CHAPTER FOUR

The noraebang room was dimly lit, save for the single semi-defective strobe light hanging from the center of the ceiling as the only thing providing light for the area. There was a mini (almost collapsing) stage in front of the room, where an old TV screen (which looked like it’s about to break down any minute) was located. Large yet worn-out double sofas bordered the room, surrounding the equally worn-out table in the middle of it. The space itself was quite small for a group of fifteen people, but no one seemed to mind the lack of space. Oddly enough, despite looking like it was going through five disasters a month, everyone seemed to be delighted to be in that very ragged noraebang place.

The minute the group entered the room, they immediately settled down around the table, with big smiles on their faces, and scattered their bottles of beer and soju on it. Someone was happily shouting profanities while looking for a tambourine or something, reasoning out that every karaoke place requires the existence of at least two tambourines for their use. Someone else was dialing the room service for food, while inwardly wondering whether their pocket money would suffice for it. Some other else was trying to make the prehistoric TV screen to operate properly. And soon enough, the karaoke room echoed the loud voices and drunken laughter of fifteen tipsy workers.

Minwoo was having the time of his life –he was on stage, jamming to some pop song he could barely make out the lyrics of, and occasionally showing off some random dance moves to make up for the missing words. Some of his co-workers were cheering him on, while some were trying their best to snatch the microphone out of his hand. Junjin was busy serving and pouring his other co-workers some drinks, while talking about the most random conversational topics he could think of.

All of them were obviously having fun – all, except for one man.

While everyone was busy making each other helplessly wasted, Eric on the other hand, was busy thinking whether he had done any heinous crime in his past life to deserve to be in such situation. He had better things to do aside from thinking of ways to successfully render himself unconscious to avoid any form of contact with his quote-and-quote soulmate on a Friday night.

This is pure torture. Eric thought. I’d rather spend some quality time with my pet dog Gomdori than go karaoke with him.

He was sitting rather rigidly in the farthest corner of the room, with hands tightly clutching his knees, while reciting some weird mantra in his head. It’s going to be over soon, Eric. It’s going to be over soon. He was desperate to get out of that damned room, but he couldn’t think of any way to do so without gathering any attention.

Being somehow locked up in the same room with his wrongfully assigned soulmate was making him lose his mind. He could hardly act normal in their very spacious office, how can anyone expect him to survive in that very cramped karaoke room?

~~~

“Why do I have to be there?!” Eric agitatedly responded to Minwoo’s sudden announcement of the impromptu welcoming party for Hyesung.

Eric’s tense tone was so painfully obvious that as soon as his words left his mouth, every single one of his co-workers, including Hyesung, eyed him very weirdly. Hyesung looked almost offended.

Minwoo swiftly noticed everyone else’s unpleased expression and quickly whipped his head to send Eric a death glare. He paced immediately towards him, and despite the height difference, Minwoo struggled to put an arm around Eric’s shoulder. He dragged Eric down to his level any how, and whispered directly to his ear:

“Listen. If I have to punch the living daylights out of you just to drag you to that damn karaoke place, I would. Do not dare me, Eric.”

~~~

And thanks to his very hospitable threat of an invitation, Minwoo had managed to drag Eric to one of the cheapest karaoke establishments in town in a blink of an eye.

Damn you, Lee Minwoo, if you only knew what I’m going through. Eric thought while silently gritting his teeth. If I get a right now, it’s your entire fault.

Unmoving in his seat, Eric was still busy looking daggers at his best friend, when he suddenly felt someone sit beside him, making the worn out sofa squeak a bit due to the additional weight.

He turned his head to acknowledge the presence of whomever that was who decided to break his solitude. But as soon as his eyes landed on the face, Eric immediately wished he could just evaporate right there and now.

Oh no, not you. He felt like crying.

“Hey.” The person he never wanted to have any interaction with greeted him cheerfully while holding two bottles of beer, one in each hand.

“H-hey…” Eric could only echo in response, while cold sweat slowing form on his temples.

Oh god, take me now.

“I hope you don’t mind.” Hyesung spoke while offering Eric a bottle. “There aren’t any vacant seats left.”

Eric accepted the alcohol with shaky hands before answering, “Oh no, it’s okay. Thank you for this.” He lied.

I actually mind, so sit far, far away from me!

“You’re welcome.” Hyesung drank his own beer before smiling. And Eric wanted nothing more but to punch that smile off of his face. This rude bastard, I’m having a mental breakdown here, and yet he had the audacity to smile?!

