Extended Class Hours

Jae-in's POV

I had no real recollection on how long the cab ride was, only that I remember talking to the taxi driver about the exact directions heading to our apartment. He could for sure tell that I was drunk; I hailed a cab a couple of metres away from Skylight Hotel anyway and on a really interesting time of the night after all. I would even bet that I smell the part, too. Good thing he was used to picking up drunken college students from bars and assured me that I was one of the calmest passengers he's ever had. Thank goodness that I managed to sober up a bit after that drinking session otherwise I would have been really talkative for the duration of the ride.

Well, I think anyone who would experience what Wendy did to me would instantly sober up for sure.

God, what has happened to you, Yoon Jae-in? Things were so well before I went to the bar.

I should stop thinking of this right now. I don't think it is the right time for this one.

After what felt like a really short cab ride, I managed to reach the foot of the high-rise apartment I live in. I paid the driver and wished him a safe trip home, but not before ensuring that I handed a little extra for his troubles. I won't be able to come home if it was not for him, and since he was a good sport during the ride, I figured it was more than justifiable for a little extra cash for him. With a soft display of gratitude, he zoomed off into the night leaving me standing in the apartment's façade merely lit by two side-by-side lamp posts.

It was rather expected for things to be really quiet as soon as I enter the tall establishment. Mr Kwon, a man who was in his late thirties sat on the apartment's lobby as he was the guard in charge of night watch duty, greeted me with a nod and a seemingly teasing smirk before beckoning towards the stairs leading up. He knew something might have gone wrong (or right for that matter) for me to arrive home in this time of the night… or morning. I do, however, appreciate that he merely gave me a teasing smirk instead of something else nosy. It's the small things like that that really make me appreciate this place I'm living in a lot more.

I walked two flights of stairs upwards heading to the apartment's third floor where I lived with my older sister. The final steps of the wooden stairs creaked as I snuck by, trying my best to conceal any evidence of my late-night excursion. It's was more or less two in the morning as well… and that came as a surprise considering I had no idea that we took that long on Skylight. I remember leaving at almost midnight a while ago, but maybe even that memory was jarred with the alcohol.

The apartment's third floor only held two doors amidst a lengthy hallway, ours was on the immediate left; and since the other side of the door had no tenants whatsoever, it was solely just me and my older sis who were living in the floor. It was convenient for the most part as well, considering we both barely stayed: she has her job while I had school to worry about.

But then again, going home at this time is really peculiar. The worst part is, I really had no idea if she's home or not; I purposely haven't checked my phone in the past hours or so to focus on my night out with Thomas and the others. I'm just pulling my chance that maybe she had some work-related things to attend to and she'd skip the evening.

I can only hope so much.

I keyed in the door and gently swung it with a squeak. Of course, it was the minimalistic white aesthetic of the place. White coloured furniture, ornaments, desks, and décor were everywhere, courtesy of the 'cleaner' aspect that my sister was going for. She's a cleaning freak anyway, so I leave the designing and cleaning to her because she pretty much insists on doing it.

Our apartment had this living room as soon as the door opens, complete with the TV and all. The dining room and kitchen were located not that far from the entrance, only separated from the living room with a small hallway equally decorated with frames and ornaments among other things placed on shelves that I did not even have enough time to comprehend on. Further down that was my room and my sister's was on the door right on the other side.

I treaded closer inside the carpeted floors after swapping my shoes for indoor flip flops, careful not to make any noise inside the really quiet place. The lights on the living room were on, strange enough, considering I don't really remember myself leaving it like that when I left this morning. I could only assume that maybe my older sister came home some time while I was at school and headed off for her work. I can't seem to track her schedule as it often changes.

Regardless, I was just happy that there's no sign of her in the house and this little drinking session would dissolve into mid-air as soon as I wake up tomorrow. It would be as if nothing happened. I might sleep in a bit, but it's easier to make up an excuse for that than for coming home late at 2 am.

