by Fabrienne Loh (P5 2019)

 

Dear Diary, it was my best friend, Yoon-gi’s birthday last week and I got him a present. A lot of planning went into it and I think I gave him a very thoughtful gift. It all started like this…

 

“It is Yoon-gi’s birthday in a few days and I still have not gotten him a present! What should I give him?” I ruminated. “What does he like most? What does he need at the moment?”

 

I kept asking myself questions and thought that a planner would be good for him as he was not a very organised person. However, that idea soon vanished when I recalled him telling me he had lost his cell phone and his parents had refused to buy him a new one. I decided on getting a cell phone for Yoon-gi.

 

The next day, I asked my mother about my idea. Unfortunately, she did not agree to it as it was too expensive.

 

“Why don’t you make him something? A card? Perhaps a drawing of you and him?” she suggested.

 

“Mother, it has to be something special!” I replied, a little annoyed.

 

She simply shrugged and carried on with what she was doing. After what seemed like an hour, I finally thought of something he had wished for the most. Yoon-gi loved music and he had always wanted to have his own ukulele. Once I got that brilliant idea, I zoomed to my money box and checked how much I had saved for his present.

 

“I have just enough! I do not need to use Mother’s money!” I gasped, “I shall go to the shops tomorrow afternoon. It is Saturday tomorrow anyway. That means no school!”

 

On the following day, I headed to the shopping mall near my house. I strolled into the musical instrument shop and walked through the aisles thinking that I would definitely find a ukulele, but I had no luck.

 

I approached one of the staff to enquire, “Excuse me, do you have ukuleles in stock?”

 

“I am very sorry. We have none left. You could reserve one, which will be sent to you in about a month,” the staff replied.

 

“Oh, no, that would not do. Thank you for your help,” I said, crestfallen.

 

I walked away slowly and decided that I should listen to Mother. Just make something, I told myself. A few seconds later, a thought struck me.

 

“Why did I not think of this before? I should organise a surprise party for him!” I thought excitedly that I thought I was going to burst.

 

I danced and sang joyfully on the way home as I thought of who to invite. I was wondering about our classmates. Both of us got along with them and we also had some very good friends in the class. Once I got home, I immediately sent a text message to all of the friends I wanted to invite and surprisingly, they all agreed!

 

Then, I asked Yoon-gi if he could come to my house on his birthday. He agreed to my invitation. After that, I pleaded Mother to make some food and cake for the occasion. Lastly, as I already had party decorations at home that were in good condition, I rushed to the attic and took them out.

 

On the day of Yoon-gi’s birthday, our friends came early to help me with putting up the decorations and surprise him. At last, when everything was set up, the room looked perfect! Very soon, Yoon-gi arrived at my house and knocked on the door. Behind the door was Mother, ready to open the door when she heard Yoon-gi come.

 

“Surprise! Happy Birthday!” we shouted in unison as soon as Yoon-gi emerged. He was taken by surprise but he became overwhelmed with happiness at the sight of the party.

 

“Woah! Who did this for me?”

 

Everyone but myself pointed at me. I blushed.

 

“Thank you so much, Fab! You are so thoughtful!” he said with a wide grin on his face.

 

“Shall we cut the cake now?” I asked.

 

Almost everyone agreed to this in an instant. We moved towards the table with the cake and started to sing a ‘Happy Birthday’ song. After that, we ate the chocolate-frosted vanilla cake with sprinkles on it – it was absolutely splendid! Then, we opened all the presents.

 

Organising this party was fun but what I loved most was seeing my best friend enjoy every second.