𝟏 𝐣𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖
"chenle, we should go now..." mark said, patting the younger's shoulder.
"i just..." he sighed, staring down at the grave in front of him. he wiped his tears away and laid the rose on the stone.
"come on." jisung held his hand out for his best friend to take. "it's time to go."
"it's time for me to put it behind me now." chenle agreed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
"we need to start setting up everything." jeno reminded them.
"yeah, yunhee gets out of st mungo's later today."
the group of seven walked away from chenle's and yunhee's cats grave. their pet had passed away from old age and chenle had been blaming himself for not spending enough time with her, but with the help of his friends, he was able to get over her death.
after visiting the grave for the last time that month, the group returned to jeno's house where they were going to hold the surprise party for yunhee.
after the tragedy that happened the night of the battle, chenle had found the rest of his friends and jeno's mother who was able to save yunhee before it was too late.
since then, the hufflepuff girl had been in st mungo's recovering from crushed legs, broken ribs and a concussion. healing magic was able to fix her ribs and soothe her concussion but as for her legs, they were repaired only to an extent. the bones were put back together, but magic could only do so much. she was still having difficulty with her legs and hadn't been able to walk ever since the night of the battle.
jisung and chenle felt so incredibly guilty for what had happened, but she kept reassuring them it wasn't their fault at all and she would save them like that again even if there were worse consequences. that made them sob a lot and it quickly turned into a crying fest for the whole group.
finally, after weeks of recovery, the doctors and healers had decided it was safe for yunhee to be discharged even though she was still stuck in a wheelchair. her friends were all preparing a surprise party for her and had set up mostly everything. there was only one last thing to do.
they returned to jeno's house, checking that the cake and other desserts were made, the decoration was perfect and the gifts were ready.
"you got it?" renjun asked mark.
"yeah, right here." he replied, showing him the item he was talking about then shoved it into his pocket. "she's gonna love it."
"she's here! everyone hide." jaemin said from where he was standing by the window. everyone ran to hide and chenle used his deluminator to turn off the lights.
they heard the sound of the door clicking open, followed by yunhee's voice as she excitedly spoke to jeno's mother who wheeled her into the house.
"and then — huh? why is it so dark?" yunhee asked.
at that, everyone took it as their cue to start the surprise. chenle brought back the lights and they all jumped out from their hiding spaces, yelling, "welcome back, yunhee!"
she glanced around, taking in the faces of her friends, their families and some of her classmates she hadn't seen in a while. then she saw the banner hung up on the wall with her name spelt incorrectly as 'yunhe'.
"you spelt my name wrong." she pointed out and they all looked up at the banner.
"jisung, you idiot! you don't even know how to spell your best friends name!" chenle exclaimed, nudging the boy.
"i forgot to finish it!" he nudged him back and yunhee watched them, tears running down her face.
"oh great! you made her cry, you idiot!"
"yunhee, i'm sorry." jisung said, rushing to hug her.
"you're all here, alive and well. i'm so glad. you didn't have to prepare any of this. i'm happy just seeing your faces." she told them as she patted his head.
"yun..." renjun mumbled, his lip quivering.
"no. no crying." she said, pointing a threatening finger at him.
he laughed, "you're the only one actually crying though."
"not anymore." she rubbed at her eyes and grinned.
"cute!" he pinched her cheeks then placed his hands on the back of her wheelchair, pushing it forwards. "now let's get this party started!"
for the rest of the day, they listened to music, played games and ate as much as their hearts desired. aerin, jia and hyejin wouldn't dare leave yunhee's side for a second and would push her around instead of letting her wheel herself. she didn't mind at first, but later had to tell them that she liked being independent and they shouldn't baby her so much. they agreed and apologised, showering her with hugs and kisses.
when it came to cutting the cake, donghyuck kept joking that he would hit yunhee in the face with it, but because she was in her wheelchair and unable to run away while he chased her like they usually would do, he started to feel regretful. so he planned a stunt with jeno, getting him to throw cake at him instead.
yunhee was amused and teased him that it was karma for what he said to her. he was satisfied with that, but promised that he would get her back one day.
as the sun was setting and night approached, the guests started going back to their homes, leaving the teenagers alone.
"yunhee, we have one more surprise to show you." jaemin said.
"what? no, you didn't have to."
"yes, we did." jeno insisted. "we want to take you there now. we'll go by mark's car."
