The Hideout I Need

Chapter 26: Possibly more than just a bad hangover

Hyeon-ah woke up to the sound of Hyeong-jun's bedroom door slamming open and hitting the wall so loudly she feared that it caused a dent. The very first thing she saw that day was Hyeong-jun sprinting out to the toilet at Usain Bolt-like speed. Is he late for school again or something? Wasn't it Saturday?

She quickly wiped some of the drool off her mouth and shot up from the couch to see the bathroom door wide open. And there the sight was: Hyeong-jun on his knees in front of the toilet. And then he threw up.

She rubbed her eyes, still not fully processing everything. She got up and drowsily walked over to the bathroom and leaned against the bathroom's door frame, "Hyeong-jun, are you alright?"

He lifted his head slowly with a face of sarcasm, "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

Hyeon-ah stretched her arms and back, still waking up piece by piece. Wait, wasn't Hyeong-jun out in Itaewon last night with Tae-young? Itaewon... Friday night. She gasped as she connected the dots. She covered her mouth, feeling herself wake up instantly. She frantically pointed her finger at him. "Hyeong-jun, did you drink last night?!" she accused but was only met by him shushing her.

"Please, not so loud," Hyeong-jun groaned. "And I think I might have done... more than that," he looked nervous as he recalled last night, immediately followed by him retching once again.

"Oh my god," she was in shock. She wasn't necessarily angry with him, but this just so wasn't like him, "What were you thinking last night?"

"We were grabbing dinner with some of Tae-young's older friends, and then they bought us alcohol. It would be fair to say that I drank a little too much," he leaned his elbow against to toilet seat to support his head. Hyeon-ah sat down on the tiles next to Hyeong-jun (but not too close, she hated vomit). He hesitated to speak, "We, uh... we went clubbing as well."

Hyeon-ah's eyes widened, but Hyeong-jun didn't care.

"You were the one that told me to live a little!"

"Yeah, like, go out and make friends, not go underage clubbing!"

"Well, I'm sorry about that. Truthfully," Hyeong-jun put his other hand on his heart, "I guess they just convinced me."

Hyeon-ah looked at him with playful judgmental eyes, but she gave a calm smile after a few seconds. "As long as you're okay," she ruffled his hair, to which he responded with retracting his neck in playful disgust. She was just happy he got home safe. She chuckled, "Anything else you wanna get off your chest?"

"I made out with a guy last night at the club," Hyeong-jun said immediately with zero hesitation or remorse.

"I was joking! You didn't actually need to tell me something!" Hyeon-ah's face fell to a shock once again. Not 'disgust' shock, but 'genuinely not knowing how to react to her younger brother confessing about a make-out session in a club' shock. She didn't think this would happen any time soon. He wasn't exactly big in the whole romance scene and she definitely knew that.

"Look, I know it's weird. I don't even know what came over me..." he buried his face in his hand, feeling embarrassed.

"No, no! It's, uh... it's cool!" Hyeon-ah laughed awkwardly, very obviously trying to seem like the woke and accepting older sister she had made out her reputation to be.

"Wow, don't act all cool about it," he jokingly scoffed, "If I was straight and made out with a girl in a club at 19, you would've murdered me."

She smirked, "You're right! Do you want a punishment?" She started playfully poking his sides with her index fingers.

He started laughing, "I take it back, please be cool about it."

"Hey, I am cool!" she laughed through her scoff, "It's just a lot of information to process at once. I mean you kind of went from sworn celibate to making out in a nightclub in one night."