Xiaojun's birthday party was a success. There were candles blown, tears shed and cream cheese thrown here and there. Jaemin had managed to avoid staining his clothes so far, and as he was safely standing in a corner of the room watching the birthday boy run around with a handful of cream, he hadn't realised that Leeseul was also trying to protect herself in the same corner. She bumped into him, both of them gasping in utter fear as if their lives were on the line before they erupted into laughter.

"Trying to save yourself from the cake as well, noona?"

"I'm trying my best here, Jaeminnie. Seems like you had the same idea" Leeseul responded with a smile that made Jaemin's lips stretch contagiously. 

"Do you think anyone will ever get the chance to eat the cake?"

"Highly unlikely. Lucas and Jungwoo are definitely gonna make sure Xiaojun gets a face mask out of it"

"Seems like Haechan is gonna help as well..." Jaemin replied as his friend was chasing poor Renjun around while Jeno was laughing his heart out at the view. Leeseul chuckled, taking a sip of her cup that she had left on the nearby drawers, and Jaemin couldn't help but mimic her gesture, wincing at the burning feeling his drink was leaving in his throat.

"How is school, Jaemin-ah? Still being late to practice?" Leeseul asked teasingly.

"Not anymore! Being scolded once was enough..." The highschooler replied, his eyebrows furrowed as he remembered the dance teacher yelling at him for what had felt like hours. Leeseul chortled at the sight of his face, reaching out to pinch his cheek.

"Cute."

"Noona! I'm almost eighteen now" Jaemin pouted, making the young woman beam at his cuteness.

Adorable, really.

***

As the party was going on, Xiaojun was now completely wasted, singing loudly with a similarly drunk Lucas on the latest popular songs as Jungwoo was cheering for them, Haechan and Renjun happily joining them - though being underaged, they were the only ones sober. Leeseul was enjoying the evening, chatting happily with Jeno and Hani, feeling good - and slightly tipsy. At some point, Jeno and Hani had left to grab some food at the kitchen, leaving her with Jaemin who had his glossy eyes scrutinizing her, his ears nicely coloured in red.

"Are you okay, Jaemin-ah?"

"Hm-hm"

"You don't look... Wait, what have you been drinking??"

She took the cup he was clumsily holding and smelled its content. Frowning, she took a sip and almost threw up at the taste of alcohol burning her tongue.

Vodka.

"Na Jaemin, you've been drinking vodka the whole night??"

"Naaah... just energy drink...noona"

"There's definitely vodka in this. I'll get you some water, wait here."

She helped him sit down in the nearest chair, rushing to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. When she came back, Jaemin was slouching on the chair, blank eyes staring at the wall. Leeseul kneeled next to him and put the glass to his lips, encouraging him to drink it slowly.

Where is Lee Jeno when you need him?

Jaemin took a good ten minutes to gulp down his water, staring intensely at her the whole time. She felt blood rushing to her cheeks and looked away, Jaemin smirking slightly.

"Can you stop?" She asked him out of the blue.

"Can I stop what?"

"Looking at me like that..."

"Like what? Like you're soooooo attractive I can't take my eyes off you?" 

Leeseul scoffed at his boldness, her face showing the hint of a smile through her blush.

"You're such a flirt Jaemin, please. You do remember that I'm like six years older than you right?"

"So... what? I might be younger but I'm waaaay better than that shirtty boyfriend of yours."

She was speechless at his reply, her brain not even processing Jeno who had come to check up on his bestfriend. At his arrival, Jaemin's face broke into a dazzling smile.

"Look who is here... our national Zeno Lee whom I love more than aaaanything in the world!"

"What's wrong with him?" Jeno asked Leeseul, taken aback by his friend's attitude who now had his arms thrown around him in a tight hug.

"He's drunk. He must have taken someone else's cup earlier" 

"Zenooooooo"

"Oh my goodness"

"Zeno LOOK! A cactus!"

"Okaaaay Jaemin, let's get some food into your system, come on"

"I like you so so much, eotteokhae eotteokhaeeeeee"

"Sorry for that noona, I'll take it from here"

"Zeno is so pwretty, eotteokhae eotteokhaeeeeee"

"Jaemin, can you stand on your feet please?"

"Why don't we date? Let's think about it!"

