𝟕 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 ﾟ ˡᵉᵉ 제노

𝟒𝟒

Hearing a distinct bell ringing, Donghee hurriedly pick up the round pastel blue cake with bright red candles on top, with Chohee quickly reaching to fix a stray hair that fell from her recently done braided brunette hair.

He'd be so surprised to see me here, she tells herself, a mischievous chuckle leaving her mouth before making sure her hold of the cake was alright.

With the nearly dead silent area, several approaching footsteps went closer to where they were, as the multiple figures' silhouettes came into view, they went and yelled happy birthday and Donghee yelled surprise, only to be stopped briefly.

Surely the plan was for them to surprise the birthday boy, but seeing an unexpected attendee immediately halted their bright faces, feeling as if they were the ones surprised, especially Donghee.

All except Jeno whose eyes immediately formed its smile upon seeing her, running up to his soul's mate, momentarily forgetting his father's presence, "Shorty!", he greets, eyes in awe upon confirming she's indeed there.

"Happy Birthday..", she trails on to greet him, yet eyes still looked back to the elder who doesn't look the least pleased, bringing Jeno's attention back to his father.

"Oh, right!Dad, this is my girlfriend-"

"Donghee, I know."

Sensing the thick atmosphere, Chohee quickly dragged the younger ones a bit far, whispering a bit of quick good luck to the two while Jaehyun briefly took the cake from Donghee's hold before following them as well.

With Jeno now standing beside her, Donghee bowed a full 90 degrees formally, her smile couldn't look anything but nervous.

"You're the same kid that gave those apples, weren't you?"

"Ah..yes sir"

"Wait..gave apples?When?"

Ignoring the question, the man looked at the simple yet bright decorations upfront before his eyes landed to the two. "I'm assuming you arranged everything?", he inquires, raising a brow towards Donghee who nodded, "So you've been seeing each other for a while now, huh?", he asks again, earning another nod now from both of them.

"You have the courage to arrange such..Surprise, even though he hadn't even introduced you to me?", his tone laced with sarcasm, every bit of it targetted to make Donghee doubt herself, and them in general.

Seeing his mate's wordless discomfort, Jeno decided to interject, clearing his throat, "I was actually planning to Dad, it's just that school kept us busy", he explains, intertwining their hands.

"That's true sir!My sister, and Jeno..Have been busy recently", the unexpected help from her twin lightened the pressure on her, as she unsurely nodded.

"I almost missed out on your little celebration, didn't I Mark?"

"No dad, it's just that she prepared this as a surprise"

"Because we're soulmates", Jeno confesses, spilling everything as he sees it was of no point to not do so at the moment.

Masking the brief look of fear and surprise he had, their father sighed, looking towards the inflated letter-shaped balloons, "How sweet, I remember when I had a mate", the elder mumbles the last few words to himself, a reminiscing smile now graces his face that somewhat eased the tension.

"Nice to meet you, Donghee.", he says with a calm smile, patting her by the shoulder.

"Let's get on with the celebration?", he adds, pivoting to turn to the elder two who didn't know how to react but to call the 4 from before who dispersed away.

"Birthday boy!~", Mark loudly chants, his hands placed on either side of his mouth as Jaehyun lit the candles to the cake Donghee's now holding again.

"Make a wish!"

An eased smile rests on his face, eyes looking around watching several of his friends from school and out, Jaehyun and Chohee, his brother, his father who in spite of standing distantly from them still flashed a reassuring smile, and lastly to Donghee whose right in front of him.He mouthed a thank you before closing his eyes and thinking of his wish.

I wish we'd stay here, for good.

And with that, he quickly blew out the candles, as another row of applause rang around the Cafe, with Donghee putting the cake down on the table, still brightly smiling at him.

yesterday has been kinda busy for me so here it is :)