Her alarm clock beeped midnight.  She had set it so she would remember to go to sleep.  Sometimes her work just consumed her, and she would stay up until two or three in the morning researching data and sometimes reading mangas.  She walked to the kitchen after slipping on Seung-ri’s tee.

 It had become a habit for her to wear his tee to sleep.  She kept forgetting to give it back even though it had been a couple months since the bloody nose job.  When she was too lazy to do the laundry, she had grabbed anything to use as a nightie.  Surprisingly, it was roomy and she loved how it was a bit oversized on her.  Then she just finally told him she lost it and hid it in her drawers only to be worn when he wasn’t there.

 “Ring. Ding. Dong!” 

 Ji-won nearly dropped the glass of orange juice.  If it was Jinnie, she would have just used the spare.  Looking at the monitor, she couldn’t see who it was because he kept turning his back to look behind him.  Obviously there was only one person it could be.   

 “Hey, can I come in?” 

 Seung-ri smiled when she opened the door and she was wearing his shirt.  She told him that she couldn’t find it so he had forgotten all about it until just now.  When she got her bloody nose, he had panicked and didn’t even realize he was giving her his favorite shirt to wear home. 

 “What’s up?”

 “I was hoping to steal a couple bottles of soju because I have some friends coming over; I don’t get paid until next week.  I would like my shirt back as well.”

 “What?” she was a bit confused and then she looked down.  She laughed.  Although there was a five year age difference, maybe she was a little attracted to him.  She still remembered those toned abs.

 “Ah, I forgot I was wearing this!  I can give it back to you tomorrow.” 

“Noona, if you liked me so much, you could have just asked and I could have come over and slept with you instead.”  He made it sound like a joke, but he meant every single word. 

“Shut up.  You’re so stupid.”  She pushed him, and he stumbled back as though she had the strength of Wonder Woman.  They walked into the kitchen and he immediately opened her drawer to get out a plastic bag.  Ji-won opened her refrigerator door and grabbed the left over soju from the last time they were playing cards for shots.  She didn’t like to drink often, but whenever he came over, he was always looking for soju so she learned to stock up at least once a week. 

“If you’re not busy later, you should come over.”  While he wanted her all to himself, he also really wanted to show her off to his friends.  They kept asking when they would get to meet the hot noona that kept him up late at night and even later in the morning. 

For a couple weeks while Ji-won was recuperating from her bruised nose, Seung-ri kept her company from morning until night.  She wouldn’t leave her apartment, and he felt bad for being the cause of her facial woes so between work and play he was also running errands for her.  He would buy groceries, always throwing in a couple bottles of soju, and cook for her.  After dinner, it was usually a game of yoot or poker for shots or sometimes boxing on the Wii, where she liked aiming for his nose for some odd reason. 

 “Well, being that it’s, I don’t know, midnight I think I’m going to sleep.” 

“Are you sure?  It’s the weekend.  You’re supposed to stay up late.” 

“I’m too old.  I can’t do what you do any more.” 

Seung-ri hated whenever Ji-won brought up their age difference.  Didn’t she realize that he really wasn’t that much younger than her?  It didn’t annoy him so much when they first started spending time together, but every time she would plug it into their conversation he wanted to scream at her. 

It bothered him because for Seung-ri, Ji-won was unlike the other girls he usually hung out with.  Those girls were gorgeous in all aspects but bored him so quickly.  Sometimes when they talked, he swore he’d only hear, “blah, blah and blah.”  Ji-won wasn’t a stunning beauty but there was just something about her that made him attracted to her, and it felt like he became more so every time he saw her.  

What he loved most was he could connect with her on another level.  She always looked so conservative and like a real prude, but she really wasn’t.  In fact, she was a little bit tomboyish and sometimes it felt like he was just hanging out with one of his boys.  Sure, she had her air headed moments and then there were those klutzy moments where she would trip over her own feet, but she was smart and loved playing video games with him.  

“Yeah, yeah whatever.  Come over later if you want.”  Seung-ri left with bag in tow and closed the door with his foot. 

After Seung-ri’s interruption, she didn’t feel like sleeping anymore so she put on one of her favorite movies and hoped it would help her fall asleep, but it wasn’t too long after that a knock came at the door. 

