Today it’s his birthday.

Daehyun has just turned 16, but what should be a celebrated and happy day is actually one of sorrow and melancholy.

His mother died yesterday. She was the only person who ever loved him, the only person he loved, and the only home he’s ever had.

But now he has to move from their home in Busan, and go all the way to Seoul to live with his new family. Hisnew family consists of a father he has never met. His father did provide his mother with enough money to take care of him, so he should be grateful to the man. And he is, but he’s still never met him before. He’s not sure how he should feel or act around him. His stepmom will be something to get used to too. To be honest he’s a bit afraid of her and he (obviously) hasn’t met her yet. He’s seen too many shows and movies where the protagonist has a stepmom that must be the direct spawn of Satan or something. Sure he’s exaggerating a bit, but he has no idea what he will be facing tomorrow when he arrives. He also will no longer be an only child. He now has hyung. The idea is foreign. He’s been an only child for 15, err scratch that, 16 years now. But now he has an older brother that will be around. Will he look out for Daehyun? Will he help him with his homework if he doesn’t understand something? Will he play sports out in their yard? Give him relationship advice? These are all things older brothers do right? Will he experience any of that? He doesn’t know now, but he’ll find out soon.

-

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Daehyun’s mom has just asked him to sit down at the kitchen table.

This must be something serious if mom is asking me to sit at the table while there isn’t any food covering it.

Daehyun only sits at the table when his mom has made them their food. It’s just not something she does. He and his mom have always said whatever needed to be said no matter where they were. They have this relationship where they can say anything to each other because no need to hide anything. And when he says anything, he means anything.

Some would call his mom mean, irresponsible, or worse, but Daehyun was always thankful his mom was straightforward, didn’t sugarcoat anything, and was always honest with him.

When Mr. Chimchim, his eight year old terrier, got hit by a car and had to be put down, his mom did not beat around the bush. And Daehyun himself was only twelve when it happened.

“Hey Dae, I got some bad news for you, little buddy.”

“Ugh oh, what happened? Did I do something? Am I in trouble? You can’t take away my snacks!”

“No, no. No one is taking anything. Mr. Chimchim got hit by a car this morning after you left for school. I guess he followed you. Sorry little guy.”

Cue the sobs of the twelve year old crying for his beloved Mr. Chimchim. Rest his little doggie soul.

Or the time he asked her how babies were made. He didn’t get a story about some bird dropping baby bombs or “when a mommy and daddy love each other…” or some story about birds and bees. No, Daehyun got the truth about and the reproductive organs (the latter explanation had diagrams which make him shudder at recalling the images that are forever burned into his mind). As a nine year old, his probably should have not been so graphic, but no reason to hide the truth.

Or the time he asked about his father. His dad was never in the picture. He gave them a check in the mail every month without ever forgetting. He even put in a little extra in June so Daehyun could buy himself a birthday present and have it kind of be from his dad.

When he asked his mom about his dad, he was expecting some tragic love story, but what he got was something completely different. His mom met his dad only thrice in the span of his life. The first was the night he was conceived. They met at a bar while his mother was at university in Seoul. She was celebrating her graduation, while he was celebrating a successful heart transplant that had a less than ten percent success rate. At first, Daehyun’s mom that he was lying to get lucky, but after he showed her his hospital identification card, she guess he must have been telling the truth. The two spent the night together drinking and having a one night stand. A few weeks and missed periods later after being back home in Busan, she found out she was pregnant. The only man who could have been the father was back in Seoul at Seoul University hospital.

Of course finding out she was pregnant met she had to share this with the father even if what they shared was only a one night stand. Once finding him at the hospital, she tried to talk to him and tell him about the baby growing inside her. However, the plan almost did not go as planned. The guy was really busy and only had an hour between surgeries and he had another few hours before that short break could happen. So his mother waited hours until he had a break and once he did she practically ambushed him. He led her into the private quarters of his office where on his desk was a framed family portrait and a wedding picture. Don’t get his mom wrong, she wasn’t looking to fall in love with this guy. She just thought he deserved to know he was going to be a father. But by the looks of it, he was already a father…and husband. The family portrait had him, a woman who she guessed was his wife, and a baby held in his arms standing in the front yard of a gorgeous house. She soon found out he was indeed married and already a father or a new born baby boy.

