#jisolb

Ouch.

Jiho hated hangovers. He hated how he would repeat his mistakes over and over again, chugging back the glasses and shots of alcohol. Each time, he would remind himself not too much. But he would throw that advice out the window when he chases his high.

The warm sun rays of his window filter in through the sheer curtains as he squints his eyes closed, grabbing the sheets and pulling them over his head. God, he really hates hangovers. He can’t even remember what happened last night, and he didn’t really want to at the moment.

Realising the sun was not going to go away, he grunts in frustration, before getting up and propping himself upright with his arm. The bed was messy, and he knew something was off. Of the many times he came home drunk, his bed was never this messy. Ever.

And that is also when he realises he’s naked underneath his black sheets. Strange, he’s never really gone to bed naked. He had the habit of putting on a pair of boxer shorts, for sure, but he doesn’t remember getting naked.

A throbbing pain stops his train of thought as he groans from his headache, slowly getting up to find a pair of sweatpants for him to wear before getting his hangover cure of painkillers. He needed to order some spicy jjamppong as well. And he’s definitely not going to work on his reports today.

Just as he runs his fingers through his hair and opens the door, he’s greeted with the sight of someone already in his house. Seated by the dining table and chair, with a mug of hot steaming coffee and in an oversized grey T-shirt, her hair was long, slightly messy and her eyes were clearly still sleepy.

There, in all her glory sits his rival, Kang Sol B.

Sol was up just a good ten minutes before him, in the same state that he was in. A moment of confusion, before realising that across from her, one arm draped loosely around her bare stomach was Seo Jiho. Not wanting to wake him up and send him into a state of panic, she chose to crawl out of bed and grabbed the first thing she sees: his grey shirt.

She brewed herself a cup of coffee and made an additional one for him, knowing how he would need this. She nurses her headache and recollects her memories, before muttering curses to herself as her memories come back bit by bit. When the door opens to see a shirtless, well toned Jiho in his sweatpants and disheveled hair, she locks eyes with him and the puzzle pieces fall into place over last night.

The memories of last night suddenly come hitting back at him like a bullet train, as his eyes meet hers and he can only blink back in shock. He doesn’t even care that she’s in his house, or that he’s shirtless. He’s suddenly thrown back hours before.

The memories of them drinking with their friends to celebrate Joon Hwi’s promotion as well as Seungjae’s having a second child comes back. How he kept knocking shot after shot back. How his rival was one moment next to him, the next moment in his arms. How he was attempting to bring her home, but she was quick to kiss him, and he was already enjoying it too much to say no.

How one moment they were kissing on the couch, and the next in the bedroom, and the next…

Jiho was stumped. Did he really just have a one night stand with his rival? Kang Sol B? Still standing by his door, he grabs his glasses from the edge of the table, fumbling with it out of nervousness and slips it on as naturally as he can. Sol doesn’t look away, but only slides another steaming mug to him when he sits across from her. They both sit in silence for a bit as Jiho takes scalding sips while he processes his hangover and his memories.

“How are you feeling?” Sol asks, her manicured fingers drumming the side of the mug. She notices the way he bites his lip, the same way he does when he’s nervous. The way his hair was messy from his pillow, it was so different from the man she knew since middle school. As best as she could, she tried not to look at his toned abs, as she remembers running her fingers up and down those muscles last night.

“Terrible. You?” Jiho simply replies, too nervous to say anything else.

“Feels worse than the time after the mock trial.” She says, taking another long sip. Another silence ensues. Jiho unconsciously bites his lower lip, and Sol feels her heart skip a beat.

She’s used to his habits, how he clicks his tongue when he’s thinking. The drumming of his fingers. How he adjusts his round glasses every five minutes. Yet, she has never noticed the way that she feels whenever she catches him doing it. She has never noticed how her heart flutters when he leans over to her to grab a paper, or to glance at her report.

“You remember everything?” Jiho finally asks. Sol looks up at him, thoughts suddenly cleared as she takes another sip of coffee to collect her thoughts. She closes her eyes, the way she does when she’s thinking, leaving Jiho in a moment of silence, and observance.

Jiho notices the way her hair is so messy, it’s so unlike the Sol he knows. Her jet black hair not styled and straightened, the morning frizz just taking effect and her hair knotted made her look so different than the judge in the courtroom he was so used to. Her small frame hidden away with his big grey shirt, yet her slim collarbones are showing and the neckline so low and big, one of her shoulders are exposed.

Jiho was sure that the alcohol had worn off. So why do the words ‘cute’ and ‘sexy’ resonate with her now? Why does he find the way that she bites her lip when she’s thinking about her schoolwork cute back in school? Why was he always flustered whenever she looked at him? Why will his heart skip whenever she brushes his hand or arm?

