ChapterFour

If there’s anything that Yuri was, it was cowardly.  She tried to confront Yunho and looked for him.  She went to his dorm and attempted to knock.  A guy from the next room came out of his room which made her cower and scuttle outside.  She wouldn’t have known what to say anyway.  She ended up in a cheap tavern that students go frequently.  There weren’t much people around and she has seen people she knew but chose not to look at them and headed straight to the lounge which only had three stools.  She would be stupid to get drunk that night because she had an early class.  She’s going to have one drink and ignore everyone else in the room.

“Beer,” she muttered as she felt the bartender in front of her.

Seconds later, a full glass of beer was pushed under her nose.  She could smell the bitterness of the alcohol through the foam.  She inhaled it and sipped the foam on top of her glass.  It tasted like her and she could feel the heat run through her abdomen. 

“You look miserable.”  She looked harshly at the bartender.  She knew she looked like miserable, there was no need to rub it in.  Her gaze was met by a pair of amused laughing doe eyes.

“It’s you,” she said weakly.  It was Luhan, her brother’s best friend and hero.  He was also studying in the university and bartending must be his part-time job.  He smiled at her and she felt disgusted.  Luhan was extremely good-looking and a nice guy but him being his brother’s best friend just irked the hell out of her.  “What are you smirking at?”

“I always thought that you’re strong.  You always were.  I mean, how could you have stand up high school without having real friends, huh?”  Stupid, stupid Luhan.  It’s true, she didn’t have friends because she was either always studying or practicing to get herself into the college of her choice.  She just gave him a disapproving look and he just laughed it off.  “Come, give me your phone.”

“What for?”  She took out her phone despite being suspicious and gave it to him.  He took a picture of himself smiling with her phone.  “Are you serious?  You are not making that one as my wallpaper.”

“I’m going to send this to Kai.  He said that you haven’t been calling,” he said as he busied himself with her phone.

“Jongin.”

“Fine.  I’m going to send this to Jongin.”  Ever since her brother started hanging out with Luhan, there had been an obsession to call himself Kai.  “He’s your brother.  You should contact him more often.”

“You’re like his wife,” she said and drank more from her glass.

“Uh,” he said, wide-eyed, and passed her phone back to her.  “Someone’s calling you.”

She stared at her phone’s screen.  Yunho’s name that was indicated made her grimace.  She has no intention of answering it.  Just let it ring.

“Answer it,” Luhan urged her.

“Leave me alone,” she groaned and took another drink from her glass.  This won’t be enough, she thought as looked at the remaining tangy-colored drink. 

“Is he the reason why you don’t look like you?” Luhan asked, looking too serious.

“I was born looking like this,” she answered and let out a hollow laugh.  To her horror, Luhan picked up the phone again.

“Hello,” he said.  There was a pause.  “No, this is her phone.  She’s here.”  Another pause, “She’s not in the bathroom.  I am looking right at her and she didn’t want to answer the phone so I did.”

She had the urge to smack Luhan in the head so he would stop.  Why did her brother befriend this guy?  Still, she didn’t do anything to stop him.

“I’m a bartender and she’s currently on her third Long Island mix~ huh?  Oh not really but -” his words were cut off and eyed her.  “You know where the Master Brew is?  Good.” 

When he finally put down her phone, he just looked at her.  “What?” she snapped.

“Nothing,” he said and gave her a shot glass with a darker shade of what she had been drinking.  “You’ll need it.”

“How would you know?”

“I’m a bartender, you’re not the first miserable person I’ve seen,” he said nonchalantly.  “You may not want to say it but I know those kinds of looks.”

She was older than Luhan yet she feels like he’s the one who’s taking care of her.  “Luhan,” she said to get his attention again.  “Do you like me?”

She knew that he was surprised at first but when he looked straight at her, there was already an amusement playing in his eyes.  “What do you think?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t think so.”  Luhan laughed out loud and ruffled her hair.

“If you were younger than me and thinks less of the things around you, I’d probably fall head over heels.”

