"I'm home!"

Hyukjae looked up from where he was kneeling on the floor with Donghae and saw Sora come in. His nervousness heightened as he looked away from her and kept his head down in shame. He tried his best to avoid the confused look his sister gave him as she walked past them to put her stuff away while Hyukjae's mother remained unmoving on her spot in front of them, sitting upright and body language firm. She hasn't stopped staring at either Hyukjae or Donghae ever since they walked inside the house after Hyukjae's extremely shocking announcement. 

"Hyukkie, you're home," Sora called with glee but then noticed the obvious tension in the room which immediately made her weary. She then looked at Donghae who was sitting next to her brother with curious eyes as she slid herself to sit next to their mother. "Who's this?"

Donghae looked at Hyukjae to see if he would answer his sister's question but when Hyukjae didn't raise his head up to acknowledge that he had heard the question, Donghae was quick to take initiative and answered the question himself. Placing both hands on his knees, Donghae bowed his head to greet Sora before introducing himself formally. 

"Hello. My name is Lee Donghae. It's nice to meet you."

"Uh...yeah," Sora awkwardly greeted him back. "N-Nice to meet you too." Sora looked at Hyukjae and found it weird that he was avoiding her gaze then to her mother who hasn't stopped staring at the two of them. No longer able to keep his curiosity at bay, Sora leaned closer to her mother and whispered, "Umma, what's going on? Who's Donghae?"

Without missing a beat, she answered, "He's your future brother-in-law."

"What?!" Sora looked scandalized then immediately looked at Hyukjae who seemed to be trying to enter a shell he doesn't have. 

"Noo-Noona, I-"

Hyukjae's stuttering was cut short by Sora's scolding. 

"Since when have you been dating!?" Hyukjae flinched at her angry tone and felt like crying. He and Sora has always been close, a lot closer than any regular siblings, and was scared that she might end up pushing him away after this. "And you!" She pointed at Donghae who immediately adjusted his body at attention seeing her fierce glare, "What makes you think you're good enough for my baby Hyukkie, huh!?"

Donghae gulped and suddenly felt so small in front of her. Hyukjae was at a complete loss of words as well, unable to completely process exactly what she was upset about. Was she upset that he's marrying a man or that he's marrying Donghae? What does that mean??

"Sora, I think you need to take Donghae outside for a minute while I talk to your brother," their mother said, her tone serious which only made Hyukjae more nervous and very much like a child in trouble. 

Almost immediately, Sora stood up from where she was sitting and almost aggressively grabbed Donghae by the collar to take him with her outside the house into the backyard. Hyukjae sweatdropped and wanted to tell her to take it easy on the latter but felt it might just set her off even more so he decided to willingly sacrifice Donghae for now and apologize later (if Donghae ever returns in one piece that is.) 

Once Sora slid the door shut and they were no longer in sight, Hyukjae's mom adjusted her position into something more comfortable and relaxed. Hyukjae wasn't sure if she's disappointed or just sad because of the news he delivered and his anxiety was killing him. He wondered if this is the part where he should start apologizing and beg her to still treat him as his son. Hyukjae felt tears forming in his eyes at the thought and made a fist with both hands to try and stop his own tears from falling. 

"Hyukjae," she called gently but he kept his head down in shame; unable to look her in the eyes so she called him again. "Hyukjae, look at me, son." 

A small grain of hope grew inside Hyukjae's heart when she still called him son in that same tone she always used on him so, slowly lifting his head to look at her, Hyukjae's tears brimmed at the edge of his eyes as he was overwhelmed by his own feelings. Hyosoo felt her heart break at the sight and reached out to hug him. That was all it took for Hyukjae to immediately wrap his arms around her waist and start bawling on her shirt like a child. All the suspense and weight he has been carrying around with him was lifted in that one hug as Hyosoo held him in her arms. She patted Hyukjae's hair gently and allowed him to cry for as long as he needed.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until Hyukjae was able to get enough strength to gather himself together and pulled away from his mother. Hyosoo released her tight hold of him but only to shift it to hold Hyukjae's face between her hands and smiled warmly at him. Hyukjae never felt more loved by his mother than he did at that moment. 

"You're still a crybaby even after all these years."

Hyukjae choked a chuckle and wiped the snot off his face. Hyosoo chuckled along with him but did sit on the floor across Hyukjae so they can have a proper conversation. One they probably should have had years ago. Hyukjae was still sniffling a little bit but his breathing has calmed down so Hyosoo took that opportunity to start their conversation. 

"Hyukjae," she said his name as gently as she could which only made Hyukjae jittery. 

"N-Neh? Umma..."

There was a short pause on her end that felt like hours to Hyukjae. He wasn't sure what she was gonna say and didn't know how to prepare himself for it. 

"Are you happy?"

Hyukjae's eyes were wide and it took him a moment to process her question correctly. Was he happy? With his life? He really couldn't complain despite the never ending financial issues they seem to have, Hyukjae really could have it worse, so he nodded his head as an answer to her question. 

"Y-Yes, Umma." 

Hyosoo smiled and accepted his answer. "I'm glad to hear that. Is Donghae treating you well?"

"W-What?" Hyukjae was now confused why she would bring up the latter all of a sudden. 

Hyosoo took Hyukjae's confusion differently though and giggled. "Oh, come on, Hyukjae-ah. You can't really think I would be that surprise to see that you'd bring someone like Donghae home."

"Someone...like Donghae?..." Hyukjae's mind seemed to lag as he tried to figure out the connection. It was enough to keep Hyosoo amused to think that her son could have kept something as huge as his ual preference hidden from her all this year. 

"I'm y