To hell with his mood swings.
I went with the team and I'm ready to paint the town red. We ended up in a samgyupsal place for dinner. They started ordering mean and tower of somaek while eating the barbecue. I don't want to be outcasted, so I just ride along.
The conversation became personal. The average age of this people is between late 20s to early 40s. So, I feel right at home.
"Miss Ara are you married?" someone boldly asked.
"Do I need to answer that?" I felt hesitation and discomfort. I didn't know it would get this personal. Until now, there's still this feeling of guilt everytime I hear about marriage. It's probably something that would stay with me for life.
"Come on guys, let's not be too personal now…" the team manager warned them.
"But you probably have a boyfriend, right?" one guy asked again. I chuckled uneasily.
"I thought we are done with this personal questions. I'm sorry guys but I need to pass on those queries for now…" I declined politely.
It was already 10 pm when they are getting ready to head out. Soo-ah told me that most of the time company dinners are always paid by the one who invited otherwise it will be shared by everyone. I head out to the cashier to pay for our food, when the team manager came.
"How much do we owe?" he asked.
"I took care of it, team leader…" I declared.
"Hey, I'm the one who invited, I should take care of it," he insisted.
"You'll do it next time…" I demanded.
"Everyone, those who still have energy, we can go to Noraebang. Ara took care of our food; I will take care of the music…" he declared.
Soo-ah told me about this kind of company dinners, it's not polite to be the first one to head out if the people are still adamant to continue for the night. Karaoke it is…
"Come on, Ara…your turn to sing…" they are clamoring for it. I am too drunk anyway. Nobody does KTV better than Filipinos. And nobody does it best, than Filipinos who are drunk.
I found a song that I have been wanting to sing for a long time. Sometimes, when I'm drunk, I tend to sing emotional songs, so while the others had been dancing and playing around with their singing, I picked a sentimental song. They added me to the PR team group in SNS, which included Seo-hyun since she is the PR Director. They took a video of me singing and uploaded it in the group.
"Wow. Someone is inlove?" one of them uttered.
"Yeah, it seems like you're dedicating it to someone", someone else concurred.
"Huh, come on, I'm from the Philippines. Nobody does Karaoke better than us, sorry…" I teased.
"What do you expect? Of course, how could someone like her still be single?" And here we go again with my personal queries. It's almost midnight when everyone decided to part ways. Team manager Lee and one other guy was waiting with me for a cab, when his phone rang.
"Min-hyuk, I will bring Ara home. We'll wait for the driver, so you can just head home now…", he seems like he is brushing him off.
"I can take the cab, team manager, my place is just 10 minutes from here…" I uttered.
"No. I can't let you go by yourself in this condition. It's my responsibility as the team leader to make sure the newest member of our team will go home safely," he claimed.
What's my condition, you ask? I started feeling nauseated, I have bought a very cold water from the store before heading out, I felt like I'm flying, and I barely understand every word he is saying now.
"He's here…." Team leader Lee declared. Finally, I sighed in relief.
"Thank you for keeping her company…I expect that nothing and no one will know about this…" this driver's voice is strangely familiar. I don't understand what they are talking about, but I feel the familiarity with the voice.
"Ara, see you next week…" the team leader is leaving me. Did he just call a can for me?
"Hhhhhhmmmm, I'm not coming next week…I thought you'll…bring me home? Did you call me...a cab?" I'm stuttering.
"Your driver arrived…" he casually declared. I raised my head and try to familiarize who my driver is…
"Oh, it's you…did I call you by any chance?" All these talking made me feel more nauseated. I felt really dizzy and the thought that he is the one I'm with made me feel safe. Then. the world turned black.