Settling inside Chanyeol's car, Victoria leaned forward popping her head between the two guys at the front and asked about where to go first. Suho suggested on going to a café first, but the older girl wanted to go for the karaoke first.

"Why did you ask for our opinion then?" Suho complained.

"I was asking Chanyeol, not you," Vic retorted.

They started bickering with each other again. Chanyeol and Bora tried to stop their argument but to no avail. Until a growling sound was heard. Suddenly becoming silent, they whipped their head to the culprit of the growling stomach.

"Opps, sorry..." Bora bit down her lip and smiled sheepishly. "Can we eat first?" She suggested.

Chanyeol tried to contain his smile and the other two just laughed at her while Bora covered her growling stomach. Peering at her through the rear view mirror, he could only think of how cute she looked. A soft scoffed escaped his lips remembering how she used to be a big eater.

When they arrived at a casual restaurant, they chose a table and immediately ordered food. Suho sent subtle glares toward Chanyeol and Victoria who were sitting side by side but immediately looked away when Vic gave him a look. The table was silent and it was a little awkward while they were waiting for their food. It confused Suho that the usually talkative Chanyeol was staying quiet. Even back in the car, he didn't say much. So, Suho broke the silence and told them jokes. But his jokes were dry that the atmosphere turned more awkward than before. Lightly kicking Victoria's shin and unfazed by her glare, Suho told her to do something through his eyes.

Vic glares some more before clearing . "So," she started, "why did you want to volunteer at the House of Hope, Bora?"

"Oh! Well... Because it's where my mom live before meeting my dad," Bora smiled. "I have promised her to visit and help in the house."

Victoria and Suho hummed and nodded to the revelation, but Chanyeol just softly smiled because he already knew that.

Conversing became easy from there on. They chatted even while they were eating though the two older ones did most of the talking. Having asked Bora a lot of questions already, Suho got curious of whether she currently had a boyfriend. Chanyeol stopped eating when he heard the question. He glanced at her and waited for her answer with bated breath. A sudden wave of relief washed over him when she just smiled and shook her head.

"Seriously?" Suho gasped and Bora nodded with a giggle. "Then," he leaned forward and grinned at her, "will you be my girlfriend?"

The sudden question made Bora's eyes grew wide. Flustered, she didn't know what to answer. Chanyeol, on the other hand, was on the verge of telling the older guy off. But Victoria beat him to it when she extended a hand to smack Suho's head.

"Ouwh!" Suho yelped. "What was that for?!" He rubbed the side of his head.

"For talking nonsense!" Vic glared at him.

"Someone's jealous," Chanyeol commented while holding a chuckle.

"I'm not," Vic denied and even Bora laughed at that. "Don't get over yourself," she told Suho. "Why would a decent girl like Bora want to date a guy like you?" She wrinkled her nose then turned to Bora. "Don't get yourself in trouble, kay? You deserve a better guy than him."

Bora nodded still laughing while Suho hissed at Victoria.

Seeing everyone was done eating, Victoria changed the conversation clapping her hands once. "Let's go to karaoke!"

They went for karaoke and continued with drinking few beers. Bora clapped when the older two were singing a duet. When the duet finished, they gave the mic to Bora. When Bora just finished singing, Chanyeol came in from receiving a phone call from his mom.

"Since we have sung a duet, Chanyeol should sing one with Bora too." Suho and Victoria cheered and dragged him near Bora to sing a song together.

Flustered and feeling awkward when his arm bumped Bora's shoulder, Chanyeol rubbed his nape. She noted that it would be awkward if they sang a duet because they weren't that close yet, so she passed the mic and the song controller to him.

"It's okay." She smiled up at him. "No need to sing duet. Here, I would like to hear your voice." She smiled again before walking back to her seat.

Chanyeol hesitated but with the constant prodding from Vic, he relented. When he finally sang, something struck Bora. There was a kind of emotion growing inside her that she couldn't pinpoint. His voice was soothing but at the same time stirring her inside in a weird way. His voice, the look in his eyes, and just everything about him captivated her. Strangely, in a familiar way. Why was she so drawn to him, she couldn't understand.

The night grew old, but they continued on their fun night. Suho suggested on playing a game of beer pong against the girls. Chanyeol protested against the idea, but the girls wanted to play it. He sighed dejectedly and mentally cursed Bora's competitiveness that he initially thought had gone away.

