Pledge

There had been numerous occasions in the past when you were made to hear the name of the first son of Min.

Min Yoonseok.

It was as if your entire life was fated to be linked to the Min family, whichever family member it may have been.

But there had only been a few consequential times which you could remember when his name suddenly came up, allowing you to have a glimpse of his life without even knowing the man or meeting him in person.

The first time you heard his name was at the beginning of your high school years. His name was briefly mentioned during the entrance ceremony speech, regarded as one of the most recently graduated alumni who had set the record of achieving the highest score to date and for having been accepted into a prestigious university. The mention of his achievements was made to inspire the new students, without even presenting him in front of the crowd.

All through high school, you kept seeing his pictures being displayed nearly in every corner of the school building; kept inside glass cabinets together with articles mentioning his achievements, both in sports and academics, and all the medals and trophies that he had acquired while he was an active student of the school.

You never recall ever meeting him in person. Yet he had set up a standard so high you could almost feel his presence, looming above you like a mountain that you needed to climb just to be able to achieve something good while you were still a student.

Even when you began to form some kind of friendship with his younger brother, and due to some kind of interference by fate, you were made to become Min Yoongi's partner in various class projects and school assignments, you still never had the chance to meet the first son of Min.

The second time you heard his name was during your sophomore year in university.

For some odd reason, despite never directly crossing paths with the man, you found yourself following his footsteps when you moved to the same country as he did to attend university. Living in the same city, somewhere far away from home, yet never on the same grounds. You dated the captain of the rowing team for a while, someone who wouldn't stop talking about a certain Min Yoonseok, the former captain of the rival rowing team from the neighbouring university.

You kept hearing about what an ambitious man Min Yoonseok was, a man with a dream, with a deep passion for claiming his own glory, a high-spirited man who would boast over his achievements and would celebrate his winnings with rambunctious parties filled with booze and girls and loud music reverberating through the night.

There had been times when you came to join your then-boyfriend to support him in his tournaments. Sometimes, you had even joined him in the after-parties, following your need to experience university life to the fullest and wanting to see what it was like to be at the center of that spotlight. Yet even when the notorious oldest son of Min family was present during these events, he would be too busy with his group of admirers to show himself in front of the other guests, much less to cross your path.

The third time came many years later.

Coming back after graduating from university, you made the choice not to return to work for your father in his company. It was a decision which your father had respected, giving you the freedom you were asking for instead of forcing you to work under his shadow.

So you began your journey, moving to a small town in the mountainside and away from the bustling city life, where you were able to continue studying about wine and its production process.

Everything was already set in plan and was in the building process; the main building, along with the factory and warehouses, even a small museum and an in-house bar for incoming guests; the small villa on the side where you could stay during the production process; the plantation, with the grounds within the property already broken into farms. You had already gotten some workers and wine experts to help you run your winery, and you were in the process of planning out its branding and distribution system right before the first production began.

You were ready to get your dream job running, start your own business, and spread your wings, to prove to the world that you would still be able to make it without having to ride on your father's fame and success.

One bright morning, you woke up with high spirits to start the day. The wine production was running that week, and you had a brand presentation planned within the month before you were supposed to launch your first product. Work was all you had in mind as you sat down for breakfast and coffee, focusing on the tasks you were going to tackle throughout the day.

That was until you decided to turn on the TV to catch up with some news when you saw a familiar face coming on the screen.

At first, his face was barely recognisable that it took you a moment to remember who he was or why looking at him on the TV screen tickled a memory from the back of your mind. There was a stark difference on his face compared to the one you recalled in your memory—the younger face which was displayed in countless framed pictures back at school or on the campus bulletin each time a rowing tournament was held. Only the unmistakable name written on the bottom of the screen helped you realise that your mind wasn't playing tricks on you.

The oldest son of the Min Family looked much older, which was understandable knowing how many years had passed. But he seemed a lot worse when he was shown on the screen that morning. With a thin moustache and unkempt beard covering his face, dark circles forming under his tired eyes, long, unruly hair, and soiled clothes that were sagging on his body, he looked as if he had been locked away in hiding for a long period of time.

