The Truth that Comes Out Alongside the Alcohol.
I've already taken three shots of vodka, two shots of tequila, and a shot of the green stuff, which turns out to be Absinthe, though Taeyeon, in her drunken daze, told me that it was Tinker Bell's fairy dust, and a shot would make me fly. Well, I am sure as hell not flying anywhere right now. Maybe it's because of the fact that I really can't remember what happened that night. Or maybe it's because of Yoona.
Her weight (in my heart, I'm not sure if I should say that she's heavy as well) is pinning me to the ground, perhaps? And almost everyone's eyes are locked at my lips, intrigued by the recent revelation that Yoona and I are fooling around. What shocked my office mates is the fact that they know my feelings for Seohyun, that lovely witch, or bitch, or ho. Ho? I think it's supposed to be spelt as h-o-e. Wait, h-o. Haha, spelling ho or hoe is fun. All of a sudden, Hongki-hyung slapped me hard. I screeched in pain.
"YAH! What was that for?!" I shouted, wasting a shot of vodka on hyung's face. They really don't buy the reason that I don't remember shit about what happened between me, Seohyun and Yoona. If it was an ordinary day, he would've killed me. Not because I splashed alcohol at his face, but because I wasted precious alcohol. But he laughed it off. The rest of the people laughed it off. Even Seohyun laughed. After all, it's the very first time that they witnessed me out of my controlled character. It's one of those rare times when I let my guard down, when the quiet Yonghwa becomes wild.
Hongki-hyung wiped the vodka off his face, smiled, and sat beside Tiffany, who immediately started groping him. "I slapped you because you're already smiling like a big idiot," he said nonchalantly. He spoke like there's no one touching him all over. Man, they're drunk, but they can handle it well. Compared to me -- HAHAHA, and Minhyuk just barfed at Sunny's lap. There goes Minhyuk's chances tonight. I was busy smiling goofily until Yoona pinched me in the cheek. I suddenly thought of a fun idea. If you can't beat them, join them.
I looked at her affectionately. "Deh, yeobo?" I asked.
Everyone screamed. Yoona kept on blushing. Hongki-hyung slapped my face again, and then patted my shoulder, congratulating me. Jungshin, Jonghyun, Jinwoon, Leeteuk-hyung and Seulong-hyung approached me and slapped me at the back, one at a time. The girls did their squealing again. Yoona just kissed me in the cheek. And it so happens that I was looking at their direction when she kissed my cheek. Kyuhyun gave a smirk, and her eyes widened a little before she was able to act the cold bitch again.
Hah. What a joke. Why are you reacting that way, best friend? I doubt you're jealous or something.
Jealous?
Oh. I now remember what happened.
I looked around. It seems like everyone noticed how I changed expressions. Yoona suddenly looked blank. Seohyun was smiling a victorious smile. All I managed to do was let out a snarl, which scared everyone, even Seohyun and Kyuhyun. The floating sensation that Absinthe gave me earlier immediately disappeared. Everything suddenly was clear for me.
I looked at Misun-ssi and I saw her surprised expression. I smirked.
"You wanted the truth, right?" I asked. She managed to nod. Everyone was tensing up, and even Kyuhyun was uncertain with what to do. God, I'm enjoying this. I might pull this crazy bad guy act a lot more often.
"Then let me start from the beginning, when Seohyun came to my home one night..."
***
It's fucking 11 in the evening, I was already asleep as Misun-ssi will demand a lot from me again tomorrow, and someone won't stop on banging my door. The security already called for me to answer my door, as the other people in the complex are starting to complain to the commotion that was being caused by my rude guest. I reached the door and the person is still knocking at my door. I opened my door and greeted my guest with a shout.
"It's fucking late already, and you're bothering everyone in the building! Please bother me tomorrow!"
I slammed the door in front of the person's face. I was about to sleep again when I heard sobs. And it was from my best friend. I immediately opened the door, and there she was. My goddess. My goddess was tearing up. She was crying her heart out in front of my unit, holding a plastic bag that is filled with soju bottles, and my neighbors were already starting to show their heads.
"YAH! My children can't sleep, Yonghwa-ssi! Better tell your girlfriend to shut up now!"
"Hyung, it's bad to make a girl cry,"
"Eorreri Gorreri~!"
"She's beautiful, Yonghwa-yah!"
"How dare you make a lady cry!"
I was sleepy, and I was fucking irritated. But whatever my friend wants, I'll know that she'll tell me after I offer her a cup of coffee.
She was wearing a white and blue one-piece skirt. Of all colors, why blue? Why my favorite color, Hyunnie?