“Noona!  Noona!” 

Who was this person calling her noona?  He did not look familiar at all but he was jumping up and down outside of her door like his life depended on it.  

“Hi, Noona!”  He waved at her from outside, and she saw that he had a face like he was a hard worker—squinting small eyes and a smile that stretched from cheek to cheek.  

“Seung-ri said it was an emergency so I could come over.” 

Reluctantly she opened the door and he immediately zoomed right past her.  

“Noona!  Which is the restroom?”

“Left, and lift the seat!! Lift the seat!” 

If she was going to get interruptions all night she was thinking about strangling Seung-ri for inviting HIS friends over to HER house.  

Seung-ri’s friend breathed a sigh of relief as he shut the door behind him. 

“Sorry, Noona. Tae-yang was in Seung-ri’s bathroom and taking forever!  Seung-ri said you probably wouldn’t be asleep yet and to just knock.” 

“I wasn’t asleep yet but could you, never mind.  What was your name again?” 

“Oh, Dae-sung, noona.” 

Ji-won scooted him out the door because he just kept standing there like he wanted to stay.   

“Noona.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Is that Seung-ri’s shirt?” 

“No,” she lied and kept pushing him towards the door. 

“Noona.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Are you and Seung-ri dating?” 

“No.” 

Dae-sang was literally only one foot from the door but again, he stopped. 

“Are you—“ 

“No.” 

“So, you’re a lesbian?” 

“Wait.  What?” 

“I wanted to know if you were attracted to men but you said no.” 

With one last shove, Dae-sung was out the door and Ji-won breathed a sigh of relief.  She watched the monitor to make sure he was going to walk back to Seung-ri’s.  He scratched his head with his finger, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away from her apartment.  

Back to the comfort of her sofa, Ji-won laid there trying to get back to the movie but it was useless.  Dae-sung’s interruption denied her the pleasure of falling asleep through the movie so she went back online instead.  It had been a couple of weeks since she had read any scanlations so she immediately clicked on her One Manga bookmark and started reading Skip Beat! from where she left off. 

It was Valentine’s Day and Shou had shown up with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers for Kyoko.  He was giving it to her to show that he did not care that Kyoko was dating the Beagle lead singer and Ren was steaming with anger.  Ji-won was squealing and giggling from excitement because it had been so many chapters since she last saw Ren and Shou square off for Kyoko.  Before she could read anymore, a ringing came from her door.  It seemed like only minutes since Dae-sung left; she was hoping it wasn’t him again with all his questions. 

“Noona.” 

This time there was someone else at the door.  

“An-nyoung.”  His smiling eyes looked up at her and he waved.  

What now?

“Noona, we ran out of soju.  Seung-ri said you had some more.” 

“Yeah, I do.  Can you tell Seung-ri that I’m trying to get some sleep.”   

She opened the refrigerator door and motioned him to grab the four remaining bottles.  While he was collecting the bottles, she rummaged a plastic bag from the drawer and held it out for him.  Rather than put the bottles into the bag, he sat down and opened one. 

“Noona, are you and Seung-ri dating?” 

“No.”  What is up with Seung-ri’s friends?

“Okay.”  He took another gulp and said, “Drink with me.” 

“No.  I can’t really hold my liquor well.” 

“C’mon.  You can’t use that as an excuse.  Seung-ri tells us about all the things you guys do.” 

“Really.” 

“Yeah.  Even about that one time that you got so wasted you kissed him.” 

“What?!” 

“C’mon, drink with me.” 

Ji-won was steaming just a little bit from the tad bit of false information but refused his offer.  To make it worse, rather than leave, he just kept sitting there like he had nowhere else to go and she had nothing else better to do. 

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?” 

“Tae-yang.”  

“Ah, Tae-yang, I think it’s time for you to go.”  She tried handing him the bag of soju but he didn’t budge.  

Tae-yang took one more gulp from the bottle.  

“Noona.”  Tae-yang stood up and let his fingers glide down her arms until he held onto the bag handles, “I’ll tell Seung-ri I know you’ve never kissed him.” 

“Just take the bag and go.”  She was getting a bit uncomfortable especially because she didn’t know how much he had had to drink and she did not know him well enough for him to be so close.  

