the longer he stays there, the more the time passes, the more boring the party begins to be. it has reached a point where not even drinks can help make everything more fun, or more entertaining, and the sight of people slowly becoming drunker and drunker is more pathetic and sad than anything else. even the music has become dull and painful to the ears now that he’s been there all this time, and all he can think about is how much he wants to go to one of the private rooms just to give his mind and body a rest.

but how sad would it be to go alone, right?

his eyes wander through the multiple faces in the crowd before him, but he knows exactly who he’s looking for. and when he spots song sangwoo, a small smile forms on his face: he’s beautiful even after hours have passed, his messy hair and the smudged makeup near his eyes make him look even prettier than when he had first arrived, and kyung doesn’t really understand how he manages to do that.

how can someone be so effortlessly beautiful?

after emptying the glass of water he had ordered minutes ago, he finally gathers the courage to make his way towards the pretty boy across the room. he doesn’t know if sangwoo noticed him staring, watching him, but either way, kyung walks to the younger man with quite a bit of confidence thanks to their previous interactions. and once he’s close enough, he smiles at the shorter man and leans a bit closer, just like the first time they met, to make sure he can hear his voice.

"of course," kyung says immediately after the question is asked, with a firm and conclusive nod of his head to make sure he looks clear as day in his response. he's innocent and he has the most wonderful alibi to confirm his words: a beautiful boy, whose name is known by most part of population of seoul and has been mentioned in the classist pretty often in the last few days. 

he doesn't mind the rumors involving the both of them, and doesn't mind the assumptions that people make about them. they were together that night, alone in a room with a comfortable bed and soundproof walls, and one could assume that things got dirty between the two men in those circumstances. but it just wasn't truth, not this time.

in fact, all they did that night was sit down next to each other, talking and getting to know one another instead of making out as most people would expect them to. kyung had ice in his hands and he run it on sangwoo's skin, but not in an erotic way — no, he was song sangwoo's personal nurse that night. the cold surface touched sangwoo's bruised skin with delicacy, kyung almost felt afraid of hurting the other boy even more with every move of his hand, of his fingertips. 

the younger man is definitely not fragile, not so easily breakable and he proved it by engaging in that fight during the party. and yet, ahn kyung felt like he could break the delicate and thin layer of skin that covers and protects the essence of who song sangwoo was. one wrong move and the crystal would break, shatter and cover the floor with sharp and deadly pieces.

"i was with song sangwoo in a private room," he explains, voice firm and sure of what he's saying. "he had gotten into a fight earlier that night, and i took him to a room to take care of him and his bruises. i was there with him the whole time, so it couldn't have been us."

“takes one to know one.”​​