Eric replied a crooked smile back, but decided to stay silent for the good of him. He had no intention of starting any conversation with the man beside him as he knew, talking to Hyesung would only make him say stupid things. He remembered wrecking his whole image to the said man days before; he wouldn’t risk doing it again.

He could only do a few quick glances at the red string floating in between them – and each time he’d see the string, he would spit a very vile curse in his mind.

Fck. Why?

He glanced at the string again.

Fck. Why aren’t you a girl?!

He glanced at it, yet again.

Fck. Why am I connected to you?!

Hyesung seemed to be oblivious to Eric’s continuous mental breakdowns, and this made Eric very frustrated.

He carefully eyed his seatmate – from Eric’s point of view, Hyesung seemed to be having fun by himself, just observing his other seriously drunken co-workers’ hilarious antics. Sometimes he’d clap like a seal if Junjin would come up with a funny joke or something, or if Minwoo would do some cool dance moves.

He hung his head low, “Ugh… why you…” Eric whispered to himself, depressed.

“I’m sorry, you said something?” Hyesung asked him, immediately turning his head towards Eric.

“Ah, n-no. Nothing.” Eric immediately shot back. He didn’t think Hyesung would hear him.

Hyesung decided to eye Eric still, making Eric immensely uncomfortable under his scrutiny. Eric thought it would go on forever until he speak again, but this time, Hyesung decided to break their awkward silence.

“You okay?” Hyesung asked out of the blue, but unexpectedly sounding genuinely concerned.

Surprised, Eric stuttered, “Y-yeah,” He cleared his throat. “I’m fine.”

“Hm… You don’t look fine to me though.” Hyesung answered back.

Of course I wouldn’t be fine, you . I’m connected to you.

“Really?” Eric played ignorant, “Then how do I look like to you, then?” He asked dryly before making a very awkward laugh to cover his sarcastic tone.

“I don’t know. Constipated?” Hyesung joked.

And Eric had to laugh.

Great, just great. He still hasn’t forgotten about that. He thought sarcastically. He had to summon all of his power to refrain his eyes from rolling miles.

My intestines are well, thank you for the concern, .

“Hahaha,” Eric laughed robotically, “I’m fine, I’m having tons of fun actually.” He said with a crooked smile while pumping his fist in the air so unnaturally.

Hyesung wasn’t convinced, though.

 “You don’t look you’re having fun.” He began. “For the most part, you look you’re going through hell right now when you’re just sitting.”

Wow! I’m so glad you noticed! Now, go away and let me die in peace.

“Oh, you’re mistaken! I’m really having fun,” Eric lied again before adding a very obvious fake laugh, “Hahahahahahaha!!”

Hyesung shrugged. He seemed to realize he was not getting anything from Eric, so he let him slide (for now). He took a gulp from his bottle before starting again.

“Hey can I ask you a question?”

Unsure of what Hyesung was about to ask, Eric nervously eyed their string again. He couldn’t know about the string, could he? He wouldn’t ask about something like that, would he?

After much consideration, Eric replied.

“Shoot,” though still a bit anxious.

There’s no harm in letting Hyesung ask anything, right?  He concluded in his head while taking a huge gulp of alcohol from his bottle.

“Why are you always looking at me during office hours?

Eric choked.

“E-excuse me?!” He was not expecting that. He was still busy trying to make his lungs function again when Hyesung started.

“There’s no use in lying. I always catch you staring at me.” Hyesung said in a low, sensual voice and slithered closer to Eric, “You did the same a few minutes ago.”

Eric’s eyes went wide at Hyesung’s response. Holy . His eyes even went wider when he felt Hyesung’s hand brushed his. Holy again!!

What on earth is he doing?!

His voice seemed to have abandoned him as he couldn’t form any words to save himself from that moment.

Oh my god what is happening?!

Hyesung continued to trail his hand upward, ignoring the goosebumps on Eric’s arm, “Why, Eric?” Hyesung asked sensually with a hint of vague playfulness in his tone, as he continued to stare straight at Eric, with a come-hither look.

Eric wanted to faint and die. Oh my god what is happening to him?!

Eric was clearly frozen – the only thing he could do was gawk at the red string which connected the both of them, while silently praying for his salvation.

This is not happening.

This could not be happening!

Hyesung slowly lifted his arm to reach Eric’s very pale cheeks to turn his head to look at him. He advanced his face dangerously close to Eric’s and whispered, “Are you attracted to me?”

