𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ˢᵛᵗ

twelve ♬

Two hours and 12 bottles of soju later, only half of us remained.

Vernon and Wonwoo fell asleep after two shots, so Seungcheol piggybacked them back to the dorms. JJ and Bo-ri called it a night after one bottle each and left. Obviously, we still have a sense of responsibility so as soon as the alcohol came out Chan was sent away to his room. He reluctantly left after I promised to watch his new dance routine that he choreographed. Whereas Mingyu; he tried one shot, coughed a whole bunch, hated the taste so he took a slice of cake and went back to his room. The funniest one yet though was Soonyoung, who threw up all over Josh after dancing too hard. Both of them left to go get cleaned up, but not until after Soonyoung finished his dance.

That meant Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Jihoon, Jun, Minghao, Seokmin, Seungkwan and I stayed behind. Everyone was pretty drunk at this point, minus Seungcheol, Jeonghan and I. The three of us had only had around three shots of soju give or take and we are all heavyweights when it come to drinking. At that moment, a drunk Seungkwan proposed an idea.

"Let's play truth or drink!" He suggested, clapping his hands as he spoke.

It wasn't the worst idea. We all gathered around, each persons shot glass filled with soju.

The rules were straightforward. Someone asks a question to you and you either answer truthfully, or drink the shot. The more questions you avoid, the drunker you get.

"Ok ok I'll start," Jihoon said, turning towards Jeonghan.

"Jeonghan, are you a virgin?"

"Of course I am Jihoon! What kind of question was that?" Jeonghan hit Jihoon's arm out of shock. The boy only giggled at his reaction, making Jeonghan hit him again.

It was Jeonghan's turn now.

"Hmmmm okay," He thought

"Minghao, out of all of us sitting here, whom do you feel least closest to?"

I saw Minghao visibly tense up. Poor boy, he probably doesn't want to hurt anyone. He was about to drink his soju when he reconsidered.

"I'd have to say Seungkwan," Minghao answered

"Only because we have no lessons together."

We turned to see Seungkwan's reaction, only to see him nodding in agreement. Huh, I thought he'd be more upset about that but I guess not.

The game went on for a little longer. Seungkwan asked Jun if he would ever consider pole dancing, to which Jun drank. Seungcheol asked Seokmin wether he preferred Youngpil or another staff member named Yuki, which was one of the tamer questions asked. I remember my question being directed to Jihoon, about if he'd ever write a scandalous song. He answered with "already have," and took the shot anyways. Everyone had already answered question, leaving me to last. It was now Seokmin's turn to ask the question.

"Chae-li," He started. The alcohol in his system made his words slur slightly, making him mispronounce my name.

"Do you think I'm cute?"

His body was turned to face me and he struck a pose. The others laughed at him, making him break out of his character and laugh with them.

He was so drunk, I'm not sure if he'd even remember my answer. So I said,

"Of course."

He gave me the brightest smile I'd ever seen, almost making my heart skip a beat. His question ended up being the last one because everyone else was too intoxicated to continue. Since Seungcheol, Jeonghan and I were the most sober ones, we each were in charge of making sure the others got back to their rooms safely.

Seungcheol took Jihoon and Seungkwan.

Jeonghan took Jun and Minghao.

I was tasked with Seokmin.

I was last to leave as I was the one who offered to clean up the room. Seungcheol told me he was eternally grateful and gave me a thumbs up before taking his two boys away. Jeonghan gave me a hug and wished me goodnight as he too left.

Now it was just me and Seokmin. He sat on the chair at the left side of the wall, swinging his legs like a giddy child. He watched me pick up the soju bottles and giggled whenever I looked at him.

Drunk Seokmin is just Sober Seokmin but ten times more hyper.

I finished up with the cleaning and then went over to him, letting him know that it was time to go to bed now.

"You'll have to catch me first!" He shouted before running off. I didn't even have time to react because he was already out the door. Rushing out to find him, I noticed that the hallway was eerily empty. It was scary being here alone.

"Seokmin?" I called out. No answer. I walked down a bit more before calling his name again, this time a little louder.

"Seokmin?"

Still silence. I was about to go see Seungcheol and tell him that I lost Seokmin as two arms snakes around my shoulders, holding me tight.

My heartbeat quickened. There was nobody else here a minute ago and now there are two arms grabbing hold of me.

This is it, I thought to myself, this is how it ends.

The weight of someone's head pressed into my shoulder as a small voice said

"I'm tired now."

It was Seokmin's.

I let out a breath of relief before unclasping his grip from my body. His arm remained slung around my shoulder, keeping him from falling down.

"You really must be drunk," I muttered as I carried him forwards. All of a sudden, his free hand stopped me from walking. He looked me directly in the eyes.

"I want to tell you something," He said before unslinging his arm and leading me back to the practice room.