"Where are you?" Krystal asked in concern, her voice shaky and doubtful.

She sat on a bar stool lining evenly across her marble island, her eyes glancing towards the round vintage clock hanging beside the fridge. Her fingers tapped on the table top nervously, biting her lips when there wasn't any comprehensible reply.

What greeted her on the other end of the call instead was obnoxious music, inscrutable voices and someone specifically shouting "One more cup please!"

It baffled her. He never drank.

"Jongin, just tell me where are you," Krystal asked again, enunciating every syllable clearly with firmness.

Her hands flew to her forehead, running a hand over her hair as she waited for a reply.

"Bla—blacklist. Chung..dam—dong." His groggy voice finally replied to her serious question.

"Stay there," Krystal said, sliding off the chair and gathered her keys. She put on a baseball cap and slid into a pair of Keds which was conveniently placed before her door.

She did not end the call.

Turning her keys into the ignition, she looked at herself in the rearview mirror, making sure it was impossible to see who she was, even though it was already crazy late in the night. The sky seemed like it was the darkest it had ever been. The roads were almost empty, allowing Krystal to drive at 110km/h without minding any business.

She was worried. She knew Jongin never ever drinks, but his voice on the other end calling for another cup of tequila shocked her to her wits. She knew she had to do something.

Sure, it would have been the easiest to call one of s to pick him up, scandalous for a rising K-pop singer to be loitering around at a bar alone, and the news of his recent break up was equivalent to adding fuel to the fire if rumours had spread.

She did, though, to call Junmyeon to come to the bar too. She knew she could not manage a clearly drunk twenty-four year old alone, whose height cutely towered over her. Or she was afraid she might break again, her emotions evidently unstable after removing him from her life.

They ended things on a clean slate.

She parallel parked her car at the side of the road, rushing up the steep stairs leading to the bar. She did a double-check on the name, Blacklist, she clearly remembered the word rolling off his tongue. 

The neon lights blinded her as soon as she entered, cliques were scattered all over the dance floor, sights of couples grinding with each other.

She had to take a deep breath before pushing her way through the crowd, trying to find her way towards the bar counter which was located at the far end of the room. It was a lot more peaceful than the nauseating and frenzied dance floor.

It was easy to spot him. He, too, had a cap on, his body slouched over the counter, his hand clumsily playing with the empty pin cup.

She advanced towards him,  taking a seat on the bar stool beside him. He was lying on his arm stretched out on the counter, his eyes sparkling under the downlights.

He was crying.

Krystal carefully removed the glass from his grip, returning it to the bartender. Jongin looked sideways when he sensed a presence beside him, almost scaring Krystal with the intense gaze he held.

"Soo—Soojungie?"

Krystal's heart did a small jump when she heard her name slip off his tongue effortlessly, even in his drunken state.

She did not reply though. She did not know how to, and she has to remind herself that he was drunk, so saying anything would be useless anyway.

"Soojungie is beside me... again," Jongin mumbled, but it was loud enough for Krystal to hear amidst the roaring music bellowing from the speakers.

She could almost hear her heartbreaking, being swallowed by the mouth of the open sea and drowning to the very, very bottom. She wanted Junmyeon to come at that moment, the situation of seeing him in that state and saying her name every now and then was suffocating.

S