Chapter 26

We came away with the best time for the night. The last team had put in a good effort, but also fell short of our time. Unfortunately, Ryusuke’s Tsunami had too much of an advantage in a straight launch. Only another hypercar could have competed, and unfortunately, the Sunchasers had thrown their advantage with the penalty.

To celebrate the success of the first night of the tournament, LC decided to throw a party at his penthouse.

“I don’t know how much more of this my liver can take,” Eunsoo said. Despite saying so, he sounded delighted as we took the elevator up. I was starting to learn that Eunsoo was a bit of a party fiend.

“Then don’t drink,” suggested Ryu. Both he and Eunsoo laughed at the improbability of that.

Personally, I just hoped there weren’t any drugs at the party. I’d had my fill of that, probably for life. I think Seol-hee, oblivious as she was to the feelings of others, was starting to feel my iciness towards her. I could feel her throwing glances at me, but I had continued to ignore her presence as best as I could.

My hopes for that were definitely dashed on the way in. Already the air was heavy with the pungent smell of “happy smoke”.

LC caught sight of us almost instantly. “It’s our winners, everyone!” A round of good-natured boos from our rivals tonight went up, but to my surprise, LC had invited what looked like the whole meet, and the ones who hadn’t raced us tonight greeted up with sportly cheers.

My performance tonight had definitely been outshined by Eunsoo’s sleeper BRZ and Sungmin’s mastery of Ryusuke’s Tsunami, but I was glad to finally be out of the spotlight. I happily stood to the side as a group of admirers (mostly flag girls, to Sunhee’s annoyance) accosted Eunsoo and Sungmin with compliments or congratulations.

Eunsoo kept Ryusuke close by so he could share in the adulations. “The Tsunami is Ryusuke’s,” he proudly told anyone, even if they hadn’t asked. “It’s stock, but Ryusuke’s got it programmed to perfection.”

“I’m going to go get drinks,” Seol-hee said impatiently.

“Get me one,” said Eunsoo, who was thriving in his moment of glory.

“Get everyone one,” Sungmin said. The flag girl groupies had mostly been deterred by Sunhee’s ferocious Jindo-like defense, but she still hung onto him possessively. Sungmin was definitely enjoying that.

Seol-hee tensed up indignantly. She was used to being able to run off whenever she liked, and clearly didn’t like being treated like a waitress. I thought she was going to snap at them, but instead, she side-eyed me. “Fine! Jae, help me carry them.”

I was still upset with her, but I wanted a drink. We made our way over to the bar where LC had set up coolers and buckets of iced drinks.

“What do you want?” Seol-hee asked, as she looked over the options.

I didn’t say anything and just grabbed a handful of beers. Then a couple of bottles of soju. Hopefully Seol-hee would get the hint to get the glasses.

“Are you mad at me or something?” she asked. The disbelief in her voice spoke volumes. Seol-hee had no idea how reprehensible she was.

“Could you just get the cups?” I said, finally breaking my silence to her. I ignored the hurt look she shot me. I knew she was putting it on to get back on my good side.

Our group had moved by the time we had gathered up drinks.

“Seol-hee! Jaehyun!”

Oh no. They were sitting on that expensive looking couch. Despite my apprehension I had no choice but to move over there. The air there was thickly saturated with the smell of weed, and as I passed the drinks around, I saw that Eunsoo had gotten a blunt from someone.

Despite not wanting to be anywhere close to any more drugs, I was even less keen on sitting near Seol-hee. “Move,” I said to Eunsoo. He shifted so there was room for me.

The story telling hadn’t ended.

“I legitimately thought Jae was going to wreck my Tsunami,” Ryusuke said. Thanks to Eunsoo’s praises earlier (and hopefully just that, not the happy smoke), he had warmed up to the atmosphere and had joined in the bantering. Now I needed to catch up.

I cracked open my drink and took a long sip. “I love that car as much as you do,” I laughed.

“Didn’t seem like it when you absolutely refused to stop,” Sungmin said. I wonder how he must have felt. I remembered sitting in my own Z, and absolutely panicking over Eunsoo’s approach, and it had been much more controlled than mine. “How fast were you going?”

