"Happy Birthday!"
"The hell..." Taehyung slowly turned over to see the group of loud and grinning bunch standing right beside him. "It's too early for this," he groaned, as he rolled back over into the sheets.
"Is that how you greet your favorite people in the world?" Jin complained, with a pointed finger. "All of us woke up early just to wish your rude ass a happy birthday! Get the hell up!"
Taehyung sighed and rolled back over. "Sorry, sorry. Thank you."
"Get up, take a shower," Jimin dropped himself down in the space in front of his legs, "and get dressed. You're going out today."
"What?" he squinted in his direction. "But I wanna sleep."
"For what? Today's the day that you turn one year older. Did you actually plan on sleeping your entire birthday away?" Namjoon asked.
"Might as well. It's not a happy birthday if my girlfriend hates my guts," he grumbled. "I want a kiss from her~" he whined, even faking some sobs.
"You can deal with your relationship problems tomorrow. Today is about you, and Jiyeong knows that as well. In any case, I suggest you get up before we all pile on top of you," Jimin snickered.
Taehyung ran his hand over his puffy face and stared into space for a bit before rolling out of bed. "Where're we going?" he fixed his ridden shirt.
"You'll find out when you get there."
"Is there gonna be a party?" he smiled.
"No," he bluntly replied. "Now, hurry up. You've got a long day ahead of you."
"Where're the girls?" Taehyung asked.
"Still getting their beauty sleep," Namjoon explained.
"Jimin," Jin called out to him, "let's go."
"Coming." Jimin gave Taehyung a pat to shoulder, with a grin on his mouth and gleam in his eyes. "Have fun. I know you'll miss me." He then walked past the rest and followed Jin out of the room.
"Are you guys ready?" you asked the two of them. "Jin, do you have the money and list?"
"Of course I do. Now, let's get going. We don't have any time to waste."
The group was to be split in half for the day. Team A, consisted of Jungkook, Yoongi, Namjoon, and Hoseok. Their job was to take Taehyung out of the house and preoccupy him, while Team B, you, Jin and Jimin, went out to fetch a cake, candles, and basic decorations for the party; Minji offered to stay back and tidy up the house.
After your team ordered and collected the birthday cake, you walked around town until you found a shop that carried the party décor. When you walked in, you looked around, trying to find things that you thought would be necessary for the party. Balloons, banners, and party poppers. But when you were searching, you couldn't help but notice your zoned out sun upperclassmen: Park Jimin. Every minute or so, he would look off, not paying attention to his surroundings.
That was when you went up to him and asked,"Jimin sunbae, are you doing okay? You keep zoning out."
"Hm?" he directed his sights on you. "Oh...No," he shook his head. "I'm not. Minji' pregnant with my shitty dongsaeng's kid." He heaved sighed. "I confessed to her. She was wondering why I wasn't taking this entire situation as lightly as the rest of you, and that's when I just blurted it out my feelings. She looked shocked, just like I thought she'd be."
"Sunbae..." You spread your arms opened and wrapped them around him, telling him, "it's okay." You squeezed tighter. "It's gonna be okay."
Jimin wrapped his arms around you as well, "Why did this have to happen? Even you and Taehyung are fighting again. How come?"
A glumness took over your features. "I found out about him and Kyunghee."
Jimin pulled back. "You did? He finally told you then?"
"He told me what he wanted to tell me. I found out about their actual connection from Kyunghee herself.
"Ah," he nodded.
"And then there was some girl blowing up his phone last night, talking about the time they spent before we left for our trip. She even talked about him going to ditch me."
"And what did he say?"
"He denied it. Everything. He wants me to believe him, but I just don't know if I can. He lied to me."
"We knew about him keeping Kyunghee a secret, but we haven't heard anything about a girl he supposedly spent time with. One thing's for sure, is that he wouldn't leave you for anybody. He really cares about you, Jiyeong. I think he loves you."
Taehyung loves you? The thought definitely made you blush, but the brief excitement couldn't beat what you were already feeling. "I don't know what to believe, much less do."
"It really was a waste to take this trip. All we ended up doing was going back to zero.
"It wasn't a waste," you denied. "We had lots of fun in beginning. It may have been for a brief time, but that still helped move things along."
"That was beginning, and now that we're at the end, we're 2 steps back from where we started."
Alright, kids, we've got all that we need, so let's get home we can get the place ready for when Team A get's back."
