Hedonist // Lee Haechan

2.8 drink your worries away

Her clear heels clicked on the marble floor as she took small strides towards the figure that looked different to what she remembered. Only his back was facing her, the top of his head being shown a few times as he downed several shots of burning liquor down his throat in attempts to speeded up the night. If he passed out, they had to take him home eventually right?

She breathed a shaky breath as she propped up onto the bar stool beside him, being unable to even look at him in fears that she would break down at the sight of him.

"You look like you're drinking on behalf of your next three future generations" Aera said with a slightly forced chuckle but she recieved a louder and more sarcastic one in response

"Why not? Seems like everyone but me is having fun in this hellhole" he said with a raised voice making those around his murmur and move away. It was the first sentence he said that night to anyone that wasn't his house mates.

"And why is that may I ask?" Aera asked while raising her hand and ordering a bottle of scotch for herself, which haechan took from the hands of the bartender and poured some into his own empty cup

"Because I'm an asshole" was the last thing she heard before she turned to look at him, eyes closed, head thrown back and hair dangling as he gulped the remaining alcohol down. Finishing the drink with a sigh he stared into the ice cubes left in the glass before reaching for the bottle once more but Aera took it away before he could even touch it. He turned slowly towards her and glared into her eyes

"Who are you to stop me?" He asked sternly. Was he too drunk to even notice her? Aera's heart sunk at the thought that he might have forgotten all about her, his high collared shirt hiding the A♡H necklace he wore around religiously.

Getting out of his seat, haechan began to stumble as he tried to walk away from her, his blurry vision making it exceptionally hard for him to even take two steps.

"Hey, wait!" Aera said, rushing and getting up from her seat before wrapped an arm around his waist and holding his left arm up for his stability. At this point he was drained of too much energy to even fight her. He eventually let himself slip away into nothingness as his eyelids closed, a concerned pair of eyes being the last thing he saw.

As if god had answered her silent prayers, the weight of his body was shifted away from her as xiaojun helped in carry the knocked out boy.

"Fancy seeing you here pieta" xiaojun stated looking at her with a small smirk

"Nice to see you too michaelangelo" Aera said rolling her eyes with a small smile before they both dragged haechan out of the hall filled with people and out to the steps which were covered in a white carpet.

The two sat down on the steps, bringing haechan down with them.

"Could you call us a cab, I'll take him home" Aera said looking at xiaojun

"You two know each other?" He asked and Aera nodded

"Long story. I don't think he remembers me though" she said with a sigh

"Well, I would love to hear it but unfortunately I have to speak to someone,   I'll call you a cab. Give me your number so I can text you his address" xiaojun said as he got up and she gave him her number. Once getting the information he needed he called for a cab while leaving the other two alone in the steps.

"Are you cold?" A voice said beside her ear and she shuddered at the close proximity. Haechan was lying his head on her shoulder, slightly looking up at her while she looked ahead onto the colourfully lighted water fountain.

"Take my jacket" haechan said sleepily before closing his eyes again and Aera looked down at him struggling to take off his jacket.

"Its okay, keep yourself warm" she said but he shook his head childishly while getting more frustrated about his jacket. Aera chuckled and helped him slide the white velvet jacket off his arms. Having no energy, once the jacket was off haechan's head immediately landed on her shoulder again, but as she slid on the jacket it landed onto her lap.

"You're really out of it huh?" Aera said, laughing to herself as she wrapped the jacket around her bringing his scent closer to her and warmth surrounding her.

"I miss you Aera" his weak voice mumbled and Aera bit her lip when she heard it. Although his sentences before and after that was simply incoherent, she couldn't get over what he was saying about her. Bombarding her, who he thought was a total stranger, with stories about how Aera looked in the bathroom light when she was cleaning his stab wound, how their first encounter hurt his pride as he showed her how weak he was, how she was probably the best parent ever when she raided haechan but the worst parent ever to ben. All these stories made her laugh while waiting for the cab to arrive.

Haechan's stories simply didn't end there. Most of the car journey was him talking about stupid things jisung burned in the kitchen, complaining how the smell of smoke constantly invaded his room since his room was closest to the kitchen.

Arriving at the gate of a big mansion Aera stepped out, helping haechan get to his feet. Even the taxi driver had to help her take him to the front step but as he laid eyes onto the two black rings, he immediately bowed once he was at their doorstep and ran back to his car and left before Aera could even pay or thank him.

After a knock was heard on the door, the only one that was home opened it.

"Oh...noona" jisung said, getting shy that she was seeing him with a gaming headset placed on his head.

"I told you to come home and rest, not play overwatch" she said glaring at him

"I was playing league, what are you even doing here?" He asked

"Dropping him off" Aera passing haechan to jisung who caught him with his strength, his muscles that he was working on now on full show as he steadied haechan on one side.

"Come inside" jisung said holding the door open for her as he walked through the house to haechan's room.

"I should probably head back" Aera said with a sigh

"As if I'm going to let you go out this late at night. Just stay here and borrow yeji's clothes. You need to make me pancakes tomorrow anyway" jisung said and Aera chuckled

She ran into the room where jisung was in to see him throw a fully asleep haechan onto the bed.

"Be a bit more careful" Aera said scolding  him

"Hes not my boyfriend" jisung said with a smirk and Aera rolled her eyes.

"Can I sleep in your room sungie?" She asked him before sliding haechan's jacket off her and placing it on the gaming chair because the desk.

"Yeah sure, renjun shares with me though but I'm sure he can take the couch tonight" jisung said and Aera chuckled.

"You guys got closer huh?" Aera asked and he nodded

"You missed out on a bit. Yeji and jeno are dating by the way" jisung said and Aera chuckled

"Yeah I know" she said and jisung gasped

"Woah I just got goosebumps, did you get someone to follow us" jisung said, freaked out how she was aware of everything already

"Hmm maybe" aera said chuckling as she turned to haechan and took off his shoes before placing the thin comforter over his body and leaving the room behind jisung.

"Here you go, my dear sister" jisung said as he passed her some plaid grandpa pants he found in yeji's room along with a big neon green top from his own closet.

"I also got you jaehyun's skin stuff, he has the beat skin out of all of us so I'm sure you wont break out if you use his stuff" jisung said and Aera chuckled at her somewhat considerate brother.

She went to the bathroom and washed up for bed before coming back into the bedroom. The siblings spent most of the night talking about their lives with neo / wayv before they slept in the seperate bunk beds. Aera remembered to text Kun that she was staying with jisung incase he died from a panic attack looking for her.  Eventually as time passed most of the other guys returned home, renjun being the most shocked to see Aera sleeping on his top bunk peacefully although he mentally cursed her for making him sleep somewhere else.

Renjun made his way to Doyoung's room that night since he had more room to share. Although the two were quite awkward with each other, doyoung was nice enough to let renjun spend the night. Both got to know that they were a lot more similar than they thought. It was a night of bonding for most. Even for kun and taeyong.