Chapter: 05
“Don’t tell me I shouldn’t drink too much? Don’t worry, Jerome! I’m still perfectly fine. If anything, you look more drunk than I do.”
Yulia smiled slyly and lightly tapped Jerome’s cheek with her index finger.
Jerome’s already red cheeks flushed an even deeper shade.
“Then… come here, Lily!”
Yulia turned around and spread her arms wide toward Lily.
“Daisy! Yulia’s starting again!”
Evan shouted excitedly.
Yulia immediately dashed toward Lily and slipped straight into her embrace.
“Lily… my favorite friend Lily… my only Lily…”
“I kind of like Yulia like this.”
Lily smiled as she hugged Yulia back.
After wriggling around in Lily’s arms for a moment, Yulia lifted her head and grabbed both of Lily’s cheeks.
Then she immediately leaned in.
“Come here!”
Yulia showered Lily’s cheeks with kisses.
Lily laughed and gently pushed her away, ticklish.
“Haha, stop it, Yulia! Guys, don’t give Yulia any more alcohol.”
“Huh? Is that Yulia’s drinking habit?”
“Yeah, she just grabs anyone and hugs them tightly. It’s like free hugging… Usually it ends at hugging with both arms, but today the physical contact is stronger than usual.”
“Still, that’s kind of cute, isn’t it?”
Daisy smiled while looking at Yulia.
Yulia was still tightly wrapped around Lily’s waist.
“…Cute? Last time she clung to Lily and wouldn’t let go, and we barely managed to peel her off. Then she went around hugging strangers and bumping into people—it was chaos. She was a real nuisance.”
“That’s right! I almost had to report her for harassment, and I only just stopped it.”
“Really? Then we should stop giving Yulia more drinks…”
“Evan… now it’s your turn! I’ll hug you!”
Yulia, still clinging to Lily, lifted her slightly unfocused eyes toward Evan.
It looked like she might lunge at him any second.
Evan quickly held up both hands.
“Sorry, I recently fell in love with someone I have a crush on. Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
A few hours later…
How long has it been…?
Yulia suddenly lifted her head.
At some point, she must have sat down and dozed off.
Blinking, she looked around and saw that most people at the table were already heavily drunk.
“I can’t see well…”
She murmured softly and rubbed her eyes.
Maybe the eye drops she used after removing her glasses had worn off, because everything looked blurry.
“Guys! Go to your rooms and sleep! You all started drinking like amateurs and now you’re collapsing while the banquet is still going on!”
Lily and Chloe, who were relatively sober, were shaking Evan, Derwin, and Christine, who were completely out of it.
But no matter how loudly they shouted, the collapsed ones showed no sign of waking up.
“Ughhh… more… I want more drink… fill my glass…”
Evan, leaning back in his chair with his mouth open, shoved his glass toward Lily.
Lily looked down at him with a disgusted expression.
“Chloe, let’s drag the dead ones to their rooms and have more fun ourselves. Honestly, I want to join that table over there.”
“Okay! Huh? Yulia, when did you wake up? Feeling better now?”
“Mm…”
“Hmm… but it doesn’t look like Jerome is okay… Can you take him to his room?”
Yulia, still rubbing her eyes, turned to look at Jerome beside her.
His face and ears were completely red, and he was nodding off.
“Jerome! Wake up, I’ll take you.”
Yulia turned her body to support him.
Still half-drunk, she pulled Jerome toward her and hugged him tightly.
“My best friend Jerome… basically family… let’s go to the room…”
“….”
Jerome, briefly regaining awareness, lifted his arms and hugged Yulia back.
Soon, the two were swaying together in a clumsy embrace, clearly two very drunk people.
“Let’s go, Jerome…”
“Yu… Yu… lia…”
At that moment, someone approached and forcefully pulled Jerome away from Yulia’s arms.
“Ah… Yu… Yu…”
Jerome muttered faintly before tilting his head and falling back asleep.
Yulia stared at her suddenly empty arms.
“Huh?”
“You look quite drunk. I’ll take you to your room.”
“Who… I can’t see clearly…”
Yulia squinted at the suddenly appearing stranger.
The voice sounded familiar, but the face was too blurry.
Tall, too…
“Can you walk? What’s your room number?”
“You’re… taking us?”
Yulia thought slowly, trying to process what was happening.
Her head was sluggish from all the mixed alcohol, and her vision was still blurred.
Her eye drops had worn off.
Jerome needed to go to his room.
This man said he would help.
“Okay.”
Yulia nodded and opened her small handbag.
Inside were two room keys she had received at the hotel entrance.
She placed both keys in her palm.
The tall man took them.
Soon Jerome, still half-asleep, was lifted and carried away by the man.
“Thank you very much… I’ll follow behind.”
Yulia stood up unsteadily.
But once she did, the path out of the banquet hall looked hazy.
‘Honestly, without glasses I can’t see anything. I should get permanent vision-correction drops soon… even if it costs money.’
She decided to follow the tall man closely.
But the man was walking far too fast.
The distance between them grew quickly.
While she stumbled forward blindly, she kept bumping into chairs and corners.
“Ow!”
“Oh! Lady, be careful.”
“Ah… s-sorry…”
She had just hit a table she couldn’t see.
The tall man returned to her.
“Are you too drunk to walk?”
“No, I just have poor eyesight… I used eye drops but they wore off…”
“…Then wait here, I’ll be right back.”
“No, I think I can make it outside now!”
“Don’t be stubborn…”
“No!!”
“….”
Drunk Yulia was extremely stubborn.
The man gave up and left with Jerome.
Yulia quickly followed behind.
Outside the noisy banquet hall, the air cleared her vision slightly.
She could now make out the hotel lobby and the stairs leading upstairs.
She carefully climbed step by step.
“I’ll be right back, go slowly.”
The man quickly disappeared up the stairs with Jerome.
Yulia kept climbing.
Eventually, she reached the second floor.
“I’m up!”
She searched for her room number.
207… 207…
Her vision was still blurry, so she had to get close to the doors.
‘What room was Jerome in again? Different floor, I think… That man probably took him properly.’
Finally, she found Room 207.
She grabbed the door handle happily.
But she didn’t have the key.
‘Right… I gave both keys to that man…’
She leaned her forehead against the door.
The cool metal felt nice on her heated skin.
I should ask his name later and thank him… Jerome will probably pay him. He’s rich. I’ll just give a hug as thanks… I don’t have money…
Her thoughts drifted lazily.
Her strength was fading.
Her knees suddenly gave out.
“Ah…?”
Her body tilted.
She was falling.
She reflexively shut her eyes.
But the impact never came.
Instead, strong arms suddenly caught her.
“Are you okay?”
Yulia slowly opened her eyes.
A man had appeared and caught her just before she fell.
She leaned into his arms, blinking blankly.