Eventually, she saw me looking at her dress, particularly at her skirt. She smiled. "Yo~ong, I know you love my legs, but please..." she teased.
I smirked. I was in no mood to play along, since she disturbed my dreaming of me making out with her, but whatever. I'll play along. I looked at her still-damp eyes, and told her, "No Seohyun, I'm not looking at your legs. I mean, they're too big." She pouted in protest. I let out a huge laugh.
"Ah, shincha, Seohyun, I'm only joking. No, I'm not looking at your legs. I'm looking at the color of your skirt. I think it suits you."
Her eyes smiled, she made a spin, and I swear by my dog's grave, she was sparkling. I looked around, and the halmeoni at the end of the hallway was already carrying a broom. I smiled and bowed in apology, turned to Seohyun and asked her to let her in before the usually-kind halmeoni kills us with her broom-bashing.
As soon as we get in, I took the plastic bag from her, placed it on the coffee table. I let her sit on my yellow couch, the only thing that is not white in my home besides my three precious statues of the three brothers: Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Liu Bei. I prepared two cups of instant coffee. I prepared mine because I have a feeling that we are going to talk about him again, and I need the caffeine to keep myself from dying due to jealousy and exhaustion. But it's mostly jealousy.
I gave her a cup, and she took a sip. She smiled.
"Yonghwa, you have a job that pays you good money," she told me.
"And what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, feigning ignorance to another topic that she likes nagging me about.
"It means that you can afford the luxury known to man as hand-dripped coffee!" she excitedly told me. Aaaaaand yes, she's tipsy.
I chuckled. "The only reason I have coffee is because you come here to visit me often. I don't even drink coffee."
"But you drink Mocha frappucino from Starbucks!"
"That's not coffee."
"It is!"
"It isn't."
"It fucking is!"
"Whatever you say."
I shook my head, and sat beside her. "Now, what's wrong?" I asked her in a monotonous tone.
"She bawled. "Kyuhyun-oppa's cheating on me!"
"Again?"
"But we were supposed to marry each other!"
"If I remember correctly, the alibi he told you the last time was because the woman you caught him cheating with made him smell chloroform, right?"
"De."
"So what did he tell you this time?"
"He said he was mercy-fucking."
I laughed out loud. Mercy-fucking?
She gave me a stinging look. My laughter immediately died down.
I looked her in the eyes. "But you still love him, huh?"
Her eyes were looking through me. How could a person as tainted as her have such clear eyes?
"De, I still do."
"And you still don't love me."
Her eyes dashed downwards. Ever since that day at the park, we were in this zone. It isn't the friendzone because she says so. No matter how much I wish that we could just cut off everything, I can't. I love her. And the fact that I don't want to find another job is proof of my feelings for this insensitive, tasteless animal of a woman.
She soon looked up. She must have regained her composure now. She smiled, slapped my back and told me that we should drink.
I really hate talking to her when she's tipsy. She's melodramatic, loud, then she will invite me to drink. That's the reason she brought so much soju. As she takes the bottles out, she throws away the bottles that were already emptied by her magnificent drinking. One of the bottles almost hit my precious Guan Yu statue. She doesn't act like the Seohyun I fell in love with at all.
"Yah! I can understand that you want to drink, but please do not harm Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei. They're authentic sculptures from China! Do you even know how much money I spent buying those three and paying for shipping?" I scolded her.
She scoffed at my announcement. "You mean the three brothers from Shu? You just like them because of Dynasty Warriors!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Every time she visits, she makes a pass at my statues. She just couldn't understand that I am genuinely interested in Chinese history. In fact, if I hadn't met her back in college, I would've gone straight to China after graduation. I haven't even played the game she's talking about!
She laughed. "Ah, whatever! I'm going to invite someone to this place, Yonghwa."
I soon began massaging my temples. I do not want to commit a facepalm, but this woman's asking for it. I asked her blankly, "Why?"
"Have you heard of the phrase 'the more, the manier'?"
"Seohyun, for the thousandth time, it's 'the more, the merrier.'"
"Potato Tomato Schomato."
"How did you even get through elementary school?"
"I winked at all of my teachers."
"Really now?"
We shared a laugh. She maybe tipsy, but she's Seohyun, after all. I give up. I'm at her command. I am curious as to who is she going to invite here anyway.
"Who are you going to drag here?"
"Yoona-ah."
I froze.
