“Do you want some coffee?” You asked your mother, but both she and Seunghyun nodded. They were currently sitting at your dining room table having what seemed like a staring contest. Seunghyun was the only person you knew who could ever match the intense gaze of your mother. While other people cowered in fear, he actually smiled at her. Smiled.

Meanwhile you and Sophie were hiding in the kitchen under the pretense of food. You were making the food and she was begging for it. “It’s just so scary out there,” you whispered to her. She whined and pawed at your leg so you set down her kibble bowl and filled it up while the rice finished cooking.

You brought the coffee mugs out first and set them down in front of their respective owners. “Breakfast will be done in a minute,” you mumbled, gaining a glance from both of them. “Thank you, jagiya,” Seunghyun said, smiling sweetly. “Yes,” your mother said, “Thank you, baby girl.”

You slinked back into the kitchen, afraid of the pet names that were suddenly used. When breakfast was completely finished, you went back in and set down all of the dishes for the meal. “So how long have you two been dating?” your mother asked as the chopsticks clinked against the bowls.

“Twenty-eight days,” Seunghyun replied automatically. You paused before realizing that that was precisely the amount of time that you two had known each other for. It hadn’t even really been a full month. “And you’re already sleeping over? Isn’t that fast?” was your mother’s immediate reply.

“As I said before,” Seunghyun interjected before you could try and say anything, “we fell asleep while watching a movie. Don’t worry; I would never do anything to harm your daughter’s honor.” She nodded and it seemed peaceful for a moment before the interrogation began. She asked him every question she could think of. Some of them seemed normal like “What’s your job?” but others were completely odd like “What’s your favorite brand of soda?”

After about twenty minutes of this, your mother actually broke out into a smile. You sat frozen in your seat. He had tamed the beast. “You seem to be a rather nice young man,” she said, “but you collect bear bricks?”

“And other toys, I’m kind of a child at heart,” he admitted. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied with a nod. You looked back and forth between the two of them. The animosity was gone. Instead, your mother seemed to be slightly enamored with him. You weren’t sure which atmosphere scared you more.

“Well aren’t you going to clean up the table?” your mother snapped suddenly. You nodded and quickly cleaned up; taking longer than necessary in the kitchen until you heard her leave. “Is she gone?” you asked when Seunghyun wandered into the kitchen. “Yes, but where did my fake girlfriend go?” he asked, “Have you seen her?”

“Shut up,” you said, turning away. He broke out into a grin and chuckled, “There she is. What happened to you?”

“She scares me.”

“She’s your mother.”

“She’s a grizzly bear disguised in human form.” He laughed again before grabbing a towel to help you dry. “She didn’t seem that bad.” You shook your head and sighed, “You are the only person who has ever stood up to her like that and lived. She scared off any perspective guys I liked in high school along with some of my friends. Even my aboji couldn’t handle her.”

He paused at the last part, “You aboji?” You shrugged and continued washing, “He ran out a little after I was born. He said he couldn’t handle a woman who was so bossy. She says he was a wimp.” He set the bowl down and turned to you, “Are you okay?”

“It happened when I was two. Why would I not be okay?”

“That’s pretty hard stuff though.”

“Life is hard,” you replied before looking up at him. He nodded in agreement before helping you finish the dishes. It really was like he was your boyfriend. Even your mother liked him. Life was very hard indeed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

instead of studying for my spanish test, i decided to do this instead

YAY!!!!

...and now back to studying...