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Minseok's mother his hair gently and smiled warmly at her son.

"What is it, Minseokkie? Did something happen? At school maybe?" Minseok shook his head and took a deep breath before looking at his mother and taking all his courage before asking the one question that lay heavy on his heart for so long already.

"Am I a burden to you, umma?" His mother couldn't believe what she had just heard from her son, what mother would?

"What did you just say? Who said this nonsense?" Minseok pursed his lips and lowered his gaze to his lap.

"I just thought... I-I eavesdropped you, umma... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, really but when I heard my name I got too curious... Did you really get not promoted because of me?" Minseok looked at his mother again, his eyes sad and guilty.

"Am I the reason you can't relax and don't meet new people? You know... I wouldn't have been disappointed into you or anything if you got a new appa for me. As long as you are happy, I am happy, too. I don't want to be the reason for you being unhappy, umma... I don't want to be a burden to you... And I'm old enough now to take care of myself so you can concentrate on your work more again and meet new people and maybe if it's not too much to ask you could take a few days off to spend some time with your big boy again?"

Minseok sounded like a child while talking about what was on his mind but it made it easier for him to actually say most of what lay on his heart. It was still hard for him though and his watery eyes were evidence enough. But it wasn't easy for his mother either to hear her son talking like this. She knew though she tried to be there for Minseok she had neglected him lately. It was hard without her husband by her side but Minseok had it probably even harder without a father and a mother that barely had time for him.

"Oh, Minseokkie... I'm so sorry, umma is so sorry." She hugged her son close and Minseok looked at her with a questioning gaze.

"I had no idea I made you feel like this... But if you had listened to the end you would have also heard that nothing is more important to me than my little baozi. Yes, I know your nickname. Tao taught me." His mother chuckled softly after seeing his surprised look and cupped Minseok's face, his cheeks with her thumbs gently.

"Back to the topic. Back then, I didn't even want to get promoted just yet. I wanted to be there for my son, take especially care of you after your father died but at the same time I didn't want to lose my job because I wanted to provide you a good education and future. You were never a burden to me, Minnie. And you don't know how proud I am of you that you grew to such a polite and smart young man. Appa would be so proud of you. I also know you can take care of yourself and that you are a 'big boy' now. That was the only reason I started to work more again. I'm sorry that I neglected you... Just tell me when and I will take a few days off for us." She smiled and pressed a kiss to Minseok's forehead, making the latter smile and hug his mother tighter.

"To the meeting new friends and appa part, my cute little son: I don't need new friends because the ones I have are enough and true friends even. I also don't need another man in my life because no one can replace your father and I have you, Minnie. You and appa are the only men I need in my life. And appa is protecting and watching us from above." Minseok sniffed softly, not being able anymore to hold back his tears. He felt happy after talking with his mother. ZiTao had been right, as always.

"I'm sorry too, umma... I shouldn't have thought like this... I just... I miss appa and I miss you, too... Yes, I'm seventeen already and most boys at my age don't want to spend too much time with their parents but I need my umma... I miss cuddling with you... It's not the same to cuddle with my stuffed animals when what I need is a hug from my umma... I want to spend more time with you again." His mother smiled the smile he longed for so much when he felt lonely. Don't get him wrong, he is a happy teenager but also happy people have days they are just feeling down. The middle-aged woman his hair gently and wiped his tears with her other hand.

"I understand, Minnie. I promise I will try my best to spend more time with you and give you as many cuddles as you want. But for today it's enough. I know there is a lot on both our minds but you have school tomorrow and I also got work tomorrow. Go and get ready for bed, okay? And we will continue our little talk at the weekend. Is that alright for you?" Minseok nodded understandingly and pressed a kiss on his mother's cheek before breaking the hug and standing up.

"Goodnight, umma and sleep well. There is still some kimchi jjigae left in the kitchen for you but it's cold already again."

"Thank you, Minnie. You, too. Don't worry, I will warm it up again and eat it. Now, to bed with you, it's almost 10 pm." She smiled and Minseok waved and went upstairs to his room. He got his phone and sent a test message to his best friend.

To: kungfu panda

Hey TaoZi,
as always you were right, talking is always the best and I'm feeling a lot better.
Umma said she will cook many nice things for you when you are sleeping over here.
I'm going to start my homework now, see you tomorrow.
Minnie~

Minseok put his phone aside, got his bag and got the things he needed for his homework. He started his laptop as well, as he needed to do some research for an essay he had to do. His thoughts weren't completely focused on his homework now but rather on the talk with his mother before and the strange talk with ZiTao about their new homeroom teacher.