If Seohyun is the devil's spawn, then Yoona is an angel sent to earth to propagate peace, kindness and beauty. She speaks softly. Her giggles are as soft as the clouds. Basically everything she does can be associated with something fluffy. I wondered if she would even consider going to drink with me and Hyun, with so many soju bottles to empty. I got the shock of my life when within 45 minutes she showed up at my doorstep, wearing a blue cardigan over a floral dress. She was panting, as if she was running hard. I didn't know how I should react.
"A...anneyonghaseyo, Yoona-ssi," I greeted her, uncertainty and concern obvious in my voice.
She looked up, and gave me a sweet smile. "Ah, anneyonghaseyo, Yonghwa-ssi," she replied.
Seohyun stood up from the couch, approached Yoona, took her by the hand, and nonchalantly dragged her inside the house.
"Yah, Seo Joohyun! At least let her wear slippers!" I shouted after them as I threw a pair of slippers towards them. One accidentally hit Yoona on the head.
"Ah," she gently reacted. My mouth went open. Soehyun gave me a glare.
"Yah, Jung Yonghwa! Be careful with Yoona! She's a fragile girl, after all!" she scolded me.
"Aniyo, it's okay..." Yoona tried consoling her in my defense.
"No! He's too much sometimes," Seohyun insisted.
I sighed and closed the door, as this drinking session will take us hours.
2 hours, 35 minutes and 15 bottles of soju later...
I can't feel my head.
Seohyun's laughing her ass off, her head on Yoona's lap.
And Yoona keeps on looking at me. I've caught her a couple of times.
I've heard from Jonghyun (and practically everyone else) that Yoona is interested in me. He has told me that she asks him about me a lot, since he was my best friend in the office. I paid it no heed, as I felt that it was only a matter of time before she either gets hooked to Kyuhyun-hyung, or get involved in the complicated web that Jonghyun has gotten himself into. It was also as clear as day to everyone in the office that I still have the hots for Seohyun. So I didn't know why she was looking at me that way. I thought that it must be because of the soju.
Her disturbing stares aside, Yoona is a pretty great person to be with. She doesn't look like it, but boy can she drink. She can ride the flow of the conversation, and can add thoughtful input that makes the conversation more fun. She's fun, but she still has the feminine charm that made countless men from other offices fall for her.
Soon, we were in the topic of relationships. Seohyun opened the discussion.
"Let's play a game!" she drowsily said as she tried standing up. Drunk as she was, her legs buckled, and she fell on me. Usually, I'd feel shy, but I laughed it off.
"Ya drunk woman! Geroff me!" I said, pushing her off me. Again, I wouldn't usually do that.
Yoona laughed, and made me lay down on her lap. I was enjoying Yoona's warm lap. I thought about making uri Seohyunnie jealous. I called her.
"Yah! You woman with the blue skirt!"
Seohyun, still laying on her belly, flipped. She saw me on Yoona's lap. She gave a surprised expression, before giving me a wide smile. Her eyes weren't smiling, though.
"Eooooreriiii, burp, gorreriiiiiiii~" she teased.
I laughed, and looked at Yoona. She was looking at me tenderly. She can really hold her liquor.
"Alright!" Seohyun said, breaking me and Yoona's eye contact. We both looked at her.
"What are we going to play?" Yoona asked. I was also curious as to what were we going to play.
"It's simple," she said in a bossy manner. "We'll kiss the person we like."
There were about 20 seconds of awkward silence. What she said was hard to process.
"EH?!" was the only thing that came out of my and Yoona's mouth.
"Yes, yes," Seohyun victoriously said. "Now you two! Stand!"
We immediately stood up. I remember that one time when she smashed a bottle of soju on Leeteuk-hyung's head because he didn't want to massage her legs, which she commanded with that voice. I really don't want my Liu Bei statue to be destroyed.
We stood across one another. It was obvious to the three of us who is going to kiss who. But it didn't matter. Once Seohyun wants something, she'll get it.
"Alright, Yoona-ah's first."
Yoona looked at me. My eyes widened. My throat dried. With baby steps, she approached me. I wasn't able to move away when she touched my face. It was warm. It was the warmth from an angel that I never got from my devil of a goddess. She stood on her toes, and before she kissed me, she asked:
"You like The Three Kingdoms?"
"Very much."
"Then will you be my Sun Ce, and I'll be your Da Qiao?"
I lost it.
The moment Yoona's lips touched mine, it was magic. It felt so good, like it was meant to be. I never thought that a kiss would feel so good. It never even felt that way when I kissed her. My thirst for affection got the better of my love for her. Someone actually likes me. I kissed her with all my might, and she was submissive. She was answering with pecks of her own. I grabbed her waist, and she grabbed my hair. In between breaths, she moaned "Yong."
