Sprawling in a private lounge with the crazy color scheme and the glowing screen of the plasma tv, the swanky nightclub was in full swing as the group rested their exhausted selves on the lush, velvet couches.

Both Hyorin and Donghae were a little more than buzzed from drinking too much.

"Can I get a picture of you?" Donghae asked loudly, his face flushed.

"Whyyy?" Hyorin slurred.

"So I can show Santa what I want for Christmas."

"Silly Haehae," Hyorin playfully pounded Donghae's chest with her fists. "I'm ain't for sale," she added sassily, wagging her finger.

Cherie and Hyukjae exchanged bemused glances. They clearly knew how their best friends acted when they were drunk. They were flirts by nature, so add the two together with a couple of glasses of alcohol and there was free entertainment right there.

"Well, this is mildly amusing," Hyukjae deadpanned, keeping an anxious eye on his best friend so he doesn't go overboard.

"Yeah." Cherie replied.

"You guys, I think we should play a dare-game," Leeteuk offered, turning down the volume of the TV.

"Are you sure it's safe having those two drunkards playing?" Hyukjae joked, pointing towards Donghae and Hyorin.

"I'M SOBER!" Donghae raised his hands in the air.

"MEE TOO," Hyorin raised her hands too, trying to reach higher towards the ceiling than Donghae.

~*~*~*~

"I dare you to prank call the police," Hyorin ordered Leeteuk.

Leeteuk dialed 112.

"Uhh, ciao. Do you speak English?"

"This is Milan police. What your emergency?"

"Oh I... I think I'm locked in my car," Leeteuk rasped, his eyes wide in feign terror.

"You in the lock car?"

"Yes I'm locked inside."

"... idiota."

The dispatcher hung up.

Leeteuk burst out laughing as he told the group what the person said.

They all cracked up.

"I dare you to... wear makeup while singing and dancing to 'I'm A Little Teapot' outside on top of the bar!" Cherie dared Donghae boldly.

"Would you do anything I dared back if I did it?" Donghae asked deviously.

"Bring it on."

And so Donghae really did it.

With the help of the girls and their limited supply of makeup in their purses, Donghae strutted proudly out of the lounge with his glittery eyeshadow and big fake eyelashes.

"I'M A LITTLE TEAPOT SHORT AND STOUT
HERE IS MY HANDLE
HERE IS MY SPOUT
WHEN SOMEONE POURS ME I GO LIKE THIS-
LADEEDEEDUMDEELEEDUMDEEDEDUM!"

Donghae belted loudly out of tune as he placed his hands on his hips and pretended to be a teapot. Although a little tipsy, he managed to attract a bunch of people. The group stood to the side, guffawing hysterically.

"I'M DYING. THIS IS SUCH GOOD BLACKMAILING MATERIAL!" Leeteuk gasped in between his high-pitched laughs. His face muscles were beginning to cramp as he recorded Donghae on his phone. Once Donghae finished, he stumbled off of the bar top and made his way towards Cherie.

"There. I did it. Now your turn."

"Fine. What is it?" Cherie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I dare you," Donghae looked at Hyukjae and his grin turned into an evil smirk. "to wear lipstick and kiss Hyuk's collarbone."

"WHAT?" Hyukjae boomed hastily. "You're drunk. You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Sure I do. That's why I'm making Cherie do it," Donghae murmured happily, his eyes slanted. "Can you do it?"

The club was pounding with eardrum-bursting music, people were dancing and watching, the temperature was rising, and if Cherie did Donghae's dare, she didn't know if she could control herself.

She didn't know if her and Hyukjae's relationship would stay the same.

"Come on. You can't chicken out. We made a deeeeeeeal!" Donghae yelled.

People around starting chanting "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!"

Cherie looked at Hyukjae, who was avoiding her gaze. She couldn't just back out of her promise, even though Donghae was about to pass out from the alcohol and would probably forget about it the next day.

She bit her lips. Taking out her favorite MAC lipstick, she applied it evenly and turned to Hyukjae, who was turning a dark shade of magenta.

Little did she know that Donghae specifically chose Hyukjae's collarbone over any other part of his body because Hyukjae's weak spot was his collarbone.

More specifically, his ual weak spot.

Whenever Donghae or Leeteuk or any other guy friend would touch his collarbone, he would shiver with disgust and push them away. They eventually found out why after seeing Hyukjae furiously rubbing his collarbone whenever they watched steamy bed scenes during movies.

Hyukjae looked at Donghae with total venom and hatred b in his eyes, but Donghae just shrugged. It was about time Hyukjae had some fun with a girl he liked.

Delicately loosening Hyukjae's bowtie and unfastening the top buttons of his pink shirt, Cherie's shaking hands brushed against Hyukjae's bare skin, causing ripples of ecstacy to travel down his body. Gulping, he closed his eyes and tried desperately to think of something else, something unattractive. Something like dead leaves or slugs. But his mind kept on wandering back to Cherie out on the dancefloor. He had felt a spark, an electric jolt that he hadn't felt before. He was mezmerized by her mere existence with no way out.

