A Glass of Alcohol
The Next DayI reach out and grab my phone when I hear it rang. My eyelids are heavy, and my head is heavier.
“Yah, Han JiAe,” calls SooHwa.
“Don’t speak so loud,” I groggily reply, I am sitting at the end of my messy bed.
“Tsk, I know it. You shouldn’t have drink that much last night.” I can imagine her lecturing me, with her arms crossed. My eyes widen at the realization of what happened last night.
Our team celebrated our successful project by drinking ourselves (especially me) to oblivion.
“You can’t collect your memories of last night?” I bit my lips nervously.
“It’s a bit blurry after my third glass,” I say.
“After the third glass, there was a fourth glass, and so on,” explained SooHwa briefly. I am preparing myself for some embarrassing antics I might’ve done while I was drunk, “Then I walked you home.”
I let out the breath I'm holding in relief.
“Get ready, you only have 45 minutes to get to the office. Good luck,” and with that the connection's cut off. I glance at the alarm clock which is sitting on my night stand. Oh, .
“Han JiAe, this is definitely not the first time you’re late,” my boss, MinKyung's stern gaze is directed at me.
“I’m sorry,” I bow my head multiple times. Her expression changes and her face’s painted with a kind smile.
“But, since it’s your birthday yesterday, I’ll let you go. But be late one more time and you’ll have to stay later than usual for a week,” she says as she adds a threat behind her kind gesture.
My eyebrows furrow at her words. Especially, at the part where she said it was my birthday yesterday. Was it really? I bow to her once again before walking towards my cubicle which is across from SooHwa’s and sit down.
“What date is it today? Was it really my birthday yesterday?” I ask her quizzically. She stares at me for a few second. I think she’s trying to figure out whether I’ve gone mad or just plain forgetful.
"I think I might have to ban you from drinking too much. You can’t remember that your birthday's last night?”
Seriously? I must have lost my mind. Is it really?
I fish out my phone from my pocket, to check whether I’ve done anything out of the norm last night. I could have called someone and say something embarrassing. Knowing my uncontrollable drunk-self, I must’ve done at least one stupid thing.
1 new message.
My breath hitches when I see who it's from, Oh SeHun.
‘Happy Belated Birthday.’
I scroll my previous messages continuously, and is shocked to see what I find. I don’t know whether I must be pleased or humiliated. Pleased that I know I embarassed myself or humiliated because all my text messages are so embarassing. With a capital E.
“SooHwa,” I call, my face's as pale as sheet.
“What?” she reply, still typing her works. “Did I perhaps mention anything about being disappointed because I didn’t get any messages from SeHun wishing me a happy birthday?” I cringe at the thought.
“Did I forgot to mention it? Your eyes were b with tears because he didn’t send you any messages at all. You complained and whined the whole trip back to your apartment about how you despised him. I guess you were calling and texting him all the way last night.”
As if my head isn’t spinning enough from the hangover, my stomach begins to churned and I feel like vomitting my inside out. I can’t believe I did that. Can mother earth just open up and swallow me? Like, right now?
Remembering that the last time I saw SeHun was a month ago, and adding to the fact that he never starts a conversation first, I must’ve ticked him off yesterday. Ugh.
“Wait a minute,” SooHwa looks at me with horror. I force down a lump in my throat. What else did I do last night that I can’t remember?
"SeHun wouldn’t possibly break up with you for what happened yesterday, right?” she wonders to herself in shock, but I can still hear her. Okay, I’m the one who's freaked out right now.
“Eyy. It can’t be, he won’t.”
SooHwa dropped a pile of yellow-colored files on my desk, “Han JiAe, you need to bring this files to his department”
“Are you crazy? I’m not doing that, do you know how awkward that’ll be?” I balk.
“JiAe, this is about your relationship with SeHun!” she scolds me, and I can only sigh in defeat.
I press the button for the 23rd floor, where SeHun’s department is located. The door opens and I walk out. I try to take a deep breath to calm my racing heart. I walk straight to his office and knock thrice. When I hear his distinct voice, giving me permission to enter, I open the door to see him hidden behind piles of thick documents on his desk.
He looks up from his laptop and gives me a small acknowledging nod before going back to type something on his laptop. I put the files I’m holding tightly in my hands at a corner of his desk.
“Isn’t that SooHwa’s work?” he asks without looking away from his laptop screen. As usual, SeHun is thorough with his work.
“She asked me to take it to you because she’s busy with making a presentation,” I answer. “Oh, congratulations on your team for winning the deal for that advertisement,” he finally looks up and our eyes are locked with each other’s. I nod slightly, “Thanks.”
SeHun then looks at me for a while. “We can celebrate your birthday today. I’ll pick you up for dinner at 7,” he says before averting his gaze back to his massive pile of works. I nod, “Okay,” before walking out. A step away from the door, I turn my heels around and muttered, “Goodbye,” before finally heading out.
I bit my lips hard. SeHun's never open in front of me, and he barely ever tells me anything. That’s why our trip is always silent and uncomfortable because none of us breath a word.
“Yesterday,” I start with full of courage, “I apologize for the messages I sent, I must’ve disturb you.”
“It's okay, I should be the one apologizing for not celebrating your birthday with you on time,” he looks at me for a split second with a charming smile before returning his eyes to the road in front of him.
I still look at him in confusion for a few minutes, wondering what just happened.
“And today, I’d like to make it up to you.”
Just then, the car stops. We’ve parked in front of a very familiar looking restaurant. I can clearly remember coming to this restaurant when I was still sober and left with half of my soul missing.
He offers me his arm as I step out of the car, and we walk inside the restaurant. We pick a pretty secluded table and order our foods. Ten minutes later, the waitress delivers us our dishes. I bite my lips when I see five green familiar bottle along with their small glass.
“Oh SeHun, I’m sure you don’t want me to drink anytime soon after what I just did yesterday,” I say with my face covered in red blush from the embarrassment.
“Han JiAe won’t drink anymore alcohol because she sent cute texts to her boyfriend?” How dare he teases me.
“For your information, I didn’t know any better in my unconscious drunk state.”
“It's not that embarrassing when I thought of it as my girlfriend’s way of showing love,” he says with a devilish smirk. I hide my uncontrollably flushed face behind my open palms. I can only groan in response, as he chuckles at me.
He pours both of us one glass each and holds his glass up. I uncertainly hold mine up too and at that moment, I can see something blue written in my glass. As I look at him, he gulps down his soju in one shot and sends me a wink. There it is written in bold,
Happy Birthday, My Love <3
- Oh SeHun.
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