Promises

41

It was nerve-wracking for Seokjin to sit in the green room. The last-minute self-doubts had returned. He felt foreign when saw himself in the mirror, all dolled up and dressed up for the shoot. As Nara had told them, they had contacts with the companies and Seokjin immediately got three ads. And a week later, they were shooting for those ads. Everything seemed too sudden to him even though it was his idea. Everything felt surreal. Seokjin groaned and closed his eyes. There were two main reasons for his anxiety.

Firstly, the shoot concept was completely different from what he had done before. He had only done dark concepts, thanks to Jiwon. Whenever Seokjin asked him to choose a soft concept shoot, Jiwon denied saying that he was only suitable for a dark concept photoshoot. And now that Seokjin sat in front of the mirror, he thought maybe Jiwon was right. Maybe the soft concept wouldn't suit him. He should probably talk to Namjoon about it.

But if the shoot gets cancelled or even delayed, they will lose the other two ads as well. And if the ads get cancelled, they will lose possible investors as well. The only reason Seokjin was returning was to help Namjoon but he wasn't very confident in this.

When opened his eyes, he saw the door open in the mirror. He smiled as he saw Namjoon enter the room. He locked the door before going to Soekjin, "Are you nervous?"

Seokjin nodded.

"Do you regret this?" There was a kind of fear in Namjoon's voice.

Seokjin stood up and turned back, "No. I don't."

Namjoon cupped Seokjin's cheek and caressed his cheekbone. "You don't have to force yourself."

Seokjin smiled brightly, "I know. I am not forcing myself. I know what I am doing. It has been a while and that is just making me nervous."

Namjoon leaned down and pecked Seokjin's forehead, "It is okay to be anxious. But this is where you have always belonged, hyung. You are Kim Soekjin. People are literally waiting for your ads to come out. I saw a countdown on Twitter."

Seokjin laughed loudly, heartily. His worries melted away, "You have been lurking on Twitter a lot nowadays."

Namjoon chuckled and puffed his chest proudly, "A fan gotta do what a fan gotta do."

Seokjin laughed again, "Then, I will do my best for my most favourite fan today."

Namjoon hugged him, patting his back, "I know. I know."

Seokjin sighed as he stood in front of the camera.

"You ready?" The cameraman asked.

Seokjin nodded, "Just a second." He closed his eyes. He remembered why he was doing this. This is for the company. This is for Namjoon. When he opened his eyes, he saw the stage set in front of him. The lights, the cameras, the people. He took a deep breath and then nodded, "I am ready!"

"Okay. We will start now." The cameraman clicked a photo. And then looked at the photo. "Seokjin-shi, welcome back!"

Seokjin smiled widely, "Thank you! Let's do our best."

The cameraman nodded with a thumbs up and started clicking the photos. As soon as the flash of the camera started flashing, Seokjin's body started to move on itself. His postures changed with every click and the director looked really happy with the shots. His gaze started to get more confident.

After about half an hour, the first part was done. Seokjin clapped for the staff, "Great job, guys. Thank you." He bowed to them and wobbled to Namjoon with a wide smile and exciting hops, "I did it."

Namjoon hugged Seokjin and spun him around, "Yes! You are back!"

"I was wrong." Seokjin looked on his side as Namjoon put him down. Yoongi smiled, "You are clearly the best. Thank you for joining our label."

Seokjin giggled, "The pleasure is mine." He winked at Yoongi and then looked at Namjoon, "I am going home. Are you coming with me?"

Namjoon shook his head, "I will come later. You can leave first. And rest well." Namjoon patted Seokjin's head, "You did a great job today."

~

A week later Seokjin handed out a proper resignation and signed the responsibilities to another professor. He was happy that he could help Namjoon in some way. The company got two major investors after Seokjin's ad shoot. He made sure to 'leak' the photos of the shoot so that people would keep talking about it. As soon as he opened the door of the house, he shrieked.

"Surprise."

"For fuck sake! Stop scaring me." Seokjin said, laughing at the people. He found everyone in the room from his team to Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook and Minyoung in his house.

Namjoon shook his head, "I told you he would be scared." He went to Seokjin and snaked his hand on his waist, "Sorry. They won't listen to me."

Seokjin shook his head, "Thank you for the surprise, but why?"

Minyoung smiled, "Your ad will be on the TV today. So Namjoon called us all to watch it together. And then these kids went overboard to congratulate you."

Nara laughed, "And by kids, she means Wonho included."

"Hey!" Wonho looked at her offended, "I am not a kid. I am taller than you."

"That doesn't mean you are smarter too." Nara shrugged.

"Aish-"

"Okay, calm down, you two." Sungjae rolled his eyes. He looked at Seokjin, "You will officially return to the industry from today. Congratulations."

Seokjin smiled and bowed to the group, "Thank you for your hard work. Let's celebrate together."

Everyone cheered and passed a glass of beer to Seokjin with a bowl of ramen. He looked at Namjoon with wide eyes.

Namjoon chuckled, "They said they will make the food themselves. Burnt the kitchen and finally settled with ramen. I paid extra to get the kitchen cleaned before you come back."

Seokjin laughed and shook his head, "So cute."

"And me?" Namjoon asked, making Seokjin blush profusely.

"Yah, lovebirds!" Yoongi clapped in front of them, "We are celebrating together. Keep those things in your bedroom."

Namjoon smirked, "Oh, we will."

Seokjin's eyes went wide and hit Namjoon's arm, "Joon-ah!"

Everyone laughed at Seokjin as his ears turned bright red.

"The ads!" Jungkook cheered as Seokjin's ad finally came on the TV. As soon as the ad was over, everyone cheered again. They congratulated Seokjin and resumed their little party of drinks and ramen. Seokjin looked at the people and how happy they were. He really felt grateful and also proud of himself that he made the hard decision to return. He looked up as he felt a peck on his head, "Are you happy?" Namjoon asked with a wide smile, flashing his dimples.

"Very." Seokjin smiled back.