You make me crazy
it's not just the wine

-Love u, monsta x

It was New Year's Eve, a night with bustling energy as vibrant music boomed through the loudspeakers with occasional shouting from the DJ, people grooved and danced their hearts out on the floor. Glasses on their hands, extravagant attires on their bodies and their hands on their partners.

Yet here I was standing near the glass walls in a corner with a peg of champagne in my hand that I hadn't tasted yet, wearing a black oversized hoodie paired with faded jeans. My hair up in a ponytail like the usual.

I still could picture Jooheon cocking his head to the side when he saw me for the first time in the night. "You look normal," his voice matched the seven pairs of incredulous eyes that raked through my entity.

"She looks fine to me!" Minhyuk shouted. "Let's get this party started."

Well, I definitely looked too normal for an elite party but it was alright since with that vague aura I transformed into nothing and no one quite perfectly. Everyone was too busy caring for themselves but the boys did stick by me.

Save for Minhyuk, Jooheon, and Changkyun who were dancing like crazy in the dark a few feet away. And Hyungwon who was behind the counter so far away that I could occasionally see his hair whenever he jumped with the music.

"I did not know Hyungwon was a DJ," I mumbled particularly to no one.

Wonho laughed nervously, his shoulders tensed and eyes constantly glancing towards the glass walls we were standing by, twenty stories up the ground. "He goes by H.one as a DJ."

Some time ago I was stunned with the knowledge that Hyungwon was a model, and now it was time to be shocked again but I could not really ponder much on the newfound information as I was as anxious as Wonho, keeping myself busy looking around just so my eyes won't fall outside.

A drop from here would be fatal, not any chance of survival at all. My brain smashed to the ground and limbs everywhere and-

"How did you spend the day today, Daisy?" Shownu's voice was heard and at first, I was met with Kihyun who was stirring the glass of red wine in his hand absentmindedly, making the liquid cause a whirlpool in the middle. God knew what number of glass for the night that was on his hand.

"I had lunch at Haneul's, her parents run a barbeque restaurant and she helps out there in holidays like this," I answered to the eldest who stood close to me with a curious look adorning his features. "And I helped mom cook dinner, we watched some movies in the evening and now I am here, that's about it."

"Sounds fun!" Shownu exclaimed with pure glee, I wondered which part of it was really.

"I hope you'll enjoy the next seven days of vacation too, Daisy. You need it," he said and I could not help but feel a little discouraged knowing I would not get to see them for the whole week, even though I should be feeling happy because of the overdue vacation.

They paid me well, I finally was enjoying my youth rather than running part times all day, thus I did not mind working overtime at the club sometimes. All these, the boys, made me feel alive.

"What about you?" I asked back and Shownu halted right before taking a sip from his drink.

A rare and enigmatic glint shined in his eyes. "I have exciting news to spare."

"Is it about us taking a vacation to Japan next summer with Daisy?" Wonho giggled and Kihyun let out a loud sigh the very second.

"Oops." The pink's face fell as he gave me a wide-eyed look before giving them to the other two boys. "That was supposed to be a secret!"

Shownu pressed his lips into a thin line when he saw me shooting questions with my face alone. Then he opened his mouth to speak but Kihyun beat him to it.

"It's more of a business trip rather than a vacation, you know we are trying to expand our business there. So far as making a club outlet." Kihyun gulped down the rest of the bloodlike wine from his glass in one shot and placed it to a waiter's tray that was passing by.

"Why do you have to be such a party pooper?" It was Wonho's turn to sigh.

"But," I swallowed a little, suddenly my mind getting filled with thoughts of going somewhere unfamiliar, out of the country with these boys. And I was okay with that, what I worried about was getting to visit some place with Kihyun.

"I don't have a passport," I finished.

Shownu chuckled instantly, his broad shoulders shaking lightly from it. "We can work on that Daisy. It's still winter. However-" His eyes circled around to the rest as he sobered up. "I have other news. I've found something that might help to catch the person who killed my father."

A blue cloak of disdain immediately fell on this corner, the loud music still reverberating along the glass walls and sophisticatedly decorated ceiling but I could feel the joy around us four die down.

"What did you find?" Wonho's tentative voice reached me but I only had eyes on Shownu who was thinking hard to himself, his index finger stroking the glass that his other fingers circled around.

"I haven't been to father's study in months," distantly looking somewhere else in the crowd Shownu answered. "On Christmas night, whatever happened gave me this urge to finally visit that locked up room. It hadn't been cleaned out actually, just his dead body and bloodstains gone. Everything was still the same as before."

I could not imagine how hard it was for Shownu to reach his father's study where someone had killed him. I knew his mother went insane after the incident, no matter how strong Shownu seemed, he was a person after all.

"I sat on his desk like I'd used to before. Wonho and I often got scolded for visiting the study when we were younger," A solemn expression made its way onto Shownu's face as he continued. "Then I noticed something. A bug, taped under the table. You know how father was a cautious person, a lot of meetings happened in that room, I guess that's why."

