26 Minji's Birthday 1

"Thank you, bye!"

I wave back to the cashier as Seoyun, Dahyeong and I leave the convenience store. After the huddle Dahyeong got us into, things were less awkward between us than I expected it to be. We just hugged for a bit then collectively agreed to get out. Nothing less and nothing more.

By the time we step out, it's already getting dark out, which is expected. At 5pm during autumn is usually when the sun starts setting and the temperature drops. I love being outside during the pitch black, especially when it's not the freeze-your-kidneys-off type of cold. My mom always warns me about staying out during the dark though so there are few occasions I can actually enjoy it. I get it's dangerous but can't the criminals just spread out their criminal acts so it's not all as concentrated during the night? I'd greatly appreciate it.

I look ahead and notice that Seoyun's house is just down the street. Her house is one of the bigger ones found on the street. From the outside, it's has a stony-marble finish with a wooden trim running around the edges of the roof. A large window is right in the center top from the outside, displaying the large glass chandelier displayed in the house.

Outside of the house are 3 cars parked on the driveway and a fairly large garden surrounding the perimeter of the lot. A greenhouse is sitting out on the front lawn to the side of the house. Sometimes I wonder how anyone can have that much dedication to taking care of plants. I tried growing cucumbers in my backyard once and they died after a month since I forgot about them.

Seoyun points over to her house, gesturing to it while quickening her pace. Not wasting a second, Dahyeong and I follow after her.

"Neither of my parents should be home so we have the house to ourselves more or less. My brother and sister are probably still there but they won't bother us. I think they have work."

"So you're pretty much the only one in your family without a job." Dahyeong teases.

Seoyun only rolls her eyes and lets out a jokingly exasperated sigh.

"You didn't need to rub it in my face like that. But yeah," Seoyun squints are Dahyeong, her eyes turning into slits. "I'm the only one without a job."

Dahyeong proceeds to burst into laughter and smacks Seoyun on her back. The small action cracks Seoyun into a large grin as she smacks Dahyeong back.

I put a hand over my mouth to keep myself from laughing along with them.

"So is this an MMA Tourney or?..."

"Nah we're done."

Seoyun raises her hands in defeat while Dahyeong crosses her arms and pouts, soon replaced by a smile. Seoyun stops walking and looks to her right.

"Oh yeah, we're already here."

I glance over at Seoyun's house, noticing that the lights are still on.

"Hm, I think one of your siblings is at home."

"Whatever, it's fine. They won't bother us."

Seoyun gestures to her house and the three of us take off, barely missing trampling over the garden and snapping well-kept wooden fences. Even though I made sure to not run over anything, I can't say for sure whether the daffodil patch made it out alive or not.

"Just so you know, if you guys ruin anything, the first person my parents will come for is me."

Seoyun steps onto the paved path and motions for Dahyeong and I to do the same.

"So technically, I could just step on this here bean sprout and they'd whoop your behind?"

Dahyeong maliciously hovers her foot over an unsuspecting bean sprout, waiting for a reaction out of Seoyun. Seoyun only raises an eyebrow at Dahyeong.

"Don't even think about doing it."

Seoyun turns around and heads for the door, signalling for Dahyeong and I to follow after her. I make my way to the door, only to notice Dahyeong was still standing over the innocent plant, wriggling her eyebrows. I sigh and reach over to her to drag her to the entrance.

"Hey! Let me go!"

I ignore Dahyeong's request which only makes her scream even more. We cross the door and I drop Dahyeong to the carpet. She proceeds to pout and stomp her foot to imitate a toddler, drawing a snort from me.

Seoyun stares out into her house before turning to face us.

"I know your birthday is really simple this year compared to other birthdays but honestly, if I've learned anything from you in the past years we've known each other, it's that you don't like things to be overcomplicated. Through that, not only do you manage to calm yourself with this quota, but others around you."

I nod my head slowly, absorbing in what Seoyun said. I mean, she's not wrong. I've never been able to exactly find a word or way to describe it but that's just about perfect.

"Am I that easy to read?"

I quip back in a bantering manner, drawing a grin to Seoyun's face.

"Of course you are! We seem to know your secrets before you even know them yourself!" Dahyeong jokes.

"That's not me being easy to read, just oblivious to anyone and everyone, even if it's including me."

I stick my tongue out at Dahyeong and she does the same back to me, making sure to add more flair to her action that mine.

"We still know your secrets before you even know you had any so it still fits the point."

Seoyun laughs, watching my playful bickering with Dahyeong, which quickly turned to shouting. Of course, we don't hate each other. We only needed to... assert dominance.

"What's going on?"

A towering figure emerges from the staircase which appears to be Seoyun's brother. He carries a dishevelled appearance as he exits his mancave.

"Seungyun, didn't I already tell you? It's Minji's birthday."

"Right... Don't be too loud because I have to leave for work in a bit."

Seungyun slumps back into his room upon those words, leaving Seoyun, Dahyeong and I completely silent. We hear the door to his room click closed and we immediately burst into laughter.

"Alright," Seoyun manages to say through breaking down laughing. "Let's actually get started."

Dahyeong and I vigorously nod our heads as we take to the living room. It was a rather nice place with a fur carpet spreading across the floor in front of the L shaped couch. There were matching soft knit pillows that had tassels on them lying on the couch. The rather large ottoman sat in front of the couch on the carpet which was matching a window from the opposite of the entrance had lace detailing on the curtains covering it. And finally the large, flatscreen TV hung on the wall with a small shelving piece of furniture on the ground under it.

"So first, are we starting with the food, games or gifts?"

Seoyun smirks at me with a light glint in her eye.

"How about you guys guess if you believe you can read me that easily?" I tease.

"Food?"

I stare at Seoyun, not breaking eye contact and ever so slightly dumbfounded.

"Lucky guess."

Dahyeong breaks into a cackle and tugs at Seoyun and I. My eyes widen as I'm swept to the kitchen.

"See? What'd we tell you?"

"Alright, alright. Fine. Let's just eat."

I find myself being pulled by unknown forces to the fridge as my hand begins to pry it open. I look over to my side to see Dahyeong ripping through the pantry while Seoyun is grabbing cake. My eyes land on packaged bulgogi, grabbing it out of the fridge.

"Hey Seoyun, I found this. Is this up for grabs?"

I hold up the box and place it onto the table. Seoyun pokes her head from the corner and nods.

"Gotcha."

I slam the fridge closed and dart over to Dahyeong to check up on her but mainly to annoy her. What are best friends if they don't annoy you every now and then anyway?

Dahyeong now seemed to have her head completely in the pantry with both arms digging through as if she was looking for mined gold or something.

"Here we go!"

Dahyeong triumphantly pulls out sprinkles and coloured sugar icing tubes. The sprinkles were an assortment of colours and shapes, of which some were rainbow, spheres or even sparkles. The icing tubes had multiple choices when it came to colours and icing width.

Taking them all in her hand, Dahyeong swipes them and places them onto the table.

"Oh, you guys found those!"

Seoyun peeps from the corner she rounded to get the cake. The cake looked to be a decent sized cake for the three of us and was completely white with nothing on top.

"It's an ice cream cake." Seoyun adds. "We figured we should do the cake decorating together."

"I can totally do decorating." I grab at a tube of pink icing with a dolloping tip. "The real question is if we're going to actually try to make it look good or if it's going to be a battlefield of sugar."

Dahyeong puts a finger to her chin for a bit.

"I propose we make it a free for all. Do whatever you want to it."

"Sure why not?"