Royals

Chapter 48 - Too Loud

"You came here because of him? Not me?" his faded smile morphs into a pout, his swollen lips puckered together with his bottom lip sticking down.

I don't know how to answer him so I keep quiet. He pushes himself away from the wall and walks towards me. I can't take a step back becue if I do, I'm going to trip down the stairs.

So I just stand there till he is too close to me again and my eyes are wide from our close proximity.

"That makes me sad" he tilts his head and pouts, his kind eyes looking a little hazy and sad. He looks so innocent like this.

Who would guess looking at him like this that he had a part of him inside another human being just a few minutes ago?

Also, was he just now, flirting with me?

I look at him incredulously and slap myself mentally. I am sleep deprived and suffering from a princes complex. He wasn't flirting with me for god sake!

He has a girlfriend! Whom he was otherwise engaged with just a few minutes ago.

I shake myself out of my head and focus on the drunk boy in front of me. He is drunk and we are at the edge of the stairs. I will just tell him I didn't see anything and that whatever he does is none of my business and get going.

San covered for me at home and they only allowed me to stay out this late because they thought I was with San and they are loosely correct but I don't want to push my luck. I want to find San and get away from this place.

And probably bleach my eyes.

"Soobin, whatever you were, uh, doing, it has nothing to do with me and I can promise you I will not tell anyone about it so just please can I go now?" I ask.

The reason why he is trapping me here is to ask questions and make sure I do not tell anyone about his rendezvous right?

Hell, I was none to tell anyone anything.

"I didn't want you to see me like that. Or like this. I am definitely a little drunk" he dips his head towards me, his eyes the same round orbs that make you think he is a kind soul, and his dimpled smile gives him a mischievous grin.

Yeah, a little.

I try my best not to step back from the lack of space between us and the saturation of his cologne in the air around us and party - even though I will never admit it out loud - from his handsome face.

"I swear I didn't see you. Who are you? I don't know you" I blabber, partly trying to change the topic, partly trying to get away, and partly looking away from him.

"Do I make you nervous?" he leaned in even closer and this time I did stumble and I would have fallen if it weren't for Soobin to pull me to him in time.

Even drunk, his reflex is good. "Caught you" he smiled.

"Soobin you're drunk and you probably won't remember our conversation or even meeting here tomorrow, however, your girlfriend will remember that you ditched her-"

"I don't have a girlfriend" he shakes his head and then looks past me.

Whatever he looks at has him changing his expression to a sneer as he grabs my wrist and tugs me towards him.

"Come on, let's go," He says and starts walking away I am jogging to keep up with his long strides cause the other option is plummeting onto the floor face first.

"Soobin, hold up, where are we going?" I ask, bewildered by his action. I look over my shoulder to see who it is but all I can see is a head of black hair before we are taking a turn and I lose the person.

"Soobin!" I yell but he just smiles at me with his drunkenness, his dimples and perfect teeth on full display.

"We're almost there. I want to show you something" he finally stops walking when he opens a heavy dark wood door to an open balcony.

The cold air wooshes around us as he tugs me out in the open.

This is weirding me out but every time I try to suggest we go downstairs or better yet, I go downstairs, Soobin says or does something that lands us in a different situation.

"Soobin, why are we here?" I ask and wrap my hands around myself.

It was way past midnight and the autumn wind was finally taking a turn toward the chilly side. Even though I was wearing a thick hoodie, it did not spare me from the iciness of the wind outside.

"You're cold," he says as a matter of fact and took off his blazer and put it over my shoulder before I could argue.

"Soobin, I have a hoodie on. You're just wearing a shirt. Wear it" I was drowning in his blazer. It was too long and too big for me so I try to take it off but he instead makes sure that it is not just over my shoulder but my arms were in the sleeves as well.

I just look at him with an exasperated sigh.

He stares at me for a moment before bursting out laughing. I can't blame him. I know I look comical. All there's left to do is a funny dance and I'll have an audience for my stand-up comedy show.

"Did you see the lake?" he asks once he has come down from his high of laughing his ass out at my expense.

"Yes, Beomgyu took me there a while ago," I say and he nods somberly, his smile replaced by a pout again.

Honestly, I couldn't see much in the dark anyway except a vast expanse of dark water surrounded by a few street lamps at an equal distance surrounding the lake.

"But you didn't see it from here, did you?" he pulls me to the edge of the balcony, stumbling multiple times on the short way, and stands behind me, caging me between him and the railing.

However, I am not facing the view out front but I am facing him.

"Soobin, I think we should go downstairs, where everyone is. I am sure there are people who want to meet you and talk to" I try to convince him to let's just go downstairs where there are a lot of people.

I mean, it was his party.

I am sure there were a lot of people who wanted to get chummy with him. So what was he doing here, upstairs?

I mean apart from what I caught him doing but why was he still upstairs?

And why had he not threatened me like his fox-eyed brother usually did?

"But I don't want to. I want to stay here. I want to talk to you" He closed his eyes and dipped his head. I was still caged between him and the railing so I couldn't move.

What was happening?

Why was this happening?

His head hits my shoulder with a light thud and he lets out a huff of breath. He looks funny, bent at a weird angle, crouching to put his head on my shoulder.

"Why?" I ask, careful not to even breathe too loudly because it feels like everything quietened down.

"It's too loud. I don't like loud" his statement catches me off guard.

Even though his words are bare whisper against my skin, it echoes around me in the cold night.

The melancholy in his tone keeps me rooted in my position.