Zach's POV...
"What?" I really hope I misheard what she just said.
"Take me to your house," Ara says.
My jaws dropped upon hearing her request. Not that I have a problem with taking her to my place, but now? My parents won't think that bringing home a drunk girl as an appropriate thing. But she has a point that I can't just leave her here where her parents would be worry to see her in this condition. Damn, what am I gonna do?
"It's ok, you go home and I'll just sleep in your car," Ara says.
I sigh. "I can't just do that."
"Well think of a solution," Ara says.
My mind starts rushing for a quick idea. Come on, Zach! You need a fast idea right now. I can't waste my time thinking of a solution the whole night, when Ara's condition is pretty bad.
I thought for a moment, for a simple yet helpful idea. Suddenly, a light bulb pops up in my head, allerting a brainstorm. I thought I could always bring her to a nearby hotel, of course without any inappropriate intentions. Not having any other ideas at the moment, I put my seat belts back on as I start the engine of my car again.
A few minutes later...
After minutes of driving around looking for the nearest hotel, I found a simple-yet-cozy-looking hotel not too far from Ara's place. I parked my car in the car park section, before turning my vision to see Ara who still looks badly drunk.
"Ara, we're here," I say as I remove my seat belts.
"Where are we?" Ara asks in a weak tone.
"We're at a hotel," I say as I remove her seat belts carefully. Looking at her condition, she really looks both weak and exhausted at this point. Deep inside, I feel pity for the girl who is usually known to have everything together. Seeing her tonight at this state is really a different scenery.
Enough with all the pity thoughts, I exit my car and opens the car door for Ara. Knowing that she probably wouldn't have enough energy to even walk properly, I gently drag her out of the car and grab a good hold of her shoulder, while closing the car door with my other hand.
"My head is dizzy," Ara says, again in a drunken tone. I noticed her legs starts to look weak as she almost trip on the ground. I pull her shoulder tightly as I start to walk with her to enter the hotel lobby.
At Oneway Hotel...
Entering the quiet lobby, I noticed an empty couch and lead Ara to sit there. I put her down to rest on the couch,
"I'll go book a room. You wait here ok," I say to Ara.
"Ok," she says.
After that, I walk up to the reception table. A woman with a bob haircut can be seen busy with her phone, not even bothering to notice my presence. I assumed she's the reception lady. Well, maybe because it's pretty quiet here tonight, that she didn't seem to look too busy.
"Good evening, I would like to book a room," I say, in which the woman finally moves her vision from her phone to me. Hopefully this wouldn't take so long.
A few minutes later...
As the elevator door opens, Zach walks outside with his arm still linked around Ara's shoulder. He start to search for their room as they continue with their steps.
306...this is it. Zach thought.
Zach opens the door of room, while slowly dragging Ara inside. The room is pretty small, which means there's not much space to walk around. Yet, Zach thought the queen size bed looked enough for Ara to get a good rest for now. The boy walks over to the bed and gently places Ara on the bed, before removing her silver-colored heels
While Zach slowly placrs Ara's shoes on the floor, he suddenly hear the sound of sniffles. He turns his head to see Ara, whose tears had run down to her cheeks. This time, he is getting a clear scenery of her crying, after he didn't quite focus on her crying while he was driving earlier. Now, it's like all her emotions are visible in his eyes.
"You ok?" Zach ask Ara. He thought like he just asked the dumbest question ever, since it's pretty obvious that she's not feeling good that she's crying. For a moment he thought his insensitive habit can sometimes lead to stupid actions.
"No," Ara says, in between tears. Though Zach expected her to say that, it's the first time he actually heard Kim Ara said she's not ok. She would usually always put a smile in front of everyone, so for her to break down tonight, he thought whatever she's crying about must be a big deal.
"What happened?" Zach ask her while walking over to the other side of the bed to take a seat next to the drunken girl.
Ara sighs. "I'm in love with Junghwa."
Zach turns his head to see her still in tears, with a look of depression on her face. Her brown eyes look deeply hurt, while her lips form a frown, in which her usual smile is not presented in this moment. He was suprised when he found out she's in love with Junghwa, but he is more hurt to know how her own feelings had been giving her a heartache.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Zach ask her, not really understanding why his best friend chose to hide her own feelings.
"He's with my cousin now. I don't want to ruin that," Ara says. "Besides, he doesn't like me that way. He likes Hana."
Zach's heart felt some sort of pain upon hearing Ara's answer. It's too surprising to hear Ara confessed that she has feelings for Junghwa, and knowing that Junghwa only sees her as friend is quite weird. Deep down, Zach sees Kim Ara as a beautiful and kind girl. Her sometimes sassy attitude is a mood-booster, and not to mention that she's a fun friend, and an amazing listener. Looking from his own perspective, he believed it's Junghwa's lost when he didn't notice her qualities.
