First of all, I'm very, very, very sorry for not updating in so long. Second of all, I hope this chapter isn't disappointing. Lastly, this chapter contains the mention of alcohol and drunkeness. I'm not sure if this chapter needs to be rated M because of that, but I don't think it does. So... yeah. 

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“59… 60… 61!” Chanyeol held the paper money in front of him, a huge grin smothering his face. “Business was slow today, but 61 isn’t that bad.” He looked over to Gong Myung with twinkling eyes. “Hey, do you want to get something to eat? There’s a barbeque place right down the street over there. It’s cheap, but delicious. I like to call it ‘deliciously affordable.’”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to save that?” Gong Myung asked.

“Nah, it’s fine. I can always sell some more paintings tomorrow. I have a lot of requests for my high-quality work,” he said, smug and confident. At that Gong Myung shrugged, agreement shown by a head nod.

Both of them left campus and were walking down the streets of the big city. After Chanyeol had finished painting the young woman who had requested, a few more women came, and he also painted them for money. Just in case some wondered, his paintings were very modest and were nothing like Jack's French girl drawings.

His paintings lacked ism, but his style of painting was unique and interestingly beautiful. That was probably why so many females wanted him to paint them, and he started his own one-man business for that very reason. However, one couldn't deny that his looks also influenced the large amount of female customers he had. By the end of the day, a decent amount of money was made; therefore Chanyeol had suggested that they head to Seoul, which their campus was located close to. His intention: fun.

Before they could go in the direction of the barbeque place, they stopped after seeing the figure of a female sitting in front of a building, body crouched on the ground with head buried into her knees.

“Wait,” Gong Myung stopped, making the other male stop along with him. “Doesn’t that look like… Ahreum?”

“No way, Ahreum cares too much about what other people think of her to sit on the side of a street like a—wait a minute, it is her!” Chanyeol said in surprise after getting a better view of the figure. “What is she doing over there?”

The two of them approached her, being nearer in proximity, they could hear light sounds of sniffling emerging from the crouched body. “Ahreum,” Gong Myung reached out and gently shook her shoulder. “Is everything alright?”

She raised her head up, face red, eyes wet, mascara smudged and running down her cheeks. She took a look at her fellow roommates, laughing out hysterically right after processing their faces. “Oh great, now you two just had to come at a time like this. This day is so funny. It should go into history as the funniest day on Earth!”

She started laughing hysterically again, or it could have been crying that sounded like laughter. Neither of them were sure about how to differentiate between the two.

“What’s so funny?” Chanyeol questioned. Ahreum’s lips were quivering as she hid her face into her knees. She didn’t answer, causing for him to sigh. “Does this have something to do with your audition? It’s today, right?”

“How did you know?” She raised her head again and seemed bewildered.

“You were talking about this audition every single day for the past two weeks.” He crossed his arms. “Tell me what happened. Did they immediately fail you?”

“I didn’t even get to try to even fail. They wouldn’t let me audition just because I arrived 3 minutes late! This is so unfair!” A wail erupted from her once more, loud enough that people in Australia could hear.

Chanyeol let out another sigh while shaking his head. “Are they still in there?”

“Yeah…” she replied with a weak voice, choking up with tears at the back of .

“Are the auditions over yet?”

“No.”

“Okay, then I’ll deal with them. Just promise me that you’ll stop crying.”

“You’ll really do that for me?”

“If you stop crying then I will.” He crossed his arms and waited for a response. Holding back a smile, she forced her lips to remain straight as she muttered a “thanks.”

“Wait for me here. By the time I come back out, I'll be calling you in so that you can audition.” He nodded to her and went into the building. As fast as he went in, he came right back out. “Okay, I know that I said that by the time I come out you'll get to audition and all, but this doesn't count alright.”

“You don't know where to go, do you?” she said.

“I have no clue,” he agreed.

She told him the way to go and he went right back in again. She bit back a smile, eyes following him until he disappeared behind the double doors.

“You have… something…”

She glanced over at Gong Myung, saw him point to his nose, and finally noticed the sensation of snot slowly dribbling down towards her upper lip. Her hand sprung up to wipe it away. “How long did I look like this?”

“Since Chanyeol and I got here.”

