In times like these, he finally gets why people would still try to find the love in the world even after everything they've been through. Simply put, the world's so damn beautiful, and Jongin thinks he could stare at it all day long. 

"Jongin? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He offers Sehun a smile, eyes disappearing and the tails of his lips reaching far up. 

That ache in his cheeks. It’s familiar and it fills him with happiness. But it’s not with Sehun, and it’s not towards someone he likes. Jongin sits back, his hands gripping the edge of his seat to try to minimise his bouncing. He’s feeling too excited, and he’s looking forward to watching Baekhyun slay the stage.

Apparently, he’s gotten a gig down the street in a bar nearby Seoul University. It’s his first one ever, and Baekhyun thinks it would help him calm his nerves down if his friends came along with him. Jongin was honestly  very surprised Baekhyun invited him. They haven’t talked in a while and Jongin just assumed they were drifting apart. Maybe it’s just because of the recent events that made Jongin feel like everyone’s starting to think that they’re better off without him. Because, as he thinks, people wouldn’t want to deal with troublesome matters like a friend grieving.

Jaehyun didn’t react so pleased when Jongin left him at the stadium the other night. Jongin really did feel too woozy to be out of bed so he decided to go home. Jaehyun wasn’t really happy and he even ignored Jongin’s texts and calls. Well, call. Jongin only tried to call him once before completely giving up. He knows it’s not entirely his fault that he felt sick, and plus, he’s not really fond of Jaehyun that much to care. He has other nicer friends who would understand him, and to be frank, Jaehyun’s not one of them. The latter has pissed Jongin off once, and that’s very hard for someone to do.

Jongin snaps back to the present when Chanyeol nudges him in the shoulder and points to the front where the stage is. On it is Baekhyun, a small smile seemingly permanent on his lips as he fixes the microphone stand so it would reach his lips. He clears his throat once and the room falls into a type of silence that’s loud with expectations. Only a couple of the audience at the side continues on with soft murmurs.

Baekhyun grins and says, “I’m Baekhyun.”

No response.

Baekhyun tries again, “I’m from Seoul University and I’ve been told that I sound like an angel when I sing.”

People start to catcall at his narcissistic comment about himself, and Jongin finds himself laughing along with his friends at the smirk Baekhyun has upon his lips. Baekhyun clears his throat again and points to the back of the bar, to his friends.

“Special thanks to my friends who came to witness me tonight. It’s their first time seeing me perform, just like all of you.” Baekhyun then sits on the stool on stage as he brings the microphone with him. “Now! Ready to witness an angel?”

That’s the cue for the band playing tonight. The guitarists strum and the drummer starts the tempo. People start to cheer for Baekhyun as he grins even wider. And he sings.

True to his words, Baekhyun sings like an angel. He sounds like one, and the way the spotlight showers him with artificial light makes him glow like one. It’s mesmerising, and Jongin finally gets why people always turn to look in Baekhyun’s way whenever they’re out together. It’s quite a shame that Jongin took so long to understand why. Baekhyun has a great presence. It’s like he’s naturally pulling attention towards him. And what’s better is that Baekhyun knows how to handle it; he knows how to deal with all the eyes watching him.

Now he’s proven that he has great stage presence too. Jongin awes at the fact that Baekhyun can keep singing for so long and still have almost everyone’s attention on him. Baekhyun’s astonishing performance comes to an end and he’s hopping down from the stool to bow to people.

“Time for a commercial break people!”

Baekhyun gets down from the small stage and stalks his way towards his friends. Chanyeol takes his chance to give Baekhyun an exaggerated applause. “That was great!”

Jongdae orders a drink for Baekhyun and calls it his treat. Maybe that triggers the next conversation that comes up between the four of them. Jongin doesn’t realise it but he’s still smiling. He never did stop smiling. Maybe the liquor triggered something within him because Jongin feels the love for the world, for everything around him multiply. It’s that sensation bubbling in his chest that makes Jongin feel happy, or at least delude himself into thinking so.

The bonfire roars and crackles in a huge flame. Jongin looks to the left and decides to bob his head along to the music, lips stretching from ear to ear as he watches the way Sehun sings along to the songs the students blasted. The huge speakers by the side helps enhance the bass, and it shakes the venue up. The floors are vibrating, and everyone's enjoying themselves. 

Sehun spares a glance at an almost frozen Jongin and he titters. "Have you never heard of this song?" 

Jongin shakes his head, hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he lets the embarrassment envelop his whole figure. 

"Hey! It's okay! Come on, just dance." 

Once Jongin's loosen up quite a bit, he's already starting feel the shame and everything else negative seeping out his physique the more he bounces around. At the end of it all, he finds his hand intertwined with Sehun, fingers locked as they share the widest grin they've worn that night. 

The four of them stay till Baekhyun’s last scheduled song. By then, Chanyeol and Jongdae’s too drunk to make it back home consciously. Baekhyun already has Jongdae clinging onto his shoulder, giggling madly like everything around him is funny when it’s not. Everyone’s serious; Baekhyun’s trying his best to tell Jongin where Chanyeol keeps his spare key so that Jongin can bring him home and put him to bed. Jongdae’s one slur away from passing out and Chanyeol’s already passed out.

