“Everything’s great, Sohyun had a Student’s Night at her school last night, she was beautiful. I asked Juhyun to be her date cause that boy she was apparently seeing is—I don’t know, she said he broke up with her after two weeks of dating.” Baekhyun glanced at his mother from behind once he was done tying her hair into a ponytail. “How did your week go, Eomma?”

He received the usual, big up-and-down childlike nod from her, her hands proceeding to pet her teddy bear. “Oh! Nurse Jiyeon washed Lulu yesterday and we took her to a blind date with Yoshin’s cat, Nurse took us out to the garden and we had tea, I realized I don’t like tea anymore that much. Jinyoung. . . like tea. I bought Jinyoung new tea last month but he said he doesn’t like that one, so I gave it back to the nurses. I was sorry though; I stole them for your step-father.” She then started blurting out stories that could be half-true and half-false, at least in Baekhyun’s experience.

The half-true part of it was Jinyoung not liking tea.

Jinyoung was her late-husband, the third ‘love of her life’ which could have been it. He was the only man who actually married her. The other two guys; one was Baekhyun’s father and one was Juhyun’s father were complete s. He was the one, he really was the one. That’s what Baekhyun would always hear from her.

But he had a lot of issues. Despite his pure kindness and love for them, he was not mentally and emotionally stable. Jinyoung had a lot of troubles within himself. During the last months of his life, he had trouble even physically functioning on a daily basis. Baekhyun saw all of it as a teen with his then very young siblings, he encountered how much the man actually tried. He really tried to fight through those demons in his head. . . but later on failed and chose to have the peace of mind he was yearning for, in his own way.

He took his own life. And since that day, it was nothing but hell and grieving for Baekhyun’s mother. As if he had taken her life along with his.

“Oh really? What kind of tea was it, Eomma? Maybe I’d like it. Although, I wouldn’t want you to steal again. Alright?” Baekhyun laughed it off, he knew about the tea incident. Her nurse, Hwang Jiyeon, had informed him about it earlier. “I. . . I just want Jinyoung to be happy. I’m sorry, don’t be mad at me. I t-thought if I get it for him, he will not leave me anymore.” His mother then started sobbing making him adjust himself beside her on the bed for a hug.

“No no no, I didn’t mean it that way. It’s alright, I’m not upset.” He assured her, reaching out to her head for a light . “But didn’t I always tell you, he didn’t leave because you didn’t make him happy. He had. . . other problems. We made him happy but. . . wherever he is right now, maybe he’s happier, right?”

His mother looked at him, dead serious. “But he’s the one for me, right? Tell me, he’s like a prince. You saw him, tell me! He is perfect, isn’t he? He took care of you and Juhyun like his own and then we had Sohyun, he got even nicer and more loving. Right? All three of us, so so happy.” She smiled, her blood-shot eyes forming a crescent shape. Baekhyun solemnly smiled back while nodding. “Baekhyun, my baby.” His mother held both of his hands down to her lap and gave him these pleading puppy-eyes.

“Would you allow me to go look for him? I. . . I wanna be happier too and be with him. I’m not happy here, please?”

It broke his heart; he knew his mother probably doesn’t even know what she’s talking about anymore but it still stabbed him right on the chest to hear such sentence coming out of . “Y-you’re silly.” Baekhyun muttered before pulling her for a tight hug. “No?” His mom innocently asked but hugged him back just as tight as he was doing so. “Eomma, that’s why I always tell you, as long as you’re a good girl. Always follow the doctor’s instructions, participate on your therapies and don’t have tantrums whenever you need to take medications, you will be better and then I can take you home. Okay?” Baekhyun reminded her, like every single time he visits.

It’s been nearly nine years since she got admitted to the facility, he didn’t want to at all. During that time, he was willing to take care of her and his siblings while starting university but a point came where it was already unbearable, she began showing signs of risky behaviors and even suicide, he had to take her in and trust professionals to take care of her.

She was only thirty-eight at that time. Baekhyun wanted her to live longer and not waste life like Jinyoung did. He took in all of her responsibility after that, at a young age of twenty-one.

Cutting the whole depressing topic, Baekhyun pulled away from the hug and fixed his mother’s hair, tucking it behind her ear, treating her like a lady. It made her smile. “Now you, missy, need to finish your lunch. I’m not going anywhere until you finish it, okay? C’mon.”

“Uhm. . . where’s Yerin? She didn’t message me about it so, yeah. I was just curious. I’d think she would confirm with me first, for safety, Sir.”

Instead of a smile, he received a snort. A sarcastic snort from the man standing in front of him. “Safety, are you joking with me? And what, you’re texting and calling each other by the name now? Like on a daily basis? So much for a tutor, huh.” He replied making Baekhyun feel profoundly uncomfortable. Do Kyungsoo came to school today to pick Inyoung up. It’s a Wednesday and