“Why didn't you guys tell me sooner? This is so embarrassing.” She blushed while frantically wiping at her nose with both sleeves.

He went and sat down next to her on the ground. “Here.” He gave her a plastic tissue package taken from his backpack.

“Thanks,” she said, “but I don’t think that I need this much.”

“It’s alright. You can take it all.” He placed the entire packet in her hand, smiling brightly.

“Thanks… you’re really nice,” she said before blowing her nose. With Gong Myung there, she felt somewhat shy about letting him see her cry with snot running down her nostrils—not to mention that it had only been recently when they’ve met. That was why she quickly attempted to change the subject. “So how’s University going for you?”

“Just like usual except for the unpacking that I have to do.” He leaned back onto his arms, straight and stretched-out behind him, not caring if the ground was going to dirty his palms. “Pretty much University life for me is still very boring. I'm hoping that I'll have more fun now that I'm in a dorm.”

Ahreum smiled. “Same. Nothing ever changes.” She rubbed at her eyes, eyelids itchy, irritated, and swollen like a bee sting. “I think you'll have fun here. Actually, no, I promise you'll have fun here. Everyone here is really interesting.

“Seul-ah is a pretty funny girl, not that she knows it. I remember how she took half a year just to remember my name and Chanyeol’s name. She used to call me Ahrin and Chanyeol, Chanmi.”

“Really?” He had on an expression of disbelief and amusement.

“Yeah, but it’s a lot better now. Now she mostly calls us by the right names, but sometimes she slips up and accidently call us Ahrin or Chanmi again. I’m fine with it since Ahrin isn’t that bad of a name, but Chanyeol…” She heartily laughed. “He got so mad every single time it happened, especially when she called him that in public since, you know, Chanmi is mostly a girl’s name and he absolutely hates it.”

“Is she that bad with names?”

“Yeah, she really is. But if you overlook that she’s a really sweet girl. And Chanyeol… well… he has his downsides, but there are a lot of good things about him. He may be arrogant, messy, and almost never does his dishes, but… he’s not that bad.”

After talking some more Ahreum noticed a familiar person passing by, a traditional Joseon hat on her head. The person paid no attention to the path she wandered on as she seemed immersed in watching the sky above. “Isn’t that Seul-ah?” Gong Myung mentioned first.

“Yeah, and if she keeps walking like that she’ll run into someone.” Ahreum cleared and called Seul-ah's name, but it was a second too late as Seul-ah had already bumped into a stranger.

Seul-ah turned her attention to the stranger, bowing and apologizing with her usual gentle tone, her expression remained dazed as if her head was still up in the clouds. “Seul-ah!” Ahreum called again.

Seul-ah noticed the two sitting in front of the building and went over to them with a light hop in her steps. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“The people in there wouldn’t let Ahreum audition,” Gong Myung said while pointing at the building behind them, “so Chanyeol went in to try to change their mind.”

“Why wouldn’t they let you audition?” she continued asking.

“Just because I came 3 minutes late,” Ahreum answered. “The lady in there was really strict. She wouldn’t even look at me when she told me to go home.”

“That’s absurd,” Seul-ah said with her voice becoming a little bit higher in pitch, her gentle tone still remained. Even when she was mad, her voice didn’t change much from how she normally sounded. The only indication that there was any bit of anger in her was the slightly higher pitch.

“I know. It made me really mad,” Ahreum said.

Seul-ah went over to sit next to Ahreum on the ground, looking through her backpack for something. “I got this for you,” she said, handing a yellow box to Ahreum. “I was thinking of giving it to you after you did your audition, but it seems like it would be better if I gave it now.”

Ahreum took the box and took off the lid, revealing a set of chocolates, each having their own unique shape and filling. “Aww… Seul-ah…” She stared at the gift given to her, touched and wide-eyed.

“Do you like it?” Seul-ah asked.

“Of course I do! I love chocolate!” Ahreum brightly smiled and immediately started eating one. “But I need to ask one thing.” She looked up at the out of place hat on Seul-ah’s head. “What's with the hat? You’re not even wearing a hanbok.”

Seul-ah glanced up at her Joseon hat, answering, “Hat physics.”

“What?” Ahreum questioned back at the confusing answer.

