Taecyeon

Normally, I would have taken a few deep, calming breathes first. Maybe stopped by one of the airport coffee shops and got a cup of tea. Not this time. I knew if I took time to calm myself and approach my mother like a sane, rational person, I wouldn't do what needed to be done. For once, my mother was going to realize the consequences of her actions, so help me, God.

Her phone rang only once before she picked it up.

"Taecyeon, darling! Why didn't you tell me you and poor, sweet Nichkhun were having problems!"

Poor, sweet Nichkhun my . She'd always hated him. Hated he wasn't an omega. Now she hated Ewon because he was an omega? What was her game? What the did she want?

"Stop, Mother."

"If only I'd known, I could have been there to help. You know your father and I have been through troubles of our own, but we've always stuck by-"

"I said stop! Now, stop. You're not going to bowl me over this time, Mother. You will shut your mouth and listen to me for once or you can kiss goodbye ANY chance of ever seeing my son."

I paused for a breath and felt a moment of satisfaction at her stunned silence.

"Nichkhun and I are, in fact, not having problems. Our relationship is better than ever. A fact you might know if you called to ask about our lives occasionally." for years, I'd been the dutiful son, calling every week, but when every call was three hours of which party they went to and who they saw and what dumb scandal was happening between peopple I didn't know, I'd stopped. It wasn't that I hadn't tried. In college, I tried to tell her about my track meets, my classes. Afterward, my schedules and the places I was visiting. I'd try to tell her about Nichkhun but the most acknowledgement I ever got was a 'That's nice, dear." before she went on to talk about herself. Again.

The only time I drew any of her attention was when she perceived I had ed up. Like marrying Nichkhun. She'd been livid I was marrying an alpha. Who was going to give her grandchildren? That was lucky I was self-assured and confident anough that I'd never felt the need to act out to get her attention.

"You are self-centered, Mother. You're too old not to realize the world doesn't revolve around you. My relationships with my-" I stumbled for the right word, one that gave each of us equal weight in our relationship "-partners especially doesn't revolve around you. My divorce with Nichkhun is an evolution of our relationship beyond words on a paper. The vows we spoke at our wedding are just as true today as they were then, if not more so. But that piece of paper that said we're married was keeping us from moving forward in our relationship with each other and with Ewon."

I heard the deep hiss of her breath as she prepared to launch her missiles of vitriol.

"And I will not hear one word against Ewon. Not only is he the father of our child-mine, Nichkhun's, and Ewon's-but he is our missing piece."

In the space of a breath, Mother struck "Well, if you'd settled down with a nice omega girl, you wouldn't have had any missing pieces, would you?"

Ah. That was the key. It wasn't just that Nichkhun was an alpha. It wasn't just that Ewon was coming in as a third in our relationship. It was that neither of them was a female omega.

"Mother, that was never going to happen."

"Well. It's not like you tried, is it? Do you know how they looked at me at the club? How that insufferable Lee Hyori lorded it over me when her son married an omega girl from a good family and had a grandbaby withing the year?"

Now I did take a deep breath. This wasn't just about my relationships, but about her ed-up societal expectations "I will not argue with you about the moral or legal right of anyone to love anyone else, regardless of gender or dessignation. And you know what, Mother? you. Yet again, you've attempted to frame the issue as how I've hurt you, completely disregarding how you've hurt me, hurt Nichkhun, or hurt Ewon. I am done. I will not answer a call from you untill sometime after the baby is born. I don't know when that will be. You are not welcome at my house until we have had a civil discussion and laid some ground rules. You will not contact Nichkhun, Ewon, or Jessica in any way until we sit down and have that conversation or you will lose any future possibility of a reconcilaition."

She was sputtering, but I continued on.

"I will be blocking your number on all of our phones. I will be changing lawyers and I will be making certain that Choi &, Siwon face the consequences for the egregious mistake that initiated this discussion, though they are not to blame for your narrow-minded, prejudiced beliefs. Neither Nichkhun nor Ewon's parents are living, making you my son's only grandmother. If you do not comply with MY wishes, you will be depriving him of that. I hope you can grow up enough in the next few months to evaluate your priorities. Good bye."

I hung up before she could respond and followed through my promise to block her, knowing that if I didn't, she would call every minute for the next two hours. Well, she'd still do that. I just wouldn't have to deal with it. On second thought, I blocked my father's number, too. He and I had never been close, either, but he always backed my mother up. he was her accomplice, so the same rules were going to apply to him.

I sent Nichkhun a quick 'I did it.' message.

'What did you say? What did she say?'

'Too much to recount before I get on the plane, but we're in no contact until after the baby is born.'

Damn, son! Can't wa