Chapter Twelve
This had been the best night of Go Mi Nyu's life. She still couldn't believe Tae Kyung had proposed.
"It's okay if I tell everyone?" Mi Nyu buzzed. "Right now?" She was dying to use her phone.
"Not yet." Tae Kyung said straight out. "I want to see how long it's going to take them to notice there's a ring on your finger."
That made Mi Nyu gaze at the gigantic diamond on her hand. "Can I tell my brother then?" She persisted. There was no way she was keeping it in.
How could he deny her of that? "Go ahead." Tae Kyung sat back in his chair. "But he's the only one you can tell." He was amazed at how his girlfriend was buzzing around their bedroom like kid hyped on sugar.
Mi Nyu squealed taking out her phone and pushing in her brother's number. His phone went straight to a message: "The person you are trying to call is currently unavailable." She took her phone from her ear slowly, a new expression concerning her fiancé.
"He didn't answer did he?" Tae Kyung asked.
"My brother turned off his phone." He never did that- part of why she was so concerned. Sure, it was his birthday and he liked to go party, but she still got a sour feeling about why his phone was off.
"Where did he say he was going?"
"With Yoo He Yi. He said she was taking him out." Mi Nyu stopped. "Oh, what was I thinking? I would be interrupting them."
If all had went well, maybe they were out celebrating- hence the phone being turned off. If it hadn't, like Tae Kyung expected, then he still wouldn't be concerned. Mi Nam probably hadn't told his sister about his engagement plans. "Don't worry. Your brother is responsible enough…not to get arrested." Tae Kyung reassured.
"Right." Mi Nyu still felt like someone was off about it.
Tae Kyung rolled his eyes. "Why don't you call that Aunt of yours instead?" He realized that 'aunt of hers' was going to be related to him in time too. He still remembered the time she had touched his back area. Now that they were going to be related…he didn't even want to think about it.
Since he knew Mi Nyu was going to worry about her brother, he called Jeremy who had just gone out to play at the arcade with some of his old friends.
"Jeremy?"
"Yes hyung!" He replied excitedly. "Hurry up; I'm in the middle of some intense zombie warfare!" He could hear the shooting going on among other things. "And I'm not going to lose to these zombie scum!"
"Is Go Mi Nam with you?" Mi Nyu's hears perked as she scooted next to Tae Kyung.
"Are you trying to kill my mood?" Jeremy replied, the sound of shooting quickly ceasing.
"Make sure he comes home with you."
"I'm not his babysitter!"
"You are today." Tae Kyung declared. "He won't pick up his phone, so find him before he does something embarrassing."
"But-" Tae Kyung hung up before Jeremy could get another word in. "It's fine." He smiled at Mi Nyu. "I just made sure of it."
"Great. I have to babysit." Jeremy grunted, putting the toy gun back into the slot. He said his goodbyes to his friends, slugging out the arcade like a snail. He hadn't been able to go to the arcade to play with his buddies in such a long time. And he'd only been there for thirty minutes before Tae Kyung contacted him. If I was Mi Nam where would I go? To drink. That's horrible….but too very true.
Jeremy took his phone back out, texting his hyung. Hyung, do you know where he was last?
No.
Then WHAT DO you know?
He proposed to He Yi. Or at least tried.
Seriously?
Mi Nam wants to get married? You'd have to be crazy to marry that. Still, I wonder what He Yi said?
Seconds later, He got another text.
Does it sound like I'm joking? Mi Nyu couldn't get through to him and she's worried. Even more than before. I don't know why that idiot turned off his phone.
So he went out with Yoo He Yi to dinner. Yeah, I'm probably not going to find him. It's not like he has a GPS chip in implanted in his brain.
So essentially you want me to search every restaurant in Seoul to find him?
Every bar too. Do well and come home before midnight.
"This isn't fair at all." Jeremy groaned. How did Mi Nam end up ruining my night without even being with me? AND HOW IN THE WORLD AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND HIM IF HIS DARN PHONE IS OFF? Heh, wait...Maybe…Yoo He Yi doesn't have her phone turned off!