“I got to 250,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Aish! I don’t know whether you’re a good driver or just a reckless one,” Sungmin said. Being called a crazy driver was actually starting to feel like a compliment.

“Psh! The only reason you guys won tonight is because of that Tsunami,” someone I didn’t recognize piped in. “Next leg we’ll catch up for sure.”

“Bring it,” Sungmin grinned.

Eunsoo nudged me and offered me the blunt. The smell of it wasn’t particularly appealing to me. “Pass,” I said. “I don’t even smoke cigarettes.”

“S’not a cigarette,” Eunsoo said.

Couldn’t argue with that logic.

The feeling of other people’s judgemental eyes on me was uncomfortable. I could tell most of them had already partook. I took it and held it apprehensively. It hissed quietly at me like a tiny, misshapen snake. I stared back at it, wondering how in the world to do it.

“Just suck,” snickered Eunsoo. He made a lewd hand motion.

“Gross,” I said. But I didn’t want to look like a stiff, so I steeled myself and… well, sucked.

That had been terrible advice. I inhaled way too much at once, and the smoke filled my lungs with a sharp stinging sensation. I gagged.

Everyone laughed.

Coughing, I handed it back to Eunsoo. He was cackling the loudest.

“Asshole,” I choked. I felt like I had burned the inside of my throat.

“You’ll figure it out next round,” he promised. He passed the blunt off to Ryusuke. I think Ryusuke was a little uncomfortable like me, but unlike me he only inhaled conservatively and managed to avoid the cough. Then he passed it off quickly.

I was a little dismayed to watch the blunt going into so many people’s mouths. I hoped that I had gotten it early. It had looked new enough.

A few more rounds of drinks and the increasingly soggy blunt later (I was so glad when we finally started a new one, fucking yuck), I was feeling mellow. Sungmin and Sunhee had gone off somewhere else, but Eunsoo seemed comfortable right here in the epicenter of the happy smoke, so Ryu and I were stuck here. Surprisingly, Seol-hee hadn’t left, and to my mild discomfort, with the exodus of Sungmin and Sunhee, now she was next to me.

I watched in amusement as some of the group were playing Titanic. Hedonistic Eunsoo was particularly bad at it, and had drunk quite a lot quite quickly. I felt happily heavy, sinking into the couch. It really was a nice couch despite how expensive and sharp it looked. Though I had started off as pretty uncomfortable in front of these strangers, over time the couch had sucked me in so I was perfectly relaxed and limp. I had completely abandoned my usual mask. It was too irritating to pull it on and off to drink.

“You’re not half bad looking,” a girl commented. “Why do you cover your face at the meet?”

Eunsoo commented first. “Hands off, woman. He’s too young for you.”

I felt my face turn hot from the compliment and then the followup comment from Eunsoo.

“His brother’s not,” Seol-hee giggled. Despite my relative chillness at the moment, a spike of jealous anger spiked through me.

“Who?”

“You know, the NIS agent that was after him.”

“Seol-hee!” I said in alarm. That was supposed to be a secret. But the cat was well out of the bag now.

“Holy shit! That was your brother?”

“That narc was hot.”

“Why is your brother looking for you?”

“Wait! Why did Fang fight your brother?”

The questions were flying in like bullets. The mask went back on, drinks be damned. Despite calling Eunsoo a ‘gossipy bitch’ before, clearly she had no qualms dishing out gossip as long as it wasn’t hers.

“Jae doesn’t talk to his brother,” she said gleefully. “His hyung-”

“Seol-hee, fuck’s sake, shut up!” Eunsoo groaned.

My discomfort with this entire situation had now even outweighed the comfort of this luxury sofa. The smell of the smoke was starting to be nauseating. I stood up forcefully, knocking over a few bottles on the table as I made a clumsy retreat. I desperately needed a breath of fresh air.

Luckily LC’s penthouse had a balcony. The night air, so high up, felt cool and crisp. It was exactly what I needed. There was a group outside, but luckily they were on the lounges on the far side. I sank into a chair far apart from them.

