You’re swaying in your seat at the head of the table, moving to the soft beats of a jazz record that you can’t seem to place over the speakers. You feel a pool sloshing from side-to-side in your head. Besides your own lively group of you, Ara, VIXX, and a handful of their managers, there was no one else in the restaurant, a small hole-in-the-wall that was half-bar, half-convenience store in a side street of the city.

You look around aimlessly, from the dim lights on the walls to the ripples of soju, shaking in its glass. You don’t remember how many shots you’ve taken as you lazily observe everything. Your gaze follows the bits of conversation around the room, Ara telling stories of her beginnings in the fashion industry, Ken showing off his best impressions, Hongbin trying to contain his giggling, and N chastising other members out of habit. You see Ravi taking videos and pictures on his phone, while Leo silently drinks and enjoying the atmosphere.

You don’t fight your drunken stupor as you continue to follow the motions of the sounds around you. Finally, your eyes fall on a half-empty beer mug on the table. You observe how a drop of beer glistens and slips down the outside edge of the rim. A large hand slides against the cold mug and grips the handle. You watch the hand lift the drink and you notice the sharp jawline, red cheeks, and high cheekbones, your eyes traveling around the angular planes of his face. When your eyes finally meet Hyuk’s, he quickly turns his head away from you.

Was he looking at me? You grip onto the edge of your chair as you continue to sway. You wonder to yourself if you’ve ever seen a person blush so hard. You snicker and shakily take a shot of soju from your glass.

Suddenly you feel an arm drop heavily on your shoulder. You smell the sweet shampoo of Ara. She gives you a strong kiss on the cheek and hugs you.

“Are you okay, my chick?”, Ara says. She wraps her arms tighter around you. You can’t tell if she’s drunk or just her usual self.

“I’ll give you a ride home so don’t worry about anything. Drink to your heart’s content!” She gives a celebratory cheers and the whole group joins her. You nod compliantly to whatever Ara said, her words sliding over your head. One of VIXX’s managers call her over and she flits back to socializing.

You press your hand against the spot where Ara kissed you. You take out your phone and turn on the front camera to check for any lipstick marks. No marks but you laugh when you see your face filling your cellphone screen. You take a picture for posterity and you switch to the back camera. You hold it up, try to steady your hand, and snap a quick candid of everyone.

This is still photography, right? You start taking portraits of people around the table. You’re flanked by Leo and Ravi, their conversation passing through you. You hold your phone and lean back to compose a shot of Leo, talking behind a wall of various drink bottles, the light reflecting through the glass. You carefully arrange the empty bottles to frame the photo and click the button. You swivel your body to Ravi, who notices you taking pictures, and he throws up a peace sign and a smug expression. He nudges Hyuk, who is seated right next to him, making him almost spill his drink.

“Hyogi, Hyogi, Hyogi!”, He calls his maknae. Hyuk looks at him and then looks at the camera. He quickly copies Ravi, putting on an arrogant sneer and squinting his eyes.

“Ravi swag.”, Hyuk jokes.

Ravi scoffs and continues to do various poses while Hyuk follows. Each picture getting blurrier and blurrier as it gets harder to suppress your laughter. While you continue to photograph the two, you hear Hongbin shouting prompts at them for different poses and N clapping at their performance.

“Aegyo, aegyo! y, y! Leo pose! N expression!”, Hongbin shouts, egging them on.

Ravi quickly adapts to each of Hongbin’s challenges while Hyuk plays along, completely embarrassed but unable to stop.

“Hey, hey, me too!”, Ken whines and jumps into the frame.

“Let’s have a VIXX group photo!”, You slur. You look to the side and wave over Hongbin, N, and Leo to join. Hongbin immediately gets up to join them. N tugs on the sleeve of Leo, who hesitates, but eventually follows behind their leader.

“Ready? 1, 2, 3!” You take a picture of VIXX, bright-eyed and grinning ear-to-ear.

The hours slip by and you’re walking along an empty, wet road leading to the parking lot, trailing behind VIXX and Ara. You still feel the warmth of the soju heating up your body and the pleasure of having a good day. You smile to yourself as you swipe through the gallery in your phone, starting from photos you took from the shoot earlier. You look through various selfies, VIXX goofing off, and pictures of you working, taken by Ara. You reach the final photo of everyone at the restaurant, happily drunk, with half of your face covering the picture. You feel tipsily nostalgic over the past day. Your early reminiscing is interrupted by Ara’s screeching voice. You look up to see Ara’s silhouette, strutting in her high heels, with her arms draped over Leo and Ken as she attempts to sing one of VIXX’s ballads. You make a mental reminder to thank her again tomorrow.