When she broke the news to him, he was quite shocked. He wasn’t even sure if he could believe her. What if she was trying to scam him or something? However, she was the one who suggested a paternity test after the baby was born. He agreed and wrote up a quick agreement between the two of them to sign. They exchanged numbers and that was the end of that until a few months later.

That’s when their third meeting occurred. It was a few months after Daehyun was born. She decided it was a good enough time to have that paternity test so she called his father and arranged a meeting so that they could settle this. After the two had the test done, the maybe father had a contract already ready for her. In the contract he agreed to pay her every month for the baby’s health and expenses, he would have no other part in his life or hers, she was never to contact him or his family for anything especially not anything regarding Daehun, and if anything were to happen to her he would take care of the boy. All this was all valid and would be put into action if the paternity test turned out to be positive with his as the father. His mother was always independent and strong willed so she saw no faults within the contract. The two adults departed on good terms.

Once they got the results of the test, it was positive that the young doctor was indeed the father. A month after the test was revealed, a copy of the contract arrived in the mail in Busan. After that, the only contanct she had with Daehyun’s father came in the form of a check with Daehyun’s father’s attorney’s information on it. And that was that.

It wasn’t just his mom ripping off Band-Aids, but he’s ripped off quite a few of his own.

Like the one time he was close to failing the eighth grade because he was just too lazy to be bothered to do his homework or turn in class work. Being smart had its perks. School and learning came easily to him. He never had to study or practice the material because it all just came naturally to him. He just got really lazy that year and did not want to lift a finger (unless it was wrapped around a fork stuffing food into his mouth). Boy did he get a scolding from his mom. She even threatened to only give him one serving at dinner. He was a growing boy! He needed all three servings! How could she be so hasty and threaten his livelihood! The threat did cause him to jump into action though. His teacher allowed him to catch up and turn in all his missing work for full credit and it only took him a few weekends over the span of a month to turn it all in. He even managed to make it into the top 10 in his grade.

Oh, or the time he told his mom that he didn’t like girls the way other boys did.

At thirteen, Daehyun was well aware that girls were cool and pretty, but he didn’t want to kiss them like he wanted to kiss this one boy named Hanbin he had in a few of his classes. No, that boy had the nicest smile he’s ever seen and was really cool. Daehyun knew he was in love with that boy, but he moved out of the city a month after Daehyun told his mom he liked boys rendering Daehyun’s heart broken, shattered into a million pieces. Good thing it wasn’t really love because Daehyun started crushing on the new transfer student with lips as big as his own and the eyes that disappeared when he laughed. Gikwang certainly filled the void Hanbin left after his departure and it only took a week and a half. He had no real idea what love was, but hey, he was only thirteen. He still has time to figure that out.

That was a conversation he was worried for nothing over. He should have never doubted his mom’s cool understanding and acceptance.

“Mom, is it weird if I say I don’t like girls? Cuz my friends all like girls, but I don’t know why they think they’re so special.”

“Maybe you’re just too young. Give it time, I’m sure you’ll find a girl you like.”

“But that’s the thing. Its not a girl I like…”

“Not a girl? Is it a boy?”

“Would it be wrong if I said yes?”

“Of course not sweetie, you can love or like whoever you want. I only require that you’re happy.”

With a smile, Daehyun hugged his mom and mumbled an “I love you, mom,” into her shoulder.

Daehyun and his mom share a relationship that is unlike most mother and son relationships, but it was a relationship he valued and loved. The two were always honest.

So he felt it odd when his mom became super serious and asked him to sit at a bare table in the middle of the day. In all his 15 years of life, his mother was never this serious. The news his mother gave him was something he never thought he would ever hear.

“Daehyun I got some bad news.”

“This isn’t like Mr. Chimchim bad news is it?”