"Aish... Get yourself together, Kim Minseok. You need to focus on your homework to not get into trouble in your first week." He encouraged himself and started on the research for his essay but soon lost his focus again as his phone buzzed; he received a reply from ZiTao.

From: kungfu panda

Hey baozi,
see, told you. I'm always right;p
She will? Whoa, Tell her I will come over with an empty stomach, she needs to prepare lots of her delicious food!
Oh, and tell me about the talk with your mom tomorrow.
I should start doing mine, too but yeah, you know me;)
Anyways, good night and sleep well.
TaoZi~

PS: Dream about our y homeroom teacher;)

Minseok rolled his eyes and put his phone aside again.

"This weird panda boy." He mumbled and sighed. Somehow his mood had dropped again as he sighed and tried to distract himself with his homework. Sooner as he thought, at 11pm, he was done and decided to take a look at the book they needed for English lessons. 

"The Reluctant Fundamentalist...", he typed into Google and clicked on the link that directed to Wikipedia.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, published in 2007.

The novel uses the technique of a frame story, which takes place during the course of a single evening in an outdoor Lahore cafe, where a bearded Pakistani man called Changez (the Urdu name for Genghis) tells a nervous American stranger about his love affair with an American woman, and his eventual abandonment of America. A short story adapted from the novel, called "Focus on the Fundamentals," appeared in the fall 2006 issue of The Paris Review. A film adaptation of the novel by director Mira Nair premiered at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.[1]

source: Wikipedia

"Okay? Sounds interesting so far. I hope it really is." Minseok talked to himself and shrugged, then looked for a website to order the book online. Then he shut down his laptop and got ready to go to sleep.

Heechul was almost done with going through the quizzes and let out the umpteenth sigh. He would need to change some of his plans for the next few lessons with his new class since most of them were behind the level they were supposed to be. Only three more quizzes and he would have finished all of them in one go but Jessica called for dinner. Not wanting to upset his wife even more than he had already done, Heechul stood up and walked downstairs into the kitchen, where the dinner table was set already.

"Mhh, what did you cook?" Heechul asked as he walked up behind Jessica and tried to get a view of today's dinner but Jessica blocked it until she fully prepared the plates.

"Wait a second and you will see." Jessica said with a smile and set the plates on the table. 

"Ta-dah~ Pasta with self-made tomato sauce. Daddy showed me how to make them after he came back from a business trip from Europe." She smiled.

"Mhh, looks and smells very good. But you also could have just made ramen. It was sure much work." Heechul said with a smile and helped Jessica to sit at the table before sitting down himself and pouring them some of the wine his wife had set on the table. It would have actually been a romantic dinner if their love had not only been one-sided. 

"Ani, I felt like cooking something for my hard-working husband." Jessica replied with a sweet smile, Heechul giving her one in return but inwardly the older sighed. It had never been his intention to hurt Jessica who was so much like a little sister to him. But certain circumstances led to their marriage and there was no way out of it.

"How was your day, oppa? Is your class nice? Or are they difficult teenagers?" She asked and tried her cooking.Heechul shrugged as he tried the pasta as well and hummed, then took a sip of the wine.

"The pasta is very good and the wine goes well to it. Good choice, Sica." He smiled.

"My day was okay. I will teach my class some discipline and manners. It seems like they forgot how to treat elders. Especially one student will be a hard task. He practically asked for detention, so I'll be home a little later tomorrow. You don't need to wait for me and can go shopping or whatever. Other than that at least some students seem to know their place and Sulli is in my class, too. Anyways, how are your plans going? For your nail studio chain?" Heechul asked and ate some more pasta, it was really good, maybe a little too much salt on the noodles for his taste. But that was only such a small thing, so he kept it to himself as he didn't want to upset his wife even more.

"Sulli? Then let's hope there won't be any trouble later. You know how teenagers are with rumors and such. Don't you think, they will think that you are favoring her? Just try not to be too harsh on your students. They are still just children." She smiled.

"Thank you, oppa. I'm glad you like it. We are in the final stage with our plans now. It's going very well. We are planning a few new concepts right now and some special offers for the opening. Today I was visiting a few studios around here and Busan and they look very pretty, just like I wanted. I'm so nervous and excited." Jessica looked quite happy when talking about her own business but Heechul still noticed her sad eyes behind her