Stigma [Book 1]

Chapter 18 : Prevention

December 30, 2015.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TAEHYUNGIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!"

The members were gathered in the dark of their practice room as they surprised Taehyung with a small birthday cake. This was something planned by Jimin initially when they first formed the group. It eventually became a tradition.

Taehyung's face was filled with happiness. He knew the members always did this on each other's birthdays every year, but he always appreciated it.

"Make a wish! Make a wish!" J-Hope started yelling.

Taehyung brought his face closer to the cake. He thought about what he wanted to wish for. For a few moments he closed his eyes.

"I just want happiness. Happiness despite the truth of things. The happiness I always wanted." he wished silently to himself. 

He blew out his candles as his members clapped again. Jimin took off the candles so that the cake could be properly eaten. However, before anyone could start to cut it...

"HMPH!"

Taehyung's face was suddenly shoved into the cake as his members around him laughed. He turned around to see the culprit for it to be none other than Yoongi. He had a small smile on his face as he went over to smear his finger across his face and taste the cake.

"Not bad," he shrugged off.

Taehyung wiped himself off while his members brought out another cake. One that they could properly eat. The members gathered around the dining table to eat.

Even if it was his birthday, that didn't necessarily mean that he had a break.

After eating, they all had to resume practicing choreography. They were invited to participate in a number of End of the Year Award shows that stretched all the way out until even January. Because of this, they weren't able to catch a break for the holiday season.

The boys spent about 2 hours practicing for their KBS Song Festival performance. Not only that, but they were even practicing some new choreography for an upcoming comeback in May. The boys wouldn't be able to catch a break as they planned to work even harder than normal this year to impress fans and hopefully accelerate their careers even farther. Eventually, they had gotten a break. During this, Namjoon and Suga went to the studio to continue recording their new songs, J-Hope continued to teach Jin and Jungkook the new choreography, while Jimin was on his phone. Taehyung decided to go over to Jimin and bother him.

"Jiminie who are you texting?"

Jimin suddenly turned off his phone when Taehyung approached him.

"Oh, it's nobody, don't worry about it," he said.

Taehyung noticed that Jimin seemed to be hiding something. He was usually very open to the members about his personal life since they all lived together, so this struck him as strange. He shrugged it off and tried not to assume things. Suddenly his phone dinged. He pulled it out to see who it was. Once he saw the name, he smiled.

Tzuyu : Happy Birthday Oppa! I hope you have an amazing day today! You work so hard and deserve a break, so don't overwork yourself  today... Love you!

Taehyung : Thank you my precious TzuTzu! Aissshhhh how I wish I could see you today...

Tzuyu : Well... I wouldn't say that's impossible...

Taehyung : ?

Tzuyu : Why don't you come outside?

Taehyung's eyes widened at the last message.