AWOL

“Surprise!,” the crowd of five cheered. You squinted your eyes, overcome by the loudness of their voices, and grabbed onto their arms to pull them in hastily – Haerin, Kyujin, Jiwoo, Eunchae, and Asa, in that order. You slammed the door shut before your neighbors could catch the commotion.

“You’re joking.”

“Nope!,” Eunchae offered you a box with a simple, pink-frosted cake in it.

“I–”

“Happy birthday, sir!,” Kyujin came in for a hug, the rest piling on.

“H-how did you–,” you struggled with a compressed chest.

“Jiwoo remembered you mentioning which bus station you ride from,” Asa giggled.

“And how did–”

“I remembered your birthday!,” Haerin smiled. “We gave you a cake last year too, remember?”

“Okay, can we–,” you struggled, squirming out of their arms.

“We missed you, sir!,” Jiwoo pouted. “You never dropped by the museum again.”

“I– sorry, it’s jus–”

“And you didn’t call us over after that night, sir,” Kyujin added.

“Well, that’s because–”

“Sooo, we’re here now!,” Eunchae clapped. “All together.”

“Can we all please,” you raised your voice, “take a seat?”

They let go of you, rattled and visibly distraught by the attitude you regretted expressing instantly.

“N-no, ladies,” you sat at your table, rubbing your temple. “I’m sorry. Genuinely, thank you. It’s just– it’s like, 11AM on the first day of winter break, and it’s 5 against 1 here.”

“But we really missed you, sir,” Eunchae pouted. The rest of them looked downtrodden as they sat around you: Kyujin on the table, Haerin and Jiwoo on the chairs near you, Asa on your lap, and Eunchae by your feet – all looking at you with sad puppy-dog eyes.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that– argh,” you sighed in resignation. “Okay, okay. Seeing as you’re all… here, I assume we’re all aware of all the… the…,” you couldn’t bring yourself to mutter the profanities out loud.

“The sex?,” Asa chuckled.

“It wasn’t sex,” you defended hastily, “but yes.” They agreed with gladdened, reminiscent smiles.

“I genuinely thought those were one off things,” you continued. “Even when you rearranged my office, Kyujin and Haerin, because you started working at the university for real.”

“B-but we dropped by,” Kyujin pouted. “We were always waiting for you to ask.”

“Oh,” you replied. “And Asa, Jiwoo, you looked fairly alright when you gave that tour on your own!”

“We were looking for you afterwards to go out again,” Jiwoo pouted too. “We couldn’t find you.”

“Oh… sorry?,” you shrank in your shoulders. “Who organized this, by the way?”

Eunchae raised her hand. “After we saw you at the dorm, we were trying to guess who you might have gotten roped up with. Then we asked Haerin, and she told us about the connection, and then we all kinda met up together. Now we’re friends!”

“And you guys aren’t… fighting?”

“Of course not, sir!,” Asa clapped. “We even wanted to surprise you the day we found out. Because you were basically gone. And we missed you.”

“I see,” you nodded. “I’m genuinely sorry, girls. I really am.”

“It’s okay, sir!,” Asa cheered, kissing you on the cheek. “We’re here now.”

A smile slowly formed in your face, your chest warming up and your body relaxing.

“This is still weird, but… Thank you, girls. But also… my birthday is still tomorrow.” You stood up to show them the house, or what little of it you could. “Please, spend the rest of the day here? You’re very welcome here.”

“Actually, sir,” Jiwoo looked at you, eyes piercing into yours, “we wanted to stay over for the whole weekend.”

You hadn’t realized with your franticness and the jackets they hadn’t yet removed until this moment that they were all wearing identical, stereotypical school uniforms, and carried with them packed bags. The realization hit you like a truck: their coming together was not as innocent as you might have initially thought.

“This isn’t just about celebrating my birthday, is it?”

“We are celebrating your birthday, sir!,” Kyujin grinned. “Or rather… we’re celebrating daddy’s birthday.”

Asa and Eunchae pulled your wrists and started walking you to what they assumed was your room. Having assumed correctly, they sat you by the edge of your bed, all kneeling in front of you with expectant eyes.

“We missed you, daddy,” Haerin smiled. “Just say what you want today and it’s yours.”

You could feel yourself grin like a young boy – how could you not? – but a part of you wanted toy with the very apparent desperation bubbling in their bones.

“Okay,” you began, “then what if I told you I wanted lunch right now?”

“Told you we should have bought the maid costumes instead,” Asa sideeyed Haerin.

“We have all day, daddy,” Jiwoo smiled. “We can have lunch after we’ve caught up.”

“And what is there to catch up on?,” you taunted. “We can talk about anything you want.”

“We don’t want to talk, daddy,” Kyujin bounced in subdued frustration. “We– we want you.”

“I’m right here,” you said, crawling up the bed. “Show me what you wanna do. But lunch after.”

“Eunchae, order some food,” Asa commanded. “You’re the youngest.”

“B-but–”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think daddy’s going anywhere,” Jiwoo smiled. “We’ll leave some for you.”