Life As A Trainee

Chapter 12: Birthday Traditions

     "Seungkwan! Woozi! Stop fighting!" Vernon shouts over the noise.

     "Quick. Standby," Wonwoo whispers upon hearing Vernon.

     We begin to open the bags of flour and cans of silly string. I accidentally burst open a bag of flour, causing the flour to poof up and create a mess.

     "Wow," Wonwoo huffs in irritation, seemingly unimpressed.

     "Oops?" I send him a sheepish grin and earn a glower in return.

     He shoots me a deadpanned stare and hisses, "Can you do anything right -"

    Sounds of glass shattering cut him off.

     "Guys! What's going on? Stop it!" Mingyu pleads at the top of his lungs.

     That's it. That's the cue.

     Oh cheesecakes.

     Without thinking, I shove the bags of flour into Wonwoo's arms, "Quick! Open the rest of the bags!"

       I steal a glance at the situation outside through a crack in the closet wall. Everyone was pounding their fists on the door and shouting whatever came to their minds.

     Everyone but Hoshi. He just stood staring at the closet with his eyebrows furrowed.

     Wonwoo turns to me in question, handing me the opened bags of flour. "Why am I doing your job for you? Here."

     I grab the opened bags of flour but keep my eyes fixated on Hoshi.

     "What are you waiting for? Get out! Quick!"

     I nudge the door just a little and watch as Hoshi turns back and resumes his shouting.

     Wonwoo takes the situation into his own hands and charges towards the birthday boy.

     All hell breaks loose as cans of silly string and bags of flour were emptied. The door opens and the rest of the members contribute to the chaos. An infectious joyful chortle ruptured the walls as the members threw bags of flour around.

     "Woo!" I scream at the top of my lungs and purposefully spin in circles as flour covers me from head to toe.

     I glance at Wonwoo who was standing at the side, dusting himself off. I grab him by the hand and pull him into the powdery mess with me as I encourage him to live in the moment and participate.

      A few bags of flour and cans of silly string later, we finally got around to actually wishing him happy birthday.

     "Happy birthday Hoshi!" I shout before flinging myself forward uncontrollably, wrapping my arms around his neck for a hug.

     Hoshi staggers back on impact as he returns the hug. "Woah, excited much?" he teases when I finally release him.

     I nod enthusiastically before turning around to beckon Seokmin forward. His eyes meet Hoshi's, a smile spilling over his lips as he skips towards us - a festival of colourful balloons in hand. They hold their gaze for a second longer before performing their weird greeting.

     You know how people have secret handshakes with back slaps, high fives and fist bumps? Yeah Seokmin and Hoshi don't have fist bumps. They have shoulder bumps. They basically bump their shoulders against each other's multiple times.

     "Aye Seokmin!"

    "Aye Hoshi! Happy birthday! Here you go!" Seokmin chimes all too happily as Hoshi takes the balloons from his hands.