Park Jihoon, the youngest son of the famous Parks. His father is a CEO of a big group whose brand names are everywhere. You cannot step out on the streets without seeing the group's name here or there for several times. Growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth, Jihoon never has to ask twice for what he wants. And he hates to ask twice.

But today, the Twenty-nine of May Two Thousand and Seventeen, the day he turns eighteen, his boyfriend is nowhere to be found.

He told his mom that he wanted to have the whole night enjoying the moment that he becomes an adult. Thus, the family party was already held at lunchtime. For now, he just wants to access a club for the first time after eighteen years. The idea was noted ever since that day when his classmate told him that he sneaked inside once and kept going on and on about how amazing it was. Since then, Jihoon has never stopped wanting to enter a club, just to see how it is, even though the club belongs to his family anyways.

Thirty minutes. Sixty minutes. His boyfriend, Bae Jinyoung, has never been late to any date with him even just half of a second. But today, on this very special day, he doesn't show up.

Jihoon is mad. He tries to hide it under his awkward smile. But the two bodyguards behind him easily notice his impatient steps pacing around the same place. His cheeks become red as he must repress his anger.

He has been waiting for an hour, standing in front of the Club. No Bae Jinyoung.

Another fifteen minutes passed by. He checks his phone. No message. No call. Where the hell is Bae Jinyoung?

He's merely angry for the fact that he has never had to wait for anyone before. But today, on this very special day, he is waiting. For his idiotic boyfriend.

That's it. The limitation to his pride is stepped over, by a guy who is no more no less a doll for him to play with, his "boyfriend".

He pulls out his phone, dialling his mom's number on the quick access list. "Mom? Tell Bae Jinyoung that he's doomed. It's over between me and him. And fire his whole family."

He hangs up. No emotion is shown on his face, except a light furrow in between the brows.

No one can play with me, he thinks, no one.

He stormed into the Club. Is about to be stopped by the bouncers. Lucky for them, they realize who he is and surely know that it is his eighteenth birthday. The famous son of the famous Parks. Or else the consequences could be a bit unpredictable, not to mention how angry he is now.

His personal guards are not going in any further to respect is privacy. They stand at the door. Eyes are glued to him closely, still.

The music is too loud, he barely hears the lyrics. Yet, who cares. His eyes glance around the club. It is quite spacious, decorated by the remarkable colors and patterns of his family's group that he can spot it right away. Some couples making out at the corner. Some big groups of friends drinking and talking noisily. Taking a reluctant look at the people losing themselves on the dancefloor, Jihoon holds in a soft sigh. Screw that classmate. This is not as amazing as he was told.

Poor the classmate. If it weren't for the unreasonable absence of Jinyoung, would Jihoon's mood stoop this low that he feels the hatred towards everything and everyone?

Jihoon walks to the bar, takes a sit, orders a cocktail of the day. He tastes the drink, carefully at first. Using the tip of his tongue to touch the liquid.

Suddenly, someone next to him starts laughing. He looks to the side, frowning profusely. The guy pads towards him.

"I wonder what kiddos like you are doing here?" The guy asks. The question contents of a sneering tone which irritates Jihoon. His eyes examine the guy.

The guards notice the look on Jihoon's face, so they come closer. The guy raises one hand up as in to signal them to stop their steps. A smirk spreads across his lips. His eyes have been staring into Jihoon's and have no intentions to move any time soon. The two guards halt their movements as they realize who the guy is.

"You don't even recognize your future brother-in-law?"

Jihoon exhales softly, blinking his eyes twice at the short glass of cocktail while his fingers twirl it around, immensely fidgeting to buy some time for his mind to rearrange the timeline and events. For several seconds, the atmosphere suddenly becomes quiet. He sinks into his memory box.

"Ah..." Jihoon utters. He replays the memories in his head like an old movie. And yes, he sees this guy at his birthday party in the afternoon, standing next to his sister. Yes, he is his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Kang Daniel. He doesn't remember because he never cares. It's not that he never cares about his sister, one of those people whom he loves the most. Yet, he never cares about which guy or girl or whoever she is with. The reason is simple: he hates the fact that when she's dating or marrying them, she will stop caring and taking care of him like she used to do. The presence of this guy reminds him clearly where he stands in his sister's life.

It's not like she hasn't been distant to him. Ever since she came back from her years away studying abroad, Jihoon understood one thing that they can't be as close as they used to be when they were just kids anymore. Jihoon misses the times when they played together with toys surrounded. Not like now, when his sister is surrounded by work, projects, marketing plans and hundreds of other business-related stuff that he, soon enough, will also be pulled in. The Parks have been remaining the family business for at least five generations. He is not an exception.

