CHAPTER SIX

I groaned as I walked out of the restaurant with heavy footsteps. Taehyun followed behind me with a satisfied grin on his face. I shouldn’t have agreed on the competition and have granting wishes as a reward. What have I gotten myself into?

“Yah noona, stop walking so fast!”  I sighed dejectedly as Taehyun caught up to my pace and stood next to me. He tilted his head to the side and spoke to me, “You seem upset.” I rolled my eyes and met his gaze. He, on the other hand, gave me a relaxed smile and casually placed his arm on my shoulder, encouraging me to start walking with him again. “Aw come on noona, it’s not so bad!”

“I can’t believe I agreed on this. WHY?!” I whined as we continued walking.

Taehyun smiled. “A wish is a wish to be granted.”

My mind flashed back to what happened a little earlier that evening:

*FLASHBACK*

I smiled at him. “Bottoms up Taehyun shi!” And with that, our 20 minute timer started. Without wasting any time, I immediately lifted my spoon to swallow a mouthful of ramen soup. Oh crap. This is going to be bad. I almost choked right away but thank goodness there was a glass of ice water in front of me. I quickly grabbed it and emptied half of its content. I glanced at Taehyun to see him eating his bowl of noodles without seemingly any problems. “Are you crazy? This is so spicy!”

To my dismay, he merely shrugged and continued eating. Holy smokes, this guy had gone mad! He makes it seem like he’s eating a regular bowl of noodles! I looked down at my bowl and gulped. Yunju, you gotta finish this! You’re competing against the jerk sitting across from you! Worse of all, you don’t know what he will make you do as punishment if you lose! Having a new motivation and determination in my mind now, I started to tackle my bowl again. I didn’t even count how many glasses of water I drank, how many times I have choked, or how many tear drops have slithered down my face. What mattered was that I have managed to finish the bowl down to the last drop right at 19 minutes and 58 seconds. What I didn’t realize though, was that Nam Taehyun had finished moments ago and was watching me eat with his arms crossed. How can he look okay when I am almost dying right now?

“Damn, you look like a mess.” He said disgustedly, waving a paper napkin out for me.

“Thanks…” I said sarcastically and quickly took the napkin to wipe my tears and to blow my nose. My face must be so red now from all the spices. Heck, I don’t think I can even feel my lips. I reached out for some more ice water.

“I can’t believe you actually finished it. Good job!” He smiled.

“How the heck did you finish so fast? Are you like… Immuned to spicy food?”

He laughed. “No, I just enjoy spicy food.”

By then, the waiter came back to congratulate us and gave us each a t-shirt to wear. He also asked us to wear it right away so he can take a picture to put up on the wall inside the restaurant. After what seemed like forever for me to calm my taste buds down, I reluctantly wore the t-shirt and posed for a picture. In it, Taehyun had his hand on my shoulder and his other hand in a peace sign. He also had a cheeky grin. I, on the other hand, looked about half dead and had super red lips. If you look close enough, I swear you can see tear stains on my cheeks.

“Can you take another one please?” Taehyun requested for the waiter to take another photo while holding his phone out.

“Why do you want another picture when I look so miserable right now?” I asked. Taking a picture is fine but maybe not when I’m in this state.

Taehyun shrugged. “I realized it’s my first time taking a photo with you. Plus, it’s our first meal in Japan. Plus, you lost the bet. It’s quite memorable!”

The waiter snapped another photo for us and Taehyun got his phone back.

“What do you mean I lost the bet?” I retorted immediately while wearing my jacket, getting ready to leave. “In fact I finished within 20 minutes!”

“But I finished before you did.”

I gasped. “WHAT? That’s not fair! Technically we both won!”

Taehyun looked unsatisfied. “How can there be two winners?”

I stood in shock. You’re kidding me kiddo. I could have stopped eating if I knew! “Well, in my dictionary, two winners are okay.”

“Then what do we do about winners able to have their wish granted?”

“Uh… Well we will both grant each other a wish then.” There’s no way I’m not getting something out of this. I probably just killed my stomach for it. It’s not worth it at all but I might as well make the most out of the situation.