I woke up. Only one person has called me that. I cannot bear the thought that someone else besides her would use that. I pushed her away from me. She was confused, but hugged me nevertheless. I looked at her. And it was a sight.
My goddess was crying. Again. And this time, I'm the cause of it.
"Yoona'ah," I spoke to Yoona while still looking at her. She flinched when I said Yoona-ah.
"Hmm?" she answered.
"Sit on the couch first. I'll get back to you later. I need to sort things out."
She understood, and sweet Yoona sat quietly on the couch.
I dragged her to the bathroom. My grip on her was so tight that when I let go, her wrist was swelling.
I faced her. There was this tense air that surrounds us.
I spoke first.
"So you love me."
"No, I don't."
"Then why did you cry?"
"Because there was dust in my eye."
"Choding! I make sure that my house is squeaky clean!"
"But there is dust! Pabo! You still open the door, so dust still comes in!"
"Just admit that you love me!"
"No! I don't love you!"
"Why? Why can't you admit it?!"
"Because I love Kyuhyun-oppa!"
"But I-"
I stopped myself.
This was what happened almost a year ago. I laughed. She looked at me, puzzled. Tears soon crept down my face.
"Seohyun," I started.
She kept on looking at me. Her already damp eyes are welling up again.
"I love you so much. So much that it's already killing me inside."
Her tears fell.
"Miahne, Yong" was all she managed to say.
We cried our hearts out. We knew that Yoona could hear us, but it didn't matter to me.
I approached her, wiped her tears, and held her face.
"It's my turn now, right?" I asked her. She nodded.
I kissed her gently and tenderly. As I know that this is going to be the last time that I would ever kiss her, I tried transmitting every feeling I've had for her, in hopes that it would be all gone once we finished. I embraced her by her hips, she wrapped her arms around my neck. I lifted her to my sink, and her hands went all over my body. It was all good until her phone rang. We disentangled ourselves, and fixed our looks. She got a text message from Kyuhyun.
"Booty call?" I asked, not looking at her.
"De," she answered. I can feel her stare. But it's all over now. I can't love anymore.
"Then go."
"What about-"
"Yoona likes me."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"She'll be here with me until morning."
She let out a bitter laugh.
"Suit yourself."
With that, she left the bathroom. I heard her bidding goodbye to Yoona, and I heard the door close shut.
I stripped, and took a shower. I tried to cleanse myself from her. But I can't. It won't wash off. I don't want it to wash off.
"We're very similar, Seohyun," I sadly said.
Suddenly, the bathroom door opened. I knew it was her.
"Yoona-ah?" I called out.
"De." she replied.
I hesitated for a minute.
"Want to join me?"
The shower curtain opened. And there she was: Yoona, buck naked.
I never thought that I would see the female body as beautiful, as a work of art.
She smiled, and jumped in the shower.
***
"Oh! That's nice! What happened next?" Leeteuk-hyung asked.
"Do you really have to ask the elephant in the room?" Seulong-hyung answered back.
Everyone laughed.
Misun-ssi was happy with what she uncovered.
"So, Yonghwa-yah, are you happy with what happened?"
Everyone's eyes turned to me. I smiled. Tears started falling down my face. Everyone was surprised. Even Misun-ssi made a face that I did not imagine she was able to make: pity. I looked at Seohyun. She was looking on the ground. I looked at Kyuhyun-hyung. He was looking straight at me. I looked at Yoona. Poor, innocent Yoona. It's too bad she fell in love with me. Such a bad experience for a first love. I kissed her forehead, looked at Misun-ssi, and said:
"Yes, I'm perfectly happy."
I took one last shot of Absinthe, then stood up. They asked me where I was going. I told them that I was only going to take a piss. They tried helping me, but I didn't want to get any help. They left me by myself and I left the room.
The pain was too much. Good thing the alcohol was there. Good thing it was there. Good thing it was there. It wasn't a good thing that she was there.
I lost my footing and I fainted.
A/N: WOOOOOOOOOOO! NOW THAT WAS A LONG ONE.
Hahaha. I didn't want to add any more chaps to this one. I really wanted to stick to five chaps, so yeah. It's almost done! I'll get the last one posted by the 29th. :P And yes, I'm digging the characters I've created here. I feel that the three lead characters (Yonghwa, Seohyun and Yoona) are pretty much round. They have strong points and weaknesses. Yeah, this was a fun one. And two songs helped a lot in the creation of this chap:
The XX is a group that I've only heard about tonight. Urbandub, on the other hand, is one of my two favorite acts in the Philippine music scene. The other one is Up dharma Down. Yeah. HAHAHA, I'm sleepy, good night.
