"Remind me why I thought coming was a good idea?"

"You can't back out now, Krystal, I've already bought three bottles of Spanish wine!" 

And here I was, thinking my new life-mentor, Victoria, would give me an actual explanation for my adrenaline-fuelled decision.

"Sure, I'd hate for you to waste your money," Krystal smiled at her newfound Unnie, but pulling a slight face when she realised exactly how sarcastic she'd sounded, "I'm sorry-"

Victoria chuckled, obviously seeing Krystal's wit as somewhat endearing, "It's okay - but, in proper response to your question? You got bored of my anecdotes about a certain control-freak ex, not to mention studying for the Entrance Exam, and decided to get some fun into your system. There's your excuse." Victoria shrugged as they stepped out of her car and made their way towards the high-end apartment, the chitter-chatter of all the voices already audible from over the balcony  

"Right, an excuse that people will take seriously," Krystal mumbled as she zipped her jacket up in the cold air. She followed after her friend, willing her feet to carry her forth despite every muscle screaming/begging her not to. 2 parties in the space of less than 2 weeks was really pushing the boat out for Krystal. But she needed this - she needed new experiences if she wanted to get better. 

But there's some comfort in the darkness...I'm so used to it...

"Typical," Victoria scoffed as she checked the names above each row of buzzers, pulling Krystal out of her dark, treacherous thoughts, "This 'Lay' guy -I checked out his profile, his name's really Yixing- lives in the freaking penthouse."

"Well, Luhan and Sehun did say he modeled?" Krystal shrugged as she squinted and eyed the name above the buzzer, Victoria pressing the button and impatiently awaiting a reply. Krystal had always been curious about media in mainland China, especially since her father had high-stake business interests there, but she never got around to familiarising herself with the culture, let alone the language. 

Maybe I should brush up on that if I ever want to work in Foreign politics...

"Hello?" A slurred voice asked down the line, clearly not the owner of the place.

"We're with Luhan!" Victoria shouted down the line, apparently eager to get inside the place already as she clinked her bottles of alcohol with apprehension. Krystal couldn't help but eye the bottles with a shadowing sense of desire that made water ever so slightly.

One sip wouldn't hurt...I wouldn't be drowning anything this time at least...well, except my demons...

Snapping Krystal out of her reverie, the door to the apartment block swung open, and before they knew it, the elevator had whisked the girls all the way up to the penthouse, where the classy lounge music vibrated through the walls and floor, sparking an excitement inside Krystal that she hadn't felt in quite a while. Everyone there was dressed in cool, evening clothes (mostly designer by the looks of it), making Krystal feel horrifically underdressed. Yet whilst she reocgnised not a single face in the place, the discomfort only added to the thrill of the unknown.

For a second, Krystal almost felt like her old self. Almost.

And there Kai was, perfect timing, lounging around on the sofas with newfound friends, all laughing and bantering as they behaved like the big kids they were. Krystal couldn't fight the smile that lit up across her face, more so when Kai caught her eye. Beaming like a child, Kai hopped up from the sofa, but what Krystal didn't expect, was for the guy to calm down in the space of a few seconds as he sauntered over to Krystal and Victoria.

"Hi,"

"Hey,"

"Is it 'hi' or 'hey'?" Kai raised an eyebrow with curiosity, his eyes dancing with countless more questions and desired answers. Krystal just imagined the guy's mind swarming, a beehive full of unknown secrets and curiosities that needed to be satisfied - a mind unlike that of Krystal's own. In her old life, at least.

"I guess it depends on who says what first," Victoria scoffed, speaking where Krystal clearly couldn't, "I guess you're Kai. I hear you've been traveling around quite a bit?"

Kai nodded, confirming the woman's answer, "And, I guess I'm back. Few loose ends needed tying up." Kai then turned around, eyes scouring the place, before picking up a large bottle of wine from a near end-table. Krystal noticed he was wearing a designer blazer with a strange array of patterns across it - she wondered how the hell someone who'd been traveling the past few years would ever be able to afford it.

"But getting wasted at a fancy dinner party in the process doesn't hurt, right?" Krystal scoffed as the guy brought the drink to his nose, and, clearly liking the smell, poured a healthy glassful of the drink into his glass without a moment's hesitation. Krystal's mouth watered at the smell ever so slightly.

"You sound like you wouldn't know?" Kai raised an eyebrow at Krystal once more, before holding the bottle out to her expectantly.

