Chapter 19

“What?!”

“I know you’re not married yet, so I trust you haven’t.”

“Uh. I don’t... what?!” My face burned red as if a fire had been lit underneath me. “Are you insane? How could you ask such a thing?”

I was so surprised and taken aback that I inhaled the wine as if it was a glass of ice water. JiHan’s expression didn’t change one bit, and he stared at me in all seriousness.

“You haven’t yet, have you?”

“No, well, no. But why not? We’re both old enough.”

“You can’t. You’re not even married yet.”

“What does that have to do with marriage? You do it when you want to.”

JiHan gawked at me with an expression that said what kind of girl is this?

“Look here. That should only be done between married couples,” he said sternly.

“That’s only in the olden days when you met your partner without even seeing their face, and you spent your first night together!”

“So are you saying you have?!” JiHan questioned me with rounded eyes.

“Oh! I didn’t! I didn’t!” I fanned my face as I denied the fact hotly.

I was getting dizzy from the rising heat in my face, but JiHan seemed to have some heat left to spare, as he continued to say even more inappropriate things.

“Then do it.”

“What?!”

“You should see if you’re sexually compatible with my brother before you get married.”

“You just said that should only be done between married couples!”

“And you said that’s only how the older generation thinks. So with your 21st century mind, rethink the marriage after you’ve had sex together.”

Wow. How could you say that so piously and logically! Am I the only one that’s hot?! Am I the only one embarrassed? Not only was I extremely hot around the collar, I felt like I was having an out of body experience. I was so furious that I reflexively lifted the glass to my lips. Regrettably, the wine glass was empty.

“Alcohol! Give me more alcohol!” I pushed the glass in front of JiHan, unafraid.

Without any criticism, JiHan tipped the wine bottle over my glass. Strangely, the glass did not fill. Not a single drop.

“There seems to be no more wine,” JiHan said as he casually took away the wine bottle.

“There’s no more? Why?”

Unable to believe it, I grabbed the bottle with both my hands. I pulled the bottle away forcefully and placed it in front of my eyes, but they were getting heavy, and the bottle disappeared from view as my vision went black.

“It’s gone?” The wine bottle suddenly reappeared in front of the devastated me. “Huh? It’s here! Here!”

With a wide grin, I tipped the wine bottle over my empty glass, but nothing flowed out of it.

“Huh? There’s no more...” My eyes started to water. “Why...why isn’t it here? Why isn’t there any?”

“Hey. Are you drunk?” I could hear Lee JiHan’s voice from somewhere, but the sudden flow of tears blocked my vision. Unable to see anything, I started to cry uncontrollably.

***

Lee JiHan

Like an open faucet, Na AhJung’s tears flowed freely.

“Alcohol...alcohol...” She cried like a child looking for her mother.

I froze at the sudden tear fest but got up as I realized how drunk this girl was.

“You’re drunk so let’s get you to your room so you can sleep.”

When I went to support her, AhJung flung her arm away from me. She then spun 180 degrees and wrapped her arms and legs around the chair tightly. Like a cicada attached to a tree, she remained entwined in the chair and started to bawl.

“Alcohol...alcohol!” she cried, like a chirping cricket.

“There’s no alcohol,” I told her.

“Why? Why isn’t there anymore?” AhJung asked with a look of betrayal.

She looked at me as if I had hidden it away from her so she couldn’t have it.

“Why are you asking me that? You drank everything. You drank the wine as if it was an oasis. If you drink it like that of course it will dry up,” I said.

“Ah, I want alcohol...!”

The more I tried to get her to think rationally, the more AhJung cried, frowning at the words she did not want to hear. I grabbed her shoulder and tried to reason with her.

“Na AhJung, there is no more alcohol now. Let’s drink tomorrow. Tomorrow. Let’s just sleep tonight.”

“Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol!”

“If you sleep now, I will give it to you tomorrow. More damn alcohol.”