“I thought that wearing it will help me know how it moves in real life when worn,” Seul-ah explained.

“Why do you need to know that?” Gong Myung questioned this time.

“The person I’m assisting didn’t like the drawings I made. She said that the hat looked too unrealistic in some panels, so this happened.” She peered up at her hat and shrugged.

“The person you’re assisting sounds uptight,” Ahreum said.

“I agree,” Seul-ah said.

Ahreum laughed, putting an arm around her. “Do you need me to come and tell her that for you?”

“I already did. She didn’t really like it when she heard it, though. I don’t understand why.” Seul-ah tilted her head, looking up at the sky.

Chanyeol finally came out at that time, steps light and relaxed, grinning as he went up to them. “I solved everything. You can audition now.”

Ahreum stared at him with bright eyes. “Really? I can?”

“Didn’t I already say so?” His grin broadened after seeing her expression. “Go, they’re waiting.” He then noticed Seul-ah sitting there. “Woah, when did she get here? And what’s with the hat?”

“Not too long ago for the first question. Hat physics for the second,” Gong Myung replied.

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows with a look of confusion. “Hat physics?”

“She just stopped by and gave me some chocolate to lift my mood.” Ahreum laughed while the other female in question had her attention elsewhere, staring at the sky above her.

“Seul-ah,” Chanyeol snapped his fingers in front of her. “What are you staring at?”

“I just saw a cloud that looked like Yeol. I thought it was funny.”

“Is she talking about that grasshopper again?” Chanyeol asked the others.

“I guess so,” Ahreum answered.

“Seul-ah, please, and I’m asking nicely, please stop calling an insect by my name.”

Seul-ah nodded before asking, “Is Ahreum going to audition yet?”

“Oh right! I need to go!” Ahreum smiled excitedly and sprang up to her feet. “Do I look okay?”

The two males saw her red blotched face, swollen eyelids, veiny red eyes, and had no clue how to nicely convey their thoughts to her. “Terrible,” Seul-ah replied, the only one brave—and oblivious—enough to tell the truth. “I think you should apply more makeup before going in there.”

“Thanks,” Ahreum said before taking out her cosmetics along with a mirror she brought around with her at all times. She grimaced at her own face when seeing it in the reflection of the mirror, but after makeup was applied, her visual seemed nearly back to normal, except for the eyes. She auditioned with bloodshot eyes that day.

“Seul-ah,” Chanyeol said when Ahreum had gone in. “I don’t say this often, but at times like these, I’m glad to have you here.”

“Um, Chanyeol,” Gong Myung called. “She’s not listening.”

Chanyeol turned to where Seul-ah was previously sitting, eyes widening from the empty space. He then searched around and saw her standing a few meters away, looking up at the sky while sketching in her sketchbook. “That girl must have teleportation or something,” Chanyeol muttered, slightly frightened by how quiet and fast she moved from one place to another.

 

---

 

After Ahreum had finished her audition, Chanyeol got ready to head towards the barbeque place with Gong Myung, but it didn’t go as he had planned when Ahreum decided to tag along without asking, reasoning that it would be a welcome party for Gong Myung.

The thought of spending more money than expected was annoying, but he couldn’t do anything about it as the want to not look like a cheapskate overrode his want to kick Ahreum and Seul-ah out of his barbeque party.

“I was only planning to eat here with Gong Myung, so be grateful that I let you two come with us.” Chanyeol looked at the two females sitting across from him at the table, a meat-holding grill sat in the middle of it. As Chanyeol talked, Ahreum was busy stuffing herself with lettuce wraps while Seul-ah busied herself with making a tower out of grilled meat.

“Seul-ah, don’t play with your food,” Chanyeol said, growing slightly irritated that their attention was not on him.

“Let her play with it if she wants. She’s an adult,” Ahreum said.

Gong Myung reached over to Seul-ah with his chopsticks and placed a bean sprout on top of the edible tower. “It looks prettier with that on top,” he said with a laugh.

“Great, now I’m eating with two kids. And I thought one was hard enough to handle.” Chanyeol groaned and took a shot of soju.

“Gong Myung, here.” Ahreum handed him a lettuce wrap that she made, still in the process of chewing the rest of her previous lettuce wrap. “I made this for you.”

