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Chapter 14: A Bottle of Acceptance

After two more hours, three more bottles of soju and an empty plate with zero traces of samgyeopsal and lettuce, it seems like everything is shooting off Earth.

[O]: Okay! Okay! This time, I’m going to make you laugh.  Here’s a new one, ‘why didn't the chicken cross the road?’

The other four, grunted in exasperation and mumbled things like ‘not again’, ‘ugh’, ‘stop it already’.

[O]: Come on! You can do this! Hahaha!

[K]: You ripped out and ate its legs.

[T]: It’s in the oven.

[M]: It can’t. The chicken was drunk.

[J]: It has arthritis.

[O]: NG! NG! NG! NG! UFO came by and abducted it.

Key rolled his eyes but still laughed at Onew. Jonghyun, Taemin and Minho, on the other hand, were experiencing second hand embarrassment, covering their faces and trying to stop bursting out from the absurdness. After another round of lame but out of this world jokes by Comedian Onew, I heard soft sobs coming from Jonghyun’s side.

“Thank you guys.” Jjong said, almost in a whisper, with his head rested on Key’s left thigh and his right arm covering his eyes.

“What?” Key softly answered, fixing Jonghyun’s fringe away from his already wet eyes. Tear-machine, however, suddenly sat up, big pearl tears audibly dropping on the floor, his face starting to distort.

“I want to thank you for putting up with my sh*t so far.” He barely made it until the last word until he broke out into loud sobs. I was so worried that I rushed to his side in hope to comfort him; but what surprised me was that all of them were smiling, not a single drop of apprehension in their faces.

Minho might have noticed my panic, so he told me, “It’s okay. He’s always does this when he’s drunk.”

Kibum faced Jonghyun and put both his hands on his cheeks to eventually pull them like elastics. “Aigoo, uri Jjong’s so cute when he cries.” Jjong looked irritated so he slapped Kibum’s hands away.

“Yah! Let me be. It’s been long since I drank this much!” Kibum was about to yell drunk words when Jonghyun jumped to hug him, his large muscles almost choking Key.

“Thank you, Kibummie bummie. For letting me borrow your clothes, for laughing with me at everything, for ing around, for being there when I was so b-broken.” Jonghyun continued to mumble a bunch of random things that made Kibum smile a drunk smile.

“Aigoo, you jerk. Of course, I’m always there. We’re always together, even if I don’t want to. Hihihi.” Jjong ignored Key’s absurd reply, whacked him in the forehead and said in his slurry speech, “Be c-cooperative.”

He then crawled to Minho and snuck himself  under the other’s arm. “Bro, thanks for making me stay sane and crazy.  I might be s-stubborn but you’re so freaking p-patient around me, you make me want to keep on bugging you. And thank you for sharing your food, i know you want it for yourself but if you also loooove me that much, I love you, too.” Tears were still streaming down his cheeks; it’s a waterfall now.

“Yah! Stop making it so awkward! Do you really want me to smother you with kisses?”

“Ewww.” Sniff “No.” Minho shook and scratched his head. Other than being a cry baby, Jonghyun is also bipolar when he’s drunk; switching moods every 5.5 seconds. Jjong continued to crawl where Taemin is, but the maknae already fell fast asleep, probably having too much to drink or too much of showing off his manly self.

“Look at our Taeminnieeee, looking so innocent and pure. Y-you’ll alwaaaaays be our little baby.” He garbled this while squeezing Taemin’s lips, repeatedly, making it look like that of a duck. Since he can’t do much with the corpse-like sleeping guy, he swiftly turned his head and looked at Onew with his still glassy eyes. They stayed like that for like forever, staring into each other’s souls so quietly. There was sniffing on Jjong’s side, not so long after, Onew was starting to sniff, too.

“Don’t look at me like that, there’s water coming out my eyes.” said Onew, who’s trying to maintain sitting upright but fails every time, continuously slipping.

“Why did you even say that? That’s going to make me cry harderrrr. Waaaaah.” And with that cue sound, they clasped arms and wailed harmoniously.

