Chaerin POV

Ring. Riiiing. Riiiiiing.

“Ugh! Wait!” I was really getting agitated with the ringing bell. It’s been going on for ten minutes now and it’s late. Who the hell would come at this hour.

Riiiiing. Riiiiiiing.

I opened the main door and switched on the porch light so I could see who was ringing the bell but it was too dark outside. I couldn’t see .

Riiiiing.

Damn it. I took my phone and used it as flashlight and cautiously approached the gate to see who it was. I saw no one at first but when I looked at the side, there he was.

Jiyong.

He was leaning on his car with his head down. I looked around to see if he was with the guys but he was alone. And as if on cue, the moment I laid my eyes on him again, he looked up and our eyes met. Only the faint street light illuminated his face but it was clear enough to see the relief in his face when he saw me.

“Chae.” I heard him say as he went closer to the gate that separated us. When only a foot separated us, I inhaled and can’t help but immediately exhale. He smelled of alcohol and smoke.

“Are you drunk?” I asked, backing away a bit from the gate.

“What? No. Please. Don’t go away.” He said, he was now holding on to the bars of the gate with pleading eyes.

“What? What’re you talking about? You’re drunk Ji. Why are you here?” I didn’t want to deal with him like this. It’s the first time I see him drunk and I don’t know what kind of drunk he is.

“I’m not. Please let me in.” he said softly and so vulnerably. So different from the cool and chic Jiyong I know.

“Why are you here?” I was still contemplating on letting him in or not.

“I wanna see you. I wanna talk. Please let me in.”

“You’re drunk. Let’s talk some other time.” I had to push him away now because I’m pretty sure I would let him in if he stayed there for another minute looking like that.

“No. Please. Please Chae.” He was looking at me directly and I’m not sure but I think I see a hint of a tear in his right eye and that was it. I threw all inhibitions away and entered the code on the side of the area immediately unlocking it.

Jiyong immediately pushed open the gate and went to me locking me in his embrace.

“I missed you.” He breathed and that made the hairs on my nape stand. “You smell so good.” His face was buried in my neck and I was immobilized.

“Jiyong, what’re you doing?” I finally found my sense back and backed away a little.

“Why do you call Youngbae as oppa but you only call me by my name?” he asked me with a very serious face with just a hint of what I could see as jealousy.

“Because he’s older than me.” I answered and started walking back to the house.

“I am too.” He caught my hand and spun me around so I was facing him again. I could still smell the strong alcohol from him and in his eyes were getting pretty clouded. Or maybe it was just the night?

“Come on Ji. Let’s get you some water and advil. You wouldn’t want a hangover.” I released myself from his grip and walked faster to the house with him following closely.

I headed to the kitchen to get some water and med but he was still following me too closely. “Why don’t you sit down?” I said without turning around afraid to meet his unsteady eyes again. When I was in front of the refrigerator to get some cold water, he pulled my arm to turn me around then immediately placed both hands on the sides of my head, effectively locking me in place.

“Ji…”

“Call me oppa.” He breathed. He was so close that he could probably hear my beating heart. And I could unmistakably smell vodka. Lots of it.

“What’re you doing?” I tried to push him off but with no success, even drunk, he was still strong.

“Why are you ignoring me? You didn’t even attend class. You didn’t text or call me or anything. Don’t you know I really wanted to see you? How it drove me crazy that you were ignoring me? Was the kiss that bad? Do you not like me that much?” he said it while looking directly at my eyes and I could feel that he was hurt? The air between us suddenly became very thick and all I could hear was our breathing.

“You’re drunk. Let’s talk tomorrow.” I didn’t want to answer any of his questions right now. My judgment was clouded too and I didn’t want to say anything I would regret tomorrow.

“Let’s talk now. Or if you don’t want to talk I could think of something else we could do.” And just like that I felt those familiar lips on me again. It took me by surprise but my body immediately responded to him and kissed back and it wasn’t as innocent as what we had at the ferris wheel. I felt his hands caress my sides and I couldn’t help but moan.

“Oh Chae…” I heard him say as he directed his lips to my neck. I tugged on his hair and his lips met mine again now with more fervor than before. He cupped my , effectively raising me and wrapping my legs around him then as if there was a sudden shift in the air, I smelled alcohol again, breaking my sweet state of euphoria again and bringing me back to the world. He was drunk. We can’t do this. Not now.

I broke away from him and he kissed my neck again while his arm was wrapped around me. “Ji… stop…” I put my legs back down and heard his groan of protest.

