Strangers Now, Strangers Tomorrow

There she was, standing against the wall with a party cup in her hand and looking uninterested. Young college boys spilled into the room, already drunk and rowdy. The stranger seemed out of place, but certainly did not felt like one as she continued to lean against the wall.

Eunji eyed her while half listening to what Suho was saying. She nodded a few times, masking an interested look. But Suho’s yapping was starting to grate on her. “Oh, really?” She said nonchalantly.

“Chorong! I’ll be at the kitchen for a while.” Someone shouted over the sea of young wasted adolescents, getting the attention of the woman Eunji had been staring at. That was her name: Chorong. A new piece of information Eunji had learned today without having to get it from her directly. Suddenly, a pair of lips brushed against her: forceful and tasted of alcohol beer. She pulled away from the person, realising it was Suho.

“Suho! What the ?” She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and controlled herself from not looking too offended.

“I-I-I’m sorr-,” Suho stammered and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Eunji did not follow.

Few seconds later, a boy fell forward, spilling his drink over Eunji’s shirt. The boy lied on floor on his front, unmoving as if he was dead. He was clearly in a drunken state. This annoyed Eunji and the spilled drink added another problem for her to deal with.

She fought her way through the crowd, enduring the sweaty smells and elbows poking at her ribs. Finally in an environment she can breathe in, she found the hallway. She opened several doors to find the bathroom, embarrassing a couple who were just in their underwear in the process.

At the end of the hallway, she walked into a bathroom and went straight to the sink, unaware there was another person in the room. She lowered her head, trying her best to wash off the stain off her shirt. She then realises there was someone next to her.

She stopped and looked at the other person in the mirror: Chorong. Eunji just smiled at her as she was unsure how to react to the sudden meet. The other person remained expressionless and unimpressed. Not what Eunji had in mind at all.

“You must be Chorong.” Eunji said confidently. There was no response other than a raised eyebrow from Chorong. She did not ask Eunji on how she knew. Loud thuds were beating against the door. “Want to go somewhere quiet?”

There was no reaction but Chorong still followed Eunji out of the bathroom and into one of the unoccupied rooms. The room was dim and the only source of illumination was from the bedside lamp. “Wonder if I could borrow someone’s shirt here.” Not expecting a reply, Eunji picked a few of someone else’s clothes off the floor, examining first and then throwing it onto the floor.

Chorong closed the door behind her and leaned against it while her eyes followed wherever Eunji went. “Do you remember me?” Eunji asked, rummaging through a pile of clothes. The room had no occupant by the looks of it: It was just a room occupied by people’s clothes ranging from small to big sizes, men’s to women’s to uni. “You were the girl at the coffee shop, Beanery. I’m not sure too sure if you remember me, but I work there. You gave my colleague a hard time. And I had to —” She paused, realizing it wasn’t really the best time to explain. “Anyways, aren’t you going to ask me how I knew your name? My name?” She paused and stared at Chorong.

“What’s the point? I don’t need to know your name. We’re strangers now and we’ll be strangers tomorrow still.” Chorong finally spoke. The tone of her voice remained monotonous and uninterested. A small half smile appeared on her face. Eunji took off her own wet shirt and picked up a clean (hopefully) shirt from the ground.

“Gee, when you say it like that, I - ”

Eunji was cut off when Chorong pulled her into a kiss. The shirt that was in her hand ripped away by the girl. She tasted the alcohol from Chorong’s mouth. The onslaught of kiss surprised her, but she kept going, returning the favor. It wasn’t a kiss where people would imagine fireworks and that entire sort of thing. Nothing sweet or memorable: just a wet, alcoholic taste of messy kisses.

The two progressed on the bed and into the night; tearing of clothes off each other; hair tugging; soft moans escaping from their lips and devouring each other’s bare skin.

Dawn came and the room was quiet. The two exhausted people were currently in a light slumber, under the duvet. Chorong was the first one to wake up, a little hazy. She glanced at the stranger to her right, realizing what she had gotten herself into. She was neither disappointed or ecstatic by the situation; instead she felt nothing. Indifferent. Numbed.

She observed Eunji’s face: soft, vulnerable, and fair-skinned. The girl was indeed pretty and of course, younger. The younger girl slowly opened her eyes like it was as if Chorong’s stares had woken her up. Chorong looked away and sat up to retrieve her shirt.

“Going already?” Eunji asked groggily, rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

“Like I said before, we’re strangers before and still are.” She paused for a moment and pulled down the shirt over her head. “I’m not gay or anything. I’m just lonely and found out today my boy-. I mean my ex-boyfriend cheated on me. Wait.. Why am I telling you this?” She stood up and wore her skinny jeans. “Anyways, the point is - You don’t need to know whether I’m going already or not. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Nothing more can come out of this. So.. good bye.. whatever your name is.” She left the room quickly, leaving Eunji more confused.

