Bittersweet | Do Kyung-seok

𝟭𝟯. nice piece of art

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
going round again in an emotional blender 

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     𝐂haewon let Mirae sit in the passenger seat even though she insisted. Ms. Na drove the car, the three of them lulling into a normal conversation. She tried not to think about the bad things, and let herself relax at least just for tonight. Mirae didn't need to know more than she already had about her. She liked to keep her personal life private and that's the way it should always be.

     "I used to walk here like this," Ms. Na said, reminiscing about her times as a university student as they drove around the night street.

    "Why?" Mirae asked innocently.

    She made a surprised face at her. "Why do you think? Because I was drunk."

     Chaewon scoffed amusingly from the backseat. The CEO glanced at her from the upper mirror inside the car, the corner of her lips lifting into a small smirk at her reaction. I guess, she finally knows where Do Kyung-seok got it from. Chaewon shook her head at the thought.

     "Do you drink, Mirae?" She asked. "What about you, Chaewon?"

    "Just a little," Mirae answered just as Chaewon shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

     "Then let's skip dinner and go drink right away," Ms. Na suggested. "You two can choose where we should go."

    "I'll leave that for Mirae to decide," Chaewon chimed in.

     Mirae blinked nervously. "I don't know that many bars."

     "I don't mind going anywhere." Ms. Na grinned.

    She really didn't. Naturally, they ended up in a familiar bar where the frosh week party happened. The place didn't look too busy that night, which made everything a little better. Clinks of glasses and faint chatters could be heard around them. Behind the counter, Seo Yoo-jin, the owner of the underground bar, greeted them with a big smile. Honestly one of the brightest people she ever came across. Sometimes, it made her wonder how Kyung-seok became friends with him.

     "Welcome," Yoo-jin greeted. He seemed to recognize the two freshmen as he looked delighted at the sight of them. "Is it just you three?"

    "Yes." Ms. Na nodded.

    He smiled at them and gestured to the nearest empty table. "Please sit down."

     The three sat around the table, Mirae and Ms. Na facing each other while Chaewon faced no one. It didn't take long for their orders to come. A few random dishes here and there and three green bottles of Soju. Chaewon mostly drank the Green Grape flavored ones. They laughed and talked to each other, Mirae was mostly the one doing all the talking while Chaewon listened.

    Ms. Na drank as well as she thought. Mirae, on the other hand, Chaewon knew she was a bad drinker from the way her face scrunched up at the taste of the alcohol at the tip of her tongue. Unlike her, while she didn't like drinking━Chaewon could handle her alcohol. She had a phase, okay? Losing her best friend was hard, and then growing up without her parents? That was enough to make her crazy.

    She couldn't count how many shots they had taken but it was a lot. Mirae was laughing now too, which she doesn't do too often. She always seemed guarded and careful, but now, she was carefree and her eyes shined like bright city lights. One thing they all shared though was the redness on their cheeks. They weren't slowing down with their drinking, getting lost in the moment.