Someplace Like Home |n.j

29.

"So you're still leaving?"

The three of us decided to get together for some soju at Hoseok's house. We're spread across the sofa, sitting freely with our legs on the cushions.

Nami's drinking the somaek I mixed for her.

"Yeah," She replied to Hoseok with an exhale, rubbing on her elbow, "I want to, it's not because I have to this time."

Hoseok kisses his teeth with a nod, "All the more reason to go then, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," One side of her lip lifts up as she smiled cooly and raised her glass to Hoseok. I sat back and just simply watched her.

"Ai, how can you get yourself to leave this poor man?" Hoseok pointed his drink at me, and I hold in my breath in embarrassment. I think my ears are red now.

"That's why you need to take care of him, Hoseok." She replied with a warm tone to her voice.

Nami's accent is not as prominent as it used to be, sometimes I even forget that she isn't a native speaker. Nowadays you can only tell when we're talking about something with specific terms and she just doesn't know them. Nami's quick and smart, it doesn't take much for her to learn or adapt.

"Nah," Hoseok looks like he's about to say something I'd want to smack him for. I don't know why I feel it. His face seems more hit-able than usual.

"This man won't take anybody else's attention anymore," Hoseok waved with his head shaking. He's drunk.

"You know when you two were doing that cold war thing?" I watched with a grimace as Nami's expression contorted into one of discomfort, "He crashed at my sofa and wouldn't move for like five days. He didn't even show up to work,"

Hoseok's laughing lightly, completely missing the expression of guilt on Nami's face, and he continues on, "He was whining about everything, he was like 'She'll never get to drink a good somaek'."

He lowered his tone to mimic my voice. I don't even sound like that.

Nami looks down at the drink in her hand, then up at me. It's always those eyes that make me want to bury her in my arms. She looks like she's about to cry.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom, actually," She pushed herself up from the couch and chuckled lightly, but I could hear the crack in her voice.

"Oh," Hoseok's stupid mouth replied as his eyes followed her out of the frame.

"Is..she okay?"

I glare at him, then snatch the alcohol out of his hand, "Go drink some water."

I set his bottle on the kitchen counter before striding down the hall towards the bathroom. I lean against the door once I reach it, and give it two knocks.

"Hello?" She sounded flustered as she replied.

I rested my ears against the wood, "Can I come in?"

"Uh, I'm getting out anyway," The door falls back and I stumble forward, lifting my head to see the red in her eyes.

"Excuse me," Nami mumbled while she tried to get past me. I hold her shoulder and close the door behind us.
She lets out a sigh and gives in, slumping her shoulders.

"Hey," My hand raises up to hug her red cheek, it's warmer than usual and I'm guessing it's the alcohol, "He's drunk, he's being dumb. Don't worry about it."

Nami leaned against the sink and gulped harshly. My eyes trail to my hand as she took it into her smaller ones. She fumbles with my fingers and I smile just the slightest.

"Is it true though? What he said?"

I wish I could lie to her.

"Yeah," I swallowed, "Don't dwell on it," My free hand pats the back of her head and slides down her hair. I dip my head low and manage to kiss her forehead just once before she pulls away.

"That's the problem. You're still comforting me, I don't want you to. I hurt you, not the other way around, Namu."

She calls me by my Japanese name more now, I like to think it's because she's reconnecting with her roots, and that she considers me to be a close part of her. But maybe I'm reaching.

"But you never wanted to. It's not your fault. How I dealt with myself isn't your responsibility. Give yourself a break."

Nami nodded slowly, despite probably still feeling uneasy about it, and I smile, kissing her crown this time.

"Thanks for the somaek, by the way," She intertwined my hand with hers, and my stomach responded with a flip.

"It's good?"

"Yeah," She nodded.

"Then I'm happy," I take my hand out of hers and slither my arms around her waist. I want to kiss her now.

I lift her up until she sits on the counter. Nami was quick to hug my neck. My gaze trails to the tears around her eyes, and my hand follows.

"I wasn't crying," She quickly blurted out. I chuckled at her as I thumbed them away. Nami just can't be seen weak to save her life.

"Yeah, sure you weren't," I mumbled nonchalantly while I leaned in to seal our lips. Nami's stomach presses against mine as my hand pushes her back towards me, and I shiver when something warm swipes over my cupid's bow before slipping past my lips. She takes over my mouth and my hands find their way across her body, then finding home in her tangled locks.

A cloud of heat surrounds us as the sound of our lips entangling covers our ears from the rest of the world. Nami's soft noises of restricted moans makes my hips nudge closer to her core, and it becomes even harder when her hand sneaks down to fumble with the buckle of my belt.

"Are you guys alright?" A muffled voice intrudes from behind the door. We ignore him and Nami breaks our lips to unzip her pants and slide them down. I do the same hastily with my chest heaving for her mouth again.

"Jesus," Hoseok groans at the sound of our clothes hitting the floor, "Well, the condoms are in the drawer,"

I stretch my arm out and pull out the drawer, snatching the protective item and slamming it back shut.

My teeth traps the packaging while I rip it and I hurriedly slip the condom over my member.

Nami huffs roughly and pulls her top over her head and tosses it to the ground. Her white bralette pops out from the removed fabric and my adam's apple bop at the sight of her breasts dancing in the rhythm of Nami's movement.

"You're welcome??" The same vexatious voice tears Nami's lips from mine and I nearly fall to my knees crying for her to just focus on me and get rid of the tension in my body that craves for her heat.

"Shut the fuck up!" Nami yells and even I was shocked to realize that my body found her retort sexy and arousing. Everything was getting amplified again. The smell of her neck, the heat of her breath, the simple touch of her fingers on my bare chest.

Nami gives the door one last glare before grabbing my cheek and sending me body into heaven just like every other time I let her hot swollen lips invade me.

And only when it was over, would I find out that this was the last time.