Just Another Party

This was not just “a few people” like Bomi had promised. The apartment was starting to get filled with people Eunji had never seen before. Someone greeted her, as if they knew her personally, and pulled her into a sweaty hug. This was never the plan. This was supposed to be a small gathering of close friends in celebration of her birthday. She just gave them a tight smile and walked a good distance away.

She needed a stiff drink. The wine that she had prepared for herself from the start of the party wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Annoyed, Eunji searched for Bomi. Just as she spotted Bomi across the room, she was pulled into a game of beer pong. She saw that Bomi had seen her, but Bomi dipped from her view just as quickly.

“Naeun, I need to find Bomi and kill her.” Eunji gave up looking and glared at Naeun.

“Before you do that, play with us.” Unfazed by the glare, Naeun set up the cups on the ironing board that was turned into a makeshift table for them to play on. A guy she had never seen before and Hayoung, surprisingly, was on the other end prepared.

“Come on, Eunji! I’m ready! We’re ready!” Hayoung was basically jumping off the floor in excitement. Eunji had rarely seen her hair let loose or let loose in general. “Do it for me! It’s your birrthhhdayyy!”

“How much did you drink?” Eunji cocked a brow at her, but Hayoung was too busy twirling around to answer. The guy beside her cheered her on.

“Listen, do it for her. Do it for our Hayoung.” Naeun chimed.

“Whose birthday is it exactly?” Eunji folded her arms in protest. But seeing Hayoung unwind and looking so free after months of serious studying and carrying the overwhelming expectations from her parents, Eunji felt.. less annoyed by the whole situation. “Fine. Just one round.” She gave in.

But one round turned into several more rounds. Empty beer cups strewn across the floor and the ironing board was definitely out of commission. A problem for the future, Eunji thought. Admittedly, she was having fun. People started to gather around them ever since Eunji managed to sink every ball into the cups, forcing the opponents to drink every time. She was pretty sure Hayoung was going to pass out anytime soon and the other guy tapped out minutes ago.

Poor guy was lying on the sofa with his face covered in drawings of.. Well, you know what. She sunk another ball in. People started to chant ‘chug’ to Hayoung who looked so out of it and more than ready to accept the challenge.

Before that could happen, Eunji said, “I’m done. And you’re done too, Hayoung.” Several ‘boo’s and ‘aww” were sound by the crowd. “Y’all play then.” She grabbed Hayoung by the arm and felt the weight of her friend leaning on her. “Naeun, I’m gonna use your room for her.” Naeun just responded with a high thumbs up. She was far too busy with the game.

“Thanks, Eunji..” Hayoung was slurring her words, which Eunji found cute. It was a complete opposite from Hayoung’s usual perfect articulation. Eunji had Hayoung’s arm around her, carrying and stumbling through the crowd to get to Naeun’s room. “You’re like the best sister I’ve- nevahh harddd.”

“Shh.” All of the sudden, someone tumbled backwards into them, spilling their drink all over Eunji. “Hey!” Eunji yelped and tried to best to recover her balance with Hayoung. Great, Eunji thought. Another shirt ruined in just another party that happened to be on Eunji’s birthday.

The culprit was none other than Bomi. A wide-eyed guilty look was plastered all over Bomi’s face. “Oh, hi Eunji. So sorry about that. Oh, someone’s calling for me!” Bomi glanced in the direction away from Eunji.

“Bomi, you’re not gonna get off easy.” Eunji said in a no-nonsense way. Bomi had let go of the fake ‘I-did-nothing-wrong’ smile. “At the very least, help me with Hayoung to get into Naeun’s room.”

Bomi did as she was told. Hayoung was already half-asleep as they reached the door. Entering the room, there was a couple of strangers who was about to get undress on the bed. “Get out.”

“But-“

“We live here. Get the out.” Eunji added. The strangers got off the bed and grumbled on the way out of the room. “They were about to ‘christen’ Naeun’s bed.”

“God, I do not want to imagine if it was my bed.”

“That wouldn’t ever happen if you didn’t invite a gazillion people to the party.” Eunji carefully placed Hayoung onto the bed. Bomi took the sleeping girl’s shoes off while Eunji looked for a dustbin to set by the bed for precautions.

“It’s only about 40 people.” Bomi replied like it was no big deal as she tucked Hayoung under the sheets.

“Bomi.” Eunji paused and looked at her.

“Okay. Maybe there’s about 70.”