Taehyun thought for a while then his face lightened up. “Fine. But I get two wishes instead.” I was about to protest but he beat me to it. “If you say no then I’ll get one wish and you will get none.”

I sighed. “Whatever. What do you want anyways?”

“Let’s go drinking noona!”

“What?”

Taehyun cocked his eyebrow up. “Drinking… You know. Like alcohol.”

“No way in hell am I drinking with you.” I shook my head constantly but it didn’t work.

“Why not? You have no say in this by the way because I can do whatever I want~” Taehyun said excitedly as he spotted an izakaya across the street. “Let’s go there!”

*END OF FLASHBACK*

So here I am, standing in front of this izakaya restaurant with a giggling Taehyun beside me. Oh dear, why is he already giggling when he still hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol yet? This isn’t good. And I personally don’t like drinking as I was told I do many crazy things. Maybe I’ll get away with not drinking later.

We soon got sat down in the restaurant and Taehyun quickly scanned through the menu.

“What are you!? An alcoholic??” I questioned upon seeing a really excited Taehyun.  “I think I’ll just get a coke.”

“Yah! Noona you got to drink too! Drink with me!” Taehyun whined.

Uh… Gotta make up some excuse now quick! It’ll be so embarrassing if he finds out that I can’t drink. “Well, we have work tomorrow! In fact, you have a performance okay!”

Taehyun rolled his eyes. “Give me a break! A few drinks won’t hurt you!”

“Uh… I just don’t want to.”

“Why? You can’t even handle a few drinks?”

Man… He’s really getting on my nerves today. “No. I never said that.”

“Then you’re drinking what I’m ordering.”

“Wait-“ He quickly waved a waiter over before I was able to say anything and ordered what he wanted.

Crap. This isn’t going to go well. What am I going to do? Maybe my alcohol tolerance has gotten better since last time? I kept my fingers crossed. Soon enough, our drinks came and Taehyun’s eyes sparkled. Maybe he is secretly an alcoholic? But I have never seen him drink before. This is weird.

“Do you really like drinking?” I asked curiously as he poured out our soju from the bottle.

“No.” He said bluntly. I knitted my eyebrows upon hearing his answer. “Well you sure look like you do and that you drink a lot.”

“Actually, I’ve never drank before.”

“What?”

“I’ve never drank before.” He repeated.

“WHAT? Then why did you want to come?” Just what is he up to!?! He’s driving me nuts!

He laughed. “I thought it’d be a good experience. We’re in Japan after all, away from Korea! I can’t go drinking in any restaurants since people may recognize me.” He sighed but his eyes lit up again. “So let’s just relax and do whatever we want! Leader Seungyoon isn’t here either so there’s no one to nag me.”

“You could have asked the other three.”

“Nah. They won’t come. Mino is probably in the hotel watching some sappy drama series and crying with a box of Kleenex right now. Seunghoon probably has a mask on but got so impatient waiting for it that he somehow drifted off to sleep.” Taehyun paused. “And of course, Jinwoo is too scared to go out of the hotel. He gets lost way too easily.”

I sighed and banged my head on the table in defeat. “Then why me?!!”

“Hehe.” Taehyun flashed his toothy grin. “A bet is a bet, you have no choice.” I lifted my head up and pursed my lips. He placed a glass in front of me and clinked his glass against mine. “Cheers!”

Well, maybe I’ll just take a sip. A small sip won’t hurt right? Then I’ll attempt to get him drunk so he won’t realize how little I’m drinking. Good idea Yunju! I lifted the glass to my lips and took a sip. “Bottoms up noona!”

I was about to object what he said but he pushed my glass up, not letting me put it down, forcing the liquid down my throat. “MM MMMM MMMM M MM!!!!”

“I can’t hear you!” Taehyun said teasingly. I didn’t even realize I finished the whole glass when Taehyun placed his arm down.

“YAH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!” Angrily, I shoved his glass of liquid down his throat too.

His eyes widened and he immediately coughed after I successfully emptied that glass of alcohol in him. Revenge is just so sweet. “Oh my god it tastes so bad!”

