KPOV

Kyuhyun looked down and saw Ryeowook looking at him with wide eyes.

  He quickly kissed the other, “they’re going to love you and I’m right here beside you.”

  Ryeowook smiled tentatively and took a deep breath. Kyuhyun grabbed his hand and both of them stood up as they heard the door knock and Kyuhyun smiled as his parents walked in.

  “Omma, Appa! Glad you finally made it! I was starting to think that you had gone to the wrong restaurant” he teased.

  Ryeowook shot him a look, while both his parents laughed.  

  “We’re so sorry that we’re late! Traffic was absolutely atrocious.”

  His father simply nodded at his wife’s statement. Looking rather fried from tackling the traffic for an hour.

  Ryeowook simply waved his hands in front of him, trying to assure them that they had arrived not long ago themselves.

  “Mom, dad, this is Ryeowook, my boyfriend” he said, quickly introducing him to his parents.

Ryeowook was about to bow again, but his mother was having none of that and quickly grabbed Ryeowook into a tight hug.

 “It’s so good to finally meet you dear! Kyuhyun hasn’t stopped talking about you since the two of you met!”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. They hadn’t even met for five minutes and his mother was already embarrassing him.

  Ryeowook smiled gently at her, “it’s a pleasure to meet you both, I feel so happy that you two were willing to meet us here for dinner.”

  His mother immediately cooed at him, “Oh My god Kyuhyun! He is absolutely precious! You should have introduced us earlier! And look how beautiful he is! He’s absolutely stunning.”

  Ryeowook was turning beet red at this point and Kyuhyun mentally face-palmed.

Thankfully his father seemed to understand the situation and gently pulled his wife off Ryeowook and gave him a light pat on the back, “It’s nice to meet you too Ryeowook.”

   Ryeowook smiled and brought the flowers he had set down on the table and held them out, “Mrs. Cho, these are for you” he said holding the flowers up to her.

  “These are gorgeous dear! But you must call me mom, I insist.” She said smiling warmly at him.

  Ryeowook blushed and nodded his head.

  He quickly brought the box and offered it to Mr. Cho, “This is for both of you…Kyuhyun told me that neither of you were very fond of overly sweet things, so I thought that if I made a fruit tart that might match your taste.”

  “I wanted to keep it and buy you guys a dessert on the way here, but Ryeong insisted that it was especially for you two” Kyuhyun pouted.

  Kyuhyun’s parents rolled their eyes at their son, which had Ryeowook giggling.

  As soon as his parents opened the box, they were flabbergasted. He smiled; he of course had the same reaction when he first saw the tart, but it was fun to watch Ryeowook who had his eyes glued on his parents.

  “This is incredible! I’m not sure how we can eat something so exquisite looking”, his dad said.

  “We’ll have to take photos!” his mother said, gushing over how delicious it looked.  

RPOV

    He smiled, he was so relieved that Kyuhyun’s parents liked the gifts. Both Kyuhyun’s parents emanated warmth and friendliness and he felt at ease with them already.

  “I already snuck some photos of the tart when Ryeong was taking a shower, so ill text them to you,” Kyuhyun answered casually.

  Ryeowook laughed at this, after-all, Kyuhyun had given Sungmin such a hard time about taking so many photos the last time they had all met up.

  Mrs. Cho smiled and patted her son’s arm, “alright, then text them to me as soon as you get home.”

  Ryeowook looked at Kyuhyun who was smiling at him, “I thought Min was the only one who took photos of food” he said teasingly.

  Mrs. Cho and Mr. Cho both looked at Ryeowook in surprise, “do you know Changmin dear?” Mrs. Cho asked.

  “No, he’s talking about Sungmin-the owner of Oishi, I think I’ve taken you guys there before”, Kyuhyun said.

  Mr. Cho nodded, “yes, he makes delicious food, we’ve gone there several times after you took us there,” he admitted.

  “We thought you meant Changmin, he’s one of Kyuhyun’s best friends, he’s a big foodie like Kyuhyun, so we wouldn’t put it past him to take photos” Mrs. Cho said, smiling.

  He nodded his head in understanding. Ryeowook had heard many stories about Changmin. He knew the two of them had met in university, so they had been friends for a long time.

  “I still haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him yet. Kyuhyun tells me that he’s currently traveling, so we haven’t had any time to get together” he said.   