He went through his directory finding her name. The phone rang only once before she picked up, "Hello?"
"Yoo He Yi? It's Jeremy. Could you do me a favor and give Mi Nam the phone? I need to speak to him."
"He's not with me."
Jeremy sensed something was off. "What?"
"He's been gone for awhile now." She said rather nonchalantly.
He didn't feel like asking why- he just needed to know where. "Do you know where?"
"I don't know. He stormed off around an hour ago."
An hour ago? Jeremy looked at the time at the top of his phone's screen. It was ten minutes to eleven. He ended the call with disappointment. At least he got limited to clubs this way.
Jeremy then thought something brilliant. He went back into his memory, tracing He Yi's call to a building two blocks away. When he got there, he tried to think like Go Mi Nam. If I was him and pissed, I would want to go clubbing and drink until I couldn't remember my name. Where's the closest club?
"Ha!" Jeremy found one. "Let's try this one first."
He went inside of the club. The music was pumping so excessively loud his ears wanted to fall off. Some skanky girls asked him to dance with him but he rejected them in a heartbeat. He definitely wasn't in the mood to dance. Jeremy thought that Mi Nam off all people would be dancing with girls or at the bar. But to his dismay, out of all the people crowding the bar, none of them were Go Mi Nam. "Damn."
Think…think like Mi Nam…think like Mi Nam…If I'm drunk and don't want to dance…I would want fresh air. The roof! He quickly made his way the roof, pushing the door open.
He looked around. "He's not here either! I'm only going to one more club. After that this guy can find his own way home- oh?" He saw something move out of his peripheral vision.
Jeremy turned. "Mi…Nam?" One good look at the moving figure and he could tell. It could be no other. Quickly texting Mi Nyu he slipped his phone into his pocket and got on his knees in front of him. "Mi Nam."
"Jeremy!" Mi Nam hiccupped before laughing. "You came!"
"Yeah, yeah I'm here now." He lightly grabbed his arm. "Now that I'm here, we should go home now, right?" He tried to coax him up.
"Go? Why?" Mi Nam didn't budge. "Look at those stars!" He pointed upwards. "You see that one right there? That's Ye Eun's star."
Jeremy gazed up; stars littered the sky above Seoul.
"I made sure she had the prettiest one. Not even He Yi has a star that bright. Look at her shining, hyung!" It was odd to think that his cousin and Mi Nam were so in love. But Jeremy could tell how genuine his feelings were for her. "I miss you so much. Why… are you so far away from me? Can't you come just a bit closer?"
Jeremy sighed, pulling Mi Nam off the ground. "Awh," Mi Nam whined. "Come on, let's stay here. We can drink until the sun comes up."
"Trust me. You don't need to drink anymore." Jeremy was afraid of how he'd be if he got another drink in his grasp.
He scoffed. "But drinking makes me forget."
"What do you want to forget? Did something bad happen with He Yi?"
"I want to forget!" Mi Nam shook his head around, avoiding the question. "I want to forget everything!" He began to dance around.
He stopped him. "Let's go."
"No!"
"Why are you so being so difficult?"
"Difficult? I'm not difficult." Mi Nam dismissed him with his hand. "Oh my god! Jeremy look! A firefly!" In fact there was one, and it flew quickly by his face. His eyes lit up as he broke out in a sprint to catch it. Jeremy watched in amazement as Mi Nam ran around the roof in circles when he didn't see it anymore.
"What are you doing?" He tried to catch him but Mi Nam kept slipping out of his grip like a slippery fish. "You've got five seconds to get over here or I'll- um, have to use force!"
"Use force?" He began to laugh hysterically, before tripping over an uneven part of the roof. With a nice splat, he fell straight on his face. "Oh shit." He screamed. "That shit hurt." He held his face temporarily.
Jeremy resisted the urge to laugh, running over to Mi Nam and supporting him up again. His head was slung down like he lost use of his neck. "Go. Mi. Nam." He poked at him.