"Yeah yeah, I get it now, come on Jaem-"

"I reaaaaally like you, TELL ME YOU LIKE ME ZENO-YAAAAAH"

Leeseul bursted into laughter hearing Jaemin singing cutely to a very embarrassed Jeno who was dragging the two of them to the kitchen. The boys crossed paths with Jung Hani who stared at them curiously before joining her best friend who was wiping her tears on the chair Jaemin was previously sitting on.

"I would love to ask what happened but I'm not sure I'm going to like the answer" Hani told Leeseul whose laugh was about to burst again.

"Well, Jaemin got accidentally drunk and now that Jeno is taking care of him he's singing the 'eotteokhae song' to him"

"I don't believe that was singing?"

"No it wasn't. More like yelling cutely until Jeno gets deaf or something"

The two girls giggled before Leeseul got serious again.

"Jaemin said something before he lost it to Jeno. He said... He said that Luhan was a shirtty boyfriend."

Hani glanced at her friend, watching her bite her nail, deep in thought.

"Jaemin is quite observant."

"What? Do you agree with him?"

"Liz, please... Everyone has been thinking the same about Luhan for a while now. Taeil is not even trying to hide it anymore"

Leeseul looked at her feet. She had noticed the expressions of her friends and family when Luhan was around ; she just didn't know what to do about it.

"He's not that bad... He's just very stressed out with the pressure at work... Besides, I'm not perfect either so I understand why he gets upset sometimes and-"

"Liz" Hani interrupted her friend, putting a soft hand on her arm. "Every time you talk about Luhan, it's because you guys had a fight. Now don't get me wrong, Taeil and I also get into fights every now and then, and it's healthy because we are two human beings with our differences. But when you fight with Luhan, it doesn't look healthy. It looks... abusive. Because it's always your fault, and you're always the one apologizing for it. Do you think it's normal?"

Leeseul started tearing up, and Hani felt a pang of guilt take over her heart. She put her arms around her best friend and held her tightly as she sobbed quietly on her shoulder, feeling her own tears coming up as well as she led her to the bathroom, away from everyone else. 

You're really unhappy Liz, aren't you? You wouldn't cry so hard if you weren't feeling so much pain.

***

With a whole plate of ramyun down his stomach and after a 10 minute power nap on Jeno's shoulder, Jaemin woke up suddenly, his tongue furry and feeling thirsty as hell. Jeno immediately handed him a bottle of water that he chugged down in a minute, sighing in delight once the bottle was empty.

"What the heck happened?"

"You passed out. You got wasted on vodka and energy drink I think."

"I did what now??"

Jaemin was horrified. He was underaged, for heaven's sake! If his parents found out, he would be grounded forever and-

"Stop freaking out. No one noticed your state, so no one is going to call your parents to let them know about it."

"Thank the LORD-"

"Except Hani-noona and Leeseul-noona I think."

Jaemin stared at his best friend in disbelief as Jeno was chuckling at the sight of face,

"Please tell me I didn't do anything embarrassing."

"Well, if serenading me the 'eotteokhae song' out loud isn't considered as 'embarrassing', then you behaved really well for someone drunk. You were talking with Leeseul-noona before I took over to look after you so you might wanna check with her for further embarrassing matters."

Jaemin pulled at his hair in despair.

Of all people, she had to see me in that state. 

Jeno gently patted his friend's back in support.

"She didn't look traumatized so don't beat yourself over it."

"I need to apologize to her."

"She's already left."

"Already??"

"Yeah, Luhan-hyung called her because he was waiting for her downstairs. She asked him to come over to wish Xiaojun a happy birthday but for some reason he didn't and she just left. Seemed in a hurry, now that I think about it."

Jaemin stared at the wall contemplating. Little did he know it would be the last time he would see Wong Leeseul in a very long time.

 

***

 

Haechan happily skipped his way to Full Moon Café, looking forward to a delicious iced coffee he desperately needed after so much studying in summer school. He was also hoping Leeseul-noona was working, as she was always giving him a discount or a free cookie, but that was just a detail.

He pushed the glass door only to see Taeil wiping the counter, his mouth tightly closed and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Wassup Taeil-hyung? Broke the coffee machine again eh?"

"Hey, Haechan. Not in the mood today. What can I get you?"

