"Promise"

It's a usual Monday at the university. Students hate Monday, and Jinyoung is not an exception. Waking up at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings is almost impossible. But the fear of having his dad knock on his door instead of Hyunjin is more than enough to enable Jinyoung to pull himself off his bed.

Jinyoung just had his second class and is now having lunch with his cousins in their usual table at the cafeteria. Only the five of them gets to sit together, unless some of them decides to invite someone else over. Frequently, Yugyeom invites Bambam to sit with them. Being the only son of the famous Thai chef owning more than 500 restaurants across Asia, Bambam is considered by many as part of their circle, saying how deserving he is to sit with them. Jinyoung also wants to invite Jaebum over, and in fact he tried numerous times before but, those attempts didn't really go well. Like he has said, Mark seems to have an incredibly short patience whenever Jaebum is around, that even his cousins get weirded out by the eldest's behavior. But Mark is Mark, no one can change that. And besides, his hyung is quite stubborn so after more than a couple of tries, Jinyoung gave up on trying to include Jaebum in their group. Jaebum has mentioned it anyway, and acknowledges that Mark isn't exactly fond of him. The two of them just make time for each other between their breaks and hang out in the field.

"Yah?" Jinyoung threw a questioning look at Jackson who just put some carrots on his plate.

"What?! I don't eat carrots." his cousin quickly answered. Jinyoung didn't say anything else and just ate the carrots Jackson has given him.

"Jinyoung hyung?" He looked at Yugyeom who is seated in front of him. "How did your date with Im Jaebum go?"

"Shouldn't you call him hyung too, Yugyeom-ah?" Youngjae asked the youngest. 

"I only call him that in person. It feels weird since we aren't really close." 

"That's because you're only close to Bambam." Jackson butted in.

Jinyoung was almost glad the topic was changing but Yugyeom got his mind straight again and went back to interrogating him. Feeling all their stares on him, Jinyoung starts to hesitate on telling how exactly his date with Jaebum went. How Jaebum held his hand while they're walking up to their front door... and how he... how Jaebum kissed his cheeks after saying goodnight. 

He looks up and caught on how Mark was staring at him. Those brown eyes directed at him, focused only on him. 

"This, with Jaebum... it's not love. You will see how paler and how blander it is in comparison."

Jinyoung doesn't know how he could ever forget those words coming from Mark. And seeing the older staring intently at him, is rather not helping. Withdrawing his eyes and glancing back at the curious Yugyeom, Jinyoung just decided to talk about the movie they have watched. Luckily, his cousins were eager to listen considering they haven't watched it yet.

"It was good, although Iron Man died at the end."

And all he received were shouts from his annoyed cousins because he just spoiled the Endgame for them. Jinyoung doesn't regret what he has done, though.

"It's going to be your birthday next week."

They were eating their dinner, him, his dad and his mom when Jinyoung heard this from his mom. Not stopping from eating, he just nodded his head as a response. Now the next thing his mom should say is how would you like to celebrate it? isn't it? Well at least for those coming from normal families but since his is not exactly normal and far from average, the next thing he heard from his mom was...

"So son, I was thinking for this very special event, we should have it in the most luxurious hotel here in Seoul. My top pick is The Shilla."

Hearing this only makes Jinyoung want to groan in frustration. Here goes his mom again, planning everything all too excessively. Jinyoung dislikes it. No, in fact he hates it. It's his birthday and yet his mom makes herself in charge of planning everything. And he doesn't even need to guess, he's certain that he isn't part of the panning. Imagine not being a part in planning your own birthday. 

But what was he expecting, really? He's turning twenty one this year. And much to his grandfather's insistent request, on his special day, he will be announced as the successor of their company- Park Enterprises. Jinyoung could only imagine his birthday celebration turning into some kind of a business convention. 

For the next thirty minutes, he just listened as his mom planned out how his birthday is going to be held. His dad also isn't interfering and just lets his mom have her way on things.

When he finished eating and before he went up to his room, Jinyoung decided to ask one thing. "Please let me invite my own guests. I want to celebrate my special day with the people who I care about and who truly care about me as well." He's glad enough that his mom let him.

The next day, Jinyoung started to message his friends and classmates about his upcoming birthday celebration this Saturday. It will be held at The Shilla as what his mom wanted and that information almost blew his invited guests away. As his mom said, The Shilla is one of the most luxurious hotel here in Seoul. Even Bill Gates has commended the said hotel and grand weddings as well as other celebrations are oftenly held in the hotel. That is primarily why his mom chose the place. 

It was almost 3 in the afternoon when Jinyoung found the right time to go and talk to Jaebum. He wants to invite him personally. Although it's already a given that the Im's will be part of the guestlist, Jinyoung still wanted to invite Jaebum properly. So now he walks his way to the gymnasium where the older is having his p.e. class.

As soon as he went in, he heard the sound of rubber shoes screeching and ball bouncing on the cemented ground. They're playing basketball. Realizing he just can't pull Jaebum out from the game, Jinyoung decided to just sit on one of the bleachers and watch the game as well. It's already the third quarter, only five minutes left on the clock. Jinyoung spots his cousins too, Jackson and Mark playing on the same team, opposing Jaebum's. His cousins were on a five point lead until the quarter ends.

The referee whistled, signalling the end of the quarter giv