With a deep inhaled sigh his mother continued, “No, I’m afraid it’s not.” She took a few seconds to compose her next few sentences, “Dae, I have cancer. The doctor doesn’t think it’s looking too good. He said it was pretty advanced and detected too late.”

Daehyun sat there staring at his mom for a few minutes. He didn’t utter a word, let alone a sound.

His mother was sick.

She had epithelial ovarian cancer. Already in its third stage.

He was scared.

Terrified to be exact.

So many thoughts were going through his head.

It was always him and his mom. What if something happened to her and he was left alone? He’s always hated being alone.

Would she die? Would she be in pain until she died? How long would she be allowed to remain with him?

After she broke the news to him, he was left quiet. Daehyun didn’t know what he was supposed to say. He didn’t know how he was supposed to respond to this.

So he didn’t respond with words. He just stood up and walked over to his mom and cried. He cried until he was sniffling and out of tears with a massive headache. As much as he teased and felt the need to announce he was a man to his mother on a regular basis, right now he was a frightened little boy. He didn’t want to be a man. He wanted to be a boy again and have his mom cradle him against her and tell him it’s going to be okay and that this is all just a dream. His mother was healthy and hardly ever got sick. She was his mom: invincible and strong and determined.

But he guessed every superhero had their kryptonite.

The oncologist in charge of his mother’s treatment gave her half a year, but she managed to hang on twice as long.

Before the pain clouded her mind and got too much for her, she contacted Daehyun’s father’s lawyer. His lawyer arranged for the two to talk over the phone and make arrangements for Daehyun after her passing. He agreed to take in Daehyun and raise him in his home as his son.

The last few days with his mom were especially hard. She knew her time was coming. She just felt it was close. And she was right. A week after getting the feeling, she passed.

Daehyun felt all alone now that his mom was gone. But not even 48 hours after his mom’s funeral, a lawyer, who introduced himself as Sung Jo In, had arrived on behalf of his father. He was going to help him arrange for all his things to be moved to his new house in Seoul. The apartment he shared with his mom would be cleaned out for him and he was welcome to keep whatever he wanted. Everything else would be taken care of. Even though he never met his father, he felt the man was quick, thorough, and maybe even heartless. He was still mourning the loss of his mom, but his father’s lawyer gave him a measly two days to gather what he wanted to take with him. What would happen to everything else? Would it just be tossed out as if it meant nothing? Not if Daehyun had anything to do with it.

“Excuse me, Mr. Sung,” Daehyun began while approaching the lawyer, “how much stuff can I actually take with me? How much space will I have? And will I need to take my bed or drawers or my tv?”

“Um, you don’t need any of those actually. Your father has furnished a room for you in his house already.” Before Daehyun could ask more questions, the lawyer continued, “Your room is also pretty big. Compared to your room here, you’ll have maybe three times as much space.”

With an obvious gasp, Daehyun’s eyes widened, “Is his house really that big? Are you sure it’s even a house and not a mansion?”

The lawyer cracked a slight smile, “You could call it that. One thing is for sure, you’ll have plenty of room there, so don’t hesitate nor bargain with yourself. If it’s something you want and think is important, pack it up.” He gave a gentle ruffle to Daehyun’s head of hair and began again, “I need to get going, I have a few things to take care of before we leave for Seoul. Do you need anything?”

Daehyun smiled and shook his head.

“Great, I’ll see you in a few days, but call me if you need anything.” He passed Daehyun his business card as he waved goodbye.

As the man made his way out to the elevator of the apartment complex, he began thinking about a few things.

One, Mr. Sung was really nice (and easy on the eyes but that’s something not important at the moment).

Two, he has a lot of packing to do. Good thing Mr. Sung brought plenty or boxes and tape.

Three, maybe if his father had such a nice lawyer that would mean he’s nice too, right? Hmm, that might be a stretch, but he should give him the benefit of the doubt.

And four, maybe his new life, home, and family waiting for him in Seoul wouldn’t be so bad.

He would try and make this work.