I leaned against the kitchen counter and sipped on my coffee. It was my fifth coffee that day. I had been working on reviewing some books online and it sure was fun. The classic literature had many amusing reviews and it had made my day.
Kao was getting ready to meet some friends. Yeah, those some friends included Mr. Zeel too which was making me upset but couldn't help it. Jealousy would just make everything worse. Everything would work out if I just trust Kao and it was just Zeel that I didn't trust. I sighed, putting away the empty cup in the sink and making my way to Kao's room.
He was all dressed up in a blue shirt and a black coat and warm trousers. He was pacing back and forth in the room, looking for something. I cleared my throat at the door. He turned to look at me, his expression softening.
"Kwan! I can't find one sock." He exclaimed.
"You mean a pair of socks?" I asked, walking in slowly.
"No. One sock. I found one but I can't find it's partner. I washed the other two pairs, thinking this one pair was stuffed in the closet but it's just one sock. And I am getting late." He placed his hands on the side of his hips, exhausted from looking for his sock.
I shook my head. "I have new pair of socks. You can have them."
His face brightened. "Really? Thank you so much!"
I smiled.
I sighed, watching him wear his shoes at the front door. He would probably come home drunk. He was meeting his college friends after all. And if that Zeel tried anything funny...
"Okay, cook yourself something for dinner and sleep early. I will be late I guess." He smiled, leaning to hug me.
"You probably should be back early. You know we have a flight in the morning." I hugged him, patting his back. He pulled away and looked into my eyes.
"You could have me tagged along. It will be a great chance to introduce me to your friends." I said.
He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Introduce?"
His reaction shocked me. My heart suddenly felt heavy. Why did he react like that? Did he not want to introduce me to his friends?
"Ah I forgot. Never mind." I said, doing my best to put on a smile.
He looked a little unsure. "Uh okay, I will be off then."
I nodded. "Text me when you get there."
He smiled and walked out the door.
And so the eternity of the insecure hour began. I read reviews of books to pass my time. I even installed games on my phone and played for- god knows for how long. But time was just passing as slow as it could. I was anxious. He had texted me when he got there and ever since then, I had been making scenarios in my head about him getting drunk with that Zeel. I ordered food online and ate without tasting anything. I had a lot in my mind.
To distract myself, I looked through my contacts, hoping to find someone to just chat for a while. I gave up on the idea to call someone and just went through the list of unread messages. Man, people must have thought so bad about me. My text app was full of unread messages. My family members and Kao was pinned so I never bothered to even look at other messages. Most of them were from groups I didn't want to be in, like those groups of school friends, another group of college friends, and some random groups I didn't even have an idea about.
I was losing patience when it was past eleven and he was still not home. I had texted him but he hadn't even seen those. He must be having a lot of fun. I sat on the couch in the living room with another cup of coffee, staring at the wall trying to calm my anxiety down. My anxiety rose when the time was past twelve and there was still no reply from him. I gave up and called him. He picked it up at the sixth ring.
"Hey, I will take some more time. Don't wait and go to bed." He whispered from the other end. I could hear some drunk babbling in the background. Before I could say anything, he hanged up. I placed my phone down, clenching my jaw. I took a deep breath and exhaled.
I sat on the couch with my arms folded across my chest and with my eyes closed, waiting patiently. I didn't know what time it was but I heard the faint sound of the door unlocking. The footsteps were muffled as if trying to be careful to not make a sound followed by a loud gasp. I opened my eyes and found him standing in the middle of the living room, staring at me with wide eyes.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, walking over to me.
"I don't know. Maybe waiting for you." I said.
He smiled. "Wow. Are you my wife or something? You should have gone to bed, Kwan. It's late."
I got up on my feet and stretched my neck side to side. "Not your wife but..." I trailed off. Was I his boyfriend? I just realized that we never called each other boyfriends. Wow.
He was waiting for me to finish my sentence.
"But someone who is upset." I said. "Are you drunk?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Nope. Just a little tipsy. I had to drive so I didn't drink much."
"Good. Why did you take so long then?"
"Let's get to bed and then I will explain everything."
I got in bed first and waited for him to freshen up. He quickly joined me and got in my arms. I was becoming used to cuddles before sleeping. I had never liked to cuddle with anyone and he was changing my habits. We turned the lights off and he began.
"So." He grabbed my arm and put it around his abdomen. "Everyone was drinking pretty well. Some has excellent alcohol tolerance. But some don't. Zeel is someone who doesn't have the tolerance. He got drunk and threw up all over the washroom. We didn't know because he went alone. He was taking so long so when we went to check, he was asleep beside the pot." He laughed. "So we picked him up and me and a friend went to drop him home. We couldn't just put him to bed while he was covered in his own puke so we had to clean him up and put him to bed."
"Ah I see." So he cleaned drunk Zeel.
He chuckled. "He was so drunk. We didn't want to take our time cleaning him up with wet towel so my friend came up with a mischievous idea. We put Zeel directly under the shower." He laughed.
I couldn't help but join him. "He must have sobered up."
He nodded. "He did and changed his clothes himself, cursing at us."
I sighed, holding him dearly in my arms. The next day was going to be big. I had planned out everything and I was just hoping everything would work out.