Absinthe

Chapter 46: Membership Training - Part 1

The best sleep of my life was suddenly interrupted by tiny voices asking me to wake up.

"Fairy godmother, it's time for dinner."

I opened my eyes and saw Eiji and Elle on my bed poking my cheeks.

"Eiji! Elle!" I said, shocked at their presence. "What are you doing here?"

"Ninang BJ." Eiji gave me a kiss, and Elle followed after. "Mommy said we should wake you up. There's

a dinner party for everyone."

"Eiji!" I reprimanded him. "I told you not to call me ninang or fairy godmother!"

The two of them giggled.

"C'mon, ninang! We're hungry!" said Elle.

I glanced at the clock—it was already 6 PM. I'd slept right after the challenge and had the best, most

satisfying sleep ever. I glanced around trying to see if Jiwoo was anywhere in the room.

"Your boyfriend's already there, ninang," Eiji said, laughing. The kid was too smart for his own good.

"He's not my boyfriend," I said sternly.

"But he looks more handsome than Tito JM," Elle interrupted.

"Elle!" Eiji said angrily. "Mommy said we should not talk about him. He's a bad tito!"

"Enough," I said as I scooped up the twins and carried them to the door. "Let's go eat!"

I was shocked to see the entire gang at the hotel. Well, minus Cassie, of course. They were all seated

in a big makeshift table. Janus cheerily waved at us. Sitting beside him was Robert, who looked tiredNôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

and annoyed. There was an empty seat beside him, which I presumed to be mine. Beside that was

Faye with two empty chairs to her left for Elle and Eiji. Then there was Derrick, Vivi, Nico, and Jiwoo.

I approached Faye and put the kids down before giving her a kiss on both cheeks.

"What a surprise," I said. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well," Faye said. "Your new friends invited us so we can all get to know each other."

"It should be fun," Nico said. "Jiwoo here planned these activities for all of us. I think it's called

membership something—"

"Membership training," I said as I sat down. "It's a Korean thing, like their version of team building, only

with lots of booze."

Nearly everyone laughed. Jiwoo and Robert resembled statues.

"Hey BJ, congrats on your dish!" Derrick said. "I heard you made all the judges cry."

I blushed. "It's nothing. I'll make it for you guys once we get back to Manila."

"Yeah!" Faye rejoiced, ladling food onto her twins' plates. "By the way, what did you guys put in this

chicken? It's amazing!"

I almost choked on my food, but Robert tapped me gently on the back. Nico and Vivi burst out

laughing.

"BJ and Jiwoo slaughtered too many chickens, so we had to force ourselves to eat the same thing for

four days straight!" Nico said to everyone's amazement. "But because we couldn't possibly eat it for

one more day, we told Jiwoo to find a way to deal with it. This was the idea he came up with."

"You made us come all the way here to eat chicken?" Robert asked in an arrogant tone.

Vivi was quick to answer him. "It's not just that. BJ wasn't feeling well, so we thought a full weekend

with his closest friends might do the trick."

"I'm up for anything," Faye said. "This place looks amazing. I'm sure we'll have fun." Although she was

smiling while speaking, I caught her glaring at Robert.

It didn't take long for us to finish eating, and it also took Faye no time to get the kids settled in bed with

their nannies.

It was barely 8 when we all gathered at the function room of the resort, drawing lots from a wine glass

to find out who are teammates were. The whole thing was a bit childish, but for some odd reason,

everyone seemed excited about it.

That is, apart from Robert, who looked about ready to jump someone.

I found out that my teammates were Robert, Jiwoo, and Faye. Derrick was grouped with Nico, Vivi, and

Janus. Faye volunteered to be our captain, while Janus was the opposing team's.

"Our first game of the night is meant to measure how much you're willing to sacrifice for your team,"

Jiwoo announced. "It's called the Snake Challenge!" Nobody knew what he was referring to, so he

continued. "The mechanics of the game are simple. All team members must give up articles of clothing

and line them up to form the longest snake possible. The team with the longer snake wins!"

We laughed at his explanation. Even Robert smiled a little when he saw me staring at him.

"Teams, you have 90 seconds each!" Jiwoo announced. "Ready, get set, go!"

Everything was a flurry of movement. People left and right were taking off their socks, belts, and

accessories and placing them on the floor. The guys were taking their shirts off, with Jiwoo and Robert

undressing side by side.

I also took my shirt off, but I was thinking I couldn't possibly expose my underwear in front of Nico, Vivi,

and Robert. They weren't as close to me as Faye and Derrick were.

Just then, Jiwoo started unbuttoning his trousers. Robert looked at him and did the same thing. They

were both only in their boxers now, and everyone was staring at them.

"What are you doing? Get yours off, too!" Vivi scolded her three male teammates. None of them

moved, however, because of the unmistakable tension between Jiwoo and Robert. Vivi didn't care

about that, so she still tried to pull Nico's trousers down as well as Janus'.

Robert and Jiwoo glared at each other.

"Guys! We need your boxers, too." It was Faye, my ever-mischievous friend.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed at her angrily. "You're adding more fuel to the fire!"

"They're hot!" she squealed. "Of course I want to add more fuel to make things hotter!"

I turned and saw Jiwoo with his hands on the waistband of his boxers, ready to strip. Robert was doing

the exact same thing.

Fuck me—I mean, fuck! This shouldn't be happening!1

Suddenly, the alarm signaling that the time was up went off. Whew! Saved by the bell!

