Dear Sputnik

XVI

"What happened to the ace?" Soobin asked after Taehyun blew his fourth straight turn.

"Just not my game, I guess," Taehyun murmured.

"Beomgyu isn't even good," Huening Kai said, erupting into another one of his loud laughs.

"Be quiet," Beomgyu chastised Kai again.

The next few turns continued like that and Taehyun had decided to try and go ahead and land a few of the balls into Beomgyu's cup to try not to draw attention. It was working for the most part. Beomgyu was getting better at tossing the ping pong ball, which made it easier for Taehyun to lose the game on purpose.

"Taehyun, you're really going to let Beomgyu beat you like that?" Yeonjun asked in a playful tone.

"He's not good enough!" Beomgyu slurred out before exploding into laughter.

Taehyun bit the inside of his cheek hard. This game truly was making him swallow his pride. He wouldn't ever live this down, he knew the guys would likely remind him forever about this night. He didn't mind that much, though, despite knowing how easy he could win. All he was doing was trying to protect Beomgyu from getting even more drunk.

After a few more turns, Beomgyu was close to winning. He only had one cup left and Taehyun was beginning to get anxious. All he wanted for this game to be done and the rest of the guys seemed to feel like that as well. All Beomgyu had to do was land the ball into his last cup and his embarrassment would be over with.

Beomgyu wiped his mouth and focused again on Taehyun's last cup. Taehyun crossed his fingers that were dug into his jean pockets, hoping that this would be the last round so that he could stop trying to purposely miss. With one flick of his wrist, Beomgyu's ball bounced into Taehyun's last cup.

"I won!" Beomgyu cheered along with the other guys as Taehyun drank his last cup of soju.

"Finally, I thought that game would never end!" Huening Kai exclaimed.

"I think that's enough for tonight, let's clean up," Yeonjun said, beginning to stack up the empty cups.

Taehyun watched as Beomgyu reached for his cups that he didn't drink. No, he thought to himself. He had to stop this. The whole point of losing was so that Beomgyu wouldn't have to drink anymore. Beomgyu raised the cup to his lips and instantly, Taehyun's instincts kicked him. Whether it was the buzz of the alcohol or just not being in the right state of mind, he quickly charged towards Beomgyu, grabbing the cup out of his hands before he could take a long sip. The cold alcohol spilled on his arm and shirt as Taehyun held the cup away from Beomgyu's reach.

"Hey, Taehyun, what the hell was that for?" Beomgyu shouted, getting the attention of Kai, Soobin, and Yeonjun.

"You don't need to be drinking anymore," Taehyun explained calmly.

Yeonjun and the others watched curiously before he spoke up, "Taehyun's right, Beom. You shouldn't drink anymore tonight."

Beomgyu glared at Taehyun, causing him to step backwards slightly. He had seen that type of fire in someone's eyes before. It was reminiscent of his boxing days. He always remembered his opponent's look in their eyes before they swung a punch at him. As Taehyun stepped back, Beomgyu moved closer. Was he trying to fight? He knew how bad people could get when they got drunk. If he did take a strike at Taehyun, would he swing back? The fighter in him told him yes, but his heart said no.