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"I like you."
"Oh, I like you too, of course! You're a great friend," Jihoon smiled brightly at Guanlin.
"It's not that..."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
"Okay..." Jihoon took his cup which was now free of candies. "Ugh, it's empty!"
"You can have mine," Guanlin said, giving the older his cup which was still filled with candies.
"You don't like it?"
"I just don't have an appetite."
"How can you not have an appetite for candies?"
"Can we go down now?"
"Oh, sure. I'll finish this while going down."
Jihoon took Guanlin's arm once again and led him downstairs.
The journey back to their room was awkward. Jihoon let go of the younger's arm as soon as they reached the elevator and no one dared to talk.
After some time, Jihoon was sick of it.
"Is something wrong with you?"
"It's nothing."
"Do you want my candies?" He offered him his cup which was almost empty.
Guanlin shook his head.
"Then what's wrong?" He nudged the younger's side and smiled at him.
"I said it's nothing," he replied, curtly.
"Okay."
No words were exchanged until they reached their hotel room. They were extremely shocked though, when they found Guanlin's family in there with their friends.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAI GUANLIN!"
They started to sing happy birthday off-key. Guanlin couldn't help but to laugh at them.
When they finished singing, Guanlin blew yet another candle from yet another cake.
"Happy birthday, hyung!" Seonho shouted loudly. So loud that it wouldn't be a surprise if the people in the lobby heard him. Then, he ran over to his brother and hugged him tightly.
Guanlin couldn't help but hug his little brother in return for his cuteness.
"Were you surprised?" His mom asked, pecking him on the cheek.
"Yeah... Speaking of," he looked at his friends. "Did you tell us to go to the rooftop for this?"
"'Course," Sungwoon answered, smugly.
"Brats," Jihoon said in between laughs.
"So, since we're all here now..." Guanlin's dad's statement faltered as he was thinking of a nice thing to do that's appropriate for all of them.