“That’s why I told you I don’t want to drink any!” I said, crossing my arms across my chest.

Taehyun made the most disgusted face that I’ve ever seen. “I don’t understand why people like it!”

“It’s an acquired taste I guess.” I then felt my heart beating faster and my breath shortening a little bit. What is happening! Is the alcohol kicking in already?

“Are you okay noona?”

No way in hell am I going to show him I’m getting tipsy already. “No, I just feel like the restaurant is getting a little stuffy.” I said, taking my jacket off.

“Me too.” Taehyun nodded and took his jacket off as well. “Man, we still have a bottle of this crap left. It’s a cold drink maybe it’ll cool you down a little.” He quickly took my glass and refilled it with more of the horrendous liquid.

“Uh… Well okay.” I didn’t even know why I said that but I did. “You should drink some too. Maybe it’ll cool you down too.”

“Good idea.”

I then proceeded to fill his glass up. We clinked our glasses together and said another “cheers” again and swallowed our drink in one go.

---

When I woke up the next morning, I was in bed and my eyes looked up to face a ceiling. How the heck did I get back to the hotel last night? I studied my surroundings again. Right… This IS my room. I glanced to my left to see Hyejin’s bed still empty. Poor girl is still working?! Crazy! I looked at the desk to see the clock which read 6:23am. Wow it’s so early? What did I even do last night? Somehow, I couldn’t recall anything.

Then I suddenly felt extremely thirsty. Maybe I’ll get up for a glass of water. I attempted to sit up but my head started exploding in every way possible. Why is my head aching so badly?! What did I even do?! I didn’t manage to hit my head last night did I? Wait… My mind somehow have glimpse of last night’s events flashing in my mind. Okay first I went to get ramen with Taehyun. My taste buds began to hurt just thinking about the spiciness. I shuddered at the thought. Okay… Then we went across the street to another restaurant afterwards. I closed my eyes and squinted for a second. WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER ANYTHING?

All of a sudden I heard a noise beside me. My body froze. My heart beat stopped and I made myself very still. What. Was. THAT!? The noise came again, something similar to heavy breathing. Next was a snore. A SNORE? I reluctantly turned to my right to see the source of the noise. To my horror, it was a person, with their arms slashed across my collar bone. Oh my goodness no wonder I felt so heavy and couldn’t get up just now! Who the heck is this person thinking it’s okay to share a bed with me?

I tried to get another glimpse of the person who was sleeping on their front and had their hair all over their face. I held my breath and carefully lifted up my arm to silently sweep away the disheveled hair. Please don’t tell me- OH MY GOD NAM TAEHYUN? WHY?! “AHHHHH!!!” I immediately flung his arm away from my body and sat up to kick him off the bed. Unfortunately, I kicked a little too hard that his head smashed against the wall and his limp body fell on the floor with a loud “thump.”

“OUCH!” He sat up rubbing his eyes and looked at me. “Why did you kick me? Are you crazy?!” He complained and stood up right away, his hand rubbing against the part of his head that just hit against the wall.

“I should be asking YOU if YOU’RE crazy!” I immediately said. “Why are you even on my bed?! Huh? Oh my god what did you do last night?” My mind thinks of the worse things sometimes and I quickly lifted up the covers to see if I’m wearing any clothes. . All I had on were my tank top and underwear. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” Feeling angrier than ever, I quickly got up with the blanket wrapped around me, and preceded to find the sharpest object in the room. Just my luck, there wasn’t any. Taehyun, it must be your lucky day or this hotel would be a crime scene for murder today.

“NOONA CALM DOWN! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

“WHAT?” I sarcastically let out a laugh. “What the heck are you talking about you bastard! I can’t believe you’re going to take advantage of me when I’m drunk you piece of !” I randomly grabbed the remote control for the TV and flung it at Taehyun’s direction to which he dodged right away.

