Chapter 37 - Mommy Dearest

All I could hear was the murmur of voices from my spot on Taehyung’s old bed.

I knew there was no escape, so I’d just put all my clothes back on, pulled my hair back in the most demure ponytail I could manage, and set out to wait. For what? I had no clue. It didn’t even matter that they were talking in Korean because the voices where too far to hear anyways, but I could smell the scent of breakfast being cooked, and that unfortunately reminded my stomach that it hadn’t eaten since the previous afternoon.

I think half-an-hour had passed before I heard Tae shout. And then it got real quiet. I didn’t know if him yelling at his mom was a common occurrence or not, but somehow I didn’t think so.

I waited, biting my nails. Five minutes, ten minutes…

And then suddenly I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and I sprung up the bed, panicking. By the time I realized that it was only one set of feet, running up much too fast for a 40-something lady, Taehyung had already opened the door and was standing there staring at me from the other side.

We just stared at each other for a full minute without moving.

‘now what?’ my eyes were asking.

‘I don’t know’ his were replying, ‘you’re still here.’

Maybe I should have tried to climb down the window after all.

The moment passed and he shook his head, as if it would clear his thoughts that way, and walked over to me and took my hand, gently. I looked up at him and he forced a smile before turning around and pulling me along.

“Wait!” I jerked at the sudden movement and he stopped, turning back at me; giving me a much more genuine smile and saying simply, “She wants to meet you.” before turning back and continuing what he’d started.

“Meet me?!” I repeated, “but, but… Tae!!” I tried making him stop, “it’s your MOM!”

“I KNOW!” he repeated, making a dumb face at me and using the same tone of emphasis that I had just used, which made me roll my eyes at him.

“Look,” he said, finally stopping and turning around to face me, placing both palms on my cheeks to make sure my eyes were focused on his, “We was caught. This is a little more early than I plan but… it’s ok.” He finished with the softest smile, pulling me towards him, and I just let myself meld into him. he hugged me for a moment, sensing that I needed to calm down, and then tilted my chin up with a finger so that I was looking into his eyes. “My mom wants to meet you, because I want you to meet my mom.” He said, looking straight into my eyes, “You get me?”

I could only nod. The implications of the enormity of the situation not being lost on me. I had lived in Japan long enough to know that, in most Asian cultures, one did not introduce their significant other to their parents unless it was incredibly serious. Usually, marriage-serious…. It wasn’t like back home where my mom had met every single one of my boyfriends since high school and it meant nothing… Even my last serious boyfriend in Japan, whom I had dated over 2 years, had refused categorically to introduce me to his folks on several occasions. So I was pretty much ting myself as Taehyung brought me into the living room, immediately dropping his hand the moment the pretty middle-aged lady sitting on the couch came into view, plastering a smile on my face and started bowing as she got up and gestured for us to sit down in the loveseat across from hers.

A huge ball dropped in my throat when I heard him refer to her as “Eomma,” followed by my name and a string of Korean words that were slowly becoming familiar. She smiled and extended her hand to me while parroted “Annyeong hasaeyo,” bowing deeply, and side-whispering to Tae “She knows I can’t speak Korean, right?”

“It’s ok. I speak a little English.” she answered in excellent English, surprising me; And apparently Taehyung too, who look as flabbergasted as I’d ever seen him.

She chuckled, her eyes crinkling in a similar way her son’s often did when he smiled, and demurely covered , before explaining that she had spent a year studying abroad when she was young.

“Why you never say?!” exclaimed Tae, obviously frustrated, but completely distracted from the stress of having to introduce his girlfriend to his mom for a few moments, while she laughed at him, explaining in English, for my benefit.

I think we talked for a good 45 minutes, and I won’t lie, it was a little awkward. She served us tea and little cakes – that smelled delicious, but that I barely touched cuz I was so nervous – and I steeled myself for the horrible judgey Korean mother-in-law from the stories that I’d heard about, but she never appeared. Mostly she was nice, very polite and seemed happy that I was making her son so happy. She was curious about me and why I lived in Japan, and she asked how soon I was planning to start taking Korean lessons. I was a little taken aback by that question, and it must have shown on my face because she went on,

“Well yes, if you are planning to be in my son’s life for a long time, you must learn.”

It was like she was smacking me right back for my accusations to Tae of not thinking about our future. Tae saved me by interrupting that I should ask Mr. Baek about lessons.

“Mr. Baek?” repeated Mrs. Kim, and Tae launched into a long explanation about how he had promised to give me a job and I was meeting him tomorrow… this was all in fast-paced Korean, and gave me time to reflect that mama Kim had indeed scored a point: if I wanted to stay in her son’s life, I was gonna have to start learning Korean. And fast.

But overall, it was ok. After about an hour, she left, saying she had an appointment and we were left alone in the house at last. We both accompanied her to the door, exchanging fake smiles and pleasantries; waving and smiling until it hurt as she got into her car, and finally heading back inside as the gate closed behind her.

