Calling Shotaro's residence─well, it's actually his parents' property─a mansion is a massive understatement. If Jeno were told without that knowledge that it's a castle owned by some royal family, he would undoubtedly believe it. He, along with the entire student body in his and other neighboring universities and possibly even majority of the world, knows how wealthy the family Shotaro was born into is; the latter has been in multiple magazines like those Top Ten Richest Heirs In The World ones. He came from generational wealth, and people who are born into old money are hella loaded.
It's not everyday that you see a mansion like this one, well, if you were born into a working class family who lived paycheck to paycheck in the run-down side of town like Jeno. The first time he ever saw a mansion in person was when he was in his senior year of highschool, but it can never compare to the estate before his very eyes. There's acres and acres of land with an, for lack of better wording, enormous mansion in the front of it all that's much more bigger than his campus. He thinks it definitely costs much more than his life.
Even though he's been here a hundred times before, he still can't help but gawk at the mansion. He manages to hide how awestruck he is this time much better than the first several times. The blaring music from the inside seeping through the windows and the wide-open front door makes him wince as he and Yeorin enter, hands interlaced. Everyone who notices their presence immediately recognizes them. If you're the captain and one of the best players of a prestigious university's basketball team and the top student of another prestigious university who's the daughter of two respected politicians, of course you'd be recognized the moment you step into a room.
Yeorin, being the social butterfly that she is, is already conversing with a few people the moment they reach the very center of the mansion where all the alcohol is. She grabs one of the red cups that are filled halfway with beer, and he stands beside her quietly with his arm loosely wrapped around her waist as the loud music continues to assault his eardrums. He lets his eyes wander around the room where the lights flash a different color every second and everyone's grinding up against each other.
It's a scene he's seen more times than he's walked in on Jaemin to see him making out with someone in their dorm room that is very much an open space, and he's kind of sick of it (both). He doesn't necessarily dislike parties─the victory parties he has attended after every game accustomed him to the setting─, he's just the type of person to enjoy a much smaller gathering. This isn't his comfort zone, but it's good to step out of it once in a while.
"What's a pretty boy like you doing just standing around at a party?"
He turns to his side and meets a pair of eyes that holds a glint of mischief. "Really, Jaem," he deadpans. "Flirting with me right in front of my girlfriend?"
"She's too busy to notice," Jaemin remarks with a broadening grin as he slings an arm over Jeno's shoulder. "Let's go to the backyard, the guys are playing beer pong."
"Sure, but I'm not drinking since I gotta drive tonight," he says after contemplating it and leans over to Yeorin. "Love, I'll just be out in the backyard. Always cover your drink and don't let anyone hold it. Okay?"
"Okay," she nods. "Have fun."
The backyard is much less crowded than inside unlike he expected it would be, and he finds a slight, just a mere slither, sense of comfort here. Not even more than ten people are in the pool, and the rest are either making out on the grass, lounge chairs, and against the walls or tossing ping-pong balls into red cups filled with beer on a tennis table where Jaemin is leading him to. Jeno is greeted by his teammates and mutual friends with slurred words and lopsided grins. They're all inebriated, that's for sure.
