"I wasn't fully awake when I answered, so I'm not sure,"

Sehun sighed in relief. It wasn't the first time such an incident had happened to him.

After the first time his grandpa called a classmate with his phone, Sehun made it a habit to not save any numbers, except his cousin's, and some of the members on the gaming team. Back in his university days, he cleared his contact list so that his grandpa wouldn't stand a chance to commit the same act again.

Better to be safe than sorry, he learnt.

"I see," Sehun replied.

Silence followed after that. Sehun wanted to end the call, but he stayed on the call because he thought Seulgi had something to say.

He diverts his attention to the clock, waiting for her to speak up.

Just when he was about to speak up, he heard a loud growl over the phone. 

Sehun pressed his lips, trying to hold in his laughter.

Even if Seulgi had something to say before that, she would have been too embarrassed to say it now. He felt a need to say something.

"Do you mind if I invited you for supper?"

Silence took over once again. 

Maybe it wasn't of a good idea to ask her out for supper because she might be too embarrassed. Would it be a better idea to leave her alone and hang up? Sehun decided that he was going to hang up and call it a day.

"I know of a place near my house that sells great supper," Seulgi replied timidly.

He blinked twice, registering her reply. He wasn't expecting her to agree on supper.

"Alright, send me the address,"

He hung up, grabbed his car keys and left the house.

Sehun regretted his invitation to supper. His original plan was to call it a night and to turn up for training an hour earlier the next morning so that he had more time to prepare for his upcoming competition.

It seems like the original plan is not going to happen. Sehun has decided that he should get home as soon as possible so that he can get enough sleep to work through the intensive training tomorrow.

With one final nod, he slapped himself awake and drove off.

Sehun entered the tent and made his way towards Seulgi, who was waving at him. There was a table full of food waiting for him. Not to mention, alcohol as well.

"Was the traffic smooth?" Seulgi asked, signalling him to take a seat as she helped herself with the plateful of spicy rice cake. 

Sehun nodded in response. He sat in his seat and looked at Seulgi as she ate the rice cakes deliciously.

He planned to leave the place and return home as soon as Seulgi finished her rice cakes.

Seulgi offered Sehun to share the plate of spicy rice cakes. She was, however, met with rejection. She gave Sehun a confused look. 

After all, he was the one who invited her for supper.

She poured herself more soju from the bottle. "Are you not eating?"

Sehun took the soju bottle from her and poured the alcohol for her. "I'm not hungry,"

Why would he invite her for supper if he's not eating? Was it because he was bored? Or was it because he wanted to get away from his grandfather? 
Or maybe he wanted to offer her his explanation?

Ah-ha. That must be it.

She nodded as she quietly ate her food. Within the next five minutes, both of them were on their own, in their world.

Noises from the other patrons made their table stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone else was enjoying themselves to the fullest, and yet Seulgi and Sehun looked like they were forced to socialise by their parents.

It was getting awkward. 

Seulgi stole a few glances at Sehun. She wondered why isn't he speaking up. Maybe she should ask for an explanation since she was going to anyway during the phone call earlier.

Seulgi cleared her voice, successfully capturing Sehun's attention.

"Sehun, can I ask something," she started carefully. 

Seulgi didn't want to come off as someone rude. Sehun was the cousin of Irene's boyfriend after all. What if he badmouthed about her to Irene after tonight?

Sehun looked surprised. He nodded nevertheless.

Seulgi put down her chopsticks and sat up straight. She didn't know why it was making her feel a bit nervous.

"It might seem weird that I'm asking this,"

Both of them locked eyes. Seulgi swallowed hard.

There was always something about being given their fullest attention that makes Seulgi nervous. It makes her stutter.

"I'm just curious as to why your grandfather called me," 

"Oh,"

It clicked in Sehun's head. That was why Seulgi was silent the whole time when they were on the phone earlier.

"I don't have many friends," Sehun started, finally having the spicy rice cakes.

Seulgi nodded, keeping her eyes on him. 

"I seldom keep contacts of females on my phone,"

"So your grandfather called me when he saw me as your new contact?" 

He nodded, putting his chopsticks down. That was all.

"Can I ask another question?"

Sehun folded his arms and nodded.

"How many contacts do you have?" 

"Ten," 

Seulgi almost choked on the soju that she was sipping on. "Ten? If I were your grandfather, I would be alarmed as well," 

He shrugged and kept quiet. There isn't a need to explain why he only had ten contacts.

Seulgi nodded, pushing the plate of rice cake to him, "Eat more," 

He pushed it back, "I'm cool, thanks,"

What went after that was Sehun observing Seulgi as she tried to finish the rice cakes and soju on her own.

