Absinthe

Chapter 49: Membership Training - Part 4

Faye dragged me to the side as the guys were removing the volleyball net, her grip a tad too strong for

my liking.

"I heard from Vivi that you guys were late for kitchen duty," Faye began. "And your man's face is

practically screaming: I just got laid!"

I felt my cheeks suddenly become hot and I tried to open my mouth to deny it but there's just no way

I'm getting past Faye's scrutiny.

"Oh my god, you slept with him!"

My hand shot up like lightning to cover Faye's mouth before she repeats herself over and over again, in

gradually increasing volume. She struggled with me and I could hear her muffled voice threatening to

bite my hand so I had to give in.

"Spill, BJ! I'm not – "

"Yes, I slept with him! Now can you be quiet about this, please?"

"So are you guys dating now?"

"I don't know." I said, which wasn't exactly a lie.

"So it's just a one-night thing?"

"Actually, we did it this morning," I said, then realizing that I wasn't being completely honest again, I

added, "and we did it twice. So it's not really a one-night thingy."

Faye rolled her eyes and pinched my left arm hard enough to make me cuss aloud.

"You have to know what you're doing BJ," Faye said. "I don't want you getting hurt again."

I watched Faye's back as she walked her way towards her teammates. What she said couldn't really be

called advice. Heck, it was confusing at best! What did she mean I have to know what I'm doing? I

mean, who said I was going to date Jiwoo? Can't I have a nice fuck every once in a while?

"Hey," I felt someone tap me lightly on the shoulder. I looked around and it was Jiwoo. Of course it had

to be Jiwoo. Can't get enough of my ass?

"We're supposed to use this," Jiwoo said, holding out a pair of handcuffs. "We're playing in pairs."

"Seriously? When did you guys come up with these things?"

Jiwoo nodded, "Faye's idea. She brought most of the props, too."

I snatched the handcuffs off of Jiwoo and snapped it shut on my left wrist. "Let's get this over with."

I saw Jiwoo smile as he took the other end of the handcuff and locked it on his other hand. Then he

leaned over to my ear. He was so close I could feel his breath on my skin.

"Thank you."

"For what?" Seriously? This dude is not thanking me for having sex with him, right? Ugh, the cringe!

"For being happy again," Jiwoo said. "Thank you for being happy again... for coming back to us as the

happy BJ."

And before I could come to terms with what he said, I found myself being dragged gently back into the

field.

***

The first few minutes of the dodgeball match was now but a frenzied memory of balls flying out in all

directions, with Faye, Derrick, Rob, and Janus' faces showing nothing but determination to hit us and

kick us out of the field.

No.

What I could now see was a zeal to smack one of us with those dirty balls in the face and have our

teeth flying out in the open.

Well, at least that's how Robert's face looked like.

And just like that, Vivi and Nico were booted out as Rob's ball came flying straight to Vivi's face.

Fortunately for her, Nico managed to block it at the last minute. He still failed to catch the ball, though,

leading to their elimination. And now it's just me and Jiwoo, handcuffed together, in the middle of the

volleyball court.

Surprisingly enough, the cuffs didn't hurt. I was expecting that it would, especially since there should be

a lot of pulling whenever Jiwoo and I decided to go different directions in our frantic efforts to avoid the

balls thrown at us. For some reason, we're luckily in sync. And then I felt that familiar sensation of

Jiwoo's big and strong hands yanking my hips up and steering me forcefully to the right, just in time to

avoid a particularly nasty shot from Janus.

The ball bounced menacingly and headed for Robert who was more than eager to catch it. Seconds

later, the ball was flying like a bullet, confident of hitting its target: my nose.

And sure, Rob was sporty back in high school but I didn't expect him to be this strong. God, was the

man an Olympic-level javelin thrower?

I was so sure the ball would break my nose but there just wasn't enough time! I barely landed on my

feet and was just beginning to recover my balance after that lift from Jiwoo – there's no way I'd be able

to jump whichever direction to avoid it.

There wasn't anything left for me to do really, besides spending the next few milliseconds calculating

how much money I would have to spend on plastic surgery, and how I'd torture Robert for it.

I closed my eyes and braced for impact. God, let the ball just hit me already! All this anticipation is

killing me!

And there was a loud, resounding BHAM – as if one gigantic balloon was burst inches from my ear. I

opened my eyes and saw Jiwoo standing right in front of me, shoulders as wide as they have always

been. The ball was sitting harmlessly on the grass, his left foot keeping it in place.

Looking around, everyone had this stupid, open-mouthed face. And nobody spoke for what seemed

like eternity until I heard Robert clearing his throat.

"You're out," Robert said. "We won."

"I don't think so," I heard Jiwoo saying. From his tone, I could tell he was taunting the other guy again,

but I really couldn't see his face as he still had his back on me.

"And I don't care what you think, asshole."

"Hey, language!" Janus warned half-heartedly. "Come on, guys, chill."

"I blocked your shot," Jiwoo said.

"No, you got hit. And you failed to catch the ball."

I stepped forward to stand beside Jiwoo. Robert's face looked like he was ready to pummel someone ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

to death. Jiwoo, on the other hand, was smiling.

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call this?" Jiwoo expertly kicked the ball upwards and caught it single-

handedly.

"I call that cheating, asshole." Robert was seething. "The rules are clear. Get hit and you're out. Catch

the ball and you're saved. What part of that do you need explaining?"

"I caught the ball." Jiwoo claimed. "That means we're still in."

Jiwoo was still smiling, obviously goading on Robert. And poor Robert, he's getting redder and redder. I

decided that it's time I put a stop on this.

"Jiwoo," I said. "We lost. The ball shouldn't touch the ground."

Jiwoo turned to me and nodded. I tried to smile at him to tell him it was okay, that I didn't really care

about winning.

"Listen to BJ, you prick." Robert shouted from the sides. "You lost! Deal with it."

For a moment I was scared that Jiwoo was going to retaliate and ruin the day for everyone. But I was

more than startled when he put his hand on my head and ruffled it affectionately, before giving me a

kiss on the forehead.

"Alright," Jiwoo said. "We may have lost dodgeball, but I'm sure as fuck that I've won in everything

else."+

And with that, Jiwoo chose to ruin Robert day's than everyone else's.