BOTH YOONGI AND HIS MOTHER DISCOVER SOMETHING ABOUT EACH OTHER

“You bribed my boyfriend to break up with me?” Yoongi yelled as he stormed into the conference room, where he was told his mother would be. The 10 guests in attendance heads whirled around in surprise. Yoongi ignored them as he stalked across room towards his mom, whom was seated at the head of the large oak wood table, “How could you do that?” 

Mrs. Min stood up and pulled her son into the nearest corner and away from everyone’s curious gazes, “Yoongi, will you please stop yelling?” she scolded in a hushed tone, “I’m in the middle of a meeting.” She could hear her potential investors whispering to each other. 

Yoongi snatched away from his mother, “Then you’d better answer my ing questions fast,” he growled back glaring down at her. “Son please just give me a few minutes to close out  my meeting out and then I’ll explain myself,” she pleaded to her son. 

Yoongi glared at his mother and then turned to look at all the people staring at them. He sighed and rolled his eyes and nodded, “Five minutes mom,” he told her firmly before he left. He would wait to raise hell, even if he didn’t want to run the company, he didn’t want to hurt it either.

“So I take it Jimin told you about my offer?” Mrs. Min asked as she joined her son in her office. “Of course he told me mom,” Yoongi shouted waving his arms in annoyance, “Why wouldn’t he?” Yoongi’s mother made her way to her swivel chair saying, “I was hoping the kid would be smart enough to choose money over you.” 

“I can’t believe you would lower yourself to bribery eomma, it’s so…beneath you,” he said beginning to pace, “I’d definitely expect this from your husband, but not you.” Mrs. Min shrugged nonchalantly and leaned back in her seat, “True,” she agreed as she crossed her legs, “But a good mother would do whatever it takes to protect her child.”

“You think bribing my boyfriend makes you a ‘good mother’?” Yoongi asked through a snort, “Do you and dad have so little confidence in me? Or are you just upset that I’m not doing what you want me to do?” 

Mrs. Min felt herself grow angry, “This has absolutely nothing to do with confidence Yoongi,” she yelled standing up, “You have zero knowledge of what it means to be a photographer; you’re just trying to turn a hobby into a career. All you know is business: you’ve got an Associate’s in management, dual Bachelor’s degrees in business and accounting, and you minored in logistics. Does any of that scream photography to you? You won one little competition and now that boy has given you the notion that photography is the right career choice.” 

Yoongi furrowed his brows and glared at his mother; he did not appreciate being lectured, he was not a child and his mother didn’t know what she was talking about. 

“News flash mom,” Yoongi said waving his hands in her face, “The only reason I got all those degrees was because I felt I had no choice. I was preparing to run the company to please you and dad, I never wanted to do any of that . School was a miserable time for me, but of course you never knew or cared. They only thing you two ever cared about was the company. I was never your son,  just another component of the company.” 

Mrs. Min sat back down in her chair, a perfectly shocked expression etched into her features, “Yoongi, I had no idea…” she mumbled trailing off.“ Of course you didn’t. You and dad think you know me; you think you know what I really want,” Yoongi said sitting down in one of the seats facing his mother’s desk. 

“We do know you Yoongi, you’re our son,” his mother said, her tone a bit distraught.

“Yea, that’s about all you know; that I’m your son, and that’s only a title,” he replied crossing his arms, “You don’t know what I like to eat for breakfast, or what my favorite season is, or even my favorite color. The truth is, Jimin has learned more about me in 7 months than you have in 12 years.”

Mrs. Min’s speechlessness gave Yoongi the greenlight to continue, “You may think that I have no experience in photography, but that competition wasn’t the only one I’ve entered; just the only one you’ve found out about.” Her eyes darted to him, “What?” she asked in disbelief. 

Yoongi nodded, “You two put all your blood, sweat, and tears into the company and you’d pop your heads into my life every once in a while to make sure I was on the right track, it was easy for me to do my photography side-projects. The only thing I had to do was hide the awards,” he answered with a shrug of his own. 

Yoongi watched his confession sink into his mother’s mind, he felt like he could see her brain physically soak it up like a pink wrinkly sponge.

Mrs. Min relaxed the muscles in her face, back in control of her emotions. “Well I guess, we don’t know you that well after all,” she conceded, “I’m sorry.” “Mom I appreciate it, but I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. It’s Jimin who needs to hear one,” Yoongi told his mom while crossing his legs. She laughed at that, “Why would I do that?” she asked incredulously. 

Yoongi stared at his mom in disbelief, “You’re seriously asking me that? Mom, you bribed my boyfriend to break up with me,” he said. “Though you disagree, I still feel it was necessary to try,” his mother defended firmly. “How can you justify it mom?” he asked her in exasperation, “How was it necessary?” 

“I was trying to get rid of the roadblock between you and the company,” she answered in a matter-of-fact tone. Yoongi angrily rose to his feet, “Mom your tunnel vision is making you completely miss the point,” he yelled at her. She stood as well, “No son, I get your point: you want to be a photographer,” she replied, “What I’m saying is you can do that on the side.” 

“What?” Yoongi asked in disbelief. Mrs. Min nodded, “Yes, that way you can be happy and the company’s future can be secured.” “Like I said, your tunnel vision made you miss the point,” he mumbled as he headed to the door. 

“Wait son, where are you going?” Mrs. Min asked her son frantically. “I’m going home to the only person who seems to care about my feelings,” her son answered. She made her way around her desk and grabbed her son’s hand, “But we’re not done speaking,” she said tugging him back an inch. 

Yoongi smiled at his mom, he looked tired, their conversation had physically drained him. “I am,” he told her, “I can preach to you until I’m blue in the face, but, at the end of the day, the company will always come first.” He brushed some stray hair behind his mother’s ear, kissed her forehead, and left.

He was done fighting with them, it was clear that his parents wouldn’t change. The Min’s were stubborn. Yoongi was just going to focus on himself  and Jimin, no use in wasting any more time and energy on trying to persuade his parents…or at the very least get them to understand.