Lisa and Chaeyoung were at a club, they were having their mini high school reunion. Only a few were able to attend because the plan was made spontaneously. A classmate of theirs sent them a message on their group chat inviting them to go clubbing. Chaeyoung wanted to decline but Lisa was able to convince her in the end, pointing out that it had been three years since they had their last reunion.
There were ten of them from their classmates. Half of them brought their partners along. Others promised to come over after their shifts. They were seated in the corner of the club. Their tables were moved close together to accommodate their large group. Their food and drinks were placed in the middle.
Everyone was talking about how they fooled around during high school. Each of them had their own story to share. There were funny, scary and even heartbreaking stories. But they all had fun as they reminisced their wonderful memories together.
After a while, one of their classmates suggested for them to go dancing but most of the guys decided to stay at their table. Lisa pulled Chaeyoung off her seat and dragged her to the dance floor. Chaeyoung was not much of a dancer like Lisa. So she was awkwardly raising her hands in the air and trying to shake her hips. But the sudden movement made her head spun for a moment. She drank nearly half her second bottle of beer but she was already getting drunk. They danced for three songs in a row before they decided to go back to their seats, sweat dripping off their foreheads.
Chaeyoung excused herself to use the bathroom. She stayed in the cubicle a bit longer as she eased her dizziness. Then she retouched her makeup, trying to disguise the drunkenness showing on her face. She was just a few steps away from the bathroom when she bumped into someone. Her vision was a bit fuzzy but he looked a bit familiar to her.
“Chaeyoung?” Chaeyoung heard the person call her.
She somehow recognized the voice but it was muffled by the loud music playing in the background. She narrowed her eyes to focus on the person’s face. Then finally his face started to appear clearer to her, it was Jungkook.
“Jungkook?” She asked in surprise.
“Chaeyoung! I didn’t expect to see you here. Who are you with?” He asked.
She furrowed her brows, unable to hear anything he said. Then she leaned closer and whispered into his ear, “I can’t hear you. What was that?”
The feel of her warm breath against his ears left a tingling sensation all over Jungkook’s body. Then Jungkook pulled Chaeyoung away from the loud music and they stood near the entrance where the sound was a bit bearable.
“Better now?” He asked. He wasn’t sure to whom the question was directed to for he was also asking himself the same question. He was trying to shake off the tingling sensation he felt a while ago.
She slurred, “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Chaeyoung, are you drunk?” He asked while carefully observing her appearance and stance.
“No!” She swayed a little and was about to fall before she regained her balance. “Well . . . maybe a little.” She grinned.
“I can see that now. As I was asking earlier, who are you with?”
“Oh! I’m with my high school friends. We're having a mini reunion.”
“I see. As for me, we’re celebrating my workmate’s birthday. His birthday is actually on Sunday but he’ll be going somewhere with his family. So we’re celebrating it in advance today.”
“Ooh! I love birthdays! Did you already blow the cake? I mean the candle on the birthday cake?” She said excitedly while doing a silly dance.
He laughed at her, unable to hold it to himself.
She pouted her lips as she crossed her arms over her chest, “Why are you laughing at me? You’re so mean.”
He kept on giggling while saying his answer. “I'm not.”
“But you were making fun of me.”
“Alright, I’m sorry. It’s just that I never thought I’d see this funny side of you. If only I’d known you’d look this cute when drunk, I would have asked you to go drinking back then.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Whatever, I’m going back to my friends.”
“Hey! Wait! Are you mad at me? Look, I’m sorry.” He looked at her sincerely.
She scoffed, “Don’t you dare give me those adorable puppy dog eyes of yours.”
He approached her and leaned into her face a bit closer. He held his hands together in front of her. Then he blinked his eyes twice before saying, “I’m sorry. Please?”
“Fine!” She grunted. “But I really need to go.”
“Alright. Call me when you want to go home.”
“Why?”
“I’ll send you home.”
“Do you have a car?”
“No.”
“Then how will you send me home?”
“We’ll ride a cab.”
“I can ride a cab myself.”
“It’s dangerous for a beautiful drunk woman like you to ride a cab by herself.”
“My best friend is with me and we both live in the same neighborhood. So there’s two of us, I won’t be alone. Besides you’re also drunk yourself.”
