"What do you think they're doing?"
Danah looked up at the sky. It was black, dotted with many little white stars that were shining as bright as the city's lights, no, brighter. She had her arms linked with her mother as they were slowly walking down the street. They had been strolling around for a while already, not really having a destination. They simply enjoyed ending up here and there.
"I don't know. Maybe they're talking. I don't think they had much time to do that."
"Talking?" A smirk appeared on Danah's lips, causing her mother to laugh.
"Or whatever two young men their age do when they're alone."
"And like each other."
Silence set in. Danah had her head lowered a little after her words. She was watching her feet, obviously thinking about whether she should ask what she wanted to ask or just leave it alone. There was a clear change in her voice when she decided to do it.
"Would you approve of it?"
"Of what?" Her mother turned her head to look at her.
"Well.. They really like each other. Hanbin and Mino, I mean."
"Why wouldn't I?" It was dark but Danah was still able to see the surprised look on her mother's face.
"I don't know", she shrugged her shoulders and let out a silent sigh.
"It's just.. I mean.. Do you remember Mino's school days? After he had lost weight and started to rap? He was quite popular back then. Suddenly all the girls wanted to hang out with him and he went on dates, but I never felt that that was what he wanted." Once again a sigh.
"There was this girl, I think her name was Sunhye, and we thought that it could work out after they had spent time together for a couple of weeks. But one evening he came home and told me "That's not it." First I didn't know what he was talking about, but when I realized that he had stopped meeting Sunhye, I knew what he meant. Then the thing with Block B happened and he started to be busy, then B.o.M and after that his underground career, until he ended up in YG."
Danah took a deep breath and slowed down a little. Her mother was listening carefully and let her talk without interrupting her.
"I actually never told you about this, but I talked to him on the phone on his first day as a trainee before you talked to him. He told me about his first impressions and about the other artists, and of course the other trainees." She smiled.
"The first thing he said about the trainees was "There's this kid, Hanbin. He's younger than me but man, he's a trainee dinosaur." When he said this, I knew something would happen. I knew it. He kept mentioning Hanbin whenever we had a conversation and I think he did it without even realizing it. He was especially talking about him a lot during their WIN days." Danah lowered her head again. The WIN days were nothing she needed to talk about more. It had been a tough time, for Mino and for his family as well. She cleared and turned to her mother.
"When he became a member of WINNER, I jokingly said that it's good that he doesn't have a girlfriend because things wouldn't be easy. I knew what I was talking about, I know the idol life. The restrictions, the fans. I expected him to crack a joke, but instead he just smiled and said "Yes, it wouldn't be easy. It still isn't." I thought about these words for so long, they didn't want to leave my mind, until I eventually understood that he was talking about Hanbin." Danah bit her lower lip. While she was saying all these things, they had stopped walking. Now they just stood next to each other and Danah shot a glance at her mother.
"I said a lot, I'm sorry. I just felt like talking to you about this, after we had already made Mino go crazy today."
Her mother looked back at her, smiled and headed for a bench. After they had sat down, she breathed in the chilly air and looked at the stars. None of them said a word, there was only silence for a while. Then Danah could hear a quiet sound leaving her mother's lips.
"You asked if I would approve of it, and I asked you why I would not approve of it. I guess there is something that I have to tell you, Danah."
The girl looked down at the hands that were suddenly grabbing hers. They were warm, as warm as the eyes she met when she looked up again.
"You're still young. Both of you. You haven't spent as many years on this planet as I did, you haven't had the time yet to learn the things I learned. I know what you want to say. I know what you're talking about. You want to know if I would approve of a relationship many others wouldn't approve of."
Danah dropped her gaze, proving her mother's words right.
"Look, Danah, the most important thing you will understand the older you get is that love doesn't have any restrictions. Love doesn't know such a thing. Love isn't about gender and age, even though there are people who want to make you believe she is. But she's not. The feeling we're talking about is not about a man and a woman physically fitting together or about getting married and having children. It's not fair to reduce love to such superficial things and ideas the society considers as normal and appropriate. What she is about is safety. About feeling home when you're with someone, feeling like you are where you belong. She's about adoring the good things in someone as well as their flaws. She's about acceptance, about sharing and caring. If you meet someone and you feel like you could die when that person is not around, if you feel empty because you miss their voice, their scent, their smile, then it's love, and then it doesn't matter what gender or age you are. The only thing that matters is the feeling."
She squeezed Danah's hands. Mino's younger sister only stared at her, those words were nothing she had expected, but after a few seconds, a wide, warm smile spread on her face.
"I know that it's hard for Mino, I can imagine", her mother continued.
"If he really likes Hanbin more than friends like each other, then that's not easy to handle, not in his position. But that doesn't change the fact that I approve of it and that I support it, no matter what others would think about it. You are my children and I want you to be happy."
Danah's eyes were shiny. She couldn't describe the happiness that was flooding her body. After what had happened earlier, she hadn't expected to have such a deep conversation with her mother at the end of the day. But it made her feel much better and she was really happy for her brother. He could need this encouragement.
"You are the best mother on earth", Danah hugged the older woman and held her for a while.
"Thank you so much. But I feel like we should have had this conversation together with Mino. I feel like he needs to hear this. Do you think you can repeat the exact same words later some time?"
They both started to laugh, still holding each other.
"I don't know if I can do that. But I can tell him that I wouldn't mind making Hanbin a part of our family. Will this work too?"
"Yes, mother. That's perfect!"