Mother

            Kyuhyun and Ryeowook headed over to Kyuhyun’s parents apartment for brunch, which was a hell of a lot earlier than either of them cared to get up, but they were meeting up with Ahra and her fiancé.  The two had some kind of announcement they needed to make about their upcoming wedding and asked them to come as soon as humanly possible to meet up with them.  The only free slot they all had in their schedule was early on a Saturday, so that’s when it had to be.

            Ryeowook managed to still look refreshed and relaxed when he entered the apartment and kissed Kyuhyun’s mother as he greeted her, which kind of made Kyuhyun a little jealous, since he looked like the living dead with circles under his eyes and a pale complexion.  But his mother appeared just as happy to see his cranky , thank God, and squeezed him tight the moment he entered the kitchen.  He leaned down to kiss her and then glanced around the counters at all the food. 

            “I thought it was just the six of us today?”

            “It is,” she said, smiling.  “I haven’t cooked in a while so I got a little carried away.”

            Kyuhyun smirked.  “I’m not complaining or anything.”

            “He’s been whining because I’ve been making all healthy food lately, mom,” Ryeowook told her, pouring himself some coffee.  “Do you need any help?”

            “No,” she insisted.  “Everything’s done.  We’re just waiting for Ahra to arrive.”

            Kyuhyun was already looking over the plates of cookies and other treats and began to stack some in his hand.  Ryeowook came up behind him and playfully swat him in the behind the minute his mother wasn’t looking.  “You’re going to get sick if you eat all this!”

            “No, I won’t,” Kyuhyun confidently told him.

            “And you’re going to gain a bunch of weight.”

            Kyuhyun shrugged.  “You’ll have to help me work it off later.”

            “Shhh!  Cho Kyuhyun!” Ryeowook admonished him.  “Watch your mouth around your mother!”

            “She can’t hear me anyway,” Kyuhyun whispered.

            Kyuhyun’s mother looked over at him and her brow’s rose.  “You’d better watch your tongue when your sister gets here, Kyuhyun!” his mother warned.

            Kyuhyun frowned and left the kitchen to sit in the dining room and eat his cookies in peace, but of course Ryeowook followed him and stole one from him.  Just as Kyuhyun was about to argue about Ryeowook stealing his treat, Ahra walked in with her fiancé, and he forgot all about lecturing his husband.  Instead, he began to chat with his sister about everything new that had been happening of late.  Since it had been a while since the siblings had gotten together, this took quite some time.  In the meantime, Ryeowook began to chat with Ahra’s fiancé.  All in all, Ryeowook could say nothing against the man.  He seemed like a gentleman, he made decent wages, he was fairly laid back, respectable, and even rather funny.  Ryeowook could stand to be related to him, certainly.  Of all the boyfriends that Ahra had brought home, he was certainly the best. 

            Once Kyuhyun’s mother set the table, they all sat down for brunch and Ryeowook finally asked Ahra about the announcement that she wanted to make in person.  Ryeowook noticed immediately how the smile faltered from her lips and a pained expression marked her face.  She set down her chopsticks and looked directly at Kyuhyun and Ryeowook.

            “I don’t know how to tell you this.  I…I don’t even know how to start this conversation because it was never one I wanted or intended to ever have,” she said, her brows furrowing as her eyes wandered to her lap, her fingers twisting the fabric of her shirt.

            “Just come right out and say it,” Ryeowook urged her.

            Ahra nodded and continued.  “When we were discussing our invitation list with my future in-laws, I happened to mention Kyuhyun and you.  Of course, we didn’t think that it was a big deal that Kyuhyun’s husband was part of the wedding, since neither of us have any issue with the two of you being together, and no one would necessarily know that you were married at the wedding.  You would just be coming together, that’s all.  But when they found out about you both, they threw a fit.  They do not want you at the wedding, Ryeowook.”

            Ryeowook was too stunned to react at first.  He simply couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

            “They said that if we invited you, they would not bless our wedding and they would not come,” she informed them.

            Kyuhyun was so angry, he stood up and pointed at his sister and her fiancé.  “If Ryeowook is not invited, I’m not going!”

            Ryeowook quickly grabbed onto Kyuhyun’s arm and shook his head.  “He doesn’t mean that, noona.  Give us a moment.”

            At that, he stood up and drug Kyuhyun out of the dining room and to his old bedroom—which his parents still considered his bedroom and left for them to sleep in whenever they were over—and shut the door so no one would hear them.  Kyuhyun began to pace the floor and smacked the wall hard. 

            “What the hell!  Homophobic s!  What right do they have to decide who goes to their son’s wedding?”

            “Kyuhyun, calm down,” Ryeowook pleaded.

            “No!” Kyuhyun argued, still moving around the room.  “And I’m not going without you!”

            “Your sister came to our wedding, it would be rude not to go to hers,” Ryeowook said, sitting down on the bed and rubbing his forehead.

            “Aren’t you angry?” Kyuhyun questioned, stopping in front of Ryeowook.

            “Yes, but you’re taking it out on the wrong people.  We can’t ask them not to get married just because his parents don’t want me at the wedding.  I’m not saying it’s right, but what can we do?  And their hands are tied.  We can’t let them start their married life out on the wrong foot over something so trivial.”

            “It isn’t trivial!” Kyuhyun argued.

            “It isn’t to you and me, but it is to the rest of the world.”

            Kyuhyun shook his head and sat down next to Ryeowook.  “And so you just won’t go?  Do you know what that will look like to our fans?  And to our friends?”

            “We can explain the matter to our friends,” Ryeowook only said.

            “Doesn’t this bother you?” Kyuhyun asked, grasping Ryeowook’s hand.

            Ryeowook nodded.  “Yes…but I married you knowing that this wasn’t going to be easy sometimes.