Your blood ran cold when you watched the way he was scrunching his face, both in anger and in pain, as he was being dragged away by some undercover police officers with his hands cuffed on his back. The only voice you heard through the speakers belonged to the news anchor, talking about the case and the chronology of the police arrest that was made.

Yet nothing truly registered to you when your eyes were drawn solely towards the man on the screen, who was screaming at the camera, raging and shouting indiscernible words. You were so focused on trying to read his lips that you nearly missed the text displayed on the screen, right where his name was written—

"THE HEIR OF THE MIGHTY BUSINESS EMPIRE CAUGHT RED-HANDED! CHARGED WITH MONEY LAUNDERING, BRIBERY, AND INVESTMENT FRAUD"

You hadn't thought too deeply about it at the time. Nothing other than considering whether or not you were to contact your old schoolmate, his brother, Min Yoongi, to know if he was safe. Years had passed since you last heard any news regarding the Min Family, and disconnecting yourself from your father's business had not given you the opportunity to learn if there was any chance for Lacuna Technologies to associate themselves with the Min family's business chain in any certain way.

That was why it had not crossed your mind to even think that your family and the business would ever get embroiled in this mess. Not at that moment, and not until months later, when your father called you out of the blue one early morning with a defeated voice, only to say—

"Hello there, angel. I really hate to do this. But we may have a problem." 

"They killed Jinyoung. The Min family killed Jinyoung."

Those words have been in your mind ever since you first heard them, echoing like a spell, haunting you like a bad memory.

The sudden death of your late fiancé had never caused you any suspicions. You never questioned it when the officials had rendered the death as an accident. Dealing with the shock and the grief was already hard enough that you had no energy left to even dwell on what happened.

Yet the same couldn't be said about your mother.

The night the news of your late fiancee's accident came, your mother didn't show much reaction. She remained calm and composed even as she helped you get through your grief, but at the same time, she seemed to be retreating into herself. Her cold, quiet self which always made you feel uneasy growing up every time she retreated back into this version of her. The version who hid her emotions, intentions, and swallowed thickly by her own secrets. It wasn't until the day you came home to share the news about your plan to accept Min Yoongi's proposal when you finally drew a real reaction from her. But never once you had expected that her reaction would be this—to accuse the Min family of somehow being involved in the accident.

But you still couldn't stop the words from getting through your head. Ever since that day, you just couldn't stop yourself from questioning—

Just what exactly happened that night to Jinyoung?

You met Jinyoung for the first time upon your return to the city after receiving your father's cryptic phone call. A young man with a ton of experience in the business field and certified skill, Park Jinyoung was able to climb his way up within the couple of years he spent working in your father's company until he claimed the position as your father's right-hand man.

It was hard for you to trust him at first, when all you saw was an ambitious man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. And you knew that he wanted to be on top, to be above others, and you could tell that he was aiming for the highest place in your father's company. It didn't help that he had won your father's favour who had grown so fond of the man which made you feel as if you had lost all of your father's attention even when you were there with him.

But just as you openly declared him as your rival, the man began to aim for a different goal. Instead of fighting to reach your father's position, he aimed to win your heart.

And he succeeded, proving that he was capable of stealing your heart when least expected, and declared his win the night he proposed you to be a part of his future.

And you hadn't been the only one that he had won over.

You had always known that your mother had wanted a son. Had dreamt of having a son. Heard the rumours that once said that she almost had a son. A wish that she never could have. And for a while, you could see her getting her wish granted through Jinyoung's presence.

You saw it in the way she laughed and smiled whenever he talked to her as if your mother was his own. You saw the way she cared for him as if he was her firstborn child and would chastise you about taking care of him better than she ever could.

In her grief, not only did you see her hurting for the loss of a son that she wished to be, but also an old grief relived as his passing opened an old scar that was left unhealed.

The only thing you could never understand was why she would associate his passing, his accident, with the Min family. It made you wonder if there was something else about the incident that you knew nothing about, something that your mother had known but would never share. You had asked the questions, but other than her demands of helping her plot some kind of revenge against the Min Family, you had never gotten an answer.

It shouldn't have been much of a surprise for you to have your mother holding such a secret. She had always been such an enigma; a woman with a mystery of her own. No words could ever explain your mother's character, and no one—perhaps, except your father—may ever figure out the way to read her mind. And she has always had her own way of expressing her feelings; her love for her daughter, her love for her husband, her love for the company; so you had expected that she would have a peculiar way to express her grief over the loss of your late fiancé.

