27 Minji's Birthday 2

I shrug and take the tube I grabbed earlier, working my way around the edges. Dahyeong watches me carefully before grabbing a yellow tube of icing and using it all over my pink dollops. Smiling, I find a snort leave my mouth while I take my tube of icing and squeeze it on top of her yellow icing. Dahyeong examines the new potential threat to her colour and she uses her icing onto mine that was on top of hers. We keep at this for a while, battling for colour dominance on the cake until a huge mound of yellow and pink sugar icing forms in the center.

"Guys, I'm gonna dump the entire thing of sprinkles onto the cake."

If Dahyeong and I weren't wheezing of laughter before, we are definitely now. We gleefully watch as if we're drunk as Seoyun takes a container of sprinkles the size her palm and begins to pour it all over the pink and yellow mountain. Most sprinkles stuck to the cake but others rolled off due to the lack of surface area.

"There we go. That should be all the sprinkles in here."

Dahyeong and I cheer in celebration as the last of the sprinkles fall onto the cake with Seoyun quickly joining in.

"Let's cut it open now!"

Dahyeong reaches over for a knife and hacks away at the ice cream cake. Using all of her strength, she leans into the knife cutting the first cut.

"Nah nah, that ain't how you do it."

I grab another knife and start stabbing away at the cake. Seoyun, still laughing, grabs her phone and films both Dahyeong and I slicing and dicing the cake.

Whenever Seoyun laughs, and I mean, truly laughs, she doesn't even make a sound. She looks like she's laughing but gets stuck in one pose. It's the sort where your stomach hurts is how she explains it to me - and is only she gets from us.

Seoyun starts leaning onto the table for support from her stinging non-existent abs while cackling, still filming Dahyeong and I.

"You can't even tell it's cake anymore!"

Dahyeong pokes at the mound of ice cream with her knife before breaking out into a shared wheeze with me. I take out three spoons, trying to calm myself down from the high I got from stabbing a cake.

"We can just eat it as if it's one big ice cream."

I pass a spoon to Seoyun and Dahyeong who have relatively calmed down now but were still grinning widely. We all start scooping spoonfuls of the shapeless hunk of ice cream and take bites.

"Oh yeah, don't forget the bulgogi exists too."

I grab the box and bring it closer to us, noticing a few sprinkles that made its way onto the box and brushing them off. Seoyun reaches for the bulgogi and downs on it in between bites of ice cream.

Dahyeong claps her hands together as if she just recalled something.

"Right. We have our gift for you."

With those words, Dahyeong races off out the room to get hers with Seoyun trailing after her. In the meantime, I happily cram bulgogi down my throat while waiting for them.

I can't even begin to express just how much I love these girls. Everything of my life has been with them since Kindergarden. We've grown up together, seen each others many phases, cried for each other, stood for each other on another's behalf, and have practically become so close that there might as well be nothing we don't know about each other.

We have all proven our bond time and time again and are each other's only friends that have stuck throughout the years. We're obsessed with every single trivial thing about each other and small actions we each do. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that that's real friendship right there. I've never cared about having anymore friends than them because to me, they're worth more than I'll ever be able to make and that says a lot.

"Here we are! Our gifts this year are an expensive bunch."

In one hand, Dahyeong is holding a large envelope while the other is holding onto a rather large bag. In Seoyun's hands are 2 large boxes and one thin box with a bow on top.

"Start with this one." Seoyun passes the envelope in her hand.

I carefully open the flap so as to not rip it, taking out the contents slowly. Inside, I find Seoyun and Dahyeong's written cards for me.

I first open Dahyeong's card and a pair of keys fall out to the ground. I look up at Dahyeong who was carrying a grin of anticipation on her face.

"Do you remember how you'd always talk about wanting to ride a motorcycle since you knew your mom would never be able to afford a car for you once you got your driver's license? Well, I got you a lightly used one and right now, it's sitting in Seoyun's garage."

Dahyeong lifts her arms and does jazz hands. Meanwhile, I don't waste a second to tackle the girl to the ground in a large hug.

"This is absolutely insane! I'll read your card when I get home."

Dahyeong nods whilst being choked by me. I slowly get up, helping Dahyeong to her feet. She then hands me Seoyun's card.

"Be warned, another thing is gonna fall from it." Seoyun winks.

I chuckle a little and open the card, readying my hand underneath for the falling object. A few pieces of paper fall from the card, which upon closer examination were roundtrip plane tickets for Mexico during winter break.

"NO WAY SHUT UP. THERE'S THREE OF THEM. DOES THAT MEAN THAT WE'RE GOING ON A TRIP ALL TOGETHER?"

I gape at the paper tickets lying in my palm.

"Duh, what else would it mean? Do you think I'd forget that this very day not only is your birthday but your 10th year together as friends. We've always wanted to go on a trip together to somewhere outside of Korea so I figured what better time to do it than this Christmas?"

Before I'm even given time to respond, Seoyun shoves a large bag of items plus 2 boxes in front of me.

"Open it. Dahyeong and I went shopping for some new clothes for you to wear while we're in Mexico! We snooped through your closet just to get a better idea of your taste and exact sizing then went hunting for the right clothes."

I find myself at a loss for words, my jaw dropping as I take the items out of the bag first, fumbling with them. The item I first pulled out was a pink grid short sleeve dress with lace embellishing. I folded it and put it to the side to grab the next item which was a 2 piece set. The first item of the set was a pink cropped one-button cardigan and the second was a suspender skirt of a matching pink colour.

"Everything's literally perfect. HOW?"

"Like I said. You're easy to read."

I roll my eyes at that statement.

"Wow, thanks. Really needed that."

"No problem."

I put the bag down to go through the boxes, which in each box was a pair of shoes. The first had a pair of white mary janes in them while the other had pink kitten heels. I put them back into their boxes to put to the side.

"Guys, this is already so much."

"Too bad there's one more."

Dahyeong hands me a thick printed photo book. On the cover, it said 'This Year's Recap".

"This is a collection of every single time we were together. A summary of every good thing that's happened between us with at least one picture for each day since your last year's birthday."

As much as I hate crying, they just knew where to hit me and it hit hard. I feel heavy drops fill in my eyes as I start to wail my heart out.

Seoyun and Dahyeong don't say anything and just hug me till I feel like I'm suffocated - in a good way.

After not speaking for a while, I finally break the silence.

"I know I don't get to say this often but,

I love you guys."