Her weight (in my heart, I'm not sure if I should say that she's heavy as well) is pinning me to the ground, perhaps? And almost everyone's eyes are locked at my lips, intrigued by the recent revelation that Yoona and I are fooling around. What shocked my office mates is the fact that they know my feelings for Seohyun, that lovely witch, or bitch, or ho. Ho? I think it's supposed to be spelt as h-o-e. Wait, h-o. Haha, spelling ho or hoe is fun. All of a sudden, Hongki-hyung slapped me hard. I screeched in pain.
"YAH! What was that for?!" I shouted, wasting a shot of vodka on hyung's face. They really don't buy the reason that I don't remember shit about what happened between me, Seohyun and Yoona. If it was an ordinary day, he would've killed me. Not because I splashed alcohol at his face, but because I wasted precious alcohol. But he laughed it off. The rest of the people laughed it off. Even Seohyun laughed. After all, it's the very first time that they witnessed me out of my controlled character. It's one of those rare times when I let my guard down, when the quiet Yonghwa becomes wild.
Hongki-hyung wiped the vodka off his face, smiled, and sat beside Tiffany, who immediately started groping him. "I slapped you because you're already smiling like a big idiot," he said nonchalantly. He spoke like there's no one touching him all over. Man, they're drunk, but they can handle it well. Compared to me -- HAHAHA, and Minhyuk just barfed at Sunny's lap. There goes Minhyuk's chances tonight. I was busy smiling goofily until Yoona pinched me in the cheek. I suddenly thought of a fun idea. If you can't beat them, join them.
I looked at her affectionately. "Deh, yeobo?" I asked.
Everyone screamed. Yoona kept on blushing. Hongki-hyung slapped my face again, and then patted my shoulder, congratulating me. Jungshin, Jonghyun, Jinwoon, Leeteuk-hyung and Seulong-hyung approached me and slapped me at the back, one at a time. The girls did their squealing again. Yoona just kissed me in the cheek. And it so happens that I was looking at their direction when she kissed my cheek. Kyuhyun gave a smirk, and her eyes widened a little before she was able to act the cold bitch again.
Hah. What a joke. Why are you reacting that way, best friend? I doubt you're jealous or something.
Jealous?
Oh. I now remember what happened.
I looked around. It seems like everyone noticed how I changed expressions. Yoona suddenly looked blank. Seohyun was smiling a victorious smile. All I managed to do was let out a snarl, which scared everyone, even Seohyun and Kyuhyun. The floating sensation that Absinthe gave me earlier immediately disappeared. Everything suddenly was clear for me.
I looked at Misun-ssi and I saw her surprised expression. I smirked.
"You wanted the truth, right?" I asked. She managed to nod. Everyone was tensing up, and even Kyuhyun was uncertain with what to do. God, I'm enjoying this. I might pull this crazy bad guy act a lot more often.
"Then let me start from the beginning, when Seohyun came to my home one night..."
***
It's fucking 11 in the evening, I was already asleep as Misun-ssi will demand a lot from me again tomorrow, and someone won't stop on banging my door. The security already called for me to answer my door, as the other people in the complex are starting to complain to the commotion that was being caused by my rude guest. I reached the door and the person is still knocking at my door. I opened my door and greeted my guest with a shout.
"It's fucking late already, and you're bothering everyone in the building! Please bother me tomorrow!"
I slammed the door in front of the person's face. I was about to sleep again when I heard sobs. And it was from my best friend. I immediately opened the door, and there she was. My goddess. My goddess was tearing up. She was crying her heart out in front of my unit, holding a plastic bag that is filled with soju bottles, and my neighbors were already starting to show their heads.
"YAH! My children can't sleep, Yonghwa-ssi! Better tell your girlfriend to shut up now!"
"Hyung, it's bad to make a girl cry,"
"Eorreri Gorreri~!"
"She's beautiful, Yonghwa-yah!"
"How dare you make a lady cry!"
I was sleepy, and I was fucking irritated. But whatever my friend wants, I'll know that she'll tell me after I offer her a cup of coffee.
She was wearing a white and blue one-piece skirt. Of all colors, why blue? Why my favorite color, Hyunnie?
Eventually, she saw me looking at her dress, particularly at her skirt. She smiled. "Yo~ong, I know you love my legs, but please..." she teased.