“No, I’m not drunk. Okay? I just had a few drinks. And I promise not to drink anymore. So can I send you home now? Promise me you’ll call me when you want to go home.”
“Fine, if you insist.”
“Now, go. See you later.”
Then Chaeyoung turned her back at Jungkook as they went to different directions. When she went back to their table, more people were occupying it. She recognized new faces from a while ago. It seemed that her classmates who promised to come after work really did come. But she didn’t see Lisa with them. Her classmates told her that she went to the bar by herself.
Lisa was seated at the far end of the bar, drinking a black-colored liquor. She hurried towards her and took the seat beside her.
Chaeyoung nudged Lisa, “Hey! What have you been drinking?” Then she smelled Lisa’s glass and scrunched her face. “What’s this?”
“You know what this baby is called? Mind eraser. Let’s check if it can live up to its name.” Lisa answered with a slur.
“Lisa, I think you’ve had enough.” Chaeyoung tried to get the drink from her. But she drank it all first. “Lisa!!”
She sobbed, “I just want to forget, Chaeyoung. He’s being so kind to me these days. I can’t take it. I’m about to give in anytime. He’s making me re-experience the things that made me fall for him before. And my heart just can’t stay away anymore. My mind’s telling me something while my heart’s making me feel something else. I still love him.”
“Then stop fighting it. If denying your feelings for him will make you as miserable as getting hurt by him, then risk it. Accept him back in your life. When you do that, at least you’ll be happy too. Let’s just hope he doesn’t hurt you anymore. Anyway, I’ll be here for you no matter what. You know I love you, right?”
“I love you, too.” Lisa answered before asking the waiter for another round. “You give one for each of us.”
“Lisa, that’s enough. You don’t need this drink anymore.”
“I still do. I need to forget we ever talked about this.”
“Why? I don’t understand you.”
“Forget that.” Then she added while laughing hysterically, “Actually, you don’t need to forget that because this drink will help you to it. It’s called mind eraser to help you forget, right?”
Chaeyoung stared blankly at Lisa, unable to follow what she had been saying.
“C’mon Chaengie, let’s just have a bit of fun, tonight, alright? Just for tonight.” Lisa said while giggling.
Chaeyoung contemplated before answering, “Fine!”
“Whoo-hoo! Cheers!”
Then they clicked their glasses. They laughed as they downed the liquor in one shot. Chaeyoung immediately regretted agreeing with Lisa when she felt the alcohol burning through her throat. Her wooziness came back in a whirl and it was worse than earlier.
Chaeyoung saw Lisa slumped a bit loudly over the bar counter. Then she heard someone’s ringing phone from somewhere. She later recognized the sound and checked Lisa’s bag for her phone. She saw that it was an unknown number. She took the call.
“Hello! Who is this?”
“Lisa! Why do you sound like that? What happened to you?”
She chuckled, “Oh! I’m sorry. But this is not Lisa. It’s Chaeyoung, Lisa’s best friend. You see, Lisa is beside me right now and she’s crazy drunk. I don’t think she can answer you at the moment.” Then she hiccupped.
“Where are you right now?” The person on the other line hissed.
“Who is this? Oh! Wait! Is this Taehyung? Taehyung, why is your number not saved on Lisa’s phone? Did you change your number? Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you wan…”
“Chaeyoung? Right?”
“Yeah. This is she.”
“May I know where you are right now?”
“Why?”
“I’ll come fetch you.”
“Oh yeah, you have a car. Okay. I’ll text you the address. Bye!”
Then she texted him the address and waited for him.
Meanwhile, Jungkook was continuously checking his phone, waiting for Chaeyoung’s call. As promised, he refused drinking any more. He feigned having a stomach ache just so his workmates will stop insisting him to drink some more.
After seeing Chaeyoung earlier, he lost interest going back to his workmates. He was worried about Chaeyoung being drunk and he can’t stop thinking about it. He even wanted to escort her earlier back to her table just to make sure she’s safe. But it looked like she didn’t want to be bothered so he let her be.
After a while, Jungkook excused himself and went to look for Chaeyoung. He can’t stop worrying about her anyway so he might as well do something about it. He was standing near the entrance when someone bumped him from behind. He annoyingly looked at the person who bumped into him. And when they faced each other, a look of surprise flashed across their faces.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why are you here?
