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"Hyung, are you okay?" Tao asked. "You look like you lost yet another bet with Joy. How much was it this time? Or was it another deal not including money? I still got the video of you in a tutu from--"

"No. I haven't lost to anything. And I swear, if that video ever goes out in public, I'm going to ruin your existence, Huang Zitao." Chen growls.

Tao held his hands up in surrender, smiling cheekily, "I won't let it go viral, I swear! But really, hyung, if you hadn't lost to Joy yet again, why the sudden invitation to go out drinking?"

"Why do you always think that I always lose to Joy?" Chen whines, taking a swig of his beer. 

"Uh, because you do?" Tao replies hesitantly. "I think you got to lay off the beer now, hyung. That's your fourth."

"I'll drink as much as I want!" Chen grumbles. "And I don't always lose to that little twerp! I did won many times too! Including that time you confessed to Janelle back in college." he scoffs. "And besides, how can I win when she's not even having bets with me anymore? She's always out with that redhead!”

Tao raised a brow, "Redhead? Who?"

"That assistant director!"

"Assistant director… the new one in your department? Oh! I heard they knew each other well back in high school. Don't be so upset that they're close now. It's normal to catch with friends you've not seen in a long while."

"But it's not an excuse to ignore your friends who had always been there." Chen protested, wildly flailing his hands and causing for his beer to spill. "I don't ignore you even if one of my friends from my neighborhood had came back from Canada, do I? I've lost contact with Kris, but even if we're catching up after a long while, I don't ignore you!"

"Hyung, it's different."

"How?!"

"First of all, you and Joy are not exactly friends." Tao pointed out. "And second of all, hyung, why are you so beat up with her spending time with the Yuan guy when she's just your secretary slash betting partner for nearly ten years? How she lives her life is not actually your concern."

Chen doesn't have a reply to that. But he's stubborn, and the alcohol in his brain is not helping one bit. "But still! Just because some redhead came back does it mean she have to ignore me!"

"Why do you even want her attention in the first place? You don't even like each other as friends? Why are you acting so goddamn jealous?" Tao sighs. And then stops abruptly as he realized the words he used. "Hyung…"

Chen shushed the other with a glare, sobering instantly at what Tao had said. "We… are not talking about this, ever again. Understand? Ever!"

Tao rolled his eyes, "Why not? Are you afraid to know that answer?"

"No, I am not! Because in the first place, I don't like her! As you said, we don't even like each other as friends, even if we've known each other ever since high school! We are just betting partners! I am not jealous because she's spending too much time with the redhead who had actually given her a valentine's card back then instead of having our usual bets on something as stupid as the number of coffee Chanyeol is going to consume for the day! No! I don't miss that! No! I am not counting the days! I just happen to know that it had been two whole weeks since we even had an argument about something stupid! Two weeks and three days ever since the last bet."

Chen took in a breather, face palming and groaning loudly.

Tao pats Chen on the back sympathetically. 

"I am doomed." Chen could only say. "I am so doomed."

Suddenly, a familiar chirpy voice called for them. Chen's head snapped up and he practically heard a bone or two cracking. It's her.

And seeing her after just realizing that he might like her, even if it's just a little teeny weenie bit, is disconcerting to say the least. He doesn't know what to think; and he prided himself for his superior intelligence at that! He didn't even know how to act. Should he greet her snarkily? Should he smile at her? What?

"Hey, boss. What are you two doing here?" Joy asks.

"We were just out for a little drink, Joy-sshi. How about you? I didn't know you drink. Or even go to places like this." Tao answered when Chen averted his eyes and seemed to find the table amusing.

"I don't. Mark's friends called us out for a while. We won't be taking long though. He said he's just going to talk to them a little and then we'd leave." Joy replies with a smile. She gives Chen a look, "Yah, Kim Jongdae, are you drunk? Why are you so silent?"

Chen ignores her and Joy frowns, giving Tao a look. Tao just shrugs.

Mark suddenly appeared beside Joy, greeting Chen with a wide smile. "Oh, hello, Mr. Kim. It's fancy meeting you here."

Chen kept silent and Tao sighs, making an excuse that Chen must have had a little too much to drink. He introduced himself to Mark and they exchanged a little conversation before Mark exclaimed about how late it was getting and that he should probably get Joy home.

Once the two had left, Tao nudged Chen on the side a little too hard. "Why didn't you say anything, hyung? What’s wrong with you?"

"What was I suppose to say?" Chen whines.

"I don't know, maybe try to talk to her about what is happening? About you apparently having feelings for her? If you were only paying attention, you would have seen the concerned looks she was giving you the whole time she was here. If that doesn't scream that she cares, even just a little bit, for you, then I don't know what does." Tao nagged.

"But she's with him."

"So?"

"So!? She hates my guts! She like him! And yet you're proposing for me to talk to her? No offense, buddy, but I don't want a repeat of what happened to you and Janelle. Least at all to me. I've seen it happen before and I kind of don't want to have frontseat experience with that too. Call it cowardly, I don't care."

Tao sighs, "First of all, hyung, what I had for Janelle was different from what you have for Joy; you can't compare. And second of all, and probably more important, Janelle didn't look that way towards me. She had just hated my guts, okay? Joy might hate your guts but she definitely cares for you. I would know. Mei Mae looks at me that way."

Chen closed his eyes and lowered his head to the table, making an audible 'thunk' sound. He sighs. "I don't want to say this… but she's right yet again."

"What?"

"She's right about me being stupid. I couldn't see what actually there for me even if it's within my reach." Chen replied, voice muffled. "Somehow, this is all your fault. You're stupidity rubbed off on me."

"Yah!" Tao punches Chen on the shoulder. "But honestly, hyung. Go talk to her. It's not too late. It's never too late."

Chen desperately hopes Tao is right.

 

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