It was a Friday, my day off. Mr. Han allowed his employees to have two rest days every week, and I chose Friday and Saturday. I should’ve chosen Saturday and Sunday but Kihyun and I agreed we should share the weekend, so he got Sunday and I got Saturday.

I put on a plain white shirt and an oversized red plaid flannel over it, since those were the ones on top of my stack of clothes. I wore it with a pair of jogging pants because they’re the most comfortable pants I could find in my closet, my fashion sense is all about comfort.

The clock read 5:44 PM, just in time for me to leave and walk to the coffee shop where the Park siblings would pick me up. The shop isn’t that far from where I stay, it’s just a 15-minute walk away. It could be tiring but most days the weather gets nice and it would be more like a fun adventure.

Dongsun’s car was already parked in front of Salon de Café when I got there. As I ran to the car, Nahyun stepped out of the coffee shop with both of her hands occupied by two frappes. Her purple flowy sundress swayed along the direction of the wind, exposing too much of her legs but she didn’t mind.

“Hey!” She flashed a huge smile as she walked to me. “Will you open the door for me?” She nodded to the direction of the car door.

I pulled the door open for her as I examined her from head to toe. She had her hair curled, as usual, and had a floral sandals to pair it with her floral sundress. It looked like she was going to the beach. “You’re wearing that to the concert?” I asked with my brows furrowed.

“Yeah, I kinda lost a bet from my dear brother,” she answered with a shrug. “Hop in,” she said before shutting the door.

On Fridays, the traffic is always a hassle. Our supposedly 30-minute ride became a 1-hour ride. As if we didn’t expect it, we all got in a bad mood when we arrived. The show was already starting and the good spots were already filled with people. The three of us tried to cheer ourselves up by walking straight to the bar and taking a shot of the hardest liquor they could offer.

“This should be a good one,” Nahyun screamed over the loud noise of the bass pumping from the stereos. We raised our glasses full of the glowing drink before chugging it down. It’s probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted. The alcohol slit like a blade running down my throat. My body suddenly felt hot, it felt like I had to move as much as possible to sweat the heat off my body. I looked at the bartender, who was laughing at us and I knew drinking the hardest liquor on the house was the worst idea we could think off.

“Was that absinthe?” I’ve never had one and as much as possible, I wanted to avoid that one.

“Yeah, good luck.” He chuckled but then stopped when I gave him a pretty serious look. “Don’t worry, I kinda burned some of its alcohol.”

I smiled grimly. I wanted to forget the disgusting taste it left on my tongue, because it felt like I was about to throw up. “Cranberry please.”

“Vodka Cranberry?” he asked as he picked a glass under the counter.

I nodded. I turned around to face the squad but they weren’t there anymore. I run my eyes all over the room full of people smoking and drinking, and dancing along to the beat, but it seemed like the siblings were already lost in the crowd. I looked up and notice that the balcony was occupied by a number of people, which barely happens, only SVIPs are allowed to step inside it. And by SVIPs, I actually mean those people who could afford the whole room.

“Enjoy.” The bartender winked as he pushed the red drink to me. He raised the card Dongsun handed to him when he paid for the absinthes and placed it beside my drink. “And here,” he placed a brownie beside my drink. “I give it away to people who I think deserves a brownie.”

I laughed, it was weird for a bartender to give away brownies. I placed the card in my pocket and grabbed my glass of cranberry and the brownie with my left hand. I took a sip of it as I walked closer to the stage to closely watch the man performing. I quickly finished the brownie because honestly, I was kinda hungry.

The infamous rapper jumped up and down with the crowd as the beat got faster. I grunted at his disgusting misogynistic lyrics and chugged down the rest of the cranberry in my cup. I threw the empty cup on the ground, not minding where people’s feet could take it, before diving in the crowd of distasteful people supporting such music. I didn’t know why I was doing it but I was dancing with people I don’t even know. A hand suddenly grabbed my waist and my usual reflex would be elbowing the guy who dared, but I didn’t. I just kept on dancing to the music until my head felt like it got lighter and my balance got pretty ed up. The colors of the lights flashing were blinding me. I was lost in the middle of the party and I needed to lie down. I immediately pushed people out of my way and searched for a place with less people. I found my way to the empty hall where the comfort rooms were located and as I ran to the end of the hallway, a huge silhouette of a man ran towards me. It was right before my eyes so I crouched down and covered my face with both of my hands. I was out of breath, the music suddenly felt so far as a high pitched tone rang in my ears. It didn’t hurt but it was scary and I thought I was dying.

“Ah Reum?” I heard Dongsun’s voice right behind me. I felt his cold hand touch my arm so I immediately got up and grabbed him. I wrapped my arms around his nape and buried my face on his shoulders. I felt his hand slowly and awkwardly pat my back. Suddenly, the ringing in my ear was gone and the music was back. The way he gently held me around his arms was comforting, making me feel safer and at ease.

“What the hell was that?” I asked him as I sniffed. I tried my best to hold my tears back, I was shivering and my head got lighter and lighter.

“What?” He pushed me back and looked straight into my eyes. “Are you okay?” His voice suddenly became deeper and that was when I realized it wasn’t Dongsun who found me. When it came to my senses that his concerned eyes were pierced into mine, my knees suddenly got weak. I freed myself from Yoongi’s grasps and let myself fall on the floor.

