(6) bottom's up !!

Zoey starts mumbling things to herself while Luke tries to talk to the angered girl. Neil tells Airi to take her back to the table for now. She agrees and was about to head back, holding Zoey when she hugs her tighter, making it hard for Airi to move, "it's all his fault," she says vaguely, ambiguously, talking nonsense again. "It's all his fault! You don't deserve what happened to you,"

"Zoey?" Neil calls her, astounded just as everyone else is.

Zoey begins crying, startling everyone.

"Airi, why did you leave me alone! You didn't have to go and leave me... I was so lonely..."

Liam laughs, clearly entertained, "what are you saying? Airi's right here."

"AIRIIII!" Zoey wails, "I hate that guy for making you leave..."

It seemed to everyone that Zoey is in a drunken fit, talking nonsense, but Airi understands clearly what her dear friend is saying. She probably couldn’t take it with the recent events being the last straw. No wonder she drank too much, it must be weighing on Zoey’s mind more than she thought.

She hugs Zoey tighter, "yeah, I'm sorry too. That was selfish of me," she whispers, thinks that she has always been selfish to Zoey with her decisions. She promises to herself to always keep Zoey in the loop from now on. After a while, she feels Zoey nod against her and begins to calm down.

Sighing, "now, how about apologizing to the girl you bumped into, okay?" Airi says in a comforting tone. Gently pushing Zoey so she faces her and towards the other party, still angry but otherwise staying quiet.

"No.“ Zoey hisses. “It was her fault. Bitch."

There was an ominous pause; the calm before the storm. "I-I think we should head home..." Airi then says, starts walking back only to be stopped by the girl, livid and every bit angry. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?” She barked, “How dare she call me that! Not even my family calls me that!"

The girl has had it at this point, and it seemed like she has had a few too many drinks herself. Bad enough that Zoey is easily pissed when drunk, she just had to get into a fight with someone exactly like her! This is definitely gonna turn into a fight, Airi fears, sweating nervously.

"I'm so sorry for our friend, she didn't mean it, I promise. She's normally so tamed." Luke says, talking in a reassuring and cool tone in an attempt to calm her

"Yeah. It's just the alcohol talking," Neil backs up.

“Don’t even try to reason with me! It was your friend who started all this crap!” the girl snapped and at this point, the deejay had the good decency to stop the music and call for security. Her friends came to stop her, only to be told not to butt in. She clearly wants an apology, but it was impossible; Zoey is already fast asleep, no longer caring about the mess she caused. Airi feels herself going mad, they will definitely not do this again.

"Sorry, when our friend gets like this, it's hard to talk reason to her." one of the girl's friends tells Luke. "We will hold her up, you guys take your friend and go."

"This isn't over until she apologizes!" Whether the girl was red from the alcohol or from anger, Luke didn’t know. What he did know was that she would not let Zoey escape that easily. The scene they were making is ruining what should have been a fun night for everyone around them as they look over with troubled faces. Nobody could reason with her, even the bar's security could not get through to her.

What should I do? Airi tried to think it over, but her judgment is clouded by the fact that it was their fault that they got into this trouble in the first place. If only she had said no, if only she didn’t let the fact that Ren wouldn’t be coming sway her. She stares at the ground, feeling the corners of her eyes moist with tears as the argument escalates further. What should I do?!

"It's okay, let me handle this."

A voice whispers as the figure passes by her. It was a familiar voice, nostalgic and painful. She remembers the last time he said this to her, it was a little while before she transferred. He wanted to do anything he can to help her over the brewing problem she knew she caused, promising to have her back, all the while not knowing the truth.

His back stands in front of her, his now broad shoulders and steady frame made her realize what three years could do to a person, to the boy she promised herself to protect once upon a time. And seeing him now gives her a sense of security she didn’t want to feel. She didn’t want to feel like she could rely on him again, and the fact that she was actually relieved to know that he is here makes her feel worse about herself.

"I'm really sorry for my friend, she normally doesn't drink this much." Ren says to the girl, "she's currently going through some stuff at home, so please forgive her just this once."

The girl stares, gaping at the person in front of her asking for pardon. Out of the blue, this beautiful person, completely unrelated to the situation, comes in and the infuriating atmosphere suddenly dies down into an abrupt confusion. Stillness fills the room as if everyone’s words were stuck in their throats.

In the first place, he is not supposed to be here. Airi reluctantly gazes up at Ren talking to the girl, at his serious face as he defends them. Now having him near her, it registered to her how his voice became deeper and manlier matching his now masculine frame.

She felt a pang of disappointment. At some point, she always thought Ren would always be that gentle child she would be protecting forever. However, that dream ended too.

"You're Ren from the Engineering Department..." was all the girl (who immediately introduced herself to him) managed to say.

Kim, as she was affectionately called by her friends, was from the same university so she had been hearing about a good-looking guy from the Engineering Department for a while now. She paid little interest though, being that it is not her policy to date younger men, and think of first years as these newly hatched chicks, seeing the world for how it actually is for the first time. Needless to say, she never bothered looking for him either at the start of the school year unlike some of her friends.

Seeing him in front of her now though, made her realize what all the fuss was about. The guy was right in her strike zone. She felt her heart beat faster at his intense stare that could melt even the coldest of hearts. Needless to say, she was immediately taken with him.

Ren nods in reply and again apologizes on behalf of his friends. She girl blushes and starts to sober up. All of a sudden she apologizes back, taking all the blame for herself, in contrast to what she was saying earlier where she blamed Zoey for everything.

As the situation calms down, Neil approaches Airi, telling her to take Zoey and go. He must have noticed Airi's face looking more troubled than it did earlier. She nods and tried to wake Zoey up, telling her they are going home. Zoey tries her best to stand up and starts walking.

"Are you going to be okay on your own?" he asks staring at Zoey who is still inebriated. Airi nods, "we live just by the station. We'll be fine. Thanks,” she says, “…and sorry." she regretfully adds, gives him an appreciative smile.

Neil returns her smile warmly. "It's fine. Leave the rest to us," patting her head.

Airi nods, taking their things and supporting Zoey, taking her arm and putting it around her neck. She glances at Ren still talking to the girl, who is already love-stricken at this point, and goes out the door. She will have to thank Ren for this one day.

After everything settles, as the girl and several of her friends begin to ask Ren to drink with them tonight, Ren kindly refuses and turns around, searches the whole area, "where's Airi and Zoey?" He asks.

Neil was about to lie and say they were in the bathroom, when Luke interjects, "oh, they went home."

"They what?" Ren exclaims, excuses himself, and runs out the door.

Neil glares at Luke, who raises a brow at him in reply. "What?"