"Look, I know that this sucks and all, but at some points, the only one who has the ability to make one better is themself," Zach says. Dealing with this situation, the young boy honestly didn't have any love tips, since he's not even a lover boy material. Yet, he can only hope that his words would make Ara feel better.
"The world is filled with a lot of people. Don't feel down just because one failed to see your qualities," Zach adds.
Upon hearing Zach's statement, Ara turns her head to see the young boy staring at her with a look of empathy on his face. Despite her heart still feeling hurt, Zach's sweet yet touching words made the storm in her heart calmed down for a bit. In a drunken state when her heart is feeling blue, a small spark of gratitude appears trying to heal the sadness of the present.
"You can get over Matt, I'm sure you can get over Hwang Junghwa soon," Zach says. "Remember, you promised me to move on and be happy."
Hearing that, Ara sighs. Flashbacks from Peter's party surfacing back in her head, when she saw Matt kissed Kate for the first time. Though she felt disappointed at the moment, she realized that it's nothing compare to the pain she's experiencing right now towards Junghwa. With this thought, she realized that she had moved on from Matt, yet is now in love with Junghwa.
"I fulfilled my promise," Ara says. "I moved on from Matt."
Zach sighs. "But you fell for Junghwa."
"Can our heart's even choose who to fall in love with? I believe love is a natural feeling. It comes without a word," Ara says. Her sassy attitude starting to get to her again as she starts to sober.
"Yeah. But it leaves with the loudest sound," Zach says, in which Ara became silent. Deep down, she knew what Zach said was true enough that it relates with her current situation.
Looking at Ara, Zach wanted to sigh. He couldn't blame her since she did fulfilled her promise, but again she fell for a guy who is attracted to another girl, resulting with her getting into another heartbreak. As her best friend, Zach didn't want Ara to keep falling for the wrong person. Her happiness is his happiness, so seeing her happy with someone who is right for her will also make him happy as her friend.
"Love might come without a word, but we can always close the door when it wasn't love," Zach says in a gentle and sincere tone, which made Ara a bit surprised to see Zach behaving all wise tonight. Usually he would behave like the childish and cheesy boy of the group. She never expected him to have a mature and sensitive side, despite being insesitive most of the time.
Ara sighs. "You are right. It was never love when it's one-sided."
"Well, my foster mom used to say, some things requires two people," Zach says.
"Foster mom?" Ara asks with a confused tone. For what she knew, Zach lives with his parents and little sister. She never knew he had a foster mom.
"Well, I was adopted," Zach states. "Though I haven't seen her for a long time."
"Wow, that's new. So you mean, you were adopted?" Ara asks, almost sounds like she disbelief what she just heard.
"Well, isn't it obvious? My dad's American, and I'm Korean," Zach states in a casual manner.
"But your mom's Korean," Ara says.
Zach sighs. A vision of nostalgic can be seen in his eyes. Though Ara couldn't quite see his face clearly in a lying position while he is sitting beside her, she did caught a glimpse of his gaze which looked deep. It's like he's feeling a deep feeling all of a sudden.
"She's not my biological mom. I was adopted by my parents when I was 8 years old. Before, I stayed at an orphanage, where I met my foster mom," Zach says. Though his voice sounds casual, his eyes are speaking deeper meanings of what he said through words.
"Oh," Ara says. She never imagined Zach to be adopted, by that she felt awkward at the fact that she brought up the topic which caused him to feel a deep feeling, causing the moment to be awkward.
"I'm sorry for asking," Ara adds.
"It's fine. I'm actually grateful to finally have a family," Zach says. "Though sometimes, I still miss my foster mom."
"Why don't you pay her a visit?" Ara asks.
"She's not in the orphanage anymore. I don't know where she went," Zach says. "But anyway, enough with that. You have to move on from Jay Hwang sooner or later."
Ara sighs. "Then I'll choose sooner."
"Well, it's not like you have another option," Zach says.
"And you actually gave "later" as another option," Ara states in a rather sassy tone.
Zach chuckles. He's glad his sassy best friend is starting to feel sober, but other than that, he's happy to see his best friend starting to feel a little better.
"Just choose the best option," Zach states. "By the way, I think we forgot our big plan."
"What is it?" Ara asks in confusion, as she starts to get up to her sitting position. "We annoyed the hell out of Tracy. Plan succeded."
"Yeah, but not fully done," Zach says. "We forgot something about it."
"What?" Ara asks. She stares at Zach who's eyes are staring at the hotel TV which is turned off. From the side, Ara could notice his cheeks starting to blush like a red rose, with his thin lips forming a shy smile.
"We forgot to kiss," Zach says shyly.
To be continue...