“AHH~” He quickly got up on his feet again. “Calm down noona! You don’t remember anything last night do you?” I paused to think. “Yeah see! I thought so! BECAUSE YOU WERE A MESS LAST NIGHT! For your info, it was YOU who was stripping your clothes off okay! If I didn’t stop you, you would probably be right now!”

I can feel smoke fuming out of my head at the moment and I threw a pillow at his direction to which he dodged too. “Ugh!” I sat down on the bed, frustrated. “Why can’t I remember anything?”

Taehyun then carefully sat down on the bed too when he noticed that I became more sane. I glared at him and he gulped immediately. “Okay… Well it might be better that you don’t remember anything.”

“Why?” Curiosity took over me and I just had to ask. “What did I do?” But seeing Taehyun stay silent was not a good sign. Oh my goodness then I really need to know! “TELL ME. NOW!”

Taehyun brought up both his hands to silence me. “Breathe. Keep calm and carry on, right? Forget it!”

Okay… I remember drinking at the izakaya. Maybe a little way too much since Taehyun managed to force down a glass down my throat. Then… I remember the restaurant getting super hot and then we drank another glass to cool down. Then… I shivered and my body jerked up and I just stared at Taehyun. “Oh .” Flashes of what happened last night came floating back into my mind.

*Flashback*- to the restaurant from last night

“OH MY GOD NOONA ARE YOU OKAY?” Taehyun asked with concern as I tried to get up to use the washroom but ended up sprawling on the floor.

*hic*”Heehee! I- I’m fine!” *hic*”The floor is just really… Wobbly!” I tried to get up again and managed to walk a couple of steps holding onto the wall.

“You don’t look okay. Let’s leave and go back to the hotel now.” Taehyun said as he tried to hold onto my shoulder to help me walk.

I laughed hysterically. “Hahaha. Okay let’s, let’s gooooo!” I swear I felt fine but I didn’t expect what happened the next moment. I ended up throwing up on another customers’ table. I heard Taehyun gasp and apologized on my behalf right away. I slightly remembered that I somehow ended up crawling out the door of the restaurant.

*End of flash back*

“Omo! OMO!” I clasped my hand over my mouth. “I THREW UP IN THE RESTAURANT?”

Taehyun sighed and nodded with droopy eyelids. Taking a closer look, I see huge dark circles underneath his eyes. I suddenly felt very bad. “That was taken care of, don’t worry.” He paused and continued. “Do you… Uh, by any chance remember anything else?”

“There’s… There’s more?” I asked. Oh dear… I remember it.

*Flashback 2*

We were walking back to the hotel after leaving the restaurant. Not much people were around and the sky was dark. In the middle of the streets were us, one looking quite miserable and the other being loud and obnoxious.

“Yah, Yunju noona, are you really okay?” Taehyun asked while placing his hand on my forehead.

“I’m-“ *hic* “I’m okay.” I continued walking with Taehyun holding me up. Why do I feel so tipsy…? I looked down on the ground and brightened up all of a sudden. “Eh…? Taehyun-ah where are we? Why are we walking on clouds? HAHAHA!”

“What? Clouds?” Taehyun managed to catch his breath and asked. Omo… Was I that heavy that he’s going out of breath by supporting my weight?

“Yeah look!” I spun around to show him our surroundings. “So fluffy!”

Taehyun tried to go with the flow. “Uh… Yeah very fluffy clouds indeed. But there are more clouds in the hotel so let’s hurry back okay?”

“NO!” I stopped walking. “You’re lying!!” I pushed him back and tried to continue walking on my own. “I don’t need your help!” I then started to break out into tears. “Nam Taehyun! Why are you so mean to me? WHY! What did I even do to you!”

“Whoa!! Stop crying!” Taehyun said trying to wipe my tears away but I furiously swapped his hand away.

I continued to scream, even louder this time. “I don’t understand! You’re only acting this way towards me! Why! It bothers me so much! Aish you…” *hic* “I hate you!! But I don’t hate you!! Ah I’m going crazy!” By then, a few people walking past us gave a weird look and attempted to stay a little further away on the side walk. From the corner of my eyes I see Taehyun bowing at the strangers apologetically. “Ugh! You jerk! You’re always up to no good! Always making me do things for you…” I continued ranting while Taehyun tried to hold onto me from stumbling and falling down. Then I stopped on my tracks. “But I still don’t hate you. WHY?!” I squatted down and pouted, burying my face in my hands.

