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Hyejin pushed her way through the mass of people all squashed in the living room area. Jeez, it seemed as if the whole senior year was at this party. Poor Namjoon, she thinks to herself, he's going to have fun cleaning all this up tomorrow. But then again, he's rich so maybe she should be feeling sorry for the maids that he's going to hire for the job. A high pitched cheer followed shortly with bubbly laughter pierced through her train of thoughts. Bingo. No matter how crowded a place can be, Hyejin would always be able to pinpoint the whereabouts of drunk Yongsun purely from these cues, that as well as her clumsiness tends to go from level 10 to 100 as soon as her tongue touches just one drop of alcohol. 

She continues to push past tipsy students, carefully maneuvering herself away from stumbling people in case they spilt their drinks on her. It was inevitable though, she was bound to end up with spilt drink on her outfit after this party - if not from random people then from Yongsun. 

Hyejin stops in front of Yongsun who sat perched on the kitchen counter, legs dangling over the surface as she sips from her cup with an innocent look in her eye. 

"How many have you had?" Hyejin asks.

"Just two." She replies as she takes another sip, "And add on another three that I had when you weren't around." She mumbles into the plastic cup before downing the rest of the drink.

Hyejin sighs and snatches the cup from her which rendered a soft sound of protest from the girl, "You need to sober up a bit. I'm not carrying you home like last time. Remember that time? That time you puked all over me while I was giving you a piggy back home?" She chides.

"Okay, okay." Yongsun crosses her arms across her chest and leans back, "Mom." 

"It's for your own good. Trust me, you'll thank me tomorrow." 

"If we're still friends tomorrow." Yongsun mutters. 

It takes about twenty-five to thirty minutes before Yongsun slowly starts sobering up. After that, the two girls stayed in the kitchen away from the blaring music and stench of sweat and alcohol. It was almost peaceful, until short moments later all that disappears when Hyejin's ex comes over to them and grabs her by the wrist and pulls her off the counter demanding that they had to talk. Yongsun grabs hold of her other wrist and pulls her back, "She doesn't want to talk to you."

He turns, his eyes bloodshot either from the alcohol or from something else entirely. All Hyejin knew was that he definitely wasn't himself right now. "I don't recall me asking you." He says through gritted teeth and then tugs harder leading to her letting out a yelp of pain in response. 

"What the hell is going on?" 

The small crowd around them steps aside to let Namjoon through. He looks at Hyejin then down to her wrist and suddenly he can feel the anger building up through his body. The guy had such a hard and firm grip on her that he could see her skin getting red from it. "What the hell are you doing here? I never invited you."

The guy glares at him, "And? There's so many people who weren't invited that are here."

Namjoon steps forward, "You better get the out of my house." 

The guy stays silent and stares at Namjoon hoping to intimidate him but no matter what he didn't seem to back down. As if coming back to his senses, he lets go of her. "Whatever." He makes his way out of the kitchen, making sure to shove Namjoon in the process. 

"Nothing to see here, people. Go back to drinking and making questionable choices." Namjoon yells, ushering everyone back out into the living room. He looks over his shoulder at Yongsun and Hyejin, "You two alright?" 

Yongsun nods but Hyejin remains tight-lipped, instead she grabs a can of beer and leaves the kitchen. Yongsun makes a move to follow but Namjoon holds her back, "I'll go talk to her." He says, "You sit here and drink water." 

Yongsun groans, "I've been doing that for the past half hour! You do realise there's been cases where people have died drinking too much water. Do you want me to die, Namjoon? Is that what you want? HUh?"

"My house, my rules. Do not drink any more alcohol. You understand?"

Instead of giving him a verbal answer, she gives him the middle finger.

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Namjoon finds Hyejin in one of the bathrooms in his house. He lets himself in and sighs at the sight of her on the floor drinking her beer. "Interesting place to choose to drink." He hums in amusement but nevertheless he slides down beside her on the bathroom floor and happily accepts the beer that she gives him.

"Are you alright?"

Hyejin shrugs.

Namjoon notices her standoffish behaviour. If it were any one else, they'd be intimidated by it but he's known her long enough to look past her defenses. Taking this into consideration, Namjoon decides not to question her about her ex and instead be her shoulder to cry on if need be. But then again, this was Hyejin. She was tough, it would take a whole lot to make her cry. Now that he was thinking about it, out of all the years he's known her, he's probably only seen her cry a few times.

"Do you want me to beat him up for you?" He says after a while.

She lets out a small chuckle, it's not much but hearing that makes Namjoon proud of himself for being the reason for it. "And why would you do that?"