"Oh? What's wrong?"

Taeil glanced at the tables at the back before turning his attention to his dongsaeng.

"Nothing. Iced mochaccino?"

"Yes, please."

As Taeil turned around to prepare his order, Haechan leaned over the counter to get a better look at the back of the café, standing up straight as his hyung was facing him again.

"Anything else?"

"Actually yes. Can I have an iced latte two sugars, a peach iced tea and an iced Americano with vanilla syrup please?"

"Are you getting them for the boys? That would be a first."

"Hyung! Why do you make me seem like a selfish person like that..." Haechan pouted.

"I'm kidding. It's gonna take a while, feel free to have a seat."

Haechan thanked the owner of the place and innocently looked around for the best table - when he was actually staring at the tables in the back.

"Taeil-hyung, I'm going to the restroom, I'll be right back!" Once he heard Taeil's confirmation, the high schooler quickly made his way to his destination, only slowing down when he was reaching the back. He completely halted when he caught sight of Ten-hyung and Hani-noona comforting a sobbing Leeseul-noona and quickly hid behind one of the pillars.

"You did the right thing, Liz. It was only a matter of time."

"Ten is right, you had been thinking about it for a while now, hadn't you?"

"I had" Leeseul said between two sobs. "It just hurts so much..."

"Of course it does" Ten said. "You loved him. You're not a cold-hearted who doesn't care about people's feelings so that's pretty reassuring to see you crying right now."

"Not helping" Hani said as their friend chuckled through her tears. "Liz. You truly did the right thing for yourself. You know that, right?"

"If it was the right thing why does it feel so wrong?"

"Because we humans feel a lot of things at the same time every day, and sometimes it's just too much because it's complicated" Ten said, gently rubbing her back. "Luhan doesn't deserve your tears anyways."

"He didn't deserve the pain he's going through because I'm the one who left, Ten."

"That's... debatable."

"I'm a horrible person."

"You're not" Hani said softly. "Do you think it would have done Luhan any good if you had stayed, faking you still wanted to make your relationship work?"

"...no."

"So?"

"So I did the right thing. And I feel like for it."

Haechan heard Taeil calling his name and swiftly turned around, feeling a bit guilty for eavesdropping and completely unsure about what to do with the new information he got out of his escapade. He dropped some bills on the counter, took the bag of drinks and thanked Taeil before making his way out of the café, crossing paths with a hasty Lucas who didn't even notice his presence, rushing to the back tables.

Well, the tea is served and it's burning hot.

 

"Leeseul-noona did WHAT now??"

"Not so loud Renjun, for Heaven's sake!"

"You spied on them?"

"Don't give me the judgy look Jeno, I just did what my curiosity told me to do."

"Ethically speaking, I don't believe that was the right thing to do"

"Who cares about ethics? Leeseul-noona broke up with that douche and we're all better for it."

"I kind of agree" Renjun said, sipping on his iced tea. "Luhan-hyung was really not being nice to noona. She deserves better than this."

"Douche or not, you guys shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Maybe Luhan-hyung was a good guy, we don't know what was happening behind closed doors..."

"Lee Jeno, I love your kindness but you're just so dense. Luhan was always being a douche when he was hanging around noona, and you know it."

"Who are you calling dense now??"

"AHHHHH SORRY I'M SORRY"

"Guys, violence is not the answer"

"Says the most violent one out of us"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY"

Jaemin wasn't paying attention to his friends bickering, still processing what Haechan had just told them.

Leeseul-noona and Luhan broke up. 

He didn't know how he was feeling. A part of him was relieved to know she wasn't in a relationship with that douchebag anymore - and he felt bad for feeling that way, because that wasn't ethically right - yet another part of him felt really sorry for her. He took out his phone to look at the last messages they had exchanged a few weeks ago.

 

Happy birthday Jaemin-ah! Be careful with your drinks, you're still underaged ;D Enjoy your day :)
Leeseul-noona -- 11:14am

Thank you noona! How long will you keep bringing this up :'( I will be careful, I promise! :D
Na Jaemin -- 11:16am

 

She had seen his message but hadn't replied ever since, and Jaemin could now understand why. He ruffled his hair with his hand and let out a sigh.

He could only hope she would be okay soon.