“Bomi!” Eunji ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. She let out another sigh when she was reminded of the fact that her shirt was sticking to her skin.

Bomi shushed her. “Hayoung’s sleeping.” She walked around the bed to reach Eunji. “I’m sorry that it got out of hand. I didn’t think it would reach so many people. But I saw you had fun. You had fun, right?” Bomi grinned and took Eunji by the shoulders.

“Fine. Yeah, I did.” The tiniest of smiles peaked at the corners of her lips. It was enough for Bomi to see to get a satisfaction out of it.

“I told you so.”

“But you owe me. I still want a get together of just us and a few of our closest friends. This party is not exactly for me, you know.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll make it all about you. I promise.” Bomi gave Eunji one last smile before she turned for the door. “Oh, I think I saw someone go into your room. Byeee!”

Eunji groaned, hoping it wasn’t the strangers she just kicked out few minutes ago who decided to take some twisted revenge on her bed next. She walked to her door and prayed that she wouldn’t find anyone in an uncompromising position and she’d have to burn her sheets.

“If you’re ing, please don’t do it on my bed.” She shouted through the door. No one answered. Slowly, she opened the door. Peeking, she realized no one was on her bed. She opened the door wide and saw Chorong sitting on the ground, her body leaning against the foot of the bed. “It’s you.”

“Who are you?” Chorong lifted her head and met Eunji’s gaze with the same empty eyes.

“The owner of this room.”

“Oh.” Chorong looked away and straight ahead into the empty space infront of her. She took a swig of the Jack Daniels. Eunji joined her on the floor and sat beside her. Without having to ask, Chorong gave the bottle to her.

Eunji tasted the smooth alcohol and felt it go down . A warm heat started to pool in her stomach. She took another swig for good measure. It was quiet aside from the booming music outside the room. Nothing was said between them for a moment.

“Still hung up on that ex of yours?” Eunji asked, feeling the need to fill the air.

Chorong’s eyes met hers again, but this time, her eyes were full of questions. Then the realization dawned on her. “We’ve met before. Your shirt was wet that night.” Her eyes ran down the length of Eunji’s torso. “And now, too.”

“Yeap.”

“We’ve slept together.”

"Yeap.” Eunji just nodded and gave back the bottle to Chorong.

“And you’re here.”

“It is my birthday party. Well, not really.”

“It’s not your birthday?”

“It is. I mean — never mind.” Eunji shook her head, not wanting to explain more.

“Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“And no, for your information.”

Eunji titled her head in confusion. “No?”

“Your question earlier. About my ex. I got over it.” Chorong turned her head to face the wall again. Her composure relaxed again.

“Then why are you here all by yourself?”

Chorong sighed in response. “It’s not really your business, is it?”

“You are in my room. So it kinda is.”

“I just felt like it. Just wanted to be alone. Until you came in.” Chorong said. Eunji wasn’t sure if there was a hint of disdain in her tone. But whatever it was, it felt like Eunji intruded in her alone time.

“Okay. Got it. Message received.” Eunji started to get up until Chorong grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“Stay.”

“Are you sure?” It was like disentangling all the mixed signals, Eunji thought.

“I want you to stay.” Chorong’s empty expression from before was replaced with a sincere one. Eunji sat a little closer to her. If Chorong was bothered, it didn’t show on her face. Eunji could never read her. “Did you ever feel like there’s ever a point?” Chorong threw a question all of the sudden.

“A point to what?”

“To do the things you do everyday and live.”

“You sure know how to bring the mood to a party.” Eunji joked. She cleared once she realized Chorong was serious. “I don’t know if there’s ever a point.” She answered truthfully. The last time she had an existinctial crisis was when she was twelve after she found out Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison’s relationship was just a marketing ploy for a movie.

Chorong’s lips were pulled into a thin line, contemplating on what Eunji said. “I’m gay.”

“Okay.” The sudden confession threw Eunji off. What was she supposed to respond with? A hug? A smile?

Another sigh escaped Chorong’s lips. “I’m sorry for the other night. I was just mad at myself. I’ve wasted my time with a guy I’ve been with for three years just because I couldn’t accept myself.” Chorong hung her head low.

“Hey.” Eunji placed her hand on Chorong’s shoulder. Chorong’s head turned to meet her eyes. “You can’t blame yourself. Everyone processes in their own time.”

“Why not? My self-denial was so deep. I couldn’t see it. Once I found out I got cheated on, the first thing I did was sleep with a girl for the first time.”

“Wait a minute, I was your first?” Eunji firmly gripped Chorong’s shoulder in disbelief.

Chorong knitted her eyebrows together. “Not the point.”

“Sorry.” Eunji loosened her grip and placed her hand on Chorong’s thigh.

