Sehun smirked. "Yeah, well, that's fine with me. I'm not really in the mood to be in the middle of a crowd." He punctuated the statement by taking a long swallow from his newly-filled glass.

"I can see that," Carmen murmured, peering at him with interest. "What's the deal? Did you forget to tip the chambermaid and now you're afraid to sleep in your bed?"

It was such an off-the-wall comment, Sehun couldn't help but laugh, only to sober a minute later, as the real reason why he was down here, alone, nudged at his frayed nerves. 

"Nah," he responded, "I...there's just someone in my room that I don't really wanna see, right now."

"Someone, as in a girlfriend?" Carmen asked. It was a simple question, but straight to the point, and Sehun definitely didn't miss her underlying interest.

He stared down at the faux-wood of the bar counter, letting out a short, harsh laugh. "No, not a girlfriend. A friend, who happens to be a woman, but..." he ran a hand over his face, before looking back at Carmen. "It's not like that. We had a...misunderstanding, so," he picked up his glass, "I've turned to the welcoming arms of liquor."

Carmen laughed at that. "You and me both," she said, lifting her own glass to lightly clink it against his.

Sehun eyed her. "You avoiding someone, too?"

"Nope. Just dealing with a wicked case of insomnia. You ever get that?"

He shook his head. "Nah, not really."

"You're lucky. I've been a crappy sleeper since I was a teenager. Sleeping pills help but," she shrugged, draining her glass, "nothing really beats a rum and coke to get the ball rolling."

Sehun didn't say anything. Just sat there, in silence, thinking about how much easier all this with Soojung would be if it were like Carmen's sleep issues—two shots of Jack, pop a pill, pass out, and wake up the next morning completely over the whole thing.

In the mood he was in, the idea had a definite advantage: he'd be able to sleep tonight, and not have to think about the fact that he was sharing a bed with Soojung. 

But, he knew, it'd all be back to the same in the morning.

"Last call, folks," the bartender announced as he came by to collect their empty glasses.

"I think that's our cue," Carmen said, reaching for her purse.

Wordlessly, Sehun brushed her hand away, pulled out his wallet and tossed enough cash onto the bar to cover both their tabs.

"Guess I chose the right drinking buddy," Carmen said as they headed for the elevators. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," he murmured, then flinched inwardly, realizing that those were the last words he'd said to Soojung, upstairs, when she'd asked him where he was going.

Don't worry about it. 

He knew she would, though.

Carmen turned to him as they stepped into the elevator. "So, look, total elevator pick-up line, but," she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked directly into his eyes, "if you're interested, I'm here alone. Queen-size bed. Plenty of room for two."

Truthfully, Sehun wasn't surprised by the invite. They'd both been flirting hard earlier today and, he hadn't missed her interest tonight, either. He'd wanted a distraction, and here she was, offering one—an incredibly y one—on a silver platter.

His , woken up by the prospect of no-strings , was definitely trying to make a case for him to take her up on the offer. His head though, was still with Anna—exactly where it had been all night, even while he was drinking and flirting with Carmen downstairs.

On any other day, under any other circumstances, he'd take her up on her invite, head back to her room with her for, what he suspected, would be some fantastic . But, looking at Carmen, all he could see, all he could think about, was Soojung. 

No, he didn't want to talk about their argument with her; yes, he was still pissed off; and no, he wasn't even close to being okay with the idea of her going anywhere near Andreas, but...

But, what?

But...he realized that, even angry as he was, he'd still rather sleep in his own room, where Soojung was, than go up to Carmen's room.

How ed up was that?

He was just buzzed enough that the idea didn't worry him nearly as much as he suspected it would in the morning. Still, running a hand across the back of his neck, he gave Carmen a half-smile. "Actually, I think I'm gonna head back to my room."

She nodded slowly, her lips pursed. "Braving the fury of your female friend, huh?"

He shrugged. "Something like that." 

"Well," she said, breezily when the elevator stopped on Sehun's floor, "I'm on the ninth floor if you change your mind. Room 919."

"Thanks." Sehun stepped out, holding the door open with his hand. "I'll see you around."

"Sure," she grinned at him, obviously not the least bit insulted by his passing on going upstairs with her, "but hopefully I won't be seeing you for the next six to eight hours. If I'm going to bed alone, there's a sleeping pill with my name on it."

Laughing, he let the door slide closed. "Have a good night."

Alone again, Sehun slowly approached the closed door of his hotel room, silently hoping Soojung was already asleep. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd stayed up, waiting for him to come back. But he really hoped she was asleep. Yeah, he'd passed on hooking up with Carmen, but that didn't mean he was anywhere near getting past the Andreas thing with her. He just wanted to sleep, do the competition in the morning and, maybe, after that was out of the way, he'd try to deal with this other .

Jamming his keycard into the door, he stepped inside the darkened room, his eyes immediately going to the bed. With the curtains closed, the room was practically pitch-black but, using the bit of light from the TV, which was on with the sound muted, he started to take a step toward the bed, but came up short, staring hard into the darkness as the door clicked shut behind him.

His eyes narrowed, tracing the dark outline of the bed—and the shadowy silhouettes of not one, but two figures, asleep in it. 

He physically felt his skin tighten as he took in the fact that, lying next to Soojung's sleeping form, was Sam; stretched the length of the bed, one hand tucked under his head, the other cradling the TV remote against his chest.

Jealousy, white-hot and almost painful, roared to life in his chest at the sight of Soojung and Sam in bed together. It didn't matter to him that she was under the covers while Sam had fallen asleep on top of the comforter; it didn't matter to Sehun that he and Soojung were fighting, or that he had no business wanting to jerk Sam awake with a fist around his throat.

Staring at them, asleep in the dark, all he could think about was the fact that they'd damn near been attached at the hip these last few weeks and, according to Soojung, she and Sam had already spent half the morning together. 

And who'd come to her rescue tonight when she'd shoved that about Rachel in his face? 

Sam.

Sehun ground his teeth together, ripping his gaze from the pair of them in the bed, to stare, hard, at the far wall, but not really seeing it. He didn't know what was going on between the two of them and, in that moment, he fiercely decided that he didn't give a , one way or the other. The only thing he did know was that, after everything that'd gone down in the last few hours, he never should've come back here tonight.

Turning his back on both Sam and Soojung, he walked out of the room without a backward glance, and stalked down the hall toward the elevator. The second it opened, he stepped inside and punched the button for the ninth floor. 

* * *

"For the record," Soojung told Sam when he knocked on her hotel room door the next morning, "you are the worst pep talker ever."

He chuckled at her light sarcasm. "I know, I know. I fell asleep last night. I'm sorry." He paused, scanning her from head to toe with a searching glance, his gold-brown brows dipping into a concerned frown. "And, I hate to say it, ki