“Here, Jiwoo. Have some more beer.”

Jiwoo raised her bottle and smiled at Woo-jin. “I’m still finishing this.”

“Then finish it quickly,” Woo-jin ordered with a deep frown. “You’re still on your what? First? Second? Keep up, Miss Jeon.”

He was drunk, Jiwoo realized. In fact, everyone in their department was on their way, if not already, drunk.

They were holding a party for her. She tried to beg off and tell them it wasn’t necessary but everyone insisted, saying it was to welcome her. So here they were, in a rented karaoke room after they had dinner together, drinking alcohol, dancing and singing.  

“You insisted I call you by your first name and yet you still call me by my last,” she noted with amusement.

Woo-jin blinked. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, Jiwoo. A downside of being in Management,” he explained. Then he leaned forward and shook a bottle her way. “Now drink up.”  

“Sing for us, Tae-hyung,” she heard Somin say before she could answer Woo-jin and her eyes went to the pair cozying up on the couch in front of her. “Come on. Please sing.”

“Do you want everyone’s ears to bleed?” Tae-hyung replied dryly.

Something burning and acidic flowed through Jiwoo’s veins as she stared at them.

“Please?” Somin continued to cajole with a smile, leaning closer to him.

Jiwoo removed her gaze from them. The urge to grab Somin away from Tae-hyung and pull all the hair from her scalp surprised her and to take her mind off the feeling, she finished her bottle in two long swallows. Then she grabbed the beer Woo-jin had offered her.

“H-hey, slow down,” Woo-jin told her.

She too finished that bottle and grabbed another from the table.

She hated this feeling. She hated it, she hated it, she hated—

Tae-hyung kim.

Jiwoo stared at the photo of the library card that she took with her cell phone. Whenever she felt like it, she looked at this picture and at his beautiful handwriting, imagining her name next to his, imagining his lips saying her name.

Then she remembered how her beloved Tae-hyung spoke to her last week and she dropped her phone, rolled over the bed and squealed into her pillow.  

When she’d calmed down, she grabbed her phone again and slid the screen to his picture. He was reading a book in his usual spot, a frown lingering on his lips.

Jiwoo knew she was acting like a complete stalker.

She should have introduced herself that time when he talked to her. Regretting that lost opportunity, she tried to muster up the courage to talk to him again, maybe ask him about the books he’d read too, but she was just too shy to approach him. He might ignore her or reject her approach.

This was fine, she thought to herself as she stared at her picture with a fond smile,

This was fine for now.

“Hey, Somin,” Woo-jin called out. “Leave Tae-hyung alone. “

“Why?” Somin asked cattily, her eyes narrowing dangerously at Woo-jin’s way.

“Because I don’t want my ears to bleed,” Woo-jin retorted. “In fact, the both of you should just sit there quietly. Don’t even think about singing. “

Somin’s eyes narrowed further until they were tiny slits. “Are you saying I'm bad at singing?”

Woo-jin shrugged and Jiwoo couldn’t help but be impressed at his nonchalance. He wasn’t even the tiniest bit frightened that Somin looked like she was going to hack his head off with a spoon. “Just stay there.”

Slowly rising to her feet, Somin said, “I challenge you to a sing-off.”

“Oh, honey.” Woo-jin shook his head. “You shouldn’t be issuing challenges you can’t win.”

“And if I win?”

“Then I’ll grant you one wish. But if you lose, you will have dinner with me.” Woo-in grinned smugly and everyone in the room cheered. “And of course, you’ll be paying.”

“But you eat like a pig,” Somin whined. “Fine. I’m not going to lose anyway. Come on.”

Jiwoo watched the pair go to the front of the room to pick up the song lists and look through them. Tae-hyung was staring at her and she resolutely ignored him. She took a long pull of her beer and closed her eyes when dizziness hit her. Her thoughts kept drifting to the picture of Somin and Tae-hyung sitting closely together and she shook her head, trying to get rid of the image, only to worsen her woozy head.

She wasn’t in love with him, she thought with dismay.  

She’ll never allow herself to be in love with him again.