"We're the clear winner!" Faye announced happily.

"Congratulations, Faye," Vivi said, seething. "I envy you for having teammates who aren't cowards!"

Faye snickered and winked at Nico and Janus. They were red in the face, looking as though they were

about to protest. Derrick, meanwhile, was laughing his ass off at the corner. We all drank some beer

and chatted for a bit before Jiwoo faced all of us to explain the next event.

"This game is designed to remove any sort of awkwardness between all of us. I'm sure you're all

familiar with Pass the Queen of Hearts." He came over and handed each team a Queen of Hearts card.

"Why is this oily?" Janus asked.

"It's been soaked in honey butter to make it slippery," Jiwoo replied to everyone's amusement. "Now,

line up and get ready!"

Jiwoo went back to us, and Faye started arranging us in line. She placed me in front with Robert right

behind me and then herself. She signaled for Jiwoo to go and stand behind her. He shook his head.

"What do you mean no?" Robert asked.

"I don't remember saying anything," Jiwoo replied sarcastically.

"Get lost," Robert said.

"Don't tell me what to do, man."

"Faye's captain!" Robert said angrily. "Follow her."

Faye looked at them and said, "To be fair, why don't you go first instead?"

Jiwoo smiled and stood in front of me. Once Faye had given him the card, he announced, "We have 3

minutes to finish this! Ready, get set, go!"

Jiwoo spun around to face me with his head titled, trying his best to make sure the Queen of Hearts

card didn't fall to the floor. He was supposed to transfer it to me using only his mouth, but the card

slipped, so our lips collided, which had Faye clapping like an idiot.

"Oops, it fell," Jiwoo said, his eyes on no one else but Robert.

"Hurry up!" I heard Vivi shouting.

"Let's try one more time," Jiwoo said teasingly. He put the card on his lips and tried to suck hard to stop

it from falling. I positioned my lips right in front of his to make things easier, and just as I thought we

were going to be successful, I felt his lips on mine yet again.

"My bad." Jiwoo's apology sounded more like a threat for Robert.

"We did it! We did it!" Vivi screamed in delight.

True enough, she had the card in her hand, which meant her teammates had successfully passed it on

to her.

"Sorry guys," Jiwoo said.

Robert balled his hands into fists, and I was afraid something bad was going to happen soon if I didn't

do something.

We relaxed with another round of beer before Jiwoo announced the last game of the night.

"All right! Settle down, ladies and gentlemen. Form a circle please."

We sat on the floor, knee to knee, forming a circle. Jiwoo joined us and put a big bottle of tequila in the

middle as well as one shot glass.

I was sitting with Robert and Nico on either side of me. Jiwoo had inserted himself between Derrick and

Janus.

"Okay, so our game for tonight is called First Impressions," Jiwoo said. "We all take turns asking

questions related to first impressions. For example, who do you think lost his or her virginity the

earliest? Or who do you think has the most number of sexual partners?" Everyone's excitement rose

after hearing that. "Afterward, the person who asked the question counts to three, and everyone should

point at the person corresponding to their answer. The person who gets the most number of fingers

pointed at him or her has to take a shot of tequila."

"Sounds exciting!" Nico commented.

"I'll go first," Jiwoo announced. "Who among the people in this group do you think is the hottest?"

My hand shot to my face so hard I almost slapped myself. Jiwoo obviously wanted me to choose

between him and Robert. I had other plans, though.

"One, two, three!"

I pointed at Nico.

Jiwoo was pointing at me. So was Robert.

Faye, being the overconfident bitch that she was, was pointing at herself. Derrick, too, was acting like a

diva and had chosen himself.

God, remind me again why I'm friends with such narcissists!

I saw Nico pointing at Vivi. Surprisingly, Vivi and Janus' choice was also me.

Jiwoo looked around. "We have a winner!" He reached for the bottle of tequila and poured me a shot.

I downed it in one go and felt the alcohol sear my throat.

"You really think I'm hot?" Nico teased me.

I nodded. "You'd be lying if you told me you aren't aware of it." That made Nico laugh.

Derrick announced that it was his turn now.

"Who do you think had the lowest grades in high school? One, two, three!"

I pointed at Janus who was pointing at Jiwoo who was pointing at Robert who was pointing back at

Jiwoo.

Vivi was pointing at Nico who was also pointing at Jiwoo. Faye and Derrick were both pointing at

Janus.

"I guess it's a tie," Derrick announced.

"In that case," Jiwoo said, standing up and reaching for another shot glass. "We do a couple's shot!"

"What's that?" Janus asked.

"There are three levels to this," Jiwoo explained. "The first one is simply crossing your arm with the

other person's arm while drinking. The second level is wrapping your arms around the other's back and

drinking while hugging."

Jiwoo stopped for a bit, poured himself and Janus a shot of tequila each, and demonstrated to us the

first level of couple's shot.

"What's the final level?" Faye asked.

"That's when one of you drinks the shot and transfers half of it to the other using your mouth."

"Eeeeew!" Vivi and Faye cried in disgust while the guys laughed nervously.

We continued the game for a couple of hours, a few funny arguments springing up here and there as

people tried to defend their reputation.

It must have been the booze, but I felt light and happy. What's more, Jiwoo and Robert stopped trying

to get at each other's throat, so the rest of the evening went smoothly.

I glanced at Jiwoo as he was pouring Faye a shot. He met my gaze and smiled.

I mouthed thank you. He had made the entire thing possible, and I really couldn't be in higher

spirits.