Love Maze

09 | i might just kiss you

Wine is nasty. He hums as his hands glide across the railing.

Once in the loft space, Nolan realizes he has absolutely no idea where the bathroom is. The upstairs is just as big as the downstairs space, with doors filling the walls. What's unfortunate is the fact that labels aren't written on the doors like in Nolan's childhood home, but whatever room he picks has to be the bathroom eventually.

The first door he opens is a storage room. There's nothing interesting about that so he shuts it as fast as he can. Nolan proceeds with the other doors, either storage spaces or just empty rooms with no occupants. It's an endless search for the bathroom when Nolan suddenly opens up a door near the end of the hall.

It's a bedroom without a doubt, the theme matching the layout downstairs. The room's made up of all dark colors, the palette perhaps fitting the taste of one of the males in the Jung family. Nolan's not surprised by how dimly lit it is or the fact the only messy part of it is the desk area where three monitors sit in front of a keyboard glistening with the colors of the rainbow. It gives off this comforting vibe with its black walls and assortment of gray decor, and the bed's big enough for a bachelor and his many hookups, or cosy enough for a tired couple to spend calm evenings in.

Nolan doesn't hear the door click shut behind him.

"I thought you wandered off to find the bathroom." The voice is smooth and sharp like ice. Nolan spins around to see Jae-In leaning against the doorframe, his hands resting in his pants pockets as he studies Nolan's current state with wine in his hair.

"Well, there wasn't a sign," Nolan murmurs, cupping the side of his neck.

"Why would I need a sign?" Jae-In raises an eyebrow at him. "This is my house."

"Then maybe you should have put up a sign since you have guests," he says.

"Excuse me?" Jae-In frowns, staring at him like he's absolutely ridiculous. The idea of that honestly irks Nolan, even if he is the one who wandered into Jae-In's room with wine in his hair in the first place. But there is no way he's letting Jung Jae-In walk out of here without being humbled.

"Why'd you eliminate Jae Bum?" Nolan changes the topic quickly, watching as Jae-In's gaze flicks upward to capture his own.

"None of your concern," Jae-In retorts dryly, his shoulders shrugging. He doesn't question the suddenness of Nolan's question. Thankfully. "Jae Bom pissed me off anyways."

"But he did nothing to you?" the older boy counters, his mouth twitching into a frown. Something flashes over Jae-In's face that he can't quite decipher.

"I didn't choose Jae Bom, nor did I choose you. I found his profile annoying, and yours too, so you can be eliminated if you ask me any more stupid questions," he challenges harshly, giving Nolan a bored frown.

Wow, my heart just jumped off a building. Nolan stands there stunned, his jaw going slack.

Any silly belief Jae-In chose him as his first pick suddenly drops away the moment those words leave the dark-haired boy's pouted lips. If anything, Nolan's actually less willing to be polite to the boy after such a threat.

It only ignites the fire in Nolan that he's felt simmering the whole night. This asshole...

"I'd be honored to be eliminated then," the brunette comments rather bluntly. "But then you'd be left with all those other boring shits outside who are drinking their asses off. I think I'm the only person here besides Levin who's a decent human being, which you aren't, and you need that."

Jae-In's eyebrows knit together on his forehead, the skin around his nose wrinkling as he takes a stride forward, his body centimeters from touching Nolan's. Nolan nearly cowers upon locking gazes with Jae-In, the other boy's charcoal irises surveying his face with a sort of fusion between disbelief and disgust that Nolan is not a stranger to.

"Is that so?" Jae-In hums impatiently, his legs moving forward so quickly Nolan finds himself backing up towards the bed. The other boy's so intimidating despite his shorter height, and Nolan wants nothing but to escape with the wine still in his hair.

"You can try me." Nolan regrets how freely and easily his mouth moves, but instead of pissing off Jae-In, something unfamiliar flickers in his eyes. Something that has Nolan's stomach feeling odd.

"Oh?" He feels his legs bump against the side of Jae-In's bed. A yelp escapes his lips when Jae-In bumps his legs against his own, causing Nolan to fall flat on his ass on Jae-In's surprisingly comfortable bed, but it doesn't stop there.

Nolan's eyes widen when Jung Jae-In's face comes merely half a millimeter away from his own. He feels Jae-In's warm breath fan across his cheek, the scent of the boy's cherry Chapstick tickling his nose.

He feels Jae-In's eyes on him, making his own shut tight, his lips mumbling a flurry of incoherent prayers until he feels Jae-In's presence move back. Nolan's eyelids slowly open to see Jae-In already walking towards his door, his shoulders shaking as the softest laugh rumbles from his frame.

"Don't test me like that, pretty boy," Jae-In warns lazily over his shoulder, the corner of his mouth quirking into a half-assed grin.

"Next time, I might just kiss you."