Just This Much

24: Mess

He plopped down the couch with an exhausted sigh followed by a yawn. It was almost 4AM and he's finally alone in his apartment. Though Enzo and Minhwan—the ones who were left sober like him—helped him clean up, it still feels like everything's a mess.

The girls are either drunk or tipsy, but were fetched by their managers so there was nothing for them to worry about. For them boys, Gun and Soonho were the only ones drunk. Minhwan probably took Gun home, while Enzo helped Soonho's manager to take the latter back to their dorm.

He can't help but be reminded of Soonho's parting words.

They were standing near the door, the guy leaning against the wall for support, his eyes heavy-lidded and voice slurring because of drunkenness.

"You shouldn't have given Lilac Asher's number, you traitor," Soonho weakly punched his forearm before his hand fell to his side again. He let out a hiccup and tried to steady his breathing, "I like her and I'm doing everything for her to like me back. I can take care of her better."

His friend eventually passed out and before falling face-first his tiled floor, he immediately caught him and was left with yet another dilemma.

"So you like Lilac, right?"

Another memory played inside his mind.

This one was after he convinced Yulhee and Bora to tell the others about having a Christmas party. Yulhee intentionally walked beside him, while the other girl is busy with her phone in front of them.

"I already said it's not like that," he scoffed.

Yulhee frowned, "you won't go such lengths just to thank someone. Okay whatever, if you don't want to say it, I'll just believe so on my own." He didn't bother responding and chose to let her be, hence the momentary silence. "If ever you like her, I'll support you."

His head snapped towards the girl, brows raised in curiosity.

"Soonho obviously likes her too," Yulhee sadly smiled.

That was when he understood the situation—Yulhee likes Soonho.

He stopped walking and his friend did too, as she faced him.

"I don't blame Lilac or anything, I can see she doesn't like Soonho that way. But I don't want to lie to myself anymore and keep acting like I'm not hurt with what has been happening. So if you decided to pursue her, I'll support you instead."

"And if Soonho hates you for this?," he can't help but ask.

Tears welled up the girl's eyes, but she was able to suppress it. "I'll keep on trying until he finally sees me," she smiled again but it wasn't enough to hide her pain. She eventually turned around and ran after Bora who's already meters away from them.

He opened his eyes and looked around his living room. It was already clean, no signs of the earlier party left. Maybe the 'mess' he's feeling wasn't about the place at all, but the situation he found himself in.

This didn't happen back in his world, or maybe it did, he just didn't know. He only knew about Soonho's feelings towards Lilac. He didn't even know his Asher likes her too, and just found out the night of the accident.

He and Lilac got together a year after meeting each other, and it prevented other guys from trying to get closer to her. Since then, his world revolved around his girlfriend, and maybe that's the reason why he failed to see the other things happening outside their little bubble.

The sound of his doorbell pulled him out of his thoughts. He checked the clock mounted above the television, it was exactly 4AM. He lazily stood up to open the door for his expected visitor.