"Your Mom is a nutcase,"

Hayan agreed.

"and so is Kim Taehyung."

She agreed once again.

Lying on the old couch in Sara's cramped house, Hayan sighed as she fidgeted with the bag of Cheetos in her hands. All she had wanted when she arrived at her friend's place was to unwind and have some fun, trying to forget the disappointment of not finding a suitable apartment in just one day. Deep down, she knew she shouldn't have expected it to be that easy, but a small part of her had foolishly hoped for a quick success.

And if that wasn't enough to ruin her mood, Taehyung had managed to make her day even worse. Something bad had happened, and it was all because of Kim Taehyung. Even after she left work, he kept texting her and trying to convince her to stay over at the Kim's penthouse, but Hayan had already turned down the offer multiple times. She found it strange but didn't think much of it. That was until she started getting calls from both her mother and Mrs. Kim.

"He's literally the worst," Hayan grumbled as she tore open the Cheetos packet. She hadn't initially answered her mother's calls which led to Mrs. Kim calling her instead. Apparently, her mother had gone crying to Mrs. Kim about her daughter ignoring her. "Kim Taehyung, I'm going to kill you someday," Hayan added resentfully.

Just as she stuffed a few Cheetos in her mouth at once, her phone rang. Hayan groaned in annoyance as she glanced down at the ringing phone that was lying peacefully on her tummy. She caught a glimpse of the caller ID and rolled her eyes.

"Your mother again?" Sara asked, standing in the tiny kitchen, parallel to the lounge, where she was making ramen for the both of them. Hayan nodded unenthusiastically. She knew she shouldn't have told Taehyung about her plan of moving out but she had made an even bigger mistake than that. She had asked him to not tell her mother about it until she found an apartment. She wanted to keep it a secret so that her mother wouldn't be a hindrance in her process of moving, and the same obstacle that Hayan was aiming to avoid, Taehyung had brought it right at her front door. He'd gone ahead and called Mrs. Yeon to inform her about Hayan moving out right after she left work.

Of course, he snitched. Hayan shook her head. He was the least trustworthy person on Earth.

"Honestly, what gives him the right to tell your mother you weren't planning on going back home? This was your personal matter," Sara said as she watched Hayan decline the call. She poured the ramen into two bowls and roughly placed them in a tray along with two pairs of chopsticks, a little bit of the broth slipping out from one bowl and leaking into the tray. Not even bothering to clean it up, Sara grabbed the tray and headed for the lounge.

"This is why I didn't want to tell him, I knew he was going to cause some trouble for me. He always gets in my way. Ugh, I hate him." Hayan groaned, sitting up on the couch as Sara put down the tray on the small table.

"And on top of that, he keeps nagging about how I'm a horrible secretary and that he's going to snitch on my Mom about my lack of professionalism too if I keep up this attitude,"

"He's so annoying," Sara sighed. "You literally have a business degree, ask him to give you a better job though. You didn't go through business school just to end up being his lackey." She sat down on the floor across Hayan and grabbed her chopsticks, beginning to dig in.

Hayan felt a sting at her words, but she knew that they were true. His lackey, that's what he had been treating her like ever since she started working at his company. She despised him.

"I don't know, you know my grades weren't that good so he might use that as an excuse," Hayan said sadly as she also started eating. Sara gave her a friendly glance but did not press on the subject.

"Anyway, what did Mrs. Kim say when she called you?" She asked.

"She asked me to come to the penthouse and have a talk with Mom. She said Mom won't leave until I go there and meet up with her."

"Wow, what a pain in the ass,"

"I know, right?" Hayan said in a muffled voice as she slurped down more noodles.

"So are you actually going to the penthouse?"

"Yeah, not like I have much of a choice," Hayan let out an exasperated sigh. "I feel bad about how Mom dragged Aunty into this. She's creating such a huge drama out of nothing," Sara nodded her head in understanding. Mrs. Yeon was always a bit much. If she said she wasn't going to give up until Hayan talked to her then she was going to do exactly that. Hayan didn't want Mrs. Kim to feel bothered because of the whole ordeal. This entire thing felt stupid. Why couldn't her Mom just let her be?

"And I need to have a talk with Taehyung too," Hayan stated maliciously as she lifted her gaze to meet Sara's.