“I was so afraid for such a long time and.. I don’t know.”

“You look like you’re handling it well, for what it’s worth.” Eunji slid her hand into Chorong’s.

“Yeah. Maybe.” Chorong gave her a small brief smile. “I saw you and knew I wanted you more than I’ve ever wanted him. And it scared me.” Chorong looked vulnerable in that moment, Eunji noticed. She felt for her. Chorong looked down at their hand holding. She interlaced her fingers with Eunji’s. “Even when you’re just a stranger to me.”

Eunji didn’t know what to make of that. She knew Chorong wasn’t exactly wrong about them being strangers to each other. Maybe she had hoped that they were a little bit more than that by now. A few beats passed in silence.

“I have a question.”

“What?”

“Was I really your first?”

Chorong regarded her for a moment, as if she didn’t believe that was an actual question. She rolled her eyes at her once she saw Eunji was serious. “Yes. Really.”

“It didn’t feel like it.” Eunji admitted casually. If Chorong didn’t say anything, Eunji would have assumed Chorong was someone who know exactly what to do. Well, to her at least.

Chorong let out a short laugh. “Too bad I didn’t remember most of it.” Laughter looked good on her, Eunji thought. In that moment, all she wanted to do was to make Chorong laugh more. Chorong freed her fingers from Eunji’s and started to run them up and down Eunji’s thigh absentmindedly.

Just like that, Eunji’s attention was completely warped by the sensation of Chorong’s unknowing teasings. She felt the heat in her cheeks. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was just having Chorong next to her. Maybe it was the combination of both. It didn’t help when Chorong inched closer till their arms touched.

Before Eunji could think further what could happen, the door was opened wide and hastily. It was Bomi.

“We need you.” Bomi said. Chorong’s hand was no longer on Eunji.

“What is it?” Eunji asked with a hint of annoyance in her tone. The sobering situation brought her back down to reality. She had already started to miss Chorong’s warm touch.

“Pat from next door is threatening to call the popo on us. Will you talk to her, pretty please?”

“Why can’t you do it?”

“You know she only likes you.”

Disgruntled, Eunji stood up. She couldn’t avoid the situation. If Chorong wasn’t here, she’d shut the party down now and not have to deal with the neighbour. “Will you be okay?” She looked back at Chorong.

“You go ahead.” The empty expression re Chorong's face.

“I’ll be back.”

Eunji wished so hard to be back in whatever moment they had shared. To be back in that room with Chorong again. She was worried for something that she couldn’t even fully describe. Like she knew something would just slip through her grasp any second.

And she was right.

By the time the problem was dealt with, Eunji came back into an empty room with the empty JD bottle on the floor. She walked out and back to the party, hoping to find Chorong somewhere.

But no sign of her anywhere.

Naeun appeared in front of her with her two hands holding the tequila shots. “Take a shot, birthday girl.” Eunji took the two shots from her and downed them. “Yessssss!”

A week later

After shift ended, Eunji bought herself a coffee-to-go before she meets up with her friends at the get-together Bomi had promised. She was supposed to meet up with Naeun on the way to the gathering. Walking down the path, she almost tripped herself over god knows what. But her coffee did not survive the sudden misfortune.

Coffee was splattered all over the pavement, hot liquid scalding her skin in the process. She hissed at the pain and gently the skin on her hand. At least, she didn’t get any of it on her clothes. Win some and lose some, she guessed.

Across the road from her, a familiar face came into view. Eunji scrutinized at the person and soon realised it was Chorong. She waved at her with a smile, hoping to get her attention. Maybe Chorong could join her at the get-together.

Eunji caught her attention, but the girl didn’t respond except for a blank stare. She watched some guy coming up to her. She watched them hug. She watched Chorong blatantly ignoring her existence. She couldn’t believe at what she was seeing. And yet, for some reason, something in her ached. The pain on her hand forgotten.

“Eunji, you’re such a klutz sometimes. I saw the whole thing.” Naeun’s voice snapped Eunji back to reality.

“Whatever.”

“Who were you waving at?”

“No one. Thought it was someone I knew. But it was just a stranger. Let’s go.” 

//

The plan was to get her belongings back from Changsub and find the girl Chorong had met at a party afterwards. She remembered something about a coffee shop the girl worked at. She regretted not asking for her name when she had the chance.

In the corner of her eyes, someone was waving at her. She watched for a moment, but her sight could only get her so far. Just as she registered on who it was, Changsub appeared infront of her. He awkwardly enveloped her into a hug she had never asked for, blocking her view of the girl she wanted to see again.

Finally separated and at an arm’s length, her eyes searched for her desperately. Alas, the girl was gone.