Jiyong seemed to completely change almost instantaneously. His face cleared and he started talking about Seunghyun’s past work in a business tone. There was something different in his eyes though, something that looked like the ghost of pain.

“Your work is really good. It’s powerful. It’s really different from what is on the market now. That’s a good and a bad thing. People may grab at it. They may not. There is a little more heft in certain groups debuting lately though so you may be just what they are looking for.” Jiyong explained while rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

Seunghyun nodded, distracted by the look in Jiyong’s eyes. He knew this was important but if he upset Jiyong nothing else was more important. He tried stretching his mind to see what he could have said or done. Maybe he has been too forward with him and now he’s scaring him. He was a little scared himself by his actions. He was planning on taking it slow but his heart and hormones had other ideas.

Seunghyun’s eyes widened. This couldn’t have been about the party last night, right? Did he do something? He thought really hard. Was it because he was rude to Youngbae? He knew he shouldn’t have said anything. It was too early to come to conclusions about their relationship. Maybe he did something to his friends. Did he say something to offend any of them? He couldn’t think of anything. He accepted all his drinks quietly and graciously. He tried to be on his best behavior.

Then he remembered. Jiyong getting angry at his friends, yelling, him holding his hand, Seunghyun jumping on the coffee table, stripping, and rapping for everyone in a drunken slur. . This was bad. He self-consciously covered his stomach with his arms. He took off his shirts. He saw what was under all these shirts. Everyone at the party saw. He felt like throwing up. Jiyong was disgusted with him.

Seunghyun looked up at Jiyong who was looking at him expectantly. He asked him a question? Um…um…what did he ask?

“What was that?” Seunghyun asked.

“I just asked what was on your mind that you can’t focus right now. I know you have a hangover today but you need to try to focus, okay?” Jiyong said.

“I’m sorry. I’m just still piecing things together and I’m really feeling terrible.” Seunghyun said, uncomfortably.

“Ah. I told those bastards to leave you alone but by then it was too late. When they said they were going to test you they usually do little things like having someone put something in someone’s cup without them noticing, meaningless little things. And the last person they tested was Kyunggil and even then it was only to have him jump from a low tree limb onto an air mattress. “ Jiyong grumbled, clenching his fist.

“Wait, so all your buddies at that party have had a test?” Seunghyun asked, gears turning.

“Well, not all of them but my main drinking buddies all have.” Jiyong explained.

Seunghyun felt his insides warm.

“They must like me then.” Seunghyun whispered, smiling.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Jiyong asked.

“Nevermind.” Seunghyun muttered.

“Oh! I get it. They might. I mean, I haven’t thought about it that way. I thought they were just picking on you. I mean, they haven’t tested Bae or the new girl trainee I brought with me last night.” Jiyong said, brightening up.

Seunghyun choked on the coffee he was drinking. Jiyong brought a girl to the party? A new girl trainee? He felt his stomach drop.

“You brought a girl with you?” Seunghyun asked in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone.

“Yeah. She’s older than me so it was kind of awkward. She was also kind of bipolar. One moment she would be yakking on and on about something random, then she would act super shy with her eyes glued anywhere else but on people.” Jiyong said.

“So, YG is thinking about a girl group too?” Seunghyun asked.

“What? No! She may be a solo or part of a duo or something but as far as I know he isn’t thinking about another girl group after Big Mama.” Jiyong said.

Seunghyun let out a sigh of relief. Being around girls made him tense. It wasn’t that he was attracted to them. It was actually the opposite. The girls he knew of always made fun of him for how he looked. All girls are shallow and mean, plain and simple.

“Anyway, I want to apologize for last night.” Seunghyun said filled with remorse.

“Seunghyun, it’s okay. You were so far gone that I’m sure that it was all the alcohol doing that stupid stuff, not you.” Jiyong said softly.

Seunghyun nodded. The thing was, he did do that kind of stuff normally. Well, when he was really relaxed and happy that is. The only drunk action was the stripping. That was purely the soju. And there it was again, this time more intense. Jiyong had a glint of sadness in his eyes. What was it now? He was such a screw up. He buried his face in his hands ashamed.

“What’s wrong, Seunghyun?” Jiyong asked, worried.

Here Jiyong was, sad over something Seunghyun did and he was making sure he was okay. He felt terrible.

“Nothing.” He lied.

“Was it about me taking care of you last night?” Jiyong said so softly it could be barely heard.

“Huh? What? No! At least, I don’t think so.” Seunghyun said shocked.

“Well, is it about me holding your hand?” Jiyong said in the same tone but this time turned away so Seunghyun could only see Jiyong’s ears turning pink.

“No. It wasn’t that. I’m...I’m just so ashamed of what I did at the party.” He said, gripping his shirt tightly.

“Oh…you don’t need to be embarrassed, Seunghyun. Like I said, it was probably just the alcohol doing the stripping, not you.” Jiyong said.

“Yeah, well, I imagine alcohol looks better than I do.” Seunghyun grumbled.

Seunghyun swore that he heard Jiyong mutter something like “yeah, right” but that must have been his imagination again. He knew what he looked like. It was nowhere near impressive.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that again.” Seunghyun said.

“Yup, I’m sure you passed their test. You won’t have to drink that much again unless you want to, that is.” Jiyong said smirking.

“So, does that mean I’m in your group?” Seunghyun asked excitedly.

“I’m pretty sure, although it isn’t really an official group. Well, not yet that is.” Jiyong said, picking up a notebook with a sigh.

Seunghyun beamed. He got his friends’ approval. They liked him. Well, they liked drunk him but that was all he really needed for now. Nothing was going to rain on his parade.

“So, how are you in regards to dancing?” Jiyong asked from across the table.

Okay, maybe there was one thing that could.