It was the reason why you had, at first, denied her accusations. You refused to listen no matter how much she kept feeding you with those words. You had simply brushed it off as a fallacy, stemming from her grief and her need to blame someone—anyone—as a way for her to cope with reality.

It wasn't until one day, when you finally found the reason to start listening.

"Why would you entangle yourself with them? What are you after, if not to seek revenge?' Your mother asked you one night after a family dinner when she sat alone with you in her favourite spot in the house, right before the fireplace, the plans that she had for you in order to pay for Jinyoung's passing seemed burning together with the flame dancing at the hearth.

"Because he has a plan. Because I have a plan, and this will be the only way for me to achieve it," you simply told her, letting the rest of your thoughts hang between the two of you before she began demanding more.

"What makes you think that he will be no different than his brother?" She asked again, just like how she asked the same question many times before, when she kept trying to convince you that Min Yoongi was no different than the other members of his family. That he was just like his brother.

Untrustworthy, opportunistic, and vile. One who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, even if it meant ruining other people's lives.

"Because I know that the person that he once was is still in there, inside him," you merely answered, "and because, unlike his brother, Min Yoongi has never been a mere ghost to me." 

"_____? Sweetheart?"

Yoongi's voice, followed by the gentle squeeze on your hand, pulls you back from your wandering thoughts. You blink away the memories that keep flashing through your mind to meet his gaze, and find him smiling at you. The concerned look in his eyes is noticeable, yet he tries to hide it with a smile.

"Is there something wrong? You suddenly grew quiet," he asks, his voice gentle, while his eyes are searching your face, looking for an answer.

But the look he is giving you only makes your stomach grow heavy, and his calming touch on your skin—as he rubs his thumb in gentle circles at the back of your hand—cannot do much to push it all away.

Yet you muster a smile as you slowly shake your head. "No, everything's fine. Forgive me for zoning out," you whisper to him. "What were you saying?"

Yoongi gives you a small smile, encouraging you as he gives your hand another squeeze to say, "Mrs. Oh was just asking about us, and she wondered how we became acquaintances."

"Oh, I see," you say, laughing softly as you turn to the woman sitting across the table.

The older woman merely smiles, unfazed by how distracted you have been while she was chatting with Yoongi. You throw her an apologetic smile and say to her, "Forgive me for zoning out, Mrs. Oh. I'm afraid I'm being disrespectful."

Mrs. Oh simply waves her hand dismissively and lightly laughs. "Oh, it's fine. I'm sure you have a ton of things in mind, and better things to do than to be here listening to men talk about business."

She glances teasingly at her husband who is sitting beside her and mockingly chides, "It's your fault that the young lady has to spend her precious weekend with us. If you had told me that all you're going to do is talk about work, we could've arranged to have a women-only meet-up somewhere so we wouldn't have to listen to your boring chat."

Her husband, Mr. Oh, simply laughs. "Oh, come on, dearest. She knew as much as you did what she was dealing with when he joined the young Mr. Min to see us for lunch today. This isn't something new for her either, I reckon, since she is a businesswoman herself, I heard."

You meet Mr. Oh's gaze with your own, and at that moment, you feel seen.

Mr. Oh, the gentleman with silver hair and tanned skin sitting next to his wife, is one of the reasons why you are here with Yoongi today.

You had initially made plans with Yoongi today to carry out an important part of your arrangement, marking the beginning of the life that you have signed into on papers and ink and the future not yet set in stone, when Yoongi suddenly requested for you to join him for an unexpected business meeting held during lunchtime. It wasn't until the moment you stepped foot in this restaurant when you finally figured out Yoongi's agenda.

For the past couple of weeks, since the day you signed the contract, you have been joining him on multiple occasions. From casual dates and taking the role as his plus one during special galas and business dinners, to joining him in a few of his business appointments that he engaged in outside of business hours—much like this small meeting happening at the present. It was the scheme that Yoongi had cleverly plotted to slowly ease you into his life and into your new role as his future supportive partner, while presenting himself as a new man with a clear plan for his future.

