Park Soomi

I stayed behind Jungkook, our quiet footsteps trudging forward in unison. With my view obstructed by Jungkook's back, I relied only on my peripherals and ears to prepare for what we were walking into. However, I wasn't expecting my sense of smell to kick in, triggered by a rich aroma lingering in the air. Someone had turned all the lights on, and the sounds of clinking metal echoed from the kitchen. From the edge of Jungkook's shoulder, I only made out a partial outline of a figure's back.

"Don't move! Hands up where I can see them!" Jungkook shouted towards the person. The ruckus came to a halt, followed by some shuffling.

"Well, I never thought the first time I'd be held at gunpoint would be in my own home." The woman spoke calmly, not a shred of fear evident in her voice. But that wasn't the most surprising thing about her. I was more bewildered that I recognized the familiar voice, and my eyes grew twice their size as I stepped out into the open.

"Mom?"

"Soomi! How have you been, sweetie?" Not a second later, she pulled me into her embrace, but all I could do was stand in shock.

"Umm, a little blindsided..."

"What are you doing here? Actually, better question, how did you get in here?" Jimin asked with the slightest hint of disdain in his voice, so faint that I was probably the only one who detected it. We made eye contact as my mind drifted back to our conversation in the hospital and all the hostile feelings towards our mom.

"Of course, I had to visit after hearing what happened, Jimin. I needed to make sure everyone was okay. Also, I still have a key to the house."

"Yeah, but this isn't your house anymore..." Jimin muttered.

"What he means," I butted in, determined to keep everyone relatively friendly, "is that you still should have given us a heads up before coming."

"Well, your father told me Jimin was getting discharged today, so I wanted to surprise everyone with a home-cooked meal."

I involuntarily gulped, salivating as the scent of food made its way back to the forefront of my attention. I couldn't deny my hunger, but I tried my best to hide my excitement for the sake of not aggravating Jimin further.

"Thanks...but you really didn't have to. You can't stay for long, right? Because you're so busy with work?" Jimin worked hard to fish out a response he was hoping to hear.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! I'm going to be staying and helping out around the house while you're recovering," she explained. Jimin became speechless from the news.

"I don't know, Mom. The house is a bit full right now..." I said, arguing on his behalf.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm well aware that the boys your dad hired are living here for the time being." She shot a bright smile at Jungkook, who finally realized he still had his gun out and awkwardly fumbled to stash it away. "I just picked up fresh groceries. I'm preparing a big meal for you...all." Mom's voice faltered slightly as her gaze shifted to Misa, who had just stumbled out from behind Jungkook. "Oh...well, I didn't make enough food for her."

She brazenly scanned Misa from head to toe with contempt, and the already heavy atmosphere seemed to build up into a full-on storm. I felt like we were facing that storm head-on, floating on an unsteady boat that was barely staying together. Just one more collision and we would all be sinking.

"Actually, Hoseok and Yoongi won't be back for a—"

"Hello to you too, Ms. Park." Misa interrupted me, greeting her with a mocking tone.

"I'm sorry, do you have a problem with Misa?" Jungkook suddenly asked, a bit defensively.

"A problem? Oh, don't be silly. I have multiple problems with that girl. But where should I begin? I don't know, maybe with how she's a bad influence for my daughter, convincing her to sneak out of the house and skip school. Or maybe, how she always has her grubby little hands on my things. Don't even get me started on the dress-up fiasco."

Here we go again. This was probably the millionth time I had heard this story, and Misa didn't seem too pleased by the reminder either.

"Aww, that doesn't sound so bad. A baby Misa playing dress-up? That's so cute," Jungkook gushed.

"Well, actually, I was more like fifteen—" Misa began.

"And she was wasted and spilled red wine all over my most expensive  dress." She finished the story with an annoyed expression. "Soomi, dear, please tell me you didn't agree to let this girl stay in our home again."

"She is! She is staying here," Jimin hastily answered for me. "So I guess you won't be staying around much longer, right?"

Mom deeply sighed, giving Misa one last look before turning back to Jimin. "I'll put up with her just this once, for you. Dinner will be ready in five, kids."

