That night when I finally returned home, the clock struck ten o’clock. Early for some but very late for my Umma which was why I was so surprised to see her sat in the family room when I walked through the front door.

It was clear she had been waiting up for me.

“You’re still up?” Was all I could think of to say. Tonight’s events were still trying to sink in and now I would have Umma to answer to.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” She shot the accusation like a freaking missile. A missile that I was certainly not expecting. Not so soon anyway.

“Not avoiding. It’s more like two ships passing in the night.” I lied. Very badly, I might add. Umma could tell as well.

“I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of thinking that I believe your lies. All I want to know is how did handing the letter to Sungah’s boyfriend go?” She asked with a calculating expression held on her face.

The thing about Umma and I was, she knew me well enough to see through any lie I could concoct but I knew her well enough to know when she was trying to test me.

“It went fine but you already know that. Taehyung mentioned he called and spoke to you.” I decided to answer truthfully.

“Ah, that he did. Nice boy. He seemed so polite and well mannered.” Umma sighed but I sensed the underlying meaning to her words.

“Exactly the type of guy acceptable to be Sungah’s boyfriend.” I found myself speaking aloud the words I know my Umma had been thinking.

“Why did he want to talk to you?” Umma’s question made me speechless. She carried on talking.

“I can understand him contacting Miss Kim and even me, but why you?” She questioned, searching my face for answers.

I had to give her something. Right now, she was like a dog with a bone. I knew she wouldn’t let this go if I didn’t give her a logical answer.

“He wanted to thank me face-to-face for getting the letter to him. When I dropped the letter at his Apartment, he wasn’t available so I left the letter with his friend.” I spoke confidently. A little lie mixed in with a sprinkle of truth. It made it harder for Umma to decipher whether to believe me or not.

I took pleasure from watching her try.

“That was all?”

“At first, but I met with him tonight and he offered me a job.” I confessed, not being able to keep this new development to myself anymore. When I saw Umma’s reaction though, I wish that I had held it back.

“Tonight? A job? What sort of job?” She began to fire her questions at me. It was too late to get into this conversation. I could practically hear my bed calling my name from upstairs.

“Just a job. It doesn’t even matter because I’m not going to take it.” I said, turning away from her.

I had hoped that would be the end of it. I had every intention of making my way up to my bedroom to get some much needed rest but Umma’s next word stopped me in my tracks.

“Good.”

“Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, turning back to look at the woman who was supposed to be genetically programmed to love me above all others.

I guess Umma missed that memo.

“Well he’s Sungah’s boyfriend. He belongs to her--” She began but I found myself cutting her off.

“He was Sungah’s boyfriend and the last time I checked, Taehyung is a person, not an object from somebody to own.”

“Regardless, I don’t want you getting too close to Taehyung. He was and always will be Sungah’s in my eyes.” Umma proclaimed.

I heaved out a heavy sigh, trying to stop my eyes from rolling at her words.

“What has any of this got to do with Taehyung offering me a job?” I snapped, losing my temper momentarily. I noticed at that point that Umma’s eyes were beginning to fill up with tears.

Great, she was about to start playing the victim.

“I don’t want you getting closer to him!” She shouted, her voice breaking slightly. It