Crime, Betrayal, and Love (A Seventeen Street Racing AU)

XXXIII | A Friendly Night

As the group leaves for the races, I walk upstairs to my current room. Dropping down onto my bed and inserting a singular earbud, I play one of my favorite songs, "i swear i'll never leave again" by Keshi, and enter my book app to browse for a new story to read.

Ignoring the age-old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover," I scroll past plenty of stories with tacky or boring covers. It would be easier to find something if I knew what I wanted to read. Fantasy? Romance? Action? Comedy? Historic?

After searching for nearly half an hour, I finally find something of interest. A Modern rom-com about two online gamer friends who unknowingly are roommates. But they hate each other as roommates. From the description, it seems mostly light-hearted, which is definitely what I need right now.

Reading through the first four chapters helps boost my mood, enhanced by the light-hearted background music playing as I read.

Halfway through the first page of the fifth chapter, I hear the noise of the front door slamming shut and a deep voice talking to himself.

Both Curious and distracted, I place my phone down, making a mental note to buy a physical copy of the book later, and head downstairs.

Usually, the races last longer into the night, and I'm curious about who came home. Maybe it'll be someone I'm comfortable with, and I may be able to start a light conversation while getting a glass of water, or it'll be someone I'm not comfortable with, and I'll just get some water and head back to my book.

I shouldn't have to be worried about Minghao, considering he is racing, and if the race crew was coming home, there should be much more commotion.

Already in the fridge when I enter the kitchen, Mingyu pops his head out from the refrigerator to watch as I come into the room.

"Oh, hey!" He smiles, returning to scramble through the fridge for food.

"Left the race early?" I ask, going to sit at the counter, forgetting about the water.

"I had other business." He shrugs. "To be honest, I thought you were going to be asleep since you didn't go."

"I don't usually go to bed this early," I laugh, reading the clock on the stove. 12:30 was an early night for me. With both Jisoo and me working late into the night, it just made sense to sleep in some and stay up for the night. Plus, it was pretty hard to fall asleep on race nights, which there were a lot of. "Especially now," I add. My sleep schedule has definitely been modified since moving in. It feels like I see more of the night than I do the sunlight now. Except on the day I force myself up early to walk Jisoo to college.

Really I'm not sure how Jisoo does it. Balancing a late schedule and relatively early college classes. Yet somehow, she does. I used to catch her dozing off while doing homework or studying for an upcoming project, but I doubt she's had time to do that recently.

Mingyu continues to rummage through the fridge, and the room falls silent. I shortly consider going up to my room and resuming my book, but I quickly shut the idea down. It feels strangely nice in the kitchen.

Shutting the fridge doors, Mingyu turns around empty-handed. "Hey, are you hungry?" Mingyu asks, taking down two packs of ramen from the shelves before I even answer.

"It's almost one a.m." I chuckle, "But why not."

Mingyu throws me a smile as he starts filling a pot with water. "Any reason you didn't want to go to the race today? Still not feeling well?"

I shortly contemplate how best to answer as I sit down at the island counter. "I feel fine, just wasn't in the mood." I shrug, although he can't see as his back is turned to me. "How about you?"