"ji, what's taking you so—" keeho paused, immediately gasping and covering his mouth with his hand before quickly walking away.
after keeho's presence was no longer felt, theo pulled away and rested his head on her forehead, while she shyly looked down, trying to process everything that happened.
"don't look away," theo softly whispered before gently bringing her face up to look at him.
he looked into her eyes, never breaking the eye contact as a small smile was on his face.
"i hate that you're doing this to me," he mumbled.
seji smiled at his words and put her face in his chest while she wrapped her arms around him. theo didn't hesitate to do the same, placing his chin on top of her head as he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
after a while, seji lifted her head to look up at him while he looked down at her and said, "we should go back out there."
theo nodded and hesitantly let go, grabbing the plates while the two walked outside together.
the first person seji made eye contact with was keeho, making her slightly anxious, while the others were continuing with their conversations.
seji stood next to keeho as she began cutting the cake, giving everyone a piece.
—
after everyone cleaned up the backyard, they all went inside to hang in seji's living room.
as soon as seji sat down next to theo, the front door of the house opened to reveal her mom.
seji's mom stood by the door with widened eyes, shocked to see so many teenagers in her house.
"mom," seji began, walking over to her by the door, "i'm sorry i didn't tell you in advance. today is theo's birthday and he didn't want to celebrate it, but i felt bad, so i threw a last minute party here. don't worry, we cleaned everything up. i'm sorry .. are you mad?"
the others broke into conversation again while theo paid close attention to seji and her mom.
"why do you think i'm mad? i'm not mad," seji's mom replied, "i'm so happy you have such a pure heart, but please tell me beforehand next time. you should've told me, so that i could come home earlier to prepare food for you kids."
seji smiled, "don't worry. keeho and i went out to buy everything that was needed."
"so you guys ate already?"
seji nodded before letting out a little gasp and cutely running over to theo. she grabbed his hand to pull him up and walked back over to her mom.
"you said you wanted to meet him," seji smiled, "mom, this is theo. theo, meet my mom, mijoo."
theo politely bowed before flashing a bright smile, "it's nice to meet you, mrs. park. i'm sorry about the last minute party at your place. we can leave right now if—"
"oh no no. it's okay," seji's mom smiled, "it's nice to meet you too, sweetheart. stay for as long as you want. i'm going to go cook up some food."
theo saw the grocery bags in seji's mom's hands and gently took them out of her hand before asking, "where should i put these?"
"oh .. you don't have to," seji's mom shook her head.
seji looked at theo and smiled, "you can just put it on the kitchen counter."
theo nodded before walking into the kitchen, while seji's mom walked closer to her and whispered, "he's a gentleman. i like him."
mijoo walked away into the kitchen while seji stood still and smiled to herself, mumbling, "i like him too."
"seji."
seji looked around to see who called her name, seeing theo walk over to her.
"do you have a charger i can use?"
"oh yeah," she nodded, "come."
theo followed seji into her room and gave her his phone, so that she could go charge it.
"can i sit?" he asked.
"you don't have to ask," she laughed, "of course."
theo sat on the edge of seji's bed and waited for her to finish plugging in his phone.
once she was done, she walked over to theo and before she could sit next to him, theo held onto both of her hands, so that she'd be standing in front of him.
he sat on the bed, holding onto her hands while looking up at her. seji stood in front of him, looking down at theo.
"i really didn't mean to come off as angry that day," he softly began, looking at her hands as he began to caress them, "i wasn't mad at you. i was just .."
seji understood what he was trying to say and nodded in understanding, "it's okay. i get it."
"i'm sorry," he whispered, looking at her eyes.
she smiled, "i said it's okay. i don't want you getting all sappy on your birthday. now come on, let's go back to the others."
"but i wanna stay with you."
seji widened her eyes, "what has gotten into you?"
"love," theo shrugged, "i don't know."
"you're in love?" seji playfully gasped, "with who? she must be one special girl."
"she is special," theo began.
seji sighed, "i'm jealous. you even look like you're in love."
"because i'm in love with you."
