Kairos
As a part of my Birthday Prompt Party, Kairos is dedicated to the amazing @kkaebaek who has requested #89 „We both have friends who party too hard and we keep running into each other in the bathroom while we hold their hair back.” with Wonpil. I hope you like it, dear! <3
Words: 1192
Genre: fluff, comedy, slice of life
Main Characters: Kim Wonpil x Lee Hyunji (OC)
Warning: mentions of alcohol, vomitting
Kairos (noun): the right, critical or opportune moment.
Kim Wonpil didn’t sign up for such a role when little Park Jaehyung decided to hit him with a plastic hammer when they were only 5 years old. Their friendship started at a playground in Busan and since then, they still stuck to each other like glue.
Nevertheless, Wonpil hated parties, crowds, drinking and smoking teens, and most importantly, he absolutely hated assisting a drunk friend. However, he never refused to help Jae whenever he got drunk because he was his best friend after all. They always had each other’s back no matter what. Plus, poor guy didn’t have any luck in love, that’s why he turned to alcohol and the sensational feeling that its after-effect gave him; he merely wanted to drink away his sadness when his possible love interests turned him down.
Truth to be told, Jae was known to be an eccentric figure. He sure had a weird kind of humour but Wonpil never really minded his silly jokes and those weird sounds he made. Maybe it was because they had been best friends for more than 16 years or because he was a particularly patient person. He couldn’t tell.
However, he definitely didn’t sign up for assisting Jae’s little sister who wanted to attend a party for the first time in her life. She was only 15 years old and at her age, Wonpil didn’t even know the definition of parties, his life consisted of studying and playing video games with Jae.
On the other hand, his friend was a pretty chilled guy, so he persuaded his parents to let his sister go to a party. They only let her go under one condition; their parents insisted that she went with his brother, so that he would keep an eye on her. Unfortunately, Jae always found another pretty female for himself – just to get dumped half an hour later −, so Wonpil had to be there for Jimin, Jae’s little sister.
To be honest, Wonpil was an awkward guy in general but when he had to deal with girls, he was even more awkward. Not to mention the times when he had to hold back Jimin’s hair while she was throwing up in the bathroom because she got too drunk. He couldn’t stop her, she always found a way to get away with drinking, so they always ended up in the same place.
Wonpil was already regretting his life decisions and considering consulting a doctor because the state of his heart was criminal lately. Whenever a party rolled by, he was diligently preparing himself for a possible heart attack. He was terrible with assisting drunk people and if that wasn’t enough, he was terrible with assisting drunk people who happened to be females. On top of everything, a particular female who was his best friend’s little sister. Not like Jae minded that he watched over her though. It was only embarrassing because Wonpil himself felt awkward playing the big brother instead of his mate.
As the saying goes, everything happens for a reason, and that’s how it was for Wonpil, too. If it hadn’t been for the circumstances, he would have never met Lee Hyunji who was doing the same but she was actually helping out her best friend who couldn’t handle drinking alcohol but had a shot or two whenever she failed her exams. Which happened a lot by the way.
One day, they happened to bump into each other as Wonpil pushed his friend – it was only Jae this time, not Jimin − into the bathroom while Hyunji was trying to get out of there. The boy’s shoulders brushed hers as she was making her way out of the smelly bathroom, probably after her drunk friend.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled nervously and left right away. She didn’t even leave time for him to say anything. She was already gone and Jae was already emptying his stomach.
It was the first time they met but not the last. The more parties he attended, the more he could see her. She was always with her friend while he was usually with Jimin or maybe even Jae, if he didn’t stay sober for the rest of the night.
There was even one time when the party was held in one of the girls’ houses from uni whose parents were so rich that they had separate bathrooms for girls and boys. Wonpil usually didn’t freak out when he had to accompany Jimin to the bathroom because bathrooms weren’t only for females at other houses but now… he was questioning himself why he ever needed to make friends with Jae.
“Hey! It’s the ladies room!” a chic-looking girl exclaimed as he sneaked into the restroom with Jimin, staying close to her, so that she wouldn’t hurt herself on the way to the toilets.
“I know,” he shouted back as he was picking up his pace because Jimin suddenly started running towards a lavatory. When she arrived at one, she immediately started to throw up, earning disgusted glances from other females.
Wonpil didn’t even have a second to spare, he rushed to her side to hold her hair back. The following moments were always the most embarrassing ones but he had to endure it. Even though he didn’t know why Jimin felt better by drinking so much and then getting rid of all of it some hours later, he couldn’t leave her alone.
Not until she said so herself and he could finally relax, his back pressed against the wall in the corridor, his thoughts running wildly in his head.
“Tough day?” a familiar voice called and Wonpil turned his head towards the owner of the voice. He saw a girl as pretty as flowers and as sparkling as a ray of sunshine on the surface of the water, her chocolate-brown eyes filled with curiosity and her smile filled with joy.
“Yeah. A pretty tough one,” he let out a weary sigh as he thought back of all the things that had happened that day. Jimin wasn’t an easy case to say the least. Not even when she was sober but when she happened to be drunk… Oh gosh, that was really difficult for poor Wonpil.
“We always have a tough day by our friends, right?” she giggled as she pointed to the door of the ladies’ room.
For the first time that day, Wonpil couldn’t help but laugh with her. It felt so odd because it felt totally new for him. He wasn’t used to being comfortable in such an atmosphere but then came this girl with a voice of angel, a smile like the sunrise and eyes like the universe.
“I’m Hyunji,” she reached out her hand for a handshake and even though he hesitated at first, her smile could easily convince him that nothing bad would happen if he introduced himself to a girl.
“I’m Wonpil.”
That’s how everything started for them. Helping out drunk friends and running into each other in the bathroom. They sure had an interesting first encounter but neither of them would change it for the world.