Echo || NCTau ||

6 - About sea glass

Yeoreum was starting to suspect that Haechan was insane.

After having a couple of more glasses of wine, throwing some very cheesy pickup lines in the air and telling her a weird joke about his bestie Mark who allegedly had a great ass, Haechan stumbled on his feet and announced that he was going to perform a dance to her.

"But why?" Yeoreum had remained silent for the most of his odd acts but could no longer remain so when he started demanding that she would have to sing so that he could dance.

"I need music", he whined and nudged her knee with his foot. He was standing next to her while she was still seated against the bed. "I can't dance without a song."

"Then play something from your phone", she snapped. "I don't care about your dance recital anyway."

"Why won't you sing? Is it because – ", Haechan crouched next to her while lowering his voice into a scandalized whisper, "you can't sing?"

Yeoreum didn't budge. "I can't and I won't."

Her words lit up Haechan's face. "I'll teach you! I used to take singing lessons back in the day and my teacher told me that I could've made it in the entertainment scene." He flipped his hair. "I'll have you know that I'm more than just a pretty face, Yeoreum. I'm also amazingly talented!"

It was fascinating how self-assured he was.

"From our pack, I would say that I'm in the top five best performers", he was still going. "Many of us went to same school and we all were in the dance team and one time I won an award."

While she ignored most of his bragging, Yeoreum paid attention to how he had used that word again. "Is pack some kind of new slang word for a friend group?"

Haechan rested his chin against his knees, still crouching in front of her. "I guess that's how humans could see it."

Humans? Yeoreum tilted her head, not understanding why he would use the word as if it excluded him – as if he and the people of his 'pack' weren't human beings.

She wouldn't have paid much attention to his wording if she didn't share her home with two guys who exceeded the traditional definition of what being a human meant. Shotaro and Sungchan had always been meticulously secretive about the second halves of themselves so Yeoreum couldn't really tell if Haechan truly had a secret of similar kind or if he just expressed himself in weird ways.

"Shouldn't you be more careful with what you say?" she asked, eyeing the drunk guy in front of her. If he was anything like her friends, it wasn't wise to speak so carelessly to strangers.

"What do you mean?" Haechan frowned. "What did I say?"

Yeoreum shook her head. It was useless to have serious conversation with him. She changed the topic, motioning towards the empty bottle on the floor, "Do you have any more wine?"

Instead of wine, Haechan found a small bottle of whiskey from the minibar. Yeoreum knew that it wasn't very smart to mix up so many types of alcohol during one night (especially when she hadn't had a proper dinner) but she had to take advantage of the situation where she didn't have to pay for the drinks.

The whiskey burned her throat.

The bottle was finished quickly and soon the room looked even fuzzier than before. Yeoreum's head rested against the bed and her eyes felt heavy. It had been ages since she had consumed so much alcohol and she wasn't sure if she had ever done so in such a reckless manner. She needed to get a grip of herself.

"You know, I really appreciate it", Haechan mumbled out of nowhere.

"Appreciate what?"

Haechan motioned towards her. "I appreciate you. You saved my life and now you're keeping me company and drinking with me." He gave her a lopsided grin. "I would've been sad if I had to spend the evening alone, so you're like a knight in shining armor, saving me from loneliness after saving me from death."