Love Potion

Jae-in's POV

"Your face is really red, you know."

Those were the first batches of words I heard from Vivian as I perched alongside her. I thought I wanted to retort back with a snarky and clever sentence but my head was too bungled up with everything to even think of something funny. If it was not for the glass-protected railings of the Penthouse, I might have pushed my glass to fall on the street below just for humour. Yeah, I was THAT drunk, yet ironically I was aware of the urge. Anyway, I didn't even immediately process what Vivian had said to me and I merely smiled in return in the hopes of covering how drunk I really was.

"It's always been like this for me, so I'm pretty much used to it. I tried drinking a couple of times before and it always turned out like this. I'm surprised that you're not back at the table exchanging stories with the rest of them, by the way. It seems like Wendy's ranting here and there. She could use your advice, you know… I don't think there's any good advice she could get from us guys."

"I'm not really good in that aspect so I don't think that there's that much I could do. I'm just trying to let the alcohol pass, that's why I'm here. I think I drank way too much it's getting on my senses."

"That seems to be the case, yeah. You were guzzling those glasses as if they were your last, you know."

"You're one to talk. I saw you do the exact same thing and treating the liquor as if it's just another kind of drink… a juice, perhaps or even refreshment. I'm surprised that you could still walk to the rest room without knocking anything over."

"Well, they call it beginner's luck," I said as I smiled back. "I'm just here curious how this entire idea feels like. My sister's not entirely cool with it, but I guess once won't hurt now, won't it? Plus, the cocktail… the so-called 'Love Potion'… it really tastes good once you really get used to it. It's more of a satisfying beverage at some point. If only I would not get really dizzy after drinking more, I would have beckoned myself for another glass."

Vivian smiled after a short silence broke, and then she continued.

"There's no way this is just going to be a one-time thing; not when Jared's in the friend group and even Thomas, even Vincent for that matter. It's almost impossible to decline a huge invite especially when you're not really paying for anything."

"At least I have good role models, I guess. How about you? Drinking too much like that could only mean something, especially from the point of view of a person who really does not drink a lot. Do you have a problem, by any chance? I might not look much but I think I can help… maybe…."

God what on earth am I saying to her?

"I just figured I could use a break," she replied with a shake of her head. "University work is literally beating the shit out of me. A little distraction would be nice, which is why I'm here. It won't solve anything directly, but at least I get to relax and take a breather."

"Ah, I know a good distraction; I discovered a small coffee shop not far from the Uni's main gate. You should check it out. They serve really good coffee."

For the first time since standing beside her, Vivian turned her gaze and actually faced me; her eyes gleaming in the pale moonlight.

"I mean, it's a good unwinding spot if you have nothing to do," I continued. I honestly don't know what I'm even saying at this point. Random bullshit, go, I guess.

Let's just hope that it works. It's the alcohol that's making me talk.

"I've actually been there," she replied while still keeping her gaze on me. "They do serve good drinks. It just annoys me sometimes that there are a lot of people who stay there when I need a seat, and that is saying that it happened to me a lot of times now."

"It's a testament to how good their coffee is. I think I've tried almost every single one of it so I can testify; it really is good."

Before I could even continue, I was startled by the sound of Vivian actually bringing her barely filled glass between us with a nod, as if she's trying to imply a toast for us both.

Of course it was a universally recognizable gesture and so I beckoned ahead and clanged my glass with hers. We then both proceeded to drink the remainder of our glasses as we gazed off into the evening.

"So you're trying to loosen the alcohol up as well, huh?" she asked amidst the ensuing silence.

"I am. I certainly don't want to go home like this, despite how late it is in the evening already."

"You can do that while staying on the table, though. You said it yourself that Wendy's ranting about something; if anything she could use your advice more than mine. No matter how stupid it sounds, I think it's better if it's coming from you rather than me," added Vivian. "You seem to be the type who's into those kinds of things. You had that aura about you."

"Yeah I really didn't catch the whole story since the beginning so all I'm hearing now are her frustrations. I might end up saying some things that are not what she wants to hear, especially with this confidence that the Love Potion has given me."

Vivian smiled.

"Well, if you're trying to loosen up before heading home, I suggest you stay here longer. Your face is really red I could easily mistake you for a tomato. Surely you won't like for your sister to see you like that now, would you? I certainly won't let you head home with that face either; definitely not."

