Johnny opened the door and a shocked gasp left his mouth. Haechan was right, it was a mess. Nari was running around the house, Haechan trailing after her, shouting, while Hyemi and Yoojung were in a heated debate about something like what would look cuter, a puppy in suit or a baby elephant in skirt, yelling incoherent things at each other. Plastic cups, plates and empty bags of snacks were scattered around the room, Tofu poking his head inside a few, hoping he would find something to munch on. The girls were dressed in sparkly mini dresses, their hair appeared to be curled, they had heavy makeup with glitter and the cherry on top was the blasting music in the dim room.

“What the ?” Johnny hissed when he saw the six empty bottles of soju and at least ten cans of beer on the floor. 

“Are they… drunk?” Jaehyun looked at Johnny with worry. 

Hyemi now was hugging Yoojung while the other cried on her shoulder, smudging her already smudged makeup while Nari was still running around like a maniac, shouting the lyrics of the song that was playing.

“You’re here!” Haechan stopped in front of the other two males, gasping for air. 

“Jaehyun-ah!” Hyemi’s eyes lit up with excitement when she noticed him. “Hi handsome! You here to see me?” she chimed and waved at him.

Johnny burst out laughing while Jaehyun’s cheek burned. “H-hi.” he waved back. 

“We need to put them to sleep.” Haechan stated.

“Your fiancée will sleep here? I oppose! No more people here! Haewon went home finally, I’m not going to let in anyone.” Johnny told Haechan with crossed arms and furrowed eyebrows.  

Haechan looked Johnny dead in the eyes and heaved a sigh. “Her father is Choi Dongchul, the CEO of SHINee Holdings. What do you think he would do to us if he gets to know that his one, precious daughter is wasted?” he deadpanned.

Johnny gulped, his head full of scenarios with various types of torture. “She sleeps here.” he concluded. 

“Yah! What are you doing? Drink some soju, you lame s!” Nari shouted and jumped on the couch, Yoojung following her, holding a can of beer in the air. 

“Yeah! Dumb ers!

“s!” Nari continued as they giggled and chanted various swear words. 

They danced and jumped on the couch while Hyemi sat on the edge, giggling in her own little world. The boys watched them shocked, Haechan screaming, telling them to stop what they were doing, the girls shouting back and sticking their tongues at him like they were two mischievous 4 year olds, then Nari tripped. She was about to fall onto the floor but Haechan hurried over to catch her, which resulted them both rolling on the floor. Yoojung fortunately fell onto the couch. Haechan gritted his teeth and massaged his after pushing the girl off of him.

“How dare you touch me? You little !” Nari screeched and jumped on Haechan, and had him in a headlock, the other yelping and whining. She let him go after slapping his head a few times. 

In the meantime, Jaehyun tried to convince Hyemi, that her phone won’t fly even if she turns on airplane mode, while Johnny was dragging Yoojung away from the window while the girl was screaming that he was manhandling her. Haechan was trailing after Nari who had another cup of drink in her hands. 

“Give me that!” he ordered. “You’ve drunk enough.”

She gawked at him, chugged her beer, threw the cup over her shoulders and grinned triumphantly. “Try me, !”

The music changed to Big Bang’s Bang Bang Bang and all three jumped up and ran to dance. 

“Okay. That’s enough. Everyone deal with their respective girls!” Haechan ordered. “Come on Gangster! Drink some water!” he walked to his future fiancée, leaving the two behind.

“Yah! What do you mean respective girls?” Johnny yelled, but Haechan ignored his question, he was busy dragging Yoojung away from Nari.  

The two shared a look, then set their eyes on the girls. Nari was screaming and aggressively shaking her fists in front of Haechan who was pleading to Yoojung to go to sleep. She too, was ready to fight, while Hyemi was smiling dreamily, pecked Tofu’s head as she danced. 

“Okay. Hyemi’s mine.” Johnny said and Jaehyun gave him an incredulous look.

“Don’t you dare!” he warned.

“Why? I’m her best friend!” Johnny snapped.

“And I’m her… other friend…” he paused. “And we kiss… on a daily basis!” he retorted and Johnny had to scoff.

“Dude!” he threw his hands in the air in frustration. 

“Hey Hyemi! Come here sweetheart!” Jaehyun walked to her and smiled. She looked beautiful even when she was wasted. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes turned into crescent moons since she was grinning the whole time. Upon noticing him, she put Tofu down and wrapped her arms around his neck, insisting that he should dance with her.

“.” Johnny muttered and turned to Nari. “Okay, come on Park, let’s stop this !”

Haechan finally convinced Yoojung that drinking water and sleeping would do wonders on her spinning head and nausea. He escorted her to Nari’s room and tucked her in while groaning the whole time. 

After their coffee date, they’d exchanged numbers and agreed on trying to be friends at least. Both knew they couldn’t back away from this marriage situation so they try to make the most of it. 

The girl was grinning with closed eyes as she shifted under the blanket. He told her to sleep well and tomorrow he would drive her home. He turned off the bedside lamp and was about to leave when he heard her voice. 

“I like your friends. I can’t even remember the last time I had this much fun.” she blurted and Haechan stopped his tracks. 

He turned around and managed the see her smile even in the dark room. “Sleep tight, Gangster.” he whispered then exited the room. “What the happened here?” he stared at Jaehyun and Hyemi who were sneaking into her room, while Nari was sitting on a chair, sobbing quietly.

“Nari threw up on Johnny.” Jaehyun answered and ushered Hyemi in her room. “I tuck her in, you deal with those two.”

“ing traitor.” he snorted. 

