"No one here is a minor, right?" Chris asked as he stood up while holding a big mug of beer in his right hand. "Our youngest, Han and Lix!" He turned his head and looked straight at them in the eye, "Are you guys allowed to drink now?"
"Bro," Han closed his eyes for a split second and smiled. "It's been two years since I reached adulthood and so is Lix!"
"Han is right," Lix awkwardly laughed as he stared at the full mug of beer he had on his right hand. "I am not really a fan of drinking but I'm fine with it during occasions."
"Well, well," Bin stood up and raised the mug of beer towards the sky and said. "Shouldn't we start this now?"
The remaining members who were seated, Miso, Han, Ren, and Lix stood up while holding the big mugs of beer in their hands. Miso felt awkward as she wasn't really a fan of having big parties such as these.
But when she thought of it, it was a great experience for her to know more about them.
And besides, it wouldn't give her a good impression if she were to skip their first-ever gathering.
Manager Lee was supposed to come over and pick them up after their first gathering. Miso knew that she only had such a weak tolerance of booze that's why she already planned not to drink a lot.
"Our first busking together as a completed band, Blue Rose," The leader, Chris started the small speech in a voice loud enough for everyone at the table to hear him. "To more successes in the future as well, most especially our upcoming debut!"
"Success!" the members yelled back as they clinked their mugs.
Bin shouted, "One shot!" Then took a big drink while everyone else followed suit.
Making sure that everyone followed the suit, Bin scanned the members and blurted out, "Bro Chris! How can you not drink the shot? How are you going to do all this stuff if you aren't having any alcohol?"
"Don't you think you're being too lenient on yourself just because you're the leader?" asked Han as he nudged the leader with his elbow after he finished his shot.
Bin inspected the empty mugs of beer, not until he saw Miso's mug on the table half full. "Oh, Jay. You should drink more."
"Jay's alcohol tolerance is not that great," Chris defended as he nervously glanced at her. "And besides, one or two members should at least not get drunk for us to go back to our dorm safely."
"What do you mean, Chris?" asked Miso politely wide-eyed as she turned to her right. "I thought that Manager Lee would be picking us up after this."
Ren calmly spoke as he sat on his chair, across Miso. "Manager Lee said that it will take him quite a long time to take back the instruments to the company so we can just use the company card and take the taxi."
Everyone became silent for a few seconds.
Dread came to Miso's head as she could already sense that this event would turn out into a messy and chaotic scene.
No.
Things won't get messy or chaotic as long as she would be lowkey and just watch them get drunk. Miso knew that the band members are good-natured people that even if they'd known that she was a girl, nothing else would happen to her.
But the thing was, Miso had to keep her identity safe so it would be digging her grave if she were to make a drunken mistake.
Bin narrowed his eyes and stared at Miso, "Jay. You are the star of this night. We need you to drink more, at least, chug that mug down!" He laughed as went to Miso and slightly pressured her to do so. "This will be your first and last mug, I promise I won't force you to drink more!"
Miso glanced at the band members faces and realized that she had no choice but to awkwardly smile and follow Bin's request. After all, she didn't want to become the bummer of the small gathering they had.
'Let's just pray for this night to end quickly,' Miso said to herself as she gulped the beer.
She could feel Chris's stare at her as she finished the mug knowing that he would feel slightly worried at her. Miso flashed a wide grin as she raised the mug, turned it upside down indicating that not even a drop of beer is left.
"That's more like it!" Bin yelled. Then, he went to Chris and said, "Bro. Your alcohol tolerance is way greater than we can imagine and everyone knows that."
Han agreed, "Even Jay drank it fully for us."
"But I need to take care of you guys,"
But instead of yielding, Bin stomped his feet out of frustration and aggressively nodded his head. "Bro, just drink it."
Miso felt the rush fruity smell of the beer she drank and when she could finally recover, she met gazes with Ren who appeared to be studying her face with interest.
Blinking fast, Miso turned her head and looked at Chris, who was now gulping the beer. They had to face the same fate. The members clapped their hands as they sat on their seats altogether.
They started to play some drinking games like the zero bang game. The penalty for the loser is to, of course, drink one glass of beer. She tried her best to avoid the penalty. The members were quite lenient with her as well.
But the thing was, she was finally caught in the spiral. And there was no way for her to refute it.
"Drink it, drink it." the members gleefully cheered as Lix placed a full glass of beer in front.
The members stared at her with expecting gazes. Miso already felt her head aching from the amount of booze she already consumed. She started to feel the dizziness of drinking.
She could feel that she could not drink anymore so she was about to speak but then she just swallowed whatever she had in her mouth and got herself ready to drink the alcoholic drink in front of her.
"It doesn't seem like she's ready to drink it," A familiar voice spoke and then Miso raised her head to where she had heard it. "I'll drink it instead."