VAGARY.
a whimsical desire

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

"MIRI!"

THE FAMILIAR VOICE rung through the said girl's eardrums, snapping her out of her daze almost immediately. She widened her eyes in disbelief as she was being pulled into a warm hug.

"M-Mom?" Miri mumbled softy, too surprised to even speak coherently. Her mother tightly wrapped her arms around Miri's waist, burying her face on the crook of her daughter's neck.

Miri flicked her eyes ceaselessly, processing what was happening. "I-Is this real?" she stuttered nervously, having a hard time believing if this was truly her mother, and not just her hallucinations.

"Baby, I really am here," Mrs. Oh spoke delicately, rubbing circles around her daughter's back. Miri's eyes were getting glossy as she was being hit by reality.

"I missed you, mom, so much," Miri whispered, all her love and affection laced in her tone. Her mother pulled away to face her but Miri latched on, like a baby koala refusing to let go.

"I missed you too, Miri," Mrs. Oh spoke sincerely with a fond smile on her lips. Miri held her mother's hand tenderly, missing her touch the most.

Miri faced her mother with the same genuine smile. But as she looked over her, another surprise had been waiting. She pulled away and smiled softly.

"Mrs. Park!" Miri greeted happily, walking towards the woman. "Good afternoon," she spoke as she bowed to her in respect.

Mrs. Park greeted her with a wide smile as the two women slowly walked into the house.

"Ah, I miss this place!" Mrs. Oh exclaimed to Mrs. Park. "This is giving me some serious nostalgia, Eunrae-ah."

The boys were seated around the marble kitchen island. They ate in silence as they patiently waited for Miri to arrive together with the pizza. But the girl seemed to be taking longer than what they had expected.

A few moments later they heard an unusual noise—the sound of heels clicking and rolling luggages. And as time flew by it only grew louder and louder.

"Is that Miri?" Mark furrowed his brows at the peculiar sound.

"But Miri is wearing slippers," Renjun protested. "Why would her footsteps sound like six-inch pumps?"

Then the boys started hearing voices—voices they had never heard before. As the voices grew louder they could hardly make out what they were saying.

"Oh come on, Soyeon. You've been here a zillion time already. How do you manage to be surprised all the time?"

"Are you that blind to notice how pretty your house is? This place never fails to mesmerize me. I mean, look at the simple color palette! The whites, nudes, browns, grays—and talk about the detail! So intricate and elegant. I would literalLY DIE TO HAVE THIS PLACE-"

The women stopped in their tracks as they reached the kitchen.

Seven puzzled boys stared back at the women with furrowed brows. They eyed the unfamiliar ladies from top to bottom, from their slick permed locks to their tall elegant stilettos. The women managed to pull off a sheepish smile despite feeling a tad bit uncomfortable under the boys' gaze.

They snapped out of their senses when the boys heard a thump from behind.

"MOM!"

Jisung ran eagerly towards one of the women and hugged her tightly. "I didn't know you were coming today..." the boy murmured softly, his head on top of Mrs. Park's head.

The woman hugged her son tightly, her head resting on Jisung's shoulder. "I, too, am shocked. The flight went earlier than we expected," she giggled heartily. "But aren't you happy to see me again?"

Jisung pulled away and held his mother's shoulders. "Happy? I'm overjoyed, mom, to see you again."

The boy smiled as he gave Mrs. Park one last hug, cherishing her warm, motherly embrace.

Jisung pulled away and noticed an uncertain look drawn on her mother's features. "Mom? Is anything wrong?"

He looked behind to where his mother was staring and bit his lip unconsciously. "Oh, Jisung? You have friends over?"

"—Or are you guys doing a group project?" Mrs. Park turned to her son who had an awkward smile. "Oh! Silly me, it's summer.."

The woman slowly walked to the kitchen island, her heels clicking like how every second ticked, and saying the boys were scared was an understatement.

Hell, they were terrified. Not because of this woman who's slowly making her way to them, but because of this woman who's slowly making—shit, she's right already here.

Donghyuck was practically trembling, and Mark instinctively held his hand tenderly to comfort him. His breaths were getting shorter which worried Mark, but he tried to calm the latter down with his thumb that's circling the palm of Donghyuck's hand.