“Why are we crying?”

“I don’t know, hyung. I’m just thankful for everything thus far.”

“Me, too. I’m so happy about everything. Hahahaha.” Now, Onew is laughing with tears. Minho and Key happily joined ‘dumb and dumber’, constantly patting the older men’s back to comfort them. I am looking at such a weird but touching sight; I never thought they were this appreciative. I can’t help but smile and let them be.

“Arasso, I think we had enough for tonight.” said Minho, finally getting up from the floor and carefully making Onew stand up.

“Yah! Minho! I can’t lift Jjong! Help me!” Key complained.

[M] “You can do it! Hwaiting!”

[K] “Yaaahhhh! Aissh. Jonghyun-ah~ Please stand up by yourself. Huhuhu.”

[J] “I-I can’t. I think I’m about to….throw up.”

[K] “Ewww. Then palli, palli.”

Key effortlessly made Jonghyun stand up, probably caused by a surge of adrenaline at the thought of digested samgyeopsal on his beloved Chanel pants. He led the drunk man to his room.

[K] “How about Taemin, Minho?”

[M] “Good luck on trying to wake him up, heh.”

[K] “Arachi. I’ll just bring him a blanket.”

In the end, it was Key and Minho who cleaned up the mess on the floor and I ought to help them.

“I’m sorry.” Key’s drunk voice behind my back startled me.

“Omo. Why?”

“I was tooooo scared of you. But now, uhm, I still am, only a little. Ugh. What am I saying?” I chuckled at his drunk and confused face.

“I understand you. I was afraid of myself, too.” I smiled.

“Chincha? Then I’m not the only one. Ahahahaha!” I’m starting to feel a little lighter around them. Tense feelings have gone away; the draped curtain on my shoulders is starting to lift up, revealing a promising view.

“NEKI-NEKO!!!!!” Wah. Was that Jonghyun?

“Go! Your prince needs you. Ahahaha!” And he winked as he unsteadily pranced towards his room.

What the…? What does he mean by that? I half ran to Jonghyun’s room to see what the fuzz was all about. And did he just call me “Neki-Neko” again? Did the world turn upside down?

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Again, he was not wearing any top. Someone please tell me, how will I ever get used to this scene? He’s laid down so lazily and messily. The belt on his pants is loosened, his head awkwardly angled on the pillow and beads of sweat were rolling down his chest. His eyes are half opened, I bet with one flick on the forehead, he’d be fast asleep. I, on the other hand, am about to die my second death.

“Why are you just s-s-standing there? Come here.” He tapped his bed side and I came forward, like a puppy wagging my invisible tail.

“Neko, I can’t sleep. Make me sleep. Jebaaaaaal~” OH. MY. GOD. Why is he so whiny? My mind is full of knotted threads and blasting colors; I can never think straight like this. On my peripheral view, I caught a glimpse of a red pencil and somewhere in my cluttered and hazy brain, I remembered something. Someone used to ruffle my hair to make me sleep, but the identity of who does that is still unclear; a blurry image, a foggy view. I’m not even sure if it’s a real memory or something that’s made up by the existence of me as a ghost.

“Yaaaaaaahhhhh~ Make me sleep. Noooooooow~ Nekoooooooo~ What are you doing there?”

“Arasso, I’m here now. Did you throw up?” I have this urge to take care of him. Is this what a noona feels when taking care of a drunk younger brother?

Or is this… But I shrugged the thought away.

“Aniiiiiiiii~ I just want to sleeeeeep~” I better make him sleep as soon as possible, all these whiny voices of Kim Jonghyun, I feel like bursting to ashes.

“Okay, okay. Is it okay if I ruffle your hair?” With his eyes closed and happily curved lips, he nodded to me cutely. Since I can’t touch him, I used the edge of pencil to gently tousle his bangs.

“Wow. I like it. Do this everyday, jebaaaaaaaaaal~ I don't want those nightmares again”. And he dozed off right after that. Jonghyun headed to dreamland while I was looking at my very own dream.