WGM Again?! (Taeun Fan-Fic)

Chapter 24: birthday party

Naeun's P.O.V

"I know it's a little too late to ask but are you sure it's okay for me to come?" Oppa asked me while we were driving to the party venue.
"Yes, I asked Jaemin-ah and he said it's fine." I answered. "But the other's don't know you're coming."
"Then how could it be okay for me to come?" He paled.
"Well, Yina-ya asked me to keep it a secret when I told her. She wants to surprise the others."
"Ah, I see" oppa replied understanding but his face got even paler.

"You'll be fine, oppa" I laughed and put my hand on his thigh to comfort him.
He smiled brightly at that and I couldn't help but to smile with him.

Taemin's P.O.V

"Unnie!" Presumably Kang Yina called Naeun-ah and came running.
I had seen her once but it wasn't bright in the karaoke room and I didn't pay a lot of attention.

She wasn't as tall as Naeun-ah but she looked very mature and she had dyed her hair light brown with black highlights. She kind of reminded me of Hyoyeon-noona.

I looked around the small room. There was a table and two comfortable benches on each side of the table where about four people each could sit.

One side was already occupied by that Jaemin guy who I recognized even though it was dark when I first met him, two other guys and a girl.

"Happy birthday, Jaemin-shi" I said as I gave him my hand and he shook it.
"Thank you... Lee Taemin-shi" he answered with a forced smile. I'm sure it was forced.

We greeted everybody and sat down on the other side with Yina-shi, so I somehow ended up across from Jaemin.

"Hey, Jaemin, shouldn't you introduce us?" The guy on Jaemin's left complained.
"I will when everyone's here, Jun-hyuk" Jaemin answered.

Just then the door opened and a tall and slim girl came in.
"Happy birthday, Jaemin-ah!" She shouted as she struggled not to drop a complicated decorated cake.

"Minji-ah, thanks for coming!" Jaemin said and Naeun-ah who was sitting the nearest to the door took the cake so Minji could give Jaemin a quick hug.

"Minji-shi, it's nice to see you again!" Naeun-ah said and also hugged the new girl.

"We were waiting for you, Jeon Minji! Everyone was already eager to introduce themselves." The guy from earlier said.
"Oh, really? Well, I'm here now, so why don't you start, Im Jun-hyuk?"

"Alright, I'm Im Jun-hyuk. Well, I'm Jaemin's friend from high school and I'm majoring in Electronic Engineering."
"Well, I'm Park Jaemin and I turned 23 four days ago. I'm a business major."
"I'm Ahn Kyung-hee and I'm also a business major."
"I'm Han Maeri, I'm also a business major and I'm Kyung-hee's girlfriend."

"I don't wanna do this! It feels like a mixer!" Kang Yina complained.
"Just bear with it Yina-ya" Naeun-ah laughed.
"You might finally be able to find a boyfriend" Junhyuk-shi teased her.

"Oh shut up, you dwarf!" Kang Yina shot back.
"Anyway, I'm Kang Yina, I'm also a business major." She introduced herself but rolled her eyes while saying it.
"Half of the guys here are taken anyway" she muttered to herself but everybody in the room heard her and had to laugh at that.

"I'm Lee Taemin" I simply stated.

"That's it? Say something else! Like what you do for a job." Junhyuk-shi called on me to provide more information about myself.
"Everybody already knows his job!" Kang Yina retorted and rolled her eyes again.

I had never been to this kind of meeting. The only times I ever seriously introduce myself are on show but why would I promote my group at a party? I thought about what everyone else had said in their introduction.
"I'm majoring in musical and film" I said satisfied.

"I'm Son Naeun" Naeun-ah said, "um...am I also supposed to name my major?"
"You can also sing something" Kang Yina joked.
"Yes, please!" Maeri said full of enthusiasm.
"Ah no... I can't? I-if I do oppa should also sing something!" She turned the attention to me.
"Ah...later" I said and chuckled nervously.

Lastly the late girl introduced herself, "I'm Jeon Minji. I'm also majoring in business."
"But Jaemin-ah, why didn't you tell me there were celebrities coming?" She complained, "I would have dressed up more."
"You look good enough already" Jaemin assured her and she smiled brightly at that.

"Ah Jaemin-ah, I brought you a present" Naeun-ah said took out a small square shaped package.
"Thank you so much, Naeunie!" He said and hugged her. While they did he kept his eyes one me and I immediately averted my eyes. Wait  what was I doing? It's not like I had anything to be ashamed of anyway. I turned my eyes back and tried stare disapproving.
The hug was soon over and I tried to ignore what had happened for now.

He then proceeded to unpack the present while I watched him anxiously but released the breath I didn't realize I was holding when it only turned out to be a book.

"Sorry, it's only small and I don't know whether you like these kind of books but you used to read a lot of these author's works in middle school" Naeun-ah said.
"No, it's great! How did you remember that?" Jaemin said, "really, thank you"

Kang Yina and Junhyuk-shi didn't bring a present. Minji's present was the cake. Kyunghee-shi and Maeri-shi gave him cologne and lastly there was me left.

"Do you have a present?" Junhyuk-shi asked me slowly as everyone looked at me expectantly.
"It's okay if you don't. This is the first time you're meeting Jaemin anyway" Maeri-shi reassured me.

Jaemin looked at me mockingly and I wish I had come empty-handed after all.
"No, I do."