He popped up suddenly, but still drunkenly. "Hyung, I got a boo-boo. Kiss it?" He held his badly scratched-but-not-bleeding-yet elbow up to Jeremy.
"Get up!"
"I will if you kiss my boo-boo."
"No." He took him by the hand, yanking him up and off to the staircase off the roof.
"Wait...wait...no…not so fast…I think I'm going to be sick." He slowed down, dropping their hands.
Mi Nam had stopped and slung over, putting his hands on his knees. Jeremy turned away in the anticipation.
"Haha! I lied." Mi Nam yelled, jumping on his back.
"Are you insane? Mi Nam get off me!"
"No. I'm Peter Pan." He snorted, rolling around. "Let's fly off to never land, Wendy! Ya, ya ya! Go!"
"Get off!" He attempted to fling him off his back, but Jeremy quickly realized it was both futile and dangerous. Mi Nam was like glue and if he flung him off he'd probably fall down the stairs. "I want a piggyback ride! Please? Pretty please?" He listened to Mi Nam whine.
Jeremy gave in with a sigh, continuing to go down the stairs. Well, at least I won't lose him this way. I can't believe I'm giving him a piggy back ride.
And so they began on their descent out of the club, getting enough awkward looks to make Jeremy think he was going through puberty all over again. The looks when they exited out the club weren't any better.
"Mi Nam, didn't you take my motorcycle?"
"No. I left it at home."
He grunted. This was one occasion that it would have been okay for him to take it. I guess He Yi picked up him too?
With that being said, he quickly ran them across the street. Shortcutting through the park would get to the bus line that would get them home the fastest.
"Hyung wanted me to take it?"
"No."
"Oh yes, you did." He sung sloppily. "Jeremy wanted me to take his motorcycle!"
"Mi Nam."
"Mmm?" He stopped humming.
"What happened?"
"Where to even start? Oh!" Mi Nam hit a low branch, falling off of Jeremy's back. "Help me! Jeremy how could you do this to me? That branch was like a ninja…"
Jeremy helped him back up again, and this time a small laugh escaped his lips. The drunken Mi Nam was clumsy yet terribly cute.
"Ah." Mi Nam swayed. "Ugh." Jeremy wrapped his arm around his shoulder to steady him.
Mi Nam silently leaned on Jeremy's shoulder as they continued walking. "She never loved me." His voice had softened. "Can you believe it? I never though He Yi would use me like this."
Jeremy's lips pursued an 'o' shape. He didn't really know what to say. Instead his thoughts rambled. He Yi really did that to him? He's a freaking mess right now because of her!
"You know what? I'm just going to stop loving all together! Down with love!" He slurred.
"Everyone gets heartbroken, Mi Nam. You'll find that person that makes you feel special like that again. Think of He Yi breaking up with you as a good thing. It means you'll get a girl fifteen times better."
"What do you know about being heartbroken? I've never seen you with a girl."
"That's because I haven't found one I really like yet. But I used to date when I was younger. Before I joined A.N Jell, there was this one girl I loved more than anyone."
"What was her name?" Mi Nam had an inkling he knew.
"Julie." He smiled. "Her name is even pretty, isn't it?"
"What happened between you and this jewelry?" Mi Nam, still quite drunk mistook Julie for 'Jewelry'. "
Jeremy shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it in detail. "The long distance told a bad toll on our relationship." He'd experienced more heartbreak than he thought he ever would in life.
"Oh."
"But I know that I'm going to find love again. Where? I don't know. So, Mi Nam, if you believe in love it'll definitely find you again! So don't give up." Those were the best word he could give him at the moment.
He laughed lightly. "That sounds like a line straight out a drama."
"I'm actually being serious." Jeremy was hardly serious as he was at the moment.
"That's why I admire you, hyung." Go Mi Nam kicked a rock, before continuing.