She snorted and took the drink that he gave her.  It burned and heat quickly spread through her body.  She adjusted herself to the lingering aftertaste which made her grimace.  She heard Luhan laugh a little.  “So you like bimbos?”  She could finally feel the effect that little drink he gave her.

“Just stop over-thinking about everything and you’ll be fine.”

After a while, she felt herself being hoisted out of her seat.  “Hey!” she protested in a drunken way.

“What were you doing?” It was unmistakably Yunho’s voice.  She heard more voices as she felt herself being fully lifted.  She couldn’t will herself to move on her own as she could feel herself giving in to sleep.

“Do you like me?” she mumbled.  She didn’t know if he could hear but she just wanted to know.  She heard him laugh.  Bastard.

“Of course.  Why do you think I’d go out with you?”

“I think you’re lying,” she said suddenly having the courage she didn’t have earlier.  “You don’t like me.”  She felt his hold on her tense. 

“I don’t know what makes you say these things but I’ll wait for you to get sober,” he said trying to be patient with her.

“You’re just playing with me, I know.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.  I’m not playing with you,” he said while having a hard time because she started struggling out of his hold.  “Come on, stop this.  We’ll talk about this tomorrow morning when you’re sober.”

“No.  I don’t want to settle this until tomorrow.  I won’t be able to sleep.”

Yunho stopped and set her down carefully.  She wobbled but he kept her from falling.  She let him hold her balance, she knew she couldn’t stand on her own and she won’t be stupid to sprawl on the ground while she ends everything between them.

“Let’s not see each other anymore.” 

“If this is because of the picture earlier in the paper, I don’t think it would be reason enough t-”

“It’s more than that.  I know you’ll do something about it so stopped worrying.  Just don’t ask me why.”

“Damn it.  Don’t give bull like that.” 

“I don’t want to make a drama out of this situation, Yunho.  Let’s just stop here.”  For the first that day, Yuri had the urge to cry.  She didn’t even know when she began letting her emotion get the better of her.  

“I can’t accept this,” he said making sure she understood that he won’t stop until she told him the real reason.  Yuri gritted her teeth and almost stumbled down as she tried to get away from him.

“Fine!” she said with every force in her body she could muster.  “I don’t like you, Jung Yunho and I don’t want to waste my time anymore.  It was great being with you but I have enough of it.  I guess a person couldn’t really stay to be with another person if it’s all an act.”

“Yuri…”

“You wanted to hear the truth?  You heard it.”

There was a heavy silence between them.  They just looked at each other, trying to tell what the other would do next.  After a long while, Yunho pulled her close to him, trying to support her balance.

“I’ll take you to your dorm.”

The long walk they had to her dorm was accompanied by a grudging silence.  Yuri was reluctant to let him walk her but she wasn’t stupid to trust her ego to walk alone when she could barely stand on her own.  When Seohyun opened the door for them, she didn’t ask anything and let her settle to her bed.  When the lights went off, she covered herself with a blanket and cried herself to sleep. 

The next day, Yuri came out of their dorm like another person.  She didn’t allow herself to trust anyone anymore.  And whenever she and Yunho would cross path, they acted as if they were strangers.

They were just even.  He wounded her heart and she wounded his ego.  She vowed not to let them have another match because she was afraid she’d lose everything that she could if they ever give themselves another chance.

A/N:   Another update!!  Yay!  I was in the mood so here we go.  I don't know when I'll be able to update again, hopefully soon.  And guys, did you like Luhan in this story?  You'll be reading about him again for the last chapter.  And thank you for those who said they like Baekhyun, Luhan and Kai!!  I hope you enjoyed the chapter.     

Also thank you for those who subscribed, you make my heart warm for those who voted for this story.  I was surprised, really, when I browsed YunRi stories by votes, I saw this story on the first page.  Thank you, thank you!  I wanted to finish this by the fifth chapter but because I'm really, really glad for your warm response, I think I could stretch this for one more chapter.  

If anybody knows some good KaiStal read, please share it to me.  I'm currently basking myself with KaiStal feels as our precious OTP is hibernating.  Still, YunRi FTW!