Stay the Night

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You always hated getting up early before everyone else, you felt like an idiot and it was like being in a limbo of unknown people around you. If that wasn’t enough, the place was full of unbearable rich men talking about their possessions or businesses as if they were trying to compete with each other. You sank into your seat, waiting for the food you had ordered for breakfast while looking at your phone.

Last night you couldn’t fall asleep when you got to your room, you tossed and turned for an hour and a half until you were finally able to relax, so you had about 5 hours of sleep at most. Definitely not enough, but when you woke up there was no turning back.

Part of this insomnia was due to the fact that you couldn’t stop turning over in your head what had happened with Noze. It still felt like a very wild lucid dream to you, you and her had fucked Minjeong together, turned her into a sex slave only useful to satisfy both of you, and thinking about it still turned you on a lot. You remembered how she looked into your eyes while she was riding Minjeong’s face and how she went crazy with pleasure watching you destroy her. You wanted to fuck her like an animal and have her to yourself, but you knew that would be impossible. Not only did she not have that kind of interest in you, but she couldn’t even have it. You were a man.

You also never stopped wondering what she thought about all that, or how she would react from now on. You didn’t know if she was going to talk about it openly, if she was going to participate more actively in your services, or if nothing like that was going to happen again. The answer didn’t take long to arrive in front of your eyes.

Noze entered the hotel restaurant in a hurry, and from the look on her face as she walked towards you, you figured it was best not to mention anything about past events at all unless you wanted a fork stuck in your eye. You wanted to compliment her on how pretty she looked that morning, but you also didn’t think it was appropriate considering she was visibly fresh out of bed.

“Why did you let me sleep so late?” She asked, taking a piece of green apple from your plate to put it in her mouth. She had four more seats available, but she chose to sit next to you at the circular table.

“I didn’t even know I was allowed to wake you up,” you said, she didn’t even answer you before she was already immersed in her phone, you assumed waking everyone up.

“Hey, grab some things for the girls to have breakfast and pack them up, we’ve got to go,” she told you, then got up to make a call.

While you went to the restaurant reception to ask for some plastic containers, the girls were already entering the restaurant with the worst aspects you remembered about them in a long time. They walked like the stupid zombies from The Walking Dead, visibly exhausted from last night’s concert. You noticed that Minjeong was holding on to Giselle’s arm as her legs were shaky. You couldn’t do anything but hold back your laughter.

Once you packed the girls’ breakfasts and put them in a bag, you left the restaurant with them and Noze. The vans were already outside, and from Noze’s hurry you could tell that all the staff members were ready to leave, the only ones missing were you. You had to jog to catch up with them and leave the hotel.

“You were too busy last night to say goodnight like you always do huh?” Ning joked once you were settled inside the van, she had sat next to you and hugged your arm, snuggling against it.

“Something like that,” you chuckled, watching as the girls began to fall asleep when the van hadn’t even started.

“Try not to forget it again, those messages make me happy,” she laid her head on your shoulder, yawned and closed her eyes. All the girls were now asleep, only you, the driver, and Noze were awake. She was focused on doing all the tasks that she couldn’t do because she woke up late, she used a laptop, her phone and a notebook for it.

Noze worked with the efficiency and speed of a machine, you couldn’t help but stare in amazement at how she could do so many things so well at the same time. She wrote emails on her laptop, wrote down things on the notebook that you couldn’t see from your seat, and made calls, often some of those things at the same time. On the way to the airport you discovered that the reason for all the hustle and bustle was that she wanted the arrival to be as unnoticed as possible, which you were sure would happen since she was always two steps ahead of everyone.

When you arrived at the airport, you were not surprised by the fact that there was not a single flash that bothered the girls while they walked to do all the corresponding checks. Yes, there were a few people who stopped to look when they recognized the girls, but they simply took a discreet photo with their phones or just left with a smile on their face.

When you boarded the jet —which was the same one that had brought you to Dallas—the girls ran to choose their seats and made themselves comfortable to fall asleep again. That left you alone with Noze once again. You had a long time with her ahead, so once it was safe to get up inside the cabin, you went to sit next to her while she worked on her laptop.

“So…” you started, leaving your phone connected to your power bank on the table, next to her laptop, “did you have a good time last night?” You asked, crossing your arms on the table and resting the side of your face on your hand to look at her. Noze gave a disbelieving smirk and she stayed silent for a few seconds while she minimized Excel.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t anything special,” she replied, playing it cool, you raised both eyebrows in shock as you stared at her, “What? Stop imagining me and Joohyun,” she put a hand on your face and made you look away. You laughed.

“When you and her did your things in the dorm… did any of the other members join in?” you asked, emboldened, perhaps a little driven by curiosity. You looked at her again.

“And why are you asking these questions so suddenly?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Because you’re always busy and right now it’s just you and me,” she stared into your eyes for a few seconds.

“Mostly Seulgi,” she said finally, “you know, she and Joohyunie are inseparable. But in short, all of them, in every possible combination, multiple times.”