When you first saw this gentleman, who welcomed you with a warm, wise smile, his crips dark-grey suit—which was no doubt made by a prestigious designer—nearly glowing in the room, you could tell that this wouldn't be a regular lunch affair. That your presence might as well be to take on the same role as his partner, while helping to smooth things over between Yoongi and Mr. Oh as they talk about their upcoming investment deal.

But you never expected to gain an acknowledgement from the older businessman for yourself, instead of simply being praised as Yoongi's date.

"Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Oh. You're right, this isn't a new circumstance for me, as I've been to various business meetings before, either for my personal benefit or to accompany my father to support his business," you answer him, which earns you another look of respect from the older man and a gentle squeeze on your hand from Yoongi.

"And to answer your question—" You turn to Mrs. Oh, ignoring the warmth slowly engulfing your hand, and your chest, "Yoongi and I had many encounters growing up that we might considered each other childhood friends. We actually went to the same school until we left for college, and you could say that those were the times when we ended up becoming quite good friends."

You glance at Yoongi with a smile. "I remember that we became rivals at one point, sometimes arguing when he had to do a group project together or when we were partnered for various class assignments because of how different we were in terms of how we worked."

"I remember those days," Yoongi says with a chuckle. "But at the same time, we also worked well together because we both had personalities that were somewhat different, yet complemented one another to make us close."

Mrs. Oh's eyes look brighter, filled with joy upon hearing your story, and obviously interested to hear more. "And you've kept contact ever since?" She asks, "Is that why you're still so close?"

Her curiosity draws a smile to your face. You cannot blame her for getting intrigued by your story. Your appearances in Yoongi's affairs—and his on yours, during the times he had attended events to be your plus one for a change—had stirred rumours among the community and socialites around you. With both of your legacies, both coming from well-known families leading rival companies, nobody would expect to see you publicly associating with one another, much less to be seen as partners. But neither of you has made any statements to clear up or support the rumours, allowing the curious eyes and ears to continue spreading words of your possible budding relationship.

"Unfortunately, because of the years we spent in different countries during our university years, we eventually grew apart and lost contact for a while," Yoongi clarifies, keeping his hand holding yours over his lap. "Even once we were back home, we were immediately busy with our adult lives and the responsibilities waiting for us, so we never got the chance to maintain any form of communication."

Flicking a gaze at you, the corners of his lips rise to a small grin. "But by chance, we finally crossed paths again, and we have somewhat rekindled our past bond."

"Oh, my dear—that is really sweet," Mrs. Oh coos while clasping her hands. She is obviously swooning, although it isn't too clear if it is all because of the sweet story that you and Yoongi are sharing with her or if it's due to Yoongi's charm. "And what is your relationship now, if I may ask?" she continues to ask, "There are rumours that have been spreading lately around the ladies of the Country Club, saying that you're officially dating, and people just can't stop wondering if—"

"All right, honey, I think that's enough of trying to pry into their personal affairs," Mr. Oh cuts in with a soft chuckle. He places his drink on the table and gently taps on his wife's hand. "Remember that we're here to talk business, not share gossip," he teases his wife who merely pouts, only to smile at the end. The pair shares warm smiles with one another, before Mrs. Oh rolls her eyes.

"I told you, it's boring to hear you talk about business and numbers," she says, feigning annoyance, which only results in drawing Mr. Oh's soft chuckle as he leans to kiss his wife's hand.

"Then let us continue so we can end this soon," he convinces her before turning to you and Yoongi. "Forgive my wife for probing too much in your personal lives. She does get curious when she hears stories of rekindling relationships and young couples, as our own children have now grown busy with their families back in our hometown."

Yoongi merely smiles. "It's quite all right. I'm glad that our story can help make this meeting less boring," he says with a soft chuckle. "As for the rumours"—he flicks a glance at you—"you'll be happy to know that we do have some good news to share pretty soon. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

You have to bite the insides of your cheeks to stop yourself from laughing, because you know what he is up to. Yet you still return his smile before addressing the lovely woman sitting across the table.

"That's right, we do have some good news," you say, drawing a wider smile from Mrs. Oh. "And if you'll wait patiently enough, I promise that you'll get the first scoop of the new gossip coming up soon."