“Umji-yah, what’s wrong with her?” Sowon discreetly pointed at Yerin who seemed struggling to hide her puffy eyes behind her eyeglasses.

“You are asking the person who slept in the same living room as you last night.”

“I know, but maybe you asked her or something.”

“Eonnie, you were up before I was. I don’t remember ever sleep-talking. Did you see my spirit talk to Yerin-eonnie?”

“Your wit is of no use today.” Sowon declared while looking for the right timing to catch Yerin’s attention.

“I don’t know how you’ve surmised that. But okay.”

“Yerin-ah…!”

“Eonnie, I need to finish something important.” The other girl replied without caring to look back as she went up the stairs.

Even Sowon’s response emitted reluctance and dread. “Oh. Okay, nothing important anyway. Maybe later.”

“Or maybe never…” Umji mumbled.

“Even I’m scared of her. Was she crying all night? Her eyes are really swollen.” Sowon whispered.

“Is that a rhetorical question or are we going to continue the vicious cycle of nonsensical asking? If so, I might not have the whole day, eonnie.”

Glaring at the team’s youngest member, “What if I don’t give you your allowance for June??”

“What if I go hack your bank account and withdraw everything the team has?”

“Aish! Get out of here! Wash dishes or something!”

“But you just washed them.”

From the other side of the apartment door, Eunha and SinB could hear a portion of the two’s laughable exchange. Albeit they knew undoubtedly who would win the argument, they chose to spend a few seconds snickering to the banter before going in.

“Did you actually think you’ll win, Sowon-ah??”

“Well, there’s no harm in trying.”

“That cliché is relative and debatable. Like there’s definitely harm if you tried killing yourself.” Umji reasoned. “I can provide a few more instances, but I guess you already got my point.”

“Why don’t you just go to your laptop…” Sowon paused obviously calculating her move. “… and check if Boss JD emailed back.”

“That reminds me, Eunha-eonnie, I need to get the laptop from your room.” Umji darted to the stairs as soon as she remembered, which made Sowon smile in relief.

“Okay. But get down here after, we’re bringing food. If Yerin-eonnie is up there, drag her down! Tell her my birthday isn’t over so she can’t refuse.”

“Noted.”

* * *

Yerin’s grey hoodie, unkempt hair and thick specs failed considerably at concealing the unspoken. I didn’t need to ask because it was unmistakable that she cried last night. And judging by how swollen her face was, I know she didn’t just shed a few tears.

I didn’t speak because for one, it was futile to ask her, and also, I was lethargic and could already feel the exhaustion that lingered from last night’s misadventure. As expected, no one dared to interrogate her, not because of the fear of getting shot like I did, but because they understood that it was more important to respect the distance that she has always preferred. I could tell that everyone was already thankful that she chose to join us for a meal.

But despite the fatigue, my heart did not fail to quiver frantically to Yerin's nearness as she sat beside me. As we took out the food from the paper bags, I sensed everyone control their urge to tease to the sight of an event of absolute rarity.

Amidst the internal commotion I was having, I couldn’t help but recall every second I spent with Yerin by the bathroom door last night. Now that the alcohol has been completely extinguished from my system, all that’s left was the vivid memory and the feeling it aroused in me. It didn’t help that her body’s intoxicating scent found its way to my nose overpowering the tenacious aroma of Chinese food. I couldn’t keep my mind off the yearning to be that close to her again.

Our oddly quiet dining and my inappropriate brunch daydreaming were disrupted by Yuju’s enthusiastic return to the apartment. “Wow there’s food! Thank goodness, ‘coz I’m starving.”

“Yeah, tell us about it…” was all I could say, feeling the same hunger from being up and dead-tired the whole night.

“You sound really exhausted SinB-yah…” She my back before she settled on the chair on my left.

“Of course, I would be tired, we didn’t even catch some sleep.”

“Awwww… I'm sorry about that…”

“Well, 'coz it was non-stop. I don’t even know why I still have the strength to eat right now.” I slumped slightly on the low backrest of the bar stool hoping someone would just funnel the food right into my gut.

“It was impossible to sleep anyway because it was sooooooooo loud…” Eunha’ voice was also unable to hide the sleepiness she was holding in.