My tongue tastes funny. I guess I should grab something to drink before heading to bed. Hopefully that would contribute dearly to pushing the alcohol off of my system.

I could only blame my post-drunken ass that I didn't even bother to switch the lights on. I easily navigated my way towards the fridge as I had absolute knowledge of its location even in the dark. I only had to rely on the faint light coming from the living room to illuminate my path, but even that was not absolutely necessary.

The doors of the wall –mounted fridge swung open upon my touch and I carefully navigated my way through the multitude of containers placed on top of each other; a mix of cooking necessities as well as my noona's favourite dietary snacks. I gently fished some of them out and placed them on the counter on my back just as I searched for the drink I was looking for. Honestly, I had no idea what kind of drink I was looking for, but on the back of my head, I could have sworn I saw a box of juice from this morning. I thought the coldness and the sheer change in taste would shift the alcohol off of my mouth.

Luckily, after a couple of minutes of searching (and a ton of tubs brought out to look for it), I finally found a half-full box of apple juice that I saw from earlier. I quickly moved to fish it out of the fridge while carefully replacing the tubs I took out.

Just as I placed the final tub back and finally moved to close the open fridge, the lights in the kitchen suddenly turned on and it immediately incited a quick fight-or-flight response in my head. I quickly turned around, and that enthusiasm immediately dialled down.

There she was, standing just outside the half-open door of the bathroom dressed in matching pink silk pajamas, her hair in a crippled mess from sleeping yet the top was held up perfectly with the thin band of the sleeping eye mask she was wearing.

I guess it was her who turned the lights on. I thought she was sleeping.

My sister, Lee Yi Hyun, stood there with an amused expression on her face as she crossed her hands in front of her body.

---

"Good… good evening, noona," Jae-in mouthed in what sounded like a barely audible whisper. "I-I thought you were sleeping."

"'Evening…?' is it still night time, Jae-in? It's two in the morning! Where have you been?"

"I… I got my classes extended."

Yihyun raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry noona I just… I got stuck in a bit of a mix and… well, here we are. At least I'm home, right?"

"Are you kidding me? I was knocking at your room when I came home at 10 and I thought you were already sleeping! Had I not went for a pee, I would not have noticed you come in here late! Was this your plan to hide things from me, Jae-in? When did you learn to do that?"

"No I wasn't planning to hide… I would tell it to you soon but … I don't know. A lot of things happened and I just can't bring myself to think straight. I'm sorry for not talking to you about this. It was sudden too, and I can't do anything about that. My apologies, noona…"

"Then where did you come from? You better tell me the truth because you don't have any good excuses at 2 AM in the morning. Go on."

(Oh shit)

(I guess there's no point hiding it, then.)

"I… I actually went to Skylight and drank with my friends…"

Silence

Yihyun sighed before pulling a dining table chair and proceeded to sit on it.

"Take a seat, Jae-in," she said as she gestured towards the opposite side of the table. "Tell me what you need to tell me. I have plenty of time."

"Are you sure? I mean, it's two in the morning and I don't want to eat more of your sleeping time so—"

"If that's the case, then you better sit down and start explaining. Tell me what's going on."

Jae-in scratched the back of his head and visibly blushed. He was not totally into the idea of telling such an awkward story to his sister, especially with everything coming at him like a chaotic blur. He tried to recall things but it was such a huge mess with all the exhaustion, anxiety, and now the stress of her older sister sitting opposite him. Even with that, he moved to sit opposite Yihyun without any real plan in his head, merely just to face the wrath that is Lee Yihyun.

"So, why did you go off to Skylight and drink? Do you actually have any problem to do that? Is there something that you're not telling me, Jae-in?"

"Iris-noona…"

"Don't you sweet-talk me with that name; I'm asking you a question, so give me an answer."

"Sorry… no, it's not like that. I really don't have any problem. Actually, I'm really happy."

"Then why head off to Skylight?"

