riki.nishimura → airport hug

31

→ 8:36PM

We ended up at our next spot, karaoke. Prior to this, we had gone out for a little meal, but mostly we were just going to eat here.

Boyoung had called up some of her friends too, and I wasn't even surprised that they all looked at Niki as if he was some kind of snack.

Same to be honest.

I felt extremely awkward being around Niki, he clearly didn't, he looked as if this was the norm for him. I don't know, maybe I was overthinking it.

I ended up coming to the conclusion that I was really overthinking it. He did it only to shield me from the cameras and people, there was nothing more to it.

Besides, I'm pretty sure he had something with Boyoung anyways.

So, instead of having a decent day out, it ended up me feeling completely low and a little irritated. Obviously, I couldn't express it though, it'd just make me look crazy.

We entered the karaoke booth, and I sat down on the sofa as soon as I got in, just staring at the ceiling for a while as they all decided what to sing first.

"No!! No no! Let's do a folk song, come on, you can't go wrong with Korean folk songs in karaoke, it's the standard thing you have to do when you're in one of these." One of Boyoung's friends, Hye-ko, took control of the remote, clicking on an old Korean folk song.

Four of them began singing, Niki and Sunoo were singing and dancing with such happiness along with Hye-ko and Boyoung.

I don't think I've seen a happier Niki ever. Midway, there was a knock on our door. The song paused, and all of us looked at the door.

It opened, another male peering his head in.

"SUNGHOON!" Sunoo yelled, "Get your ass in here." It seemed as if another of their friends had joined us.

In total, there were eight of us. Sunoo, Niki, me and Boyoung, and then with the addition of Sunghoon, Hye-ko, Minyoung and Jiwon, which made eight.

I gave a light sigh, just feeling relatively low in mood.

→ AN HOUR LATER - 9:45PM

Niki was sat down, talking with Sunghoon as the rest of them were just singing, laughing, dancing, drinking. Jiwon threw herself beside me, looking over my phone.

"Oh? You're Mei Hirata? Right? I've seen your face all over the news." She looked at me, astounded and then with a smile.

I gave her a light smile, taking a sip of alcohol.

"Oh god, your artworks are so beautiful, you know, I wish I could afford them. It's such an honour to meet you." She seemed really excited, and I just nodded my head.

"Thank you, thank you." I quietly thanked her, not really wanting to engage in any conversation.

I noticed Niki glanced over very briefly, at what was going on.

"Please, can I get an autograph, oh my god, and a picture? I can't believe this." She jumped, pulling her phone out before I could even come to a decision.

She took a selfie of two of us, I gave the basic pose, throwing up a peace sign and a humble smile. She scrambled to find a pen and something I could sign.

"You know, I couldn't believe you were so pretty, It was actually so shocking, I didn't even know you were friends with Boyoung." Jiwon seemed very overly obsessed with me right now, and I wasn't feeling social.

But, nonetheless, I signed her autograph, and as she was just talking to me, I just nodded along, saying thanks the occasional times and whatnot.

Take a shot everytime she said 'oh my god'.

After a while of pestering me, she went up to sing, and I didn't even take shots anymore, I just took a swig of the full bottle. That's just how many times she repeated that one phrase.

It seemed to draw Niki's attention, I emptied the full bottle in a singular sitting, and he looked over, quickly telling something to Sunghoon and moving to sit next to me.

"Why are you being so antisocial, I haven't seen you sing yet." A smirk traced his lips, and here, his voice was back to it's less cold feeling, instead he was being more of a tease.

"Fuck off." I leant my head back, closing my eyes for a brief second.

"Damn, what's going on Mei?" Niki sounded genuinely concerned now. I sat up, taking another bottle and drinking straight from it.

I gave a large sigh as the next song started, the group of them beginning to cheer and sing.

I leant my head on his shoulder randomly, which took him by shock a little.

"I'm going home." I whispered, standing up and heading out of the karaoke room, they probably thought I was weird for just sitting there, but it is what it is.