Chapter 10: It's Complicated

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A/N: July 31, 2022

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"Will you stop spacing out all the time?" sighed Lola as she parked her car. I turned towards her, blinking blankly. I realized that I hadn’t been listening to what she was saying during the entire ride. 

"Right, sorry," I apologized distantly, slightly in a daze.

"I swear Ji Hoon, I'm going to slap that face of yours one day," she groaned. "And it definitely won't be because I'm jealous of your baby butt skin, alright?"

Lola was always telling me how Asians had nicer skin and asked me what kind of skin care I used. Whenever I answered "water and body lotion", she'd get triggered. Jax on the other hand, he had an entire skin care routine. Maybe I could ask him what products he used. 

I mentally shook my head. Wait, why am I thinking about him again? He left with Madison three days ago and still hasn’t sent me a text. I’m sure I’m the last person on his mind right now. 

My lips pressed together as I glanced towards my screen out of habit, holding on to the pinch of hope that he had sent me something. 

"H-Hey!" I hissed as Lola snatched my phone away, slipping it into her purse and out of my reach. 

"We're here to have fun," she reminded. “That means no crazy psychopathic roommates. Now come on, it’s a Friday night! Let’s get wasted.”

With no other choice, I followed her out of the car and into the bar. It was a fairly large bar, filled with loud conversations and a dominating young crowd, students from university for the most part. I recognized a few faces here and there, most of them were Lola’s friends whom she invited. But as we went further in, my eyes stopped at Bus Boy who was playing pool with a group of girls, holding his partner’s beer while she played. 

I instinctively spun around to hide my face. Why did I keep stumbling into him?!

"Lola," I hissed in a low voice. "What is he doing here?!"

She cocked a brow. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that.”

"I'll tell you who, but you have to be discreet about it, okay? Don't look directly at him.”

She nodded eagerly.

“He’s the guy at the pool table, wearing a black shirt with pulled up sleeves,” I whispered. But of course, Lola didn’t follow my orders and spun around, looking directly at Bus Boy as if she had pinpointed her prey. 

However, what she did next was completely unexpected. “Oh, you mean Toby?” she asked loudly, my jaw dropping to the floor. 

“Lola!” I whisper-cried. “I said to be discreet!” 

“Oh, did you?” she asked bluntly, innocently batting her eyes, knowing damn well what she was doing. Before I could grab her somewhere where “Toby” couldn’t see us, he had already heard his name be called and was on his way here.  

“Hey Lola,” he greeted with a smile, the tone of his voice familiar. 

“Hiya there Toby,” she beamed brightly. Lola then pushed me forward, almost making me trip. 

"This is my friend Ji Hoon, he was checking you out just now and wanted to meet you," smiled Lola. She then put her hand over her mouth, leaning closer towards her friend. “He looks pretty innocent with that baby butt skin off his, but don’t be fooled. He’s actually really feisty with a ‘tude deep down.”

I stabbed her a glare, speaking through clenched teeth. “I can hear you, you know?”

“See? Feisty,” she pointed out casually, wriggling a brow at Toby who bit his lower lip to hold back a laugh. “And Ji Hoon, meet Toby, the guy you were checking out.”

My jaw set in a hard line, heart rising to my cheeks. Toby stretched out his hand with the same eye catchingly kind smile he had the first time I met him. 

“It’s nice to meet you Ji Hoon,” he said, with a cute little accent when he pronounced my name. Unlike many cases, I thought it sounded cute. I wrapped my hand around his firm grip, surprised by how big and soft they felt. Toby suddenly leaned closer towards me, narrowing his eyes which made me anxious. “Say, you look really familiar. Have we perhaps met before?”

Wait, he really didn’t remember who I was? So the smile he gave me in class was just my imagination? Or maybe smiled to everyone he saw. Yeah, he seemed to be the type of guy to do so. Well, I guess it was better for if he didn’t remember the embarrassing first encounter. It would definitely make things less awkward. 

“Maybe in the school halls,” I said with a polite smile, slipping my hand out of his. 