Jeremy looked down at the boy he was helping to walk straight. Even though I know that's the alcohol talking, I'm still surprised he said that.
"Your personality is bubbly and warm. Sometimes I wish I possessed that. If you get hurt, you can bounce back so easy. But it's so different for me." It was easy for Mi Nam to talk about his feelings when he was still, for the most part, drunk. "When I grow up I want to be just like you!" He yawned and smiled.
"You're falling asleep aren't you?" Mi Nam's pace had slowed down so much, Jeremy was basically pulling him along.
"Hmm. Maybe." Mi Nam's eyes drifted down slowly. "But keep talking. I like hearing your voice."
The walk back home had completely tired Jeremy out. By the time they were on the road home, Mi Nam was passed out and Jeremy had to carry him.
"Hey Mi Nam." Jeremy alerted to no reply. I guess he's really still asleep. "We're home now." He couldn't help but continue to talk to him."You know, you're really a much better person when you're drunk. It's like you're a different person when you're asleep too. You look so at peace."
He heard another yawn and that stopped his speech. He glanced back at Mi Nam. He was still asleep, thankfully. Jeremy didn't know what he was going to say next if he hadn't been stopped. Finally he made it up the stairs and into the dormitory, where Mi Nyu was anxiously awaiting.
"Jeremy? Oppa?" Mi Nyu put her hand to a chest. "What a relief. I thought something had happened."
"Something did." Jeremy started his descent to Mi Nam's room to put him to bed.
"What?" Mi Nyu followed him. "What happened for him to cut off his phone for hours and..." She smelled the strong scent of alcohol come off her brother, "Drink?"
"Yoo He Yi." Jeremy's words made Mi Nyu stopped in her tracks. She had an awfully bad feeling about that. "He drank himself to this because of her?" Mi Nyu frowned. "I'm sorry that he troubled you."
"It's no problem." He smiled.
"Did you eat anything? I'll go reheat some food for you, if you'd like?"
"It's fine. I'll just eat tomorrow."
"Are you sure?" He nodded. He didn't want Mi Nyu to be bothered simply because of her brother's drunkenness. He'd take off his shoes and throw him in the bed before heading to his own room. "I'll take care of Mi Nam. Just go to sleep."
"Thank you. Goodnight." Mi Nyu left to return to her room- after all, it was late.
Upon entering Mi Nam's room, Mi Nam conveniently awakened. "We're home?" He drowsily stated. He seemed not even to have enough energy to speak in Korean.
"Yeah." When he sat him down on the bed, he became oddly attentive. Go Mi Nam flipped off his shoes. Jeremy was thankful he beat him too it.
"Goodnight." Jeremy said, trying to escape the tension. Mi Nam caught him by the side of his hoodie.
"Where are you going?"
"To sleep?"
He tugged him back over and commanded, "You...You're...You're staying with me."
Jeremy thought he had a clog in his ear. "Excuse me?"
"Just stay with me tonight."
Go Mi Nam didn't care how pathetic it looked of him. He didn't want to be alone. He wouldn't be able to handle it. Jeremy was convenient and necessary at the moment so he wouldn't cry himself to sleep.
Jeremy turned back around. "You don't want to be alone?" That question had an obvious answer. Mi Nam's face was so pitiful Jeremy just wanted to bear hug him until he suffocated.
"Okay!" Jeremy grinned, because even against his better judgment he couldn't leave him alone. "I'll be glad to keep you company! It'll be like a sleepover!"
Mi Nam groaned as he fell back down on his bed. "I had a feeling you'd say that."
Sunlight peered through the window as Go Mi Nam rolled over in his bed. His head pounded fiercely from the alcohol. "Ugh." He moaned, not wanting to open his eyes. The only time I can get half decent sleep is when I'm hammered…even then I wake up with this…
Something didn't feel right to him. He opened his eyes. On the other side of his normally flat bed (okay, so it normally wasn't flat and filled with random stuff) there was a big hump.