Finally ing all of his buttons, Cherie slid his shirt off and prepared to kiss him. The crowd was loving it, hooting and dog-whistling at the sight of his exposed body, pounding tables and chairs like wild animals and causing a ruckus.

Suddenly overcome with an unfamiliar rush of agressiveness, an urging kind of boldness he never thought he had, Hyukjae pulled Cherie into his bare chest and looked deep into her eyes with a glint of desire. His arms encircled her body, bringing their bodies even closer than before. Feeling her beating heart against his, Hyukjae smiled.

"Go ahead."

Cherie was hypnotized. As if under a spell, she wrapped her arms around his back and kissed him, feeling the fireworks burst in her heart.

Hyukjae nearly collapsed with longing. He wanted her to kiss him longer, with more intensity. He closed his eyes and resisted the urge to bring up to his.

It was so, so hard.

~*~*~*~

Getting back home after 5AM and sleeping until three in the afternoon did not help Donghae's hangover at all as he got up from his bed, groaning loudly as all the blood rushed to his head. His brain was beyond fried with exhaustion, in addition to it feeling like it was being pierced by a blunt screwdriver. 

"I think I can actually see stars and chirping birds circling my head," he complained to Hyukjae, who had just walked into the room with a cup of water and an aspirin.

"That's what you get for making Cherie do that dare last night."

"Dude, what happened to you is my question. You were suddenly the Hulk or something. I for sure thought that you were going to be freakishly mad at me for making her do that," Donghae uttered with newfound respect for his best friend. "You were the boss!"

"That felt... really good." Hyukjae admitted. He hadn't been able to sleep well since he spent the whole night and morning thinking about that simple kiss.

"Did you like, have a reaction?" Donghae glanced quickly towards Hyukjae's crotch area.

"Don't even go there," Hyukjae looked menacingly at Donghae, who shrunk back into his bed squirming with laughter. "YOU DID!"

Sighing, Hyukjae sat down beside Donghae.

"I think I'm starting to like her. A lot."

"Then go after her. Make her your girl. You do realize all of us have been trying to set you two up right?"

"Yeah, but it's never going to happen..." and Hyukjae proceeded to tell Donghae about her non-exclusitivity.

"That's bull. If you really like her, tell her and list out the reasons why she would need you to be there for her as support."

"You really think so?"

"Lee Hyukjae. Do you really need to ask that? She's already kissed your collarbone for cripe's sake. That's a restricted area even for me or Teuk. That's how special she is."

~*~*~*~

Replay. Rewind. Replay. Rewind. Replay.

'Great. This is just great. Just when I thought I was getting over Kyuhyun, here comes Hyukjae with his collarbone. Now I have to worry about two guys instead of focusing on my photography. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. Why do people have to have feelings? Why can't we just produce aually like amoebas?'

"Wishing you were a single-celled organism again?" Hyorin asked from her bed, carefully watching Cherie pacing back and forth on the balcony.

"Yes and it's all your fault."

"My fault? What does this have to do with me?" Hyorin protested.

"I don't know. I shouldn't have kissed him. I should've just backed out. Now my tummy is doing flipflops and I can't think straight and Hyukjae's running around in my mind like a hungry dog off a leash."

"Great analogy."

"Thanks." Cherie stepped back back inside and jumped onto Hyorin's bed. "But it wasn't even on his lips! Why?!"

"I don't know. Maybe because you like him?"

"Shhhh! Don't say that."

"I feel inclined to speak the truth."

"Then lie."

"You're so confusing," Hyorin shook her head. "And besides, now that you're actually in Italy, all you've done is break Kyuhyun's heart, toyed with Hyukjae's, and ate like a pig. Where did achieving your dreams go?"

Cherie scoffed. "The opportunities just haven't come yet."

"Opportunities don't just come knocking. You have to go out and find them. You have to be 100% in the game or there'll be plenty of distractions to prevent you from even starting. I'm starting to suspect that you aren't giving your full effort because you aren't doing it for the right reasons anymore."

Cherie looked at Hyorin warily. Even her best friend, who was suspiciously really sober at that moment, was starting to doubt her dreams.

Was she truly doing it just because she wanted justice for her sister? Was that the only drive behind her intentions? Did she truly want to do photography just for herself instead of making it a stunt to prove to her parents and family that unconventional jobs were worth the time and shame them with the guilt that her sister wasn't living a useless life in trying to pursue painting. Was it the cosmic forces trying to tell her that her ignorant insistence in remaining single was a bunch of baloney?

She really needed to reorganize her thoughts.

"I'm in denial aren't I?"

"Yes you are."

"Great."

"At least you finally know."

"What do I do now?"

"First, work things out with Kyu. He's leaving tomorrow."

"Leaving? Where?!"

"I'll let him tell you personally."

Cherie stayed silent. She used to know everything going on in her once-best-friend's life.

Now she knows practically nothing.

"After that, let Hyukjae know your true feelings."

"But-"

"Your true feelings," Hyorin emphasized. "You like him. Don't deny it. You do."

Cherie let out a giant sigh.

"Yes I do."

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