“You’re from the countryside?”

Woojin nodded slightly. “But it’s not something I would brag about, being from such a small village. I worked pretty hard to get rid of my accent throughout high school. I knew I was going to come up to Seoul for university no matter what.”

“I see you had your goals set high from the start.”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t say I had set them this high. I got lucky to be accepted to our school. What about you, Seonbae?”

“Me? Um, about what?” I asked in surprise. Up until now, we had only been talking about Woojin, so I wasn’t prepared for the sudden shift in focus.  

“About anything. I want to get to know you more.”

I took a big sip of beer, welcoming the coolness against the warmth of my face. Woojin was staring at me with curious eyes, and the way his wavy hair fell so naturally above them filled me with a mix of giddiness and anxiety. I could barely look at him without blushing.

Although my gaze had mostly been kept down due to my awkwardness, I just realized how much I had been eating. More than half of the chicken we ordered was already gone thanks to me. Woojin must think I had been starving, which considering my long shift was technically true. But I swore I wasn’t as much of a beastly eater as I might have led him to believe. 

“Do you think we should order something else?” I asked, picking up the menu apologetically.

“Sure, Seonbae, if you’re still hungry.”

He definitely thought I had been starving… “No, don’t mind me! Feel free to order whatever you want. It’s all on me tonight.”

“Really?”

I nodded at his brightened face.

“Then, how about some more beer?”

“Okay, sounds good.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the idea didn’t sound so good anymore. Woojin was more of a lightweight than I thought. It was entirely my fault for assuming he would be a better drinker than me just because he was a guy. I should have stopped him the moment he began to slur his words. I couldn’t help feeling like I had become that stereotypical seonbae who forced her hubae to drink more than he should. Even my own seonbaes weren’t like that. I was the worst…

I paid for dinner and walked out with Woojin practically leaning his entire body on me. He wasn’t too heavy though, not that I expected him to be with how thin his legs and arms were. Woojin mentioned he lived alone in a one-room flat somewhere around campus. What he didn’t mention, however, was exactly where that was. 

I sat him on a bench and carefully shook him. “Woojin?”

His breathing was heavy. He had fallen asleep.

I sighed. I couldn’t leave this boy alone here on the street. The thought of bringing him to a nearby motel crossed my mind, only for me to realize how bad that sounded. I did not want to become that seonbae who got her hubae drunk and took him to a motel afterward. I wouldn’t be able to show my face in school if anyone were to find out. Not to mention, dinner came out to be much more expensive than I expected, and I didn’t yet have the money to afford an entire night’s stay at somewhere decent. My payday was still so far away.

With these things considered, I couldn’t be idling around on this sidewalk with Woojin all night, either. And I meant it when I said all night as he showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Having no other choice, I hailed a taxi and gave the driver my address.

. . .

I was pretty sure this was supposed to be the other way around. After getting out of the taxi, I was the one to carry Woojin on my back up to my apartment. To make matters worse, this building didn’t have an elevator because it only went up to the fourth floor. My legs were on fire during the last few seconds of my journey while I put in the door’s passcode.

“Yura, you’re home late—” Elsie stared at me in confusion.

I collapsed to my knees, though I made sure to get Woojin safely down off me. He was completely knocked out, even more so than before, it seemed. I lay on the floor next to him, trying to catch my breath.

The sight of Elsie crossing her arms came upside down in my vision. “Who’s this?”

“He’s… my hubae,” I just managed to say through my exhaustion.

“I don’t know what that word means.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at her. Here I was nearly dying and barely able to speak, yet she was asking me for further explanation. I refused to give her one. She didn’t deserve it.

“Here, I’ll get him to my bed.” Elsie lifted Woojin up with relative ease.

I was both impressed and annoyed by her display of strength. If she was so much stronger than I was, why was I always the one to take the garbage out? I shook my head. This was not the time to fret over something so trivial. I got back up on my feet and saw to it that Woojin was laid down gently. Elsie threw her blanket over him rather carelessly, though.

She turned around and looked at me with a frown. “Now that my bed’s been stolen, care to explain?”

Though my heart was still racing, my breath was now somewhat under control. Sighing, I relented to her desire for an explanation. “He’s my university junior. We were having dinner together, and he had a bit too much to drink.”

“Clearly.” She made no attempt to hide the disapproval in her voice.

Not in the mood to argue with her on this, I offered, “You can use my bed tonight.”

“Where will you sleep?”

My eyes automatically moved to the floor next to Woojin.

Elsie noticed. “You’re not sleeping in the same room as him.”

The way she said that was more commanding than I would have liked. Who was she to boss me around right now? I gritted my teeth, feeling the heat from the alcohol rise to my face. But there was a fire that burned equally as bright in her eyes. She was challenging me, and I had the sudden urge not to lose. As much as I didn’t actually want to spend a night on the hard floor, I walked into my bedroom and grabbed a pillow.

“I’ll sleep wherever I want,” I declared.

Elsie followed me in. She snatched the pillow right out of my hands. “You are not sleeping out there.”

“Hey!”

She was taller than me, around the same height as Woojin. She used that advantage to hold the pillow up and behind her out of my reach. “Stop being stubborn, Yura.”

“I am not stubborn.”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m fine.”

“I can smell the alcohol off you.”

“So, what?”

“Did you drink alone with him?”

“Yeah. So, what?”

Elsie lowered the pillow to her side. Her expression grew dark, though she tried to relax it with a deep sigh. Under her breath, she asked, “Do you like him?”

I was at a loss for words. There was a heaviness in my chest. Especially with Woojin so close, I couldn’t admit anything. I couldn’t look at Elsie, either.

She headed for the door at my lack of response, the pillow held tightly in her hand. “I’ll sleep on the floor. Good night.”