He looked so confused and lost for words to say. “Uh… Sorry?”

Rage built up inside me again and I pushed him one more time. “Sorry? HAHAHA! As if that’ll help.” Then I suddenly see a bunch of people huddling around us. Oh crap. How did that happen?? Why does my head still hurt so much? Why am I even crying uncontrollably? I even heard some Korean tourists speaking around us, “Wow, how can a guy treat his girlfriend like that?” “Yeah what a jerk!” “Making her cry in public? That puts us guys to shame!”

I then suddenly stood up and pointed at those people. “YAH! Who are you talking to huh? I’m not his girlfriend! He said… He said doesn’t even like me, okay!! And obviously, I DON’T LIKE HIM EITHER!” The Korean tourists looks shocked and quickly walked away. “Aish… Why is everyone thinking that way? So annoying!”

*End of flashback*

Eeeeeeek! Crap. Why do I have to embarrass myself so much? I face palmed myself and took a quick glance at Taehyun. I’m very surprised to see that he doesn’t look as mad as he should be. “Uh… Taehyun-ah… I’m so sorry for what happened last night… Did the Korean tourists recognize you??”

He looked off to the side, not meeting my gaze. He brought a hand up to stop me from talking while pinching the bridge of his nose with his other hand once he recalled what happened. “Don’t even remind me. And I sure hope not.”

I quickly walked up to him in which he responded with fear and backed up against the wall. “Please!! Let me make it up to you! I… I was drunk and I had no idea what I was doing last night.”

“Well obviously. Wait, is that all you remember?” He asked curiously and I nodded. He heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. “That’s good!”

I gasped. “Wait… That means… THERE’S MORE?”

*Flash back*

We finally returned to the hotel and went into the elevator. Taehyun ended up carrying me on his back as I can no longer walk on my own. The whole time I pretended I was Superman and thought I was flying on my own. Flying above some clouds of course. I just cannot forget those beautiful white fluffy clouds. I somehow managed to pull out my scarf and made it into a cape too, which is now tied around my neck.

When we got to our floor, we saw Jinwoo walking around in the hallway, about to go back inside his room. I spotted him and decided to call out his name to join us. But Taehyun quickly clasped my mouth shut and muffled what I wanted to say. I saw Jinwoo glancing at our direction but Taehyun quickly hid behind a wall while carrying me. Jinwoo shook his head and walked right into his room. Damn it, we could have had so much fun!

Taehyun then contemplated whether or not to go into his room. In the end he took out his room key and was about to open the door. I took a glimpse of the door number and smiled. “Ohhh!! We can ask Seungyoon to play with us!”

Taehyun stopped what he was doing, shoved his key back into his pocket and asked for my key instead. I happily gave it to him and he quietly opened the door to my room. He looked around and let out a sigh of relief to see the room empty.

“Ehhhh! HYEJIN WHERE ARE YOU!!!” I asked right away, jumping off Taehyun’s back and onto one of the beds.

“SHHHH!!” Taehyun immediately shushed me and quickly closed the door.

I sniffed. “I miss Hyejin. Only she understands me. UNLIKE YOU!” I found a pillow nearby and threw it at Taehyun’s direction. At least what I THOUGHT was his direction but I missed terribly badly. It went all the way towards the television. Taehyun chuckled. “DON’T LAUGH AT ME!” I then attempted to take off my shirt since the room was getting incredibly hot. I felt as if I was in a sauna room.

“WHOA STOP! What are you doing?” Taehyun said, holding my hand to stop me from stripping right in front of him.

I complained. “It’s too hot in here!”

“I-I’ll turn on the air conditioning!” He hurried to find the AC remote and fidgeted with the buttons. “JUST DON’T- WHOA! Don’t take off your pants!!” He came hurrying back to my side and threw me in bed and tucked me under the blanket. “Just- Just go to sleep okay!”