  “Ah that’s true, Changmin does travel a lot. I wish he’d settle down, it gets so lonely when you travel by yourself” Mrs. Cho said wistfully.

  “He’s dating someone right now, so maybe he will settle down eventually,” Kyuhyun said trying to reassure his mother.

  Before Mrs. Cho could grill Kyuhyun on who the lucky girl could be, Mr. Cho interjected, “I think we should sit and look at the menu before the waiter comes back”

  Kyuhyun look relieved as they all took their seats.

 “So have you been here before Ryeowook?” Mr. Cho asked.

  Funny enough, it wasn’t Ryeowook that tensed at the question, it was Kyuhyun.

  “I have actually, but it’s been a long time since I’ve come here, so I’m not sure what to get, to be honest” Ryeowook answered, while looking at his menu.

  “We’ve been here a couple of times, but we always get something different” Mrs. Cho said.

  “Do you recommend anything in particular?” Ryeowook asked, sneaking his hand under the table to squeeze Kyuhyun’s hand briefly.

Kyuhyun looked over at him and he gave a small smile, which seemed to reassure the other that he was doing perfectly fine.

  “Let’s see…the last time we came, I got the butternut squash ravioli, it was perfect” she said happily.

  “Honey, what did you order last time we came here?” she said looking over at her husband who was absorbed in his menu.

  “It was probably something with meat” Kyuhyun said cheekily.

  “Hey! I don’t always order meat when we go out” Mr. Cho weakly protested.

  “Are you telling me you got a vegetarian dish when you came here with mom?” Kyuhyun asked.

  “I don’t remember what I got the last time we came,” he claimed.

  “Ah! I remember! He got the beef braciole!” Mrs. Cho said.

  Kyuhyun and Ryeowook laughed, while Mr. Cho turned slightly pink, shooting his wife a glare for exposing him.  

 “Last time I checked, beef was not a vegetable,” Kyuhyun said teasingly.

  “He isn’t going to let me live this down” Mr. Cho complained to his wife.

  Ryeowook laughed, “Kyuhyun had a meat lover’s pizza last night, so I don’t think he can hold this against you.”

 Mr. Cho was now the one laughing at his son, “Ryeowook, you’re a Godsend.”

It was Kyuhyun’s turn to shoot a glare, but Ryeowook just laughed along with Kyuhyun’s parents.

  “Kyuhyun takes after his father when it comes to food, they both love to eat,” Mrs. Cho said warmly.

   Kyuhyun snorted, “I don’t eat nearly as much as dad does! My stomach is proof!” he said waving his hands towards his flat stomach.

  Mr. Cho just sighed, “Just wait till your metabolism slows down and you get to my age, having to deal with your overbearing 28-year-old...”

KPOV

  Ryeowook laughed much to Kyuhyun’s chagrin.

  But he couldn’t help but smile, so far it seemed like the meeting was going perfectly. His parents already seemed captivated by Ryeowook- I mean who wouldn’t be.

  “Oh… I can’t decide whether I want the mushroom risotto or the gnocchi” his mother said with a pout.

  Ryeowook smiled at her, “I also thought the gnocchi looked good. If you like I can order the gnocchi and you can take some of mine, that way you can still have the mushroom risotto.”

  It was official…his boyfriend was officially the sweetest person in the world. His mother looked absolutely touched at this. Her husband and son were not the most sharing when it came to their food, so the offer to share food was almost unheard of.

  “Are you sure, dear?” his mom asked, clearly not used to the sharing food premise.

  “Of course, unless you don’t want to” Ryeowook said, clearly anxious that his suggestion had maybe weirded out his mother.

  He was about to assure Ryeowook, when his mother beat him to the punch.

  “No, I would absolutely love it if we could share with one another. I’m so used to my husband and Kyuhyun hoarding their food, that you caught me a little off guard, but I’m so happy to have a food sharer in the family!”

  Ryeowook clearly look relieved and laughed at her statement.

  Soon a knock was heard and a waiter entered, with two bowls of complementary garlic bread and their drink orders that had been requested earlier. After everyone had finished ordering their dishes, it seemed Kyuhyun’s parents were now eager to find out more about Ryeowook. Kyuhyun had never introduced his parents to anyone he had dated in the past, so the fact that his parents were meeting Ryeowook, clearly meant something and his parents understood that.