“But SinB-yah, didn’t you at least have fun?” Yuju nudged me that my shoulder bumped into Yerin’s. Tsk. I should have just exaggerated the swaying and intentionally fallen onto Yerin’s arms; but it was too late when I realized that. My brain didn't work as fast as it usually did.

“Honestly, aside from being sleepless, the heat and the sweat, I liked everything else.” Which was the truth. It’s just that I would have definitely stayed by Yerin’s side, staring at her the whole night if given the choice.

Before Yuju could speak again, everyone heard Yerin sniff back a sob before she heedlessly dropped the chopsticks into the sink, grabbed her book and rushed out of the apartment. The rest of us fell extra silent looking at each other deliberating on a plausible cause for her sudden departure, except for Yuju who hasn’t had any clue of Yerin’s baffling physical state.

“I knew you had it in you to be working in a place like that.” Yuju continued ignoring the strange but fairly common occurrence of Yerin’s unexplained exile.

“Mainly, I like drowning in music and being around a crowd who didn’t care about what I did.” I went along wanting to just keep everyone distracted. But I couldn’t completely disregard the abruptness of Yerin’s exit. I am accustomed to the poverty of her speech but leaving her food almost untouched and just dropping her utensils was way out of her norm. Something was definitely wrong.

“By the way, Eunha-yah, I thought you were off on your birthday, but why did your manager make you come to work?” I know Sowon was too drunk to understand what occurred the previous night that even when Eunha explained repeatedly why she had to leave, the giraffe kept on begging for her to stay. Somehow there is a direct correlation between Sowon’s alcohol level and her rate of begging.

“Like I said, a bigshot customer, that JYP guy, held his party at the club. But two bartenders called-in sick and so they asked me to work. I would have said no, but they offered me double pay, birthday pay and I got to keep all the tip I received.”

Now that I am sober and my eardrums have regained their usual sensitivity, I realized that Eunha’s agreement to work had nothing to do with money. She can make as much money in one night if she wanted to. Her decision to leave her own party was because she could not bear the presence of Sowon anymore and just do nothing.

During her birthday celebration, I particularly saw how our drunk leader mindlessly acted like Eunha and her were still together, caressing her thighs, teasing with hugs and playful kisses on her cheeks and neck. I saw pain in Eunha’s eyes whenever her ex-girlfriend came near. I knew that she didn’t want to leave Sowon in her drunk and overly affectionate state; but at the same time, she didn’t want to receive her affection if it was just unreal.

“But why did you take SinB with you to the club??”

“Eunha-eonnie requested that she brings me to help since they were still one bartender short even if she reported to work. I guess they were desperate and just agreed even if I wasn’t a registered employee.”

“So, you did bartending?” Yuju asked excitedly.

“No, all I did was pass stuff that she needed since I’ve gotten familiar with the drinks and her tools.” More than her skills, I was actually amazed by how Eunha remembered every customer who approached her for a drink. But what’s more amazing was, while she was drunk herself, she did not make a single mistake with their orders. And I mean not a single one.

“I call her my little elf since even when the lights were dim, she kept her hoodie on and even wore a mask. She’s hilarious.”

“Tssss…” I just wanted to be sure. Despite the obvious impossibility, I didn’t want to take my chances at being identified. “But I would have driven eonnie to work and stayed in the club even if they did not allow me to help out.”

“Uhhhh… You’re so sweet, SinB-yah…” Yuju remarked before giving me a snug embrace.

I don’t know why the other girls suddenly avoided eye contact with me after Yuju’s statement. So, I tried to elaborate, “I mean, I would have done it for any of you.” And the thoughts of the missing Yerin and the three days I spent looking for her instantly consumed my mind. I would do the same for her… and more.

“Uhhh… That’s even sweeter…” The embrace was replaced by a pinch on my cheek and an even greater aversion from the other girls.

“Thank you again for driving in spite of the need to overhydrate yourself to soberness.” Eunha clearly has sky-high tolerance to alcohol, but in my case, I had to urinate the drunkenness before I regained my bearing and my confidence to drive.

Throughout the conversation, Umji somehow remained an audience but I’ve noticed that she kept on glancing at the laptop monitor that was angled only for her viewing. It didn’t seem like she was waiting for something, it appeared as if she was watching something.

Feeling the need to divert the topic, “Enough of our club work last night, how did it go with your job application? You look like you got in…?”

“Haha! Oh my god, if you only knew how much effort I had to put in to get this ridiculous job!”