“Yaaaaaaah!!!!” I screamed, once we’d made sure her car was completely out of sight. “Why would you do that?!?!” I wailed.

He seemed genuinely surprised, “What?” his round clueless eyes were staring at me like a confused pup, “She said she wanted to meet you, so…”

“Wait, wait, wait…. you told your mom about me?!?!” I stopped dead.

“Yes?” he answered, uncertainly.

“No, like, I mean, before today. You told her you had a girlfriend.” I repeated, enunciating clearly.

“Yes.” He shrugged, not getting what the big deal was.

I brought my hand to my forehead and shook my head.

“What…” he smiled, teasingly, wrapping his arms loosely around me and shaking me soflty left and right, “It went well.”

“Tae, I could’ve used a warning!!” I sulked, and it just seemed to amuse him more. “It freaked me out…” I finished, pouting.

He smiled wider at my sulky face and placed a pec on my lips, but didn’t say anything other than that little “Tee-hee” laughing sound he sometimes did when he was pleased with himself.

I stormed back into the living room, attacking the plate of little cakes and stuffing an entire one in my mouth, just so he wouldn’t get the benefit of a victory kiss. But he just laughed at me, saying “I thought you weren’t hungry?” between chuckles.

“Aaahhh uuuuoooo kidddeeeeehhhh??” I asked with my mouth full, which made him laugh even louder, as he threw himself down on the couch next to me, “I thought I was gonna die!” I exclaimed after finally swallowing, and that sparked another fit of laughter from Mr. Kim Taehyung. I wanted to be irritated, but I was too distracted by the food. “Man, that sh*t is good.” I said, staring at the last bit of it in my hand, before popping it in my mouth, chewing very ungracefully while he smirked at me.

“Of course,” he nodded, bringing a finger to the side of his head and crossing his leg over his knee as he watched me, “mamma’s cooking.”

I nodded too, intent on agreeing with him, but then, without warning, he jumped on me, making me fall backwards on the couch and pinning my hands over my head.

I screamed, “Taaaaaeeeee!!!!!” trying to make him understand that having my mouth full was probably not the best time for a makeout session, but he just attacked my mouth anyways, shouting “You ate the last one! Gimme!!” and I just started laughing, but I kinda couldn’t cuz I still had my mouth full, though he still managed to grab a bite, right from my mouth, before I shoved him to the floor, panting and declaring, “Kim Taehyung, you’re gross.” whipping my mouth and staring at him completely disgusted (though not really but I tried to look so). He grinned at me like a naughty child and wasted no time climbing back on the couch and pinning me down again, grinning mischievously as he stared down into my eyes, wriggling his eyebrows.

“Now your mouth is empty.” He declared, and I just had enough time to roll my eyes before he launched his lips at mine, kissing me with a ferocity I would’ve never guessed was there a minute ago, but I responded in kind, because, he did taste delicious.

Unfortunately, our antics lasted about two minutes before we heard a car pull into the driveway and I violently shoved him off, shouting “Your mom is back!!” in a panic.

“It’s not mom,” he said, completely unperturbed, but sounding disappointed, as he peaked through the curtain, “It’s Sejin-hyung.”

“Sejin?” I repeated, surprised.

My baby nodded, “he’s here to pick you up.” He said with a sad puppy face, holding his hand out to me and actually lifting me to my feet, so I could stare into his semi-sad eyes.

I searched them as he explained that he DID come here to spend time with his family, and since I wasn’t ready to meet them, then I had to go back… He also told me that it was the perfect opportunity to go and meet up with this mysterious Mr. Baek, his dad’s friend who would give me a job, and finally I somewhat understood what he had been rambling about to his mom earlier.

“And I’ll come back to Seoul before you leave,” he finished his speech holding my hands in his and staring very intently into my eyes, “I’ll super, super try!”

That made me smile, but instead of sulking, I shrugged, visibly surprising him as he pulled back a little to look at me.

“Your mom was right about one thing.” I said, giving myself a little shake and putting my hands on his shoulders, “I’m coming here.” I stated, looking into his eyes and smiling before continuing on, “Which means, no more goodbyes.”

I didn’t know his grin could get any wider, but it did.

“No more goodbyes.” He repeated, before leaning in for a long kiss. He pulled back just as we heard the honk of the car outside, but we didn’t care as we both stupidly smiled at each other, before finally, slowly pulling away.

“Soon.”

Was the las word he said to me, leaning over to give me a final pec on the nose, and a final pat on the bum, pushing me towards the black car in which his manager was waiting for me to deign make an appearance.

I turned back 3 times on my way to the car, and he was always waving. And even as we exited the gate, I could still see him waving through the rear-view mirror. My baby man-child.

I was moving here for him.

That’s when it really hit me.