𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘴

05

BARO gulped hard. he was very unforgiving of his own past relationship with sunmi- his own ray of sunlight in his life before and now his living regret.

sure, it was not his intention to let her go easily; but nonetheless, here he is: accompanied by jin in a street bar trying to hit as many bottles as he can.

jin was surely a good friend to tolerate his wanting to move on via bottles. jin was just there, trying to keep himself sane so he could still carry a sober guy after the session.

"you should drink slow," jin cautioned him as his face was plastered with the look of concern.

"nah, i can handle it," baro assured him with a strong tone as the beer had made his voice raspy.

baro, while admiring the shot glass, turned to look at the youngest liner. jin stared back, wondering what baro's drunk mind could have seen in him.

"you're so good-looking," baro suddenly chirped. "you could really use a girlfriend for that face, you know."

jin did not know how to respond to that. other than being embarrassed by the wrong-sized condoms baro bought for him, he was actually flattered that baro finds him so. he was not sure if he would ride with baro's humor and reply cheesily or just keep quiet.

but then again, jin had always wanted the opportunity to be his special focus of attention for some reason only he knew.

"kim seokjin, why are you quiet?" baro asked, acting all bossy.

"nothing," jin smiled kindly to the drunkard before him before inserting his narcissistic humor, "i think you're handsome as well, but not as handsome as me."

baro laughed. jin chuckled as well. but baro's were more on the feeling of comfort that somebody was there to watch him fall in the midst of being heartbroken.

yet jin knew himself that whether baro knew or not, he was going to catch him like the broad-shouldered adonis he was.

baro admired the shot glass again; this time, harder.

"sunmi?" he uttered in a lost tone.

jin's smile vanished at the sound of the name he knew all too well. his eyes lingered to the main door in front of him, where sunmi and her new boyfriend appeared.

jin cursed in his head. why in such a time should she ruin him in his most vulnerable moment?

and with her new tall-ass boyfriend, too.

baro turned around at the sound of the door opening. as soon as he saw it, he grimaced so hard he apparently looked hideous.

"chanyeol," he uttered as if beer was not bitter enough. "of all the men in this entire world, why does it have to be that asshole?!"

this time, jin was having a slight panic. he tried to slip in a glass of water to lessen his drunkard self.

"i gave her everything, jin;" baro growled, "everything!"

"calm down," jin tried to soothe him, "don't make any rash decisions- baro!"

too late; baro had stood up.

he courageously walked with no doubts nor shame as he made his way to where sunmi and chanyeol was.

sunmi was all sitting prettily with a smile until baro had slammed his hand over their table. the couple gazed up to meet baro who was fuming over their relationship.

"what's your deal?" chanyeol asked, not really wanting to be bothered while they were trying to order a drink.

baro immediately grabbed chanyeol by the collar, pulling him off his heat and made him bend down a bit for having such a height.

"you bastard! that's my girl you're talking to!" baro roared at chanyeol's face. "i don't give a crap if you can do good or whatever, but i loved her better than you! and i always will!"

"you little ass!" chanyeol grunted as he tried to land a punch on the drunkard.

but not before jin and sunmi pushed them far apart from each other.

"baro, stop it!" jin yelled at him.

sunmi tried to nurse chanyeol's composure, on the other hand, and tried to confront baro. but chanyeol stopped her from saying anyhing else.

"chanyeol," sunmi sighed, "this is not okay. baro just tried to-"

"sunmi, i want you back!" baro apparently interrupted them with a plead.

chanyeol took a deep breath as he tried to pull off a smug smile to baro. "so you want her back that much?"

"damn right, i freaking do, you asshole!" baro growled with a threatening attempt to attack him while jin had to pull him back and restrain him hard.

"chanyeol, what are you doing?!" sunmi exclaimed in suspicion.

"how about we settle this in a game? obviously, if you win, you get her back. and if you don't she stays with me," chanyeol suggested, "do you agree with that?"

jin immediately stood in front of baro to keep him from taking the deal. "no, we don't want any of your negotiation. i'm sorry he had to rudely attack you. i'll be taking him back home."

"jin, don't do this to me!" baro cried out as he grabbed jin back.

"baro, you're drunk," jin tried to drill the fact into the other's head.

"i want sunmi back! and if you're really my friend, help me with this!" baro pulled the bff card on jin in protest.

jin sighed. he was now a bit angry that baro had to be this emotionally aggressive with him. but he had to take a stand back and be on baro's edge of the thread.

"chanyeol, don't encourage him!" sunmi also attempted to scold chanyeol, but to no avail.

"don't worry, i won't lose you that easily," chanyeol assured her. then he turned to baro and his defeated friend, "so, do we have a deal?"

"yeah. we have a deal," baro shook in affirmative. "so what game is it and when?"

jin and sunmi were anxiously anticipating chanyeol's reply.

but first of all, in jin's head, he knew that this was going to be a disastrous deal. he could tell chanyeol was the tricky type of person, and he wondered if this game their agreeing on would ever end up professional and undoubtedly fair.

"we will be playing basketball; this friday at one o'clock in the afternoon. you know that free court near this area? we will be playing there," chanyeol told them, "don't be late."

basketball. of all the things jin could not do despite his physique.

"we will be there, all right!" baro assured him solidly as he watched the couple sit back slowly on their seats.

jin slowly pulled him away, "now that's settled, let's go home- "

"jin! baro!" an all-too familiar voice called out.

jin and baro turned to see sandeul and moonbyul enter the bar. moonbyul was walking towards them like the mother of all stampedes. sandeul was right behind them, fearfully following moonbyul.

"you two! how many times do I have to tell you not to hit the bar during weekdays?!" moonbyul scolded and pulled them out of the bar. "hopefully, baro did not make any stupid decisions?"

"i'm going to fight chanyeol in a basketball game this friday at one o'clock in the afternoon so that i could get sunmi back," baro's drunk tongue spilled the truth. slurring on it, too.

"what?!" sandeul and moonbyul chorused in disbelief.

🍝

-mique