XIX. In The Dark

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"Wait! I need the SDG!" I stopped him before he could leave.
"The Scientific Discovery Gazette? What for, exactly?" He asked, confused.
"I read it before going to sleep..." I said while taking a look at the pajama that Lia had left on the bed for me.
It was a silk set of shorts and a top.
"And don't you have the app on your phone, like a normal person?"
"Duh! Of course I do, and I was checking it earlier but it looks like mine is not updating and the new issue should already be out... Can't you check from your phone?" I explained, whilst laying on the bed.
"You can try the ceiling..." He suggested.
"What do you mean? Don't tell me this room has an interactive ceiling!" I said excited, sitting back up.
"Yeah, all the bedrooms have it, just click on the bedpost and the keyboard comes out..." He explained.
I did it just as he told me. I laid back down on the king size bed, raised my arm and touched the bedpost over my head. A keyboard attached to a transparent mechanical arm came out of it just to stop right below my face and at the same time the interactive ceiling turned on.
"Woah! This is so cool!" I exclaimed thrilled.
"Yeah, well, have fun..." He said, ready to leave and close the door behind him.
But I stopped him again.

"Wait! Why don't you read it with me?" I asked, patting the matress.
He grunted exasperated.
"You're really gonna make this hard for me, aren't you?" He said, looking like he was talking more to himself than to me, but regardless I heard him, even though the drunk me didn't really understand the meaning of that sentence.
"Unless you're so full of yourself that you don't read the SDG..." I said, trying to provoke him.
"Of course I read the SDG, I'm not a caveman! But not in a bed with you! End of the story! Goodnight!" He said assertively, before closing the door behind him.
My brain, clouded by the effects of the whiskey, couldn't really understand what his problem was. So I just brushed it off, changed into the pajama and fell asleep a few minutes later, reading the latest issue of the SDG on the ceiling.

I woke up because I was feeling terribly thirsty. I fixed my glasses that had slided down my nose after I fell asleep and looked up on the ceiling, which had gone into stand-by mode and was displaying only the time. It was 3:37 a.m.
I crawled out of bed, still feeling a little unstable on my own feet. I reached the door and opened it. Then it all hit me. All the memories from just a few hours earlier. All the crazy things I had said and done. And I felt extremely embarrassed. So much so that I wanted to close the door again and hide in there. But the thirst got the best of me.
So I walked past Lia's and Jungkook's rooms and got to the stairs. In the darkness of the night, I tried to retrace the steps of my drunk self to get back to the kitchen. Somehow I managed to do it and, when I got there, the image of me forcing Jungkook to dance popped up in my mind. I shook my head really hard, trying to get that haunting image out of it. I had really embarrassed myself in front of him. I was only hoping it was going to help the plan in any way. Maybe he was going to make fun of me about it until I finally stopped liking him. It was an option to consider.

While my brain was dwelling on these thoughts, my body moved towards the fridge, looking for water that would quench my thirst.
I opened it and took out a carafe. When I closed it, I jumped out of fear, seeing a figure behind it. I was ready to get the first utensil at hand to defend myself, when I recognized the shadow.

"Gosh, Jeon, you don't sneak up on people like that!" I complained, while putting a hand on my chest trying to calm down my heartbeat.
"You know you're still in my house, right?" He said with a sleepy voice, getting closer.
I needed to get out of the situation, I still hadn't prepared any excuses for my inappropriate behaviour while I was drunk.
"Okay, whatever... I'll just grab this and go..." I said, with the carafe of water in my hand.
"Do you plan on drinking it straight from the jug?" He pointed out.
"No... I'll.. I'll take a glass..." I said, turning around towards the many cabinets that kitchen had. I had seen him take the glasses out of one of them the night before, but between the darkness and the confusion due to the hangover, I really wasn't sure which one of them it was.
"Be my guest, I'll just wait here for you to find the right cabinet..." He said cheekily.
I huffed defeated.
"Okay, fine, can you please give me a glass?" I asked, with a forced hint of politeness.
He reached for one of the cabinets and got two glasses out.
"There you go... Can I have some too?" He asked with an amused smile.
"Well, your house, your water... I guess..."
And there I was. Stuck with him, without having anything planned. Hoping he wouldn't bring up any of the things that had happened a few hours earlier.

"So how... how are you feeling?" He asked, while pouring the water in the glasses.
He definitely wanted to talk about it. And why wouldn't he? It was an amazing chance to tease me.
"What do you mean?" I tried to play dumb.
"I mean, last night you got... kinda wasted..." He wasn't looking at me in the eyes and his tone didn't sound mocking. Something was off.
"Oh that... Considering it was my first time, I think I handled it pretty well... At least I didn't throw up... And now I know I get thirsty afterwards... hence the water..." I explained, lifting the glass of water and then drinking from it, finally feeling better.
"It was your first time drinking or...?" He asked.
"No, I mean I've drank beer before, but Tae usually stops me before I surpass my tolerance level..." I felt comfortable talking to him, because he didn't look like he was trying to make fun of me.
"Well, I would've too, if I had known... So do you... by any chance... remember anything from last night?" He asked cautiously.

The only way I had to save myself from that mess and not having to explain my behaviour of the previous night was to say I didn't remember anything. In which case, he could've still made fun of me by telling me all the dumb things I had said or done, but at least I wouldn't have had to tell him the reason why my drunken and uninhibited self was so clingy to him.
"I... I remember the party... And then the drinks... And that's pretty much it..." I shrugged, then took another sip of water, feeling like that lie had dried my throat.
"Oh good... I mean yeah... It's fine... Nothing happened anyway..." He answered, looking relieved.

It didn't make any sense. Why would he say nothing had happened? The only plausible reason for him to do that would be if he had done something embarrassing as well, but I remembered clearly everything that had happened and I really couldn't think of anything embarrassing he had done.

So why did he lie?

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