It's 1932, and Min Yoon, an artist going by the stage name of Suga, is playing the piano in the *Speakeasy of Lower New York City. Just as he reached the chorus, "Somebody does love...." the piano cover came slamming down as two drunken, brawling men crashed into it. It was just another typical Friday night.

Suga gets up and walks away. As he is about to pass the bar, he signals Jin, the bartender, to pour him a whiskey. With prohibition enacted, the only whiskey available was cheap and potentially lethal bootleg. He misses his imported Whiskey. He stops at the end of the bar, and Jin places the shot glass on a small square napkin in front of him.

"Will I ever get to hear that song all the way through?" Jin, frustrated, asks his best friend, Yoons.

"I only finished writing it this week, so you aren't missing much." Suga downplays his talent.

"So I guess we call it a night and close up before the police raid us?" Jin asks, watching the two men try to start a fight with two other equally drunk men.

Namjoon, a partner in the nightclub with his two friends, comes up from the cellar with two bottles of bootleg Gin. He had heard some of the commotion through the floor. He comes behind the bar, putting the bottles down. "Those two again?" he sighs with aggravation.

"Bar them from the club before they get us raided!" Cautions Suga.

He turns to Suga, "I'm sorry, Yoons, but I can't trespass them. For one thing, they are my best-paying customers, and for another, I know they will snitch on us to the police if I tell them they can't come back. 

Suga had gotten up and pushed the wall panel to the hidden cellar all the way closed till it clicked in place. He returns to the bar. "You need to be more careful about leaving that open."

Namjoon rolls his eyes and ignores him. He has been a grump all day. Besides, his arms were full.

Suga downs his shot of whiskey, and when the taste hits his tongue and burns down his throat, he slaps the bar, gasping. Jin hands him a water chaser. "Here ya go. This should help."

Suga downs it, his eyes watering. "I'll never get used to this pigswill." He sets the glass down. "Give me another."

Jin laughs and pours more whiskey into his glass. "I can't wait for prohibition to end. I hate serving this shit. It's beneath me to do so. But a guy has gotta make a living."

"Don't we all," Suga says remorsefully as he shoots back his shot of whiskey, smacking the bar again with his hand.

"Ugh! I will never get used to this. Give me a tumbler to take with me."

He stands waiting for Jin to hand him a tumbler glass of whiskey. Namjoon and Jin are just staring at him,

"What? A guy has gotta do what he can to get by."

With that remark and their heads nodding, he went through the door by the bar, marked 'Private,' and headed to his dressing room.

Walking down the dimly lit hallway, he reaches his private dressing room. He pulls the key out of his suit's vest pocket and unlocks the door.

Suga sighed as he closed the door and looked around his small dressing room. He glanced at the wall with his publicity pictures, news articles, and some pictures taken by friends tacked to it. He grins as he looks at them—good times and good friends. He lifts his glass in salute, "To the end of prohibition."

The corner of a picture captures his eye, not one he wanted to see. Why was it still there? He thumbs the picture, partially covering it away, and looks at her, smiling so sweetly at him. Damn.

With his other hand, he traces the outline of her face and suddenly becomes lightheaded. He thinks it must be the cheap alcohol, so he lets the picture under his thumb drop back, covering her face again.

His weighted sigh causes the news articles to slightly flutter. He stands before the lighted mirror and stares at himself. Fool, falling in love like that.

He catches the scent of her perfume, glances at the board, and sits. He looks at his reflection in the mirror, and his gaze wanders to where he knew her picture was hidden.

He empties his tumbler and makes a gagging face. Damn, this stuff will rot my gut. 

He sets the glass down and relights his cigar, resting partially in the ashtray. He slowly puffs the cigar to get the tip glowing and then inhales. He leans his head back, eyes closed slowly releasing the cigar smoke and forming rings.

She would always laugh and poke her finger through the rings as they left his mouth. She loved the smell of a good cigar, especially his.

His mind wanders into memories of her straddling his lap as he blows smoke rings. Eventually, she would take his cigar and draw in, holding the smoke in her mouth, then bring her lips to his and release the smoke between his parted lips.

Loud knocking snaps him from his memory. Standing, he has to adjust his pants before going to the door. He sharply opens the door with a disgruntled look on his face.

"We closed early. Do you want to join us at the bar?" asked Namjoon.

Looking back at the board, he sighs, "Yeah, sure. Let me finish up here, and I'll meet you."

Namjoon looks around his small dressing room, "Finish up with what?" he grins.

"Shut up."

 Namjoon breaks out laughing as Suga shuts the door in his face.

Namjoon calls through the door. "See you there in five, no, wait fifteen minutes?"

"Shut up!" he hears Suga shout. 

He steps to the closet and smiles as he pulls out a bottle of imported whiskey tucked behind his wooden keepsake box from his childhood. There wasn't much left, but he just had to clean his palette with a sip or two of the real deal, maybe three.

He turns to get his glass from the make-up table, and in the mirror reflection, he can see the board, and over the smell of his now-out cigar, he catches the scent of her perfume again.

Forget the damn glass!

He takes a long swallow on the bottle and storms out of the room, forgetting to hide it back in the closet.

Laughing, Namjoon returned to the bar and let Jin know Suga was busy and would be out shortly.  Namjoon puts his arm around his girlfriend, Mary, and winks. She giggles, and Jin sets them up with glasses.

"Name your poison." He asked them. 

They both answer simultaneously. "Rum and Coke!"

Jin laughs saying,  "You two will never change."

"It's because Coke isn't illegal!!" Laughs Mary.

Namjoon says, "Make it more Coke than that *rotgut." Mary nods with enthusiasm.

Jin makes their drink with two-thirds Coke and one-third cheap bootleg rum. He then places their drinks on small square white napkins in front of them.

"Hey, Suga." Calls Mary when she sees him approach the bar and take a seat.

"Hi, Mary. How was business today?" he politely asks.

"Fine, the café wasn't too busy today. Thank goodness because my *puppies were barking." 

Without asking, Jin places a square napkin down before he puts a tall cold glass of beer in front of Suga. "Enjoy"

Suga loses himself in his beer but notices Jin, Namjoon, and Mary grinning at him.

"Shut up." That's all Suga says, then goes back to drinking his beer.

They burst out laughing at their grumpy *crooner.

Why today, Novi, why do you haunt me today?

He doesn't notice the small heart-shaped box of chocolates in front of Mary or the Valentine's card under Namjoon's hand.

All he notices is the pain that he is trying to drown.

A/N: Rotgut - Poor quality and potentially toxic alcoholic liquor. 

Puppies/Dogs are barking - slang for my feet hurt. Originated in the 1920's. 

Crooner - a singer, typically a male one, who sings sentimental songs in a soft, low voice. 

Definitions from Oxford Languages.