I smirked. I was in no mood to play along, since she disturbed my dreaming of me making out with her, but whatever. I'll play along. I looked at her still-damp eyes, and told her, "No Seohyun, I'm not looking at your legs. I mean, they're too big." She pouted in protest. I let out a huge laugh.
"Ah, shincha, Seohyun, I'm only joking. No, I'm not looking at your legs. I'm looking at the color of your skirt. I think it suits you."
Her eyes smiled, she made a spin, and I swear by my dog's grave, she was sparkling. I looked around, and the halmeoni at the end of the hallway was already carrying a broom. I smiled and bowed in apology, turned to Seohyun and asked her to let her in before the usually-kind halmeoni kills us with her broom-bashing.
As soon as we get in, I took the plastic bag from her, placed it on the coffee table. I let her sit on my yellow couch, the only thing that is not white in my home besides my three precious statues of the three brothers: Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Liu Bei. I prepared two cups of instant coffee. I prepared mine because I have a feeling that we are going to talk about him again, and I need the caffeine to keep myself from dying due to jealousy and exhaustion. But it's mostly jealousy.
I gave her a cup, and she took a sip. She smiled.
"Yonghwa, you have a job that pays you good money," she told me.
"And what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, feigning ignorance to another topic that she likes nagging me about.
"It means that you can afford the luxury known to man as hand-dripped coffee!" she excitedly told me. Aaaaaand yes, she's tipsy.
I chuckled. "The only reason I have coffee is because you come here to visit me often. I don't even drink coffee."
"But you drink Mocha frappucino from Starbucks!"
"That's not coffee."
"It is!"
"It isn't."
"It fucking is!"
"Whatever you say."
I shook my head, and sat beside her. "Now, what's wrong?" I asked her in a monotonous tone.
"She bawled. "Kyuhyun-oppa's cheating on me!"
"Again?"
"But we were supposed to marry each other!"
"If I remember correctly, the alibi he told you the last time was because the woman you caught him cheating with made him smell chloroform, right?"
"De."
"So what did he tell you this time?"
"He said he was mercy-fucking."
I laughed out loud. Mercy-fucking?
She gave me a stinging look. My laughter immediately died down.
I looked her in the eyes. "But you still love him, huh?"
Her eyes were looking through me. How could a person as tainted as her have such clear eyes?
"De, I still do."
"And you still don't love me."
Her eyes dashed downwards. Ever since that day at the park, we were in this zone. It isn't the friendzone because she says so. No matter how much I wish that we could just cut off everything, I can't. I love her. And the fact that I don't want to find another job is proof of my feelings for this insensitive, tasteless animal of a woman.
She soon looked up. She must have regained her composure now. She smiled, slapped my back and told me that we should drink.
I really hate talking to her when she's tipsy. She's melodramatic, loud, then she will invite me to drink. That's the reason she brought so much soju. As she takes the bottles out, she throws away the bottles that were already emptied by her magnificent drinking. One of the bottles almost hit my precious Guan Yu statue. She doesn't act like the Seohyun I fell in love with at all.
"Yah! I can understand that you want to drink, but please do not harm Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei. They're authentic sculptures from China! Do you even know how much money I spent buying those three and paying for shipping?" I scolded her.
She scoffed at my announcement. "You mean the three brothers from Shu? You just like them because of Dynasty Warriors!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Every time she visits, she makes a pass at my statues. She just couldn't understand that I am genuinely interested in Chinese history. In fact, if I hadn't met her back in college, I would've gone straight to China after graduation. I haven't even played the game she's talking about!
She laughed. "Ah, whatever! I'm going to invite someone to this place, Yonghwa."
I soon began massaging my temples. I do not want to commit a facepalm, but this woman's asking for it. I asked her blankly, "Why?"
"Have you heard of the phrase 'the more, the manier'?"
"Seohyun, for the thousandth time, it's 'the more, the merrier.'"
"Potato Tomato Schomato."
"How did you even get through elementary school?"
"I winked at all of my teachers."
"Really now?"
We shared a laugh. She maybe tipsy, but she's Seohyun, after all. I give up. I'm at her command. I am curious as to who is she going to invite here anyway.
"Who are you going to drag here?"
"Yoona-ah."
I froze.
If Seohyun is the devil's spawn, then Yoona is an angel sent to earth to propagate peace, kindness and beauty. She speaks softly. Her giggles are as soft as the clouds. Basically everything she does can be associated with something fluffy. I wondered if she would even consider going to drink with me and Hyun, with so many soju bottles to empty. I got the shock of my life when within 45 minutes she showed up at my doorstep, wearing a blue cardigan over a floral dress. She was panting, as if she was running hard. I didn't know how I should react.