"Jimin sunbae," you put a hand out in front of him before he stepped inside the house, "Are you really going let Minji go like this?"
He raised a brow at the sudden question of yours. Did he really have the heart to let go of his feeling for Minji so soon? "I don't know," he gave a half shrug.
"I'll take that as a no, then. I know it's hard, but if you really care for her, then you'll put in the effort. Minji has a lot more on her plate than the rest of us since she's carrying a baby. So, try and be understanding towards her, okay? Make sure she knows that she has your support."
Jimin looked off, chewing on his bottom lips. He then sighed when looking back to you, "okay."
"You guys are back already? Welcome back." But when Minji greeted all three of you, her eyes seemed to fall only on Jimin.
"Thanks."
"Oh, Minji-ah, you did a great job~" Jin chirped as he looked around. "It looks great in here."
"Uh, thanks," she took the compliment as she went to throw the dust and garbage into the trash.
"Minji's room is nice and neat back at home," you said.
"I believe it," he agreed.
After Minji set the broom and dustpan aside, she walked towards the table. "These are the decorations, right?" she picked up the bag. "I'll go put them up."
"Jimin sunbae," you looked to him with a knowing smile, "why don't you help her out?"
Jimin eyed you before he sighed. "Okay."
"Oh no, it's okay," she shook her head, "I can manage on my own."
"It's fine," Jimin went and plucked the bag from her hands, "I'll help you."
"Right..." Minji followed him to the table after he finished scattering the contents onto the table.
--What do you think you're doing?" Jin turned to you with both brows raised?"
"I'm being a happy helper," you chirped.
He chuckled. "What a good girl you are."
"I know, right? Alright, let's get started on this birthday dinner."--
When he picked up the banner he started to look around. It was then that Jimin realized, "there's nothing to tie this up to," he looked around the room.
"Where's the tape?" Minji looked left and right trying to spot it. "It looks like we're gonna have to tape it to the wall instead.
"It's right here," Jimin held up it up before tossing it to her. "I'll put the banner up while you pass me the tape."
"Okay..."
Jimin grabbed a stool and put in place so that he could get it to hand up the banner at a good position. Once he found a good place, he looked and reached back to take the plucked piece of tape. But when he took it from her, his fingers seemed to brush up against hers. As Jimin looked up from their hands, he found himself locking eyes with Minji. He couldn't help but notice how cute she looked with the two little pigtails sitting in the back of her head.
"Sunbae?" she blinked.
She pulled him back from his thoughts. "Sorry." He turned back to the banner and stuck it over the string.
--"They're so cute," you whined.
"Jiyeong-ah, watch the knife before you get blood all over the onions."--
"Here," Minji plucked another piece and held it out to him. When he reached for it, he saw her staring into space.
"Minji?"
"Hm?" More like staring at him. "O-oh, sorry," she yanked her hand back to the tape. 'But when did he get so handsome?'
When Jimin finished sticking on the last piece of tap, he stepped down from the stool. "Looks good," he observed it. But when he felt a bead of sweat run down his face, he clicked his tongue. "I can't cool down," he muttered, as he raked a hand back through his moist bangs.
'He looks really good when he does that,' she thought. "Here," she tugged the hair tie from her wrist, "you can use this to get your bangs out of the way." Minji stepped closer to him, reaching her hands up to grab his hair up in her hands. "Can I?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
--"Sunbae," you loudly whispered and slapped him over the back in all your excitement, "look!"
He jumped as soon as your hand landed on him. "W-what?" He followed the direction of your finger.
"Jimin sunbae sure works fast, doesn't he?"--
Jimin had his eyes lowered from hers as she wrapped the tie around his hair. Though he didn't stare into space like she had, his eyes were busy taking in the cleavage that Minji was unknowingly showing.
"Done," he heard her say.
When Jimin looked up, he found himself locking eyes with her, yet again.
"It's cute..." she muttered.
'Cute?' That's when Jimin started to question this situation. Why was she looking at him like that? What were eyes saying? What was she thinking about in this moment? He looked down to her lips, 'I want to kiss them,' then back up to her eyes. And from what he assumed, she wanted him to as well.
"We should get back to the decorations?" But he refused to do it.
--"No, what happened?!"--
Jimin took a step away from Minji and walked towards the balloons. He picked up the pack and tore into the bag. When took a peek back, he found her shaking her head and clapping her cheeks. He couldn't help but question the past few seconds, and even her present own actions. "What just happened...?"