For the last fifteen minutes, I've been playing around with the dinner rice. I was physically present in the room but mentally I was with Soobin somewhere in a cozy house in Ansan.

'I-I love you.'

I groaned and lifted my gaze from the untouched dinner to my mother who sat right in front of me. I may have screamed, not expecting her to be observing me so closely. "Mom!" I whine.

She silently chewed her rice before saying, "Good evening to you too, Minali."

I rolled my eyes, trying to do anything else than looking at her. So I instead glared at the rice. "Is there something I should be knowing?" Not lifting it, I shook my head, red strands of hair falling into my eyes.

Mom shifted in her chair, now clasping her hands on the table. "You've been glaring at the poor rice for a while now and you've been blushing too. So I thought I might try to help you."

"It's not nothing, mom," I said, digging into the kimchi on my side plate before picking it up and mixing it with the rice.

There was some shuffling. "It's definitely not nothing, Taehyun-ah."

"You are thinking stuff."

"Am I now?"

I've had enough with the bemusement that played in my mom's eyes. "It's nothing! Soobin just told me that he loves me but I d- wait." My eyes widened with realisation and my heart nearly stopped.

Shit.

"Yes? He loves you but what?" I gaped at mom, my eyes going wider if it was even possible. I've been doing a lot of that lately. "You are not mad?"

She made a face. "Should I be?" Clucking her tongue, she stood up. "Okay. I believe this is important stuff so let's go to the couch to talk this out, shall we?" I was perplexed but I found myself nodding to her. I, too, left my chair to follow her but was stopped by her hand on my shoulder. "Take the rice bowl along. I don't want you to starve."

Now we sat in the living room with tension so thick that it could be cut with a simple butter knife, or at least for me it was. I wasn't able to look straight into mom's eyes, scared of the consequences. My mom, Kang Iseul, is the coolest mom you'd ever find. She used to help me with my poetries when I was younger and had always supported me for everything. Unlike my father, I wasn't that scared of her reaction but you couldn't really blame me, she was a mother after all. She might find her motherly selfishness for a perfect and 'normal' future for her child.

Although I consider me being an omnisexual as natural enough.

Mom clapped her hands once and settled herself more comfortably on the armchair. "First off, I need full details about this person. And second, why are- Taehyun-ah? Are you crying?"

Indeed I was. My head was lowered with tears falling on my lap, leaving dark wet patches on my red jumper. My fists were clenched tightly on my cargos as I blinked away the lingering droplets. This wasn't how I had planned any of it, but courtesy to my mouth that just can't work according to plans, I had messed it all. Coming out to my parents was the last thing in my bucket list-- seven bullet points after 'Confess to Soobin of your crush'.

But soon enough, I felt two arms circling me and a warm body pressing from my side. "Minali, yah! Don't cry. Why would you cry? Did I say something hurtful? Is something wrong?"

"Why aren't...you mad?" I let out in between of my sniffs. There was silence, so looked up and Mom was smiling at me. Not the amused one, but the mother one.

"For what reason? The last I checked, you did nothing wrong except giggling in your room at night and giving me a heart attack. Seriously, I thought it was a witch or a ghost."

"B-but I thought you would...be super angry a-and would scold m-me..."

Mom cupped my face, making sure that my eyes were on her. "Is this about liking that person back? What did you say his name was?"

I slowly dropped my gaze back down. "Soobin...yeah."

"Soobin. What a nice name. Must be a nice guy if he managed to win my lovely son's heart."

Honestly, I don't even know why, but her words only made me more annoyed than happy as they should've. And that's when I snapped,"I just came out to you, mom! I-I am omnisexual! I like girls a-and guys and non-binaries, everyone! You should be scolding me! You should throw me out of the house or some shit, but y-you..." Maybe I had crossed my boundaries with those words. It was only after I had ended it that I realised how hurtful I may have sounded. It could be because my mom's reaction was poles apart from my expectations. I may have had misjudged her and maybe that is why I was mad.

But the stillness of the room was almost too unbearable. Even the distant barking of a dog could be heard very clearly in the room and it was making uncomfortable. I fidgeted in my place, curling into myself, praying for the gods to make me disappear.

Good job, Taehyun.

"Taehyun-ah... I am not mad. Infact... I am glad, glad that you finally found your true self and are ready to embrace it. Trust me, you are the most perfect son a mother could ever ask for. A kind-hearted, handsome and brilliant young boy you are, why would I throw such a diamond on the streets? Don't we usually treasure them and keep them safe? Liking someone isn't wrong. Seriously, Taehyun-ah, do you think I am a b-b- what is it called?"

"A boomer?" I suggested. Mom nodded and made a mocked hurt expression, keeping a hand over her heart. "Do you think I am a boomer? I am not even old!"

"You are 42 mom."

"Still! Okay forget it, we are not talking about me, we are talking about you."

Yet I couldn't find my smile. "What about dad? Would he be like you?"

Mom paused at that, uncertainty making its way to her expressions. Mom may be open-minded but dad wasn't. He was this strict who abided by the traditions and was the one I feared the most. "He might...take some time, but he will surely come around it so don't worry at all. He is strict, I agree, but he loves you equally."

I never would've imagined I was living with such a mother by my side. I don't deserve her. The world doesn't deserve her. She's so good. Thinking about this alone made my heart swell with pride and admiration for her. "Thank you, mom."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh come on, let's go back to your problem. Can I help you with anything on this?" I nodded slowly, still somewhat unsure of my actions. I told her everything, from the start to the very end-- from mine and Soobin's late night chats to his comforting words when Kai was still in hospital; from my discovery to the call of that morning.

She thoughtfully gazed around the living room, tapping at her chin as her eyes, no different than mine, skimmed through each and every showpiece that decorated the walls to the coffee table placed right beside the couch.

Then her eyes rested on something before she reached for it. It was an intricately designed music box with carved flowers on it. I could still reminisce its tune from my childhood days.

"You see this? It doesn't work as it used to before but it has some memories attached to it."

"Like?"

"Like, your dad wasn't always this strict family mam. He used to be a sweet guy back then. I remember him leaving notes on my bicycle without any names; like a secret admirer. I always was curious about this admirer and had my suspicions until one day your dad finally summed up the courage and came face to face to give me something."

She lifted the box and I spotted something on it. My dad's initials were haphazardly carved along mom's. It looked adorable. "Just like you, I didn't have any idea of what love was. Your dad helped me. Whenever he was around, I was the happiest. He always managed to find the good side of my mistakes and gave me advice on things I couldn't understand. And one day I just knew, this was love."

Mom's eyes were sparkling with such fondness that they made me smile. "I hope you got your answer."

"I did."

Are you online?

☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆*ﾟ ゜ﾟ*☆