Did he… have feelings for her?

“Most of it, I think.” Sol’s reply brings his thoughts back down. Sol brings her hand back and combs her mid back length hair back. She outgrew her short hair styles when she graduated school, and has stuck to growing it out ever since she moved out of her home. Jiho can’t help but notice the way the shirt exposes her shoulder and collarbones, he wants to throw a jacket on top right away.

“I… I’m sorry, for last night. I probably should have been more sober and brought you home, not to mine.” Jiho blurts out, fumbling with his glasses again, his hand pushing them up and naturally combing his bed hair back. Sol doesn’t say anything, but just scoffs.

“No use apologising now, don’t you think?” Her voice comes out harsh, but Jiho is used to it. That was her, after all. And Jiho could tell the slightest differences between each tone. Jiho only leans back on his chair, and shuts his eyes for a moment, letting his head tilt back. Sol tries her best not to stare at his muscles, and the way he shifts his glasses up. All she’s thinking is how hot her rival looks in front of her, and how everything about this feels wrong.

“Was it…your first?” Jiho asks, his eyes still closed. He dares not face Sol if she says yes, and he dares not face her if she says no either. He rather wishes to disappear. Only, she returns a light scoff.

“What, you scared?” She mocks. Jiho’s eyes open slowly, and Sol is there with a mocking smirk on her face, almost in amusement. Jiho feels almost fluttery and giddy from her smirk.

“I’m just asking. It’s not mine, I can tell you that.” Jiho bluntly says. Well, it was true. He’s never had serious relationships before, but he did have a couple of casual relationships in the years after graduating Hankuk. It was always bland, though. Never enough time to meet, and the sparks died the same month they met.

“It’s not mine either.” Sol admits to Jiho. Sol wasn’t lying, either. She was never one for serious long term relationships, being so driven by her career. But men kept chasing after her, and she attempted a few flings that mostly landed with one night stands. It never went any further, and she knew that they just wanted her for her body. Ever since, she hasn’t been on dates. This time, Jiho scoffs. Sol hears it and her face darkens.

“What?”

“I never thought you would be like this. I always thought you were so pure.” Jiho says, the taunting smile on his lips. Sol knows that smile. It was the smile from last night, the one he gave her that drove her right over the edge. The one smile that she finds herself so utterly helpless against.

“Well, I’m sure last night I provided enough evidence to support that.” Sol says, leaning forward slightly, eyes darkened. Jiho loves her eyes, the way they change and sparkle, but also how mysterious and dark they are. Two could play this game, Sol thinks to herself.

The both of them lock their eyes for a moment, the tension in the air heightened.

Jiho’s certain he wants her. He wants her, like how he wanted her last night. The entire sight of her was enough to bring him down. Her messy hair falling into her face, the way his shirt drapes loosely around her. He wanted to feel her and caress every spot he hasn’t touched. He wanted to ravish her, to taste her, to mark her as his. To show her that she’s his, and no one else’s.

Sol was equally brought back to last night. How she loved the smirk he gave her, how gentle he is. How good he made her feel, till she was out of breath and dizzy. But yet, it felt so wrong to feel this way. They were friends, classmates. She wasn’t even certain if she liked him for being Seo Jiho, or for the sex itself. She just felt so wrong to want a man to please her like how she felt last night.

Sol breaks her eye contact first, a red blush creeping up to her face. Grabbing her phone nearby, she scrolls through to try and book a taxi.

“I’m sorry, I should go.” She says, as she wants to get up. Jiho brings his hand up to her arm and sets her down back on the chair.

“You’re leaving in this?” Jiho says. Sol looks down, embarrassed and admits defeat. Her clothes from last night reeked of alcohol, and there was no way she was going home in those.

“I’ll drive you home later. Let’s get some jjamppong to eat first.” Jiho says, shifting his glasses up and clicking two orders of jjamppong from his phone. Sol instinctively grabs their two mugs of coffee and brings them to the kitchen to wash.

Jiho watches as she washes the mugs from the glass panel of the kitchen. When she returns, Jiho shifts himself closer to her. They sit in silence for a moment, before Sol breaks her silence.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Sol admits. Jiho knows what she means, and of which, he rebuts.

“Why?”

“We’re… we’re not a couple. I don’t want you to get lead on, and sour our friendship.” Sol says, her hand sweeping her hair back again. God, that move, Jiho thinks. She stands up abruptly, pacing from her chair to the wall nearby.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” Jiho says, stopping Sol in her tracks. He continues on, while taking slow steps towards her.

“I realised way too late just how much I love you. And you’re not going to lead me. Because I’ve already fallen for you, Your Honor.” He says, now closing the distance between both of them. He brings a hand up to Sol’s hair, tucking a strand behind her ear. Sol hitches a breath, as she feels his fingers.

