𝗨𝗣 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘, ᴅᴏɴɢ sɪᴄʜᴇɴɢ

twenty two

It was Saturday and it was Sicheng's birthday. Unfortunately.

The Chinese walked out his front door at exactly 7:06PM as Yena had let him know she was outside to pick him up. They were going to the bowling alley just like they had planned beforehand.

Sicheng loved bowling and usually he liked celebrating his birthday too but he hasn't heard from Hyewon all day and it was starting to upset him. It made him wonder if she'll even show up tonight.

"Hey, birthday boy. What's with the sour face?" Yena jokingly asked as he climbed into her car. It's not like she didn't know: they had literally called a few hours ago. "Still no Hyewon?" She asked and Sicheng shook his head. "Well, that sucks. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Sicheng strapped the seat belt in and Yena took off.

"Okay but that doesn't change the fact that you're grumpy on your birthday. It wouldn't hurt to smile a bit, hey. You are in the presence of your favourite person after all."

Sicheng snorted at her little comment. "I've said this many times before but you are actually insane. Do you know that?"

"Well, ouch?" She replied, feigning hurt. "At least you smiled. See, I'm a miracle worker."

Yena continued driving, feeling smug with herself and Sicheng had to give it to her. She really was a walking serotonin booster.

They arrived a few minutes later and Sicheng immediately recognized his friends' cars in the parking lot. "Excited?" The ravenette asked as she was practically jumping out of excitement.

"Sure, something like that." Yena rolled her eyes at his dry response and yanked his arm leaving him no choice but to follow her into the place.

"Happy birthday!" Sicheng's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of his friends, all wearing silly party hats. Jaehyun and Aeri even blew on little party blowers while Haechan and Renjun popped some confetti poppers. However, that wasn't the thing that caught his attention the most. It was Hyewon standing right between the chaos holding up a cake.

The flames from the candles lit up her entire face and yet it could never compete with the dazzling smile on her lips. "Happy birthday, dude." Mark suddenly put one of the party hats on his head.

"Thanks." He spoke but it was clear he was distracted. Sicheng then made his way over to Hyewon as his eyes never left her figure. She had turned around to place the cake down and didn't even notice his gaze. "You're here." He then said.

Hyewon turned around to him and immediately smiled. "Of course I'm here. Why wouldn't I be?" She asked, her brows slightly furrowing.

"I heard from some other students that Yuta was having his party today too... Just figured you would've gone there instead." Hyewon's smile faltered for a brief moment but it still remained intact.

"You think very little of me, best friend." That's all she said, a soft laugh falling from her lips before she twisted her body to reach over the table. She turned back to him, a wrapped gift in hand. "For you. I had started working on this two months ago. I hope you like it."

She shied away from his gaze but it took so much force for Sicheng to break his eyes away from her and focus on the gift in his hands. He glanced at her once more just as she looked at him. He could see the nervousness in her eyes. "Come on. Open it." She started chewing on her nails too.

So, Sicheng started unwrapping the gift as neatly as he possibly could but eventually that didn't work, so he tore the whole thing open. Under the wrapping paper was a spiral-bound album. A pretty ribbon was tied around it and Sicheng didn't hesitate to untie it and look inside.