“So how long are you planning on keeping this up?”

The familiar, smooth yet stern, voice of his best friend rang through his ears, causing his head to throb. Jiyong groaned as the memories from last night began to flash through his mind in random sequences that was too hard for his aching brain to decipher. Served him right for not preparing proper hydration before spending the night drinking his weight.

He groggily dragged his hand across the bedside table to reach for his phone.

6.08 am

Too early. He let out another groan as he buried his face further into his pillow.

“You need to wake up-“

“Oi Taeyang-ah. Do me a favour and describe the sky for me.”

Caught off guard by question and the sudden use of his alias, Youngbae found himself answering, “Uh, it’s stll dark, mostly purple with a hint of orange- the sun’s probably going to come up soon. Why?”

“Exactly, it’s still dark. The sun’s not even up yet. So no, I’m not going to ‘wake up’. Now go away and get yourself a life so you can stop tormenting mine,” Jiyong said between air quotes and lazy hand gestures.

His eyes were closed but he could almost definitely hear Youngbae rolling his eyes.

He blamed the hangover for what happened next.

Bluuuueerrrgghhhhh

“Great” he heard Youngbae scoff as he continued to spill last night’s lousy dinner onto his bedroom floors.

Without warning, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his torso, pulling him up to his feet before proceeding to drag his limping body across the room and into the bathroom.

“One would think after 12 years, you’d grow up and stop with the excessive drinking.”

Youngbae lowered his sagging bestfriend of 15 years beside the toilet bowl so he could continue with the gut spilling.

Jiyong snorted, “Yeah well, after 12 years of being an obedient dog, one would think I deserved a break but-“

Blueerrgghh

Ugh, that’s disgusting.

“-but yet here we are.”

No witty comeback. He lifted his head from the toilet to see Youngbae towering over him with a look that closely resembled guilt.

Jiyong scoffed, “Oh don’t give me that look. You know I don’t blame you for this.”

A corner of his mouth twitched. “If you were standing in my shoes right now, you’d find that hard to believe too.”

Jiyong spat the remnants of puke that stained his mouth into the bowl and got up to his feet to face his friend who was now sitting on the corner of the bathtub.

“Look, what you had to do back then has nothing to do with the ty situation I’m in right now. It just played out that way. So stop looking at me as if you’ve ruined me or something ‘cause my toaster has done more damage than you,” he managed to say before having to turn back to the bowl.

Youngbae chuckled half-heartedly. “You’re a sap when you’re hungover.”

Jiyong turned his head slightly to glare at him. “Trust you to take my sincerity and call it sap. Get out and clean my puke. I’m taking a shower. And make me some of your hangover shake, my head’s killing me.”

Youngbae snorted but got up anyways. “I’ll throw a towel over your mess but that’s as far as I’m willing to go, and the shake’s already on the kitchen counter. I’m heading out for a but to find us something to eat.”

“I have food in the fri-“

“Your fridge is disgusting. See ya,” he said as he left Jiyong and his toilet bowl alone.

Jiyong sighed and lifted himself up from the floor again, using the sink and support.

As he unbottoned his shirt, his eyes trailed to the bathroom mirror where his reflection was displayed. He took a moment to observe his appearance. Looked like his fridge wasn’t the only repulsive thing around here.

He pushed the thought away and got in the shower.

“What the hell was I thinking?” Dara whined, gulping down the last drop of her iced tea. “The second option?! No sane person would’ve picked the second option!”

“And you’re not sane. So what’s the problem?” the pink haired girl sitting from across the table who’s also known as her bestfriend from college- Bom, asked casually.

Dara groaned, “This is not funny.”

“Wasn’t trying to be,” Bom mumbled. “Seriously, what’s the problem? You write a story, wow a bunch of old rich people, and you’re promoted as editor of the biggest paper company in the country. That must be like the most straightforward route to success, ever.”

Bom was right, in a way. It was straightforward, but it was impossible. Ever since the company came to be, it was a known a fact that the three CEOs has never read and approved a story. Some say that they were way too busy to read a measly article so they just leave it sitting on their desks until it was assumed to be rejected, while some say that they just