One Less Thing

The rest of the holiday break passed by quickly. After Christmas and all the gift giving their family had, it was only a few days and then it was the end of the year already. They celebrated the last night of the year in the Park's mansion, with their grandfather. They had dinner and spent the rest of the night drinking wine. Their parents stayed in the living room while Jinyoung and his cousins went upstairs in the veranda and waited for the fireworks show. He could still recall how Mark wrapped his hand with his own in secret, their fingers entwined as the older stared at the sky, the light coming from the fireworks reflecting on his face. Never has he seen a view more scenic. They said that when you spend the turning of the new year with someone, you are bound to spend the rest of the coming year with that person. How Jinyoung wish it is true.

The way the days passed by was as quick as one flips a page when reading and before they knew it, it was already the start of a new semester in the university. And today marks the first day of school for him and his cousins.

"We'll go ahead, mom, dad." Jinyoung said as he excused himself from the dining table where he and Mark have eaten breakfast with his parents. 

His mom was the first to look up from her plate. Wiping with the napkin, she smiled at them both. "Oh, alright. Wouldn't want to have you both late for class." Jinyoung then walked to her side to kiss her cheek. "Drive safe, Mark."

"Will do, auntie." Mark replied as he also stood from his seat. Nodding to his dad, the older talked. "Uncle, we'll be going. Thank you for the nice breakfast."

"You're always welcome here, Mark." Jinyoung heard his dad say.

Without much further ado, they headed outside their house and walked their way to Mark's car. Once inside, the older asked him about his classes- what time they start and what time they end. They also agreed that Mark would need to wait for him since the older's class ends earlier than his. Jinyoung tried to tell him that he didn't need to wait but Mark insisted that he wanted to. And to that, Jinyoung can't argue anymore. At least he'll get to go home with Mark. What's not to like in that?

For the first half of the day, Jinyoung focused on attending his classes. He has two- Finance Management and Human Resources Management. He and his cousins as well are all busy. They all have morning classes which made it impossible for them to meet and hang out in the morning. They don't even have the same breaks. They just talked through their group chat and there they all agreed to eat lunch together since it's the only break they all are having at the exact same time.

It was ten minutes past eleven when Jinyoung managed to walk out of class. Their professor extended the discussion because they finished an assessment so they needed extra time. Jinyoung was just glad he got a perfect score in it, otherwise enduring the growling of his stomach will be a waste. 

"I'll just add you to the group. There we can talk more about the division of our tasks." Jungho, his blockmate said to him while they were walking along the corridors. It's about their reporting, both group and individual. They still have a lot to talk about so them having a group chat would be helpful.

"Okay. That will be good, Jungho. Thanks." The blonde smiled at him as they approached the end of the hall. "I'll head to the cafeteria to have lunch. How about you?"

"Nah. I still have one more class. I'll eat lunch late today. See you around?" 

Jinyoung nodded and waved at him before turning to head to the cafeteria where he'll be meeting his cousins.

When he reached the cafeteria, he already knew where to find his cousins since the noise Yugyeom and Bambam were making is too hard to not notice. They were seated at the far side of the cafeteria and he also spotted Youngjae and Mark there but... there's no Jackson. Maybe he still have class? Although the chinese haven't replied to their group chat either. 

"Hyung! You're just in time! Can we order food now?" Yugyeom was the first one to greet him. Youngjae who was reading just a while ago, detached his eyes from his textbook and complained of how hungry he was.

"Well, you didn't need to wait for me." Jinyoung said with a light laugh before he took the seat which Mark has saved beside him. "You should've bought food already. Don't blame me for starving."

The youngest two, Yugyeom and Bambam stood right away after taking Youngjae's order. It really seemed like they were hungry. 

"What would you like to eat, Jinyoungie?" Mark asked as he pulled his wallet out and stood from his seat.

"I would like to have hamburger and noodles." He just ssaid, sending Mark off to the counter to buy their food. He's a bit hungry too, to be honest.

Him and Youngjae were left alone and the younger already went back to reading. Jinyoung asked what his cousin is so busy about, considering it's just the first day of school. But Youngjae said he needs to write a one-hundred word essay about the efficacies of communication and it's due this same day. Jinyoung thought of doing something on his phone and when he opened, he was greeted by their groupchat- him and his cousins'. There he saw that Jackson still hasn't replied to their messages yet. This pushed him to ask.

"Have you guys seen Jackson? Isn't he eating with us?"

But Youngjae has no concrete answer. He just said that he did saw thier cousin a while ago, and they did exchanged greetings but that was it so far. Youngjae said that Jackson didn't even say anything about meeting them or not.

"Maybe he's just busy." The younger told him.

Yeah. Maybe Jackson was just busy. That's what Jinyoung wants himself to think too, and he's trying hard to convinve himself and believe just that. But... he can't help but feel something else. Jackson now knows about him and Mark. It's not a secret between the two of them anymore, it now involves Jackson and the chinese has been vocal enough as to how he greatly disagrees to this. That night, when they last talked, Jackson did tell him that he won't be the one to spill their secret out to anyone moreso, to their family. It's the last thing Jackson would want- for their family to get destroyed just because Jinyoung and Mark chose to be selfish. So Jackson exposing them to their family, that may be far from happening. At least, not anytime soon. But... "What you give each other is the kind of happiness maybe none of us could ever give... but as your family... aren't we enough reason for the both of you to sacrifice that kind of happiness?" those words clearly mean one thing: that at the end of all this, Jackson is still hoping him and Mark would know what is the right thing to do. And it definitely isn't staying together. Maybe... just maybe, Jackson understands them a bit and how they feel, and somehow he saw how genuine it all is. Yet, still... like Jackson has said, their love is not enough to justify their selfish decision. Although Jackson promised them that he will keep their secret, Jinyoung knows that deep inside his heart, his cousin is still hoping that in the end... it's their family that he will choose.

There's still a lot going on inside his head. But as soon as Yugyeom, Bambam and Mark returned to their table, Jinyoung pushed those thoughts back and kept them far enough so they won't surface again too soon. 

Their first day back to school was finally over. Now, it's 5:00 pm. Jinyoung and his cousins are all walking to the parking lot to head their way home. Bambam was the first one to detach from their group since he already saw his driver waiting for him by their car. 

"Are you riding with me, hyung?" Yugyeom asked Youngjae as he walks to his own car.

Youngjae glanced at Jackson first. The chinese has finally joined them after his last class for the day. "Hyung, I'll go with Yugyeom today. Is that okay?" the younger asked.

Jackson who just finished putting his back on the backseat of his car nodded. "Yeah, it's okay Youngjae. Besides, I wanted to drop by somewhere else first before heading home." Just then, the chinese turned to him who is standing beside Mark. "Jinyoung? You want to go with me? I really want to eat mozarella sticks right now and none of these guys would want to go. So... please?"

Jinyoung felt like he didn't know how to react to this. Although it's how Ja