"Don't worry, I'm already starting to think about revenge plans," Sara said, matching her friend's energy. This was bringing back high school memories for sure. If there was anything Hayan missed about high school, it was the fact that Taehyung used to be more of a pushover back then, but now he had turned into this overconfident and bothersome man. He was no fun anymore, at least in Hayan's eyes.

"Perfect, text me when you come up with the best one," Hayan said, earning a smirk from Sara. "I better get going now. Mom's ruined Mrs. Kim's evening for long enough. I better talk some sense into her." Hayan added as she got up and grabbed her bag. Sara nodded as she dragged Hayan's unfinished bowl of ramen towards her and started drinking the leftover broth in it.

"Good luck." She waved as she watched Hayan walk towards the door. Hayan waved back and gave her a small smile knowing perfectly well that luck had never been on her side.

~~~

"Is it because I put glue on your seat in junior high? Is that why you're doing this to me?" Hayan sulked as she stood before the entrance of Taehyung's penthouse with a mourning face.

"Get in," Taehyung demanded, standing opposite to her with a blank expression. Hayan didn't want to get in, she didn't want to be here in the first place, and she hated all of this. He looked her up and down in a slightly judgemental way and she knew he was judging the cheap clothes she was wearing, Sara's clothes that didn't go right with the oh-so-classy him.

An avocado green t-shirt with loose pants and worn-out sneakers. Hayan hadn't packed and taken her things from her house yet because she wanted to buy an apartment first and she hadn't gone back to her house after getting off of work but there was no way she was going to walk around in a blazer and skirt and heels all day — she could barely tolerate wearing that in the office — so she had no choice but to wear Sara's clothes when she went over.

Unlike the overly sophisticated Taehyung, Hayan was fine wearing anything. It didn't have to be designer brands to be worthy of wearing. She liked Sara's clothes because they reminded her of her life before they were rich before her mother had started leeching off of the Kims. Although she hated being poor, she still preferred it over the life she was living now. Unhappy with her parents, and unhappy with her job, she was a cynical and bitter adult. A truly disappointing life.

"Your pants ripped open from the back when you tried to get up and everyone laughed at you, are you still mad about that?" She added as if it would be ridiculous of Taehyung to hold a grudge for something so trivial. Taehyung cringed for a moment at the mention of that horribly embarrassing memory. Hayan fought back a grin when she recalled it herself. It was the funniest sight ever, Taehyung's shocked face that had turned as red as a tomato and his struggle to cover himself with something as quickly as possible. He had confronted her after that but she never admitted to it even though everybody knew it was Hayan and Sara's idea of a prank. It wasn't the first and hadn't been the last time he was 'pranked'. Taehyung hated pranks after that. He believed just hearing that word would give him PTSD.

"Come inside already, I don't have all day," Ignoring what she said, he grabbed Hayan by the arm and dragged her in, closing the door behind her. He then turned around and proceeded to walk off, leaving Hayan to unwillingly follow him. She dragged her feet, imagining all the ways the conversation with her mother could go. It was going to be absolutely exhausting, she already knew, and she felt tired just at the thought of it.

"Hayan's here!" Taehyung announced as they entered the living room where Mrs. Yeon sat with Mrs. Kim. They seemed to have been talking about something but their conversation came to a stop as soon as Hayan made an appearance. Mrs. Kim smiled her way but before Hayan could even try to greet her, Mrs. Yeon shot up from the sofa with a sour expression.

"I can't believe you didn't even tell me, Hayan. I'm your mother, do I not deserve to know if you're planning on abandoning your own parents?" She shrieked and Hayan noticed that even Taehyung cringed at her ringing voice. Of course, one could never have a civilized conversation with this woman. She would always scream and shout before listening.

"Abandoning? I just want to move out, Mom, no need to be so dramatic." Hayan fought the urge to roll her eyes and kept a straight face on. Taehyung threw himself on the sofa. Surely, he wanted to stick around to watch the drama he had started.

"It's abandoning because you hid it from me. And what the hell are you wearing?!" Mrs. Yeon gave her outfit a disgusted glance as if she were in a lingerie.

"I didn't want you to know because I knew you'd stop me," Hayan reasoned, ignoring her statement about her clothes. She couldn't believe she was arguing with her mother about moving out even though she was twenty-four.