He doesn't want to think about it yet. He just wants to enjoy his birthday, for today. But that stupid boyfriend of his, ah no, the ex-boyfriend of his, ruined everything.

Great. Another problem to worry about. Today is his special day, marking the day he legally becomes an adult. Even so, nothing has been right since the moment he opened his eyes to wake up this morning. Maybe he shouldn't have woken up. Maybe then life wouldn't have a chance to slap him on the face with these painful facts. This day cannot be any worse, can it?

Jihoon watches the distorted reflection of himself on the glass then turns to shoot Daniel a smile, which appears to be more like a smirk. "Then what are you doing here, Daniel?"

"Having fun. Can't I?" Daniel sits down on the seat next to Jihoon's, signalling the bartender to pour him some wine. He takes the glass, patiently waiting for Jihoon's response.

"Shouldn't you be with your fiancée now?" Jihoon mocked, implying his sister.

"Is that why you hate me? Because I'm with your sister?" Daniel takes another sip. "We have met for several times, but you have never noticed me."

"Don't try to be a nice brother to me. It's not going to work." His voice goes lower and harsher. After the first moment when Daniel laughed at him, until now, he still has not taken any other look.

He empties down the cocktail glass then asks for another one. He likes the taste, he can say. The sweetness of pineapple juice and the bitterness of alcohol. Out of the blues, Jinyoung's name pops up in his mind. He can see the way the boy smiles at him. Bittersweet.

Jihoon takes a deep breath. In one gulp, he empties down another glass of cocktail.

Daniel turns to look at the kid with eyes widened in surprise. He notices the silence from Jihoon but doesn't expect him to drink this recklessly.

Jihoon starts hiccupping. He fists his chest trying to calm down the uncomfortableness. Raising the empty glass, he asks for another one. It is this moment that Daniel knows he cannot not interfere.

He holds the boy's wrist, putting the glass back down. His other arm wrapped around the small trunk, protecting him from falling off the high chair.

"Don't stop me." He hiccups. "Don't be another Bae Jinyoung." He hiccups again.

"Bae Jinyoung?" Daniel scowls. But he eases down immediately knowing that the kid is drunk. Though, it seems like he has some clues about the name.

Jihoon hiccups. "I thought you didn't love me. I thought I didn't love you. But why are we playing with each other's feelings?" More sound of hiccups coming after in a continuous chain.

He pushes Daniel away, standing up to ask for another glass of cocktail. Daniel sighs yet does nothing to stop him. He looks back at the guards and signals them by the eyes that Jihoon is not himself anymore.

Shaking his head, he thinks. Aish, this kiddo with his puppy love. Such a kiddo.

The moment a new glass of cocktail is given to him, he gulps it down straight away within a second. The guards do not let out a word. Silently, they come to bring him away. He shoves them, frowning in disagreement. He says he wants to play more. He hasn't had enough. They stand behind him, unable to disobey his orders.

However, before anything happens next, he collapses onto Daniel's embrace.

He wakes up the next day... not on his bed. But someone else's. Whose bed is this?

He picks his head up, looking around. Where am I? Where are my bodyguards?

Jihoon looks down at his body. His white shirt's first two buttons are opened. He is pantless. But he still has his boxer on.

He touches his torso. I was drunk, right... But, drunk sex?

He shakes his head. No no, it can't be. He still remembers falling into Daniel's arms. Right, this must be Daniel's house.

He doesn't think his brother-in-law would take advantage of the blackout to steal his first time. Just right when he is busy getting caught in his thoughts, he hears something. A click.

A click of a door. He looks toward the source of the sound. Someone just stepped out from the bathroom.

It's Daniel. In only a towel around his lower body, rubbing his wet hair with a smaller one.

Jihoon stuns. At the half-naked man in front of him. Fully naked under that towel. Some beads of water dripping down the muscular chest, over the abs. The journey of the water drops ends at his hips where the cotton flocks of the towel lie. He suddenly feels a foreign wave of electric runs through his spine, his arms, and legs. Nausea in his stomach feels like his organs are twisting into one another. The weird feeling causes two pink shades to appear on his cheek.

It's not his first time seeing a guy naked. But not this close. Not this fresh.

"Good morning," Daniel speaks. Without any hint of awkwardness nor surprise. He heads to the closet. Jihoon's eyes follow. Not until now that he realizes how big the room is. Even the bed is king size. Regarding the fact that Daniel's family is as well-off as his.

