Zen had decided to drive as carefully as possible. He just couldn't picture Mr. Fancy Trust Fund Kid Jumin Han throw up in the car because of excessive drinking. But Zen would rather not risk anything like that even if it was a shame to not use a car like Jumin's to its full potential.

It was a long ride and every now and then Zen observed Jumin through the rearview mirror. Jumin now had his eyes closed and his head leaned on the window next to him. Just a few moments before, Jumin had constantly typed something into his phone while swearing quietly, almost as if he was talking just to himself. He had been writing messages to V, that was how much Zen had figured out. But of course, V did not answer. On the one hand Zen was relieved that Jumin basically ignored him and was just concerned with himself and V, but on the other hand Zen was upset with V for leaving his friend high and dry. And thus, he really wished for Jumin to let go of all the issues with V by focusing on something else instead.

Jumin unlocked his phone again and began writing another message to V.

„It's not worth it, Jumin. Just let it go for now," Zen said trying to catch Jumin's eye in the rearview mirror.

„Shut uuuup!" Jumin answered and continued typing into his phone. He typed and typed and typed. It was a really a surreal sight. Jumin was a mess both physically and mentally. His eyes looked wild, even given the fact that they were surrounded by dark circles. He had taken off his suit jacket and even the tie. His vest as well as the first two buttons of his shirt were unbottened and his hair was tousled which made it almost look like the failed attempt of a bird trying to build a nest. This appearance eerily added up to the strange way in which he punched his messages into the phone while maniacally mumbling swear words and incomprehensible nonsense. Jumin was like a completely different person. On the one hand it scared Zento see Jumin act so differently, so totally out of character, but on the other, he was also very amazed and almost even excited about it. Witnessing this side of Jumin even made Zen feel strangely special.

„Fuck it!" Jumin screamed all of a sudden and put his phone to his ear. Zen was flabbergasted to hear Jumin say the F-word but nevertheless tried to react to it somehow. „Jumin, there is nopoint in calling V." Yet, Zen was not surprised that his words did not stop Jumin from calling V anyway.

„V! No! Jihyun Kim! Pick up your fucking phone! Pick it up or else I'm gonna crash your stupid voicemail!" Jumin shouted into his phone at the top of his lungs. Zen began to feel scared. Jumin's voice was so harsh and cold, almost as if he had forgotten that he wasn't a beast but actually a human being. Jumin had continued shouting into his phone for another two minutes and then he paused. A pause that felt like eternity compared to the apoplectic shouting from before.

„I... I thought we were friends...," Jumin said quietly into his phone and there was not a trace of conviction or defiance in his whispered words. They were just full of sadness.

Jumin hung up and put his phone aside. „Jumin...," Zen started as amatter of trying to provide some comfort for Jumin but as he didn't know what else to say he stopped his sentence before it really had started.

They both had been quiet for a while when suddendly Jumin broke the silence: „Pull... over...," he said in a very commanding voice

„What?" Zen asked confused as he did not understand why Jumin wanted him to stop driving all of a sudden, especially given the fact that they had almost reached Jumin's apartment.

„Pull over...," Jumin said louder and at that moment Zen realized why he needed to stop. „Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! No! Please don't throw up in the car. Please, please, please!" he thought to himself and quickly pulled over at the next possible spot. Luckily it was a very empty outside town street they were on right now. He jumped out of the car, opened Jumin's door and tried helping him out, but Jumin only pushed him away and hurried to the edge of the road. And then it happened: Drunk Jumin Han threw up. For a moment Zen couldn't believe his eyes. He had never even imagined that Jumin's body was able to do something like throwing up. It just did not fit the picture he and probably everyone else had of the C&R company heir. This was definitely Jumin at his worst. There was no doubt about it.

However, Zen was not sure how to handle this situation now. Should he help Jumin? Or better: Did Jumin want help? Should he just wait on the side? Should he comfort him somehow? And if so... how? What did Jumin expect Zen to do? Did he expect anything at all? Would helping Jumin be appropriate or just weird? What would Jaehee do? What would V do...? Zen was confused which only strengthened the panic. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He wanted to help Jumin somehow as this was what he would have wanted if he were in Jumin's place. However, he just didn't know how. He had helped some of his former girlfriends or female colleagues when they had to throw up. That had been easy. He had just held their hair back and tenderly stroked or even massaged their backs which helped them release the tension of their bodies. Jumin's hair was too short to be needed to be held back. So what remained was stroking his back? Zen hesitated. Was it really a good idea to touch Jumin as a way of comforting him? Wouldn't he cross a line here? He looked at Jumin who was still gagging heavily and the moment his body convulsed again Zen decided that there was no point in overthinking this situation now. He placed his hand on Jumin's back and began stroking it gently. Zen had not expected it to work but only a few seconds later Jumin relaxed his body. Zen was glad that it seemed to work somehow and even if it felt awkward he continued stroking his back. „I can't believe this is happening right now...," Zen thought to himself.

