chapter 02 | kim sunggyu's unfortuante drinking problem

Sunggyu peers into the room and confirms that no one is inside. He pushes the door open and flicks on the light. Dongwoo is the last in and he promptly closes the door behind him. The music room is old and the only people that really use it are Sunggyu, Dongwoo and Hoya and a few others but Sunggyu prefers it to be this way because he often has it to himself. He doesn’t even mind that the instruments are old; he likes the way old pianos sound anyways.

            Sunggyu drops his bag down next to the piano and takes a seat on the black chair. His fingers hover over the keys for a moment before he presses down and plays a chord or two. He watches Hoya and Dongwoo sit on the floor near his feet and they get comfortable, leaning back on their hands as they look at Sunggyu.

            “Play your latest masterpiece, gramps,” Hoya orders and Sunggyu is tempted to punch him but he knows it will have no effect on his friend.

            “I am not that old,” Sunggyu tries to argue.

            “But you definitely act like it. Now play,” Dongwoo points to the piano and Sunggyu sighs dejectedly before focusing his attention on the piano. He starts to play something he made up the night before, throwing a few improvisations into the mix of notes. It’s a fairly simple piece, reflecting Sunggyu’s fairly simple life.

            When he’s finished, he takes his fingers off the keys and looks to his two friends. They clap with smiles on their faces but Sunggyu isn’t so excited about it because he feels like something is missing but maybe it’s because something might be missing in his own life.

            “It’s good!” Dongwoo holds his thumb up for Sunggyu. Sunggyu isn’t sure why Dongwoo is so excited now because he heard it last night at home.

            The lunch period proceeds like this; Sunggyu plays a few songs, Dongwoo and Hoya dance a bit, and they just chat like they always do. It’s nice and Sunggyu doesn’t think he would trade this for the world.

            -

            “I am not wearing that,” Sunggyu grimaces when his elder sister, Min Ji, shows him his outfit. “Where did you even get these?”

            “I got them for your birthday and I thought you could wear them tonight.”

           Sunggyu frowns at the outfit his sister holds out in front of him. He will never be caught wearing such clothes, if you can even consider them clothes. It is a flimsy looking white piece of fabric and a pair of skin tight jeans that Sunggyu honestly doesn’t know how his sister expects him to fit in those.

            “I’m not going out tonight and I am not wearing that,” Sunggyu flips the page of the novel he’s reading but his sister just isn’t having it and takes the book out of his hand. Sunggyu is about to protest until he looks up and sees that his sister looks very distressed.

            “Okay, Sunggyu. I’m getting really desperate here. I need to get in to see my boyfriend and I need you so that my stalker doesn’t follow me. If he sees me with you, he won’t come up to me.”

            Sunggyu remembers everything his sister tells him, which is a lot because his sister likes having someone who listens attentively. Sunggyu’s heard it all; his sister has a boyfriend who is a bartender but their parents don’t know because they would never allow their precious little girl to date someone who works there. His sister also has a stalker who terrifies her but she knows that he will never approach her unless she is alone.

            Sunggyu takes the outfit from her and retreats into his bedroom. “I’ll be just a minute.”

            “Oh, thank you, Sunggyu! You’re the best brother ever!” she says through the door.

            “What about me?” Dongwoo yells from the next room over. Dongwoo is Sunggyu’s and Min Ji’s younger step brother and had come into the family when their mother remarried after their father had left. Dongwoo’s dad was nice and very friendly – Sunggyu and Min Ji were glad that he was the man their mother married. Sunggyu had also noticed how happy his mother was now.

            “I would bring you, too, but you’re too young!”

            “Too young? I’m only a year younger!”

            “A year too young!”

            Sunggyu is too busy trying to get the damn jeans on that he doesn’t really focus on their conversation. Seriously, why did Min Ji think these would fit him?

            Sunggyu tugs and tugs, jumping around his tiny bedroom and knocking things over until he finally gets the pants fully on. He makes a face when he feels the circulation being cut off in his thighs. He quickly slips the flimsy tank top on and steps out of his bedroom, halting the conversation between his siblings.

            His sister smiles maniacally and grabs Sunggyu by his skinny arms, pulling him forcefully into the bathroom. Sunggyu is very confused when his sister starts playing with his hair and gelling it up. Sunggyu thinks it looks messy but he usually goes to school with bed hair anyways so he doesn’t really mind. But then she is taking this pencil-like object and is going at his eyes, drawing around his lash line quickly and expertly. Eyeliner, Sunggyu mutters to himself.

