Unlikely / Haechan

26: The Party Never Stops

If you happened to visit the Broke Bitches Club—pretty self-explanatory, it was a nightclub for students on a tight budget—that night, you would've seen a young man attempting a very bad rendition of the worm on the dance floor.

No, he wasn't drunk. He was just Lee Donghyuck.

Although actually drunk bystanders were egging him on, Jiseol could only cringe and bury her head deeper into her hoodie out of embarrassment. As she twirled her straw in her soda, she wished she wasn't on her drinking ban. So many things had gone wrong lately whenever she got drunk and she wasn't about to risk it. Being drunk around Donghyuck, especially, seemed to bring nothing but downfall to her.

Yet seeing Donghyuck now perform Troublemaker with Jeno as Hyunseung and himself as Hyuna, there was nothing more that Jiseol wanted than to grab the bottle of vodka behind the bartender and wash both her throat and her eyeballs with it.

The club was definitely not Jiseol's type of scene. Her idea of a celebration was to stay at home under a heated blanket and watch American Horror Story, but she didn't have the heart to say no to Donghyuck. He was so excited that their little celebration also consisted of Jiseol's best friend and Donghyuck's best friends, so her refusal to join the party couldn't even leave her lips.

"You're disciplined." Chenle snorted as he slid into the chair next to her. He honestly thought she'd want to get as wasted as possible after the day she had.

"I have to be. Or God knows what other tale of my shame would be shared online," Jiseol muttered.

"At least it's over now, isn't it? I'm proud of you for staying strong."

Something tugged at her heartstrings from Chenle's well-meant words. Jiseol smiled weakly at him, then excused herself for air. She held her breath the entire time she squeezed through the sweaty and sticky crowd, almost collapsing to her knees in distaste by the time she reached the open balcony. The balcony typically served as a place for people to smoke, make out or cry, most days all three at the same time, but luckily for Jiseol it was empty.

She fell forward against the railing, sighing with her head low. The view of the city greeted her as the breeze kissed her cheeks, giving her just a moment's worth of complete peace and serenity.

The serenity was eventually broken by the last voice that would bring her peace.

"Hey, Where's Wally wannabe, I was looking for you,"
Without waiting for an invitation, Donghyuck joined her by the railing. His pink hair was a ruffled mess, probably from his intense dancing.

"But it wasn't that hard to find you. I know you're like the opposite of a fish. Put you in a crowd for two seconds and you'll already be drowning, gasping for fresh air. Have you considered taking swimming lessons?"

"Every time I see you, I get a migraine." Jiseol snapped.

"Look, I know this isn't your scene, but I did think you'd be at least a little bit joyful. I mean, you solved a crime! That's fucking awesome, babe. Doesn't that call for some celebration?"

Jiseol pursed her lips, contemplating whether she should shut up or carry on the conversation. To both her surprise and Donghyuck's, she chose the latter.

"I found out who humiliated me but...that doesn't make the humiliation go away."

She looked down as she toyed with her fingers. "Solving it doesn't magically make everyone forget about that video. I wish I could say that I didn't care, but I do. I care so badly. And I thought I could at least pretend I didn't, but I can't. I'm just so upset that it hurts me but I can't do anything about it."

Donghyuck's silence gave room for Jiseol to continue talking. She chuckled, yet more of pain rather than amusement.

"What's worse is that my foolish ass thought Yangyang actually liked me. I thought that a guy could like me without giving a fuck about the video. But I was wrong. Now I don't think I'll ever have the guts to go on a date ever again. I don't want to treat my trauma like it's quicksand that I can't get out of but...how do you bounce back from this?"

Though Jiseol's question was more of an afterthought rather than really asking, Donghyuck stared at her for a moment before giving her his answer.

"You don't."

"What?"

"You don't bounce back. You don't grow past your trauma. You don't just ignore it. You have to grow around it and like it or not, you have to carry it with you forever because it's already a part of you," Donghyuck said gently.

"I'm not saying that healing's going to be easy. It's going to be one shit show of a journey and it might take a ridiculously long time, but you control your wounds. Don't let your wounds control you."

Jiseol could only blink up at Donghyuck in disbelief. What he was saying, his tone in which he was saying it, with the nonchalant yet soft expression on his face; it was the same guy that had been childishly tormenting her for the past few years. How could it be the same guy?

"Also don't worry about dating. Trust me, you're going to find a guy who won't care about how the entire school knows how you had sex for the first time," Donghyuck then leaned closer to Jiseol to playfully smirk at her.

"And if there are absolutely no dudes who want to date you, I'm right here."

Jiseol immediately fake gagged. "Not gonna happen."

"Look, I'm hot and I already know the worst sides of you. Dating me would be easy."

"Dating you would be a fucking nightmare."

"Aw, you've thought about what it'd be like to date me?"

While the pair of roommates went on and on with their bickering, even lightly shoving each other in good fun with totally no intentions of "accidentally" pushing the other off the railing, they had no idea they were being watched from inside the club. Chenle and Renjun were pressed up against the clear sliding doors, exchanging amused glances.

The two Peeping Toms had no idea what Donghyuck and Jiseol were saying, but both noticed the way their faces reflected the glow off each other. It was a sight to see—yet then again, after all that they had gone through together, it'd be more surprising if they hadn't warmed up to one another a little.

Even if they would never admit to it.

"You know," Renjun mumbled. "Sometimes I think that they don't remember what happened at the Halloween party two years ago."

"I know, right?" Chenle gasped in exasperation. "Because they didn't change the slightest after that party—until now, at least—and I want to bring it up so bad but whenever I drop hints, I have no idea whether they really don't know what I'm talking about or they're just good at faking it."

Renjun pursed his lips, almost in a guilty manner.

"I still have pictures of them from that night. Do you think we should show them?"

"Depends on if we're ready for them to try and kill each other when they find out."

short update bc i havent updated in so long omg... hopefully i'll be able to update more once i'm more used to working 5 days a week T__T