina said.

"Really?" April asked.

"Yeah. You people are amazing that you all are bearing with her….otherwise…Hehe…" She laughed sarcastically.

"Umm…."

"So which one of you is April? The cutest one?" Jina asked looking at both the girls from head to toe.

"Umm…I am April…." April answered. "But who told you about the "Cutest one" ??"

"Mia?" Ye Rin asked.

"Nah! I read her diary once!" Jina answered casually shrugging her shoulders.

"Jina!" Mother glared and then signaled her to come into the kitchen.

"Time for some instructions! I'll be back." And with a mischievous smile, Jina followed her mom in the kitchen.

April whispered in Ye Rin's ear,"She is so—"

"—Amazing! Right?" Ye Rin completed the sentence.

"Yeah…..Wait….What?" April looked up at her face and found out that Ye Rin was more delighted to meet Jina than her.

There was a smile on her face which told April that Ye Rin had finally found a person somewhat like her!!!

.

"Jun, sweety. Will you come in the kitchen and help me?" Mother asked.

"Sure aunty." Jun went into the kitchen hurriedly.

"We'll start decorating with the things which we have in the house." April said.

"Okay." Ye Rin said looking at the box in front of her.

"Do you wanna help, Jina?" April asked.

"No. I don't!" Jina answered right away.

"Umm…" April couldn't understand what to say.

"Wait. Let me handle this." Ye Rin whispered in April's ears.

"Jina. You don't "want" to help us.

But, "would" you help us?"

"If you'd ask me to help, I would." Jina answered.

"Then…help us!"

"Sure. Why not?" And with that Jina started getting out the things from the box.

April looked at Ye Rin who had a victorious smile on her face.

.

"We are here!!" So Hee shouted from the door as soon as she entered.

"Warm. It feels so nice in here." Ray said to himself removing his shoes.

"We've got everything. Now let's start decorating." So Hee said as she entered the living room.

The room was already half decorated.

"So? What do you think?" April asked So Hee who was looking at all this from the door of the living room.

"It's ….It's nice…but…."

"But what?" April asked.

"Umm….That should go there….And those balloons…Uh ha….Nope…They won't go there either…."

"So….now?"

"Now what? I am here. Don't worry. I'll fix this. And I've also got a lot of great things in this bag."

"Do you mean, we should remove all this?" Ye Rin asked being a little frustrated.

"Umm….Not all….But most of it!" So Hee answered as she was getting out the things from the bag.

"What?" Ye Rin asked shocked. "Are you kidding? We've been working on this for half an hour now…."

"Oh come on! Do you want to do it correctly or not?"

"Correctly? CORRECTLY? We don't decorate "correctly"; we just do what feels us nice." Ye Rin was now getting angry.

"That's what I'm saying. This doesn't feel nice to me."

"What??" Ye Rin took a step towards So Hee in anger.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Please you two. Stop this right now!" April got in the middle as always. "Please don't ruin this over such things."

"I am not ruining anything." So Hee said keeping her head high.

"Wh—" As Ye Rin was going to say something, April stopped her.

"Please Ye Rin. Not now. Not here."

"You always tell me what to do. But you never tell her anything!" Ye Rin complained.

"Because I'm always right!" So Hee said.

"THAT'S IT!!" April yelled.

Everyone looked at her in shock.

'She looks cute even if she is yelling….' The thought passed through Jina's mind as she smiled inside.

"IF YOU DON'T STOP RIGHT NOW, I WON'T LET ANYONE TO BE A PART OF THIS PARTY!!"

"What???" So Hee and Ye Rin said at the same time.

"Yes! So now, stop this non sense and start decorating. The time is ticking and we are not going to remove anything. Just do it with whatever we've got. Is that clear?"

"Yeah…." And with that both the girls started their work.

Ray looked at his sister proudly then towards the small girl, across the room, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes.

'Huh?' The way Jina was looking at him made him uncomfortable, so he hurriedly went towards the kitchen.

~

"Are you sure this looks good?" Mia asked Hana as she was looking herself in the mirror.

"Absolutely!" Hana exclaimed. "This shade of pink really suits you."

"…..But…..I don't like pink…..It's just too…..girly…." Mia complained.

"You are a girl. Duh."

"Yeah, I know but—"

"No buts. Now let's go and pay for this!"

"….Umm…Okay. But let me change first." Saying that as Mia turned back to go towards the changing room,

"Wait!" Hana stopped her right away.

"What? What happened?" Mia asked looking at her.

