The games room was filled with smoke and deep chuckles, the men gathered inside all had pipes or cigars and where drinking a fancy whiskey from glasses. The leather of the couches creased from the usage over the years and smelt of man, not a very pleasant smell. They all boasted about their achievements and new properties and making bets on random affairs, some where skilled enough to partake in pool, others just enjoyed the conversation.
Hongjoong slouched deep into a leather chair, sulking over Gray dancing with Seonghwa, a cigar placed in his mouth and he puffed out smoke. Jongho sat more properly beside him, choosing not to participate in smoking.
Seonghwa entered the packed library, pinching his nose from the smell and walking over to sit with Jongho and Hongjoong, he looked over at Seonghwa glaring at him and puffed smoke into his face.
"That's a filthy habit." Seonghwa remarked.
Hongjoong removed the cigar from his mouth and set it on the coffee table, blowing the rest of the smoke out of his mouth. "What do you want? Did you come here just to say that?"
"I'm sorry for courting Gray as well, but I care about her perhaps more than you."
Jongho could feel the air in the atmosphere become more stiff and tried to stand up to leave but Yunho walked over from the pool table and pushed him back down onto the couch and sitting beside him. Yunho reached over and grabbed Hongjoongs cigar and put it in his mouth, blowing out the smoke.
"You two are being so childish fighting over a girl. You can't force her to be with you if she loves the other." Yunho said, placing the cigar back down.
Wooyoung and Mingi both entered the library and spotted their group of friends and made their way over, sitting in the couches beside the 4.
"Whiskey?" Jongho asked, standing up and going over to grab drinks for the boys.
"I proposed to her first so you need to back off." Hongjoong growled at Seonghwa.
"Don't fight over something so small. You're being quite ridiculous." Wooyoung said, smoke from his own cigarette leaving his mouth as he spoke.
Seonghwa smirked at Wooyoung and then at Hongjoong.
"In the end she will chose whoever she truly loves, and it might not be either of us. You need to accept it." Seonghwa said calmly.
Jongho returned with the drinks and set them on the table for the boys to grab. Yeosang and San came into the room, Yeosang sitting with Wooyoung and Mingi and San went over to his brother, they had just got back from dropping their sisters off at home.
"Yeosang who would you prefer Gray to marry. Seonghwa or Hongjoong?" Yunho said to Yeosang and handed him the cigar.
He sat there for a moment, breathing in the tobacco or whatever is in that shit. "Neither, you're both not good enough." He said at last. The boys around him laughed and drank the alcohol from their glasses.
"Mingi! What's up with you and Jongho and San's sister?" Hongjoong tried to push the topic away from him and Seonghwa.
"You better not be trying to take her innocence or I will have to shoot you." San jokingly threatened Mingi, even though in reality both Jongho and San wouldn't even hesitate to make ends meet if he did something to her.
Mingi chuckled lightly. "No, you have a very special sister. I'm serious about her."
The boys awed at their friends blushing face.
"Same goes for you two." Yeosang pointed the cigar at Hongjoong and Seonghwa. "If you do anything to Gray, you can say goodbye to daylight." He takes a swig of his whiskey.
"Not if they kill each other first." San joked and the boys burst into laughter again.
Seonghwa and Hongjoong both left to go to the bathroom and the boys crowded around the table.
"50 euros Gray choses Hongjoong." Yunho slaps down the money on the table.
"She will go with Seonghwa in the end." Wooyoung smiled and placed his own 50 euros down.
Jongho joined Yunho on Hongjoong and San went with Wooyoung. Yeosang didn't want to bet on his own sister and Mingi just didn't care. The two boys came back not long after and their conversation resumed as if nothing happened.
There was a knock on the door and one of the men let the group of prostitutes in.
In those times, men would gather, drink and smoke in the library after parties. It was their time to interact with the other men and do their own thing. Prostitutes where often brought in and the men would take them to motels to spend the night, it wasn't an uncommon thing to have a mistress or a one night stand with a peasant, prostitute, entertainer or farm worker.
The boys watched as the girl solicited the other men and took that as their cue to leave, they stood up leaving their drinks and left the library going back to their homes and getting to sleep.