Johnny came out his room, not wearing a T-shirt, and stood in front of the girl. “Go to my room and wait for me.”

The girl stood up and walked away without a word.

“Wooow, sounds y.” Haechan snickered but the other male shut him up with a stern look. 

“Where’s Yoojung?”

“Sleeping in Nari’s room.” he answered as he sat on the couch.

Johnny frowned. “Why the is she sleeping in her room?”

“Then where should she sleep? On the couch? That’s my spot for tonight.” he shrugged and threw the pillows he didn’t need on the floor then grabbed the blanket and lay down. 

“Then where will Nari sleep?” 

“That’s for you to find out Chicago.” he closed his eyes and turned over so he wasn’t facing him anymore. 

Johnny let out an irritated sigh and went into his room. He’s already cleaned the mess Nari’d left in the kitchen. The things one do for friends, he thought. Nari was sitting on his bed when she suddenly covered with a terrified expression. She bolted in the bathroom and knelt down in front of the toilet, bending over. She grabbed the seat and gagged a few times when Johnny came after her.

“Don’t try to hold it back.” he said softly and knelt beside her, gathering her hair out of her face and caressed her back.

“I’m sorry.” she muttered. “But , we had such a great time.”

He let out a chuckle and patted her back gently when she puked again. “You’re unbelievable Park Nari.”

The girl looked up at Johnny with a faint smile. “Johnny.” she called in a hoarse voice, the male humming in response. “I think I’ll try it with Yuta. The relationship thing.”

“Let me go!” Nari hissed at the man whose hand was firm on her wrist. “Don’t you hear me ? I said let me go!”

“Nari-yah! Why so feisty? You were so obedient las time.”

“I’ve already told you Hyun, it was a mistake. I don’t like you, so let me go, you ing jerk!”

“Yah!” the male pulled her closer. “What dirty little mouth you have! Should I teach you how to behave?”

Nari felt her heartbeat fastening as Hyun tightened the grip on her wrist. She looked around in hope to find someone whom she could ask for help. However, that particular street was empty at that hour. It was her neighborhood, only a few streets away her family’s restaurant. If she could break free and run maybe she could…

“Nari-yah!” 

“Simon oppa!” she watched the familiar male approaching, Simon staring at the male indignantly. “What are you…”

“Nari-yah.” Simon cut in. “I was waiting for you at the restaurant, did you stand me up?”

Nari raised an eyebrow as doubt and surprise flickered in her eyes. “I…”

“I thought we’re already official.” He continued then looked at the other male’s hand on her wrist. Hyun scrutinized Simon with mingled suspicion, who narrowed his piercing eyes at him. “Why are your dirty hands grabbing my girlfriend?” 

Hyun scoffed. “Your girlfriend? Joke of the year. This is everyone’s girlfriend.” he pulled on Nari, the girl yelping as she bumped against the male’s chest.

“Yah…” Simon groaned and Nari suddenly felt shivers down her spine. 

Simon’s usual kind and polite demeanor changed to this cold, scary tone. She’s seen Simon being angry before but his look right now was different. She was scared of him. Hyun might have sensed something too because his grip slowly loosened until he finally let Nari go, the girl rushing behind Simon.

“Now listen here carefully, buddy. If I see you lurking around Park Nari again, I will hunt you down, break every bone in your body until you’re begging me to just end your suffering. We clear?”

Hyun nodded as he gulped, casting one last annoyed glance at the girl. He murmured some profanities under his breath then hurried away. Simon waited until he was nowhere to be seen anymore then turned towards the girl, grabbing her shoulders. His expression was concerned as he searched for injuries on the girl. 

“You okay, Nari? Did that bastard hurt you?”

“I… I’m okay.” she nodded. 

“I’ll take you home.” He draped his jacket over her body, his hand on her back, guiding her towards his car.

He fastened her seatbelt in the car and started the engine, making a U-turn.

“Aren’t we going home?” she peeked at the rearview mirror.

“I’ll buy you an ice cream before, okay?” he flashed a smile and the girl broke down. 

She pulled the jacket closer on her body, her tears running down her cheeks as she tried gulping down her sobs. Simon’s solution was ice cream to most things. “I was really scared.”

“I know.”

“I thought he would do something bad to me. Thank you for saving me.”

“Always.” he nodded. “But I hope you’ve learnt your lesson too.”

“Yes.”

“You have to be more careful of who you’re talking to. Guys can be dickheads. Of course there are many nice guys out there, but you shouldn’t let your guard down. People can put on a kind personality to mask their toxic side. You have to learn to see through the disguise to see when someone has ulterior motives.”

 “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just worried about you, okay? You have a value, you know that? You don’t need a man to have a value. You don’t have to justify or prove anything to have that worth and men should work freaking hard to earn your trust. I’m sure you’ll find a decent guy if you set your mind to it, but you need to work on being happy with yourself at first.”

She nodded. The car came to a halt, Simon killing the engine. “You were pretty scary too.” Nari peeked at the male. He looked better than a week before when she’d found him wasted at a pop-up bar.

“Yeah, I can be pretty scary when someone’s trying to hurt my loved ones.” he winked, Nari letting out a chuckle.

Nari didn’t tell Simon that he’d set the bar too high that she didn’t even want to be in a relationship. That seeing him with Hyemi, the two being so in love, appreciating and supporting each other was such an example that she was afraid she wouldn’t find someone like Simon. That she couldn’t imagine herself being in such a loving relationship.

“Kang Hyemi sure is lucky to have you.”

Simon’s smile faltered, though Nari didn’t notice that. He cleared his throat and opened the door. “Come on, let’s have that ice cream, shall we?”

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