"A...anneyonghaseyo, Yoona-ssi," I greeted her, uncertainty and concern obvious in my voice.
She looked up, and gave me a sweet smile. "Ah, anneyonghaseyo, Yonghwa-ssi," she replied.
Seohyun stood up from the couch, approached Yoona, took her by the hand, and nonchalantly dragged her inside the house.
"Yah, Seo Joohyun! At least let her wear slippers!" I shouted after them as I threw a pair of slippers towards them. One accidentally hit Yoona on the head.
"Ah," she gently reacted. My mouth went open. Soehyun gave me a glare.
"Yah, Jung Yonghwa! Be careful with Yoona! She's a fragile girl, after all!" she scolded me.
"Aniyo, it's okay..." Yoona tried consoling her in my defense.
"No! He's too much sometimes," Seohyun insisted.
I sighed and closed the door, as this drinking session will take us hours.
2 hours, 35 minutes and 15 bottles of soju later...
I can't feel my head.
Seohyun's laughing her ass off, her head on Yoona's lap.
And Yoona keeps on looking at me. I've caught her a couple of times.
I've heard from Jonghyun (and practically everyone else) that Yoona is interested in me. He has told me that she asks him about me a lot, since he was my best friend in the office. I paid it no heed, as I felt that it was only a matter of time before she either gets hooked to Kyuhyun-hyung, or get involved in the complicated web that Jonghyun has gotten himself into. It was also as clear as day to everyone in the office that I still have the hots for Seohyun. So I didn't know why she was looking at me that way. I thought that it must be because of the soju.
Her disturbing stares aside, Yoona is a pretty great person to be with. She doesn't look like it, but boy can she drink. She can ride the flow of the conversation, and can add thoughtful input that makes the conversation more fun. She's fun, but she still has the feminine charm that made countless men from other offices fall for her.
Soon, we were in the topic of relationships. Seohyun opened the discussion.
"Let's play a game!" she drowsily said as she tried standing up. Drunk as she was, her legs buckled, and she fell on me. Usually, I'd feel shy, but I laughed it off.
"Ya drunk woman! Geroff me!" I said, pushing her off me. Again, I wouldn't usually do that.
Yoona laughed, and made me lay down on her lap. I was enjoying Yoona's warm lap. I thought about making uri Seohyunnie jealous. I called her.
"Yah! You woman with the blue skirt!"
Seohyun, still laying on her belly, flipped. She saw me on Yoona's lap. She gave a surprised expression, before giving me a wide smile. Her eyes weren't smiling, though.
"Eooooreriiii, burp, gorreriiiiiiii~" she teased.
I laughed, and looked at Yoona. She was looking at me tenderly. She can really hold her liquor.
"Alright!" Seohyun said, breaking me and Yoona's eye contact. We both looked at her.
"What are we going to play?" Yoona asked. I was also curious as to what were we going to play.
"It's simple," she said in a bossy manner. "We'll kiss the person we like."
There were about 20 seconds of awkward silence. What she said was hard to process.
"EH?!" was the only thing that came out of my and Yoona's mouth.
"Yes, yes," Seohyun victoriously said. "Now you two! Stand!"
We immediately stood up. I remember that one time when she smashed a bottle of soju on Leeteuk-hyung's head because he didn't want to massage her legs, which she commanded with that voice. I really don't want my Liu Bei statue to be destroyed.
We stood across one another. It was obvious to the three of us who is going to kiss who. But it didn't matter. Once Seohyun wants something, she'll get it.
"Alright, Yoona-ah's first."
Yoona looked at me. My eyes widened. My throat dried. With baby steps, she approached me. I wasn't able to move away when she touched my face. It was warm. It was the warmth from an angel that I never got from my devil of a goddess. She stood on her toes, and before she kissed me, she asked:
"You like The Three Kingdoms?"
"Very much."
"Then will you be my Sun Ce, and I'll be your Da Qiao?"
I lost it.
The moment Yoona's lips touched mine, it was magic. It felt so good, like it was meant to be. I never thought that a kiss would feel so good. It never even felt that way when I kissed her. My thirst for affection got the better of my love for her. Someone actually likes me. I kissed her with all my might, and she was submissive. She was answering with pecks of her own. I grabbed her waist, and she grabbed my hair. In between breaths, she moaned "Yong."
I woke up. Only one person has called me that. I cannot bear the thought that someone else besides her would use that. I pushed her away from me. She was confused, but hugged me nevertheless. I looked at her. And it was a sight.