“Come on, Yeol,” Jongin heaves a half asleep Chanyeol up and wraps one of Chanyeol’s arm around his shoulders. “Let’s get you home.”

Baekhyun bids a struggling Jongin goodbye before getting into a cab he’s called beforehand. Jongin scowls at the dust the car manages to leave behind as if to mock Jongin and the state he’s in. He starts cursing under his breath, and Chanyeol stirs in his sleep. His head shoots up for a second, a lopsided smile plastered onto his face and a deep giggle slipping from his lips.

“Jongin! Jonginnie! Jonginini—”

“Shut up,” Jongin snaps at Chanyeol, his petulant grumbles getting louder the longer he waits for his Uber. “Can’t you just sleep over at my place?”

“No!” Chanyeol bellows out, his voice booming so loud that Jongin flinches and has to hold a hand to his ear to ease the pain.

“Fine,” Jongin mumbles, “no need to be so loud.”

Chanyeol starts giggling again before he completely goes lax and has Jongin stumbling due to the weight. The Uber strolls in minutes after that and Jongin almost screams at how difficult it is to fit every single inch of Chanyeol in the car. Jongin gets in the car, in the front — so that Chanyeol wouldn’t accidentally kick him in the face or something — and directs the driver to where Chanyeol lives.

During the whole ride there, Jongin takes a short nap to let the time pass by. By the time they reach the street that Chanyeol’s house is on, Jongin’s already sobered up quite a lot. He carries a tipsy Chanyeol out from the car, bows to the driver — well, try to — and he pulls Chanyeol along.

Jongin keys in the passcode to Chanyeol’s door and hustles the latter in. Well, at least now Chanyeol’s standing up by himself. Though, he’s still sleepy and not awake enough to talk properly. Jongin drops him on his bed and even helps him take off his jacket and socks. Jongin finally leaves once Chanyeol’s made himself comfortable, hugging one of his giant plushies he has on his bed.

He makes sure the door behind him is locked before he stalks his way down the pavement to the main road. He’s sober now, any trace of alcohol in his blood now flushed out. It’s been almost 2 hours anyway, and he didn't really drink that much. Now there’s just that lingering spin in his head that makes him feel like throwing up. And because it gets worse the longer he ignores it, Jongin decides to stop by the convenience store just up ahead. 

"Soojung, you must stop stealing!" 

"Why do you care what I do?" Jongin grabs her by her wrists to stop her from running away. He's careful not to hurt her though, because that's one thing he won't ever forgive himself for doing. 

"Because I like you." It's weird that he has a frown on his face when confessing to the girl her likes. "You understand me, and I like you, and I want the best for you, and I can't imagine my life without you. And— will you be my girlfriend?" 

"Wow, Jongin..." she starts laughing, but Jongin can't see what's so funny. "Is that how you ask someone to be your girlfriend?" 

He goes through the back door of the only well-lit venue in the area. He picks out a small bottle of orange juice and another bottle of plain water. He grabs sandwich too by the side because he has a strong inkling that he’d get hungry later. Jongin tucks the sandwich under his chin before taking a while to fish for his wallet at the bottom of his backpack. Once he messily drops the drinks and the sandwich onto the counter — along with his phone and wallet too, but let’s not talk about that — Jongin looks up.

“Wow,” Jongin mouths. “Talk about coincidence.”

“Quite so— it’s on the house, I’ll treat you.” Sehun doesn’t bother scanning the items Jongin’s picked out. Instead, he slides them back to Jongin.

“What? No way. I’ll pay—”

“With what?” Sehun peers into Jongin’s wallet, digging a finger in to further emphasise the fact that Jongin’s broke as of right now. “Leaves?”

“Hey!” Jongin snatches his wallet back from Sehun. He proceeds to slide a card out. “I ran out of cash. I was going to use a card.”

“It’s okay.” Sehun waves Jongin’s insistent hands away and grabs the drinks and the sandwich before running out the door.

“Where are you running to?” Jongin shouts from behind, running after Sehun.

They go round to the back where there are seats available. Sehun drops the stuff and hurriedly unwraps the sandwich before shoving it into Jongin’s mouth right as he skids to a stop next to Sehun. Jongin blinks a couple of times, bewilderment obvious in the way he sits down next to Sehun.

“Aren’t you working?” Jongin asks once he’s swallowed down his food.

“Yeah.” Sehun gives him a puckered smile as he nods his head.

“Then aren’t you supposed to be guarding the counter or something?” Jongin takes another bite of the sandwich.

“This place . People rarely come by after midnight.” Sehun shudders. “It gets creepy sometimes.”

"Don't you think it's pretty?" Jongin asks.

"What is?" Sehun sounds a little harsh, and that's probably because they're lost in the middle of nowhere. 

"Nature," Jongin mumbles. He suddenly feels odd, like someone's watching him. It's probably paranoia. But just to make himself feel better, Jongin clings onto Sehun's arm. 

"Are you saying that because you really think it's pretty or are you trying to distract yourself?" Sehun laughs. 

Jongin swats him in the arm and groans in frustration. "Stop exposing me."  

“You don’t live here, do you?” Sehun questions Jongin. “I’ve been working here for about 2 weeks and I haven’t seen you around.”

“I do, or I don’t. Who knows?” Jongin shrugs. “I don’t know why I’m not surprised to see you here.”

“Maybe it’