"I got invited by my friends Thomas and Jayden… you know the ones who were from high school. They wanted me to meet new friends and figured we'd spend our first time together drinking for the weekend. I made sure that we're not doing this during school days, and now that it's Saturday tomorrow then at least we have some leeway, right?"

(Oh shit, it's actually already Saturday NOW. What am I talking about?)

"So it's just for an acquaintance meet? You're sure that you're not suffering from any problems?"

"I'm not, noona… I promise you. We just headed there because we wanted to make things easier to break barriers down. You know how it goes for me… usually shyness prevents me from doing exactly that. I guess it was a good idea that Thomas thought of alcohol to be the catalyst for that."

Yihyun nodded silently, yet still keeping her sharp gaze peeled towards Jae-in's body.

"But why did you come home so late? Could you not have exited earlier?"

"I guess that's where I'm wrong… I think I got too occupied with my new friends that I lost track of time. I know blaming the alcohol would just sound like an excuse, but it did contribute to me not minding my surroundings for a bit. The next thing I know, it was already past midnight and we all looked like a mess."

"Uh-huh… so who were you with aside from Thomas and Jayden? What kinds of people were the ones you met?"

"I uhh…"

(Well, this is awkward).

"They're good people. That's all I can say. They're loud, sure, but over-all, they're really good people. They even took care of our drinks for the night."

"Ah-huh… they must be really rich then… filthy rich, even. Skylight's prices are not that cheap. I've tried going there with my friends a couple of times in the past, and I had a rough idea how they went."

"Really…? You haven't told me that…"

"Jae-in, I haven't told you because I had no idea that you drank! You never mentioned anything to me like that before!"

"I'm sorry… I figured that there's no real harm in trying right? I tried it and it's… it is really crazy. It's not the first time too, so there we go. I'm not sure if I want another one of those or not. I might not go drinking again; I don't know."

"You're just saying that because you're feeling the after effects AND because your noona's in front of you. Believe me, if it's someone's treat, alcohol becomes really tasty and that's speaking from experience. You better not say things you don't have plans on fulfilling."

Silence emanated once again between them.

Yihyun sat silently staring at Jae-in's juice box, when the younger brother finally spoke.

"A-are you mad, noona?"

Yihyun traced her stare back at him and knit her eyebrows.

"What?"

"A-are you mad that I went off drinking?"

"What? No! No, Jae-in. I'm not mad that you went off to Skylight… not at all."

"Then why do I get the feeling that you're angry at me?"

"No, don't get the wrong idea…. I'm just disappointed by the fact that you didn't even let me know… even if I'm at work that does not mean that I don't want to know where you are. You could have easily just told me and I would have fetched you at Skylight."

"Noona, that's way too much to ask of you. You have a lot of things that you're already thinking about and I don't want to add to that."

"But I would be thinking about you a lot when you're in trouble, Jae-in! If you get into a dangerous situation there, who would worry about you? Of course the first person is going to be me, you pabo!"

"Okay, I'm sorry… I admit that it's my fault."

Yihyun sighed.

"Tell me things. Okay, Jae-in? I'm not totally against you going out with your friends. You're already 21; you know what's good for you and not. Plus, it's a good experience to go drinking with your friends in weekends so I won't go ahead and rob you off of one of the best memories you could get from your university life…

"What I'm trying to say is… let me know, okay? I'm not going to prevent you from going. It's a huge difference if I know your whereabouts are."

"I'll do that in the future noona. I'm sorry once again."

"I know I'm being to overly-concern for you… but Jae-in, you're all that I have… even if we're not related by blood, you still can't blame me for caring. I just don't want to be the reason why you'll grow weird… your dad placed me as your guardian so you're my responsibility. If you become reckless and overly too careless with your youth, he's going to blame me for everything."

"Noona, I'm sorry. Please don't think of yourself less just because you're my step-sister… that does not make you any less of a sister altogether. I still see and respect you as such. I have a huge debt to you after you offered to take me away from my grandmother's place… I definitely don't want to head back there any time soon. It's hard to live with someone who complains about everything and never shuts up about even the smallest things."