"Oh no." Mi Nam said to himself. Don't tell me I had a one night stand and brought her here... He was going to be in some deep shit then. There were very few regulations to follow regarding the dorm and this was one. I've got to think of someway to get her out of here.
This isn't a time to panic. All I have to do is sneak her out the back doors…no one will ever know if we're quiet enough... Slowly, he peeled back the covers to reveal no woman, but his bandmate.
His eyes widened. What in the hell? Ah, Mi Nam you're just having delusions. He closed his eyes and reopened them. He was still there. What is he doing in my room? In my bed? Lying next to me?
"YA!" He screamed, pushing Jeremy's shoulder- or what he assumed was.
Jeremy stirred very little. "Stop it. That tickles." He muttered, eyes still closed.
"It tickles, huh?"
His eyes popped open. "Good morning..." He waved nervously, knowing what was coming next. "Ah, please don't kill me!" He covered his face with the blankets.
Go Mi Nam ignored his plea for peace, forcefully pushing Jeremy out the bed. Jeremy rolled straight over the edge and took Mi Nam's blankets with him.
Mi Nam got out of his bed going over to confront him. Jeremy sat up, rubbing his head sleepily, still wrapped in the blanket cocoon that had formed when pushed. He expected Mi Nam to be like this with his hangover and such. I suppose it's a bit weird to wake up like this? Nah, we're bandmates. We should be cool right?
"What gives you any right to sneak in my bed?" Mi Nam tried not to hyperventilate. "Why are you even in here? You're like a roach!" He breathed out angrily, trying not the raise his voice.
"I bet you'd be nicer to a real roach than you are to me." Jeremy sat on the floor in front of Mi Nam, pouting up to him. "Oh! Candy!" Jeremy picked up one of Mi Nam's various candies on the floor. "I love these." He began to open the wrapper. "It's funny, I didn't notice how dirty your room was last night. Maybe because I was so tired?" He mused, ignorant of the Mi Nam's anger. "Yeah, maybe that was it." He took a bite of the candy. "It's like a treasure chest in here."
"You have five seconds to explain why you were in my bed!" He yelled. "And put my candy down!"
"You asked me to stay, remember?" He didn't however and continued to eat until it was finished. "You said we could have a sleepover! All I did was keep you company! Hmph." He folded his arms and turned his head away from Mi Nam.
This whole situation was like a nightmare. Mi Nam's birthday started off well enough but by nightfall was a complete train wreck. Last night was nothing but a blur to him and he could barely remember anything. He especially didn't remember asking his hyung to keep the other side of his bed warm. Why would he ever listen to me?
"Like I would ever say something like that!" Then he remembered. He slapped his hand on his forehead. "You didn't have to sleep in my bed! The floor was just fine."
"But…but…you wanted me to sleep in the bed beside you." Jeremy continued to pout, getting off the floor. "So…I bet you don't remember you falling asleep snuggled into me either?"
"I did no such thing!" He shook his head. That's impossible. I would never- Mi Nam, you were completely drunk off your ass. You're lucky you didn't try to hit on him.
"You said you wanted to use my shoulder as a pillow."
He moaned once more. I probably did snuggle with him and talk nonsensical things. I'm never drinking that much again!
"Get out. Get out right now." Go Mi Nam pointed towards the door; his head could not take anymore.
"You should be thanking me!"
Mi Nam believed he had every reason to not to. "You took advantage of me when I was drunk!"
"What are you talking about?" Jeremy mumbled. "It was completely consensual."
"I didn't want or need your sympathy!"
"All I tried to do was be a good friend!" Jeremy screamed. "See, if I give you sympathy again!" He exited the room with an overdramatic door slam- trying to purposely hurt Mi Nam's head. That's exactly what it did.
Alright Ye Eun, I've given him a second chance. I'm officially white flagging it if he doesn't come around.
Before he got to his bedroom, Jeremy realized he was still wrapped in Mi Nam's blanket. He marched back to his room, opening the door hastily, throwing Mi Nam's blanket back at him. "I like you better when you're drunk!"