You put your phone away and inhale and exhale the cold air, savoring the moment, footsteps crunching on the ground. Your worries about the incoming morning, your office job, your boss, the typical daily grind melt away with each breath entering your lungs. You feel your body relax and your mind quiet until you notice someone beside you. You turn your head and see Hyuk, walking at your side.

“(Y/N)-ssi, are you okay?”, Hyuk asks. He continues to look forward while talking.

“Yeah. I had a lot of fun, especially since I don’t usually drink or go out too much…”

“It seems like you don’t.”, Hyuk teases through a smile.

You notice that he has an endearing sheen of pink spread on his cheeks and nose. You wonder if he’s just making small talk and passing by, or judging you for your past misbehavior, or maybe he’s just drunk and cold. You can’t really tell from his expression. You realize that you might have been staring at him for too long and look down at your feet. You feel the effects of alcohol leaving your system and find that you’re not as self-confident as you were back in the restaurant.

“I was wondering if you could-”,  Hyuk pauses his question midway when you both hear a rip. You stop in your tracks and realize that you feel damp gravel on the bottom of your left foot.

You look down and see the small heel of your flat dragging behind, only hanging on to a thin piece of fabric. You slowly lift your leg, wobbling as you move, and you groan. You see a hole where the heel should be and your exposed skin covered in dark pebbles.

“Um…I think my shoe…broke.” You tiptoe on the foot of the damaged shoe and rummage in your bag again for your handkerchief. You pull it out and try to lift your leg again to clean the underside of your foot, but the combination of alcohol and fatigue throw you off balance.

Hyuk quickly steps closer and takes hold of your arm for support. “Thanks.”, You say. You try to wipe as quickly as you can, hoping he doesn’t see your cheap, damaged shoe.

“No problem. Are you sure you can walk back?”

You laugh. “Yeah, of course. It’s just a bit gross though.”, You shrug. You finish cleaning up and he lets go. You lean on your good shoe and tiptoe again with the other, folding up your handkerchief neatly and putting it back in your bag.

“Do you need a piggy-back ride?”, Hyuk asks, his face sincerely concerned.

You let a beat pass, processing what you just heard. You snicker and look at him, “Hyuk-ssi, the parking lot is right there.” You point to a nearby fenced lot. You see the rest of the group already approaching the entrance. “I’ll be fine.”

“Ah, right.”, Hyuk nervously laughs.

There’s an awkward moment of silence until he steps next to you and extends his hand.

“Let me help you walk back.”, He says. “Um…I might get in trouble with Ara-ssi if you trip or something.”

You smile at him, “All right.”

You take his hand and his grip tightens to keep you stable. The warmth of his hand feels comfortable as your hand fits in his. You tiptoe with your left foot forward and lean onto Hyuk’s side when moving your right. You hobble slowly with him matching your pace. You try to focus on keeping your balance, ignoring your heartbeat, the thought of holding Hyuk’s hand, his consideration of you, him looking at you right now. You’re about half-successful.

You finally reach the parking lot and approach Ara’s car, parked next to VIXX’s van.

“What happened?”, Ara squeals. She runs around and opens the passenger seat’s door for you.

Ara watches as Hyuk helps you slowly clamber in. “My stupid shoe broke. Hyuk-ssi was just helping me walk.”, You say as you let go of Hyuk’s hand and settle onto the seat.

“What a gentleman! Thank you for taking care of my dongsaeng, Hyuk-ssi. The others just got in the van now. ”, Ara says. She bows and waves as walks back to the driver’s seat.

“Hyuk-ssi, thank you very much.” You fiddle with the heel of your broken flat.

You see a small tug on the corners of his lips but he looks away from you. “It’s no big deal.”, He says. “Hey, (Y/N)-ssi?”

“Yeah?” You look up at him.

Hyuk rubs the back of his neck, lingering. At this time, you wish you could take a picture of him, with the neon lights and the deserted streets.

He sighs, smiles, and gives you a small bow. “Good night.”

He shuts your car door before you could say goodbye. You watch him cross in front, with his hands shoved in his pockets, and a frustrated look on his face. When he opens the door to the van, you can see his fellow members dozing off, exhausted from their long day.

Ara honks twice at the van and the van honks back. The cars go their separate ways onto the winding roads of the city.

You yawn and rest your head on the window as Ara drives onto the highway. You fall asleep barefoot, your hands feeling cold, not knowing when you would have such a perfect day again.