My goddess was crying. Again. And this time, I'm the cause of it.
"Yoona'ah," I spoke to Yoona while still looking at her. She flinched when I said Yoona-ah.
"Hmm?" she answered.
"Sit on the couch first. I'll get back to you later. I need to sort things out."
She understood, and sweet Yoona sat quietly on the couch.
I dragged her to the bathroom. My grip on her was so tight that when I let go, her wrist was swelling.
I faced her. There was this tense air that surrounds us.
I spoke first.
"So you love me."
"No, I don't."
"Then why did you cry?"
"Because there was dust in my eye."
"Choding! I make sure that my house is squeaky clean!"
"But there is dust! Pabo! You still open the door, so dust still comes in!"
"Just admit that you love me!"
"No! I don't love you!"
"Why? Why can't you admit it?!"
"Because I love Kyuhyun-oppa!"
"But I-"
I stopped myself.
This was what happened almost a year ago. I laughed. She looked at me, puzzled. Tears soon crept down my face.
"Seohyun," I started.
She kept on looking at me. Her already damp eyes are welling up again.
"I love you so much. So much that it's already killing me inside."
Her tears fell.
"Miahne, Yong" was all she managed to say.
We cried our hearts out. We knew that Yoona could hear us, but it didn't matter to me.
I approached her, wiped her tears, and held her face.
"It's my turn now, right?" I asked her. She nodded.
I kissed her gently and tenderly. As I know that this is going to be the last time that I would ever kiss her, I tried transmitting every feeling I've had for her, in hopes that it would be all gone once we finished. I embraced her by her hips, she wrapped her arms around my neck. I lifted her to my sink, and her hands went all over my body. It was all good until her phone rang. We disentangled ourselves, and fixed our looks. She got a text message from Kyuhyun.
"Booty call?" I asked, not looking at her.
"De," she answered. I can feel her stare. But it's all over now. I can't love anymore.
"Then go."
"What about-"
"Yoona likes me."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"She'll be here with me until morning."
She let out a bitter laugh.
"Suit yourself."
With that, she left the bathroom. I heard her bidding goodbye to Yoona, and I heard the door close shut.
I stripped, and took a shower. I tried to cleanse myself from her. But I can't. It won't wash off. I don't want it to wash off.
"We're very similar, Seohyun," I sadly said.
Suddenly, the bathroom door opened. I knew it was her.
"Yoona-ah?" I called out.
"De." she replied.
I hesitated for a minute.
"Want to join me?"
The shower curtain opened. And there she was: Yoona, buck naked.
I never thought that I would see the female body as beautiful, as a work of art.
She smiled, and jumped in the shower.
***
"Oh! That's nice! What happened next?" Leeteuk-hyung asked.
"Do you really have to ask the elephant in the room?" Seulong-hyung answered back.
Everyone laughed.
Misun-ssi was happy with what she uncovered.
"So, Yonghwa-yah, are you happy with what happened?"
Everyone's eyes turned to me. I smiled. Tears started falling down my face. Everyone was surprised. Even Misun-ssi made a face that I did not imagine she was able to make: pity. I looked at Seohyun. She was looking on the ground. I looked at Kyuhyun-hyung. He was looking straight at me. I looked at Yoona. Poor, innocent Yoona. It's too bad she fell in love with me. Such a bad experience for a first love. I kissed her forehead, looked at Misun-ssi, and said:
"Yes, I'm perfectly happy."
I took one last shot of Absinthe, then stood up. They asked me where I was going. I told them that I was only going to take a piss. They tried helping me, but I didn't want to get any help. They left me by myself and I left the room.
The pain was too much. Good thing the alcohol was there. Good thing it was there. Good thing it was there. It wasn't a good thing that she was there.
I lost my footing and I fainted.
A/N: WOOOOOOOOOOO! NOW THAT WAS A LONG ONE.
Hahaha. I didn't want to add any more chaps to this one. I really wanted to stick to five chaps, so yeah. It's almost done! I'll get the last one posted by the 29th. :P And yes, I'm digging the characters I've created here. I feel that the three lead characters (Yonghwa, Seohyun and Yoona) are pretty much round. They have strong points and weaknesses. Yeah, this was a fun one. And two songs helped a lot in the creation of this chap:
Click to viewThe XX is a group that I've only heard about tonight. Urbandub, on the other hand, is one of my two favorite acts in the Philippine music scene. The other one is Up dharma Down. Yeah. HAHAHA, I'm sleepy, good night.