No, Jihoon is sure that it cannot be really the same kind of wealthy. He is sure his family is the only one on top of the chart. The richest. The most powerful one. Though, the Kangs must be somewhere near that level to achieve the engagement with the Parks' famous daughter.

"What happened?" He asks. Daniel understands the real question under that simple question. Jihoon is not asking about his drunk to death night falling into someone's arms. He's not asking about how he got here. He's obviously asking about the disappearance of clothes on his body.

"You vomit. Way too much. I just had to clean up the mess." Daniel answers. His voice is low and calm. He takes away the towel to put on his suit without any warning to Jihoon. Doesn't even bother to turn away or hide somewhere.

Jihoon covers his face, immediately, as a natural reflex. No peeking. A soft voice filled with judgmental despise is heard through the tiny spaces among his small fingers on top of the pretty baby face. "Is that how my sister likes you? You seduced her?"

Daniel responds with a loud, one-sounded laugh. He guesses that the Park siblings were raised this way. Degrading and disdaining other people from where they sit. The thrones above other people's heads.

Haughty. Cocky. Self-centered. Arrogant. Hoity-toity. Offend people all they want. Like sister, like the brother. Another sound of laughter is broken into the air. Daniel turns to look at the male version of his fiancée who is sitting on the bed, confused and flustered, sober and unhinged, as he twists the button on the white button-down's sleeve.

"Just pick anything you want in the closet. Your bodyguards are outside. I'll let them know that you're awake."

No response. Jihoon is still hiding behind his 'shields' – the small hands.

Daniel pulls the jacket off the hanger then throws it over his shoulder. Without any further exchange of words, he takes his leave.

Jihoon hears the click of the closed door, then he hears another click of the opened door. One of the guards come in, touching his head, checking on his condition.

He settles an assuring smile on his face, saying he is okay. Then the guard retreats to a corner, letting him take a shower.

I smell like Daniel, he thinks, coming back from the bathroom. He knows his sister is going to notice it.

He makes his way to the closet, wondering what he should wear. More like what possibly would fit him. Drawing out a t-shirt, he measures it on his body. Not to mention the size difference, it totally looks like an over-sized dress to him.

Finally, he sighs in relief. He finds a set of jeans and a checkered shirt that does not look too big for him. He puts them on, feeling the contentment in his heart. It takes him around forty minutes.

I look like Daniel, he whispers to the reflection of himself in the mirror.

Just like that, he walks away, leaving a whole mess in the room without a mere thought of sending someone to clean it.

He safely sneaked back into his room without anyone notice. The house is too big to be noticed anyway. The butler greets him and informs him one thing: Bae Jinyoung has been waiting for him. He nods, allowing the guilty sinner a chance to explain for his stupid action from yesterday.

Jinyoung enters the room with a tiring face. His eyes are swollen – a proof of someone who has been crying since the previous night.

Jihoon is standing by the window, looking over the backyard garden. His cold shoulders are the only things that Jinyoung can look at.

"I'm sorry..." It takes him a while to gather the last pieces of strength to push out the words, each at a time.

But those are not the words Jihoon wants to hear.

"My mom was sent to the hospital... Her condition was serious." He starts sniffling.

Jihoon breathes calmly, "And not even a message for me?"

"I wasn't in the right mind." Jinyoung knows any excuse would be a mistake right now. But it is the truth that he was too worried about his mother to remember about Jihoon.

"It was my birthday." Jihoon's voice turns as cold as ice.

"I'm sorry..."

Again, those are not the words Jihoon wants to hear.

"And you said you love me?"

Jinyoung doesn't see his boyfriend's face, yet he can hear how the corner of his lips is lifted when the question was formed on his tongue. Indeed, Jihoon wears a bitter smile on his face, wondering why things have become this way.

"This is just a game, Jinyoung." He slowly turns around, looking at the guy standing at the door frame. His hands grip on the jacket over his shoulders. He still feels a bit cold. He is not sure if the cold he feels is from his body's bad condition regarding the sick drunk previous night, or the ice in his heart. "When we signed that contract, you already promised me. No feelings involved. But why? Why?"

Jinyoung eyes observed the pattern of the floor. He has seen the same floor for almost half of a year, but today, even the color seems off. He strongly furrows his eyebrows before letting out a loud sigh. Obviously, he wants Jihoon to see his reactions.

"Don't be so gentle when you play with me. Don't treat me so good that I forget I'm being played!" The furrowed brows are now stabbing through Jihoon's face. Jinyoung's voice raises a little. But not too high. He knows Jihoon has his reasons.

