“Come in” 

“Mom, can I talk to you?” Jackson asks, popping his head in the door.

“Sure you can, hun.” Nayeon answers with a smile, then turns to the man she was talking to. “Kookie, can we finish this later? My big baby needs me.”

“Sure we can!” The man chuckles goodnaturedly. “If he came all this way, it must be an emergency.”

“Mooom!” Jackson plays along, sounding as annoyed as he could and stomping his feet a little.

The two executives laugh, though ‘Kookie’ just gathers his papers and leaves, shaking his head amusedly and taping the young man’s shoulder on the way out. Nayeon just watches with a warm smile, she knew her son never really did these things unless he was in an extremely good mood and feeling playful. That was always a great thing to see, for her, as she knew things weren’t always easy for her boy. Sure, Jackson was a great and resourceful man, and Dahyun had raised him with the very best she could offer, but Nayeon saw how they would come home late, sometimes, looking like the weight of the world was on their shoulders.

She knew they didn’t have an easy life, and both were doing anything and everything they could to keep her and Mina out of the dark side of the big corporations. Their position and everything it enticed was dangerous and nobody was completely free from the darkness lurking around, nor what it brought along. The bunny also knew her wife and their son felt better if she pretended not to know what they were up to, or that she wasn’t seeing everything, and so she did, it was a better choice, rather than spoil the mood just because she felt like voicing something she knew both were very aware of.

“Mom, if you are busy, I can come back later.”

“Nonsense! I’m never busy for my children, and everyone knows that. Come sit with me and we’ll talk.” She pulls them towards the couch. “Do you want anything?”

“I’m fine, just had some coffee on the way here.”

“And you dare tell me that without having brought me a donut?” Nayeon huffs, very offended. “I thought we raised you better.”

“And you did, but there was this old man asking for money on the street, so I gave him my other coffee, your donut and whatever was on my wallet.”

“That’s my boy.” The woman coos lovingly, hugging her son and tries to kiss him. “So, why are you here?”

“Mom, please, no kisses. You know I won’t be able to remove your lipstick anytime soon.” He whines. “And I’m here about uncle Jaebum and aunt Jihyo.”

That settles Nayeon down, giving her entire attention to whatever the young man had to tell her. Sure, she was a child at heart, and always did her best to make the mood lighthearted and playful around her, but she wouldn’t hesitate to be serious and focused whenever she needed to. It was a sight to see, really, Im Nayeon was a beautiful woman, and her commanding side turned more than a few heads whenever it showed up.

“What about them?” Worry couldn’t be kept away from her.

“It’s good news, relax.” Jackson hugs his mother and feels her relaxing a little. “Aunt Jihyo just got the all clear, and is back to work. Uncle Jaebum is less stressed and his boss has been giving him less hours so he could take more chores at home, since aunt Jihyo was on medical rest and all.”

“That’s really good news indeed. But we have to make sure mother doesn’t catch wind of them.”

“Don’t worry about that. Ma and I have it covered, unless she goes after them herself, no information gets to her if we don’t want it to.”

“That’s good to know, but do you think I should get over there?”

“I think you are late already.”

They smile fondly at each other, the man tightening his hold just that much more. Nayeon was scared out of her mind about facing her brother again, she knew how bad she had screwed things up, she saw how much her brother had done for her throughout the years and how much she owed him. She was also very well aware of how poorly she had  treated his wife, a woman she had never met before, who she judged without knowing a single thing about her, not even her name, yet she hurt that woman deeply, without reason but the couple still stuck together despite everything.

“I think you are really your mother’s son.” She gives out a wet chuckle.

“I’m both my mothers’ son. And so is Minnie, by the way. But that’s not important right now, and you should think about trying this saturday. Aunt Jihyo will work the morning shift. Maybe try in the afternoon.”

“You do know today is friday, right?! You are giving me, like, today to prepare myself.”

“You’ve had too long to prepare yourself already, just go.” He gets up and makes to leave. “Oh, and ma said she is more than willing to drag you there if needed. I advise you to just go willingly.”

“Fine.” Nayeon huffs, gets up and kisses her son goodbye. “Now be a nice boy and go hang around so we can go get lunch together. Tell Chuu to send Kookie back in.”

He just shakes his head in amusement, but kisses his mother anyways and goes off to ask her secretary to send the man back in, whatever he did in the company. No, Jackson didn’t know every single employee, just the ones he interacted the most with, he had his intel team to keep an eye on everyone, his mind was already pretty full with other things to worry about.