RJ: Are you guys outside already??
Ryujin frantically texted to the group chat she had between herself, Chaeryeong, Yeji and Jisu, noticing that it was already 11:58 p.m. and that they had only 2 minutes left before the clock struck 12, before it would officially be her girlfriend's birthday.
She was currently in her apartment bathroom, as they had planned, pretending that she was experiencing stomach problems, while Yuna sat in their living room, watching TV while waiting for Ryujin to come out.
"Is everything okay babe?" Yuna yelled out from the couch.
"Uhh ... Yeah! everything is fine. I-I think I just ate something bad ...," Ryujin answered, not forgetting to make it sound as if she was in just a little bit of pain, trying her best to sell the story.
Just when Ryujin was getting nervous that the other 3 weren't replying to her messages, with the clock indicating that it was 11:59 p.m., a sudden notification had popped up on her screen.
Chaeryeong: Yes we're outside already, relax.
Ryujin sighed a breath of relief, her shoulders relaxing slightly, as she waited for the clock to hit midnight, silently praying that their surprise would go well.
And once it did, right on cue as they had carefully planned out, there was a knock on their apartment door.
"Hey, babe? I think there's someone at the door," Yuna said, wondering who it could be this late into the night. As far as she could remember, Yeji, Jisu, nor Chaeryeong had said nothing about coming over to their place.
"Could you get it? I-I ordered some food for tomorrow," Ryujin lied, hoping it was convincing enough for the youngest to not suspect anything, though she bit her lips in secret, silently cursing herself for not thinking of a better excuse.
Yuna got up from the sofa and made her way to the door.
And as soon as she opened it, she was greeted with the sight of her three best friends smiling brightly, with Jisu in the middle carefully holding a medium-sized cake with a few candles lit up.
"🎵Happy birthday to you ..."
The three began to sing happy birthday, as Yuna took a step back in shock, her two hands quickly covering her mouth, her two large eyes opened as wide as possible, though gradually turning into crescents, as she began to register what was going on.
"...🎶Happy birthday to you. 🎵Happy birthday to our Yuna ... happy birthday to you🎶."
"Make a wish! Make a wish!" Chaeryeong exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down as she clapped her hands.
Yuna closed her eyes, clasping her two hands tightly together, and while the youngest silently made her wish, Ryujin carefully stepped out of the bathroom, taking quiet steps to sneak up from behind to where Yuna stood, holding the tiny velvet box in her two hands behind her.
"Blow the candles!" Yeji said as soon as Yuna had opened her eyes again, which she promptly did, unable to hide the sparkle in her eyes and the wide grin she had on her face.
"Okay, now turn around!" Jisu spoke, excitement and adoration reflected in her voice.
Yuna turned around, just as she was instructed to, and as if the surprise by the three girls weren't enough already, behind her was Ryujin, down on one knee, her right hand raised with the small velvet box in her hand, cupping it as if it was the most precious thing in her possession.
"Oh my god." Yuna gasped at the sight, her hand instinctively going back to covering her wide open mouth, as tears began to noticeably well up, her eyes quickly becoming glossier, reflecting the room light that was just above them.
But before Yuna could say anything, Ryujin slowly stood back up.
"I'm just kidding, Yuna-ya," Ryujin let out a teasing chuckle, her whisker dimples prominently showing from how hard she was smiling, as she ruffled the younger girl's hair
Yuna immediately pouted in response, a little disappointed that her girlfriend was only playing around, but Ryujin wasn't worried, because she was confident that once Yuna saw the gift that they had gotten her, she would be grinning from ear to ear once more.
"I promise I'll do it when we get older. Okay?" Ryujin softly said with a warm smile, giving the younger girl a quick playful poke on her nose. "But here, your birthday present."
Ryujin eagerly handed the box she had been holding on to for almost the entire day, all the while making sure it was safe and secure with her, gently placing it in Yuna's hands and gesturing for the taller girl to open it up, which she did with curiosity.