Jihoon's heart is a complicated maze. Even himself doesn't understand. It's a mixture of cold ice and hot lava. Sometimes he's so cute and loving. But most of the times when it comes to admission of feelings, he just brushes it off.

Like today. Like now. He's rejecting Jinyoung's feelings for him.

"Whatever. The contract will still go on until that happens. You know what I mean." Jihoon turns his back against the guy once again, acting like it was already hard for him to look at his boyfriend for just several minutes. "And about your family, I apologize. My mom did not do anything for real right? I just said it out of anger..."

"She did not. She knew what you meant. And I'm thankful for you and your mother's kindness." Jinyoung bows his head low, even though Jihoon is not looking.

"If there's nothing else, you can go. Don't forget our next date." Without caring about Jinyoung's response, since Jihoon knows he must not disagree anymore, he runs his fingers on his phone, connecting the line to someone. Jinyoung notices the silence after his answer, so he retreats through the door, leaving it closed just like the way it was when he first arrived.

A cheerful voice punches through Jihoon's worries and sadness once it is spoken up from the other side of the call. "Jihoonie! How are you?"

"Seriously fucked up. When will you come back?" Jihoon whines, totally unamused.

"Relax, Jihoonie. Or are you envious with me? Should I send my private jet there to pick you?" The guy from the other side of the call continues his teasing on Jihoon while lying on his camp bed, enjoying the cocktail in his hand. Through the sunglasses, his eyes are admiring the sunny tropical beach scenery in front of him. There is no hint of worry on his face. He understands the consequences he might get to mess with the famous son of the Parks, but he is too happy to care anyway.

"Guanlin. Stop it. I need you. Can you hurry back?" Jihoon groans the name of his best friend. He is frustrated, broken, confused, hurt, and immensely clueless. He needs his soulmate to ease the chaos in both his mind and heart.

"I told you, didn't I? Playing games with the hearts won't do you any good."

Jihoon squats down to the ground. He wants to cry. He tries to assure himself that it wasn't what he wanted to start the contract. Of course, he still remembers the voice of Guanlin reminding him that hearts are not made to be played with, so are feelings. Jihoon silently shuts his eyes. Two streams of hot tears roll down his cheeks.

"Jihoonie...? You're okay?" The voice in the phone calls out for him after noticing the abnormal silence.

Turning off the phone, Jihoon crawls to bed, under the sheets, under the pillows, he lets out everything he has been keeping in his mind, and cries.

He cries for a long while then falls asleep. When he wakes up, he finds himself still in Daniel's clothes, still smells like Daniel. And he hates it. He hates anyone who comes close to his sister and steals her away from him.

"Is my sister home yet?" Jihoon asks the butler when he is on the way to the family dinner. He already showered and changed his clothes to get rid of his 'enemy's' belongings.

The butler shakes his head, opening the big door for Jihoon. Entering the room, Jihoon comes to sit on his regular seat with a hidden sigh under his breath. The family dinner seems to be quiet today. There are only three people, Jihoon and his parents. Looking at the opposite side where often to be his sister's seat, Jihoon notices another set of cutleries. Oh shit. He curses in his mind. Don't tell me that guy is coming too.

Speaking of the devil, the door opens. Daniel and Jihoon's sister – Jiyoo – walk in. They sit merely across the table, but he feels like the whole Pacific Ocean is in between them. More like his sister is being captured by a demon at the other side of the Ocean and there's nothing he can do to reach for her. The demon that has no shame of being naked in front of another human in the room. Jihoon's shoulders shudder at the imaginary scene when those filthy hands on his sister's precious body.

The food is served. Everyone starts eating. Their father starts a conversation about work but being nagged by his mother. She doesn't like talking about works during dinner.

Jihoon has been eating in silence. He digs in his food, not wanting to pick up his head. Because picking his head up means he must see the two annoying lovebirds in front of him right now. Even so, he still can hear it, the sound of them whispering and smiling to each other. He hates.

Jiyoo leans over and drops a piece of Jihoon's favorite food into his bowl with a soft smile. "Hoon-ah, what's with that tiring look on your face? Are you sick? Is it because you partied too much last night?"

Jihoon uses his chopsticks to kick the piece of food to the side of his bowl, showing the rebellious reaction that he doesn't want to eat it.

Jiyoogulps sadly at the boy's reaction. Then she takes a deep breath and asks again with another smile. "Hoon-ah, did you open the gifts I gave to you? It's the latest game set I could get. Do you like it?"