WHAT.

THE.

.

Eric wanted to pulverize himself. He could feel Hyesung’s breath on his skin already, and this made his head spin triple fold. He wanted to shriek, but no voice came out. His jaw just dropped low, and his eyes went wider, if that was even possible.

He avoided Hyesung’s gaze again and landed his eyes on their string. And then he saw something he claimed was not possible in a million years.

He watched in horror as their string started to glow a vibrant shade of red.

No.

No.

No.

No.

This is not happening!

No!!

Hyesung s his hand around Eric’s neck and tilted his head a bit to the side. He advanced again, and stopped only a few centimeters away from Eric’s ear and repeated so sensually.

“Are you… attracted to me?”

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

“NO!!!” Eric screamed as his body violently jerked up awake. He quickly clutched his head as the terrible hangover from last night drinking started to set in.

What the was that dream?!

He was still panting heavily and sweating buckets as he realized he was all along dreaming such a horrible nightmare.

If he wasn’t so busy trying to stabilize his breathing, he’d right away go to the nearest church and conduct a prayer circle for his own well-being or something. I almost died in my own dream. He dreadfully thought.

Massaging his temples, he tried to calm himself by chanting, “It’s all a dream Eric. It’s all a dream.”

He immediately looked over his string and felt a wave of relief gushing him when he saw it was not glowing – perfectly dull and normal like how it’s supposed to be.

I’m still alive and still straight.

Thank god. Praise heavens, hallelujah.

Coming to his senses, he began to look around his surroundings. He was on the floor, still wearing his work clothes from the day before, and he was reeking of alcohol and the smell of sweat. He was not in his apartment, but thankfully the place looked kind of familiar, much to his relief.

It took him a few more seconds to realize that he was at Minwoo’s apartment.

Which was weird, because he rarely stayed over Minwoo’s.

He couldn’t remember anything that happened last night. All he remembered was him being forcefully dragged to that godforsaken karaoke place, and everything else was a blur in his mind.

“What am I doing here?” he asked in a weak tone while still surveying his surroundings with squinted eyes.

“You’re polluting the air I’m breathing,” a familiar voice shot in reply.

Eric immediately looked up and tried to find the location of the voice, though with much difficulty. Soon he spotted Minwoo, standing not a meter’s distance away from him, while seemingly trying to burn holes on his head.

“Minwoo-yah… What happened?” Eric asked groggily.

“You tell me what happened.”

“I can’t remember… did I pass out?”

“Did yo​u pass out?” Minwoo scoffed while taking a few steps towards Eric. “You we’re knocked out unconscious by Shiyeon!”

Shiyeon?

Oh yeah, right. Eric started to remember how Shiyeon basically invited herself to come to Hyesung’s impromptu welcoming party even though she was not part of their department.

But still everything was a complete blur for him.

“Did she hit me?” Eric asked confused, still massaging his temples.

“Yeah, and believe me when I say I am trying really hard right now not to kick you in the face too.”

Huh? Why was Minwoo acting so hostile in the morning?

“What? Why? What did I do?” Eric started to panic. Hostile Minwoo was never a good sign.

“You really can’t remember anything that you did last night?!”

“If I did, then I wouldn’t be asking you!” Eric retorted back. He was getting impatient. He wanted to know what he did to end up being ‘knocked out’ by Shiyeon and in Minwoo’s apartment,

“Then tell me first, what’s your issue with Hyesung?!”

Eric broke into an eerily familiar cold sweat as he stared blankly at Minwoo. What on earth did I do?

Hi! I'm so sorry for updating so slowly, though I'm already trying my best to quickly update this fic. OTL Uni life is just stressing me out, haha.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! I'll reveal what Eric did in the next chapter (and hopefully, there'll be real ricsyung interactions there).

And I'm sorry if this fic is going a bit slow for your taste, (is it going slow?) Please leave your comments, reactions or anything down below~

I live for your comments <3 Til the next chapter~ Thank you for reading!

EDIT: I just realized this chapter seem kinda lacking... *sigh* I kept thinking whether people would still comment on my fics if it isn't as funny as it first started, but I realized I shouldn't sacrifice plot for unnecessary comedy. OTL I promise I'll do better next time.

Also, thank you for all your comments! It motivates me so much and also pressures me to do better as well. This chapter was not as funny as the first three, but I still hope it doesn't disappoint anyone. OTL