"And would I be wrong to do it? You're my only daughter, I want you to stay with me. Why are you even moving out all of a sudden?" Mrs. Yeon asked, her voice hinting hurt that didn't quite reach her icy eyes.

"Stop playing dumb," Hayan rolled her eyes. It was pretty obvious why she wanted to move out. She was tired of her mother always expecting Hayan to live like a robot and do whatever she was told.

"You do not talk to me like that, Yeon Hayan!" Mrs. Yeon warned in her usual patronizing way. Hayan was so used to it. None of her words were new, it was like she had a limited speech instilled in her brain that she always repeated whenever she wanted to lash out.

"I'm moving out because I'm tired of you forcing me to—" Hayan didn't finish that sentence. Instead, her gaze fell on Mrs. Kim and Taehyung who sat on the edge of the sofa, Mrs. Kim looking a lot more anxious than Taehyung. She couldn't say her mother was forcing her to get with Taehyung in front of them.

"So you're tired of your own mother now?" Mrs. Yeon raised an eyebrow, taking a step forward. "I raised you all your life, I never complained that I was tired of you for always stirring up trouble and always being such a stupid useless brat."

Useless. Hayan felt like somebody had pricked her with a needle. Anger bubbled in the pit of her stomach and it was starting to rise with every word her mother spoke.

"Calm down, Milan. I'm sure you two can talk this out in a nicer way." Mrs. Kim intervened, trying to decrease the tension in the room. Hayan knew Mr. Kim was probably in his room. She wondered if he could hear them and immediately felt embarrassed at the thought.

"How about you sit down and relax first?" Taehyung suggested as he looked at Hayan, a hint of amusement in his eyes. It made her blood boil.

"You keep your mouth shut!"

"Why are you snapping at me?" He said with false innocence in his voice.

"Because you're the reason I'm here, you snitch!" Hayan yelled, earning a concerned look from Mrs. Kim that went unnoticed by her because she was too busy glaring holes into Taehyung's face.

"Taehyung did what was right. You can't take out your anger at him just because you got caught trying to run away," Mrs. Yeon said, spurting out more nonsense. Hayan doubted that she even knew what she was saying at this point. She was just angry that Hayan was slipping out of her control and she couldn't come up with any manipulation tactic that she wouldn't recognize.

"Run away? Would you stop throwing random accusations around? How am I running away?!" Hayan retorted, disbelief obvious in her face and voice.

"Don't raise your voice at me. I am your mother—"

"And I hate that! I don't want to be your daughter!" Hayan burst out, cutting off her mother's predictable sentence. She was tired of being yelled at for no reason.

"Oh, yeah? And you think I wanted you as my daughter? If I could pick and choose, I would pick someone far more capable and ambitious than your lazy ass!"

Pain was all Hayan could feel at this point. The anger had subsided, all that was left was pain, pure agonizing hurt that she knew would never go away. And all she could do was feel it even when she wanted to go numb. She could feel it even while she fought back tears. She wouldn't cry in front of her mother, not in a thousand lifetimes, never. She drew in a sharp breath, taking her mother's words in. She could feel them in her mouth, a taste so bitter that it made her want to throw up immediately. She felt sick, her shaking hands clenched into such tight fists that her knuckles had become white.

"That's enough," Mrs. Kim stood up and walked to Mrs. Yeon, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as she added. "maybe you should leave for now, Milan. This conversation isn't going anywhere, you both are too angry. Calm down and talk again tomorrow."

"Fine. Whoever wants to talk to this ungrateful bitch anyway." Mrs. Yeon scoffed as she grabbed her bag off of the table. "I don't remember raising you like that." She mumbled before walking away.

I don't remember you raising me at all. Hayan wanted to say but instead, she bit her tongue as she watched Mrs. Yeon stomp her way out of the penthouse, rudely pushing past the maid who was trying to escort her to the door.

Even after she'd left, Hayan could still feel the ache in her chest. She wanted nothing but to break down and sob. She hated her life. She hated everything at the moment, and she felt so utterly tired of having to explain herself for every little thing.

She didn't know if she could recover from this but she was sure about one thing. All of this pain and anger was going to be redirected at Taehyung and it was all his own fault. He wasn't going to get away with this.

_______________________

A/N: What's the worst thing your mother has said to you?