All the men had taken the phrase "party hardy" to a new level, so they were all falling down drunk. Everyone except Tom, who only drank a little —— an emergency could crop up at any time. Even Gerard was three sheets to the wind. Luke had to drive him to the hotel.

  "Leena, my brother's really drunk," Claire said with concern. Kevin rested his head on her shoulder.

  "Yeah. As long as his stomach's okay, he'll be better after a nap." Leena said, glancing at Kevin in the rear view mirror periodically. She was driving her family back home.

  "They're quite good at drinking. Everyone needs a hobby, I guess. At least they are quiet," Claire said. Most of the time, her friends acted like idiots when they were drunk. Some of them even started bar brawls, or harassed people on the streets. But Leena's friends were all quiet and peaceful, and that was a rare scene for her.

  "It's a question of character. Some can control themselves while drunk, which is quite a feat. These guys are all high-class, they don't get rude just because they've had a few." Leena was always very proud of this. She didn't have to worry about getting groped or whatever, even when her friends couldn't see straight.

  "What about Kevin? Is he like that, too?" Claire asked in curiosity. She'd never seen her brother drunk. Except this time.

  Leena looked at him in the mirror, saw him half-dozing in the car. "Take a look. Does he act like your friends?" Leena asked with a dazzling smile. She thought Claire was a lovely girl when she wasn't being an unbearable shrew.

  "True," Claire said, scratching her head in embarrassment.

  Leena didn't continue the subject but took a glance at Claire. She knew about her crush on Rain, and meant to ask her about it. Maybe spark a discussion. Considering Kevin was there, she decided to table it for later. Although Kevin was drunk, it didn't mean that he wouldn't overhear and figure it out. She didn't need his two cents in this. So she decided to wait till she could talk to Claire woman to woman.

  When they got back to the Grand Apartment, Leena and Claire cooperated, horsing Kevin inside. Luckily, Kevin showered after work, so he wouldn't dirty the bed. They just finally threw him into the

  half an hour, I'd have to rethink our friendship," Louisa said. She knew what Claire cared about, so she liked to use this as a threat. It worked every time, too.

  "Got it. I'll be quick," Claire said, throwing her phone on the bed angrily. She would have just turned it off last night if she knew this would happen. Of course, Louisa would quit calling her or knocking so early.

  Claire reminded herself of the time limit which Louisa had laid out. She even didn't put on make-up but simply applied lotion and lipstick and then rushed downstairs. She didn't even let Kevin and Leena know.

  "Did I make it on time?" Claire asked, getting in the car breathlessly, her hand patting her chest to calm down.

  "You ARE a bad girl. Look at those dark circles under your eyes. What did you do last night?" Louisa asked in a cold voice, starting the car.

  "Uh! Is it obvious? Ugh! This is all your fault! You didn't even give me time to put on makeup! We weren't even home till 1 last night," Claire said, taking the mirror from her purse and looking at her reflection.

  "You went out to play last night. Who with? Why didn't you call me?" Louisa said reproachfully. 'Okay, so maybe Claire can't help me as much as I thought. So who else can I get?' Louisa thought.

  "Um… Well. I couldn't do that. Not my party, not my choice," Claire said. If she weren't Leena's sister-in-law, she wouldn't have been invited. She knew that implicitly. So how could she invite Louisa to tag along?