"Let's just go like this!"

"What? No! I won't go home like this."

"Why? It's your Birthday today. You are allowed to do anything on this day."

"Yeah…but—"

"Told you no buts…..No buts…Pffftt….Get it? "Butts"….Hahahaha…." Hana and Mia both laughed on this joke.

"That's nice Hana. It's great to see you being funny."

"And it's great to see you dressed up. So come on now." Saying this, Hana dragged Mia with her towards the counter.

.

"Thanks Hana for being with me today. I thought you all are gonna leave me alone on my birthday." Mia said and then took a sip of the coffee.

Both the girls were sitting at the café as they had finished their shopping.

"That's not gonna happen, Mia. It was just that, no one knew your birthday so they didn't have any time to change their plans."

"Yeah. I know." Mia lowered her eyes.

"But think about this. At least you got to meet all of them. And they all wished you a happy birthday. Not like mine. My birthday comes in the Spring vacations, when everyone is gone out somewhere with their families…"

"Yeah…But not everyone…" Mia looked up at Hana. Her eyes saddened.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Jun. Jun hasn't said a simple "Happy Birthday" to me yet."

"He hasn't?"

Mia shook her head sideways. "When he used to live in the town with his grandma, he was the one whose call would come first to wish me. But today, he didn't say a word and we've been living in the same…."

Suddenly Mia realized what she was going to say, so she changed her words instantly.

"….neighborhood. We've been together since morning. But he treated me like this was just an ordinary day…"

Hana kept her silence. 'Don't worry Mia. Now you're gonna get the best surprise of all the time…'

Mia took the last sip and got up. "Let's go now. I wanna go home."

"What? This early?" Hana looked up at her phone screen. There was no message by So Hee.

So Hee had warned her to bring Mia home, only and only after she gets her message.

'Oh god! Now what??'

~

As Ray went towards the kitchen, he met Jun in the corridor.

"Hey. You're here." Jun gave him a smile.

"Yeah. Finally…" Ray said with a tired tone as he remembered all the time he spent with So Hee.

"And what's that chaos outside? Is everything alright?" Jun asked as he had heard girls' yelling.

"Yep. No problem. My sister has taken everything in her control." Ray said proudly.

"Well. That's great. I gotta go now."

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To get the cake. It's time. I'll be back soon." And with that Jun gushed out of there in hurry.

'So it's only me and the girls then…' As Ray was thinking this,

"Jun?? Sweety?" Mia's mother's voice came from the kitchen. "Are you there?"

Ray hesitantly walked into the kitchen. "Umm…"

Mia's mother looked at him in confusion.

"Hello. Mrs. Lee. I am Kim Ray. One of Mia's friends." Ray introduced himself with a polite bow.

"Oh hello there! But don't be so formal by calling me Mrs. Lee. You can call me aunty just like other kids." Mother smiled at him. "Did you see Jun?" She asked.

"Oh! He just went out to get the cake." Ray answered.

"Oh…Then why don't you come here and give me a hand."

"Sure! Why not …aunty." Saying that Ray walked towards the kitchen counter. "What can I help you with?"

"Oh! Hihi…" Mia's mother giggled. "You talk so polite and elegantly. I like that tone."

"Hehe…Thank you."

"Will you get down the set of bowls from that upper shelf for me?" She asked as she pointed towards the uppermost shelf.

"Yeah. Sure." Saying that, Ray took the small stool from the corner and climbed up.

Opening the door of the shelf he started looking inside. "Umm….Aunty…"

"Yeah, sweety?" Mia's mother looked up at him.

"I can't see any bowls in here."

"Check the other shelves then…"

He checked but he still didn't find anything. "Nope. Not here."

"They're not here? Umm…." She started thinking. "Where did I put them then?....Oh yeah. Wait!....I remembered….."

Ray slowly got down from the stool.

"It's upstairs." She answered.

"Okay. I'll get them for you."

"Yeah. The second room, when you go up. It's in the corner shelves. I remembered putting them there now…" Mother said.

"The second room…" Ray repeated to himself.

"Yeah. Jun's room. You might know about it as you guys already visited here last week, didn't you?"

'Wait….What??' Ray looked at Mia's mother as his face started to turn white. '…J-Jun's room?....What does she mean by that?'

"What are you waiting for? Go hurry up sweety. We don't have much time to spend."

Mia's mother's words snapped him out.

"…Y-Yeah…"

And with those thoughts revolving in his mind, he started climbing up the stairs.

~