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Eunji looked away and wavered—whether to let everything slip or to keep on covering things up. She gulped down this big lump in and took a deep breath. “You’re bound to find out, anyway, right?” she said. “So there’s no point in running away from it anymore.” Chanyeol looked back into her eyes with a hint of curiosity in his own. “Yes, I dated Kim Sungkyu, the idol, as well as Kim Kibum and also Junmyeon, his cousin.”

“Wow . . .”

“I swear that didn’t happen at the same time, though” Chanyeol felt as if that was meant to mock him somehow. “You might be surprised when you hear my story, Chanyeol. And I just . . . I don’t want to scare you away.”

Chanyeol scoffed. “Are you underestimating me?”

“No!” she quickly answered, “That’s not what I meant.” Eunji’s eyes shifted to the floor before continuing, “I might not be as good as you think I am but you are. And I don’t want to take that away from you.”

The boy faintly smiled and lightly placed his fingers on her cheek; she then looked back up at him. “That’s what I like from you, Jeong Eunji. You’re someone who’s not afraid to show who you really are. Though you keep on hiding your stories, but that’s a different case, right . . .”

Eunji let out a laugh and pushed Chanyeol’s hand away gently. “See? You’re just . . . so damn nice that I don’t know how to treat you properly.”

“Just being is good for me.”

“Excuse me?” The girl shot him a look.

“No, no, no, don’t get the wrong idea!” Chanyeol scratched the back of his head and corrected himself, “When I say , I mean to be honest and not hide anything. I prefer it that way.”

“Oh . . .” she sighed. “Well, that takes time.”

“I don’t mind waiting for long . . .”

“Please don’t be too cheesy. Gosh . . . you’re killing me!” Eunji cried out. A laugh came out of Chanyeol and the atmosphere was warm and lively once again.

“So do you mind telling me about those three guys?” He watched her face expression turned uncomfortable then added, “If you do mind, then don’t.”

“The first of three guys that I dated was Kim Sungkyu . . .” she started.

~

Sometime in the first half of the previous year

After the encounter at the bar, Eunji and Kim Sungkyu exchanged a dozen of flirty text messages. He was good at making up cheesy pick-up lines that Eunji would sometimes find tacky but made her smile nonetheless, and he’s also real good at creating beautiful short poems that was strong enough to melt her heart. It was already in her nature to be blunt, so she always told him her honest opinion about him. And he liked that about her.

“Wanna meet up tonight?” Sungkyu asked in one of the phone calls they had. Though Eunji had told him not to call, as it was something she doesn’t really like to do with guys, he still did.

“You know what I find weird?” she asked him back. Sungkyu was silent as he waited for her to continue on with her answer. “That you always ask to meet up in the middle of the night.” Her eyes trailed the hour hand of the clock above the TV, showing a quarter pass 12.

“I don’t want anyone to know I’m meeting up with you,” he said as he paced back and forth in front of his bedroom door.

“What’s the big deal? Afraid to be caught by your wife?” she joked.

Sungkyu laughed and then answered, “You really don’t know who I am, don’t you?”

“All I know is a name and a number,” Eunji answered.

“Do you want to know?” his voice turned low and went heavier, wanting to give off a hint of mysteriousness.

“Usually, when something vital in a story is revealed, the whole thing would be screwed up.” She got off the couch and sauntered toward her fridge to get a bottle of orange juice—the liquid inside already half consumed. “I assume you agree with me that you don’t want that to happen just yet.”

“Ah . . . I take that as a no, then,” Sungkyu said. “You’re bound to find out, nonetheless,” he shrugged, “So should we meet up or should we not?”

“An hour or two is fine,” she said while trying to open the bottle with one hand only.

“Can I come over to your place?” That was the first time Sungkyu asked to come by, and also the first boy that would be visiting her house aside from Daehyun who was the reason why she wanted to talk to Sungkyu at the bar that night. “Or do you prefer meeting up outside and figuring out who I am?”

So she waited for his arrival while lying down on the couch, snacking on potato chips from yesterday and watching some crappy movie on TV. The bell rang when the movie was about to get into the ‘problem’ part and she got on her feet. She picked up a sweatshirt nearby and put it over her white tank top.

Eunji never tried to look good in front of boys; she only tried to look appropriate. “Hey,” she opened the door and saw Sungkyu wearing a black mask over his face, “Are you avoiding pollution or what?”

Sungkyu took it off but kept his head down, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure,” she shrugged and made way for him to enter.

“I don’t know what you like, so I bought this in hopes that this,” he took out the bottle that was hiding inside a brown paper bag, “will be it,” and finally looked up to meet her widen eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t like it, do you?”

“Huh . . .?” she closed the door shut behind her, “No, it’s fine.” Eunji guided him to the living room and told him to have a seat. “I’ll get some glass.”

As she made her way to the kitchen again, Sungkyu watched her hair swayed to its sides. He heaved a sigh. ‘Control . . .’ he commanded his body. Eunji re-appeared in front of him and placed two shot glasses on the table in front of him. His eyes were trailing her neckline and he took in a deep breath, ‘Control.’

“So what makes you want to meet up?” she asked when he poured the brownish liquid into the small container.

“Do I need a reason for that?” Sungkyu picked the glasses up and handed her the one on his right hand. The mouth of their glasses clashed against one another, creating a small clanking noise, and they both gulped down in one go.

The cycle repeated for quite a few times until there was only a fourth of the alcohol left in the bottle. ‘This is dangerous,’ Sungkyu thought as he watched Eunji who had to lean against the couch ‘cause she just can’t sit up straight anymore. He fought back the hormones rising up inside him and held in the desire to lay a hand on her, even just the slightest bit.

“I should go home,” Sungkyu said. “It was so much fun talking to you.” ‘Though I can’t even remember anything anymore,’ he continued. He prepared to get on his feet but stumbled back down on the couch, it was just haze inside his head and he wasn’t thinking straight.

So was Eunji who told him, “You can’t even stand and you expect yourself to arrive back home safely?”

“So what do you think I should do?” he nonchalantly asked as he gave his temple a massage.

“Just stay here until the sun rise,” she patted the space between her and Sungkyu. “I’m gonna go to sleep.” Eunji was better at supporting her body and her brain was in some way still able to give her directions as to where her bed was.

Sungkyu forced himself to stand up and trailed after her.

~

“So he visited your house and then what happened?” Chanyeol asked. Eunji, on purpose, had left the pr