Bora had always liked competition and games. Chanyeol remembered how he would always give in and pretended he was losing to her in any kind of game because she would not stop until she won. Turned out, she was still like that. She was still the same friend he knew and grew to love. Only now, she had forgotten about him. Deep inside his heart, Chanyeol couldn't stop questioning why it seemed like he was the only one obliterated from her memory.

Chanyeol grew worried after a few rounds because the girls kept on losing and had only won a few times. Bora's cheeks were already flushed and Victoria looked drunk already though she kept on saying- or more like slurring- she was not. Feeling on the verge of being tipsy himself and remembering he had to drive back home, he put the game to an end and snatched the cup of beer Bora was just going to drink.

"Hey!" Bora pouted when he downed the beer. "Give me back my beer!"

"That's not fair!" Suho protested.

"Ooh~" Victoria cheered. "What a manly man! Unlike that dud." Snickering, she pointed at Suho and he made a sound of protest.

"Hyung, it's getting late," Chanyeol pointed out to Suho who looked tipsy, but luckily still sober enough. "The girls are already drunk."

"Oh!" Suho shook his head to shake away the light dizziness. "Right, right! We should go." He stood up with Chanyeol then added, "After I go to the toilet." He grinned.

Left alone with the girls, Chanyeol had to constantly stopped them from drinking more. He was tired from not getting enough sleep since yesterday; but seeing how their little outing had turned out, he was glad he came with them. He couldn't imagine what would happen to Bora if he were not there.

The girls had passed out when Suho came back from the toilet. Trying to put them on their feet was close to impossible. Suho decided to carry Victoria in his arms because she couldn't even be awaken.

"Huff, she is heavy. Can you help Bora?" Suho told Chanyeol who was just standing there unsure of what to do.

Chanyeol was able to woke her up and help her stand though she was obviously still drunk. Staggering, Bora almost fell if he didn't caught her right away. In the end, he let her leaned on him while he wrapped his arm around her to help her walk. His heart was thundering in his chest unable to stay calm with her in his embrace. He partly wished she would just stay like this.

"Hyung, the parking is this way?" Chanyeol called out when Suho didn't follow him to the parking lot.

"No, I'm not going with you."

"I'll drive you home, Hyung."

"It's okay, I have called a taxi. Just take her home and you go home too!" Adjusting the girl in his arms, he added, "Vic's house is near mine. I'll bring her home." He clicked his tongue seeing Chanyeol hesitating. "Go!" He shooed him trying to bare the tiredness of carrying Victoria.

"O-ok." Trying to keep Bora walking he bobbed his head. "Bye, Hyung!" 

When Chanyeol was gone from his sight, Suho tried to wake Victoria up. "Ya! Wake up..they were already gone." The girl only groaned. A little annoyed, he clicked his tongue. "Do you know that you're heavy?" She shook her head and snuggled to his chest. "Fine! I'll let go and drop you if you're still sleeping in the count of 3. One....two..." 

Beep Beep "Excuse me, did you call a taxi?" The taxi driver asked him. He nodded at the driver and went inside the taxi, but he put Victoria first who was already deeply sleeping.



Unlocking his car, Chanyeol put Bora to the seat beside him and put seatbelt for her before going in to the driver's seat. Amused, he softly scoffed to the side watching her drunken state. The corner of his lips hooked up in a smile as he opened his denim jacket to cover her body. 

On the way, he heard Bora hummed. Briefly glancing at her, he thought that she already woke up. 

"Where do you live?" He asked keeping his eyes on the road.

No answer. 

He realized that she wasn't conscious yet; still sleeping. He thought of where she lived and whether she was still living at her previous house or had moved out. Since he didn't know where he should drop her off, he thought of a place for her and drove to the place.

When he arrived at the place, he carried her like a bride. After ringing the doorbell twice, he waited until the door opened.

"Oh Chanyeol! What happened?" The older woman asked when she looked at Bora in his arms. 

"Excuse me, Miss. Do you still have available room here? I don't know where she lives so..." 

The older nodded and showed him the way to the room. He put her on the bed slowly not to wake her up. Insisting to make him a cup of tea, the woman left him with Bora.

He sat on the bed beside the sleeping figure. "You shouldn't have drunk much." He pulled the cover over her. "Why were you being so stubborn?" He mumbled while her head.

His lips curled into a smile while his hand slid down to her cheek. When his thumb grazed her lips, he thought of the past and immediately shook his head. What am I doing? He retracted his hand.

