Kitchen 10:34 PM   

Yoongi stumbled into the kitchen and leaned on the counter, dipping his head that pounded. He groaned loudly and squeezed his eyes shut.

Victoria followed and held back a laugh while rubbing circles on the small of his back. "Poor baby." Then she lightly smacked his head.

"Ow!" he protested and stood unsteadily.

She chuckled. "That's what you get for drinking so much."

"You're drinking, too." He pouted.

Victoria pulled her phone from her pocket and sighed. "Yoongi, can I use your phone charger?"

"No," he replied immediately while rubbing his head where she 'hit' it.

"Yoongi please!" she pleaded. "You're the only one with a phone charger and my phone's at two percent!"

He glared at her. "You live here, dumbass."

"But my charger is all the way upstairs."

Yoongi rolled his eyes before yanking his phone charger out of the wall next to sink where he had plugged it in earlier. "Fine," he slurred, handing it to her. "I guess these are the things you do for the people you love."

Hoseok came in and looked at the timer for the tteokguk before sighing and sauntering to the fridge.

Victoria smiled, not realizing that he could have just plugged her phone into the charger that was already in the wall. They were both just drunk. "Aw," she cooed and plugged the charger back into the wall. "I love you, too, Yoongi. Even though you can be a dick sometimes."

"No you don't," the grown man whined slightly, jutting out his bottom lip. "You're with Jin."

Hoseok paused, still holding the refrigerator door open. Victoria froze where she stood at the counter, about to plug in her phone.

She laughed. "But you don't love me like that."

"Don't tell me how I feel," he grumbled.

The fridge door closed with a thump as Hoseok turned around. "What are you guys talking about?" His slightly panicked tone caused him to throw his hands around as he talked, and he accidentally knocked the large cutting board with cheese onto the floor. It was already teetering on the edge because of Jimin, who did it earlier.

"Shit," she cursed, moving toward it. "Jin was so excited about this...he ordered it all the way from Amsterdam."

"It's always Jin with you!" Yoongi exclaimed, waving his arms around on his way to the fridge. "What about the rest of us?"

Hoseok clutched his chest, not believing what he was hearing. "What the hell, Yoongi? Are you saying you love her? Like...love?"

Victoria's eyes shifted from Yoongi to the cheese on the floor, where a rat sat on it, tail wiggling in the air. She screamed, and in a disgusted frenzy, ran toward the sink, the farthest point from it. Yoongi ran toward her and wrapped his arms around her.

Hoseok ran to the door and stepped out for a moment before coming back in. "It's fine! Everything's fine!" He shooed the rat with his shoes and picked up the cutting board, placing the cheese and grapes and crackers back on it before putting it on the counter.

Victoria pushed Yoongi off. She only stared at him in disbelief. "Yoongi..."

Iseul ran in, Jimin right behind her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yep!" Hoseok beamed before pushing his way into the dining room.

Iseul stared after him while Jimin raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen?"

Victoria shook her head and smiled.

"No," Yoongi said while nodding.

The silence didn't have a chance to settle before Jin rushed in, going right to Victoria. "Are you okay, baby?"

She smiled nervously and nodded, feeling like backing away when he kissed her cheek. "Yeah."

"Isn't this party going great?"

"Sure is."

Jin grabbed the cutting board and made his way out. Victoria pressed her lips together anxiously while Yoongi grabbed a bottle of soju from the fridge.

"Stop drinking!" Victoria yelled, stress boiling her blood.

Jimin touched her arm. "Hey, let the man drink."

"Why are you condoning stupid behavior?" Iseul questioned suspiciously.

"I have to stand up for my friends, Iseul," he insisted. "I believe it was Sun Tzu who wrote, 'Never give up. Never surrender.'"

Iseul pushed the door to the dining room open. "Shut up, Jimin."

"Okay."

Yoongi grabbed another bottle and slid it across the island to Victoria, who took it and gulped some. "Hypocrite," he chuckled.

"You love me?" she asked hysterically, eyes wide.

He frowned. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Well," she started, struggling for words. "I'm in a long-term relationship with one of your best friends, so I mean.." She sighed. "You haven't liked me from the start!"

"I don't like you," he admitted with a hiccup. "Cause I love you."

"Stop saying that!"

Another headache set in, causing Yoongi to groan and rest his head against the fridge doors. Victoria leaned against the island, face in her hands.

She didn't know how much time had passed that way, but Jin entered again and took in the two. He immediately reached for Victoria. "Are you okay?" She pulled away and headed for the door.

"Fine."

When she was gone, Jin tried to ignore the hurt burning in his chest. He walked over to Yoongi and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yoongi—"

But the younger shrugged him off aggressively. "I don't need help from you, okay?" he slurred and stumbled out.

Jin pulled a barstool out from under the island and sat, examining the two soju bottles leaving rings of dew on the italian marble.

Victoria sulked back into the room and he instantly got up to place his hands on her face. "Baby, seriously, what's wrong? Why are you drinking so much?"

She wriggled out of his grip. "You hate me."

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't hate you."

"Yes you do, you've hated me since the day we..." She paused to hiccup. "Met. And guess what?" She poked his chest. "I hate you, too."

Jin glowered, disarmed by the jab. "You hate me?"

"Mhm."

"You hate me..."

"I hate you so much," she slurred. "Cause I fuckin' love you. Realize that."

He suddenly felt small even though he towered over her. "Why are you doing this?"

"We're over," she stated before almost tripping over her own feet.

Anger surged inside of him. "Fine. You wanna be an idiot right now? Go ahead. See if I give a fuck." He stormed out, leaving her to be shocked that he swore at her.

-

"Where's Victoria?"

Jimin looked around at Jin's question. "Wasn't she in the kitchen last?"

Jin nodded and squeezed through everyone to rush into the room. But it was clear the moment he set foot in the newly remodeled space. He sat on the barstool again, spotting her phone on the counter near the sink. In the dim lighting, he felt tears prick at his eyes.

Victoria was gone.