“Kang Sol, I, Seo Jiho, love you.” Jiho slowly leans in, giving her enough time to push him or dodge if she wanted to. But Sol doesn’t move and only lets him kiss her. She feels his soft lips, as they dance together, her hands finally letting it glide over those abs she’s been staring at the whole day. She’s thrown back to the previous night, remembering how she did this too.

Jiho tastes the coffee on her lips and hers. He loves the way she tastes, how perfect his hand rests on her hips, the other hand snaking under his shirt to feel the bare skin. She shudders as his fingers glide over her thighs, but only kisses harder from the feeling.

“You love me?” Sol asks between those kisses as his hand comes into contact with her hip bone, rubbing it lightly. Her hands trail to his waist, pulling him closer to her and taking steps back, such that she’s leaned against the wall.

“I do. Ever since law school.” He growls back and sweeps her hair back from falling into her face. He bites and nibbles on her lip, a sigh of pleasure escaping her lips, before she gently sucks on his.

Pulling away to catch her breath, Sol hates how she’s given in to the man in front of her. She stares deep into his eyes, as she thinks back to the years they spent in school. Had all the meals they shared together, all the one-on-one study sessions and all the reports she’s willingly helped him in just really out of pure friendship? Has she been so blind to her feelings?

“Still think it’s a bad idea?” His voice is so raspy and breathy from all the kissing, she can’t help but feel so lusted. In response, she only dives in for another kiss, thumbs gliding over his muscles, savouring it under her touch.

Jiho smirks under her kiss, as he shifts his attention to her jaw and neck, leaving a trail of light kisses. He thanks the shirt now, leaving a whole side of her collarbone and shoulder exposed along with her neck. Peppering her with kisses, he finds her sensitive spot when she gives an audible gasp as his lips brush through.

“Ji-Jiho...” She hates how whiny she sounds, how her voice is so breathy as she holds him closer to her. But she wants it. She wants him so bad. She wants him like how he was last night.

“You look so good dressed in my shirt… God, you’re such a tease.” He whispers softly, before lightly sucking on her spot. Sol is slowly giving in, as a sound of pleasure escapes her lips, eyes closed.

“Don’t leave a mark there...” Her voice so soft and gentle, unlike the other times he’s heard them. It’s the first time he's heard her so vulnerable and weak. The air between them was so hot, and it didn’t help that Jiho could feel the bulge in his sweatpants slowly forming.

“So you’re letting me mark you, Your Honor?” Jiho teases, the same smirk that he knows Sol is weak to on his face when he looks at her. But Jiho is equally weak to her pleasured face, the way she bites her lip. His fingers rub on a sweet spot on her hips and she rolls her head back, nodding in response. She’s so needy and she can't wait any longer.

Taking it as a go, he attaches his mouth on a spot of her collarbone, sucking lightly and gently, as her whines fall from her mouth. He moves on from spot to spot, nibbling on the skin of some. Sol’s face is red from the heat, and she only palms Jiho’s head, guiding him to the spots she loves. Jiho leaves a trail of bites along her collarbone and her shoulder, but leaves one on her neck for good measure.

Pulling away, he locks his lust filled eyes to find Sol’s eyes equally drunk on lust. He knows he has fallen in love with her with the way she rivals him. It was opposites attract, how he’s always chasing up to her, and sometimes it’s her who’s chasing him. How she was silently there during his low moments. Their physical attention was just another confirmation of how Jiho needs her in his life.

Sol finally accepts the suppressed feelings she’s locked away. She’s been so caught up in her career, from breaking free from her mother’s fingers, she’s forgotten that she had a life, that she was more than just a puppet with her mother pulling the strings. She had feelings for Seo Jiho. More than the way he makes her feel, she fell in love with the persistence he had to clear his father’s name. His entire being comforted her, knowing how it felt to grow up in her mother’s palm.

“I... I love you too.” She whispers back a whisper so soft, she almost feels giddy from all the kissing. Jiho gives a rare smile, almost delighted to know she feels the same, and she manages to give one back.

Diving in for another kiss, Jiho takes the next step further, letting his hand glide on her thigh before going up to her hip and slowly crawling up her toned stomach. Sol was no stranger to such teases, as she sucked on his lips, her leg sliding up and down his inner thigh. Jiho audibly groans in the kiss and Sol loves how she’s taken control.

“Excited, are we?” he growls. Sol only smirks in reply, her hands reaching to the waistband of his pants, feeling the V-shape of his hip bone. Jiho only groans in pleasure, watching as the girl in front of him could be so controlling in a matter of seconds.

