“Do not complain when I wake you up early tomorrow”, you say to your friend in the restroom, “We need to get back and get ready before our tour group leaves our hotel! That means we need to be on a taxi by at least 6 am”. She hugs you excitedly. “I will never complain again! Thank you thank you thank you”. “Yeah, yeah… I’m going to find a convenience store and get us toothbrushes. We at least need that. We can just sleep in these clothes”, you say and she nods. “Thank you… really, I know you have no reason to stay and you’re just doing this for me. I appreciate it a lot”. You wish she was right about that. You wish you had no reason to stay. But you can’t deny it anymore. You want to stay and spend more time with Jaebum.

You meet the boys again after freshening up and say that you need to go to a store for supplies. They explain there’s a vending machine that you can get everything from in the hotel so then you have nothing else holding you back from going to the billiards room with them. Since it’s late, there’s not many people there and you find an empty table. Your friend has never played before, so you and Jaebum offer to go get drinks while Yugyeom gives her an introductory lesson. “Should we go back there yet?”, he asks while you wait for the bartender. You look across the room and Yugyeom is behind your friend, leaning over the table showing her how to hold the stick and aim for the ball. “Hmmm, it does feel like we are going to interrupt”, you say, “Maybe we should give them some time alone”. You both take a seat on the bar stools.

He takes out his wallet once your drinks are ready but you are faster and hand the bartender cash. “You have to let me pay for something”, he says. “You paid for dinner”, you retort. “No, JYP’s card paid for dinner”, he says. “Well there wouldn’t be a JYP without all your hard work… so thank you”, you bow your head. He smiles and sips on his drink. The two of you got the non-alcoholic options since you have to wake up early tomorrow. After about a half hour, you yawn and shake your head trying to wake yourself up. “Are you tired?”, he asks. “I’ve been awake since 3 am”, you say, “I’ve been having trouble sleeping recently”. “Do you want to go and get some rest? I’ll give you my room card”, he suggests. You yawn again, “I’ll feel too bad about taking off”. He looks at them, “I don’t think they will even notice if we leave. Come on, let’s go. We need to make a stop at the vending machine anyway”. “Okay”, you finish up your drink as he buys another round for them and asks the bartender to send it over.

~~~~~~

After purchasing the necessary toiletries, you make your way to his room. He opens the door and you follow him inside. “I’ll just grab some things from my bag and go next door”, he says, “I really should have gotten his room card while we were down there… I’ll just ask reception for a spare”. “Are you sure this is okay?”, you ask, “I don’t want to kick you out of your own room”. He starts searching through his luggage, “Off course”. You stand there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. A while later, he hands you a t-shirt and track pants, “You can shower and put these on. They might be a bit oversized”. “Thank you”, you say, “Are there towels in the bathroom”. He nods, “They should have replaced them with new ones this morning. Is there anything else that you need?”. He’s standing directly in front of you and the realization hits that you are alone in a hotel room with him. “No, I’m good… thanks”. “Okay, well I guess I should get going then… goodnight”, he says. “Goodnight”, you say back and walk him to the door.

Once he leaves, you get into the shower. The hot water against your back is just what you need to help relieve the tension you feel in it. You put on the clothes he gave you. It is oversized yet you think it fits you well. Once your teeth is brushed, you climb into bed. You hope that sleep comes easy to you tonight. You try calling Jinyoung again but there’s still no answer. Just then there’s a knock on the door... It is Jaebum. He doesn’t say anything and instead just gives you one of those up and down looks. You feel very self-conscious of the way you look now. Did you look like a guy to him? “So… I may need to wait here a while… is that okay?”, he asks. “Off course, it’s your room”, you say, “Come in”.

He sits down on the chair while you sit down at the edge of the bed. “I don’t know how to say this”, he pauses, “Uhm so they said they couldn’t give me a spare key since I’m not the owner of that room. So I went to find Yugyeom and well they weren’t where we left them”. “So where are they?”, you ask. He chuckles, “Well, let’s just say that the room next door didn’t have a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it when I left here before, but it does now”. “No way!”, your mouth drops, “No way!!! I can’t believe her!”. “Yeah, I can’t believe him either”, he says, “He’s usually more careful… he must really like her”. “I know she likes him a lot, but they just met!”, you emphasize.

“Well sometimes you know just after one meeting”, his eyes meets yours with an intensity, “Sometimes that’s all it takes for you to know she’s special, for you to know that she’s the girl you want”. Is it your imagination again or is he referring to the first time he met you? You look down at the floor. “You should get some sleep, don’t mind me”, he says, “I’m just waiting for my manager to get back so I can go crash in his room. I’ll lock the door on my way out”. You climb back into bed as he switches the lights off. He takes his phone out and starts browsing through it so you close your eyes and try to doze off.

After much tossing and turning, you look at him. He seems to be asleep on the chair. He looks so handsome. He opens his eyes to find you staring at him. “Can’t sleep?”, he asks and you nod. “I know something that might help”. He moves over to sit on the corner of the bed and starts singing an acoustic version of Lullaby that makes you smile. You close your eyes again and let his voice sooth you to sleep. But it has a different effect on you. It’s too y and it’s making you restless. You sit up and run your fingers through your hair.

“What’s wrong?”, he asks. You are fighting the urge to reach out to him. “I don't think that's going to help me sleep”, you push the covers off you. You are feeling too heated. He looks at his clothes on you again. You wish you knew what he was thinking. But then he looks away. “Who were you talking about before?”, you ask, “When you said one meeting is all it takes?”. He still avoids looking at you, “It doesn’t matter”. “Why doesn’t it matter?”. “Because no matter how much I want her”, he meets your gaze now, “I can’t have her”. Your throat feels dry. The words are on the tip of your tongue and you know once you say them, there’s no taking them back. You take a deep breath and finally you say it, “What if she wants you too?”.