Absinthe

Chapter 67: Rooftop Musings

Derrick came to my rescue a few minutes after Jiwoo left for the washroom. While I was thankful, I was pretty sure Derrick helped for selfish reasons. He's been eyeing my two hyungs since I introduced them to each other. I did tell him they were straight, though. So he should be careful about that.

"He said he can swing this way too, right?" Derrick asked, smiling naughtily.

"He's drunk," I said, "so don't get your hopes up."

I extricated myself from Derrick and my drunk hyungs to look for Jiwoo. He wasn't in the washroom, nor was he in the locker rooms. I passed by the kitchen and everything seemed to be going well. I made a selection of desserts, mostly western, with varying degrees of sweetness. It should be enough to cater for everyone's tastes. If Jiwoo weren't here, where could he possibly be?

I fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed for Jiwoo but the call didn't go through. His phone was off. I went back to the party and asked around but nobody had seen him in the past thirty minutes. I went back to the kitchen, just in case, but he still wasn't there. I felt exhausted and asked the kitchen guys for coffee, which they obliged. I poured the espresso shots in a couple of ice cubes and headed to the back door of the kitchen.

The backdoor led to the storage area where most of the kitchen equipment and pantry ingredients were stored. I didn't waste time to inspect what brands they used for the kitchen equipment, exiting on the door that leads to the waste bins.

Nothing much to see there, except for your typical restaurant waste. I moved along until I found myself at the back of the building – the one facing the parking lot for staff. There were a couple of waiters on break. They were smoking and chatting. I didn't want to impose on them so I looked around for a place to sit. There was none.

Except that oddly inviting red ladder leading to the roof.

I figured, there's nothing wrong with me going up there, away from the crowd. Away from the constant reminders of who I was before all this started. With my iced espresso secured, I began the climb to the rooftop.

"How'd you find me?" came Jiwoo's voice as soon as I secured my footing on the roof.

"Assuming much?" I asked jokingly. "I wasn't looking for you. I was looking for a quiet place to sit."

I walked slowly to where he was and sat down beside him. I offered him my iced coffee and he took it. I thought he was going to take a sip, but he placed the bottle beside him and continued looking far into the night lights of the city.

"Okaaaay," I said. "So no coffee for you, then."

Jiwoo forced out a laugh. "What brings you here?"

"Oh," I said, slightly taken aback by Jiwoo's less-than-welcoming question. "I guess I'm leaving then..."

Jiwoo moved quicker than I was comfortable with. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards him. I landed butt first in between his legs, facing the other way.

"We could have fallen!" I complained, tapping at his arms which held on to me too tightly I thought I was going to be squeezed to death.

"Don't go," Jiwoo finally said. He buried his face on the exposed part of my shoulder and inhaled deeply.

For some reason, I felt like he was inhaling me. And it was all that it took for me to relax.

"Pretty cool hyungs, huh?" Jiwoo said, obviously referring to Minsu and Gunho hyung.

"They are, aren't they?" I answered back. "If there's one thing that I'd miss the hell out of in Samsong, it's those two."

Jiwoo kept quietly rubbing his nose against my shoulder. "That Gunho said he'd date you if you'd just come back...He's hot, I admit it."

I laughed nervously. I mean, I'm so liking the fact that Jiwoo's jealous, but I'm not really sure what to do to convince him there's practically nothing to be jealous about. I was scared that he'd start questioning his boyfriend-credentials again, the way he did with Rob.

"Errrr.... Do you know how much Samsong Group's total equity is?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. "Hmmmm... Let's see... Many banks estimate that you need about 7 Billion US dollars to end world hunger. Samsong Group can do that, not just once, not just twice, but for about two hundred times over."

"Shit," Jiwoo said, biting softly into the exposed skin of my left shoulder. "Money enough to end world hunger two hundred times over. I can't wrap my head around that."

I laughed again. "Yep. That's big money. Big! Money! And I was offered ownership to 10% of that."

I felt Jiwoo froze. There was practically no movement save for the steady rhythm of his chest against my back.

"And I said no because..." I continued. "Well, I said no because of you. So that means you're worth more than that. So much more than Gunho-hyung's sexy butt."

Jiwoo let out a roar of laughter so infectious I found myself laughing uncontrollably as well. We must have been laughing for a good five minutes straight because my sides were starting to hurt and I was starting to feel lightheaded due to lack of oxygen.

And I couldn't remember what happened after that.

Like who made which move first. But Jiwoo was suddenly kissing me in a way that he has not kissed me before.

And again, it was over before I knew it. Everything with Jiwoo happens so fast my brain can't seem to keep up in processing them.

"Does that mean you're staying for good?"

Jiwoo spoke softly. He wasn't even looking at me. His gaze was fixed far, eyes locked on some bright star obscured by the city lights. He's still unbelievably attractive. For me at least. When it comes to Jiwoo it's all about lines. And the lines in his jaw and cheekbones made it difficult for me to take my eyes off of him.

"Huh?" Jiwoo asked again, this time shifting his gaze at me. And I'm pretty sure I just turned red. I could literally feel heat waves coming off the pores on my cheeks.

"Yeah," I said, offering up a smile to try to mask away my awkwardness. "I guess I am staying. For good."

"Whew," I heard Jiwoo say, followed by the longest intake of breath I have ever heard a human being do. "Okay."

"Okay," I answered back. "Let's go back then. It's your party. You can't stay up here all night."

Jiwoo nodded and returned my smile from earlier. I wanted to think things were okay, but somehow, it felt like he was masking away his awkwardness with his smile as well.

"Are we good?" I asked, just to make sure.

Jiwoo nodded again. "Yeah. Let's go."