"Don't worry, I don't really intend to—"

"YAH…!" interrupted the shrill voice of Wendy going louder than the blaring music. It was enough to sway both Vivian and me and turn towards her for the sudden commotion, just in case it was something that was going wrong. However, it could also be that she's just answering back to either of the guys she was talking to, and the shrill voice mas merely and emphasis on her point. It turns out; she actually yelled out of spite and pointed towards both our directions.

"YOU TWO JUST MET AND YET YOU'RE ALREADY DATING IN FRONT OF ME. YOU DARE YOU DO THAT TO A PERSON THAT JUST CAME FROM A HEART BREAK, ESPECIALLY YOU, YOON JAE-IN!"

"Oh my god, she's drank so much it's already getting to her head," Vivian whispered to my left. "You got to forgive her; not all people let the alcohol pass like we do."

"We're not dating, Wendy-ssi; we're just letting the drink pass down!" I called back towards her.

"'NOT DATING' MY ASS; YOU WERE SECONDS AWAY FROM KISSING VIVIAN! I WOULD HAVE PREFERRED IF IT WERE ME, JAE-IN!"

My god, it's turning weirder and weirder by the second. The fact that my other drunken friends are joining on the train by laughing their asses off certainly did not help the situation. Fuck.

"Can you please do a new friend a favour and head back there for me? They won't listen to me at this point because they'll just tease me," Vivian asked before she turned her back again towards the dark horizon, swatting my face with her lengthy hair in the process.

I nodded in response although I'm still not sure what she's implying I do. I was actually about to head back to the table when I was greeted by the sight of Wendy leaving the table first. Jayden was already napping while Thomas transferred his attention to the still-talking Vincent and Katy; perhaps wanting to put them on the hot seat. Wendy was clearly out of her balance, tripping almost on every stool that was placed in front of her and sending some of them crashing around. I immediately went out and caught her just as she was close to both Vivian and I's positions, her breathe clearly emanating a strong tinge of the Love Potion's remnants.

"I knew that you were such a gentleman, Jae-in," she said with a dreamy haze, supplying me with a wide smile as she rested her weight on my body. "You looked really good under the moon and stars for tonight, you know."

Wow, she's so different when she's drunk. Oh my god.

"Vivi," Wendy said towards the figure of the other girl resting on the terrace. "Do you mind if I borrow Jae-in from you for a couple of minutes? I might not bring him back though; I got something serious to tell him…"

'Something serious'…? What is going on between us that she has 'something serious' to tell me?

I was expecting, and half-heartedly wishing, that Vivian would just say 'no' due to Wendy being really drunk in her current state, but instead I got a mere flick of the wrist from Vivian as if to say that she'd care less if Wendy takes me for her own. Of course, there was a part of panic within me, but then again I doubt there's anything Wendy could do on her current state. Vivian then proceeded to down her throat with the remaining liquid on her glass.

Wendy Jeon pulled me with such surprisingly vigorous force despite her drunken state away from Vivian, and eventually, away from the rest of the table. I was sobered up a bit after talking to Vivian by the ledge, and now I was able to notice how empty the boathouse as well as the entire rooftop had been. I lost track of time for sure, but I guess in these types of places, staying up pretty late is quite a normal practice. There were literally no other people present in these premises, and I think the next batches of tables were filled with sleeping people who unfortunately got gut by the alcohol.

Wendy and I went through the boathouse and beyond, settling both of us far from the main table of our group and into the darker, farther part of the place where we were clearly out of earshot. Her choice of seat perfectly concealed us from the view of the table, and the perfectly placed post further shrouded any evidence that we were even there. Both of us collapsed on the leather seats with Wendy blocking my view of the table for good.

This must be really serious then if she's letting me sit here with her away from everyone else.

I just can't think of anything on the top of my head as to why she'd resort to doing this. What's the huge deal?

Also… why me? Wendy and I barely even talked during our lunch out, and we really haven't had a long enough conversation between us so why would she even begin to trust me with something that only I am supposed to know? I don't get it.

I don't get any of it.

"This seems really serious. I just don't get why you would talk to me instead of the others, Wendy-ssi."

"I just… I just wanted to talk to you… in private, Jae-in," she replied, barely even keeping her voice on point. "I need it to specifically be you, otherwise this won't work."

