I'm not the kind of student who would look for trouble. I wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize my academic career. Throughout middle and high school, I was always the perfect student. Teachers always loved me and favored me. I never imagined that my life could change - all because of one person.

I dug through my bag to find my phone. It had just buzzed and I knew it was Kai who just texted me. I felt my phone under a bunch of unused tissue and an extra set of clean clothes. I pulled out my phone and checked the message.

"Where are you?!" Kai had asked. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I met Kai a few weeks ago during the start of university. We were both freshmen and in the university's cooking class and a few other classes. He was a taller than me with dark brown hair. He had a slim, yet muscular figure and a strong chest. When he looked at me, he would always bite his lower lip and have a twinkle in his eyes. Whenever I see him, my heart would always skip a beat. If I were a girl, I would’ve fallen in love with him without thinking twice about it . Yet, Kai was also the worst cook ever and he ended up being paired with me for the first semester of cooking class. I didn't like him much. I did most of the work in class and he did the tasting. So, thanks to my hard work, we both passed the class with a 100 each  day.

Kai had told me that he wanted to be more than partners in cooking class. He wanted to be friends. I didn’t want to be rude, so I accepted. We ended up exchanging phone numbers and he texted me everyday asking for help on homework from that point forward. I looked through my texts with Kai to find the directions to a party he had invited me to attend. I had declined the invitation, but he told me that it was a small party because his best friend was leaving the city. Kai said that he wanted to introduce me to his best friend. But, even so, he refused to give me a specific address even though I had kept asking him for one.

Looking up to find a sign that I was on the right street, I saw a few girls walking into an alley between two buildings. I frowned. This was definitely not the place I wanted to be at on a friday night. The shadows of the buildings made the streets dark and creepy. The trees swayed in the wind, their branches reaching out to grab my shadow. Looking around, I decided to follow the few girls who had walked into the alley. Where the girls invited by Kai too? Walking down, I heard the faint sound music playing. I guess that's where the party is, I thought to myself. I approached the end of the alley which connected to a small street. Looking to the left, there was a line of people waiting to get into a club. Then, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"KYUNGSOO! Where are you?" Kai screamed. There was loud music playing in the background.

"The directions you gave me led me to a club, Kai! This isn’t the ‘small party’ you were talking about, right?" I asked, frustrated. I had never been to a club before and I didn't plan on going to one anytime soon.

"Yep, it was exactly what I was talking about!”

"The line is too long! I'm leaving, Kai," I said. I shook my head and was about to end the call but Kai stopped me.

"NO. I'm coming out to get you, Kyungsoo. If you leave, I'll never forgive you!" Kai then ended the call. I sighed and walked towards the club. Why I even bothered to care about whether or not Kai would dislike me or not, I don’t know. I saw Kai walk out and wave to me, telling me to hurry over. So, I quickly walked over to him, passing all the other people waiting on the line.

"Come on, let's go!" Kai said as he took my hand and dragged me in. "He's with me," Kai told the bouncer when I was stopped halfway into the club. The bouncer nodded and let us in after he quickly determined that I was above 18 years of age.

Walking into the club, the music rushed over me and the bodies of people dancing or trying to get somewhere brushed against me. It was difficult to breathe. The smell of liquor and a hint of cigarettes was in the air, making me nauseous. Kai led me to a table where five other people were sitting: three boys and two girls. There were seven glasses of some sort of drink on the table. 

"Hey, Kai," one of the girls purred. "Who's that?"

“This is Kyungsoo, everyone. And, Kyungsoo, these are my friends: Chanyeol, Kris, Anny, Aelliseu, and Minseok.”

Everyone greeted me and gave me an amiable smile. Chanyeol patted to the empty seat beside him. I sat down as Minseok pushed me a glass with some sort of liquid in it. I looked at Kai who was sitting down opposite me, next to Minseok. He smiled and bit his lower lip. I took the drink and observed it. It was a dark color - almost black. Yet, in the light, it was more of a blood red color.

“What is this?” I asked as my eyes widened.

“It’s just a small drink,” Anny laughed. “Don’t worry, its not drugged or anything.” I looked over at Kai in confirmation and he smiled at me. I took this as a sign that his friends would never do something like that. I took a sip of it and it was a bitter yet it had a hint of sweetness after a few seconds. I looked at the crowd of dancing bodies moving against one another to look more preoccupied. Kai and his friends engaged in a conversation about what was recently happening in their lives. The others, I found out, attended a university in the next city over.

“So this is the Kyungsoo we’ve always been hearing about?” Kris asked, growing in interest. He was observing and judging me, his eyes sweeping over my body. I saw Kai blush and smile as I swept my gaze over him when I turned to look at Kris, who had placed his arm around Annie, whom was presumably his girlfriend. Kai noticed me staring at Kris in confusion and shook his head.

“No, it’s not like that, Kyungsoo,” Kai said, his face turning tomato red.

“‘Kyungsoo’s so cute and he’s such a great cook’,” Kris said, jokingly mocking Kai as he laughed to himself. Anny hit his arm playfully and told him to shut up and leave me alone. I blushed and took a quick sip of the drink.

Minseok placed his arms around Aelliseu as Kris did and Aelliseu leaned on to him. “Kai always talks about you,” Minseok stated matter-of-factly.

“Guys! Just stop it!” Kai exclaimed, getting impatient. He turned to me and said, “Kyungsoo, Chanyeol is the one whom I was speaking of. The person who’s moving away.”

“Yep. That’s me,” Chanyeol sighed. “I’m guessing Kai wanted me to meet you before I left. I wonder why though,” Chanyeol winked. I looked down and pretended to be very interested in my cup. When I realized the glass was empty, I started to wondered when I finished the whole drink. As Kai and his friends continued to joke around, I started to feel weird. It was a dizzy sort of feeling.

“Hey, are you okay?” Anny asked, obviously noticing something was wrong.

“Hmm? Yeah...” I said. I wasn’t sure whether I was feeling alright. “I... I think I have a headache.”

“It’s only been one drink,” Kris said, surprised.

“Oh..kay. I thought this was going to happen. Minseok, you shouldn’t have given the drink to him,” Kai exclaimed. He sighed and took my cup. Giving it one sniff, he said, “This is one of the stronger wines, too. He’s too goody-goody of a student to have ever drank before! Minseok! How could you?” Kai was sounding very annoyed. I just felt horrible. My body hurt and I just wanted to lay down on my comfortable bed back at the college dorm.

“I-I-I’m sorry!” Minseok managed to stammer out. He said that he didn’t know and he wouldn’t do it again. Everything was blurred as I felt my eyelids becoming very heavy. I noticed Aelliseu looking very worried. I placed my head down on the table in my arms and closed my eyes. I could tell that the argument was settling down even though I could only make out parts of sentences. The last thing I heard before I fell asleep was Kai saying, “I’ll bring him back home.”