“I don’t want to!” I said and quickly got out of the covers again. Taehyun slammed his hand over his eyes. “I’m Superman! You can be Batman!” I hopped onto his back again.

“AISH! What’s wrong with you noona!” Taehyun complained. “If I knew you were such a light weight I wouldn’t have went drinking with you!”

“SHUT UP AND FLY!” I commanded.

Taehyun dropped me back onto the bed, and spun around angrily. “Look at you! Get a hold of yourself! You’re a girl yet you’re behaving this way? Stop taking off your clothes NOW!” I was surprised at his sudden outburst and immediately stopped talking. But somehow I couldn’t stop the tears flowing down my face. Taehyun’s expression softened after seeing me cry and talked softly this time. He paced around the room before standing in front of me again. “I’m leaving now okay. Just sleep, you’ll feel better tomorrow. Remember to drink some water too.”

I became speechless at his words and decided to keep quiet. All I could hear was him rustling at the door and the door opening. I sat crossed legged on the bed and stared down at my hands. My hands that were collecting the tears that are flowing nonstop down my face. I quietly let out a sniffle. Part of me didn’t want Taehyun to see me like this, but another part of me wants him to hear me sniffle so he would come back to my side.

“Hey… Are you alright?”

My ears instantly perked up at his voice and I quickly hid underneath the covers. “Go away. Leave me alone. I don’t want you to see me like this.” I then felt him sit beside me on the bed as it dipped a little bit.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you just now.”

After hearing that, I lifted up the covers to sit up and looked at him. “I told you I don’t want to drink but you wouldn’t let me! You even forced me to drink a glass! It’s your entire fault!” I finally said as I started to sober up and memories came flooding back. The speechless Taehyun rolled his eyes and sighed. He began patting my back to comfort me. “And I even made a fool out of myself in public! Omo… That’s so embarrassing.”

“I see you’re finally sobering up.” Taehyun said in relief.

“Never let me touch alcohol again otherwise…” I glared at him and attempted to strangle him. However, I slipped off my foot and lost my balance, with me ending up hovering over Taehyun on the bed. With my hand still around his neck and his hand on top of mine, we stared at each other in silence. I gulped. I swear our faces are merely a foot apart. I wanted to sit up to end this awkward position but Taehyun held both my hands tightly, not letting go of me. “Yah, Nam Taehyun, release your grip now okay!” I tried to retrieve my hand back but to no avail.

Taehyun then began to get up, and I ended up sitting too. What’s with that gaze of his? I started to blink repeatedly and felt my heart beating faster than before. Omo, Yunju-ah, don’t look at him any longer! I attempted to look away to break his stare but he immediately held my chin up to face him again. Not knowing what he’s up to, I questioned him. “Nam Taehyun! What do you want?“ He didn’t answer me though. He just kept looking at me, to a point where I felt slightly uncomfortable but I still haven’t pushed him away yet. Am I enjoying this a little too much?  

Due to our close proximity, I studied his facial features again. I didn’t even realize it but I mumbled my thought out loud. “Why are you so good looking?” Before I was able to say anything else, I was interrupted when he placed his other hand on the back of my head to pull me closer to him. I wasn’t sure what happened next…

All I remembered was that my mind went blank when I felt his lips on mine.

---

Author's Note:

HELLO READERS! *waves excitedly* holy smokes this chapter is ridiculously LONG! I hope it didn't bore you guys out! All the previous chapters were around 7 pages on Word but this chapter ended up being 10 pages. I wanted to finish the last flashback but I had to end it somewhere otherwise this chapter is going to be twice as long as any other ones. I do apologize for ending it at this point though. (sorry, not sorry..hahha XD) I just thought it's a good point to stop. I hope you all look forward to the next chapter. 

So in this chapter, Yunju kind of spoke what was on her mind to Taehyun while she was drunk in the middle of the street in Japan. And omo, *wipes tears from napkin* I can't believe he kissed her. sigh. 

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT?? Well... Wait to find out :D 

And as always, comments and upvotes are very appreciated!