Moon nights - a summer romance in Seoul

Chapter 26: Ayla

So keep me in the corner of your heart
even if I'm sitting there alone in the dark

__________________________________

"You wanted to talk, Ayla?" Taehyun appeared right next to me when our houses were in sight as we walked down the route from the subway station. A startled jump later, I looked at him and nodded. "Yeah... it was regarding-" I glanced at the person next to me, giving Tala a sign for help.

"Regarding your presentation. You said you needed help" Tala jumped in, and I nodded.
"What she said" I added. I never pushed myself to be a good liar, but this was ridiculously bad, even for my standards.

"Your presentation?" he asked, and I nodded again.
"When?"
"Tonight"
"Tonight?"
"Yes, tonight. So I can practice enough till it's my turn" I gave him another nod, hoping he would give in, which he did.

"Alright, I'll shower and come over, if that's okay?"

"Perfect!" I smiled lightly, noticing from the corner of my eye that the other boys had already rushed inside their house to be the first ones to shower and buy some time for us.

"See ya!" I waved at Taehyun and rushed inside our house with Tala to freshen up after the sweaty dance class. I needed to peel these damp clothes off my skin as soon as possible.

A while later, Jonghyun and Tatho managed to sneak over, informing us that Taehyun had entered the shower when they left the house. We moved the couch a little further towards the garden entrance so it wasn't in direct view of the front entrance and waited in a room full of balloons and decorations.

Faras texted Tatho:

leaving now

And a minute later, the front door's bell rang.

"It's open!" Mina shouted, still hiding behind the couch. Please don't ask me why, but we all had hidden behind the sofa, all 6 of us. If you'd look close enough, I'm sure you'd see our heads peaking up, but let's not ruin the fun here.

"Hey, where is everyone-"

"SURPRIIIIIISE!!!" we jumped out off the couch, confetti flying around and a frozen Taehyun standing on the other side of the living room.

"Happy birthday, Taehyun!" we shouted in unison and walked over to him.

Taehyun had officially turned into a statue, just blinking at us.

"How-" he started but didn't finish his sentence. He looked around the decor with parted lips,

"You didn't think we'd forget your birthday, did you, dearest cousin?" Jonghyun chimed in and hugged Taehyun, gently patting his back. Taehyun patted Jonghyun back in return, still stuck in a daze.

"I think we broke Tae", I joked, and he suddenly started laughing.

This was the first time we heard Taehyun laugh wholeheartedly; it made him appear much younger. No one knew why he suddenly started laughing, but as contagious as it was, we also began laughing with him. "You did this all for me? Oh god, I didn't even expect you to know my birthday at all..." he mumbled out the words as he looked around the room, taking in the decorations, each of us with our silly hats on, the cake and gift on the table.

"You guys baked me a cake?", surprised he looked closer at it.

"The girls did; our mission kind of went the opposite direction", Tatho pointed out, and we all laughed again. "My shirt is forever stained", Jonghyun said in an overly dramatic tone, a fake pained expression on his face.