I could see Jimin internally groaning as she turned back to the kitchen, but I felt a rush of relief that the storm was starting to settle without any major bombs dropped.

Things could've been a lot worse—

"Soomi, you should learn from your brother when it comes to cutting out bad people. I couldn't have been happier when he finally broke up with her."

"What?" Jungkook looked dumbfounded as he turned to Misa while the rest of us stared at him with widened eyes. Misa's mouth gaped open in panic as I watched the unexpected scene unravel with a sigh.

So close. We were so close.

⋆⋅✯⋅⋆

"Soomi, I am this close to punching your mom in the face! When will she be gone? Can you tell her to leave?" Misa pleaded with me, pacing around my room in desperation.

"It hasn't even been a day," I replied, to which she responded with an exasperated groan.

"She keeps bringing up embarrassing stories. Like, come on, lady, stop bringing up the past! I'm a changed woman!"

I squinted at her with doubt. "You sure about that?" There was a short pause before she finally gave in.

"Okay, fine, maybe I haven't changed. But what's so wrong about being me?" I simply kept nodding at Misa's rants, unsure of what to add to the "conversation." "And why did she have to bring up Jimin in front of Jungkook! I was going to tell him, I swear. I just couldn't find the right moment, and now things are so weird!"

"Speaking about weird things and Jimin—"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm talking too much, aren't I?" Misa interrupted me just as I was about to bring up their kiss in the hospital. "Maybe that's part of the problem..." Misa seemed to drift off, as if in self-realization.

"No, well, actually maybe. But I wanted to—"

"Okay, okay, right, enough about me then. How have you been doing? Life, boys...Yoongi?" She finally calmed her erratic pacing and sat down next to me. She placed a hand on my shoulder, and I sighed, seeing her eager eyes.

Guess that conversation could wait for another day.

"I told Yoongi I liked him, like actual feelings." Misa instantly stood up again with a squeal after hearing my confession.

"Yes! See, I am a good influence. Take that, you stuffy old lady."

"Okay, but I instantly regretted it."

"What? No, no, why?" Misa's emotions were a complete rollercoaster as her tone and expressions switched up every few seconds.

"Because what if 'I think I have feelings for you' actually means 'oops, sorry, I was just confused?'"

"Soomi, stop doing that!" Misa exclaimed. She quickly continued as I gave her a look of confusion. "Stop focusing on the worst possible outcome of every situation. You did what you should've done, and now you just have to let things play out the way they're meant to, okay?" There was a short pause before a small smile slowly grew on my face.

"Okay." The conversation finally started to die out, but just when I thought I could finally take a break, shouts erupted from outside the room. We gave one look at each other before rushing out to see what was happening

"You're driving me completely insane!" We entered the room to find Jimin shouting at our mom, who appeared shocked by the outburst. "Why are you suddenly trying to control my life and give me advice when I'm an adult when you never gave a damn about me growing up!"

"Jimin, of course I cared," she insisted, desperately trying to calm Jimin down.

"Yeah right. Keep telling yourself that..."

"I'm here now. I'm really trying right now. Shouldn't that count for something?"

"It doesn't make up for the first twenty years of my life! Back when it really mattered! Why now?" Jimin was progressively getting more and more distressed. All the questions he had been bottling up were coming out one after the other, and I didn't know what to do. "Why not when I really needed you? Why not when I was a kid?

"And, y-you know," he turned to one of the shelves, rummaging through its contents before pulling out a photobook. "You know there's not a single picture of me in here, of when I was a baby? They're all Soomi. Every. Single. One." He roughly flipped through the pages in front of Mom, and I could see that both of them were holding back tears. "How could you explain that, huh? How could you—"

"Because you're not my son!" She blurted out.

The room became dead silent with only the sounds of heavy breathing. We all froze in shock as she took one last, shaky breath before clarifying.

"I'm not your real mother."

——
{a/n}
It's honestly been so long even I forgot exactly where I was in the story 😅 So I hope this wasn't too confusing to read. Hope you enjoyed, and keep a look out on my bio for when updates will be coming in the future! Thanks for reading! 💜