euphoria | knj √

17: love maze.

"We must believe only in ourselves. Can't let go of each other's hands, we need to be together forever."

0:00 |───────── 3:41

|◁ II ▷|

As the night progressed, Rein's mood came from a modest optimism to something that resembled acceptance of her situation, which included a few shots of alcohol. It was nice to forget about her stress, her thoughts, her worries for the night and sing karaoke with people that were just as intoxicated as her. It balanced everything out, in her opinion. She was glad she came after all; she couldn't imagine what she could be doing in her hotel room alone at this hour.

Taehyung and Hoseok were the most fun throughout the night, as they burst with energy the whole time. They seemed to like the attention they got from her.

Yoongi was the most entertaining he had ever been, and some of his playful personality that she saw in videos came out. Jungkook wasn't as shy as she thought, socializing with her and the other members actively. It felt like a thin barrier was there to be broken, and on this night, it finally shattered until it was no more.

Jin had called her over at one point with a secretive gesture.

"Rein... I have something really important to ask you." He sounded earnest.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jin put a finger to her lips, made sure Namjoon wasn't looking, then whipped out his phone with a sense of bravado. He started scrolling until he found what he was looking for.

"What do you think... About these selcas?" He held up his phone, flipping through about twenty before she stopped him.

"Uh... I like the, uh, sixth one," she said. Jin took his phone back excitedly.

"That one's my favorite too!" Rein smiled and was about to get her phone from the dining room when Yoongi threw an arm around her, making her jump.

"Where were you gonna go?" he asked. His arm was like a dead weight on her body.

"N-Nowhere," she replied. He nodded, too drunk to care about her suspicious answer, then sat down on the couch next to Namjoon. Namjoon flashed her a smile as Yoongi called for everyone's attention by raising his bottle.

"To us!" he exclaimed, pouring everyone another round of tequila. At the sound of another toast, Jin came over to participate. Everyone raised their glasses hesitantly and drank with a gunbae. Rein sat down on the other couch with a deep sigh, fiddling with her shot glass. Hoseok sat on the floor with a blank expression, thinking about God-knows-what.

She and Jin made eye contact, and he hopped over the couch to sit next to her, his shoulder touching hers. He looked around, then wiggled his eyebrows at Hoseok.

When Jin caught his attention, he sauntered over to sit next to Rein. Jin intertwined a lock of Rein's caramel hair into his fingers gently.

"Your hair smells good," he whispered, looking at her face for a reaction. She pursed her lips, her head getting foggy.

"Thank you," she said, patting his arm. "And your hair smells really good, too." She didn't know what to do with her hands, so she put them in her lap. She felt herself getting tired, and an unnatural urge to put her head on someone's shoulder popped into her mind.

Someone in particular.

"How are you liking tonight so far?" Hoseok asked.

"It's been... Fun," she said with a bit of effort. She could practically feel the alcohol kick in, punching through her tolerance and coming out victorious. Her Korean was turning into a heavily accented mess, but everyone was too wasted to notice, anyway.