[A/N] This chapter may be very boring. I wanted to take time and make it a longer, but it's shortly before summer vacation, so I have so many tests to grade. I'm afraid it'll take me too long to finish the "long chapter". Therefore I've decided to post a short update. (You can wait and read both chapters at once though.) 

„Mom? Tell me about you and dad.”

“What do you want to know, honey?” Taemin’s mother asked back.

“Everything… like how did you meet? How did you fall in love? How did you get married?” Mrs. Lee wondered about her son’s sudden curiosity. Yet, she answered anyway.

“Well, it’s a long story.” Noticing Taemin’s curiosity, she knew he truthy wanted to hear the whole story.

“Well… Your dad used to go to this bar that was owned by my ex-boyfriend.” She decided not to tell her son, she was married at the time she met his father.

“And every day he went there with another lady, but he never left the bar with them. That was when I thought he was a very weird person.” She said, laughing. Taemin smiled but didn’t say a word but listened carefully.

“It was my responsibility to close the bar and for some reason, he stayed every night until closing time. So, we started talking to each other and I don’t remember when it happened, but we became friends.”

“Did you meet dad before he became a billionaire?” Taemin asked. Deep down he was a romantic person. Imagining his parents going through a hard time together to have a happy end. That’d be so fairy tale like.

“No, your father was already pretty successful by the time we met. Me, on the other hand… how do I say it?” Mrs. Lee took a deep breath.

“I met your father at a very hard time in my life.” She sighed before continuing.

“I was in a … toxic relationship that didn’t do me any good.” Taemin’s mother skipped the details of the abusing. Her little boy didn’t need to know every horrible thing.

“When I met your father, we were just friends. He was someone who could listen and at some point, he showed me I deserved better.” Taemin nodded, unknowingly agreed.

“Why did you stay with your ex, when he didn’t treat you right?” That wasn’t just any question. This question meant a lot to Taemin. Why? Because that was the same question he needed to answer right now. Why did he want to stay? Why did he fall for Minho who didn’t treat him like he deserved?

“It was very complicated. He was different when I fell in love with him. He was charming. He was… exciting and he made me feel special.” Taemin noticed the sad smile that appeared on his mother’s face for a split second. After all, she still remembered Kibum’s father at his young age. She knew she wasn’t irresponsible for her fate. She knew he was the heir of a gang, and still, she chose to love him. She was young and naïve, that was what she told herself. A bad boy that was hated the world but loved her. That made her feel special. That made her feel loved.

“But people change,” she added.

“And still you stayed. Why?” Taemin asked in confusion. Maybe his mother could explain. She did the same thing as he was doing now. “Mother knows best” right? Until this point, Taemin hadn’t noticed how much he got it from his mother. Maybe he even inherited her proclivity for “bad boys”.

“I couldn’t leave your half-brother,” that she couldn’t tell.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” she lied, and the answer didn’t satisfy Taemin at all.

“Until your father offered me an opportunity,” she once again hid the truth. How could a mother tell her son, he was the reason she left her abusive husband? Because technically she cheated on Kibum’s dad and left him when she got pregnant with Taemin. She didn’t want Taemin to feel like he destroyed Kibum’s life. After all, she still dreamed of the day when her