“Fuck, that sounds like a lot of fun,” you joked with an incredulous giggle.

“I know right? You would love Wendy, that girl is built differently.”

“You should recommend me to her then, don’t you think?” Noze’s face darkened.

“I would if only I spoke to any of them today,” she let out a deep breath of disappointment. You remained silent for a few seconds, thinking about whether it was right to continue asking her about that topic, but you also knew that you would have few opportunities like that.

“How did you and her… you know, how did that come about?” you asked. Noze sighed and swallowed, then she looked out the window and stared blankly.

“Well… at first it was nothing more than a very strong sexual attraction. The first practice we all had watching her was like watching Aphrodite dancing, and I guess she felt the same way about me, because as soon as we had a break, we locked ourselves in a bathroom to… you know.”

“Aha,” you nodded, prompting her to continue.

“All our first meetings were the same, we would chat from time to time but the only thing we would meet up for was to have sex, until one day she had a pretty serious mental breakdown during the post-practice night. That was the first time I saw Bae Joohyun and not Red Velvet’s Irene. Seeing her like that was… lethal for me, so vulnerable, so… her,” Noze sighed and paused briefly, “Meeting the person behind the idol for the first time It’s always something special… and she certainly is special.”

“Did you start dating since then?”

“Not since that moment, but our relationship did change. She now opened up to me to tell me her problems, and I did the same. Over time we realized that we had a lot of things in common, and that we had a lot of chemistry. We started dating, and well, I was weak, stupid, and I fell in love,” Noze couldn’t help but let out a small smile, perhaps remembering everything she had gone through with Irene, “We became girlfriends and we thought everything was perfect, no one suspected anything and we were happy. But what I already told you happened, and everything collapsed,” her smile faded and she looked down, her eyes began to fill with tears, “Look… entertainment companies are already strict with heterosexual relationships, now imagine a possible scandal between a Red Velvet member and her backup dancer. That was unacceptable to them, and it was a shame for us.”

“And… you were still together after that?” Seeing her with tears running down her cheeks made you do something you normally wouldn’t have done, you put your hand on her thigh and started trying to comfort her with caresses. She didn’t seem to care.

“For a while, yeah,” she nodded, “even when I was the girls’ manager already, but we knew that wasn’t going to work out in any way and we broke up,” tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but she was controlling herself in order not to burst into sobs, “I think Seulgi had a lot to do with all of that, but I honestly don’t care anymore,” you didn’t consider it appropriate to mention that Seulgi was one of your regular clients when you were still at the spa.

“When you locked yourself away to cry last night it was because of her, right?” You also asked with a lump in your throat. That was affecting you more than it should. You were sensitive about failed love stories.

“Aha… the day we flew to Dallas she woke me up with a call, she sounded drunk and well… she rubbed salt into a wound that… d-didn’t need to be reopened,” she put her hands on her face and unable to bear it any longer she burst into sobs. You couldn’t do anything but surrender to your protective instinct and wrap her in your arms. She hugged you and buried her face in your chest as she stifled cries.

“It’s okay… it’s okay,” you tried to comfort her by caressing her hair and her back, “let it out,” you didn’t expect such a reaction from her, and partly you felt guilty for bringing that up in the first place, but you noticed that she had never talked about it with anyone, and that she had not received a hug of that kind in a long time, “I’m not the one to tell you this but… I think you should cut off all contact with her, what she did is not healthy, and it affects you more than it does to her.”

“I-It’s not that easy,” she sobbed, still clinging to your torso with both arms.

“Well, you’ll have to, because what happened can’t be repeated, for the sake of both of you. You don’t need her to be happy. Life teaches us lessons in very cruel ways, and maybe what happened was life telling you that there was a better place for you than there,” she pulled away from your chest with red eyes and tear-filled cheeks to look at you.

“You think?” she asked.

“Of course I do, and even if I didn’t, you still have to work hard to get over her. Your life can never revolve around one person, it’s self-destructive and it has become a burden for you.”

“I… fuck,” she looked down and stayed quiet as she wiped away her tears, “you’re right, it’s become a damn burden and I should be stronger than this,” she finally pulled away from you, “God, I’m so sorry, I don’t like crying like that in front of anyone.”

“And don’t you think you needed to vent to someone else?”

“Yeah…,” she nodded, looking away.

“It’s no use keeping things to yourself, the only thing you achieve with that is constantly drowning in what hurts you.”

“Fuck, since when did you become a psychologist?” she asked with a laugh that was meant to lighten the mood, “I hired you because of your cock, not for this.”

“I’m just trying to help, I’m sorry,” you smiled sadly.

“No, it’s okay,” she put a hand on your forearm and squeezed it gently, “you’re right in what you’re saying, and I appreciate it, it’s just… it’s not easy for me.”

“I know it’s not, but you have to start somewhere, right?” you placed your hand on top of hers, “Chicks don’t learn to fly as soon as they’re born.”