People do the most out of character things when they're not sober. From confessions to fights, vandalism to impaired judgement, liquor courage is a scary phenomenon.
But what's scarier is the aftermath of the phenomenon and that's just what Eun is g...
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Chenle pulled over beside the familiar silhouette and got out of the car quickly making his way towards it.
"Is everthing okay?" he asked, "where's Hyuck?"
"He wants to stay longer but I really need to get some sleep." Eun replied, her eyes fixated on her shuffling fingers as she buttoned her cardigan up to her chest.
"And your boyfriend didn't consider dropping you off?"
"He's drunk, Chenle and I'm not really looking forward to getting killed tonight." The dim streetlights blurred their visions as they stood there exchanging voices only. They made their way to the car.
"Why didn't you come to the party? I thought you were invited."
Chenle tapped his fingers on the steering wheel nervously as he tried to come up with a better excuse than the truth that he met up with Dana and her cousin to plot a major event in Eun's life, "I got caught up in some work."
Eun laughed at his response as she laid back on her seat and closed her eyes, "You're a university student with no side hustle or job to pay bills because you're still living with your family. What work could you possibly have?"
As they drove for another fifteen minutes, both the drizzle and the evening traffic grew heavier. In the midst of all that came the sound of a muffled cry.
Chenle pulled over, flustered.
Eun sat there in the passenger seat. She let it all out.
After she calmed down, Chenle handed her tissues and loosened his seatbelt to turn towards her.
"I'm here to listen. Tell me what's going on."
"Hyuck lied," Eun said, "it's embarassing I even thought he actually liked me," she continued, "I bet he was having fun watching me fall for it."
Chenle sighed as he looked at her, front hair drenched in tears, mascara running down her face (she rarely put it on), her arms hugging her torso over her cardigan. Eun was the kind of person who kept her vulnerability hidden at all times so she could appear like she had it all figured out. When she became aware of this trait of hers, she didn't realise where it rooted from. She had always wanted to be a good daughter, a good designer, a good friend and now a good girlfriend and maybe it all just weighed her down.
"I thought he was interested in me because we shared a moment during the field trip, little did i know he was keeping track of everything I said while mentally checking off the boxes in his head."
Chenle leaned in, "Checking off boxes?"
"Hyuck won a national competition recently puting him on a pedestal. He also knew my pieces in the play made quite the noise garnering me attention from other departments taking me up on that same pedestal." Eun drew a deep breath and continued, "That's when he knew he could have twice the attention if he had me. Our bet just ended up being the green light for him to get what he wanted."
✎...
Chenle woke up to a text from Dana asking him to get to uni early because Jisung needed to see them both as soon as possible. She assumed he must have found some dirt on Hyuck after agreeing to keep track on him.
Only then did Chenle remember their plan and how it didn't matter anymore because he already knew what went down between Eun and Hyuck the other night. Now the motive was no longer to confirm their suspicions on Hyuck but to confront him because it all turned out to be true.
They met up at the campus snack bar thirty minutes before the first class.
"Jisung said he's running a bit late but he'll be here soon." Dana reported as Chenle took a seat.
"Tell him there's no need to hurry."
"The sooner he brings us the dirt, the faster we can get rid of that narcissist."
Glimpses of last night passed his mind as he recollected sights of Eun and how disoriented she looked physically and emotionally. He hated the fact that the best thing he could do for her at that time was to lend her a listening ear and drop her home safely. Part of him thought if Eun would've wanted him to turn back around and crash the party to confront Hyuck, but Chenle wasn't the impulsive type and it would only give people a fresh batch of gossip to talk about.
But seeing Dana before him with a tense expression, cursing under her breath, her feet and arms shuffling under the table agrressively after only hearing back from Jisung even though she didn't know if he actually found dirt on him made Chenle realise that Dana would've taken one look at Eun and walked right back in the party with a shovel in her hand.
"Earth to Chenle!" Dana waved her hands over Chenle's face to bring him back from his thoughts.
"I went to pick up Eun last night," Chenle finally revealed, "our judgement was right, he played her."
"That asshole i'm gonna kill him-" Dana cupped her face with her hands, "and to think that this is the second time she's gotten hurt in a row, first Jeno and now Hyuck. Are all men assholes in the theatre department?"
Chenle swallowed hard at the sudden claim and avoided eye contact with Dana.
She sensed his uneasiness and glared at Chenle, "You're another one of the men Eun's close with," she paused, "if I ever catch you making a move on her before she gets past all this boy drama Zhong Chenle I will make you miserable."
"Why would I ever make a move on her?!" Chenle scoffed at her threat, "stop glaring at me before you lose an eyeball."
A notification popped up on Dana's phone.
"Jisung said he's almost here but class is gonna start in like ten minutes so let's head there first and find that pest."
✎...
Jisung arrived at the snack bar five minutes later but couldn't find Dana and Chenle.
He reached for one of the theatre students he recognized at the spot, "Have you seen Chenle around here?"
"No, he's not here," the guy replied, "he's actually at the auditorium with some girl and they seem to be picking a fight with Hyuck. The group chat's all about it right now."
"Shit this isn't happening–" Jisung paced back and forth rubbing the back of his neck. He pulled his phone out and called Dana.
"Where have you been?? Come to the auditorium right now!" Dana spoke from the other end.
"No! Stop! Both of you need to get out of there right now Dana."