"And I'm trying my best to keep you here as well, so can we work things out for ourselves, Jae-in? Would you tell me about stuff in the future?"

"I promise, Noona. I promise that there would be no more secrets from now on."

"Aww, you," said Yihyun before standing from the chair. "Let me hug you, you little bean."

Then, she proceeded to walk around the table and headed towards Jae-in. She stood briefly from his side, supplying him with a toothy and encouraging smile before going on off and embracing him. It was a very welcome gesture, especially from Jae-in's perspective. All sorts of exhaustion were temporarily flushed down the drain as he hugged his sister Yihyun quite dearly. It was no secret that she really smelled good and Jae-in became partially worried that the combined smell of alcohol sweat and perhaps even smoke smudged altogether on his clothes would mess hers up. Yihyun had that lingering fruity scent that she brought all around, and sometimes it even rivalled the natural fragrance that came from the juice box itself.

Yihyun withdrew from the embrace and immediately moved to pat Jae-in's head of hair.

"Yah, noona…!"

"I'll go to bed first because I'm heading out early in the morning later on, but you better finish your glass of juice. Since I'll be leaving early tomorrow, don't be surprised if you don't see me by then. Don't worry about that… I'll be leaving a couple of things that might help you with your hangover, so it's okay for you to sleep in. I'll prepare breakfast for you as well."

"Noona, you don't have to go that far for me. I can cook for myself tomorrow. It might get in your schedule."

Yihyun's soft patting stopped and she moved to slap Jae-in's head with a light hand.

"Ow… noona; was that even necessary? What was that for?"

"Yah; you already did not come home for dinner. At least let me cook something for you tomorrow! Trust me, once your headache kicks in, you'll be thankful that there's your Iris-noona who's willing to cook for you, you little dummy bean. You better wash and get yourself off of those clothes; if you came from Skylight then you must smell like cigarettes."

"I'll do that, noona. Thank you."

"I'll go back to sleep now. Go and rest as soon as you're done. I'm sure you're really tired."

Jae-in nodded in response just as Yihyun gave her one final pat on the head. He turned his gaze to see the figure of his sister walking back towards the direction of her room. She was about halfway through the hallway when she stopped on her tracks and turned to face him once again.

"Oh and one last thing; next time that you go drinking with your friends, don't go home at 2 am. It's either that, or you call me to fetch you."

"I… okay, noona. I'll remember to do that."

"Good night, Jae-in…"

"Good night, Iris-noona."

There was silence again. Jae-in moved to pour a portion of the leftover juice to a cup he fished from the shelf before he was distracted by the quick illumination of his phone's screen. It was a series of messages from the messaging group and another from Thomas, yet there was one tab he never saw ever before. Wendy's name blared on the other chat tab complete with five floating messages above her chat head. He hovered to open them and was about to move for a click when…

"I love you Jae-in!"

"I love you too, noona! Please sleep now!"

He moved to open the chat finally, and he got to read the messages that came from his first ever chat with Wendy Jeon.

Wendy (1:54 AM): Hey Jae-in! I just got home!

(1:55 AM): I don't know why I'm updating you but I just want you to know.

(1:59 AM): Thomas just messaged me, and he's telling me he arrived home safely. Are you still awake?

(2:10 AM): Hopefully you're not that awkward to me, Jae-in. We'll still talk, right?

(2:33 AM): I figured you're home… maybe tired? I'm sorry if I'm being too clingy towards you. I'm overthinking a bit. I'll be sleeping. Please message me tomorrow, okay? Good night Jae-in.

He turned his phone down, its screen faced against the surface of the table as he was still unsure what to reply to that. Everything happened so fast and he did not want to act just out of impulse.

And so, Jae-in sat in silence staring at the empty juice box, wondering why the exhaustion of that night's events felt like it made him more awake than ever.