"Are you okay? Aren't you sleepy already? If you can't drink, don't force yourself anymore. Sooner or later we're already going home anyway. We certainly can't let you go home if you're drunk like your current state."

"Then, if they won't let me go home alone, why don't you take me with you instead?"

What?

Surprisingly, Wendy then wrapped her right hand around my neck as if to embrace me. I knew she was drunk, but that gesture felt really concise and something told me that she was fully aware of what she was doing.

"Wendy-ah," I said, holding her hand with my own in the hopes of moving it out of my neck soon. "You're really drunk. I think you should sober up a bit because you're starting to go all over the place. Let's head back to the table and clean-up with everyone else."

I was about to stand when I felt her hand prevent me from even standing up. Once again, I looked back to her in utmost effort despite the faint light of the boathouse.

"Please don't leave me here alone, Jae-in. I just want to talk to you and I haven't gotten to my point just yet. Please, can you just spare me a couple of minutes?"

"Are you sure you're okay? Can you promise me that you're not feeling dizzy or anything?"

"I can promise you that. I may be a bit tipsy but I sure know what I'm doing."

Well, I guess I'll just have to put up with this. I don't think that I have a way out of it anyway.

"So how are the first impressions doing for you currently?" she asked.

"Everything's going really well so far… at least I got to say that having alcohol in me gave me courage to talk to you and Vivian otherwise I would not have given in. I'm normally just a shy and timid guy who waits for people to come talk to me."

"There's a first time for everything, Jae-in… I really look forward to drinking often with you because you seem to be a really fun guy to drink with."

"I… I honestly cannot agree with you on that. I don't know what else I bring to the table other than my presence."

"Really now…? I don't think that's what I saw when I first saw you on the lunch out… I've had my eye on you since then, you know… you're really effortlessly… attractive."

She's really drunken her ass off oh my god.

"I… I don't know what to say to that, Wendy-ah."

"You don't have to say anything to that… it's just the sheer truth. You're very outspoken and shy like you said, and probably won't even agree to whatever I'm going to tell you right now… but you don't have to. I know you won't anyway, but please let me voice out what I see in you… can you let me do that for tonight, Jae-in-oppa?"

"O-Of course, I can't see any reason why I won't let you do that…"

What the heck is going on?

A brief silence emerged between both of us with the loud party music blaring on the background. Even though I was seated right next to her, I could barely even see the outline of her face thanks to the limited lighting. I fell silent, quite unsure of what to tell her, and so I merely stared at the broadcast on the television above.

And then, I felt Wendy's head rest on my left shoulder.

---

Wendy's gesture alone sent thousands of signals throughout Jae-In's body like an electric jolt. However, it quickly subsided as soon as he realized what the cause might have been. He then immediately turned towards her figure and spoke.

"Wendy-ah, are you okay? Are you already sleepy?"

"No, I'm not, Jae-in-oppa… I just… I just wanted to rest on your shoulder because I can't take it anymore…"

What Jae-in thought was just a product of his imagination turned out to be true as Wendy's eyes began to get flooded with tears, streaming down her prevalent cheeks and down towards his very shoulder. There was a split-second of panic with Jae-in as he really had no idea how to deal with a crying person, ever more so a girl that he barely just met recently. The fact that it was also Wendy, a person he viewed to be really open and easy-going, be the person who's breaking down in front of him felt something that appeared out of nowhere. Regardless, any illusions of leaving Wendy there and joining the rest of the group were thrown off of the window.

There was no way he'd leave her, not when she just shed every barrier in front of him like that.

"Wendy-ah … you alright…?"

It felt a really cliché thing to ask, pointless even, because it was already obvious that she was crying and that she's not, but it was the only thing that Jae-in could muster for having to react on such a sudden event.

"We… we have our personal reasons on drinking out t-tonight right…?" Wendy continued on amidst her eventual crying. "I know that you wanted to try things out… but d-do you know why I c-came here to drink?"

"I… I have no idea; Wendy-ah… is it the same reason as everyone else…? Did you want to meet some new people like we all wanted when we first got added to the messaging group?"

