Chocolate Hearts | Jongin

12. Moonlight

Chocolate Hearts
Chapter Twelve
Moonlight

Nari had copped a lot from her night at the party.

Minutes after Kai had left and the Overdose album just started to play Moonlight, Hye-Ja had phoned. And she had not been happy.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Hye-Ja had snapped as soon as Nari answered her call. "Going off when you know you don't handle parties and alcohol well, you should have known something like this would happen especially when you weren't in such a good frame of mind! You were foolish, Nari, I thought you had more sense than this!"

Hye-Ja had continued to vent, and when she'd finally finished, she'd been breathless. Nari tried to relax her friend and assure her that nothing like that would happen again. Eventually Hye-Ja calmed down and expressed her relief that Nari was okay.

She'd also received a call from Yumi halfway through the day, checking up on her. Yumi had cried and sounded so guilty for dragging Nari into that environment and Nari had to reassure her friend what felt like a hundred times that yes, she okay okay and no, she didn't blame Yumi in the slightest for the events of the previous night and yes, she still treasured Yumi dearly and still wanted to be her friend. When they ended the conversation Yumi still wasn't her usual upbeat and cheery self, but had sounded better.

Jongdae phoned later on in the day, and the conversation with him was almost as bad as Hye-Ja's and Yumi's put together.

"You shouldn't have gone," her friend said at once. "Nari, do you know how worried I was when Baekhyun phoned and told me you were about to pass out? I thought I was going to pass out myself, I was shaking so much. I came as quick as I could and to see you in that condition..." Her friend had paused. "I never want to see you like that again, do you hear me? You scared me."

Nari bit her lip, guilt stabbing her heart. "I'm so sorry, Jongdae," she'd whispered. "I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. It's not going to happen again, I can assure you of that."

"Damn right you won't," her friend grumbled, and then voices shouted down the line, hoping that she was okay - that someone turned out to be Kai and Baekhyun. Nari smiled and related the message that she was, and the tense atmosphere between herself and Jongdae lessened considerably and they moved on to discuss how practice had gone that day.

The week progressed normally enough. Their store did their usual steady business. When Nari turned in the work on the Monday, Hye-Ja was already there and fussed greatly over Nari, checking her for signs of tiredness and quizzing her continuously about her health. It was during moments like that, Nari remembered that yes, Hye-Ja was indeed the oldest out of all of them.

Yumi was a little more quiet than usual, but her bright smile still lit up the room. The minute she arrived she apologised again, and kept making sure that Nari was drinking enough water throughout the day.

She kept in contact with Jongdae and the others, sending quick texts and photos. Her mother was someone else she kept in contact with. Knowing her mother's delicate situation, Nari continued to give her updates on her life assure her that her daughter was happy.

However, her mother's words stayed with her. It made her feel weird whenever couples came in, or a boy, and requested some of their chocolate hearts to buy for their partner, whether for an anniversary or birthday or just an act to show their love. It was almost uncomfortable to hand over the hearts to couples with shining eyes and bright, warm smiles for each other when she was unsure about love herself?

Though, how could she truly say that, when she was unsure what was going on between herself and Kai?

Nari groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. He had sent her a text on Wednesday, asking if she was free on Saturday after work, and would be able to meet him at SM to start their dance practices. She had typed back that she could, and his reply had been almost instant, telling her he'd meet her outside.