The next morning was a disaster. Both Ryeowook and I were hung over from the night before, and neither of us had gotten up to make breakfast. Even when Sungmin and Donghae were urging me to wake up, I just frowned and waved them away. I had never been hung over with such a noneventful drinking session before in my life, but the headache was still there.

"Uh, I think he's really sick," said Donghae when Leeteuk was standing in the doorway.

"No, he's not," said Leeteuk, angry. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second in annoyance at the noise. "Cho Kyuhyun, get up right now," he yelled.

His shouting did not help my headache.

"Please stop shouting," I said without thinking.

"Are you out of your mind?" screamed Leeteuk, and he walked into the room. He grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me up into a sitting position, and slapped my face. I groaned and put my throbbing head in my hands. I wasn't sure what was happening.

I didn't even register the slap, and I finally opened my eyes and looked up into Leeteuk's eyes. It took all of my brainpower to remember where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.

"What do you think you're playing at?" shouted Leeteuk. I rubbed my eyes a few times, and then I remembered what had happened last night. I looked at the clock at the wall, and noticed that it was 8:22am. Oh god. There was only a few minutes before the manager was going to arrive. I had clearly made a huge mistake, and realizing the unbelievable situation that I was in, a tiny laugh escaped my mouth.

"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?"

Leeteuk grabbed the front my shirt and slapped me again, this time so hard that my head turned. I did register this one.

"No," I said, touching my stinging left cheek with the back of my hand. "I'm so sorry. I don't know how this happened."

"Really? Because I do," said Leeteuk, seething. "You drank last night, didn't you?"

I looked up in surprise. How did he know? As I continued to stare at him in surprise, he spoke again.

"I'm not stupid. I saw the soju bottle on the table on top of your schoolwork," he said. I closed my eyes and frowned. I guessed that I brought the full bottle of soju back and hadn't returned it to the fridge last night. I couldn't believe I made that mistake.

At that moment, Kangin came to the doorway.

"Ryeowook's not getting up either," he said to Leeteuk. I saw Leeteuk close his eyes in frustration. He let go of my shirt with a push and stood up.

"Hurry up and get ready," he said to me. He left the bedroom and Donghae followed, leaving me alone in the bedroom. I buried my face in my arms for a second again - how did that happen?

I tried to move as fast as possible to get ready, but my body felt like a ton of bricks and everything seemed to take twice as much effort.

When I finally got ready and came outside my room with my backpack, the manager hyung was already here and the members were gone.

"Your schedule," said the manager, handing me a piece of paper. I looked at it. It was exactly like I remembered; I had  hair styling and costume fitting for the entire morning. I then folded it up and put it in my pocket. I rubbed my forehead to lessen the pain.

"You look like crap. What the hell's going on?" he asked. I wasn't sure what to say and just stared at him for several seconds when Ryeowook finally came out of his room. He looked significantly more disheveled than I did. I looked at him come out of the room and bow to the manager. He also handed Ryeowook a piece of paper. Ryeowook took it in his hand and ran his fingers through his hair.

We left the suite in silence, and surprisingly, the manager didn't pursue the matter further. And to be honest, it wasn't the manager hyung that I was afraid of facing.

We reached the minibus, and I took the seat right behind the driver's seat. Ryeowook made a move to walk to the back of the bus, but when he passed by me, I grabbed his arm.

"Are you okay?" I asked in honorifics.

"Let go," he ordered with a frown. When I loosened my hold momentarily out of surprise, he pulled his arm free and continued walking towards the back of the bus. He sat down in an empty seat, then stared out the window.

I was thoroughly confused by this. I had thought that we created a bond last night. Although we didn't talk much, we did still spend about an hour in the company of each other by choice. Why did Ryeowook ask me to drink with him if he wasn't interested in becoming closer to me? I shook my head and looked out the window. I was so concerned about what was going to happen to me and Ryeowook later that day that I didn't dwell on the thought for so long. I then remembered the padding that Jonghyun had given me the day before, and I hoped that I had brought them today. I ped my bag and felt inside surreptitiously, until I felt my uniform pants. I checked the pockets and to my relief, they were still there. I finally put my head against the headrest, and relaxed.