   “So Ryeowook, Kyuhyun tells us you’re the executive chef at Joie! That’s quite the establishment, how long have you worked there?” his dad asked.

  “I’ve worked there for a little over 3 years” Ryeowook said, grabbing one of the bread baskets that was placed near him to give to Kyuhyun.

  He smiled, Ryeowook must have noticed that he had been eyeing the bread as soon as it came in. It was almost scary how well the other understood his desires.

  “I’ve heard Joie has some of the best French cuisine outside of France!”, his mom gushed.

  “Mom, you have no idea…his food is the type of food that people write legends about” Kyuhyun said while helping himself to the warm bread.

  “We’ll have to make a reservation one of these days, I’m dying to go now!”

  He saw a faint blush making its way across Ryeowook’s face from all the praise and chuckled silently. How the other could feel shy at all the praise he was getting was beyond him. Each compliment the other received was more than deserved.

RPOV

  “No need to make a reservation Mrs. C-mom” he quickly corrected himself when he saw Mrs. Cho frown slightly, who then smiled at his correction.

  “Just let me know when you’d like to come and there will always be a table open for and Mr. Cho” he continued.

  Mr. Cho looked at him in surprise, “Isn’t Joie always booked solid though? It’s always been booked solid when we try to make a reservation.”

  Oh god…. if he told them that Joie never got over booked and that some of the tables were specifically open for his guests, would Kyuhyun’s parents think him a snob? It was different when he told Kyuhyun…but he didn’t want his boyfriend’s parent’s thinking he was some sort of elitist.

  Kyuhyun must have sensed his hesitancy because the other answered on his behalf.

  “Part of how they keep Ryeong at Joie is setting aside a couple of tables, so he can always have friends or family stop by for a meal. Isn’t that nice dad?” and while Kyuhyun’s words and tone were innocent enough, there was something in the way the sentences were presented that had this-refute me if you dare vibe.

  Mrs. Cho seemed to pick up on this right away and quickly cut in before her husband could say anything that could set Kyuhyun off. “Well I think it’s wonderful that he always has room for his friends or family”, she said kindly.

  This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. He absolutely hated the idea of putting any kind of strain or awkwardness between Kyuhyun and his parents.

  And he didn’t want to put Mrs. Cho in any sort of awkward position either, so he decided he needed to clarify why exactly he had set aside a few tables, “as a chef, schedules can be somewhat unaccommodating, so I often feel bad that I can’t see my friends or parents when they’re free. So having a few tables open is the best way I can express how grateful I am that they’re apart of my life, even if I can’t see them or go out with them as often as I would like to.”

  He saw that Mr. Cho was nodding his head in understanding and he already felt ten times better that he was able to communicate this aspect to the Cho’s.

  “I told you he’s better person than me” Kyuhyun said with a smile on his face.

  “Can’t say that I disagree with you there” Mr. Cho said jokingly.

  “Honey, you have to treat Ryeowook well, he is such a sweet boy!”

  “Mom, you know he’s older than me right?”

Ryeowook playfully smacked Kyuhyun on the shoulder, “Only by a year!” he said laughing.

  “You know, I was afraid for whoever ended up with Kyuhyun because he’s such a workaholic, but I think I’ve worried for nothing, clearly Ryeowook has the busier schedule” Mrs. Cho said laughing.

  Ryeowook looked at Kyuhyun and both seemed to be on the same wavelength.

 “you’re right, we both have very busy schedules, so much so, that even though we meet several times a week, it isn’t nearly enough for me, so we decided to move in with each other”, Kyuhyun said seriously.

  Ryeowook held his breath while Kyuhyun spoke, hoping that they didn’t just bring the atmosphere back to awkward land again.

  To his surprise both Mr. and Mrs. Cho seemed completely unfazed by this admission.

  “Well considering both your schedules, this actually makes quite a lot of sense to me honey” Mrs. Cho said.

  “So, who’s moving where?” Mr. Cho asked curiously.

  “we decided to switch between our places every two weeks. But we’re starting in mine” Kyuhyun said.

  “Ryeong’s apartment is beautiful, so I have to admit, I’m looking forward to spending time there” his boyfriend added.

  He smiled at this. He was happy that Kyuhyun liked his loft. After-all, he renovated his loft for over a year, so if he were to instantly move out now, it would seem like a total waste.

