Sakura stirred her spoon around her tea slowly, clinking now and then when the metal met the sides. We had arrived at my house sooner than we had thought and my mother had come out to greet us. She didn’t really expect an ‘us’, but she ushered us in from the cold not knowing that her guests didn’t feel the cold.

My mother asked about my head injury to which I swiftly made a half-assed excuse about falling of the swing and being too careless about how I landed. I knew that my mother was doubtful, I wasn’t the type to be overly clumsy.

‘’So…. are you going to introduce your friends, Chaeyeon?’’

I snapped out of my train of thought and gestured to Sakura. ‘’This is the friend who walked me back earlier this week, Sakura.’’ I purposefully kept the fact that I was more romantically involved for a good reason. I had no idea how well my mother would react to homouality. ‘’This is Yunho her….’’ I trailed off, not knowing what to call him without exposing Sakura’s wealth.

‘’I’m Miss Miyawaki’s personal butler, Yunho.’’ He said bluntly. At least he didn’t say princess, that would’ve been a lot to explain.

‘’Oh, butler…’’ My mother nodded to herself and looked down to Shige who had Chaemin in her lap and they were both watching the latest episode of the trending drama. ‘’And this is?’’

‘’I’m Shige, Sakura’s best friend.’’ She tickled Chaemin who was engrossed in drama to pay attention to the introductions. It was a little funny looking at her, she left in such a hurry that she was still dressed in her maid outfit.

My middle sister was standing in the doorway just eyeing Sakura up and down, who knows what my sister could be thinking. I hope she wasn’t fast to catch on that Sakura was more than just a friend. Chaeryeong was usually quick at picking up these things, I guess hanging around secretive friends can make you a little bit more observant over time.

Sakura cleared and put down her tea which she yet to take a sip from. There wasn’t any steam left from how much she had stirred it around. ‘’I’m sorry to cut this meeting short, but I have somewhere to be right now. Please make sure Chaeyeon sees a doctor about her head, I should’ve looked after her better.’’ She stood up and bowed deeply to my mother, her words having more weight with context.

‘’Oh, of course, thank you for taking care of my daughter. I’ll see you out.’’

‘’Wait!’’ I pushed my mother’s shoulders down, so she could sit back down, ‘’I’ll walk her out.’’ I smiled and waited until Shige said her goodbye to the youngest and everyone made their exit.

Yunho went to start up the car and Shige waited with him. Sakura turned around on my door step and gave a sad smile, ‘’I’m sorry about this morning. I need to go clear my mind or else I might storm back and kill my sister.’’ I nodded and fiddled with my sleeve not knowing what to do. I couldn’t hug her, kiss her or just do anything without my sister and mom coming at me with a billion questions.

‘’Will I see you at school?’’ I asked.

She cupped my cheek with one hand and smiled, ‘’Sure I will. Who else is going to protect you from those big bad bullies.’’ She teased and winked, coming in closer to pull me into a loose hug. ‘’Your sister had been giving me death glares.’’ Sakura whispered into my ear. We waved goodbye and sure enough when I turned around after closing the door, Chaeryeong was there. She seemed to be judging every single interaction I have with Sakura.

‘’What?’’

She shrugged, and her stare lingered on my cheek, the same one Kura touched. ‘’Mom told me how you guys were childhood friends, you sure you guys aren’t childhood sweethearts?’’

I blushed heavily and ran at her with my fist raised. ‘’Yah!’’

‘’Whatever nerd! You’re totally in love with her!’’ She snickered and ran around the couch, I had to hop over Chaemin’s endless toys, trying get her. ‘’Chaeyeon was an inch away from smooching that girl!’’ She yelled, I couldn’t even get her to hush in time. My mother came in from the kitchen and saw the mess we were making with the living room.

‘’Yah, aren’t you guys a little too old to be playing around like this?’’ She scolded, hands on her hip, not looking the slightest impressed.

I was about to apologise but Chaeryeong beat me to it and spilled all the juicy information. ‘’Sorry but Chaeyeon was making lovey dovey eyes at her friend.’’ She stuck her tongue out at me and I wanted to strangle her. This is going to be the end of me. Now what. Will mom take it as a joke or will she confront me about it.

‘’Lee Chaeryeong leave your sister alone. Shes old enough to like someone without being teased about it.’’ Wait. Wait, she wasn’t mad? No, ‘they’re girls, they can’t be together’, mumbo jumbo?

She must’ve sensed my confusion because she ushered my sisters away from the living room and sat me down on one of the couches. She waited for me to grasp what she had said, wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing.

‘’Young lovers are really obvious.’’ She stated, ‘’They just have this feeling. Parents have a sense for these things.’’

My mouth dropped but I regained my movements. ‘’You aren’t mad?’’

She furrowed her eyebrows and frowned, ‘’Why would I be mad?’’

‘’I dunno, maybe you wanted me to marry some guy and have 4 kids in the future. Or maybe you don’t like the idea of me being with a girl….’’ I trailed off, awaiting a possible backlash.

My mother looked angry and disappointed, for a second, I thought it was because she changed her mind about the acceptance, but she completely stunned me again.

‘’How dumb can you be Chaeyeonie, I’m your mother, its not like I could ever be mad at you for falling in love.’’ She moved to sit closer to me and wrap her arms around me in a comforting embrace. ‘’I love you for who you are, I’m glad you’re taking the time to fall in love. You’ve been through so much heartache.’’

‘’Sakura seems like a very nice girl too,’’ She continued. ‘’Shes well-mannered and she looks to be genuinely in love with you. AND shes a looker, you did really well in that department.’’ She chuckled, punching my shoulder as if she was one of my friends gossiping about love interests.

I laughed and tried avoiding her gentle fists. ‘’Ah, stop it mom…. but you really mean it? What about dad?’’

My father was still abroad but he would be back by Christmas and I doubt my sisters could keep their mouth shut about my relationship with Sakura. I doubt that Sakura could hold herself back for that long honestly. I knew she was dying to introduce herself as my fiancé, but she respected my wishes and just went along with whatever I said. But I guess there wasn’t a need to hide it from my mother anymore.<