A few moments later Jumin was done throwing up and asked for water. Luckily driver Kim had the car well equipped for every emergency one could possibly think of. Zen had found several bottles of water, gum and even a towel. He poured some water over Jumin's hands to help him clean them and then passed him the towel and the already open bottle of water. Jumin washed his mouth several times and cleaned his face. Zen was surprised about how thoroughly Jumin managed to turn himself into an almost decent looking person thinking about how drunk he still was. When Jumin finished washing up Zen passed him another bottle of water and made him drink it up before they both got back into the car.

The rest of the ride went smoothly. Jumin was quiet and didn't even check his phone one single time. Furthermore, and much to Zen's relief, Jumin did not have to throw up again. They arrived at Jumin's apartment around 15 minutes later. Zen parked where Jaehee had told him to and stopped the engine. He sighed. Except for Jumin throwing up, driving him home had been a really easy task. However, helping him into his apartment, making him change and go to bed was a different story. Zen felt nervous and also very uneasy. However, there was no getting around it. Zen took a deep breath in, got out off the car and opened the door for Jumin. This time Zen did not offer Jumin a hand as he was sure the he would refuse it again anyway. Jumin was very doddery when he got off the car and Zen began to feel thankful that Jumin's parking spot was right next to the elevator that would lead them directly to the entrance of Jumin's apartment. Zen picked up all of Jumin's things from the car, locked it quickly and then followed Jumin who had already began walking towards the elevator. It was relieving to see that Jumin could somehow walk without help even if his legs seemed very wobbly. And the exact moment that Zen began believing that they were really going to be ok like he had told Jaehee earlier, Jumin tripped over his own legs. Zen rushed towards Jumin and without even thinking about it grabbed him with one arm around his waist and so prevented him from falling. „Careful!" Zen said and held Jumin tight to his chest. Only a couple of seconds passed before Jumin pushed Zen away using all of his strength. „DON'T TOUCH ME!", Jumin shouted at Zen which left the white haired man aghast. „I... was just...," he started responding but Jumin did not let him finish. „I CAN WALK BY MYSELF!" Jumin turned around on his heel and called the elevator. „Well, clearly you cannot...!" Zen mumbled so that only he could hear it. He began to feel a massive amount of anger towards the black haired man who was now standing in front of him waiting for the elevater to arrive. Only a few moments ago Zen had really felt sorry for Jumin. It had actually been sad seeing him so upset about V and Zen really wanted to help him not just for Jaehee's sake. But maybe Jumin was just a douchebag after all. The doors of the elevator opened and for a quick moment Zen thought about pushing Jumin into the elevator and letting him ride it alone while he himself would hop back into the car to drive home. But then Jaehee came to Zen's mind again which made him swallow his anger and join Jumin further on.

They arrived at the entrance door of Jumin's apartment a few moments later and as if it was not enough that drunk Jumin was very difficult to handle a new obstacle came up: the door. It was a highly secured entrance door and even if Jaehee had explained Zen precisely how to open it, Zen could not remember a thing about it. He took the key and the keycard Jaehee had given him and began trying to open the door. He tried the keycard first. Then the keys. Then both in all combinations possible. But it didn't work. Zen got nervous as it felt like they had already been standing in front of the locked door for ages. Apparently, it had felt like this for Jumin too, as he suddendly pushed Zen to the side, prying both keys and keycard out of Zen's hands and opening the door in no time. „See? Not that difficult! Or are you stupid or what?" Jumin coldly hissed in Zen's direction and entered the apartment still weak-kneed.

Zen couldn't believe his ears. Jumin had called him stupid even if he had been the one helping him get back home safe? There really was no doubt that Jumin was just an asshole as there was no reason to be so mean to Zen even considering that he was sad and above all dead drunk. This was just no excuse. Zen was furious. He wanted to respond to Jumin really badly but the moment he wanted to shout out the words he had come up with as a response his phone rang. It was Jaehee.

„Zen, everything alright? I just wanted to check if you arrived safely."

„Yeah, don't worry Jaehee, I got this. We just arrived and are now in the apartment."

„Ok... thank God. How is he doing?"

„He is... ok... just, well, you know him."

