Page 66 of GR8VITY

"He's got her," he says. "He'll bring her home later. No reason for us to listen in on them now."

"I had no idea about her birthday," Kyung states, sounding defeated. "Every time I've ever asked, she's always skated around it. I just never noticed before today."

"It's okay," Seong offers. "We've got a few hours before they get back. Let's go ahead and get things together for tomorrow."

"But she said she doesn't want to celebrate," Yeon argues.

Seong nods. "I'm hoping that we can change her mind. If we can, then we're prepared. If not, then we never tell her."

"Smart," I murmur with a quick smile.

"It's my fault," Minsul states, looking at the floor like he wishes it would swallow him up.

Kyung grabs right above his knee on one side and Jae-un does it on the other side as the former reassures him, "It's not your fault.”

"Don't put that on yourself," Seong tells him. "She was already sad."

"We're just too tired to notice," I add quietly.

"Mmm," Yeon agrees.

"We will make it up to her," Seong retorts easily.

"Yeon, you and Jae-un are in charge of getting a cake," he starts. "Dav En, you and In Se are to get decorations. Balloons and such. Minsul and Kyung, flowers and anything else you can think of. I'm going to handle dinner."

"What about presents?" Dav En asks. "I don't have time to order her anything."

"Anything you order would probably be weird anyway," I tease him, thinking of the singing plush duck he got me for my last birthday. Even though to be fair, we've got a running tradition of making our gifts as funny as possible.

"There are plenty of places still open," Seong reminds him.

Kyung sits back slowly. "She's not going to want us to buy her presents."

"Then we save them for random times to give to her," Seong says with a shrug. "I'm pretty confident that we'll be able to convince her to let us celebrate with her."

"I have an idea," Minsul throws out there. "What if we use our GR8VITZ to present each gift to her? Like, have one in different places sitting with her gifts."

"Mmm," Seong agrees. "I like that."

"It's cute," I agree with them both.

Dav En lets out a quick sound of surprise. "What if I don't buy her something for my present?"

He's got all of our attention now. Smiling, he adds, "But I'd need everyone to agree to it."

"Whatever it is, yes," I tell him without hesitation. Kyung and Jae-un both agree right behind me.

"Okay," Seong says. "So, we've all got our missions. Let's get going."

"What about Yoon Ji?" Yeon asks.

"We will fill him in when they get home," Seong answers.

"Let's go." I stand, going to give Dav En a hand up off the floor. "We've got a lot to do, and I want to be back before they are."

Exhaustion completely forgotten, it's a race to the door to see who can get there first.

A few hours later, we've all got our missions done, and we're sitting around waiting for them to come home. Seong sent Yoon Ji a text asking him to stall a little longer, so now we're the ones waiting after hiding everything in Seong's room.