It has been half an hour since they last spoke. Sehun wondered if her jaw hurt from all the chewing of rice cakes.

He yawned. It was near one in the morning. He looked at Seulgi, realising that she was a tad bit redder than when he arrived. 

"Did you drink a lot?" he asked.

"I finished one bottle of soju before you arrived," she replied. 

He glanced at the bottle that she was holding to, which means this was her second bottle, and she was close to finishing it.

"Are you drunk?" he questioned her, purposely raising his voice slightly louder. In case, she couldn't hear.

"Nope," Seulgi replied, shaking her head vigorously.

Nope, she definitely looks drunk, he thought.

There's no way he would leave her alone at the tent and expect her to make her way home. It would be bad manners.

"Okay, time to go home," he announced, heading to the cashier to make payment. He then returned to the table, looking at Seulgi. She looked like she needed help getting up. 

Sehun sighed, placing Seulgi's right arm over his neck and putting his arms around her waist. He helped her up and slowly led her out of the tent towards his car.

"Let's send you home,"

The usual car ride was taking longer than usual, and the roads were unexpectedly busy tonight. Sehun was surprised that there were that many traffic lights he has to pass through to get to Seulgi's house. It didn't seem like it during the daytime. He almost had to stop at every one of it, and it was getting on his nerves.

Sehun slowed down the car when he saw the lights turn red.

He looked outside the windows, at the nearby trees and playgrounds, trying to kill time while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Seulgi woke up shortly after dozing off. She scratched her head and looked around. 

"You know, I'm just tipsy, not drunk," she clarified.

Sehun's eyes returned to the red traffic lights, nodding half-heartedly.

She grinned bashfully, "You can confide in me if you have any problems. I have no problem keeping them a secret,"

The lights turned green.

He shot her a weird stare as he stepped on the pedal. Who in the world would tell a stranger their worries?

Especially when they have only met for around three to four times?

"I'm an excellent listener. I don't question much as well," she continued. 

Sehun sighed. She fits better on being an excellent speaker. Seulgi looked like she was in a state of oblivion and didn't know when to stop talking.

"I think you are quite lonely,"

Sehun disagreed. He didn't feel lonely. There was no time for that. He was busy with training and developing strategies for the team for competitions. 

They soon arrived outside her house.

"Do you need help getting out?" Sehun asked, pulling the brakes.

Seulgi fumbled with the seatbelt while shaking her head, "I'm fine, thank you,"

He shook his head. It was apparent that she had a hard time releasing the seatbelt. Heading back to her house in one piece is even harder.

"I'll help,"

Sehun released the seatbelt and got out of the car, accompanying her to the door.

Seulgi fumbled for her keys and struggled to open the door. Sehun took over and opened it for her, ushering her in the house.

"Thanks," 

"You have a good night," he replied, closing the door.

Seulgi washed up and was completely awake by the time she was out of the shower. She was ready to work on the candidate data through the night. 

The next morning, Seulgi woke up in the same pile of information on her desk. She winced, feeling the minor headache at the back of her head. Maybe she should have drunk more moderately.

She also has to thank Sehun for bringing her home safely last night, despite not needing to do so. Seulgi always drank alcohol to keep herself up at night so she could finish up her projects and assignments before the next morning.

'Thanks again for last night,' she typed, and she hit the send button.

She recalled the things she had told Sehun last night and typed another message.

'I mean it when I told you that you could tell me about your problems. I would be glad to be your listening ear,'

Her phone vibrated. Seulgi unlocked her phone to see a message from Sehun.

'You're welcome,'

She replied shortly.

'Let's go for supper again. My turn to treat,'

Sehun's phone vibrated again. He unlocked it and read her message.

What are the chances that he might ask her out for supper again? Slim, he thought. He also planned to keep it that way.

Whatever happened last night was unplanned and unexpected. He wasn't even willing to go out for supper. This unforeseeable change in his schedule threw him off guard.

Strangely, he wasn't even irritated or angry about it. Sehun can't recall when was the last time he ate supper with a friend outside of the club. He never associated himself with his university classmates either. 

Thinking back, it was quite a pleasant supper, except the fact that Seulgi got tipsy and he had to send her back home. Other than that, it was okay.

He realised that he didn't mind Seulgi being chatty, as long as she doesn't test his boundaries. Seulgi's words sounded surprisingly sincere and trustable. It also seemed like she trusted him enough to drink that much of alcohol with only both of them around. 

That was different from what he felt from his team.

A trust that does not bore any expectations. 

That was a first. 

Maybe he could take her words for real. Maybe.