I tightened the grip on AhJung’s shoulder, and I tried to remove her from the chair, but she shook her head hard and held on tighter, not letting go. I used all the strength I could muster, but AhJung refused to get out of the chair. Even in this instant, she continued to cry.

I shook my head in defeat. “What are you, a seven year old? Ah I give up. I don’t care whether you cry here or sleep here. I’m going to my room to sleep. Do whatever you want.”

I swept past her coldly, but when I did, she didn’t make a sound. After a few steps, I felt that something was strange and turned back. AhJung hung limply on the chair like a damp pile of laundry. In that state, huge tears dripped onto the floor.

“That leaking faucet...” I muttered. “If I leave her like that, she will be shedding tears like a faucet all night.” I clucked my tongue and frowned at her, displeased and annoyingly worried about her.

Ah, I don’t know. If I just leave her, she’ll be like that all night. I don’t care. Even as I was contemplating walking away, I returned to AhJung. Still uncertain, I grabbed the chair that she was sitting on.

“I really don’t get it,” I muttered quietly as I lifted up the chair.

***

When we got to her room, I put both Na AhJung and the chair in the bed. Even in her bed, she was still hugging the chair and would not lay down. Tears were still streaming down her face, and that made me worry.

I really don’t know what to do. What do I have to do to make it stop? I frowned while I put a pillow under her head. Why is she hugging that chair instead of the teddy bear I bought her? I looked around, trying to spot the teddy bear. I wanted to swap the bear for the chair, but the stuffed animal was neither on the bed nor the floor.

It has to be in the room somewhere. I wondered where she had put it and went to search her closet. Then, AhJung’s phone started to ring. Although she was still crying with her eyes closed, her arm found the phone and grabbed it. She put the phone to her ear.

I watched, frozen. I could hear someone’s voice over the phone. A few moments later, AhJung spoke urgently into the phone.

“JiKyung, there is no alcohol!” she bawled. “Ahhh! Waah! I have no alcohol!”

If someone else had seen her, they would have thought she was being ostracized. How can she cry so sorrowfully? I swiftly approached her and took the phone away. My initial plan had been to not talk to my brother, but instead, I answered the phone.

“Hello? It’s me.”

This girl is drunk. Before I could tell him that I didn’t bother her, and this was just some drunken tantrum, my brother confirmed his own suspicions.

[JiHan, did you let AhJung drink?]

“How did you know?” I asked him, taken aback.

[AhJung always cries for alcohol when she’s drunk. Just like this.]

My brother answered me as if this was completely normal. AhJung didn’t even realize that I had taken the phone from her and was talking to herself with her fist next to her ear.

“I have no alcohol...alcohol...”

Watching her crying made me feel frustrated and angry.

“You’re pathetic sober, but you’re even more pathetic drunk. Why doesn’t alcohol make you any better? You should be yelling at me or fooling around.”

[It’s because she’s been through a lot.] My brother said through the phone. [She had to watch how she acted at her stepmother’s house, she was pushed around by her step-siblings, and her father was just the stepmother’s husband. She has had the worst luck, so she’s had no choice but to just suck it up and live in such a household. I’m not sure if that’s the reason, but whenever she gets drunk, all she does is cry that she doesn’t have her own alcohol. She just wants to have something everyone else does.]

As my brother explained the situation, AhJung cried sorrowfully in front of me.

“Why? Why don’t I have it?” she asked.

Hearing that, I could no longer stand it, so I turned my head away from her. I started to walk away, but leaving her there like that made me feel worse.

“Shit,” I said under my breath.

I bit my lower lip. Why does this keep bothering my conscience? Why does this pain me? Unable to leave her in her miserable state, I turned back AhJung.

“What should I do with this girl?” I asked my brother.

[What?]

“What do I have to do to make her stop crying?”

Forgetting my complicated feelings towards my brother, I asked for his advice thinking only of the girl sitting in front of me. JiKyung grew quiet at my question but soon answered.

[Give her what she wants. Until she gets more drunk.]