by J. S. Lee
“I’d like that,” MinMin said, quietly. “I hate the idea of not being able to meet our fans.”
Jiwon finished the rest of his drink, setting it on the table, and then he stood. “I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll come with you,” Youngbin said, standing. “I think I’m done with this day.” He looked at the rest of us, sternly. “Behave.”
As he walked out of the door, JongB turned to us, an eyebrow arched. “Anyone else now have the desire to get up to mischief?”
“I have the desire to work out,” Xiao told him. “I’m not being part of anything you class as ‘mischief’. I’ll probably end up arrested.”
“Hyung!” JongB exclaimed, somehow surprised at that statement. I mean, honestly, I was inclined to believe Xiao.
Xiao stood, yawning. “I’ve been cramped in an airport all day. I need to work my muscles, and apparently there’s some form of mini-gym in that apartment. Just… don’t go far, guys. You don’t speak the language, you have no idea where you are,” he looked pointedly at JongB at that, “And the last thing we need is to piss the Polish fans off further by being caught having a good time in Warsaw when we should have been at a concert.”
He left, leaving me alone with the maknae line. How much trouble could a girl get into with the three youngest members of Onyx?
“Guys!” MinMin suddenly exclaimed, pointing at something on the other side of the room. “They have monopoly!”
Apparently, not much.
I burst out laughing before I could stop myself, nearly choking on my drink. And there was the innocent MinMin I’d always expected. JongB and CX stared at him in surprise.
“What?” MinMin demanded. “If you’re going to look at me like that, I’ll go back and play Overwatch.”
JongB was looking at him like he had grown a second head. “How did your brain not go to sex?”
MinMin turned, slowly, to look at the older man. “My brain is always thinking about sex. More recently, it’s replaying the other night, only, I get to suck you off.”
I reached for the half-full abandoned bottle of beer Xiao had left, and then I downed it.
Fuck.
As JongB’s mouth fell open, MinMin shrugged. “However, we’re in a bar, and right now, everyone in that apartment is still awake. Plus, I don’t think this place would look too fondly on us if I pulled your dick out and stuck it into my mouth.”
Fuck that. I reached for MinMin’s drink and finished that off too. My confused brain was getting very turned on at that idea. Cute, sweet, innocent MinMin, was not cute, sweet or innocent.
JongB slowly shook his head. “Yeah… no. I’d watch that, but no.”
“Hence my suggestion of monopoly,” MinMin continued calmly. He got up and walked over to a bookcase at the back of the room, returning as though nothing had happened.
Somehow, we were playing Monopoly (while CX spent the time complaining it just wasn’t Blue Marble), on our fourth round of drinks, when Sungmin appeared. He looked exceptionally confused to see us playing a boardgame in a random Polish bar.
To be fair, I can’t say I blamed him.
“I was expecting you back, but it looks like you’re going to be here until closing playing… Blue Marble?”
“It’s Monopoly,” MinMin corrected him as he casually bought and paid for a hotel and placed it on Mayfair. “Similar, but streets instead of cities.”
“Yeah…” Sungmin trailed off. In the end he shook his head and tossed a key at me. “House key. Whoever is sharing with Xiao, he’s in room six. Four and Seven are free… Rooms don’t have keys, but they do have locks once you’re inside: please use them… Four is furthest away from everything…” He scratched at the back of his head. “I give up,” he muttered to himself, leaving us.
“You know, I think we’ve broken Manager Sungmin,” MinMin said, watching CX roll the dice. He landed on Mayfair. “Pay up,” MinMin demanded.
“When did a hotel get on there?” CX asked, gaping at the rent price.
Somehow, we did stay in there until closing time, when the amused barman chased us out. We were all drunk, but happy. Not long after Sungmin had left, the barman had decided to provide us with some weird Polish liquor called krupnik which tasted of honey. CX was having a piggyback from MinMin as we crossed the street, trying and failing not to be noisy and wake the neighbors.
“I think CX is dead,” JongB declared.
“I don’t think you’re far from that state either.” JongB’s arm was wrapped around my shoulder, mine around his waist, and I was doing my best to keep him upright.
“I’m not dead,” CX slurred. “I’m thinking.”
“Careful,” JongB muttered. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“I’ll have you know I have an IQ of 143.”
This wasn’t new news. CX had told him this before. However, JongB spun on the spot, almost sending me flying, and stared at the Maknae. “That makes you a genius.” His eyes narrowed. “What’s seven times seven?”
“Forty-nine,” MinMin responded.
“I was asking the genius.”
“It wasn’t a hard question.”
“Fine. What’s seven times seven, plus four, times twelve?”
“How does math prove how intelligent a person is?” MinMin asked.
“Six-hundred and thirty-six,” CX replied, slurring slightly.
JongB looked at me. “Is that right?”
“How the hell would I know?” I chuckled. “I’m not a genius.”
“No, but you are hot.”
“No… I’m Kate.”
JongB scowled at me, then with one quick movement, scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. “Stop doing that!” he exclaimed as I squealed. There was a moment where he swayed, and then I was put back down on the ground. “OK, that wasn’t a good idea.”