  “do you live near Kyuhyun, dear?” Mrs. Cho asked.

  “My loft is in Samseong-dong, so not too far away” he answered.

KPOV

  He could tell from his parent’s expressions that they were happy that Ryeowook lived in the same district as himself. And though they didn’t say anything, they were clearly impressed that Ryeowook lived in such an affluent neighborhood.

  Another knock on the door interrupted their conversation and in came several waiters carrying their food. Ryeowook had brilliantly requested the gnocchi and the mushroom risotto to be split into two portions, that way they didn’t have to deal with messy food transfers.

   “Oh my goodness, I’m so happy you got the gnocchi Ryeowook! It’s absolutely delicious” his mother said while spearing another poor gnocchi.

  “The risotto is wonderful too, thank you for splitting the dishes with me” his boyfriend said happily.

  “Are you a vegetarian Ryeowook?” his father asked skeptically.

He mentally groaned, it was like his father was purposely trying to set him off. His father’s affinity for meat was quite known, so having a potential vegetarian son in law probably scared the pants off him.

   Ryeowook had been gracious enough to order the gnocchi because his mother was torn, but he knew that his boyfriend had been eying the seafood- pasta section of the menu, but immediately switched when his mother couldn’t decide. And now his father had the nerve to ask if he was vegetarian?! Kyuhyun wanted nothing more than to stuff a cucumber in his father’s mouth.

  But Ryeowook smiled and laughed softly, “No, I don’t think Id make it as a vegetarian. I love fried chicken too much to give it up” he said jokingly and then added, “but I haven’t had gnocchi in such a long time and this seemed like a good opportunity to have it again.”

  His father clearly liked the fried chicken reference and started to laugh. He could only marvel at his boyfriend’s ability turn these sorts of situations into something light.

  Thankfully his father seemed rather absorbed in his beef tagliata (essentially a sliced steak) and refrained from asking his boyfriend anymore questions.

  He had gotten the lobster ravioli, which seemed to have caught his lover’s eye because he had caught Ryeowook eyeing his plate twice. Kyuhyun found this quite adorable, so he subtly moved a few raviolis’ onto Ryeowook’s side plate. The smaller beamed at him and it took everything he had not kiss him senseless right there.

   When they had finished eating, they were all beyond stuffed, so when the waiter came back to see if any of them were interested in dessert, they all looked at one another seemingly in agreement that if they had anything more to eat, their stomach’s would explode.

   “I regret not leaving room for dessert. We could have asked for some plates and a pie knife and had a piece of that gorgeous tart that Ryeowook made” his mom said sounding regretful.  

   “Don’t worry, the tart should stay fresh for a few days if you keep it in the fridge” Ryeowook said.

   “If anyone’s regretful it should be me! You two at least get to eat it in the coming days, I don’t get to taste it at all!” he said with a pout.

   “Actually, ill probably eat a piece later tonight, but I need time to digest my meal right now” his dad said.

  “was that supposed to comfort me?” he asked laughing.

Ryeowook smiled, clearly amused at the conversation.

  “You shouldn’t eat late at night!” his mom scolded his father.

  “I bet you’ll have a piece with me later tonight” his dad said cheekily.

  “No one wants to hear that dad” he complained.

Ryeowook laughed and pat his arm.

  He realized that now would be a good time to go pay the bill and he knew that if his dad had any say, he would try to pay for it, so he quickly excused himself to use the “bathroom”. He took a glance at his lover, who he saw had flash of uncertainty in his eyes and he immediately felt guilty. He just prayed that his parents wouldn’t say anything to offend Ryeowook while he was gone.

RPOV

  When Kyuhyun excused himself to the bathroom, he immediately felt uneasy, so far the evening had gone great. They had told Kyuhyun’s parent’s that they were moving in with one another and everything had gone as smooth as he could have hoped it would go-but that was with Kyuhyun. His boyfriend had kept his word, he had steered conversations when they got a bit uncomfortable for him and had reassured him numerous times with covert hand and knee touches, but now he had to face Kyuhyun’s parents on his own and he wasn’t so sure he was prepared for that. But now he didn’t have much of a choice.

   “Well, now that Kyuhyun’s gone, I can finally ask you something I’ve been dying to know!” Mrs. Cho said excitedly.

  Dear God help him now, thought Ryeowook.