“What? No…” he pulled me closer and uselessly tried to hook my leg on his waist.

“You’re drunk. We can’t do this. We shouldn’t.” I successfully pushed him off me.

He sighed and met my eyes again. “Chae—“

Ring. Ring. Ring.

“You should answer that. Someone might be looking for you.” I tried to sound normal and unaffected by what just happened but I’m sure my flushed face was betraying me. He was looking directly at me, still with clouded eyes. I don’t know if it was because of the alcohol or the lust rush.

Ring. Ring. Ring.

He didn’t make a move to answer it so I did a bold move and pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans, catching him by surprise because I heard him gasp.

“Hello?” I immediately answered it before he could get it away from me. His family or friends were probably looking for him now.

‘Pudong?’ I heard from the other line and that caught me by surprise. I looked at the caller but it said ‘Youngbae’

Before I could put it back to my ear again, he snatched it immediately and put it to his.

“I’m fine. I’ll call you tomorrow.” He said curtly and hung up.

He put his phone back to his pocket without taking his eyes off me. He was staring at me. Really staring and it was such bad timing that I was beginning to feel conscious at his look.

“What?” I tried to lift off tension from our situation and glad that I was successful. He sighed and I saw his shoulders slump down a bit and he looked down.

I took the opportunity to do what I was intending to do earlier. I opened the refrigerator, took out a cold bottle of water, I opened the drawer and took an advil. I placed both on the counter just behind him and waited.

Waited for him to move.

“Thanks.” He said and downed the pill down with all the water in the bottle.

“You should get some rest.” It was so late now and we had classes tomorrow and I know I couldn’t miss any more.

“Chae.” He pulled my arm just as we were exiting the kitchen. I turned to look at him and he looked so… lost. “I’m sorry.”

I was surprised by the sudden apology. “For what?”

“For kissing you, for coming here drunk, for bothering you ever since we met. I’m sorry if I put you in a difficult situation.” He said so sincerely that it tugged my heart and I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Jiyong. You haven’t been bothering me. Yes, you’ve put me in a difficult situation but don’t be sorry you kissed me because I’m not.” I said as I raised his head so that our eyes would meet.

“Really?” he asked with a glint of hope in his eyes.

I nodded my head and smiled at him. “And I’m sorry for acting the way I did after our trip at the amusement park. I just… I just didn’t know what to do. How to react. And to be clear, I didn’t skip class because I was avoiding you. Me and my dad visited our relatives before he left. I just sent him to the airport earlier today.”

“Oh…” he looked a bit embarrassed right now and it was cute.

“Yeah. It’s been a long day so let’s just get some rest. We have class tomorrow.” I said and led the way towards the guest room where I intended for him to sleep.

“Wait. I’m not sleeping with you?” he asked and I was taken aback. I think he saw my reaction because he immediately added. “I mean, in your room?”

“Oh… I only have one bed.”

“So?” he asked me seriously and I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” He said and that made me chuckle.

“No you’re not. There’s a perfectly nice bed here.”

“Don’t you have a sofa in your room?”

“Yeah. So?”

“I’ll take it.” He said and turned to the last door which happened to be my room.

“Yah!” I called out to him but it was too late. He was already inside. “Aish!”

“Nice room.” He said as he casually took off his jacket and started removing his shoes.

“What are you doing?” I asked while looking at him from the door.

“Getting ready to sleep. We have class tomorrow, remember?” he said and smiled at me.

“How’d you know where my room was?” I asked as I closed the door. No point kicking him out. He was lying down on the couch already.

“Easy. Your room has a gold doorknob. All the others were silver.” It shocked me that he noticed that.

“You know, there’s a perfectly soft, clean, nice bed just on the other room, where you can freely move around.” I said, standing at the edge of the couch.

“I’m perfectly fine here.” he said with eyes closed.

“Fine. Suit yourself.” I didn’t bother anymore. I’m sure nothing can convince him at this point. But I don’t feel threatened that he’s here. Quite the opposite actually. I went inside the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. When I went out, I expected him to still be awake but when I looked, he was fast asleep on the couch, even snoring lightly.

He looked so peaceful, lying there and sleeping with his mouth just slightly open. So child-like compared to his usual cool and sometimes intimidating demeanor.

I took an extra blanket and put it over him and settling myself on my bed, retiring for the night.

……

‘Thank you for letting me sleep over. I’m sorry for the trouble I made last night. Went home to shower and change. See you at school. –Ji’

I read off the yellow post it he put by my phone on the nightstand. I sighed and put it back down and readied myself for the coming day. I had lots to catch up on with school and not only that but I have Jiyong to deal with as well.