I sighed, then slipped his arm over my shoulder again. “Come on, drunkard.”
“I’m not drunk!” he protested. “I’m Jongsub!”
“Of course not,” I agreed. I was just as drunk as they were, but out of the four of us, MinMin and I were clearly holding it together better than they were.
“I was thinking,” CX declared again, as we got close to the door. “I’d be down for it.”
“Down for what?” I asked. Whatever his response was, it was muffled in MinMin’s shoulder. I propped JongB against the door and fished out the key before unlocking the door.
“We should all go to Kate’s room,” CX said.
“And do what?” I asked, suspiciously.
“Sex.” That, of course, came from JongB.
“I agree,” CX said. “That’s a smart idea.”
“You’re not the only genius,” JongB snorted, proudly.
“Oh, I think we’re a ways away from that,” MinMin muttered under his breath as he shifted CX’s weight.
“You will not manage that tonight,” I told him.
“JongB can just watch.” I looked at JongB and found him staring at me with wide, blinking eyes. “But I would have sex with Kate and MinMin. JongB isn’t, but I am.”
“Are what?” MinMin asked, slowly.
“Down for it.” There was a long pause. “Or up for it?” He looked at me, and frowned. “It might take me a minute to be up for it, but that’s OK: I can see to you two first.”
These guys were going to kill me.
“Let’s not have this conversation on the doorstep,” MinMin said, quietly.
“To the bedroom!” JongB declared, pushing past me into the house.
It turned out the house had been converted into three apartments. We were on the top floor. Through an act of a miracle, we managed to stay almost silent as we sneaked along to the back of the apartment where my room was.
It was a small room with a double bed and a tiny en suite shower room. MinMin walked to the bed first, depositing CX on it. CX promptly rolled over and passed out.
“Well, that was both anti-climatic and somewhat expected,” I muttered to myse
lf. I kicked my shoes off, and hung my jacket up, feeling far too warm in the room.
I wasn’t the only one. “Why is the heating on?” JongB moaned, shedding his clothing with surprising speed, so he was standing in the middle of the room with nothing but an erection. With only a slight stumble, he sat down on the bed beside CX, staring expectantly at me and MinMin.
“Are you sure you won’t let me-”
“Nope.”
“Shame,” MinMin muttered under his breath as he turned to me. His eyes were full of heat.
“Whatever is going through your mind, I like it,” I told him. “But my legs don’t.” I had sobered enough to be in that really buzzed part of being drunk, but my legs felt heavy, and the bed was needed.
“Don’t worry about them,” MinMin murmured, his mouth moving slowly towards mine. Despite the fire in his eyes, his kisses were slow, making me lightheaded, in such a good way.
While I still had functioning legs, I pulled away, long enough to tug his sweater over his head, discarding it on the floor. My own top joined the pile moments later, followed by my jeans. Wearing only my underwear, MinMin picked me up. My legs curled around him as he carried me the short distance to the bed.
He gently set me down, width-ways, alongside JongB, then turned to him. “If you’re not joining in, move, hyung.”
JongB didn’t reply. He had passed out.
I propped myself up and prodded him, then glanced at MinMin pulling a face.
With a mere sigh, MinMin nodded. “It feels wrong to you too?”
I nodded back. “Next time.”
MinMin flopped on the bed next to me, then, he suddenly sat up, reached down on the floor for his sweater, and threw it at JongB. It covered his erection.
I blew out a breath and lay back down. Four in a bed, and no one was getting any action tonight. Strangely, as MinMin lay down beside me, pulling me into his arms, the alcohol meant that I didn’t really care.
제 19 장
Headache
Hangover from hell. That was what I woke with. A banging head, a dry mouth, and a room which was spinning.
I started to sit upright, and then stopped. That was too painful. It was too bright. I was too hot. I rolled onto my side, trying to curl into a fetal position, but was prevented from doing so by MinMin’s legs. “Ugh,” I moaned. I felt like shit.
I forced myself to get up and staggered to the bathroom. Once the water had run cold from the faucet, I stuck my head under it, lapping up the water like a dog. That would serve me right for mixing beer and strange Polish liquor which had seemed like a good idea, with Monopoly.
I righted myself, and squinted at my reflection as best I could in the mirror. I’d not turned the lights on – that was too painful. I reached for my toothbrush, then winced when I realized I hadn’t even unpacked my suitcase. The thought was like a jackhammer in my head.
Everything was going to be an effort today.
And fuck… We were flying to Athens this afternoon.
The hammering in my head got louder.
It wasn’t my head.
It was the door.
I stumbled to it, and pulled it open, finding Sungmin staring at me, then he very quickly turned around. “Kate!” he exclaimed in embarrassment.
I stared at the back of his head, then, when the penny eventually dropped and I looked down to discover I was just in my underwear (at least I was still in that), I slammed the door shut. “Sorry!” I cried through the door, mortified.
“If anyone wants to go into Warsaw, they need to be ready in ten minutes. If they don’t we will be leaving for the airport in three hours.”
“OK,” I called. I slumped against the door, still in hangover hell, but now wondering how I could survive the rest of the tour without bumping into Sungmin.