Krystal could smell the alcohol, the familiar taste of the poison she once drank so pleasurably to dull the pain she once felt. But now she felt emptiness, all former pain long gone at this point in time. She could drink, without needing a reason for once. But she still found herself in a slight dilemma.

What's worse; drinking to numb the feeling, or drinking to feel something?

"You know, you're supposed to drink red wine with your dinner?" Victoria smirked knowingly at Kai, as she crossed her arms. 

Whatever the case, Kai was insistent on Krystal having at least a sip. ing the bottle into Victoria's hands, Kai warned, "You let go of that unless I say so, and you're dead. I wanna' finish that thing when dinner is finally served," before disappearing into the abyss of the party.

Krystal and Victoria exchanged confused looks with one another, Victoria struggling to hold onto the bottle as well as her own 2. Krystal was reluctant to hold one, even if it would help Victoria out in the process. Kai reappeared from a completely different direction in which he left, apparently more drunk than he was half a minute ago, and with a confused-looking Sehun in tow.

"What are you doing?" Krystal raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Showing you around," Kai shrugged, "You looked at the wine as if you hadn't touched a drink for a while - so I'm gonna' take the liberty of bringing you to the bar and getting a cocktail, ease you back into things. Assuming you're up for it?"

There was something in Kai's devilish smile the was difficult for Krystal to resist, some insatiable reel that was baiting her former, wild-child out from hibernation for the world to glimpse once more. The unpredictable nature of Kai's behaviour only spurred Krystal's will to recover on more. Her pill-bottle that Mrs Kim had recently prescribed suddenly felt heavier in her bag.

Which medication would you prefer?

Victoria was suddenly called out by someone somewhere among the sea of party-goers, "Our gracious host awaits these gifts," she gestured with one of the bottles of wine she'd brought, "You wanna' take your wine?"

"Of course I do!" Kai exclaimed dramatically, before near-leaping on Victoria to reclaim his prize. 

"Kai, the wine is communal!" Sehun groaned, sounding like a disappointed kid-sibling, "I paid for it too!" 

"Maybe you should look after your things better!" Kai rolled his eyes at his friend before dragging Krystal up to the mini-bar that had been set up for the night.

They stood in the queue awkwardly for a moment, so Krystal watched Victoria and Sehun chat animatedly, before they scuttled off to find their mysterious host. 

Krystal looked over at Kai, her eyebrow raised in amusement, "You do realise, that whatever happens to me tonight, is all on you, right?"

Kai chuckled devilishly once more, that crooked smile that Krystal had gotten so used to smiling along with appearing in its righteous place on his face, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Three hours later, however, and Krystal slowly came to regret the decision to leave tonight's fate in the hands of Kai. 

Whilst the food served at the fancy dinner was exquisite to say the least, Krystal had never felt so out of place somewhere before. Not only was she horrifically under-dressed among an attendee-roster all donning designer dinner jackets and dresses, most of these socialites and big-spenders were giggling and warm from the copious amounts of alcohol that had been served throughout the night. 

Krystal had awkwardly declined every offer of wine or champagne that had been offered to her every now and then, engaging in meagre-level chit-chat with the various guests sat around her as they become more and more inebriated throughout the night. She next to Sehun, who hardly said a word to her either other than to remark on how great the food was. Something was clearly on his mind. Victoria and Luhan had slipped into speaking in a dialect with their host, Lay, at the end of the table, whilst Kai quickly came to be the centre of attention at the party.

"So that's really how they do it in Ireland?" some random party-goer asked from one end of the table.

Kai stood on a chair at the top corner of the table, his designer jacket undone and his shirt un-tucked, with a pair of glasses (that definitely did not belong to him) hanging wonky on his face, a rose in one hand and a German beer-stein in the other. He was a vision of chaos, and Krystal couldn't help but smile at the mere sight of him. 

"Apparently!" he exclaimed excitedly, his voice croaking from the alcohol ever so slightly. His cheeks were flushed cherry-red from the copious amounts he'd been drinking, "You just spin the coin, and drink! Easy!"

"It was a rough night when we learned how to play that game, believe me," Sehun sighed from next to Krystal. She often wondered what exactly the two boys encountered on their two years of globe-trotting, yet equally, didn't know that would necessarily be a good idea.

Some things are just best left to the imagination... 

