“Wait! Mom, don’t worry. I got this.”

Chanyeol ran into his room, blushing madly as he took a handful of underwears away from his mother’s hands.

“Mom,” Chanyeol sighed as he looked at his mother, who was blinking innocently at him. “I thought you wanted me to be independent.”

“Yes I do.” His mother said as-a-matter-of-factly. “But what does that have to do with me helping you pack your underwears?”

Chanyeol groaned. “Mother, I am old enough to do my own packing, let alone my underwears,” he whispered the last part.

“Alright alright,” his mother surrendered, stepping aside to watch Chanyeol as he continued packing.

Choi Sumin, even though nearing to her fifty, still managed to keep her beauty and body over the thirty years of marriage. She leaned against the doorway, eyes b with tears as she stared at her son’s lean figure. She had no choice. Sumin was running out of options. She was just an ordinary housewife who relied on her husband for many things, now that she was on her own and with the responsibility of protecting their son; she had to make sacrifices, even if it meant leaving her son.

“I think I am good with the packing for now.” Chanyeol said proudly, turning to his mother, only to see tears running down from the slightly wrinkled face.

“Hey hey hey,” Chanyeol frowned lightly, “don’t cry, why are you crying Mother?”

“I am not crying.” Sumin protested strongly, “just got some sand in my eyes.”

“Sand?” Chanyeol grumbled, obviously not believing in his mother’s lie. “Come on, it was your idea for me to live at the school’s dorm, now you’re the one crying, what would that make me?”

“I told you I am not crying.”

“Mom, I’ll be able to take care of myself.” He sighed at his mother’s stubbornness. “I have good friends who will help take good care of me, don’t worry.”

“Worry?” His mother exclaimed between hiccups, “why – hup – would I – hup – be worried?”

“Then stop crying.” Chanyeol grinned, “I promise I will come visit you every week.”

Sumin shook her head, “I don’t want you to.” Chanyeol pouted at her and she chuckled. “You are now a senior; I want you to focus on your studies than your old mother, okay?” She shushed Chanyeol before he could argue. “If you want to go study aboard in America, you better start putting more efforts in school now.”

“Geez, now that you stopped crying, it feels like you are chasing me away.” Chanyeol joked bitterly. Nevertheless, he still zipped up his luggage bag, kissed his mother and walked out the doors. “Try not to miss me, Mom.”

Sumin watched as Chanyeol climbed into the car one of his friends lend and drove away.

“I made the right choice right?” she asked, facing th