It wasn’t a normal party, thought Hyunsoo, it was more like a gathering with people getting high. Still, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad and even felt really lively and cool. People were having conversations in every corner, there was laughter all around her, and the music was playing loudly, though not enough to not be able to hear someone talking.

“So Hyunsoo,” said Taehyung. He had a playboy kind of smile, but at the same time he looked like one of those kind and nice guys. “What do you study?”

“Fine Art,” replied Hyunsoo, “You?”

“You do Jungkook’s course! He’s a close friend of mine. I’m sure you’ve seen him around since he’s quite popular with the ladies. I do Mathematics by the way,” he said, and then noticing Hyunsoo’s expression, “Yeah I know, it’s as long and boring as they say it is.”

Only, it seemed that Taehyung had misunderstood her expression. Hyunsoo was actually making a face at the fact that Jungkook, the rude douche, had a friend who seemed so nice like Taehyung. She was shocked at the fact that he was even popular with the ‘ladies’. Suddenly, she remembered the two girls from her class admiring Jungkook.

“I’ve got loads of cash,” said Yoongi out of nowhere. He was right behind Hyunsoo and Taehyung, but walked to the front and turned back to say, “You can pay me back later.”

Hyunsoo stared after him confused. What was he talking about? At that same moment, someone came up behind Hyunsoo and started talking to Taehyung.

“Hey! Haven’t seen you in a while.”

Hyunsoo turned around and saw Taehyung talking to a guy with the same black hair as Yoongi, along with two other slightly shorter guys with brown hair. One of them noticed Hyunsoo looking and smiled at her.

“Who’s this?” asked the one with black hair.

“This is Hyunsoo. She’s in Jungkook’s course!” said Taehyung excitedly, as if this was big news.

“I’m Yixing,” he replied, before pointing towards the two brown haired guys and saying, “And they are Minseok and Chen.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Hyunsoo, smiling.

Luckily, Yoongi came back, holding something. Hyunsoo was starting to regret coming into the house. She felt a little out of place and awkward due to the realisation that she was hanging out with Jungkook’s friends right now. What if he was here? What if he came out and saw her here with all his friends? How would he react? Why did she care?

The last question stuck to her the most. Why did she care?

“Hyunsoo,” said Yoongi, snapping Hyunsoo out of her thoughts and into reality. He was holding something towards her.

“Sorry, what happened?” she asked, then realised when taking a closer look at his hand. “You shouldn’t have! I, uh, I don’t even smoke…”

They all looked surprised. Taehyung chuckled and held up his own bit of , rolled up and ready to smoke.

“Don’t worry. You might enjoy it, at least try it?” asked Yoongi, “It’s up to you of course, but I’m just saying, it’s worth trying a bit at least once in your lifetime.”

After a minute of hesitation and Yoongi’s staring, Hyunsoo decided to accept it and try a bit. Although it felt like every act was influenced by the idea that Baekhyun might have been lying to Hyunsoo. It was like each time she had to make a decision, she would think about Baekhyun and how he didn’t call her back or even text her. She would think about what bad things he could be doing this minute and how he probably wouldn’t tell her. Hoseok’s words about Baekhyun lying to her was getting to her head.

Something Hyunsoo didn’t expect to happen however, is that she would continue to smoke even after trying it a few times. The other guys must have been shocked, or they might have expected her to suddenly start being loud. She wasn’t thinking anymore. All Hyunsoo wanted to do was open and say whatever was on her mind. At the same time, she felt like she was seeing things, or like she was someplace else other than this drug house. She couldn’t remember how she ended up doing all this, but the next thing she knew, Hyunsoo was on the flat roof above the kitchen and just outside a bedroom window. She was completely alone, which she knew was a mistake because without thinking, Hyunsoo pulled out her phone and called the one contact who had been avoiding her since yesterday.

“Hello? Hyunsoo, I’m so sorry I got busy and I couldn’t call back.”

He answered, her sober self thought, feeling somewhat sad.

Hyunsoo stayed silent and thought hard about what to say. However, she didn’t realise that she was speaking it out loud. “Let’s just wait and see what he has to say. I want to hear his excuse first and see if it fits.”

Baekhyun sounded confused. “What are you talking about?”

Hyunsoo started laughing. “Nothing,” she said, giggling even when Baekhyun continued to speak.

“Well, I wanted to apologise to you. I arrived at the house early in the morning so firstly, I was tired, and after that like I told you, I was just helping my family out with whatever they needed. I left my phone upstairs since I thought it would distract me… also, I finished quite late so…”

Hyunsoo cut him off by accidentally saying, “That’s too long and fake.”

“What? Hyunsoo? What are you saying?” Baekhyun really did sound confused, and there was a hint of panic in his voice too.

Too late, Hyunsoo hung up and put her phone back in her pocket. She lifted her hand to inhale more of the cannabis. Hyunsoo wanted to forget the reality of things as quickly as possible.