Yuna's eyes lightened up immediately upon seeing what was inside the box.
Inside it was a rose-gold necklace, radiant and bright, and attached to the middle of it was a small heart-shaped pendant, also rose gold in colour.
The youngest gently picked it up with one hand, completely mesmerized by its alluring pink colour that was both charming yet elegant.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed that there were 5 tiny singular diamonds, each shining as bright as the other, carefully embedded on the front side of heart shaped pendant.
"Each one of those diamonds represents one of us," Yeji said with an affectionate smile on her face.
"Turn it around." Chaeryeong added.
On the back side of the pendant, were the words "We love you." engraved onto it, written in the handwriting of none other than her girlfriend, who was known to have the better handwriting among the 5.
"So that you always know how we feel about you," Chaeryeong continued.
"You can open it too," Jisu said, both her hands still carefully carrying the cake.
Yuna cautiously opened the pendant up.
She had been so enchanted by it that she hadn't even noticed there was a tiny latch that allowed the pendant to open up, which revealed that attached on both sides of the interior of the heart-shaped ornament were two pictures.
On the left was a group photo of the 5 they had taken back in middle school, and on the right was a very recent group selfie, from when they went to eat at the hotpot restaurant only a few weeks ago.
"So that you know we're with you wherever you are and no matter how much time passes. Always," Jisu explained.
"I wanted both of the pictures to be me instead, but the others didn't like the sound of that," Ryujin joked, playfully rolling her eyes in the process, which caused Chaeryeong, Yeji and Jisu to laugh.
"Here, let me put it on for you," she continued, as Yuna handed her the necklace which Ryujin attentively placed around the younger girl's neck from behind, clasping one end of the necklace to the other.
"Perfect," Ryujin said before wrapping her arms around Yuna's waist.
"Happy birthday Yuna-ya. Love you always." Ryujin softly said into Yuna's ears, as she tip-toed her way up to give a little peck on the taller girl's cheeks and resting her chin comfortably on Yuna's shoulders.
It was truthfully quite the headache for the 4 to come up with Yuna's gift, which they had begun brainstorming on almost a whole month ago.
Though they had thought of other gifts such as new basketball shoes, or a painting kit which included a set of brushes along with several canvases as the youngest of the group had begun to take up art as a hobby once again, and even a pet cat which Ryujin was initially extremely excited about, none truly felt special enough for their maknae.
It was only when they asked themselves what Yuna truly wanted were they able to come up with the necklace.
Because what Yuna wanted, what the most special thing to her was, were them.
Yeji, Jisu, Chaeryeong, and of course, Ryujin.
"I want to stay with my unnies."
That was what Yuna had once said to them when they were talking about what they wanted to do in the future, when they got older.
And every time they had landed on the same topic, Yuna's answer stayed consistent and unchanging.
And while no physical object could truly embody this wish of hers, the 4 were determined to try their best. Which was how they came up with this necklace.
And ultimately, they were proud of this gift, believing that they did pretty well in customizing it to make it as personal as they could, if they do say so themselves, hoping that it was able to convey the infinite amount of love each of them had for the youngest one in their group.
Yuna had been staying silent this whole time, unable to speak her thoughts because frankly, she couldn't put what she felt in that moment into words.
But upon hearing Ryujin's words softly spoken into her ears, she couldn't help but feel her lips quiver, and next thing she knew, tears began running down her cheeks, like a water faucet that had just been turned on.
"Awww, don't cry Yuna-ya," Chaeryeong quickly pulled out the small bag of tissue she kept in the tiny pouch she had strapped over her shoulders, gently wiping away the tears that were flowing out from the tallest girl's eyes.
"Don't cry, Yuna-ya," Jisu added. "Come on, let's eat some cake."
Author's Notes:
A bit of a shorter chapter because it was the only spot I could have it end properly. 😅
And congratulations to ITZY for winning Best Digital Song at the Golden Disk Awards! So proud of them!❤️🥰 Second one in back-to-back years too!😭