Just This Much

19: Hope

The call got accepted by the third ring, but no one spoke from the other line. Confusion masked her face before she decided to break the silence herself.

"Hello? Is this Senior Hei-won?," she hesitantly asked. "I'm calling because Kio—"

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't speak because it's an unknown number. Yes, this is Hei-won, did Kio do something? May I know who's speaking?" The lively voice of the guy finally gave her relief.

"Hello senior, this is Lilac of K4RMA. Uhm... I ended up being in charged of making sure everyone safely went back to their suites, and I'm also cleaning up the mess here—"

"Ahh mess... you mean Kio," he chuckled.

Her eyes immediately widened, "no! I mean, the mess uhh... you know, trash and empty bottles and..."

"Drunk friends, don't worry Lilac, I understand!" His laugh became even louder and she doesn't even know how the guy can have so much energy so late at night. "Can you stay with him for a while? The hotel we're checked in is a bit far, it'll take me around twenty minutes to arrive there."

"Of course senior, no problem."

"Thank you Lilac! And just call me Hei-won, no need for formalities. Don't worry, our Ki-Ryeong may be known as a playboy but he sleeps around with consent, and he still respects his partner, and women in general. He's not a perverted asshole that will do anything to hurt you. He may be a bit clingy when drunk, but he's just like a cute kitten wanting love and attention."

His words took some time to process inside her brain; TMI senior, TMI.

In the end, she just awkwardly laughed and muttered a reluctant 'okay.'

Once she made sure the older guy is coming to fetch their youngest, she ended the call and whirled around to see the said 'mess.' She found him staring drunkenly at the glass of ice-cold water in front of him, a frown on his face. She sighed, walked towards his corner booth and sat on the couch only an arm-length away from him. 

He didn't even budge on his seat despite the movement, and just continued staring at the glass.

"Drink it so your hangover won't be that bad," she finally spoke after a minute of just watching the boy.

He turned towards her, mouth parted in shock.

What? Her brows furrowed; What are you looking at?

Much to her horror, he started tearing up before eventually crying nonstop.

"W-what...? Hey!" Lilac hurriedly slid closer to him, her heart beating erratically in fear of having done something wrong. She looked around and saw the three employees who were formerly cleaning up, now looking at her with surprised faces. "I- I don't know what's wrong, too!" she exclaimed in panic. The woman who had been helping her, said something in Japanese before she left with her co-workers.

What the heck is wrong with you, Ahn Ki-Ryeong!? Is this because of the same reason? Then why me? Why is it always me?! I'm out of whatever you're going through! She bit her lip, stopping herself from voicing out her thoughts. 

How heartless Li, can't you see that someone's having an emotional breakdown in front of you? Just because you hate his guts, doesn't mean you're just going to ignore the fact that he's human too who's capable of getting hurt as well.

So... he's really heartbroken? Someone really was able to make this guy fall head over heels for her and leave him in pain like this? Damn, she wants to meet that girl.

"M-maybe... she's a lesson for you, right? I mean, I'm not saying this is karma but..." Shit, she's bad at this! "You know, there are certain situations when fate brings you a person who's not really supposed to stay. She just came to be an eye-opener or someone who will be the reason for you to change for the better. You get what I'm trying to say? Yeah?," she shrugged, looking at the boy.