Gong Myung held back a laugh at her muffled words. “Thank you.”

“Are you having fun?” Chanyeol questioned the other male, smiling. “If everyone is having a good time then I guess dealing with children and paying for everything isn’t so bad afterall. Is this how my father feels when he feeds me and my sister?”

“You have a sister?” Gong Myung asked. “Is she pretty?”

Chanyeol grinned and waved a finger at him. “You’re truly a male for asking that.” He chuckled before becoming serious. “She’s really ugly, but she needs a man and you look quite decent. How about you meet up with her?”

“She does not need a man,” Ahreum interrupted. “She’s very independent and I tell her all the time that she can live without one.”

“You’ve talked to his sister before?” Gong Myung questioned.

“Chanyeol and I had stayed in the dorm since we started University. There were only the two of us for a whole year until Seul-ah came, and Chanyeol’s family used to visit a lot when he first started here, so I got to know them well. Also, he’s completely lying. His sister is stunningly beautiful.”

“I’m not lying. I don’t find my sister attractive, but at least she’s prettier than you. Sorry, but not sorry.” Chanyeol put on a fake apologetic smile; she in return threatened to throw a piece of lettuce at him.

“I find Ahreum pretty, though,” Gong Myung stated.

Ahreum turned to Gong Myung and gave him a flattered smile. “Aw, thanks.”

“I find Ahreum pretty, too,” Seul-ah added. Her meat tower had toppled over during the three’s conversation, explaining why she had paid enough attention to say something that was related to the topic.

“You guys are a bunch of flatterers,” Chanyeol said.

“They’re not flattering. They’re telling the truth.” Ahreum smiled at the two. Gong Myung happily smiled back.

“Yeah, whatever, I’m just happy that Seul-ah’s finally eating instead of playing.” Chanyeol pointed at Seul-ah with his chopsticks and the others turned to her to see that she had a piece of grilled meat raised to .

“Why are you looking in my direction? Did I do something wrong?” she asked, big round eyes staring at them.

“Not at all,” Ahreum said, hand went towards Seul-ah to pat her on the head. “Unless you call being adorable a crime.”

“Well, if Seul-ah wanted to get on Ahreum’s good side, she succeeded,” Chanyeol said to Gong Myung. “Anyway, let’s make this more fun by playing a game. The loser takes a shot and the winner… do these games even have winners?”

“Some,” Gong Myung answered, “but they usually don’t get anything.”

“You’re right. Winner, if there is one, gets nothing and loser drinks,” Chanyeol concluded.

“No, Seul-ah can’t play. She doesn’t know how to drink,” Ahreum said.

“I’m fine with it. This game sounds fun. I want to play too,” Seul-ah said.

“Great, you have tainted my innocent Seul-ah.” Ahreum glared at Chanyeol for mentioning the game.

“Hey, she’s an adult,” he copied what Ahreum had said earlier, smirking. “Let her drink if she wants.”

Ahreum rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms. “I’m going to make sure that you lose.”

“Try and fail, my friend. Try and fail.” He mimicked her, crossing his arms like she did, while a smirk continued to be plastered on his face.

“So… are we playing now?” Gong Myung asked.

“Yes, let’s start.”

 

---

 

“Well, that was completely unexpected. Who knew that I was that unlucky to lose that many times. Who knew that Ahreum had such a low alcohol tolerance that one small glass could make her drunk. Who knew that I was unlucky enough to have to carry her home on my back. And who knew that the kid over there is the least drunk out of all of us even though she drank the most!”

Chanyeol started to sway at the end of his outburst; Gong Myung brought his arms out to steady the male in order to prevent him from falling onto the ground, especially since Ahreum was on the drunken Chanyeol’s back. “Woah, easy,” Gong Myung said.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Chanyeol’s words were slurring, but for the most part he seemed okay enough to remain balanced while giving Ahreum a piggyback ride.

Ahreum giggled in her sleep, her entire face flushed red from the alcohol. “Whee~ I’m on a rollercoaster.”

Chanyeol glared at Ahreum's head and mentally threw her off his back, but in reality it didn’t happen since he was still sober enough to know that it would make him seem like a jerk. “Tell me again why I have to carry her instead of you?”

