Class dismissed, Heart Enlisted [JesBible]

3 [The Promise]

Bible trudged up the stairs of his family’s two-story house like a guy carrying the weight of a bad rom-com script on his shoulders. His backpack slumped to one side, and his mood wasn’t much better. The humiliation from earlier—Jes's stupidly perfect face laughing at him—still replayed in his head. Seriously, could this day get any worse? At this point, all Bible wanted was to faceplant into his bed and forget the world existed for a few hours.

But, of course, fate had other plans. The moment he opened the front door, a familiar booming voice practically shook the walls. “Ah, there’s my favorite grandson! Finally home!”

Great. Just what I needed. Bible groaned inwardly. His grandpa was here, the human embodiment of chaos. The old man had more energy than a toddler on a sugar high, and if there was one thing Bible could count on, it was being roped into some long-winded story that ended in confusion and promises that made no sense.

“Hi, Grandpa,” Bible muttered, barely glancing up as he kicked off his shoes, mentally preparing for the onslaught. No escape route in sight.

As expected, his grandpa sat in the living room, perched on the couch in his loose traditional Thai shirt, grinning from ear to ear like he’d been waiting all day just to ambush Bible with his usual enthusiasm.

“There you are!” His grandpa patted the spot next to him on the couch. “Come here, boy! We need to talk.”

We need to talk? Bible froze. That was never good. He cast a desperate glance at his mom, who sat at the dining table, casually sipping tea as if she hadn’t just heard a death sentence being issued.

“Mom?” Bible tried, hoping for a last-minute rescue.

She gave him a sweet, harmless smile. “Just humor him, dear. It won’t take long.”

Suuuuure, it won’t.  Bible sighed, realizing there was no way out of this. With the weight of impending doom on his shoulders, he dragged himself to the couch and slumped down next to his grandpa, who immediately threw an arm around him like he hadn’t seen Bible in years.

“Listen up, boy!” His grandpa leaned in like he was about to drop some top-secret, life-altering news. “I was just thinking about my old friend Preecha! Oh, what a guy he was! We went everywhere together—inseparable, really! We shared everything, even our craziest dreams!”

Here we go. Bible’s mind started wandering to more important things, like whether there was any ice cream left in the freezer. His grandpa had this habit of going off on wild tangents about people Bible had never met or cared about. Meanwhile, his mom just sat there, pretending she wasn’t enjoying his suffering.

“So, anyway, as I was saying…” his grandpa continued, oblivious to Bible’s complete lack of interest. “Preecha was like a brother to me, the smartest guy in the village! We promised that our families would always stay close—really close.”

Bible halfheartedly nodded, his thoughts drifting further away, the words just blending into background noise. He glanced at the clock. It had only been five minutes, but it felt like five hours. His grandpa’s voice turned into a slow murmur as Bible mentally planned his quick escape.

“And we made a pact!” his grandpa’s voice suddenly cut through the fog. “Our families would be united—forever! No matter what! Our grandchildren would—”

Bible blinked, snapping out of his trance. “Wait. What?”

His grandpa beamed, looking like he’d just shared the key to world peace. “I said, we made a promise!”

“Yeah, I got that part, but... what promise?” Bible asked, his stomach sinking. This sounded dangerously like something he’d need to care about.

His grandpa waved it off. “Oh, don’t worry about the details! We’ll get to that later.”

Bible wasn’t so sure he wanted to get to that later. “You know what, grandpa? I’m really tired. Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow?” he suggested, already half-standing.

His grandpa grinned wider. “Ah, that’s the spirit! I knew you’d agree!”

Bible froze, his hand gripping the staircase railing. “Agree to... what?”

His grandpa was already off in his own world again, rambling about something else. Bible’s heart pounded in his chest as he slowly backed away, retreating toward the sanctuary of his room. “Good night, grandpa!” he called, not waiting for a response as he practically sprinted up the stairs.

He barely made it into his room before shutting the door and collapsing onto his bed. Whatever his grandpa had just said—whatever he’d apparently agreed to—he had a feeling it wasn’t something he could ignore. And the way his mom had been suspiciously quiet through the whole thing? That was definitely not a good sign.

Bible groaned, pressing his face into his pillow. This was bad. This was really bad. But what could possibly go wrong with one little promise made by two old men?

Famous last words.