"Because I'm one of your best friends."

"Says who?"

Namjoon feigns hurt, "Oh c'mon. We've known each other for thirteen years - we both got in trouble because of Yongsun's clumsiness, remember?"

"Doesn't mean that you're my best friend." She says, her expression was nonchalant though her tone was playful.

"Me, you and Yongsun. Us three, we're a team." He states with a smile. 

"You're forgetting Irene."

Namjoom shifts uncomfortably at the mention of her name. He takes a while to answer, as if he were debating internally about whether he should mention it or not. "Yeah but she only joined our group in high school." He bumps his shoulder into hers, "We've known each other since elementary school. It's different."

Hyejin eyes him suspiciously, "I think there's more." 

"Well..."

"Go on." She prods his shoulder with her index finger, "Spill."

"Well . . . Okay, I haven't told anyone about this," He sits up and leans forward as if he was about to divulge his deepest secrets, "Back in eighth grade, when we were thirteen, I think . . ." 

Hyejin nods in anticipation.

"Remember that kid Johnny? That scrawny rich kid who tried so hard to fit in?" He says and then pauses and adds, "Whatever happened to that guy?" 

She groaned at his inability to tell a story without getting sidetracked. It was goddamn frustrating, "Namjoon, just get to the point. Please."

He rolls his eyes at her impatience but smiles anyway at her hanging onto his every word, "Right. Okay anyway, remember his birthday party? We were all seated in a circle or something, God knows why and I was beside Irene."

Hyejin's face lit up as the memory came barreling through, "Oh, that was the day . . . " She looks at him for a moment before bursting out into laughter, "Didn't you fart?"

Namjoon shoots her a glare, "It wasn't me. It was Irene. But being the gentleman I am, I took the blame." 

"Uh-huh sure." She stifles another laugh, "Wait, is this why you don't like her?" 

He remains silent and then gives the tiniest nod.

"Damn, you sure know how to hold grudges." 

"I was called 'Nampoo' for the rest of the school year," he snaps.

After a while the both of them fall into a silence and allow the music blasting from the living room to fill up the walls of the bathroom. Namjoon fidgets with his fingers, occasionally stealing glances at her. There were moments where he would open his mouth to say something but ends up second guessing himself. She was still upset over something but god-knows-what that was. No matter how many times he's told her over the years to talk to him about anything, she's never taken him up on that offer. To be honest, Namjoon was ashamed to admit that she listened more to his worries - whether it was his worries over his future, worries over his relationships no matter what she would take some time out for him. He just wished he could do the same.

With that thought in mind, he wraps his arm over her shoulder and pulls her closer to him. She settles into his embrace without a word, and rests her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I'm sorry we didn't talk much over summer." He says

"It's fine."

He hesitates for a moment before asking, "How are things with your mom?"

She tenses at the mention of the woman. How was she meant to answer this question? Does she say what's really on her mind? Or does she stick to the abridged version like she always did and reassure him that every thing was fine and dandy in her house? 

Namjoon notices her uneasiness and gives her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder, her lack of an answer had already answered his question anyway. "I'm here if you ever need to talk about it." He says, "I'm not going to force you if you don't want to. But just so you know, you shouldn't bottle it all up. Especially when you have friends who want to help you."

Hyejin sits up and turns away from him, quickly wiping at her face. Confused, Namjoon rests both his hands on her shoulders and attempts to look at her. To his surprise (and horror) tears were streaming down her face. It was like he had punctured a hole in the dam that guarded her tear ducts and now there was no way in stopping this overflowing of waterworks. Namjoon never really reacts well to people crying, and seeing Hyejin cry made him even more nervous and helpless at the same time. 

He pulls her into a one armed hug as she cries into the nook of his neck, "Just let it out," he says as he rubs her back soothingly. 

"I...I m-miss him so much." She sobs. 

Namjoon feels his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. She didn't need to say anymore, he already knew who she was referring to. Her father's death took a dramatic toll  on Hyejin, emotionally speaking. It was also the main reason for her icy relationship with her mother. He didn't know the full story as Hyejin never really liked to dwell on the topic but he knew the gist of it and managed to fill in the blanks with his own assumptions. Though he wasn't one hundred percent certain if these assumptions were correct, he'd have to make do with it for now. He hoped that one day Hyejin would realise that her thoughts and worries weren't a burden to him nor to Yongsun.

Namjoon nods as he places a kiss on her forehead, "I know." 

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author's note: leave comments to feed my ego. ♡