They both asked at the same time.
“Let’s talk later, Jungkook. I’m looking for someone.”
“Wait, Bambam! Who are you looking for?”
“It’s quite a long story and I really need to find her ASAP.”
“Her? You mean it’s a girl? When did you . . .”
“What don’t you understand from ‘let’s talk later’, Jungkook?” Bambam asked, fuming in anger.
“Whoa! I’m sorry, dude. Chill out! Let me go with you, I’m looking for someone too. And let’s talk later.” Jungkook answered with a grin on his face.
“Whatever.”
Bambam and Jungkook looked all over the place but they couldn’t seem to find them. They were standing near the bar, craning their necks as they roamed their eyes around the area once again.
“Ouch!” Someone grunted from behind them. “Where could he be? That bastard better have a good explanation why he’s late once again before I crush his handsome face into a pulp.”
They side-eyed the person behind them, she was rubbing her forehead furiously. Then she looked at them suddenly and they gasped.
“Chaeyoung!” Jungkook exclaimed. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over the place for you.”
“I haven’t moved an inch since a while ago. My friend and I here seemed to have slept a bit.” She grinned, tapping the girl who was slouched over the bar counter beside her.
“Chaeyoung?” Bambam asked. Then he pointed at the girl beside her, “Could this be, Lisa?”
“Wait! Who are you again?” She asked, finding him quite familiar yet she was having a hard time recognizing him.
“I’m Bambam. We’ve met during the baptism of my niece, remember?”
“Oh! You’re Bambam? Right? Lisa’s Bambam?”
He nodded happily.
“You freaking son of a bitch!” Then Chaeyoung dashed towards Bambam, hitting him futilely as Jungkook was holding her away from Bambam. “Why are you holding me?” She glared at Jungkook while trying hard to break free from his grasp. “If you don’t let me go, I swear I’m never going to talk to you again.” She snarled.
In an instant, she broke free and was about to hit Bambam when Lisa stirred from her sleep.
“What’s with all the noise?” She cried.
Bambam sprinted towards Lisa and cooed at her. “My cupcake, don’t worry we’re going home now. Come on, get up!”
Lisa lazily turned her head towards Bambam. “Bambam? Why are you here?”
“I came to send you home.”
“How did you know where I am? Are you stalking me now?”
“Nope! I don’t need to. Chaeyoung told me.” Bambam answered while eyeing Chaeyoung.
Chaeyoung looked puzzled, “I did?”
“Yes. I called earlier and you answered Lisa’s phone, remember?”
“But I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to Taehyung.”
“Says who?” Bambam questioned.
“Me. Obviously. I knew who I talked to.”
Lisa scanned through her phone. Then she looked at Chaeyoung saying, “Chae, you weren’t talking to Taehyung, it was Bambam’s number that was on my recent received calls.”
“But . . . I was sure . . .”
“What made you think it was Taehyung anyway? It was an unknown number, it’s impossible for me not to save my cousin’s number.” Lisa interjected.
“Well. I thought that Taehyung changed his number. And although I didn’t recognize this bullshit’s voice, I thought it was just because of the loud music background earlier.” The other three didn’t say anything so she just continued. “Plus, who else would call you at the wee hours of the night? I know Uncle and Auntie call you in the morning most of the time. And I can’t think of any other cousin of yours who is that close to you to call at this time. I mean, there’s just Taehyung, right? I didn’t even . . .”
“Stop! Stop!” Lisa covered Chaeyoung’s mouth with her hands. Then she whispered to her. “Just stop before you embarrass me any further. You just pointed out how I don’t have any other man in my life other than my family.” She glared at Chaeyoung before uncovering her mouth.
“You’re welcome, I guess.” Chaeyoung shrugged.
“Now, let’s go!” Bambam said.
Then Bambam and Lisa decided to go together. They said that they still had a few things to sort out. So Chaeyoung and Jungkook were left by themselves. And as they talked about earlier, they took a cab to Chaeyoung’s house.
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I'm not sure how you think about this chapter but I can promise you something better for the next one. Thanks for reading, voting, and leaving comments! 😘