Chocolate Hearts | Jongin

11. Propositions

Chocolate Hearts
Chapter Eleven
Propositions

There was a pounding in her head, like someone was constantly hitting a hammer against her skull. Nari groaned and buried her face in her pillow, squeezing her eyes more tightly shut to try and block out the throbbing in her head. It was constant, it was not going away, and it hurt like hell.

Grogginess and sleep still clinging to her, and it felt like her eyelids were coated with iron. Nari didn't want to wake up, or have to wake up - if her head hurt this much with her eyes closed, she could only imagine how it would throb when she opened her eyes and let the light filter in.

For a moment she just lay there, still, ignoring everything else and just trying to make herself feel alive again. Because this couldn't be part of being alive; she felt so terrible and groggy and dazed.

It was when she was lying still that she became aware of her burning, parched throat, and how hot she was smothered under her thickest blankets. In her hazy state, Nari found confusion swimming within her. Wasn't she under more blankets than usual?

Groaning, Nari strained her mind back as much as she could, trying to discover why she felt this way. She last clearly remembered going to the party with Yumi. Things became fuzzy after that, though Nari couldn't understand why. She'd only touched one glass of alcohol, after all, she remembered that part clearly. But she felt like she had a hangover, and was recovering from a night she spent heavily drinking.

But that can't be. I know my low alcohol tolerance, and I don't even like the stuff very much, anyway.

Unless...

Nari moaned and covered her face with her hands. Fuzzy, disjointed snippets of conversation with Yumi came floating back to her. She didn't remember much of it, but she thought she could recall Yumi saying the fruit punch had been spiked. And Nari had been drinking from it for the entirety of the party.

Damn it! Nari cursed inwardly. Had it been spiked a lot? Just how drunk had she been last night? How had she gotten home - how was she still in one piece? How had she not passed out on the bathroom floor or something?

Nari tried to remember details of the previous night, but even as she lay in bed for half an hour, waiting for some of the grogginess to alleviate, she couldn't remember a thing. Over that time, the dryness of her throat made itself more and more pronounced until Nari couldn't stand it any longer; her stomach felt uncomfortable, too. Moaning, and cursing herself for getting so drunk, Nari half-fell out of bed and pulled her dressing down over her pyjamas. She was only mildly surprised to find that somehow she had changed out of her jeans of the previous I night; she was now wearing track pants, and a loose sweater had been placed over her top.

Her head span with each step she took. Nari sniffed the air as she shuffled down the corridor and frowned. It smelt like something was cooking, and... Ew. Her nose wrinkled. Something smelt like it was burning.

Nari emerged into the kitchen, rubbing her temples to try and relieve her head from the constant, pounding headache. She paused in the doorway and looked up, wanting to detect the reason for the burning.

Her mouth promptly dropped open when she did.

Someone stood in the kitchen, frowning at an attempt to cook something - Nari couldn't tell what from the distance she was standing. She had never expected to see him in her apartment, let alone that morning.

Kim Jongin was cooking in her kitchen.

If the alcohol hadn't caused her to pass out in the middle of her apartment, Nari thought the sight of Kim Jongin, cooking in her kitchen, would do the trick. She clutched the wall, her mouth falling open.