Protected [Han]

7

When I woke up the next morning, I made my normal cup of coffee and headed out to sit at the bistro table. I'd settled into a comfortable routine. Wake up, mantra, coffee, mantra, try to not think about Lee Know and Yoonseo, sleep...

I knew that I could do this for a while...especially if it would mean they stayed safe. When I headed to get my morning paper, Malena was standing outside, chatting to someone. She waved and called me over.

I wasn't exactly fully awake yet, but I smiled and extended a hand to the stranger anyways. "This is Peter," she introduced. "Peter, this is my friend Candy."

"Hi, nice to meet you," I told her.

"Candy was just telling me about a new club opening up."

"Yea! They'll have a sick dj and tons of people will be there. I can get you two on the list though," she offered.

I was about to turn her down...Peter could hate clubs as much as Han, right?

Malena nodded enthusiastically though, "That would be great!"

"Awesome," Candy nodded as she pulled out her phone to text the promoter. I'll see ya there then!"

With that, she left, and my fate was sealed. I couldn't reject Malena for a third time in a row so I was stuck dealing with clubbing. Surely it wouldn't be too bad.

"Want to walk over together? Maybe pregame a bit?" she asked.

"Sure," I told her, though inside I was dying. The last thing I wanted to do was be in a room with a thousand sweaty people too drunk to function.

"Great'! I'll come by at 7," she waved and turned to walk back into her house.

I spent the day mentally preparing for the evening. I made sure the only ID in my wallet was the Peter one, I came up with some topics to chat about, and I premixed virgin rum and coke in my fridge for our pregame. I worried if I got drunk I'd accidentally reveal something true about my life and unintentionally put my family at risk, so I decided I'd suffer through the evening sober.

...I'd suffered through worse.

I'd just put on my loose scoop neck t-shirt when the doorbell rang. I shrugged on my denim jacket and opened the door to see Malena who was dressed in platform heels and a skintight dress.

"I brought Candy with me. I hope that's okay," she said, moving out of the way to reveal her friend who was in a more casual leather pants and lingerie-looking bodysuit.

"Yeah sure," I stepped aside so they could come in, trying to make a mental note of whether I had anything out that would mess up any stories I'd told her but couldn't think of anything.

Malena held up a bottle of tequila as she walked through, "Let's get fucked up!"

She headed into the kitchen to prepare drinks while I hovered near Candy who was interested in the library they'd set up for me. "Have you read all of these?" she asked, running her fingers over one of the titles.