  There was a pause, it seemed like Mrs. Cho was thinking best how to phrase what she wanted to know.

  “Well… we’ve never met anyone that Kyuhyun has ever dated, so we know that you’re quite special to him. In fact, I’ve never seen him happier and I suppose I just wanted to know if you feel the same way about him” Mrs. Cho said seriously.

  Ryeowook saw that Mr. Cho nodded his head at his wife’s question, clearly relieved that his wife had taken over the questioning position.

  And while he found some things difficult to explain, reasons for loving Kyuhyun was not one of them.

  “To be honest with you, ten years ago, I never could have imagined that I would find my happiness in someone. I really thought that being a chef and making food was my path to happiness. And while I love cooking for people, after meeting Kyuhyun, I realize what a narrow view I had. Loving Kyuhyun is one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. I love to cook, but Kyuhyun has become the brightest part of my day, he makes me smile whether it be on the phone or in person. I can’t picture my future without him...” he was starting to get a little choked up at this point, but he managed to continue, “I really love him with all my heart.”

  By the time Ryeowook was finished Mrs. Cho had sparkly eyes and Mr. Cho looked slightly choked up as well.

“Well, before my make-up starts to smudge, I think we should look at some baby photos of Kyuhyun!” Mrs. Cho said cheerfully.

  Ryeowook smiled, he had been waiting for this.

KPOV

   He came back from paying, with a bag in his hand and hoped that Ryeowook wasn’t being grilled by his parents.

  What he found disturbed him more. His mother had taken his seat and was showing Ryeowook baby photos of him on her phone, while his father was giving the background story of each photo.

  He groaned, “I wasn’t gone long enough for you to start the baby photo humiliation!”

  Ryeowook laughed, “but you were so adorable when you were a baby!”

  “Hey! I’m still adorable” he defended.

  His mother got up from her seat and pinched his cheek, “of course you are honey.”

  His father laughed along with Ryeowook and he could feel a headache coming on.  

  “But why were you gone so long?” his father asked.

  “I ended up getting dessert for Ryeowook and I since you two already have the mother of all desserts. I figured it was only fair that we should have dessert for later too” he paused before adding, “That and I paid the bill,” he explained.  

  His father grumbled at having a sneaky son while his mother thanked him for such a wonderful dinner.

  They finally headed out of restaurant, his mom carrying her flowers, while his dad carried the tart. It was already ten pm, so they agreed, it was time to call it a night.

“It was so nice meeting you dear! Thank you again for the flowers and the dessert” his mom said, pulling Ryeowook in for a hug.

 He didn’t get a chance to hear what Ryeowook said because his father walked over to him and gave him a quick hug. “He seems like an exceptional person-maybe even too good for you. But you two make a very good match, I’m really happy for you.”

  He smiled, “thanks dad, that means a lot to me.”

His father then made his way over Ryeowook to say his goodbye’s. His mother finished squeezing the life out of Ryeowook and quickly made her way over to him. She pulled him down and quickly whispered some parting words that made him smile, “don’t screw this up honey, he’s a keeper.”

  “Wasn’t planning on letting him go omma” he whispered back.

His mother then proceeded to drag her husband away, who was animatedly talking to Ryeowook about his work in the education business.

  “Come dear, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun have an early day tomorrow, we better let them go” his mother said.

  His father sighed in defeat, but looked at Ryeowook and smiled, “well, it was a pleasure to meet you Ryeowook! We look forward to meeting with you and Kyuhyun again.”

  Ryeowook nodded his head and promised they would make plans to meet again soon and his father nodded in satisfaction before giving him a pat on the back.

RPOV

  Kyuhyun took his hand and they walked to their cars.

  “They totally adore you” Kyuhyun said as they approached Ryeowook’s car.

  “I really enjoyed talking with your parents, they’re really kind people.”

  “Well, I’m glad they didn’t scare you off” his boyfriend joked.

  He pulled his tall lover down for a kiss, “I’m not scared off so easily” he whispered.

  “I’m glad to hear that because I’m not letting you walk away” the other said while kissing him again.

*author’s note: Oh my god… I want to apologize for making you guys wait so long for this update… but I hope you liked both Chapters 6 & 7 … Ryeowook finally met Kyuhyun’s parents! I think I only have one more chapter left…but I don’t even know at this point… so I guess Ill have to wait and see what comes out...please bear with me a little longer…*