That night, Woobin tossed and turned in bed. It wasn’t that he wasn’t tired. He was tired after an entire day of schedules, and all he wanted to do was to fall asleep. He knew he needed the sleep for his long day of schedules the next day as well. Yet, every time he closed his eyes, all he could hear was his manager’s words ringing by his ears. “Know where to draw the line….”

He didn’t exactly want to think about what his manager had meant, for the fear of what that might mean to him. He ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up as he let out a frustrated sigh. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go to sleep that night unless he sorted his thoughts out. He didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted to get some rest that night.

He stared blankly at the ceiling as memories with Jongsuk flashed past his head. He cared for Jongsuk like a friend, like how he did with his other friends, but there was something more. Was Jongsuk his best friend? Not exactly. They were close but he would consider his model friends as his best friends. Although Jongsuk and he generally just addressed each other as best friends, they knew deep inside that that was just a convenient term so that they didn’t have to explain their friendship too much. Jongsuk was a friend, not a best friend, and he clearly knew too that he wasn’t Jongsuk’s best friend. Yet, there was this mutual sense of reliance which they had with each other, which he clearly knew.

With his friends, Woobin did not like sharing with them his troubles as he did not want to spread the negativity. Yet with Jongsuk, he did it very freely and naturally.  At that moment, he really needed to talk to Jongsuk, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew that if Jongsuk knew what it was about, he would start distancing himself again.

Was he really caring too much for Jongsuk? To the extent of more than friends? Was it just him who didn’t realize? He thought through these questions and the days they had spent together recently, ultimately denying all his questions. He admitted that what he did for Jongsuk was a little more than what he would do for his other friends, but only because the nature of their friendships were different. He believed that what he was doing wasn’t too much. However, he could see where those rumours were coming from. He was reluctant, but ultimately he made a mental note to be more aware of what his actions might mean to those who didn’t know him well.

He managed to fall asleep later that night, but was woken up by the buzzing of his phone’s alarm three hours later. He groaned and sleepily stretched over to switch off the alarm, lazing on bed a little more as he looked at the time on his phone. It was then that he saw a message notification and lazily opened the message. It was from Jongsuk, sent 15 minutes ago.

“cakldafj;ka alkjsa piawclj”  the message read.

Woobin stared at the gibberish on his phone, his brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of what the message might mean. And of course, he couldn’t understand a single thing. He replied the message with “???” before throwing his phone aside and getting out of bed to go wash up. He was still confused by the message, and after a quick shower, he decided that Jongsuk was probably drunk.

The thought of Jongsuk being drunk had left him slightly worried. He knew Jongsuk couldn’t take alcohol very well and that he wouldn’t usually drink, not even if it was for business. He picked up his phone on the bed, and saw another message notification. He opened up the message and again, it was a string of gibberish from Jongsuk.

He wasted no time in dialling Jongsuk’s number, and was answered by a slurred voice a few rings later. “Heellllooooo?”

“Yah! Are you drunk?”

“Woo……bin!”

“Yes, it’s me. What’s wrong?”

Jongsuk mumbled something inaudibly followed by a series of crisp giggles.

Woobin confirmed that Jongsuk was drunk. He couldn’t help but worry.

“Where are you now? Who are you with? Do you need me to go over?” He asked, but of course, he couldn’t get an answer from the drunk man on the other end of the phone. Woobin felt a tinge of annoyance amidst his worries, annoyed that he was rather helpless and there wasn’t much he could do to help Jongsuk.

Woobin couldn’t exactly do anything but keep asking questions. The gibberish response he got from Jongsuk soon turned into heavy breathing, and he guessed that Jongsuk had fallen asleep, wherever he was. It was then that he heard Youngkwang from the other end of the phone.

“Woobin?” Youngkwang’s voice.

Woobin scratched the back of his head and wondered why it was Youngkwang’s voice from the other end of the phone, then realizing that the both of them probably had a scene together the previous night. “Yeah. You’re with Jongsuk now? What’s wrong with him?”

“Yeah…your friend here is really drunk. We tried getting him home after he got drunk but he just bit and kicked everyone who touched him. He finally fell asleep. We’re going to get him home now.”

“What happened? Why was he drinking?”

“No idea. We just ended filming yesterday and had today off, and he suggested going to drink so we agreed. Didn’t know his tolerance was that bad.”

Woobin frowned. Hearing that Jongsuk was the one who suggested going to drink worried him. There had to be a reason for that. He looked up at the clock on the wall. He had some time before his schedules, but he knew it wasn’t enough for him to get over to Jongsuk’s place.

“Hey, want to send him over to my place instead? Don’t think you guys would be able to get the code to his apartment in this state.”

“Sure, that works. Don’t you have schedules though?”

“It’s okay, I have got some time. Just get him here quick.”

With that, the call ended.

The traffic was pretty smooth since it was still early in the morning and the rush hour hadn’t started yet. Woobin heard knocking on his apartment door about 15 minutes later, and hurried over to open the door, seeing Youngkwang and a drunk Jongsuk at the door. He quickly went to the other side to help to support Jongsuk’s weight and helped him into his room, lying him down on the bed, before looking up at Youngkwang.

“Want to catch some sleep here before heading back?”

Youngkwang shook his head, smiling a little and rejecting his offer. “It’s fine, I’m awake enough to make my way back.” He pointed his chin over to Jongsuk who was on the bed, stretching a little. “How are you going to deal with him? Don’t you have schedules later?”

Woobin shrugged. “Probably will just clean him up a little and then let him sleep here and hope he doesn’t make a mess. Thanks for bringing him back.”

Youngkwang nodded and gave Woobin a light pat on his back, “I’ll get going then. Catch up soon.” He yawned and stretched a little before turning to leave, stopping mid-way. “Oh right, talk to him if you can. He seems troubled. Don’t have to send me out, I’ll close the door on my way out.”

Woobin nodded and turned to look at the sleeping man on his bed, a worried look forming on his face. He contemplated calling his manager to push back his schedules but he knew he couldn’t do that, not after their talk yesterday. He shook his head to get the idea out and instead texted his manager to inform him that he would be driving today and that he didn’t need to be picked up. He didn’t want his manager coming over and knowing that there was a drunk Jongsuk was in his house. There wasn’t anything to hide, he just didn’t want to explain anything. Neither did he want his manager to have an excuse to ask him to distant himself from Jongsuk again.

Woobin proceeded to remove Jongsuk’s shoe and socks. He then got a warm towel from the bathroom to help to clean Jongsuk up. Jongsuk was still muttering gibberish and all Woobin could make out of his gibberish was his name. Jongsuk finally went all quiet when Woobin pulled the blanket up over him.

He sighed and sat on the bed next to Jongsuk, his hand stretching out to brush the hair out of Jongsuk’s flushed face. It was the first time Woobin saw the other man drunk. The frown on his face deepened as he looked over at a sleeping Jongsuk, wondering what it was that had made him want to drink like that.

Woobin glanced up at the clock. He had to leave for his work or he would be late. He got some painkillers and a cup of water and placed it at the bedside table, leaving a post-it note along with it for Jongsuk, instructing him to take it when he wakes up. He gave Jongsuk a last look before leaving the room.

He knew it was going to be difficult to get through the day.