Gong Myung shrugged. “I don’t mind carrying her at all. It’s just that she wouldn’t let me.”

“Oh right, she refused to let you carry her. I forgot about that. In the morning I'll tell her about the tantrum she threw to get me to carry her. She'll be so embarrassed when she wakes up.” A drunken laugh came out of his mouth. “Remind me to do that in the morning.”

“I'm not promising anything,” Gong Myung mumbled and was successfully unheard by Chanyeol.

“Oh, and also remind me to tell her in the morning about how her ‘innocent’ Seul-ah drank nearly 6 bottles of soju and is still conscious,” Chanyeol continued. “Now that I think about it, she was also pretty unlucky to lose the most out of all of us.” He laughed before getting serious. “But maybe she lost on purpose because she wanted to drink. I’m betting my entire inheritance that she secretly drinks solo without us knowing. There’s no way that she doesn’t drink often with that kind of tolerance!”

Chanyeol continued rambling on and on, walking step-by-step with his body swaying a little bit too much to the side each time. Gong Myung followed behind to make sure nobody got hurt, wondering if he should somehow get Ahreum onto his back instead, considering that he wasn’t as drunk as Chanyeol was.

“Gong Myung…” Chanyeol suddenly stopped walking. “...please tell me Seul-ah is still next to us.”

Gong Myung looked around and didn’t see a trace of her. “She’s not here.”

“Oh great, I lost a kid.” Chanyeol let out a deep breath. “We have to find her. Who knows what else she has up her sleeves beside from her surprisingly high alcohol tolerance.”

Chanyeol and Gong Myung went back a few steps, calling out her name, until they found her inside a convenience store. Chanyeol groaned. “She must have gone in to buy jellybeans again. C’mon, let’s go get her.”

They went in and approached Seul-ah, who was holding a basket with items that she was going to buy. “Seul-ah, let’s go home. It’s late,” Chanyeol said in the nicest possible way given his mood.

“You can go home first. I have to buy some things.”

“You don’t need to buy more jellybeans! I bet there’s plenty back at the dorm!” Chanyeol shouted, nearly waking up Ahreum.

“Chanyeol,” Gong Myung said as he placed a finger on his lips. “Everyone’s looking at us.”

“Okay, I’ll be quiet,” Chanyeol replied. “But Seul-ah, seriously, let’s just go home.”

She nodded. “I’ll go after I get some things.”

“We can always buy jellybeans tomorrow,” Gong Myung insisted. “I’ll buy you as many as you want.”

Seul-ah stared at the two, her head tilted in confusion. “I’m not buying jellybeans, though.”

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows. “Then what are you in here for?”

“Hangover cures. I asked the cashier over there for the ones that most people buy, and he showed me a few.” She held up a bottle to show them. “This one is for nighttime.” She reached into her basket and grabbed another one to show them before continuing.

“And this one is for the morning. I meant to get this one for Ahreum, but I thought that getting two more for you two wouldn't hurt.”

Her two roommates didn’t say anything. For a minute, they didn’t know what to say, so Seul-ah went back to picking out some more things that would help with the prevention of pain from the aftermath of their barbeque party. “Seul-ah, it’s fine. You don’t have to get that much for us,” Gong Myung said.

“Are you sure?” she asked. He nodded in response. “Do you want to pick anything out at least? There are also hangover ice creams over there. That’s another option. The cashier said that it's a bestseller for college students.”

He reached into her basket and took a bottle. “I’m fine with this,” Gong Myung said with a bright smile.

She then turned to Chanyeol and waited for him to pick something. He didn’t move, still not completely processing everything—mostly due to the alcohol. Gong Myung nudged him to get him to at least move. “Uh… I’ll take the ice cream. Where is it again?”

“I’ll get it.” Seul-ah took the bottle from Gong Myung’s hand before going to get the ice cream. “You can go first. I’ll follow after I pay for this.” She bounced over to the icebox to grab the ice cream for Chanyeol, the two watching her in disbelief.

“How does she still have that much energy left?” Gong Myung asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m going out first. I need to barf.” Chanyeol quickly ran out, the bells of the store doors chimed after him.

“W-Wait! Get Ahreum off your back first!” Gong Myung followed in a sprint, hoping that no one got vomited on that night.