Royal Colors (OPEN APPLY FIC)

Chapter 60: Sungmin's Birthday, Anniversary Cuisine, & Icy Comeback!

Languages:
Korean - Normal Text
English - Bolded
Chinese - Bolded & Slanted
Japanese - Slanted
Thai - Bolded, Slanted, Underlined
Other - Underlined

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-Saturday, July 1, 2023~4:41PM-

~Sungmin's POV~

After playing a couple of games with different members, Jaehyun and I made our way to a table to sit down. Jaehyun took in a deep breath and let it back out. I chuckled and rolled my eyes at my shy friend who wasn't one for big crowds.

"Anxiety?" I asked him. He nodded and I shook my head. "Maybe we shouldn't have joined a group with 50+ people."

"Who else were we supposed to debut?" Jaehyun asked. "Most groups these days, all members are born in the 2000s."

I cocked my head. "True."

I looked back at Jaehyun and grabbed his hand to squeeze. "Thank you for being here though."

Jaehyun squeezed back. "You're my best friend. I would never miss your birthday. Even if it does involve 50 other people."

I snickered and that's when Jaehyun's eyes fixated on something.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "There's more?!"

In walked nine girls and we watched as they all dispersed to see their friends and party. It made me sigh as it didn't seem like I was even a thought.

"What's wrong?" Jaehyun asked.

"Just feels weird." I shrugged. "We've only been here a month and a half. I don't even know the names of half our members and they are here partying for me? It's weird."

"I'm convinced they go just to party, no matter whose birthday it is." Jaehyun said.

I shrugged and continued to sit there in my thoughts, staring at the table. Before too long, a voice drew me from my thoughts.

"Hello, Sungmin oppa?" Shocked by the sudden comfortable use of words, I looked up to see one of the females who just arrived.

"Oh, um, hello." I bowed my head, trying to shake myself from my shock.

"I don't think we formally met." The female said. She seemed sweet but had a sense of confidence to her. It was almost indearing. "My name is Crystal."

"Oh." I smiled, finding her helpful. "Nice to meet you, Crystal."

"You too." She smiled back. "I just wanted to apologize for being late as we were preparing for the comeback, even though you probably didn't even notice anyone was missing."

I heard Jaehyun scoff but I ignored him and kept my eyes on her to be polite. "Thank you anyway."

She nodded then smiled. "Happy Birthday."

I smiled back. "Thank you."

She nodded again then walked away. I looked back at Jaehyun and hit him on the leg as he kept laughing.

"There's no way you didn't find that weird." Jaehyun said.

"Not really." I shook my head. "I thought it was very nice of her."

Jaehyun's eyes widened as he didn't agree but he kept his thoughts to himself, which I was thankful for. I really didn't find Crystal weird at all and I was actually quite thankful for her doing what she did. It made a lot of sense when I later found out she was a part of the last new group and her birthday was three months after being here so she understood what I was going through. It was nice to have people like that, to relate to.