"Maybe that's what people like you want… I'm just happy to meet some new friends as well, but I also figured it would be nice to lull myself in alcohol this evening… especially because I got to meet an amazing person such as you, Jae-in…"

"You're putting me too much on a pedestal. I don't think you've know me enough to say how much of an impact I actually do to people, Wendy. I told you… I've always been the background character and I'm perfectly fine with that… I'm sorry but I don't think I deserve the praise that you're giving me."

Silence erupted which lasted for about a couple of minutes. Jae-in was not sure whether that was because Wendy finally caught up to what he was trying to make her understand, or if she's just too tired to even argue back because the conversation would yield no fruit in that aspect whatsoever. It was an awkward position for sure, but since Wendy did not show any signs of stopping her crying any time soon, Jae-in thought of ways to comfort her as her friend.

Slowly, he lifted his free arm and brought it behind Wendy and gave her a soft caress of comfort. He tried to make it as casual as possible; certainly the last thing he'd like to happen was for Wendy to think that he's taking advantage of her current state.

"D-do you want to know why I went off drinking tonight?" Wendy asked.

"Why…?"

"My boyfriend… well ex now… we broke up yesterday… he broke up with me."

(Oh shit)

"Oh… I'm… I'm sorry to hear that… I didn't know… you didn't seem to have a problem when I first saw you a while back."

(Was that even what I was supposed to say to her?)

"It's okay… I know that I don't really show too much… I got really good at that ever since we had a fall out two months ago…"

In Jae-in's head, there's no real reason for Wendy to tell him of her life story precisely because they had just met, but also he had to consider that perhaps it was her way of breaking the ice between them. Maybe in Wendy's perspective, it's easier to open up like that and anchor their friendship for something else. The other half of him, however, still felt puzzled nonetheless.

"We've been dating for a couple of months now," she continued. "But it's about two months ago that we just had a huge disagreement that lead to him treating me differently… things never became the same ever since. I tried to console him and save what was left of our relationship… I even went to Gangnam to see him; booked us a trip to Jeju for everything, but he refused to meet up with me… he told me to get lost and yesterday, he called it off already…"

"I'm… that's too harsh, Wendy … I'm sorry that you had to experience that."

Wendy began to sob really hard after recalling the story, flooding Jae-in's shoulders with more tears as she gently rubbed her eyes against his sleeve.

"It is okay; Wendy-ah… let it all out. It's better than keeping it in. I'll listen to you."

"Is there something wrong with me, Jae-in? Am I not enough that every guy I seem to date end up breaking up with me? Am I not enough?"

"Shh… don't say that to yourself… you're enough, Wendy. You're more than enough."

"Then why do I always end up miserable?"

"Maybe you're just picking the wrong guys; I guess… maybe you're always choosing the ones who don't value you, or who don't see the value in you…"

"What made you say so?"

(Oh shit, I haven't thought of this through…)

"You're really talented, Wendy-ah…. Not everyone can write songs the same rate that you do. Thomas told me what you're capable of. Not just that as well… even though we really haven't gotten that time to interact too much, I could tell how much of a caring and loving person you are. Let's just say that… in a theoretical situation where you're my girlfriend, I would consider myself really lucky. It's an honour to be dating the one Wendy Jeon… I guess it's just the guys who were really after your fame rather than your heart that you often meet…"

"You can see those traits in me, Jae-in-oppa?"

"Yeah… actually I'm envious of your boyfriend… or ex, sorry. I mean, not in a romantic way or… yeah. The point is, he managed to get a girl like you and yet I can't even move past the friendship border with the people I get to like. I really don't know what else to do after 'hello', which is perhaps the reason why I can't find a girlfriend after my last one, did not totally work out. The standards of the people I end up liking were too high that I can't even fathom."

"Is that true…? Aren't you being a bit too hard on yourself?"

"It's just the truth…"

"What if there's someone here who's starting to like you, do you think that they'd like to hear those words escaping your lips?"

"I honestly cannot imagine that someone would do that. I'm not exactly a person who appeals to the majority of the girls, especially on NLU's standards. It would take a huge bunch of luck if I'd—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jae-in was immediately silenced by a soft slap coming from Wendy's side. The small gesture was more than enough for him to transfer his gaze to her, only received by Wendy's own piercing gaze as she tightened her hold on Jae-in's neck.

"What if I told you that I'm starting to like you, Yoon Jae-in?"