55-2

"You know, she's not all wrong. It'll be exciting to test out my handcuffs when I get them hmm?" "Jaewook what the hell, you literally blushed like an insecure preteen girl when she said that." "I'm just saying. Not a bad idea." His nose nuzzles into my cheek. "But I think I'd like it if you used them on me." I frantically push him aside, knowing that no one would ever be able to hear what he said but still feeling all kinds of embarrassed. He just snickers beside me and melts even more into the seat. Sunny turns her attention away from Zen, who is now shoving fried chicken into his mouth, to drunkenly look at Jaewook. She lifts her chin up in my direction. "Hey, Dee, he's a hot drunk. Good catch," she says and Jaewook smirks in response. I can feel his ego inflate as he slouches even more and looks over at me. "Hear that Noona? I'm a catch," his tongue tantalizingly runs over his lips as his eyes sparkle at me with mischief. "Yeah, yeah, you're a god damn swordfish," I pat his back and roll my eyes. Oh God, why did I say that? I softly bite my tongue, scolding my tipsy butt for choosing that fish out of all the damn fish in the world. Jaewook's eyes widen and he looks over at Sunny. "A swordfish," he looks back at me, "I'm a swordfish. The biggest in the sea." I let my face fall into my hand when I see him spread his legs even more, a satisfied look on his arrogant face as he grows too confident. Sunny begins laughing her face off and Zen snarls in disgust. "He was better when he didn't drink," he says before knawing at a chicken leg in annoyance. My face grows hot from the alcohol, so using my cold hands, I try to cool down my hot cheeks. I attempt to widen my eyes to clear what feels like a thin film of intoxication covering them. "Noona," Jaewook sings as he wraps an arm around me again and leans into my folded body. "Are you okay? Drunk? You know I love your cute drunk butt," he holds onto my jaw and pretends to coo at me. "I'm not, I can't be drunk around you when you yourself are wasted." "Why not? I can t—" "You can't take care of yourself, drunk or sober." "Hey! Not true," but he's chuckling. "Okay, maybe just a little." He laughs even more. "I can't help that I love it when you take care of me." "How the hell are you gonna live in a dorm without a mom or me to take care of you?" "Don't remind me," he groans. "I'm gonna be surrounded by dudes." Zen takes notice of our conversation and pipes in. "My friend went to that university, barely lasted a year. He said he couldn't handle being around men 24/7." "Yeah and that friend was a manwhore Zen, don't even," I shoot him a dirty look. "What? It's still the truth, playboy or not." "It's not like we can't see each other on breaks and stuff," I try to make the situation sound better as Jaewook's eyes round and focus on the table. He's completely zoned out as he listens to us bicker. Then he finally speaks. "I'm screwed," he says calmly, eyes still fixated on the table. "God this is gonna suck, I'm going to go through withdrawal." He finally looks at me in horror. "Noona, can I sneak you into my dorm room?" "They'd kick you out of there asap if you did. Calm down, you'll live." Zen curls his lip in satisfaction. "Get ready to be surrounded by testosterone and di—" "Nuh nuh nuh no!" Jaewook has his hands covering ears, head shaking and eyes clenched shut. I give up and lean back against the booth. "Hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing," Sunny pipes in. "That's gotta be heaven for some dudes. Hell, can I join?" "Oh watch out for that too," Zen has been spurred on by my perverted best friend. "Some guys get desperate and switch teams after not seeing boobs for so long—" "Shut up!" I yell at him. "What? Zen's right, he's gonna need to watch out and defend himself, he is a pretty boy after all," Sunny says matter-of-factly. "That's it, let's go Jaewook, it's past 1AM anyway." I stand up in the booth and try to push him out but he's solid as a rock. "Shit, Noona, I don't know if I wanna go anymore." "You're going and that's that, I didn't spend all those months tutoring you for nothing," I snap. "Ooh, mommy's angry," Sunny jokingly snickers, and Jaewook in his drunk glory bursts out into laughter. "Gross," Zen visibly shivers. "Let's go," I push him once more and this time he gets out of the booth. He grabs his beer from the table and says goodbye. "It was nice meeting you officially cutie," Sunny says with her mischevious smile. Jaewook grins at her. "Are you going home?" Zen asks as I put some money on the table. "Uh, yeah, it's closer to here than my friend's place. Is that okay?" "Am I coming over too?" Jaewook asks as he grabs my arm, wobbling on his feet like a foal. "Fuck that then, I'm not coming home tonight. See yeah," Zen salutes at me. Jaewook expresses his excitement as I turn away in annoyance. Much like that first time, the walk home is treacherous as I try to not only keep Jaewook's hands to himself but also to keep him steady. He definitely drank more than last time, maybe because of his nerves, and it's left him a stumbling mess. Once we reach the stairs of our building, I literally have to pry Jaewook up off the steps that he somehow stumbled over on the way up. He just giggles the whole time, spewing random words that I can't understand. Finally, I'm able to get him through the door of my apartment. I sigh in relief, sweat covering my body from the exertion. Jaewook looks down at me with sleepy eyes and a childish smile. "Noona," he softly laughs as he sways. "You're so beautiful, you know that? Beauti-fuck," the sudden profanity shocks me momentarily. "Fucking beautiful." He laughs even more and leans into me, head hanging over my shoulder. "Alrighty, let's get you to bed." "Ooh I like that idea," he says into my shoulder. I groan as I push him. "You would, wouldn't you?" Once again I struggle to get him to my bedroom. "Can you at least take off your own clothes?" I ask, knowing he spilt beer on his shirt at some point during the night. He shakes his head and pouts like a kid. "No, want help." I roll my eyes for what feels like the millionth time tonight. "Oh come on Noona, you're the best at undressing me," he softly says as he leans into me. "Why," I groan before holding onto his face. "Why do you have to be a cute horny drunk? Why?" I shake his head as he smiles at me. "Come on, you heard Zen. I need to get sex out of my system before I go, go to university and am de-deprived of it." He slurs over the words. But it's all just  talk for five minutes later he's passed out on the bed, snoring up a storm. Now I lay beside him and just watch the air move in and out of his lungs. His eyelids twitch with movement and his lips shine as air pushes in and out from between them. I'm going to miss having him constantly around me, that's for sure. So I take this time to just watch him sleeping peacefully, my hands stroking through his hair. He whimpers in his slumber and curls into a ball beside me, his head being pushed into my hand in a way that suggests he wants me to keep petting him. The subconscious action makes me smile. "I love you baby, always," I whisper softly to him.