“Yah, Yuju, you never told us what it was. You said you had to finish your resume and you left Umji and I down here to clean up last night.”

“Haha oh, yeah, I’m sorry about that…”

“What job did you apply for anyway? Maybe I could try it out too.” Eunha asked. While it was true that Yuju already had three places where she sang, she told everyone that a co-worker persuaded her to apply for a much easier work that paid incredibly more.

“I applied as a voice talent.” She giggled and I thought it was a little unfitting for her response.

“Oh yeah? I might qualify for that too…”

“Oh wow, for what? Drama? Radio?” I’ve always believed that her lovely voice suited a kdrama OST, but I also thought that possibility was a bit farfetched.

“I’ll tell you but no one is allowed to judge.”

“Yah! With all your weirdness, we’ve judged you way too much already that there’s no more judgment we can give. Tell us already!” Pressed Sowon who was born to the star of impatience.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“I got a job as a voice talent for anime …! Haha!”

From the corner of the kitchen counter, Umji spewed out everything that was in after hearing what Yuju had said. I blame my dulled reflexes because I could not make myself dock to her projectile gastronomic storm. Before I knew it, my new makeup consisted of oily fried rice complete with Umji’s partially chewed sweet and sour chicken.

It took almost a minute for the roaring laughter to stop; and it took another two minutes before I was able to completely wipe off the evidence of Umji's appetite on my face.

“I apologize, SinB-yah.”

“It’s okay… I might have experienced the same if only I was in the act of chewing.” Luckily, I was done drinking before Yuju revealed her exotic news.

“Sorry, I think, haha!! It's hahaha! No! Haha! Sorry! Haha! I can’t… Hahaha!” That was Eunha who suddenly regained her energy but consequently lost her mind.

“What the… Wait, are you serious?!”

“I don’t see anything wrong… Come on…! It’s just a job, eonnie. All I do is read the lines and follow the cartoons!”

Did she just say cartoons? Instantly I imagined Mickey and Minnie Mouse doing it… with sensual human voiceover. Ulk...!

“Is that why you borrowed the laptop?” Umji asked reluctantly, I guess she was trying to recall the previous evening’s chronology of events.

“Yeah ‘coz I had to make a demo. Haha! That was the resume. It helped a lot that I was drunk! I definitely had a hard time reading the script but I think I did a good job at and all, haha!”

“Ewwwww…”

“And by script you meant ‘aaaahhhh… uuuhhhh… yeeesss… more… fck… harder…’ ??” Eunha’s question almost caused me to choke on a piece of wonton.

“Yeah, those and faster and I’m coming... Haha!”

“Uhmm… I’m just hoping you’ve erased your audio file.” Umji asked while lightly hacking my back.

“Of course, Umji-yah, the last thing I would want to do is pollute your baby mind.”

Somehow there was a mixture of reprieve and disappointment in Umji’s eyes. And that made me curious. Did she want to hear the demo recording? Or did she want her mind to be polluted? Wait, by Yuju??

“Oh, good to know.” But our youngest was obviously preoccupied with something as she distractedly glanced back and forth the monitor, and now her phone.

After a few seconds, my thigh was tickled by a sequence of vibrations.

UJ: Yerin-eonnie is still sitting outside, by the door. Take her to the library

SB: How’d you know

UJ: CCTV

I got up not waiting another second, felt the car keys still in my pocket and washed my face by the sink. "I remember, I need to go somewhere. I’m sorry that I’ll leave while you’re eating." I said making sure it wasn’t loud enough for Yerin to hear.

"SinB-yah, I'll give you money. I hope you don’t mind buying me something." Umji quickly rose from the barstool and handed me a small bag. It didn't feel like there was money inside but I took it.

I didn’t wait for anyone to respond and strode toward the door.

This was probably why Umji kept her eyes on the laptop. She was watching the footage outside. And she was right, for when I hastily opened the door behind Yerin, she lost her balance, sat on the floor and ended up leaning against my shins. I quickly held her under her arms and carefully stood her up before shutting the door close. I picked up the omnipresent textbook that plopped on the floor, and without a word, I took her hand and led her to the car.

I wasn’t exactly sure if my body could still drive, but what the heck, in spite of being alcohol-free, I was able to hold her hand. Therefore, I could do anything.