KAI

"Yah! Kai-ah!" A familiar voice called out. I squirmed in my bed and moaned. I lifted my blanket over my head and pressed both sides of my pillow over my ears, blocking the loud noise.

"If you don't come out here right now, I'll barge into your house if I have to!"

Right, I totally forgot. When I bought the house, I gave an extra set of my keys to D.O so he could take care of my house when I was away. God dammit. Who knows what would happen if he did barge into my house? I could only imagine myself getting stranggled by D.O by his so called techniques of head-locking. 

I got off my bed right away and headed to the door. When I opened it, I caught a whiff of D.O's cologne as he walked in. I closed the door shut, while he settled himself on my couch; the one he told me "suited his taste."

My eyes squinted from waking up. I brushed my hair back with my fingers and took a snapback from the table and wore it on backwards. He totally transformed himself since I last saw him, which was less than 3 hours ago. The first thing that I noticed was his hair was gelled up from his usual black bangs hanging over his forehead. He wore a black fitted t-shirt and tan cargo shorts. 

"Hyung, what are you doing here?" I asked with a tired voice. 

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' I'm here to pick you up."

I rubbed my temples, trying to wake myself up because I was honestly still in dreamland. It was like those moments when you asked yourself, who am I? or where am I?

"The party," he hinted. He stood up and I watched his eyes wander up and down at me. Then he said, "You don't look so good right now. Your eyes are squinted so small that I don't even know if your eyes are opening right now. Your hair is a mess. And the main point... you're in your pajamas."

I looked down at my sweatpants. I'll admit, I am a mess right now, but that's because SOMEONE (ah-hem, D.O cough cough) woke me up all of a sudden and started barking through my ears. "Do I have to go hyung? You're right. I am a mess right now, that's why I need to go back to sleep." I laid myself comfortably on the couch D.O just got off of.

"Kai-ah. You just came back to New York and you want to lay around sleeping? You can do that anytime, but right now you need to come with me to the party. It'll help you get your mind off of things." He tried dragging me up from the couch, but I found myself falling back.

He didn't have to remind me again that what I'm trying to get my mind off was Jiyeon. Thanks for bringing it back hyung! NOT.

But I considered his points and decided to go. "You really have a way with words." This made D.O smirk. I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face, but my arms were too tired and just flopped around like jelly.

I took a quick shower and put on some casual clothes. For the top, I had on a white wife beater and a denim top. I folded the sleeves a bit so it didn't hang down. As for the bottom, I just wore tan cargo shorts. I finished by gelling up my hair, just like D.O.

"Do I look fine now?" 

"Yah! Kim Jongin, are you trying to copy me?" he shrieked. I laughed loudly. It was funny when D.O gets mad because on the outside, he looks like those sweet, nice guys, but in the inside, I don't see the sweetness. Fine, maybe a little.

"Ah hyung, I just put on whatever I saw first. Don't worry. No one would look better like this than you," I said with a hint of sarcasm.

Before I knew it, D.O headlocked me... again. And I patted his arm to stop him... again. But the only thing I didn't do again as how we were at the airport, was repeating, "Don't mess with my hair! Not my hair!"

*****

"Who's party is this anyway?" I wanted to know as soon as we reached the front of the beach. We walked through the sand, the sand squeezing in between our toes.

"It's really ... no one's party," D.O said slowly, looking up at the sky as if the answers were there. That was a habit of his. He was always looking up at the sky, finding words to respond. I found myself also looking up at the sky, trying to see what D.O was looking at.

"It's more of an annual party for the last few moments of having fun at the beach, since the weather is getting cold. I don't know who created this kind of party, so don't ask me."

We made it further down, near the water, seeing crowds of people. The loud music was drumming in my ears, while others dance or sip down the last of their beer. This kind of party definitely didn't suit me. It didn't even seem like an annual party, but more of a club, which I only been to once and would not dare go again. 

D.O and I went to go talk to some of our middle school classmates that also happened to come from Korea and move to here. We all talked about what has been happening these days and about the embarrassing memories we had in middle school. It was nice seeing them as young adults now, but the more we talked, the more I didn't feel like talking. 

We went roaming around to other groups of people, most of them whom I didn't know. I wasn't much of talker, especially when I meet new people, or strangers who I will never see again. When we met other groups, all I said was hi, bye, and my name is Kai. Simple right?

"D.O, I think I'm gonna head over to the food table," I said after a while.

"Mhm, okay, I'll write your name down for the games. I'll catch up with you later after I meet some other people."

He ran pass me to the booth before I can stop him from writing my name. I wasn't in the mood to play stupid games, but whatever. 

I made my way back to the boardwalk where the food was and slipped my flip flops back on; finally being able to feel my toes again. Thank go