Hearing the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut, the middle aged woman at the sink turned off the tap and took off the rubber gloves that were on her hands, leaving the sink full of dirty dishes behind. "Dohyun, is that you?" she called out. Hearing nothing in response, she walked towards the front door to see who was home. Looking at the rack of shoes beside the door, she didn't find her son's shoes but her daughter's. "Haeun? Is that you?" Again, not receiving a response, she quietly made her way up the stairs, careful not to make any noise. 

As she reached the second level of the house, she listened carefully as a muffled sound could be heard from her daughter's room. Approaching the room with the colourful stickers that read 'HAEUN', the muffled sounds became clearer. Placing her ear lightly against the door, she was able to clarify that the muffled sounds were indeed those of sobs. Worried that something bad might of happened, she lightly knocked on the door. "Haeun? Are you okay in there?" she called out lightly. 

"Go away mom! I don't want to talk to anyone right now," came the response from her daughter.

Hearing this response, her eyebrows creased in worry as the cries began to quiet down. Deciding to leave it for the moment, she went back downstairs to finish what she started, planning to question her daughter later when she had calmed down a little. 

Almost done with the dishes, again she heard the front door opening, this time closing more gently. Hearing footsteps approaching the kitchen, she turned to find her son roaming through the fridge in search of something to eat. 

"Is there anything to eat mom? I'm starving," he asked, his head fully in the fridge. 

"The first thing you do when you get home is look for food? Not even a 'Hi mom. How was your day?'" she asked with her gloved hands on her hips, a raised eyebrow directed at her only son. 

Finally getting his head out of the fridge, he turned towards his mother, a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck out of embarassment, a trait that he had picked up from his father. "Sorry mom," he said as he approached her and kissed her on the cheek causing a beautiful smile to grace her face. "Hi mom. How was your day?"

She could only smile at her embarassed son. "My day was fine. Now you can go back to finding something to eat, but don't eat too much. I'll be starting dinner soon," she sternly told him. 

"Great! What are we having?" he asked with excitement, the talk of dinner making him happy. 

"I was thinking about making bibimbap and maybe some fish stew. How does that sound?" she asked as she turned back to the sink. 

She was shocked when she felt him hug her from behind, another peck on her cheek. "You are actually the best mother in the world," he said. 

She just laughed at her son's antics. "Well, just like your father, I know the way to your heart is through your stomach," she said with a hearty laugh, something she had been known for. Her son just laughed with her, happy that she was happy. 

"Do you need help with the dishes?" he asked as he stood besides her. 

"No, I'm nearly finished anyways," she said. 

"Oh okay. Well, if you need help making dinner, just call me. I'll be upstairs getting some homework done," he said as he was about to exit the kitchen. 

"Oh Dohyun-ah, wait!" she called after him. "Do you know what's wrong with your sister?" she asked, hoping to get an idea of why her daughter was upset. 

"Haeun noona?" he asked. Receiving a nod from his mother, he thought back on what his friend's had told him earlier. "Ah yeah, I think I might have an idea," he said quietly. Not receiving a response from his mother, he continued. "Well, earlier at the lockers when we were getting ready to go home, Hyunwoo told me that apparently noona confessed to one of the boys in her year level and he rejected her," he informed his mother. 

"Ahhhh," she said. "Okay, thank you Dohyun-ah. I'll have a talk with her later," she informed him. She watched as he walked away, retreating up the stairs. Turning back to the sink, she looked out at her vast garden, thinking about what her son told her. Truthfully, she hadn't had many discussions with her daughter about boys and when they did, they were rather awkward and uncomfortable. When her daughter had first started showing signs of becoming a woman, she tried her best to explain the process to her, but it was always awkward and the two would scurry away from each other, wanting to escape the suffocating situation. 

Sighing, she walked towards the fridge and gathered the ingredients that she needed to make dinner, putting her thoughts about her daughter in the back of her mind.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey oppa. When are you coming home?" she asked into the phone as she took a seat on the couch after cleaning up. 

"Hey honey. I'm not sure. I'm still helping Jiyongie in the recording studio. We've got to get these songs perfect for our new girl group's debut," came the response. Hearing the sigh from over the phone, he was slightly worried. "Is everything okay? If there's something wrong, I can come home straight away," he said in a panic. 

She smiled slightly and chuckled into the phone. "It's okay oppa. Stop worrying. I just think Haeunie's going through some girl problems," she informed him. 

"Oh? Well... Shouldn't you talk to her? You know I'm not good at those sort of talks," he said nervously. 

"Yah! I'm not good at them either oppa!" she said indignantly. "But it's not those sort of troubles oppa. Dohyunie told me that she confessed to some boy at school today and he rejected her. She came home crying earlier today."

"WHAT!? Tell me who this kid is and I'll kill him. How could he reject my beautiful daughter? Is he blind?" he yelled. 

"Oppa. Oppa! Would you calm down?" she yelled over him to stop him from ranting. "I thought you didn't like the idea of Haeunie dating anyways?" she said with a laugh. 

"Well, yeah. I don't want some snotty nosed kid taking advantage of her..." he said hesitantly. 

"And you're upset that a boy rejected her?" she asked. 

"Of course! She's the most beautiful girl in the world! Every boy should want to be her boyfriend!" he said loudly. 

She couldn't stop the giggles that escaped . "You make no sense to me sometimes oppa," she laughed. "Anyways, I had better go and talk to her. Hurry home okay?" she said as she got up off the couch. 

"Alright honey, I'll be home as soon as possible. Love you," he said into the phone. 

"I love you too sweetie," she answered with a bright smile. She hung up the phone and made her way up the stairs, intending to talk with her daughter. "Haeunie?" she lightly called after knocking on the door. 

"Come in," came the call from the other side of the door. Slowly opening the door, she entered and quietly closed it behind her. She turned to find her daughter sitting on her bed with her laptop on her lap. "Hey mom. What's up?"

Approaching her, she sat on the edge of the bed as she looked at her daughter. "Is everything okay Haeunie?" she asked. Receiving a sigh in response to her question, she watched as her daughter's shoulders sagged, a frown now evident on her face.

"I hate boys mom," she said vehemently. 

She could only chuckle at her daughter's words. "You know if you said that to your father, he would probably be the happiest man in the world," she said, happy that she was able to get a laugh out of her daughter. "Why don't you tell me what happened at school today?" she said as she moved onto the bed and sat beside her daughter. 

Again Haeun sighed. She closed her laptop and placed it on her bedside table before repositioning herself comfortably. "Well... there's this boy in my year level at school. And... I've sort of had a crush on him for a while now. And Joohyun told me that he might like me back so I confessed to him but..." she hiccuped a little as she started to get choked up. Her mother put an arm around her and rested her head on her own shoulder, trying to soothe her. "He didn't even know my name!" she wailed.

She was slightly shocked by what her daughter told her. She gently rubbed her shoulder as she tried to console her as best as she could. "Shhhh. I