“ to be Jaebum, being called back to the office at this hour,” Youngjae sniggered, showing no signs of sympathy for the male in question.

The corners of Jinyoung’s lips quirked subtly as they walked along the streets b with life despite the late hour. They were in search of a second place to continue drinking but something caught Jinyoung attention, causing him to come to a stop.

Squinting his eyes, Jinyoung stared intensely at a familiar figure sitting inside the bar. It took him a while to realise the figure was Youngsoon since she was not wearing her hanbok uniform. When she turned her head slightly to talk to the waiter and showed her signature smile though, Jinyoung became certain of her identity.

“Isn’t that your cousin?” Youngjae nudged Jinyoung while pointing in the direction of the bar Youngsoon was in.

Only then did Jinyoung notice that the person sitting across from Youngsoon was Joy, and she looked extremely drunk, wobbling around while flailing her arms. Youngsoon had her eyebrows etched together in a downward slope as she tried to minimise the mess that the younger girl was creating.

Slapping his forehead, Jinyoung wordlessly pushed his way into the bar and towards the two girls with Youngjae following behind. Despite her intoxicated state, Joy immediately recognise Jinyoung and waved at him cheerfully.

“Now that you’ve quit your boring job let’s spend some quality cousins time!” Joy giggled. “And you’ll finally have time to find yourself a girlfriend. Actually no, scratch that. Romance is fake, it’s all a lie.”

Upon saying that, Joy broke down in tears, burying her face in her hands while her hair fell into her glass. Jinyoung’s eyes doubled in size at the scene unfolding in front of him, Youngjae showing a similar expression. Youngsoon who remained seemingly unfazed grabbed the umpteenth napkin of the evening and started drying Joy’s alcohol drenched lock of hair.

The waiter approached in that moment holding the bill and without any excess exchange of words, Youngsoon had paid for the drinks even though Jinyoung was certain that Joy had done most, if not all, of the drinking.

“Her boyfriend broke up with her,” Youngsoon explained concisely.

Youngjae’s mouth rounded into the shape of an ‘o’, fully accepting the explanation while Jinyoung’s confusion only deepened since Joy’s reaction was a bit too extreme from his perspective.

“I see,” Jinyoung hummed in a polite tone nonetheless. “She must have been quite a nuisance. Sorry for troubling you.”

“