“Hey Lola! Over here!” We heard a group of her friends call her over and I internally started to panic. My face dawned with fear, trying to beg her with my eyes not to leave me alone with Toby. I don’t know if she was purposely doing this for her own pleasure or if my eyes were just too small. She said, “Toby, could you keep Ji Hoon company while I go say hi to some friends?”

His eyes flickered towards me. 

Please say no, please say no, please say no…

“Yeah, of course,” he answered. 

Well, alrighty then. 

Toby didn’t seem as uncomfortable as I was, probably because he couldn’t remember seeing an old man grind against me. The thought still sent shivers down my spine and made me sick to the stomach. Toby suggested that we sit at the counter to order some drinks and I nodded. 

"So your name is Ji Hoon?" he asked, breaking the silence. I took a sip of my beer to hydrate the dryness of my throat before answering.

"Yeah," I said. "It's a Korean, so it might be hard to pronounce. You can just call me Hoon.”

But he shook his head. “I actually like Ji Hoon. Why would I only say half of your name when I can say the entire thing? I wouldn’t really like it if people started calling me To(e) instead of Toby.”

My brows furrowed my I couldn't help but laugh.

"Right," I said, taking another sip of my beer. My mind suddenly started to panic as I tried to find something else to say to spark up the conversation again, but Toby was more relaxed and led it smoothly. 

"It's surprising that I haven't you around though, we must have crossed paths at least once in the school dorms," he said. 

"Oh, I don't live in school dorms," I informed. "I have a small apartment not too far from uni instead."

Toby looked surprised, raising his brows and turning his entire body towards me. Even sitting down, he looked tall, with one leg stretched to the ground and another placed on the lower bar of his stool. I wasn’t short, average height rather, but even my legs weren’t long enough to reach the floor. 

"You're pretty lucky if you managed to find an affordable place to live in. Most of my friends are drowning in student debt so living in an apartment is out of the question,” he chuckled half-heartedly. 

"I have a roommate who helps me pay rent. An old high school-" I was about to say "friend", but remembered that Jax and I were far from friends. The word "bully" would have been more suitable, but I settled for a neutral noun. "Classmate."

I reached for my beer and chugged down nearly the entire cup, desperate to soothe the ache in my throat. Toby chuckled as I pulled away, coughing from drinking too fast, and handed me a napkin to wipe my lips. I murmured a small ‘thanks’, feeling refreshed. 

“You two must be really close,” he smiled. Jax and I never voluntarily talked about personal things. The only reason why he knew so much about me was because always there for me during my breakdowns, but since he was such a cold and heartless person, he never opened up about himself. I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what his favorite color. 

It was depressing to think about Jax, depressing to know that to him, I was just someone to toy around with and leave behind without a second thought. Jax didn’t really care about anyone but himself, I sometimes wondered if he even had emotions. 

I ordered another beer and a shot of vodka. 

"What about you? Do you have a roommate?" I asked, focusing the topic on Toby.

“I live alone in the school dorm, I’m actually looking for a new roommate. So if you know anyone, I’d be grateful if you could hit me up.” 

My brows knitted in confusion and he read the expression on my face. “I get that look a lot,” he chuckled. “A lot of people prefer having dorms to themselves, but I’m someone who hates living alone,” he admitted.

“Are you an only child?”

“I have a brother, but we’re on bad terms,” he answered, the expression on his face suddenly turning distant.

I normally never told anything personal, especially to someone that I just met, but maybe it was because he was willing to share something about him first or because of the soothingly warm aura he had around him that made me feel comfortable, so I attempted to share something as well. 

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one who has complicated family relationships," I said with a small smile. “My parents flipped when I told them I was going to study literature and not law, it’s partially the reason why I live separately from them,” I chuckled harshly. 

He looked at me with an understanding nod, raising his refilled cup of beer. 

“Well, how about we cheers to complicated family backgrounds?”

A small smile grew on the edges of my lips as I clinked the rim of my cup against his. “Cheers to complicated family backgrounds."

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