chapter forty- daughter.

[a/n: huge time skip here. keep up!]

The time they spent at the airport was awkward. Yuri and Ren were playing with Ren’s PSP while the other four remained tense.

Kim Jungah, Jonghyun’s mother, was the only person they were afraid of, other than Hwang Eunbi. In fact, they were more afraid of her than Eunbi. Jonghyun’s mother was that scary.

“Jonghyun-ah, are you sure it was your mom?” Aron asked for the nth time after staring at the clock. “It wasn’t Eunbi noona trying to trick us or something?”

“Hyung.” Jonghyun said, looking at Aron solemnly. “The last thing noona wants is for us to be out of school.”

“And besides,” Minhyun added. “Noona is with Changmin hyung. Hyung got back from Japan and is leaving for LA tomorrow. She won’t even have time to think about us until tomorrow.”

 “I don’t get it.” Yuri said, looking away from the PSP, having all attention directed towards her. “Why is it such a big deal?”

Oh Yuri,  all the boys shared the same thought. How could you understand?

Smiling at her, they all turned towards the board which had the flights listed on it. Right in front of their eyes, Jungah’s flight changed to landed.

“She’s here!” they all exclaimed at once.

.

Jungah was pissed. Kim Jungah was pissed.

As soon as she got the message from Hwang Eunbi, saying that her baby Jonghyun had been intimidated, she was on fire. Nobody, simply nobody, intimidates her baby. No one other than her and Eunbi.

“I’m going to catch the next flight to Seoul. Don’t tell Jonghyun, I’ll let him know when I get there.” She had told Eunbi. Eunbi was a girl whom Jungah had lived under the same roof for more than fifteen years. She understood. And she obeyed.

The air hostess announced that they had landed in Seoul. Jungah looked out of the window and smiled. She was home, to her birth country which she hadn’t been to in more than ten years.

Not that anybody cared.

Her smile only widened, imagining how her son and his friends’ reaction would be to see her.

She couldn’t wait.

.

“MOM!” Jonghyun literally screamed, seeing his mother come out of the arrivals gate with nothing but a backpack hung from her right shoulder. And unlike other Koreans, he didn’t shout omma or omonim, he shouted mom. In English.

All Koreans’ eyes were on him as he ran towards his mother and threw his arms around her.

It was a touching reunion. Something you’d rarely see from a boy his age. Mothers, who were with their teenage children, couldn’t help but smile at the scene, wishing their children were also like that.

It wasn’t only other mothers who were caught in awe, but also Yuri. She couldn’t help but be jealous of their close relationship. She knew, more than well, that she and her mother could never be like that.

“Are they alwa…” Yuri started but trailed off, having four heads nod a yes to her unfinished question. And before she could ask anything else, theboys had begun to rush towards Jonghyun’s mother as well.

“Omonim.” They greeted politely, each being enveloped in a hug as well, while Yuri just stood there, watching them.

“Little brats, trying to be polite.” Jungah grinned as she took turns hugging them. When it was Minhyun’s turn, she smirked. “Look at that, Minhyun.” She said. “You actually look good.”

“I know right.” Yuri could hear the smugness in his voice. “Girls flock around me, asking me what happened, giving me chocolate, telling me to get better.”

“Liar, you didn’t even go to school.” Jonghyun said, rolling his eyes.

“What difference does it make?”

“Too much PDA.” Jungah seemingly whispered to Aron who nodded solemnly.

“Aish, mom!”

They all shared the laugh. That was, until Jungah’s eyes caught Yuri.

Seeing that Jonghyun’s mother had noticed her, Yuri smiled weakly. Jungah returned the smile.

“Aren’t you boys rude.” She said. “Leaving a girl you brought with you all alone.”

Five bulbs lit up.

“Yuri!” they all exclaimed in unison.

“Ahaha, I still am here.” Yuri said with a weak laugh, walking towards them. “Hello, I’m Nam Yuri, um, Jonghyun oppa, along with others’ friend.”

Nam Yuri, my darling, you are more than that. Jungah smiled. “Kim Jungah, Jonghyun’s mother. But you already knew that.”

“Not your name, but, pleased to meet you, Jungah-ssi.”

“Call her omma, because there’s nothing she can do about it.” Jonghyun cheekily said, grabbing hold of Yuri’s left hand.

“And here I was going to tell you how much of an example you should take out of her.” Jungah sighed. “You boys never learn.”

“You’re the one to talk, omma.” Minki said. “Last time you lost your job, someone ended up in the hospital.”

“What?” Yuri asked, rather shocked as the boys snickered.

“It was self defense.” Jungah said at once. “The guy tried to drag me out of the office even when I told him not to touch me. Besides, that was seven years ago.”

“When we were ten, but we still remember that incident.” Baekho added.

“Nobody cares, Dongho.” Jungah said.

“We do.” The five boys replied at once.

Jungah just rolled her eyes.

“Oh, omma.” Jonghyun said suddenly. “Woohyun hyung’s waiting in the parking lot with the car.”

“Really? I need to talk to that boy.”

“We figured.”

.

After the Yuri and Jungah were introduced to each other, everyone scattered to different places. Ren and Aron went to buy some things Ren had wanted, JR had taken Jungah to meet Woohyun while Yuri, Baekho and Minhyun went to buy some food for them.

Yes, Jonghyun had sent Yuri, Baekho and Minhyun together, expected something to happen. Which did.

“Jungah-ssi is really pretty.” Yuri said. “She doesn’t look that old.”

“Call her omma.” Minhyun said, lazily, as if he hadn’t noticed anything else in what Yuri had said. “If Jonghyun told you to call her omma, that means you have to call her omma.”

“She isn’t that old, actually. She’s only in her mid-forties.” Baekho answered. “She got Jonghyun when she was twenty seven and his father thirty two.”

“Oh. My parents got me when my father was thirty three and my mother was thirty two.” Yuri said. “My mother is older.”

“I’m not surprised.” Minhyun said. “She’s plastic, inside out.”

“As embarrassed as I am to admit it, she is.” Yuri sighed. “I wish Jungah-ssi was my mother.”

She is. The boys shared the thought, looking at Yuri with meaningful eyes.

“Like we said, call her omma.” Minhyun said. “I really hate repeated what I say.”

“Huh?” Yuri looked up at Minhyun. “What did you say?”

“I said, call her omma. And I hate re..” Minhyun trailed off, seeing the sly smirk on Yuri’s face. He groaned and turned away. “When did you get so annoying?”

Baekho and Yuri laughed.

“Since I got so jealous.” Her voice was soft, but Baekho didn’t miss, as she said after their laughter. Minhyun’s mind was already in a faraway place.

“Don’t be.” Baekho whispered to her. “She’s every much as your mother as she is of Jonghyun’s. She won’t treat you in any other way, neither will she feel about you in any other way. I know this when I’m saying this. Jungah omma has long accepted you as her daughter. As Jonghyun had long accepted you as his sister.”

shotuout!

double update. wait for it.