            When his sister is done, she pushes him out into the hallway. Dongwoo is standing there and when he sees his older brother, he gasps. “Holy, is that you, Sunggyu?”

            “Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t it be me?” Sunggyu is so confused.

            “Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You look hot.”

            Sunggyu narrows his eyes and runs to the nearest mirror. When he looks into it, he’s greeted by the face of someone he doesn’t know. His eyes are smoky and his hair is styled into messy perfection. He actually looks good in the clothes and they seem to suit him. Sunggyu realizes that he is indeed looking at himself in the mirror and he can’t seem to find any words.

            This is the first time in his life when he actually feels like he looks good. It’s the first time that he can actual call himself good looking. The feeling is so alien to him that he almost believes it is all a dream but he knows better.

            “See, Sunggyu? You can be really hot with a little effort,” his sister says beside him.

            “Are you sure this isn’t just your attempt at bringing up my self-confidence?” Sunggyu asks suspiciously. His sister has tried to boost his confidence countless times but it never really works.

            “Okay, maybe a little. But don’t you feel good?”

            “I guess so…”

            “Then that’s all that matters! Seriously, Gyu, you look hot. Now let’s go. He’s waiting for me!”

-

            Sunggyu doesn’t really like crowds – he’s already had enough of them at school. But the atmosphere in the night club is very different from school. Sunggyu can feel the bass through his very bones and he doesn’t really get any personal space. It’s a Saturday night and everyone forgets their worries.

            At first Sunggyu was very confused at how he could have possibly made it in (apparently his sister had connections because of her boyfriend and therefore was allowed in through the back without having to present ID or do anything else) but then he saw all the kids that looked his age or even younger and he wasn’t so confused anymore.

            Sunggyu clings to the wall, a chilly glass of water in his hand as he watches the crowd. He observes and notes how some people are dancing with people they’ve just met and how people are touching each other very inappropriately but no one seems to care at all.

            Sunggyu moves to the bar to get another glass of water but when he sits down on a barstool and is about to ask for another one, his voice catches in his throat as someone sits down next to him.

            “Hey,” the person says. Sunggyu thinks this is just a dream and it can’t be real. He turns his head to the right to see Nam Woohyun sitting beside him. His hair is gelled up slightly and he is wearing a t-shirt that hugs his body in all the right ways and shows off his toned chest. This is the closest Sunggyu has ever been to Nam Woohyun and he thinks that Nam Woohyun is way hotter up close.

            “H-hi,” Sunggyu tries very hard not to stutter but he fails.

            Woohyun laughs at this and orders something from the bartender. When the bartender comes back, he places two glasses of what looks like some sort of electric blue alcohol in front of Woohyun. Sunggyu is sure that Woohyun was just getting a drink for him and a friend but when Woohyun slides one of the glasses in front of Sunggyu.

            Wow, confident, Sunggyu says to himself inside his head as he eyes the glass. “It’s my favourite drink here,” Woohyun tells him. Sunggyu isn’t much of a drinker and can’t really hold his alcohol very well at all (apparently he gets really touchy and cute when he’s drunk) but he’s too awkward to say no thank you. Sunggyu bravely takes the glass in his fingers and drinks from it, deciding that it tastes like a blue freezie and that just happens to be his favourite flavour.

-

            Sunggyu wakes up with a splitting head ache. The bed is comfy, though, and Sunggyu is tangled in the warm sheets. He can hear a shower somewhere close by and he wonders what time it is. He buries his face into the sheets and doesn’t fail to notice that the sheets smell nice but not like the ones on his own bed; these sheets smell like a forest after a spring rainfall. This is not his bed.

            His eyes flutter open and he sits up abruptly, the sheets falling from his chest. His eyes widen and he looks down at himself. Indeed, he is not wearing a shirt. His eyes dart around the room – it’s not his. This room is very minimalistic and big, neat and orderly. It’s not as cozy as his own room and definitely too… bland. Sunggyu sees his shirt thrown in a heap on the floor and he’s about to move to get it when he hears the shower turn off and a door open.

            His breath hitches when he sees who it is. “Oh, Sunggyu. You’re awake.”

Oh, jeez, Sunggyu. Get it together, mate.