THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Party, Pt. 7

But the question didn't stop there.

By an amazing stroke of luck (or misfortune), the following spins of the bottle ended up choosing Byulyi as the "victim" and the questions were becoming more and more intrusive.

"Byulyi, I'll ask you the same question Daniel asked you earlier just for the fun of it - have you ever had feelings for him? Like, I'm just curious. I mean, there's no harm answering right? Seokjin's in a relationship anyway."

"Byulyi! Wow, it's you again, hahaha. I wanted to ask if you've ever thought of dating Seokjin before. Because honestly, when the school year began, I thought the two of you would make a pretty cute couple."

"Ah- my turn to ask! Byulyi - I was wondering, has Seokjin ever done anything to make your heart flutter before? Like just a totally casual question, I mean- You guys spend so much time together, there must be a time when-"

"I'll drink."

That was the default response Byulyi had given after every single question she was asked. She couldn't understand it - were Hoseok's friends were really that clueless? Or were they purposely giving her a hard time? Those were ridiculous questions Byulyi would never answer, and people who knew her well would know that.

And she drank.

Byulyi was never one to hold her liquor well. She had started drinking casually since the day she had turned 19 years old last year. She was two whole years older than the rest because back when she was 15, she had skipped school to settle her problematic family issues and take care of her grandma. But anyway, she never drank much though, because she simply couldn't afford it. And her alcohol tolerance was trash.

But she had to drink, for Jisoo's sake.

She peeked over in Jisoo's direction. She was looking visually upset at this point. I mean, who wouldn't? Byulyi was upset as well. What kind of insensitive questions were these? But as long as she kept drinking, the secrets wouldn't be exposed. Well, she could lie. She had lied about her feelings for Seokjin long enough, why not lie till the end?

But now even Seokjin knew.

Her eyes shifted towards Seokjin, who was looking at her, with a look of concern. Oh, he knew. The way she cupped his face in her hands back in that storeroom, the way she didn't flinch at all when he was about to kiss her, the way she closed her eyes-

Wait, he did know... right?

She had left in a hurry back there, not explaining that it was because of Jisoo she couldn't do that. Or perhaps, for some extremely odd reason, he didn't know. Maybe his deluded eyes could have filtered out every single hint that she liked him and focused on the way she had run from that storeroom like her life depended on it.

So... maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

What use was there thinking about this now? Byulyi herself didn't even know. Seokjin and her hadn't talked about the incident since yesterday. Was it just a one-off kinda thing? It was a common thing Byulyi had seen before in those Hollywood television series - hooking up accidentally on one night and forgetting about it totally the next, like it never happened, like it didn't matter.

But to Byulyi, it mattered.

It mattered so freaking much. She didn't even get a good night's worth of sleep because she was tossing and turning in bed, wondering what she should do. She came to the party to take her mind off him, because Hoseok said he wasn't coming. But guess what? He was here too. And seeing him obviously made her heart hurt. Obviously, what happened yesterday mattered way more than anyone knew.

But what about him? Did he care?

Seokjin had said he wanted to be with her... but did he say he was going to be with her? Byulyi laughed bitterly as she wiped the alcohol from her mouth. Knowing him, he probably didn't have the courage to break up with Jisoo and be with her. Well, she had no reason to fault him for that. He was awfully similar to her, in many ways, and she probably wouldn't have the courage to do so either - if she was in his position.

"Good job, Byulyi!" Hoseok patted Byulyi on the back.

"Are you okay?" Yoojung shouted across the room, looking concerned. Everyone looked concerned about Byulyi - she had already downed her fourth glass of alcohol that night.

Byulyi was totally not okay. She could feel her throat burning, blood rushing to her face and her brain becoming foggier and foggier by the second. She wasn't feeling good at all.

"I'm good."

"Alright, then!" Hoseok exclaimed cheerfully. "Let's spin the bottle again!"

Hoseok reached forward and Byulyi willed the bottle not to point to her again. One more sip and she was gonna be wasted. She watched on intently as the bottle slowed down and came to a slow stop.

"Oh my god, it's Byulyi again!"

Darn it.