Chapter 8

Jaehyun wiped his face of all the remaining sleep and tried to get a hold of the situation, “I’ll take care of the sheets. After you deal with the mopping, you can rest. I’m sure you’re still just as tired.” He said in a low voice, “I’m sorry.”

Yoori was awoken by his sudden apology but decided to take it lightly, “What are you sorry for?” she managed a giggle, “I bet you guys would do the same for me if I got -faced too.” She beamed.

Jaehyun was both amused and embarrassed by her remark. Once Yoori started on the floor, Jaehyun pulled on the sheets and blanket to take it off the bed and put it in the laundry, which thankfully they had in their small apartment.

After cleaning the floor, Yoori poured some coffee for the two of them. “Here, black coffee helps hangovers.”

“You seem to know a lot about taking care of a hangover.” Jaehyun commented as he took a small sip of the piping hot coffee.

Yoori chuckled, “Taeyong and I have been through some of the worst of this. We just know what to do now.” She wasn’t quite sure what to feel about what he said so she just brushed it off. “Hey, why did you drink that much anyway?” she remembered what went down last night and she kind of wanted to shed some light on the matter.

Jaehyun straightened up and rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t really know.” He feigned a laugh, “Maybe I got too thirsty and just thought it was water?”

Yoori raised an eyebrow, “What do you remember from last night exactly?” she tried to keep pressing.

The man thought for a second, getting more worried about his response, “Well I knew I drank a lot. I remember that really well. Uhh, Yuta was really unruly too, things get blurry after that though.” He took another sip of coffee.

Just then, Yoori’s phone rang. She didn’t bother getting up from the table where the two of them sat.

On the phone:

“Hey, it’s Youngho.” The guy on the other line said.

“Oh, hi Youngho, what’s up?” Yoori replied.

Upon hearing the short back and forth, he instantly grabbed his mug of coffee and decided to walk over to the couch in the livingroom.

“Well, I just wanted to see if you have this splitting headache too.” He sounded sheepish over the phone.

Yoori laughed lightly, “Nothing some coffee couldn’t fix.” She said as she realized Jaehyun had left her on the table alone and turned to look at him on the couch, still sipping on his coffee. “You should try coffee or just flush the alcohol out with a lot of water.”

“Yeah, maybe I should. Anyway, I just wanted to check if you were alright after all that drinking.” Youngho spoke once again.

Yoori smiled at the concern she felt, “I’m fine. I’ve been through worse if I’m being honest. See you next week, Youngho!” she was quick to say goodbye.

“Alright, see ya.” Youngho answered before they both hung up.

Jaehyun stared out as he held his mug of coffee and took a sip every now and then.

Monday soon came rolling in.

“I swear to God Yuta, get out of the bathroom now or your room is getting trashed!” Yoori banged on the bathroom door with her towel hanging over her arm, “I need to use the bathroom too!”

“Trash my room? It’s never been clean! You’re free to try though!” Yuta’s muffled answer from the other side of the door could still be heard.

Yoori could only groan in frustration. Taeyong and Jaehyun were already dressed and ready but they sat at the table contemplating about waiting for the two to finish or just go to school first.

About three more minutes later, Yuta came out of the bathroom and Yoori rushed right past him.

“We really shouldn’t have just one bathroom.” Jaehyun mentioned to Taeyong. The latter just shrugged.

Later in the day in Yoori’s class with Yuta, she watched as the guy just mindlessly got to his seat next to her. “Hey, I hear we’re about to get a long homework today, what do you plan on doing about it?”

Yoori gave him a side-eye, not exactly understanding what answer he wanted, “First of all, where did you get that information, and well I guess I’d do it so I can submit. What about you?”

“Great, we can split the work!” the guy turned to her with a wide mischievous smile.

“Not so fast. I don’t know how you work and if it’ll be up to my standards.” She tilted her head in confidence.

“I guess we’ll see. You’ve no other choice anyway. I know how you can get lazy too.” He chuckled to himself before turning toward the front of the classroom where the professor was just entering.

Just like Yuta said, they were given a homework worth 5 days, if you’re lucky. As the professor announced it, he gave Yoori a smug look and wiggled his eyebrows. Yoori just rolled her eyes and frowned.

At lunch break, the four roommates convened at the cafeteria. Taeyong was excitedly talking to them about how he got to see so many types of rodents in class; there were rabbits, guinnea pigs, rats, and other of the forest variety rodents too. He seemed excited because they saw them alive and well in pictures and videos during class, not a dead frog in sight.

“I got to take home one of the cute lab rats as a prize when we had a long quiz today! Look!” Taeyong held out a small white mouse in his hand, it wiggled its nose, moving its whiskers along with it. “Dr. Kang said I could do anything with the rat, like study it or experiment on it.” He seemed sullen now.

“Let me guess, you’re just going to keep it as a pet?” Yoori chimed in as she took a sip on her grape juice.

Taeyong smiled sheepishly and nodded.

“What are you naming it?” Jaehyun asked brightly.

“What about Aladin?” Yuta suggested, “You know? Because in the movie, they called him a street rat?” he eyed Yoori as if proudly claiming that he knew stuff and had enough knowledge to make the cut too.

“Pop culture is different from what we would need to do hat.” Yoori reacted.

“Still pretty impressive though, if you ask me.” Yuta crossed his arms over his chest.

Taeyong thought for a while but smiled, “Yeah! We’ll call him Aladin! I’m taking him home today.” He knew inside that he was just so lucky to have such roommates who couldn’t be bothered with a lab rat pet in the apartment or the fact that he brought a dead frog with him.

“We’ll be in the presence of royalty then.” Jaehyun said as he gently the head of the small rat. “Hehe, Prince Ali.”

“I’ve got free period. I might go and look for a small cage or something for him. I can’t have him running around in the apartment.” Taeyong claimed.

“I can come with you.” Jaehyun said, “My next class is still three hours from now. I’ve got nothing to do ‘til then.” He was already putting on his backpack and cleaned up where he had eaten.

“Alright!” Taeyong exclaimed, “I’ll see you guys home later then!” he said goodbye to Yuta and Yoori.