"mark has a car?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"oh, i think i forgot to mention that to you. i got my driving license and everything." the gryffindor replied, sheepishly.
"no way! alright. let's go!" she cheered and chenle approached her, a thick piece of ribbon in his hand. "what's this for?"
"sorry. we need to blindfold you." he said, moving to stand behind her. "may i?"
"there's no stopping you guys." she laughed. "sure."
he placed the ribbon over her eyes and tied it at the back of her head. he then pushed her out of the house and towards the car. he and jeno lifted her out of her wheelchair and helped her into the car seat then placed her chair in the boot.
jaemin sat next to her, holding her hand throughout the car ride. they all knew she had begun to fear the dark after so many near-death experiences, but for her friends, she was willing to push that fear aside.
they shortly arrived at their destination and they helped her back into her chair then pushed her towards the surprise.
"you ready?" mark asked and she enthusiastically nodded her head. the blindfold dropped from her eyes. "queen yunhee, i present to you your castle."
there, in front of her, was the cute cosy house that was in the middle of a beautiful meadow full of flowers that she had so badly dreamed of. she felt overwhelmed with emotions as she glanced back at her friends who all watched her with anticipation.
her hand covered her mouth and she leaned forwards, placing her head on her knees. she sobbed, her whole body shaking and they all panicked. jisung placed his hand on her back, rubbing it, but her sobs only got louder.
"yunnie?" renjun kneeled in front of her and she looked up, her face covered in tears. he used his sleeve to dry her face, but more kept appearing.
"why are you crying, you crybaby?" donghyuck asked, ruffling her hair.
"i-i just... i just love you all so much. t-thank you." she said and held her arms out. "please hug me."
they wasted no time in embracing each other, finding comfort in being so close to the most important people in their lives. they all loved each other so much and knew that they weren't going to separate any time soon.
when they pulled away, chenle placed his hands back on yunhee's chair to wheel her into the house to show her around, but she stopped him.
"wait. i have a surprise for you guys as well." she told them and they glanced at each other, surprised.
"what is it?" mark asked, watching her shuffle towards the end of her chair.
wordlessly, she placed her hands onto the armrests and using all the strength in her arms, she pushed herself up and onto her feet, straightening her legs. she was standing.
"surprise!"
they gasped, staring at the girl in awe. they hadn't seen her stand up without any help in weeks. chenle and jisung had quickly burst into tears at the sight. they felt so responsible for her injury, but now that they saw she was getting better, they couldn't help the tears.
"yun, your legs are..." mark trailed off.
"healing quicker than expected." she finished his sentence.
"but since when? was this recent?" renjun asked.
"a couple of days ago. i was only testing out how long i could stand for without any support and then this happened! my legs were working again! i didn't even tell the doctors and healers because i didn't want to show them. i wanted you all to see this first, before anyone else."
"aww yunhee." donghyuck cooed, poking her nose. "i'm glad you shared this with us first. this is the best present ever. truly."
"do you want to test out if you can walk?" jeno asked, stepping in front of her and holding his hands out.
she took ahold of them and carefully moved, one foot at a time, forwards. eventually, she was moving at a faster pace as jeno guided her, walking backwards, towards the house door. the others followed, cheering her on.
"can i try by myself now?" she asked and jeno was hesitant at first, but then he nodded and let go of her hands. "i want to see if i can make it the rest of the way to the door."
"you got this, yun!" jaemin cheered for her.
with slow steps, she walked forwards, trying to keep her balance. the walk wasn't far, but by the time she made it to the door, she was exhausted and her legs gave way. mark who was stood behind her, his hands held out in case that would happen, caught her.
"you did it, yunhee." he told her as he lifted her off her feet since she was too tired to walk any further.
"i did..." she mumbled, a small smile on her lips.
"soon you'll be running around the place like a crazy woman." donghyuck said, but he wasn't even joking. he was being sincere. he wanted to see her running again.
"i hope so." she said, lightly punching his arm.
"keys?" renjun asked mark and he pulled the item out of his pocket, dumping it in his hands. "i think it's time to look at the inside of the house now."
"you're all going to be moving in with me, right?" she asked.
"of course. we promised." chenle said then turned to renjun. "quick. open the door. i'm too excited."
the ravenclaw grinned then inserted the keys. with a click, he twisted the doorknob then pushed the door open. they all entered and chenle turned on the lights with his deluminator.
"kim yunhee, welcome home."
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