Tae-yang slipped his arm behind her and lightly placed his hand on her back.  Abruptly, he pulled her towards him and parted her lips with his own.  

“Because I’m sure he doesn’t know your lips are sweet like a warm cherry pie.”  

With those last words, he took the bag of soju from her as if nothing happened and left the bottle he had been drinking behind.  He walked out the door and left Ji-won speechless and more perturbed than he had found her.     

Ji-won was pondering about whether to kick some little boy : Seung-ri’s because he invited his friends over and Tae-yang’s for being cocky enough to steal a kiss.  When she finished thinking, she looked down at the table, “Who drank all of my soju?”

*********************************************************************************

The light was blinding her and her head was going to explode.  

“Noona.  Noona.” 

“Seung-ri, what are you doing in my room?  Get out!” 

 “Noona, do you remember anything?” 

“Ugh, why are you in my room?” 

“You’re in my bedroom.” 

“What? Leave me alone.” 

“Do. You. Remember. Anything?” 

“What are you still doing here?” 

“Yesterday, you barged in and interrupted our poker game.” 

“Blame, your stupid friend.  He started it.” 

“No, I don’t think you understand what happened.” 

“Leave me alone and go back to your apartment.”  

“Noona!”  he pulled the blanket off her and she curled up into a ball. 

“Remember how I told you to never drink when no one is there.  You do crazy things.  That’s why I never let you do more than two shots when we’re playing cards.  I let you win all the time.” 

She rolled back around towards him, opened her eyes just a crack, and closed them again.  The room was still too bright for her.  It finally registered that she didn’t recognize where she was and this didn’t feel like her bed. 

This isn’t my room.

With all the strength she could muster, she opened her eyes and let the light burn them in order to see her surroundings. 

“Where am I?”  she asked cautiously, afraid of what the answer might be. 

“You.  Are.  In.  My bedroom.”  Seung-ri enunciated every word to ensure Ji-won would not miss what he was trying to tell her.  

She shot straight up and lay back down as a wave of nausea hit her along with a massive headache.  The room was starting to spin. 

“Why am I here?  What did you do?” 

Seung-ri didn’t understand why she thought it was his fault she was in her current state.  

“Noona, don’t blame me.” 

“The last thing I remember is someone using my restroom and soju.  Why did you let me drink?” 

“I didn’t let you do anything.  When you came over, you were already tipsy.  I had to cut the card game short because of you.” 

“Tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.” 

“I,” he hesitated and added with a devious smile, “can’t.”

Ji-won groaned because she knew this was something she might not live down, especially if Seung-ri’s friends were present at the time.  She might have to crawl into a hole and never resurface.  

“I don’t know what happened over at your apartment, but after Tae-yang came back you showed up all out of it.  I think you had a little bit too much to drink.  We were in the middle of a poker game and…” 

And she half-listened to Seung-ri as pieces of last night started coming back to her.  

The guy with the smiling eyes, Tae-yang, did something that pissed her off, and she ended up drinking a bottle of soju, which meant her temper was flaring more than usual because she rarely drank by herself.  The next thing she recalled was cards flying everywhere…

“You shoved the cards, the soju, the shot glasses, everything of the table.  Then strutted your way over to where I was sitting, slid yourself onto the table and–” 

“I don’t need all the details.”  

“You turned to Tae-yang and said… 

“Oh my gosh,” she closed her eyes in shame and recalled hearing herself say, “You’ve never–” 

“Tasted a warm cherry pie before and you grabbed– 

“Stop.  Please stop,” she begged. 

“—my shirt and kissed me.  Now, when I say kissed me, I mean it was almost .  All of my friends forfeited their winnings and Ji-yong even had to call his girlfriend to meet her up that night.” 

“I know you’re enjoying this but I’m really not,” and she made sure to stress the “really” to ensure he understood how much she did not want to recall the night anymore.  

“It was sweet like warm cherry pie.”  He closed his eyes and remembered the kiss so much so that his lips tingled and he could still taste her cherry lips on his mouth.  

Ji-won threw her pillow at him but he raised his arm much too quickly and blocked it.  He walked back out of the room and left her to wallow in her misery and shame.  

What else can I do to ensure I never leave my apartment again?