“For the record, clothing isn’t optional in either scenario,” Sungmin added.
“Kill me now.”
That was all the humaning I could take right now. I detoured to the bathroom, sticking my head under the faucet to drink more water, and then stumbled back to the bed. Before I lay back down, I opened a window, allowing a welcome cold breeze in, and then drew the curtains. The darkness was an instant relief.
Admittedly, it took a few moments of breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, then I pulled my backpack open, pulled out a small bottle of pills so that I could swallow a couple of painkillers.
I left them on the side, sure the others would want them after, then picked up my phone. There were already messages asking if we were going into Warsaw.
We are all dead. I responded.
Xiao: Dead?
Jiwon: Hungover? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
I glowered at the ㅋ – that was Jiwon laughing at me. Unsympathetic bastard.
After making sure I had set an alarm (or six), I plugged my phone in to charge and then I crawled into bed, back in my spot between MinMin and JongB.
The next time I awoke, I was hot, sweaty, with a dry mouth again, but the pounding head was a dull throb. I was curled up into JongB, with MinMin wrapped around me.
“What is that noise?”
The question came from JongB, although there was that much of a groan in it, that it took me a moment to work out what he was saying. It also took me another moment to realize it was my phone alarm.
Heat left my back as MinMin sat up and reached for my phone, turning the alarm off. “Why is there an alarm this early?”
“It’s not that early,” I told him. “Sungmin stopped by earlier. Everyone else was going into Warsaw. This was the alarm for us to get up to be able to go to the airport.”
“Why do I feel like something crawled into my mouth and died?” CX asked. “I think I’m going to hurl.”
“Then do it in the bathroom,” JongB told him.
Seconds later, CX was half running, half stumbling to the bathroom. I cringed as the sound of him emptying his stomach met my ears.
“What the fuck were we drinking last night?” JongB asked. He was rubbing at the side of his head. I could relate.
“Polish something?” I offered. “Sputnik?”
“That’s a rocket,” MinMin corrected me.
“Actually,” said CX, appearing at the bathroom door, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sputnik is a satellite. Krupnik was what we were drinking.”
“The devil’s drink,” JongB grunted, darkly.
By the time we made it to the kitchen to meet everyone else who had been in Warsaw, I still felt like death. A mean part of me, fueled by the hangover, was glad I wasn’t alone in that feeling. The weather had changed to rain, and so it was naturally dark, but all four of us were wearing sunglasses inside and JongB refused to let anyone turn a light on.
“What the hell happened to you four last night?” Youngbin asked in amusement.
“I was led astray,” I grunted.
“You’re the oldest,” JongB pointed out. “You did all the leading.”
I shot him a scathing look but it was hidden behind my sunglasses.
“I’m inclined to side with him,” Youngbin grinned.
“Heh.” Unamused, I flipped him the bird.
The journey to the airport didn’t help. I hadn’t experienced driving with as much swerving and disregard for lane control since China. When we did eventually pull into the airport, I completely abandoned the group, ran in through the door, through the airport to the bathroom. I didn’t leave until there was nothing left to throw up.
I hadn’t thrown up on alcohol since college and that had involved too many Jägerbombs. I did feel slightly better afterwards though.
I trundled back to the group. They’d gone ahead to check in without me. It was then I noticed the lack of Polish fans. “They hate us,” CX said, miserably.
“We’re two hours earlier than expected,” Sungmin corrected him. “This was the earliest we would be allowed to check in.”
While I could understand Sungmin’s paranoia at not missing another fl
ight, I was too pissed to care. I could have spent another hour in bed? Bastard.
“What are you sulking about?” Xiao asked.
“She’s hungover.”
I ignored the conversation and searched in my bag for my toothbrush and toothpaste before it got taken away from me. Of course, that was a stupid move because airport security confiscated it off me as we went through the security checks. Instead, I had to buy a fresh tube on the other side. I also bought a bottle of water, and as soon as I had brushed my teeth and taken a couple more acetaminophen, I downed the bottle.
Now I was craving something salty.
Jiwon was waiting for me outside, holding a McDonalds bag. “I wasn’t sure if you would want it if you puked,” he told me.
I stuffed a handful of fries in my mouth in a very unladylike manner, making a small moan. “No, I need something salty.”
A smirk appeared on Jiwon’s face. “I can help out with that.”
“You already have,” I told him, purposely ignoring his insinuation as I proceeded to almost inhale the fries. After the Big Mac had been washed down by a Coke, I was close to feeling human again. Very tired and ready for another nap, but definitely human.
I had finished the food before we had reached the gate and I took a seat staring out at the runway. I was already counting down the hours until I could get to my bed. I had no energy for conversation, and taking my sunglasses off (yes, I was still wearing them inside the airport) was not a pleasant experience. Instead, I slipped my earphones in and put on some music as I shut my eyes.
Sadly, I didn’t sleep. But, on the plus side, the flight wasn’t delayed and we were soon touching down in Athens. It was early evening and I was still feeling sorry for myself. I wasn’t alone in that: CX and JongB looked as rough as I felt. MinMin seemed to be fairing a little better though.