68% Voted for the story continuing for a bit more, so we're back where we left off...

SIWON'S POV

“Wait, you’re moving out?” - I ask in concern.

“Yes” - he said with finality as he rubbed as his running nose.

“But, I thought you meant to fix things, you can both compromise” - I suggested as I tried to keep my tone calm and sooth him.

“This isn’t about the house chores, Siwon! Didn’t you hear him!?” - he accused, voice raising in volume as he became more angry - “Why did he have to talk about my parents paying for my stuff? Just because he couldn’t get into college and has to work instead, so because I do study for my future instead of getting a job does that make me less than him?!” - he yells in fury as color rises to his face from exasperation - “He clearly sees me as if I’m just crashing at his place, not like I own half of it”.

“Then whe-” - I was interrupted by a soft knocking on the bathroom door, I saw Donghae mouthing for me not to open, but I was hoping it was Hyukjae coming to console him, so I opened it any way, but the face that greeted me on the other side was non other that the round baby face of one teary eyed Lee Sungmin.

“Hey, Siwon, do you think I could, uhm… talk to him?” - he asked with a trembling voice, shy and unsure, guilty.

I looked behind me to find Donghae frantically shaking his head no, so I gave him my best apologetic look before stepping aside to let Sungmin in with a whisper as he passed me - “fix this” - I told him softly in the ear before walking away.

Once outside, I walked to the living room where most of the invitees were scattered in small groups and pairs, dancing and talking, the fakest light mood, dampened by the looming memory of everything that went wrong, and the host seemed to be trying to drink the memory away, downing one shot after another by the kitchen island, a friend to his side, trying yet failing to get him to stop.

“He ing ruins everything!” - I overheard, the saddened more than angry voice of an already inebriated Hyukjae.

“You don’t mean that, Baby, it was just a petty fight, they’ll fix it” - the calm wise words of Jongwoon don’t seem to soothe Hyukjae much.

“Did you hear him!?” - he retorts - “the things he said, those weren’t all petty complains, he was being harmful… intentionally so” - he explains as he deflates with every word.

“He’s just drunk, let them talk it out, it’ll be alright” - Is the last I hear before Hyukjae’s somewhat bloodshot eyes meet my gaze as Jongwoon pats his back and takes the drink away from his hand. He looks pissed at me for eavesdropping, or maybe because the entire problem is a bit my fault, not that I got involved in anyway.

I watch the pair as they leave to find a more private place to talk, shooting the drunken host my most sincere apologetic look, before bowing my head seeing as he continues to glare like I am to blame for it all.

As they enter a random room to have their privacy, almost immediately after, Donghae and Sungmin come out of their own, teary eyed but smiling nonetheless, they have made up it seems, quite fast if you ask me, but I couldn’t be happier that their problems were solved to some extent, whatever they settled on, is better than having them cry and yell at each other.

Dutiful boyfriend Kyuhyun walks up to them to hug Sungmin, making Donghae look around the room for his own, so I step in to distract him, even though I could very well tell him which room he’s in.

Both Kyuhyun and I ask the important questions as tactfully as we can, afraid to anger either of them a second time. They explain that Sungmin did the most apologizing and compromised to be more respectful towards his roomate, while Donghae promised to actually do his part around the house. It was good to hear.

“So where’s Hyukkie?” - Donghae finally asks out loud, even though the question has been in his flickering eyes since he stepped in the room.

“He’s in that room” - I say, pointing towards the door I saw him walk through some moments ago - “talking with Jongwoon” - his eyes widen when I finish the last part.

“You left those two alone!?” - is Sungmin who asks, alarmed

“Well, yeah, what about it?” - I question, confused.

“Those two had a thing” - he tries to explain but I don’t follow, I was under the impression Jongwoon was straight, what are they worried about?

“I don’t see Tiff fretting over it” - Kyuhyun points out as he turns to look at Tiffany who is calmly chatting with Ryeowook.

“That’s because she doesn’t know what kind of professional stripper Hyuk can turn into when he’s drunk” - Sungmin pipes in with a frown on his face.

“Say what?” - Donghae asks, an embarrassing croak in his voice.

“Hyuk never really cheated on me, he’s not like that, and he wouldn’t do it to you either so you can relax your hole there for a second” - he reassured, kind of - “Is just that, when he gets really drunk he says he feels really hot and starts striping, then the next thing you know, he’s giving the closest hottie a ...” - he finishes sending Hae a look that says “Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier”, but he didn’t have time to even glare before dashing in the direction of the closed door, turning the luckily unlocked knob, then pushing the door open all the way for everyone in the living room to take a peek inside.

“WHAT THE ?!”

Shameless selfpromotion up ahead:

I made a trailer for the new fic, mainly for the fun of it, so check it out if you want :) I've been doing a lot of pre-writting, setting up the characters I want to use and the outline of the plot, I hope you look forward to my new child that I'm putting a lot of work on, after we're done with this one.