Promise Me ➳ Taebin ✔

22. Remember

"Hyung, guess what today is!" Taehyun yelled excitedly, hugging Soobin from behind as the older made breakfast.

"I don't know..."

Taehyun pouted. "I'll give you a hint. Three words. You have to guess." Soobin nodded. "My. Nineteenth. Birthday."

Soobin shrugged. "Still don't know."

Playfully rolling his eyes, Taehyun sat on the counter and watched him.

"Hyung..."

"Hm?"

"You didn't seriously forget my birthday, did you?"

"Darling, can you please just go back to bed so I can make you breakfast on the most important day of the year?"

Taehyun gasped and hopped off the counter to look up at him with sparkly brown eyes.

"You're making me breakfast in bed?" He asked and Soobin nodded.

"Well, it won't be in bed if you're not there-"

Taehyun quickly ran back to Soobin's room and the older chuckled before continuing to cook.

Soobin looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't wanna get out of bed today, but Yeonjun, Beomgyu and Kai were all coming so they could hang out at Taehyun's house.

He felt sick.

It was definitely worse than his birthday. He got ready and put an outfit on before leaving. He was just...

Sad.

He should've been happy since it was Taehyun's birthday, but it was obvious why he sad about it. And he couldn't just stay at home while his friends were coming to visit Taehyun.

So he went to his house and stood by his bed, fiddling his fingers in nervousness.

"You didn't have to get me anything," Taehyun said, taking the gift-wrapped box from Soobin. "All I want for my birthday is you."

"Damnit, why'd you have to tell me that?" Soobin asked, sighing and sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry for not coming sooner, you know? It's hard. Eleven months..."

How has he survived for eleven months?

"It just hurts. But I know I should be here with you on your day, so on the way here, through tears, I stopped at the store..." he pulled something out of his Target bag. "I got you Love Yourself: Tear. It's your last album to complete your entire collection. You wanna see who you pulled?" He shakily opened the package and pulled out the photocard. "You got Jungkook. He's your ult, remember?"

Thinking about the word "remember" hurt him.

In the first few days of this happening to Taehyun, he searched up what happens to someone when they wake up from a coma.

What if Taehyun didn't remember him?

He tried not to think about that. The chance of that happening was actually really slim.

Taehyun liked his albums to be in order of when they came out, as he was kind of a perfectionist when it came to that. So Soobin put it in between the other two Love Yourself albums.

"Soobin, we're here!" Kai yelled when they entered the house.

He walked out, seeing that Taehyun's mom was also out and about around the house.

"Hey guys," he chuckled, hugging each of them.

"Soobin took him out to eat. Shh. We have to be quiet. They're in the driveway," Yeonjun shushed them as they all hid behind furniture.

When Taehyun walked in, they all shouted "surprise" and Taehyun looked around at everything.

"You guys threw a party for me?" He asked.

"Well of course. Here. I got you this," Yeonjun said, handing Taehyun a new album.

"Thank you Hyung," he chuckled, hugging him. "But were you forced to come here?"

Yeonjun shrugged. "Kind of. But you've been cool lately, so I don't mind."

At the time, Soobin didn't think of what Yeonjun said. But now that he was remembering it, he knew exactly what he meant.

"Excuse me Mrs. Kang, what are you doing?" Kai asked the panicking woman.

"I'm trying to find my phone so I can take pictures to post on Facebook. People need to see that kids nowadays aren't that bad," she replied, pulling her phone out from under the cat and pointing it at them. She fiddled with it for a second and Beomgyu giggled.

"Do you need help?" He asked, walking over to click the camera icon.

"Thank you," she said, taking a picture of all of them. "I ordered pizza that'll be here in an hour. Just kind of chill here. Uh... #mom #coolmom #kids #genzkidsareokay #okayboomer."

"Mrs. Kang?" Soobin asked. "You don't need to say the hashtags out loud."

She shooed him away and walked to her bedroom, making him chuckle.

"Wow. A happy noise coming from the depressed soul," Yeonjun smiled. "I'm happy though. I hate seeing you upset all the time." Soobin nodded and walked away, confusing Yeonjun. "Wait. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Soobin said, going into Taehyun's room.

"Something's obviously wrong." Yeonjun sat in the desk chair and spun around to face him.

"I wasn't planning on coming here today. But all of a sudden you guys show up and I have to," he said, rubbing his thumb over Taehyun's cheek.

"Wait. Why are you upset about the fact that you had to come today? I thought you were originally going to."

"No, I wasn't. It's hard. You wouldn't understand."

"How would I not understand? He's my best-"

"Don't you dare fucking say it. I don't care what kind of shit you've done for him. You've never genuinely liked him. You just hung out with him because of me."

Yeonjun sighed and shook his head. "Okay, I'll give you the whole "hanging out with him just because of you thing". Him and I have nothing in common except for you. We really had no reason to ever hang out. And I did used to think he was a whiny brat. But I don't anymore. I'll admit that I don't think I'm as close to him as I am with you and the others-"

"Yeah."

"But I try, okay? I do. I understand why today is hard because of how much it's hurting you. Obviously I'm sad about Taehyun, but I never got to know him enough to be as sad as you and the others. I'm sorry, Soobin. I really am."

Soobin sighed and closed his eyes for a second. "Fine. I accept your apology."

Yeonjun kind of smiled and walked over to hug him.

"To finish my sentence from earlier, he's my best friend's boyfriend."