With your phone in one hand and the controller in the other you went through the channels of the TV, while trying to read the message that your mom had just sent you ten minutes ago. You knew that if you wouldn’t reply to her soon that she would call you and that she would make a fuss. It was always like that, if parents couldn’t answer to a text, then it couldn’t be helped, but if it were the children who didn’t reply, then all hell broke loose. A frown covered your forehead as you looked up from the small screen and gazed towards the door where your boyfriend had just disappeared through. He had been in that bathroom for over ten minutes now, what the hell was he up to this time? You hadn’t forgotten that one day he had decided to take a bad and had forgotten he had left the water running. Or that time he had dropped the hair dryer in the sink and had almost electrocuted himself. Or a few weeks ago when he had slipped on a damp tile. Seriously, there were people who dared to call you clumsy, but they had never met him before. Of course you loved him, with all his flaws, but if he would make a mess out of your bathroom once more than he could clean it up himself. Just when you were suspicious enough to get your lazy up from the couch and go over to check on him, your phone ringed. “.” You muttered, staring at the ID and seeing your mom’s picture covering your phone. You should have known better, you should have answered her first. Now she would ask you about what she had sent you, and you couldn’t even remember the content of her text, she wasn’t going to be happy. 

After letting out a really deep sigh to let out your frustrations, you picked up and held the phone against your ear. Though your eyes didn’t once leave the bathroom door, just in case your boyfriend would appear through it. “Hey mom.” You said cheerfully, trying to keep your voice light and airy, hoping that it would make her feel better too. It was just her personality, to get worried straight away when someone didn’t answer her calls or if someone ignored her. She was a really sweet and adorable woman, you loved her, but sometimes she could be exhausting. You remembered when you had told her that you were moving out and were buying your own place, she almost got a stoke. You were her only child and she was protective over you, it had only gotten worse after your father had left her. “Hi honey, I texted you something earlier, didn’t you see it?” She asked and you rolled your eyes at her words before throwing the controller onto the salon table and locking your eyes on the TV. Apparently you had settled for a cooking show, but to be honest you weren’t sure if you would ever cook that image that was visible on your screen right now. You pulled a sour face as you stared at it, watching the strange colored vegetables laying beside an even stranger looking piece of meat. Why would someone voluntarily eat that? “Yes, I was just reading it when you called. I was…Cooking.” You mumbled with raised eyebrows, and decided that it was better to just shut the TV down before you would loose all your interest in food for the rest of the evening. Your mother hummed, as if she wasn’t really sure if she had to believe you or not, but didn’t say anything about it anymore as she went along. 

“So ____________ (your father’s name) is passing by next weekend, and I was actually wondering if you and Baekhyun wanted to come over for dinner. It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen him.” With that your nose cringed and you grabbed one of the pillows that lay beside you so that you could pull it onto your lap and mess with the hairs that covered it. Ever since him and your mother had been divorced she no longer called him ‘your dad’, from that moment on she had always used his name. It had left her heart broken, she had loved that man for most years of her life and you felt bad for her. But when they had decided to separate, you had actually been relieved. All they had been doing was fighting, making up and fight again, until they were no longer able to compensate. For a while you had been having the same wish as every daughter, which was for them to love each other again. But when that hadn’t seemed possible anymore, surely not after you had found out that your father had met someone else, you had given up on that and you had just wished for them to be happy, no matter if that was with each other or without. Your dad got remarried last year, with a woman who loved flowers and puppies and who wore a pink dress to her own wedding. It was definitely something new and refreshing, but she wasn’t you cup of tea, so you rather stayed out of her way. Your mom was still alone, which was probably the reason why she relied on you that much, and why she called you that often. “Sure, we’d love to come.” You said, but that was a lie and she knew it, you would rather stay here and order some take out than having to share a table with those people. It wasn’t like you hated your dad for what he had done, but you two had gotten into a few misunderstandings after he had left, and that new woman surely wasn’t helping with the case. 

“Oh, I know you don’t. I know what you’re thinking, that I shouldn’t get myself into this. That I shouldn’t invite him over because I’ll only torture myself even more.” She said and you sighed, this time making sure that she could hear it. Two of your fingers squeezed the bridge of your nose as you tried to make out what to say. If you had to tell her the truth then you’d have to tell her that she was right, because you didn’t want her to let your father come eat with his new wife at her place. You knew what it would do to her if she would have to sit with him all night long. But you couldn’t do that, you couldn’t tell her the truth because that would hurt her even more. “No mom, I think it’s a great idea, really. Just send me the hour and we’ll be there.” You eventually said just at the moment you heard someone else calling your name, the sound coming from the direction of the bathroom. God, what was it now? Who knew what you would be up for? Without hesitating you stood up from your spot, leaving the pillow back on its previous place and you walked towards the closed door. “Mom, I really have to go now okay? I will see you then.” You said, your hands already curling around the handle, the material feeling cold inside of your hand. While your mother bade you goodbye you tried to listen if you could hear anything suspicious coming from the other room, but it stayed rather quiet. What was he doing in there? You stopped the call and pushed the phone into the pocket of your shorts, which was loosely hanging around your thigh