He trailed off, it was quiet among us until he spoke again. "Surprisingly the bug still works. It's jammed a little and many records might have been erased but I took it to the mechanics. It might take a few days to fix, but it doesn't hurt to try at least."

"Does anyone else know about this?" Wonho asked again but this time his voice hinted a curiosity.

Shownu finished off his drink and after that, he looked up at us for the first time in a while. "Not yet."

"Are you sure you'll be okay if you come to learn the truth? It might be someone we know," Kihyun responded slowly. "And it has been long, a year. Can you hold them accountable even if you know?"

A jarring wave passed through me when I could see Shownu's face visibly grow darker into a menacing demeanor, as if he was a different person.

But that was only for a second. A loud screech interrupted us as a dancing Minhyuk teetered his way towards us, his feet light and wobbly, cheeks glowing red in the dark.

"What are you boring folks yapping about here? Come dance! It's the new year's eve!"

The slight slur in his tone told me he was drunk enough. "Guess we should," Wonho trudged towards him, not before he had pulled Shownu's arms and gestured Kihyun and me to follow too.

Despite seeming a bit reluctant Shownu did join the drunk Minhyuk and trying-to-lighten-the-mood Wonho. Kihyun and I stayed as I definitely wasn't the partygoer type. I was more of the rat being content in the corner, though I did not really know about Kihyun.

My eyes trailed their back until they disappeared from my sight, the crowd was getting livelier with midnight inching closer. The hollering and dancing bodies mingling with each other, making it harder to tell who was who.

Instead, I focused on the transparent wall and stared outside, trying not to rewind the imagery of Shownu looking so grim and different. It was better to busk in the anxiety that I could fall and die anytime from here if the glass somehow broke and someone pushed me off the cold air.

"Look up rather than staring down," A low voice whispered from close approximate.

I did not have to turn to know it was Kihyun, yet I did what he told me to and a bright moon welcomed me from the foggy surface of the night sky.

It was almost full, radiating a warm glow that reflected on the walls. The light wasn't so vibrant but at that moment, nothing else looked brighter. It made me wonder how I overlooked such a sight for so long time throughout the night.

Maybe because I was always looking down, always fearing something that might or might not happen to avoid the beautiful warm scenery that was unfolding right above.

"You won't fall from here," I will catch you, I could hear the rest of the words falling from Kihyun's rosy lips even though he never said the latter.

Just him standing so close from the back, looming over me, his voice next to my ear and his hot breath fanning my bare neck made me hear the unheard.

Goosebumps started to rise one by one, the hair on my neck standing up and my stomach turning. Blood rushing to my face.

"Do you mind if I stay close like this?" he again hummed and the words were so close as if his lips were on my ear, leaving trails down to my jawline.

I could barely say that I did not mind, that I would not mind even if he came so close that a hairbreadth amount of space wouldn't be available between us. Maybe he read me because he did not move, but he did not close the gap as well.

The scent coming from him made me nauseated and my vision bleary, a strong scent of expensive men's cologne from his black leather jacket, a scent of aftershave from his jaw and neck that was hidden behind a turtleneck, and a faint aroma of shampoo.

It washed over to me and only that mere thing paired with the vibration of his chest close to my back and his breath caressing the skin on my neck made me weak in my knees. I could not pay a single amount of attention when the music stopped and the new year's countdown begun.

"Seven! Six! Five! Four!" The voices got louder with each count and a foreign excitement made my gut wrench in the inside. "Three! Two! One!"

As soon as it ended a disastrous sound followed, making me flinch until I hit Kihyun who stood behind me like concrete. The sound did not end, but created a labyrinth of more. Before me numerous fireworks flared up to the sky, blooming like flowers and dying down in mere seconds only for another to come alive.

Colors filled the night sky and the moon was nowhere to be seen, as if she had given the spotlight to the fire. The ground beneath me shook, falling down from here becoming more inevitable. I should be feeling scared yet I could not stare away from the flames shooting up and lighting in the sky.

"So pretty!" I could only gasp when a vibrant purple color lit up midair, so close as if I could reach it if there wasn't a wall.

"It is," Kihyun murmured. Suddenly I felt myself turning away to look back, to him. He was standing just as close as I thought he would be.

The lights outside were reflecting in his eyes that were on mine, a golden fire igniting and blooming in his dark brown irises. Why would I be staring outside if I could stare at the mirror in his beautiful pair of eyes.

As I was so focused on his own fireworks I did not move an inch when he finally closed the gap between us.

It felt so natural, him leaning forward until his lips met mine.

And I could feel the fireworks moving along to my chest and burning there now.

It was an ephemeral press of the lips when he moved away but his gaze never left. Yet the burn of the kiss and the flame igniting in my chest lasted for a long time.

---
A/n: the long due kiss yall were waiting for. YALL BETTER HYPE IT UP!

Approximately 7/8 chapters left for this book, I think. A slight warning, look out cause I just won't end it like that.

I've been working on the characterization and plotline for my wonho fic 'until the end of time' which will be out soon.

Until the end of time is inspired by monsta x mvs, find you and dramarama, and my own Seokjin fanfic alternate.