afterglow

chapter two

At 9:43 am of the first day of the year, Wheein woke up with the world's greatest hangover. It was so bad she couldn't even make it to the bathroom to puke all the demons of the party the night before. She's dead, she has died, at least with how her whole body felt, disintegrating little by little into tiny pieces like a broken glass. She slumped down the floor and puked even more when she saw how gross her demons were. She would never do this again, she said to herself. She would never drink like crazy especially in front of new friends. They're still basically strangers. Why did she think it's a good idea to trust her crazy, stupid self with the amount of freedom and alcohol they had? She stood up and tried her best to regain the last bit of dignity she had. She groaned to herself. She couldn't even remember all the embarrassing things she willingly did.

Like the blurred images of drinks and laughter and dancing in her head, Wheein hazily cleaned up after herself and took a shower. And it's only after she had had coffee that she realized she's alone in the house.

She put down the mug on the kitchen counter with a loud thud, and even with her life-threatening headache, she went around the house looking for any sign of life like a lunatic. Wheein even checked the veranda upstairs but still found nothing other than the shy morning sun and the harsh cold air.

Did they leave her already? Wheein was panicking as she climbed down the stairs to look for her phone. They were all supposed to go mountain hiking today to see a famous temple surrounded by withered cherry blossom trees, but it seemed that they left without her. She picked up her phone on the counter and started making panic messages to the group chat, and even with calls, she couldn't get a hold of them, so she started suspecting that maybe the reception at where they were were really bad. Of course, she thought, they're already up there at the mountain. There's no way to reach them, and now she's home alone and had the worst headache possible.

Wheein didn't mean it but she dropped down onto the floor and started crying. She was looking forward to this day. This was supposed to be her new beginning. Now, the day was not off to a good start, and she only had herself to blame.

"Are you crying?" someone looming over her asked.

Wheein lifted up her head and saw the quiet guy named Taehyung in front of her. Immediately, she got up and wiped her tears. So much for being alone now, someone just saw her crying over nothing.

"Is everything okay?" he asked again. Now that she's standing up, she just realized how he could still easily tower over her. Among everyone in the group, Wheein has never had a proper conversation with him. Although she thought he was really handsome and he smelled nice and had a daydream look in his eyes, he's brooding and intimidating, that's why she never bothered talking to him. She's afraid he would hate her even with the slightest utter or movement. He's so opposite from the other guys in their clique. He didn't even bother to greet her last night when they went around wishing everyone a happy new year. Even one simple nod, he couldn't give her. He just walked away like she's invisible.

Wheein carefully nodded and looked around for any sign of their other friends, but it's still just the two of them.

"They're gone?" Wheein asked, her voice hoarse from the hangover and sudden crying.

Taehyung looked at her for a long time like he's examining her face before turning away and walking toward the refrigerator to get something. "They left earlier to hike. You were sleeping well, so we decided I'll stay behind just in case you want to follow them."

And that's the longest sentence he has spoken to her ever since they met. Wheein realized she wanted to make more words come out of him, so she kept talking to him. "What time did they leave? Do you know the way? Do you know where they are now?"