My blood throbbed angrily in my ears. I felt dizzy as I stared up into the sky. In the city, it was harder to see the stars, but the night lights lit up the swirling clouds above. I don’t know if I was projecting, but the clouds seemed to be churning like a whirlpool, mirroring the angry thoughts in my mind.

I felt like I had barely settled when Seol-hee’s face suddenly loomed over me, covering the view of the cloudy night above.

“Jae, are you mad?” she asked uncertainly.

“I told you all that in private,” I mumbled. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to see her. I felt too heavy to move away right now.

“Jae, I-”

“Don’t go around telling people about my life,” I said hotly, before she could finish what she was saying. “Leave me alone, Seol-hee.”

Instead of that, she climbed into my lap. My eyes flew open, ready to tell her off. Her eyes were remarkably shiny with remorse. Somehow it reminded me of my mother, whose main line of defense was to burst into waterworks so she couldn’t be held accountable. I tried to push Seol-hee off.

She grabbed my hands.

“Seol-hee, seriously, I’m not in the mood for this.”

“Please,” she pleaded. She knew exactly what I wanted to hear. Despite myself, my heart skipped a beat hearing her voice like that. Her hands gently took my mask off. “I’m sorry.”

She leaned forward and kissed me like a punch to the face. Seol-hee pulled me into her by the neck and for a moment I almost lost myself in that kiss. She made a small, irresistible noise as she shifted against me tantalizingly. She really was a master of physical contact. I could feel my traitorous body responding to her already.

It took everything in me to pull away from her. “Seol-hee, stop,” I gasped. But I couldn’t find that part of me that wanted to push her off and walk away.

“Forgive me,” she breathed. She kissed me gently on my cheek, then trailed a line of them down to my neck. I shivered. My hands were apparently on her hips again, and for a moment I pulled her into me.

I was too young and lovestruck to win against her. Fuck it, I thought. We’ll do this, then I’ll be mad at her afterwards. Even though we weren’t fully alone on that patio, I slipped a hand under her shirt and moved it up the silky skin of her back. I would have lost completely if Seol-hee hadn’t made a mistake in that moment.

I felt her smile victoriously against my neck.

That was enough to bring me back to my senses, faded as they were. With one last burst of willpower, I managed to push her back to her feet.

“Go away,” I snapped at her.

Her teary eyes had disappeared as quickly as the act she had put on. Her eyes darkened with anger, but her petty fury had no effect on me. She stormed off.

I melted back into the chair. I closed my eyes, willing my heart to stop pounding. I wished I could rip it out of me.

Someone coughed to get my attention. I turned sharply towards the source.

“Good for you,” said Eunsoo.

“I’m really starting to regret all these nights of partying,” Eunsoo groaned.

“You go a little too hard,” Ryu said sympathetically.

Honestly, I felt mostly fine. I had woken up with a mild headache, but after some water and a walk to the seolleongtang shop I was mostly feeling fine again. Ryu and I ended up staying over at Eunsoo’s place after we had to drag Eunsoo to his home last night (this morning?) because he could barely walk. He had scared off the first Uber we had tried to call for him.

I snickered a little as I recalled the memory.

“Are you guys drunk?” the Uber driver asked.

“Very sober,” Eunsoo slurringy convincingly. He stood up, but then immediately tilted forward like a pendulum and landed on his face.

“Oh no! Oh no!” Ryu shouted in a panic, as he stood uselessly over Eunsoo’s dazed prone form.

“What are you laughing at,” Eunsoo complained. The sight of the messily bandaged scrapes on his face set me off again.

“Your face,” I admitted. It had been terrifying the night before how much blood had been all over his face, but now it was just hilarious.

“Must be nice to be young,” Ryu said blearily. “I miss having that kind of recovery.”

“I don’t miss being stupid,” Eunsoo said. The amount of salt he was putting in the seolleongtang couldn’t possibly be healthy. “I can’t believe you still texted Seol-hee last night.”

I froze. I had completely forgotten that. Now it was Eunsoo’s turn to laugh. My phone felt hot in my pocket now. I had never seen if she replied. I whipped it out.

As I read the reply, my heart sank.

“Hope she told him off,” Ryu said.

I hadn’t texted Seol-hee last night. I had texted Taejun.