I didn’t know what came over me last night, we almost… good thing we didn’t because he was drunk. I didn’t know before why I always acted so negatively towards him until the talk I had with my dad just before I sent him to the airport.

“Chaerin-ah, you have the tendency to push people away. More so the people you like. I see you’re doing that to Jiyong when he’s done nothing but chase you. You should clear your mind before it’s too late.”

Why is it that I’m always the last to know about what I feel? Ugh.

I was preoccupied through the whole drive to school, almost bumping into a Bentley on the way to school. I was surprised that I didn’t get the finger after the almost collision but I’m not complaining.

I parked in my usual spot and was a bit disappointed to not see the Lamborghini that’s supposed to be there. I shrugged and proceeded to class.

“Hi there Ms. Too cool for school.” I heard Youngbae said as I passed him to go to my usual seat which was by the window. We were about three chairs away from each other. I looked at him and saw him smiling playfully at me.

“Hi oppa.” I said not entertaining his playfulness because I know he would start asking questions about last night and I wasn’t ready or in the mood to answer them.

The class started filling up and I found myself unknowingly waiting for his arrival, if he will come to class at all. Then just before the bell rang, he emerged at the front door, with hair slightly dishevelled but still managing to look hot.

He searched through the class and caught my eye. He smiled at me then frowned when he looked at my side. The only seat to my right side was taken and the only seat available was the one next to Youngbae which was two seats away from me. I tried to act indifferent and kept looking at the front as he approached the empty seat.

I wasn’t surprised when the guy sitting beside me suddenly stood up and then Jiyong sat down. I kind of expected it and I didn’t complain but I wouldn’t show my pleasure either.

“Hi.” He said as he settled down beside me.

“Hey.” I started doodling on my notebook so I wouldn’t have to look at him.

“About last night—“

“The teacher’s here.” I said, effectively shutting him up. I wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

The hour passed uneventfully except for Jiyong’s few attempts to get my attention by ‘accidentally’ nudging my elbow, asking me questions about what the instructor said even if it was clear and loud enough for us to hear and dropping his ball pen numerous times. I still sat stoic and trying not to give him the knowledge that he has my attention.

“Can we talk?” I heard him say when the bell rang.

“I have a class after this.” I said, putting my stuff inside my bag.

“How about that date we never had?” he said, following me out the room.

“What date?” I said, trying to but when I looked at him I saw a flash of hurt cross his face, making me stop.

“You don’t want it anymore?” he said with a voice so low.

I felt bad trying to play with him so I immediately tried to neutralize it. “How ‘bout lunch?”

His face looked up and he smiled at me. “Call me when your class is over and I’ll go to you.” Then Youngbae was suddenly on his side, smiling his deadly eye smile.

“Okay. Bye Jiyong. Bye oppa.” I said passing through them and walking to my next class.

“Let it go with the oppa thing.” Youngbae said exasperatedly. Jiyong had been bugging him about it since Chaerin said good bye to them.

“I can’t! You know how I am with that word.” Jiyong said, equally exasperated.

“What do you want me to do then? Its her choice calling me that and she’ll call you that too. Soon enough.” Youngbae said not wanting to talk about it anymore. Jiyong had been very unreasonable about it. He was asking him if he liked her too, if they’ve gone out behind his back, why she felt the need to call only him that.

“Ugh!!!” Jiyong was restless. He was now just waiting for Chaerin’s call so he could go to her already.

“Lay off it Ji. It’s just her calling me an older brother. Nothing more.” Youngbae squeezed his friend’s shoulder and went on to their usual table where their friends are already eating.

“Hyungs! Bom noona bought food for us!” Seungri said happily to the approaching duo.

“Yah! She bought this for me! I’m just sharing it to you guys.” TOP said, munching on a kimbab.

“Wow.” Youngbae said when he looked at the table almost overflowing with food. “It looks like a feast.” He got chopsticks and started picking out some food.

“What’s up with hyung?” Daesung asked, nodding towards Jiyong who was staring at his phone.

“He’s waiting.” Youngbae said with a full mouth.

“For what?” TOP asked, equally as curious. Jiyong wasn’t grim face anymore. He didn’t have the dark clouds surrounding him. Must be what happened last night which they haven’t talked about yet.

“For that.” Seungri said pointing at Jiyong who’s eyes were lit up and smiling while talking to the phone.

Jiyong turned and saw them looking at him. He gave them his gummy smile, waved his hand and left.