Chapter 47

Leo tilted his head back, a long withheld sigh escaping past his lips as he ran his hand on Milk's fluffy white fur. His mother was somewhere inside the room, walking back and forth and telling him all about how he had been acting strangely the past few days and even missing out on his lectures. Leo just allowed her voice to drown out and focused on listening to his cat's soft purring instead, but –

"Are you listening, Taekwoon?" His mother said, stopping at her current course and tapping her foot with impatience. "Is it because of that boy?" She bit on her thumb as she pondered to herself. "Even though I told him not to ever see you..." 

Leo thought that she might just be formulating ways of how to tear them apart and it almost made him laugh. How could she possibly even do that when he had already walked out on N earlier? Leo wondered what kind of reaction she would have if he told her. Would she be smiling and gush over how he had been a good son for following what she wanted? Or would she still be unsatisfied and force him into meeting the girl that his older sister told him about the other day? Well, Leo found his answer once he spoke over her just as she was about to say something, "He only really met up with me to say goodbye so it all worked out well in the end." Leo stopped Milk's fur and turned to his mother who was waiting for him to continue explaining. However, he did not really dwell on the subject and moved on right away, "I have a lecture in about an hour and a half. After that, I have to meet the CEO. So if you have anything else to tell me that has nothing to do with 'that boy' then please tell me now. I still need to shower, umma."

Leo's mother was rendered speechless with what she was hearing. Still, she had doubts with what Leo was telling her, as she very well knew what she saw before, "You kissed that boy and had been looking for him all these years – do you expect me to believe what you're saying right now? Good luck kiss or not, I know what I saw!"

Leo scowled and almost snapped her, 'His name is not "that boy."' Thankfully, he managed to hold himself back and only said through his teeth, "That was years ago. My friend," he emphasised the word, "has a girlfriend so I don't know who would go after someone who is taken. Moreover, that friend is a guy and all these years, I have only dated girls. You should know this already, umma." Leo sighed and slumped back down on his armchair, once again caressing his sleeping cat that sat on his lap. "The thought itself is disgusting enough." Straight after he said those words, he felt somewhat sick with having to lie about N just so she would stop prodding into his business. Leo just bit his cheek in hopes that she would buy what he just said and leave him be.

To his wishes, his mother cleared and started talking about something else altogether, "So... Since your last girlfriend... I had been thinking... And asking around –"

"I broke up with her because you did not seem to like her even though you were the one who introduced her to me," Leo had cut her off, sounding slightly annoyed that she was still setting him up on dates or dinners with different girls. At first, he thought that perhaps getting a girlfriend would get his mother off of his back and possibly make him forget about his problems for a while. However, as he actually got to experience being with countless girls that had their red strings connected to someone else, Leo found that it gave him more headache and problems to deal with. "And I'd like it if you let me be about this dating thing, umma. I wouldn't have time for it once I start working and studying at the same time." He turned to her, "Is that okay?"

For a moment, he saw the dumbfounded looked on his mother's face. But she quickly collected herself and said, "As long as you focus on those and take care of your cat."

"Milk," Leo corrected her, shutting his eyes close and relaxing into his armchair. "My cat is called Milk..." Had he kept his eyes on his mother, he would have witnessed her looking offended with the way that he spoke to her. But since he already decided to practically dismiss her, his mother started to pick up her stuff all the while she muttered complaints under her breath and finally, in the end, her farewell greetings too. She did not forget to give her son a peck on his forehead and reminded him to give her a call every now and then. Leo hummed a reply and with that, she took her leave.

Only when Leo's mother had left did Leo let out the breath that he had been holding the entire time. With just one slight shift, Milk awoke on his lap, jumped off of him and ran to her basket to resume her sleep.

Leo had already long decided that he would not to go to his lecture for that day because it was the one that he least needed to attend to anyway. Standing up from his armchair, he stretched his arms above his head and yawned.

After a warm shower and some lunch that he managed to make out of the remaining ingredients left in his kitchen, Leo's destination had been to see Sanghyuk's sister at the recording studio as he had promised. She had greeted him and asked him politely if he had eaten. He nodded his head and returned the greetings.

Normally, during work, phones are not supposed to be brought along with them. But Leo just switched his phone's settings to 'silent mode' and kept it inside his bag. Once he greeted the other producers in the room, he discussed with them about how they would go about recording some of his songs for that day's agenda. It was expected that it would last up until the night and as Leo excluded meeting up with N because of what happened in the morning, he informed them that he was fine with the schedule. Soon e