Chapter Text
A creak of the door has the study group turning towards one Han Joon-hwi, trying very hard to enter the photocopying room with stealth. He answers the confused glances with a finger to his lips, which he then points towards the cake box in his other hand.
Ignoring the whispered conversation around him (“Is there a special occasion today?” “Hm. That looks like a birthday cake box.” “I don’t remember anyone’s birthday coming up soon?” “Let me check Facebook— ya, it’s Sol A’s birthday?!”), he makes his way towards the furthest end of the study table where Kang Sol A sat with her head in her arms, asleep.
The group fully expects Joon Hwi to harshly jolt the sleeping Sol A awake, after all being mischievous runs strong in their group of friends. Instead, to their surprise, he quietly takes out the cake and puts it in front of the birthday girl, kneels by her side so he was at her eye level, and gently shakes her awake.
“Kang Sol. Wake up, Sol-ah,” he whispers to her in a voice so fond and soft that his friends look on in bewilderment. Sol A blearily opens one eye to a grinning Joon-hwi, who then tells her in the same soft voice, “It’s September 5.”
Sol A shoots up in her seat and checks her phone. “No it’s not—," she starts then splutters at her phone in shock. “It’s September 5?!” She looks back towards Joon-hwi who was lighting up the candle on the cake in front of her, and suddenly everyone bursts into an awful rendition of the Happy Birthday song in at least 5 different octaves.
“Happy birthday, happy birthdaaay, happy birthday Sol A!”
“C’mon, blow your candle and make a wish!”
“You should wish for an A for the coming sem, you're barely passing.”
“Hey! Can you include me in that wish too?!”
“Shameless, Ye-beom.”
The birthday girl’s wide smile lights up the room as she watches her friends gather around her, speaking various birthday greetings that escalated into bickering. She feels a nudge at her arm and she looks to her side where Joon-hwi was looking expectantly at her. He gestures to the candle on the cake with a smile, “Make a wish, hurry.”
Sol A closes her eyes and clasps her hands for a moment, everyone in the room going silent as she makes her wish. Once she blows the candle, the conversation erupts once again.
“Did you wish for an A, noona? Did you include me too?”
“Really, you should have wished for an alarm clock. I always have to wake you up and you’re so grumpy in the mornings, Sol A.”
“Ignore them, unnie. I support whatever wish you made! Though a new wardrobe would have been nice.”
“Or a boyfriend!”
“She doesn’t need that, Bok-gi. She already has Joo—“
“Ya. You’re all so mean. I actually wished to graduate early so I could finally get away from you guys,” Sol A tells everyone with her arms crossed. However, instead of repelling them, they move in closer to give the birthday girl a big group hug.
“Nah, you don’t mean that.”
“You totally love us, noona.”
"Unfortunately.”
“So grumpy, just like my grandmother. Actually, I think I can see a grey hair from here—“
“No cake for you, Seo Ji-ho!”
As everyone settles back down in their seats with their own slices of birthday cake, Ye-seul pipes up. “Unnie, how come you forgot about your own birthday?”
Sol A groans in reply. “I was so stressed over all the papers and readings we had to do, the date totally slipped my mind,” she says, massaging her nose bridge.
“I think the better question is how come Joon-hwi was the only one who knew,” Sol B quips indifferently before taking a bite of her cake.
Everyone turns to Joon-hwi, who innocently looks back at them and shrugs from his seat beside Sol A. “I’m just a good friend, I guess.”
Sol A rolls her eyes. “You can just tell them that my sister reminded you, you know.”
“Actually, Miss Birthday Girl, she texted me when I was already at the store buying your cake.”
“You talk to Kang Dan?” Bok-gi asks Joon-hwi, confused, to which he laughs.
“God no. We’re talking about Byeol, her little sister,” he tells them before facing Sol A to talk to her about her paper.
(“Sol A has a little sister?” “Yeah but I’ve never met her.” “Me neither.” “Just Joon-hwi, I guess. Of course he has to know his future sister-in-law—”)
“By the way noona, what are your plans for later? We should celebrate!” Bok-gi claps his hands excitedly.
“Ah, we have so much to do my head’s about to explode—“
“We have nothing urgent for tomorrow, right Ji-ho?”
“Nope.”
“I’m running late on a few of my readings—“
“And you know I’d gladly help you out with that,” Joon-hwi smiles at her before turning to the group. “Dinner then karaoke after our last class, on me.”
“Finally, something to look forward to!”
“I already have my cue of songs in mind. First, Superbass—“
“Oh God, can we please un-invite Ye-beom—“
“B, you’re not getting away with not singing this time.”
“In your dreams, Ji-ho.”
As the room devolves into conversation about later’s plans, Joon Hwi catches Sol A massaging the bridge of her nose again.
“Hey, you okay?”
Sol A sighs softly, closing her eyes. “My head’s killing me. I guess I do need to take a breather later.”
“You’ve been stressing over that paper nonstop, even though I told you the outline looked solid.” Joon Hwi clicks his tongue before taking her hand. “You know, there’s a pressure point right here for headaches—“
“Oh so you’re a med expert now, too?”
“Seung-jae hyung taught me, actually.”
“Oh wow. Did he massage your hand when you had a headache, too? I mean, he is pretty cute, wife and baby aside. I ship it," Sol A teases.
“You’re a menace,” Joon-hwi laughs, shoving his shoulder against hers but continuing to massage her hand.
If anyone notices Joon-hwi continuing to massage her hand absentmindedly as everyone goes back to studying, no one says a thing.
And later on, when the two disappear sometime between the restaurant and the karaoke place and come back with Sol A donning a new necklace— a pretty, dainty little thing with a silver balancing scale pendant— no one says a thing, either.