Jaemin gulped when she was so close to them, giving them a look that he can't seem to decipher.

But for sure, there was a tinge of anger in her features.

"What are you boys doing here—"

"Mom!"

Mrs. Park was cut short when her son tugged her hand, holding it tightly and shaking it a bit. She looked at Jisung who had a sheepish—and almost frightened—smile playing on his licks.

"Mom, we have to talk."

╚═ °• ♔ •° ═╗

"Dear, what's wrong?", Mrs. Park asked her son as she dipped her body into the soft sofa, looking up to her son who was frantically pacing around the room. "Did we run out of fabric softener or..."

        Jisung turned to her with her brows furrowed. "What—no!?" he raised his voice a bit out of shock and went back to groaning silently in frustration, wondering how the hell he's supposed to explain the situation to his mother.

        "I—just, isn't this the time to ask why six unfamiliar boys are eating brunch around the table so casually like that?" Jisung blurted out as he stopped fidgeting for a bit to face her mother.

        She had a blank expression on her face. "Oh, right, I was just about to
ask—"

        Jisung quickly knelt in front of Mrs. Park and clasped his hands together, in a prayer-like position.

        "Mom, let me explain," he begged to the woman that was even more confused. "I—I'm sorry."

        Mrs. Park looked at her son with furrowed brows, a puzzled expression drawn all over her features. "Sorry for wha-"

         "beCAUSE-"

        "JISUNG!" the woman raised her voice and looked sternly into the boy's eyes. "I am talking, young man."

        The said boy smiled awkwardly, mumbling a soft sorry. "Okay, now what is it now?" Mrs. Park softly spoke with a smile on her lips.

         Jisung heaved a heavy sigh as he stood up and started pacing around the room again. "Well..."

         "Remember the storm?" duh, Mrs. Park whispered to herself but did not dare to speak a word. She simple nodded in acknowledgement.

        "Well, one day I received knocks on the door. Heck yeah I was scared, because the person on the other end could potentially murder me and no one would ever know. But I had the guts to open the door," Jisung paused momentarily. "And oh boy, did I not expect such a thing."

        "Four boys, shivering in the cold storm, on the verge of tears, standing on the front porch," Jisung said to his mother slowly, as if letting her gradually process the situation. "That was what I saw."

         He stepped closer, looking at Mrs. Park with the cutest of puppy eyes. "And being the sympathetic boy I am, I let them in."

        Mrs. Park had a smug look. Jisung was alarmed and worried at first, but then she spoke, "Geez, Jisung, you don't have to flash me your oh-so-cute puppy eyes right now," the woman scoffed but then burst into a pit of laughter.

        Jisung frowned. "But is it okay? I mean, okay for you?" he asked in a serious tone, and he was afraid of the answer he was going to receive.

        "Okay?" the women spoke.

        "That's damn great!"

        Mrs. Park suddenly stood up to hug her son, who was too surprised to even move an inch. "Gosh, I'm so proud of my son!" she yelped while she hugged Jisung tightly.

        "Oh, by the way," she whispered, pulling away to look at the boy. "If you said four boys, what about the other two?"

        Jisung was confused at first but then he replied, "Oh, the same gist happened a few days later but it was only two boys. Again, I let them in because I didn't want to see their corpses floating around somewhere one day."

        Mrs. Park giggled softly. "But I'm really proud that you did such a thing, dear. I never knew you'd be capable of doing this," she said sincerely with a big smile on her face.

        Jisung returned the smile, genuinely happy that everything was turninv out okay. He held out his arm and looked at his mother with a charming smile.

        "Now, shall we have brunch, m'lady?"

.❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。

❀ | a/n !
— school sucks because the whole week last week we didnt have classes because of sea games (im from the philippines), but were given A SHIT TON OF HOMEWORK. LIKE WHAT THE FUCK.
— also to relieve my stress i want to recommend a filipino song its called "sayo" by munimuni. PLEASE LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE I JUST—LOOK FOR ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS AND YOU MIGHT CRY UGH
— HYUCKHAN !