„I understand. If he is nasty to you, please don't take it personally. He really is deeply hurt and expecting sense and correct behaviour from a drunk person is also not the best idea. You know that, right?"

„Yeah... I know..."

„Thank you, Zen. I really mean it. Thank you so much for helping."

These words helped Zen calm down again. Jaehee was right. Jumin was not in a position to be really taken seriously and so Zen should not let his words and actions affect him so deeply.

„It was nothing, Jaehee. Really. Don't worry and go to bed. We will talk tomorrow."

„Ok. Good night, Zen."

„Good night." Zen hung up and looked at Jumin who was now crouching down to pet his cat Elizabeth III. The white cat purred contentedly and rubbed her body against Jumin's legs.

„Yeah, princess, you missed me, right? I missed you too. Sooo much." Jumin lifted his cat up and continued petting her while holding her in his arms. „You are the only one who cares about me, right? Unlike V or that guy over there who just brought me here because Assistant Kang told him so." Zen rolled his eyes at Jumin talking about him as if he wasn't even in the same room. „You know I am right here, Jumin. It is not as if I couldn't hear you."

„I don't care...," Jumin replied and turned his back towards Zen. „I don't care... why should I even care? There is no point in caring." Jumin paused for a moment and Zen began feeling very uncomfortable again as he didn't know how he could possibly respond to that.

„Everyone I cared about clearly didn't care about me in return," Jumin continued very quietly but with every word that followed then, his voice got louder and louder „My mother left me. My father cares more about his relationships than me. Rika..., now V... it is only a matter of time and then Jaehee will leave too and you... YOU'VE NEVER CARED ABOUT ME IN THE FIRST PLACE." Jumin, now facing Zen again, had shouted these last words which caused Elizabeth to jump out of his arms and run away terrified by her owner's wrathful sounding voice.

Zen felt the anger boiling up inside of him again: „Jumin are you even listening to your own words? I don't know about your parents but everything you said about your friends was plain and simple bullshit! Rika died, you douchebag! She didn't leave because she didn't care about you. She died! Yeah, true, V is an asshole too, but he probably has good reasons for his behaviour right now even if I have no idea what sort of reasons that would be. Anyway, you are not and never have been the center of their world, so stop telling yourself that they left because of you! You are not that important even if that is what you want to believe! And as for Jaehee: She cares so much about you that she would rather get yelled at you for an entire night than leave you alone in this miserable state you are in right now. She has a heart of gold and would do anything to protect us all and that includes you of course. And I? You are really saying that I don't care about you? I offered to talk to you last night as I was sincerely worried about you. You called me special for that, remember? I fucking drove you here for over an hour and even helped you when you had to throw up during the ride. I bear with your douchy behaviour towards me and still stick around so that you are not alone. And you really have the nerve to tell me that I don't care about you? Really?" Zen was out of breath when he finished his speech. He glared at Jumin who was not at loss for an answer.

„YOU JUST CARE ABOUT ME BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE TOLD YOU TO DO SO! HOW IS THIS ANY BETTER THAN NOT CARING AT ALL? IS THERE ACTUALLY ANYONE YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT? OR ARE YOU ONLY ABLE TO CARE ABOUT YOUR NARCISSISTIC SELF?"

That was it. Zen was now done with Jumin. All mental incapacity due to excessive alcohol consumption aside, Zen was not able to not take Jumin's words personally anymore.

„WELL MAYBE THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE AN OBNOXIOUS AND UNLIKEABLE DOUCHEBAG WHO TREATS PEOPLE LIKE SHIT! DID THAT EVER CROSS YOUR MIND?"

Jumin stared at Zen. He seemed speechless and Zen was not even surprised about that as his words had made himself speechless as well. Had he really just said that to Jumin and... was he imagining it or did Jumin's eyes look watery all of a sudden?

Jumin began to shake but nevertheless tried to form an answer: „You...have no i...de...," and without even finishing the sentence Jumin fainted. Zen managed to catch Jumin at the last second but lost his balance by doing so. Luckily he had been able to slow down the fall which made him land on the floor safely while Jumin mostly landed on Zen's lap. It took Zen a few seconds to recover from the shock but then he quickly checked on Jumin. He was still breathing. His pulse was normal. He had just been so tired and stressed that his body had responded with an emergency shut-down.

Zen let out a deep breath of both relief and despair. What should he do now? Should he try waking Jumin up? He looked at Jumin's face and wondered how to handle everything now when he noticed something. He had not mistaken before. It really had been tears that had welled up in Jumin's eyes.