He stood up and was about to walk away when she grabbed his hand. "Don't go..."

Chanyeol froze.

"Don't go, Mom," Bora mumbled in her sleep. 

Her hand slid away from his as a tear rolled down her cheek. Chanyeol stooped to wipe away her tear when he heard soft knocks on the door. He straightened up when the woman entered. Chanyeol explained what had happened and thanked the older woman apologizing at the same time. He bid farewell with bob of his head then went home.

Bringg..Bringg

A phone rang with vibration. 

"Hmm.." Rolling over, Bora squinted one of her eyes and tried to fish out her phone from her pocket. She ended the call and put it beside her before going back to sleep. 

BZZZ
Her phone vibrated with an incoming message.

Bora reluctantly opened her eyes, yawned and stretched her body on the bed. When she checked on her phone, she saw lots of messages and missed calls. 15 messages and 30 missed calls from her dad, brother and an unknown number. 

She frowned seeing the unfamiliar phone number. Whose number is this? She tossed her phone to the side and yawned again.

Her head was throbbing when she sat up on the bed. She winced and held the side of her head. Looking at her surrounding, she just realized that the room wasn't hers. Where am I? She frowned again then spotted a glass of water beside her bed. She drank the water feeling dry. 

Her hand went up to her cheek when she felt it a little wet and sticky. "Did I cry?"

Suddenly she remembered a warm hand touching her cheek caressing it so gently last night. Bora thought that it was just a dream. Yet, it felt so real, her cheek could still feel a little tingles from the warmth left by the hand.

Were those touches a dream or real? She wondered. Why couldn't I really remember? "Ack!" She winced feeling her head throb again and remembered she drank a lot yesterday. Then she looked around the room and noticed it looked familiar. Where am I again?

There was a knock on the door before someone entered the room and brought a tray of breakfast for her. 

"Morning!"

"Ms.Moon?" Bora let out a little gasp.

"Are you feeling alright, sweetie? Here. Since you might have a hangover, I made you a soup."

Blinking and feeling embarrassed, she ducked her head. "Thank you," she mumbled then added, "Sorry."

"It's okay." The elder woman smiled. "Now eat." She nodded to the soup.

Bora slowly took the spoon. "Am I in..."

"House of Hope. Yes, you're right. It's okay. There are some available rooms here."

"Ah~" She nodded then bit down her lip. "How... How did I get here?" Bora questioned. 

Ms. Moon chuckled. "Chanyeol brought you when you're still unconscious and sleeping."

Chanyeol did? Her eyes rounded in surprise. I have to thank him later.

"He's really a kind young man. Have you guys known each other before by any chance?"

Surprised by the question, Bora slowly shook her head.

"It's just strange how he really took care of you just like a boyfriend." Ms. Moon suddenly giggled. "Well, you two seem to have good chemistry. Chanyeol is such a good guy. Maybe you should date each other. You look good together too!" Ms. Moon laughed. 

Feeling shy, Bora didn't know what to respond and only managed an awkward grin. Ms. Moon told her to eat the breakfast and that she could go home after that. Bora thanked her for it before the woman went out.

After she ate her breakfast, her phone rang with an incoming call. She frowned seeing the unknown number again, but decided to pick it up. "Hello, who's this?" She asked while putting away the tray.

"Finally you pick up the call." The voice on the other end sighed deeply. "It's me."

Listening to his voice, Bora's mind clicked and she realized who this was. Ah! The annoying guy! "Sorry, I don't know you. Bye!" She replied to him and was going to end the call.

"Ya! Wait!" He quickly muttered. "Come to my office on time at lunch. No buts. It's an order. For our project." He ended the call.

"What?!" Bora gawked at her phone and scoffed. "I haven't even answered back yet. Urgh! Why did it have to be him?" She rubbed her face. "If this is not for that project, I won't do it." She threw her body back on the bed with a heavy sigh.

Her eyes were blinking looking up at the ceiling while her mind travelled back to those warm touch on her cheek. Bringing up a hand to her cheek, she felt butterflies in her stomach. Were those real? Could it be Chanyeol? Blood rushed to her cheeks and she grinned sheepishly at the thought. She imagined how Chanyeol carried her, but soon she shook her head. No way! What am I thinking!

Her phone vibrated when a text message arrived. She frowned when she saw it was from the annoying guy again.

Don't be late.

With another heavy sigh, she got up and went back to home before she had to go to the meeting with Soohyuk.

I hope I can always be the one to protect you.