Yixing stumbles out of the bar and tries to stand straight, showing the bartender behind him that he is capable of going home alone. “Are you sure you don’t need a cab?” The bartender asks, wondering when did the man start to get tipsy, and how did he manage to let him get this drunk.

“I’m fine, see?” Yixing walks a few steps, swaying here and there, away from the bartender slowly. “I’ll pay tomorrow!” The bartender looks at Yixing’s back for a few seconds more before sighing and going back into the bar.

Once he is sure he is a good distance away from the bar, he straightens his back and walks home normally, as if he is never drunk, and laughs at the bartender for falling for the trick. Yixing’s alcohol tolerance is probably the only thing he can brag about; heck, he probably never got drunk in his life despite downing bottles of whiskey like they were water. He wanted to have a little fun, so he pretended to be drunk. And also because he forgot his wallet at home earlier.

As Yixing nears his house, he reaches into his back pocket and fishes out a keychain with three keys on it: one for his front door, one for his mom’s apartment back in China, and as for the last one, he can’t seem to remember what it was for. But oh well, if it’s on the keychain maybe it is for something near him, and he will find out what it is for, but just not now, or in the near future.

He steps into his apartment and turns on the light, which is just a bulb on the ceiling. I really need better living conditions, he thinks as he looks around. It is a tiny space, with the kitchen and the bedroom and the living room all in one place. Having no job for almost a month by now, his savings are depleting fast, and if he doesn’t find a new job soon, he’s probably going to have to live on the streets, and he’s pretty sure if he hates this place, he’d surely abhor living like some hobo.

He contemplates on bathing now or tomorrow morning, and decides on doing the latter since he’s going to bathe tomorrow anyw