“You could speak for yourself, Prosecutor Seo.” And that was all Jiho needed before he fully decided to ravish her in his bedroom. Sol wanted it herself as she continuously teased him by pulling on his drawstrings or letting her fingers slip over the waistband.

But they pull apart, when the doorbell rings, signalling the arrival of their hangover food.

Jiho pulls apart, not wanting to let her go and Sol’s hands still rest on his waistband, a finger fingering the band. Jiho reluctantly pulls her hand away, collecting their food and letting it sit on the table. With one fluid sweep, Jiho picks the younger girl into his arms and shuts the door to his bedroom.

The air rushed past him, as Han Joon Hwi looked out against the field, the sky bright yet dull all at once. He drove himself, all the way outside the city to the hill and clearing, the place where his uncle would take him every week for a picnic, once upon a time.

Despite the roads being endless and similar to each other, something deep within him could find its way back here no matter what. The path was etched into his soul, just like how his uncle's laughter was pressed into his mind. He could flip through every bend and every turn in his mind, and he was able to know just where he was on the route by the way the road felt, the way his car would jump over certain bumps.

He could remember the rides here, from when he was a child to when he was in high school. The wind would flow through the car, the windows down as his uncle would drive. The trip felt endless and short, all at once. He could feel the euphoria and tranquility, all at once.

As a child, he'd look out and watch as the wind would blow against the blades of grass, and enjoy the wind whipping against his face. As a teenager, he would lose himself in the quietness of the countryside, the peace of the vast green fields.

Yet as an adult, he found everything suffocating. He found the greens too bright, the sky boring into his soul, his skin, his heart. It was somehow too much for him, the memories of what once was and what could have been too much for his brain to handle.

The clearing was at a standstill somehow never changing despite everything. Time left this place untouched, the view just the same as it had been 20 years ago, the air just the same as it had been. As he looked out into the clearing, he could see the same view that he had shared with his uncle, before he had betrayed him, before he had lost everything.

Unknowingly, he had grown, his job wearing him down faster than he'd ever imagined. Despite the prosecutor's office being everything, and more, than he imagined. Despite his mind and body being built for the law, he was worn away. His shoulders held a weight to it, his face holding the stress and the exhaustion from lack of sleep. Lack of time.

It was always another case, another day of wondering if the people he was prosecuting were actually guilty or if he had indicted someone innocent.

Coming back to the clearing, the memories of who he used to be so evident in every inch of the field, every inch of the view, shocked him into a standstill. He could hear his breathing, the blood rushing and his heart pounding. All he could do was blink, as he looked out and the memories would flood through his mind.

Joon hwi was trapped, his body worn and in the future but his mind stuck in the past.

His uncle would joke that as a kid, Joon Hwi was the kind to sit in a corner, without ever making a fuss. I could set you down in a corner of the room, and you'd sit there and stare at the walls until someone picked you up.

It was true, even as he grew up, he wasn't the kind to intentionally cause chaos. His whole life, he could be described as almost neutral. His mind was rational to a fault, applying logic to every part of his life— even to the illogical ones.

He laughed slightly, the sound almost bitter.

For someone so rational, it didn't make sense how intensely and illogically he felt for one girl, Kang Sol. His Sol. She walked into his life, dragging chaos and uprooting any sense of peace he once had.

And he loved it. Joon hwi couldn't imagine not having her in his life, her not balancing his peace with her chaos.

There wasn't a way to describe what she meant to him, who she was to him. She was simply Kang Sol. But she was also so much more than that.

She was fire and passion, energetic and bubbly. Her smile was enough to spread a warmth through his chest, the affection almost choking and pouring out of him. His eyes felt magnetic to her movements, her happiness.

She was a bright girl, hardworking and endlessly loyal. She'd work to death for her friends and for her family and she was a bright flame that would burn no matter how strong the wind was.

He'd never felt so intensely, and he wanted to bottle it up and get drunk on it. It was euphoric, her presence brighting him up in ways he couldn't describe. He craved to learn more about her, know her mannerisms until he could recite them from memory. He needed to know her like the back of his hand, know her better than he knew himself.

But it was also painful, the joy turning poisonous and suffocating in his chest. Her presence in his life was an eternal reminder, a constant struggle between wanting to confess, to lay himself out for her and hiding everything away, just so he could have her for a little longer.

His mind would only torture him, his rationality remind him that he could never have her in the way he wanted to. He would never know the feeling of her hand clasped in his, the way she would look waking up next to him. He would never know how she looked in the early mornings, how she would look sprawled out in his bed. For all the things he knew about her, he had a million more he'd never know.

He looked down, the thick card stock foreign in his hands, as his eyes traced over the gold inscription.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Kang Sol and ...

He shut his eyes, the tears building up behind his eyes as he looked across the field. His throat closed, and his breath shuddered into a shock as his hands tightened.