“I’m sorry.” I blinked, trying to figure out what in the world actually happened to me. I was still not okay, but I felt better. I looked around and examined the empty hallway, I thought I’d find the man who almost bumped me. That’s when I realized that I was just hallucinating. Then all of a sudden, I felt like nothing. I felt like my soul wasn’t in my body. Hell, I didn’t even feel like I had a soul. It felt like I was just a tiny spec of dust floating with the wind, and I’ve never felt so good in my entire life. I lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling as different colors started bursting out of nowhere. I had no idea what the those were but I enjoyed the view.

“What the are you doing?” I heard Yoongi said in a distance. Then once again, I felt his cold hands around my arms. He pulled me up so I could sit up straight. He sat in front of me with both of his hands gripping my arms. I noticed the amount of make up on his face and laughed at it, he just scoffed.

“,” I leaned onto his shoulder when I felt like my head was falling. I inhaled the sweet smell of perfume on his collar to the point where I almost forgot to exhale.

“Come on, let’s get up,” he softly said as he tried to push both of ourselves up from the floor. I tried to help, but my knees were too weak. He placed one of his hand around my waist, carrying almost all of my weight. “God, you’re such a ing troublesome.”

“I’m with my friends,” I murmured but he probably didn’t understand it, he just uttered a sound in a tone of a question.

We both struggled to get up the stairs, well almost all of the efforts were on him but it was still hard for me. He kept on cursing me for every step we took and just sighed whenever I laughed at him. He pushed a black door and a group of boys started screaming Yoongi’s name. The loud screams made my head ache and the strong smell of liquor made me feel like throwing up. Taking me there was basically a bad idea.

“Hyung! I thought we said no picking up of girls!” One kid screamed. That time, my vision was a little bit distorted and the colors around me were too saturated. Yoongi gently pulled me inside the room and let me rest on the softest couch I’ve probably sat on. I squinted my eyes to see who was the kid sitting right in front of me and carefully examining my face.

“Who is she?” One guy asked.

“I know her!” The voice sounded familiar but I wasn’t sure where I heard it, so I just assumed it was Jimin. He glided through the room and stopped in front of me, leaning on the back of the kid examining my face so he could also look at me.

“What is wrong with her?” Another guy asked.

“I think she needs to see a doctor,” said the guy in front of me before standing up.

“She does not,” Yoongi said. “I think she’s just high or something.”

I wheezed at what Yoongi just said, I thought it was ridiculous. I couldn’t be high, I didn’t take anything but a shot of absinthe and a cup of cranberry. I knew I was just drunk, and I thought it was the absinthe’s fault.

“I’m just drunk Jesus ing Christ,” I slurred as I gazed at Min Yoongi.

He sighed and just sarcastically nodded. “You don’t even know the difference between alcohol and drugs.” He took the seat beside me and the realized that everyone’s attention in the room was on me, and how uncomfortable it could be in my point of view. “Go enjoy yourselves, it’s almost Donghyuk’s turn anyway,” he said to the boys. All of them went to the glass window and continued to mind their own businesses.

From where I was seating, the rest of the concert hall could be seen. People jumped and danced to the EDM beat as a rapper on the stage spitted his rhymes onto the microphone. In the sea of people, I tried to search for my two friends I came with. But with a distorted vision like that made me just feel sick. I closed my eyes and hoped for the dizziness to ease out. A cold hand suddenly gently slapped my forehead.

“Don’t sleep, I gotta make sure you don’t die.” I looked at Yoongi and watched him drink from the bottle of beer in his hand.

“I just drank, I don’t do drugs,” I tried to convince him of what really happened. But yeah, I’ve never been that drunk and it was a really weird experience. “I swear. I’m clean.”

The rapper on the stage finally said good bye and the next rapper’s name was announced. I didn’t hear who it was but the crowd got a little wild and the place was filled with people’s screams. The boys got excited and started cheering loudly, making my head hurt again. I noticed Yoongi peaked at the stage from our seat, but the view was blocked by the boys.

“It’s Donghyuk,” Yoongi said as he exchanged glances with me. “Supreme Boi.”

“I know who he is,” I replied. Supreme Boi was the reason why we were there in the first place. Dongsun is a big fan of Rock Bottom so he convinced me and Nahyun to go with him.

Yoongi hesitated to stand up. He glanced at me for a moment, making it look so obvious that he wanted to get up and watch the rapper they had been waiting for. I didn’t want to assume but by the way he acted, I thought he couldn’t leave me on the couch. He was pondering whether he would stand up and join the boys or just sit beside me and make sure I don’t die.

“Hey,” he finally spoke. “You’re gonna be okay, right?”

I nodded.

“Stay, don’t do anything stupid.” He pointed at where the boys were standing, which was just a few feet away from us. “I’ll be right there.”

I didn’t know why I laughed, I just did. He cringed before he messed with my hair and stood up to join the boys.

I closed my eyes as soon as Yoongi turned his back from me. I told myself I’m gonna open my eyes after a few seconds. But a few seconds turned into a few minutes, and I didn’t know when it happened but I dozed off.