Kai sighed (rather dramatically), before he jumped down from the table, landing surprisingly gracefully, before scuttling around the table and slinking back into his seat next to her. 

The rest of the guests seemed positively marveled by this discovery, and proceeded to break out into sessions of playing this Irish drinking game. Krystal, on the other hand, couldn't feel any more left out of the revelry; not because she didn't know anyone, but simply she couldn't bring herself to join in on any of it. At this point, she didn't even feel bad for herself, only aimless and blank as she simply sat there.

This is all definitely doomed to get messy...

"You certainly know how to entertain," Krystal smirked as she sipped on her water, the party getting louder once again as people began to pour away from the table and scatter about the penthouse.

Kai grinned, his eyes drooping as he gently swayed about, "But apparently, you won't be entertained. You're not having fun?"

Sitting back into her chair, Krystal sighed, pouting slightly, "I don't know...I just feel..."

"Awkward?"

"Awkward." Krystal nodded, "I guess- I guess learning to have fun again isn't exactly an overnight process..." she looked down to her hands, where she fiddled with a frayed thread on her blazer sleeve absent-mindedly. Everyone seemed to be so effortlessly enjoying themselves, losing themselves in the banter and conversation that was unfolding everywhere, feeling all the excitement and buzz that came from a party - yet all Krystal could do was sit there and feel sorry for herself. 

How could she ever have imagined that she'd wake up one day and suddenly no longer feel everything that she'd been feeling up until now? That she could magically flip the switch in her head that made her feel like her old, happy, sociable self again and be fine again? How could she ever think that coming here in the first place, could possibly have been a good idea?

"You're freaking out, please don't freak out?" Kai pouted, holding up the rose in Krystal's face and twiddling it in his fingers, "Here. Have a rose on me?" he tickled her nose with the flower, offering a playfully child-like smile that Krystal couldn't help but smile at. Kai's glee was infectious.

"Thanks," Krystal smiled as she took the rose from his hands.

Sehun made a noise from disgust beside Krystal, muttering something about a "sleazy jerk", before picking up his chair and carrying it over to where Luhan was sat. 

Krystal stifled a laugh at this.

"Clearly he's just jealous," Kai shrugged unashamedly, "I've never given him a rose before."

Looking over at Kai, Krystal was marvelled by his sense of ease about everything around him, "You really just, don't give a about anything, do you?"

Kai pondered this for a moment, the slight red tinge on his nose and cheeks making him look strangely adorable, "Most of the time, I guess not."

"I wish I could be like that," Krystal said, the words escaping her lips before she could actually think about it. She immediately cursed herself mentally for letting such a thought slip loose.

Kai looked at her with steady eyes for a moment, his infectious and bouncing energy suddenly contained in that moment, "Why can't you be?"

Staring back into his dark brown eyes evoked something close to nerves in Krystal, a sort of fear that if she stared too long she'd be lost forever. 

Yet she was saved from having to answer by the sudden crash! of a bottle from nearby. Krystal's attention was snapped away as the table burst into a roar of ridiculous laughter; Victoria sat at the end of the table, her face red and hand clapped over as she tried to stifle her laughter over the bottle she'd just smashed to pieces at the end of the table, their host Lay throwing around various phrases in Chinese that Krystal figured were along the lines of 'you're too drunk!' and 'you've had too much wine!'.

"I think we need to get her home," Krystal said to Kai, yet as she turned back to him, she momentarily caught him staring intensely at her, only to snatch his own glimpse away.

"How? Didn't she drive you here?" Kai asked as he began to absent-mindedly began to twiddle a fork against the table.

Realisation, Krystal groaned, "Crap. I forgot about that."

"Guess you'll have to call for help?" 

Twenty-minutes later, an amused-looking Sulli stood in the penthouse doorway, looking divine as usual wearing thigh-high boots, and long white shirt underneath a trendy leather trench-coat. Even at this time of night, making emergency trips to collect her friends, Sulli looked like a supermodel. As usual, she never failed to draw the attention of every attendee in the room who all looked over at the y, mystery woman who'd appeared late in the night.

"And I thought I was the bad drinker," Sulli smirked as Kai and Krystal helped walk an intoxicated Victoria to the door.

"It was all the European wine," Victoria groaned, her voice deep and fraught with intoxication, "I never-" she hiccuped, "Yeah. Whatever." she groaned, loudly slumping down on a chair be