"Mom?"

There was a brief silence before the older woman talked.

"Ah, sorry. I lost my balance," she said as she kneeled to pick up the fallen things.

Jessica was about to get out of her bed, but her best friend stopped her from doing so. "You stay here. Let me do it." Tiffany quickly approached her best friend's mother and helped her.

"Thank you," Jessica's mother said.

Tiffany nodded. And there was another silence after that.

"Ehm," Tiffany cleared as she looked at her best friend. Jessica didn't have any courage to look at her mother. So did the older woman. She was only standing in her place, looking at the things she brought.

"I'm going to Yoona and Sooyoung. I'll be back later." Tiffany walked in Jessica's direction as she put her phone on the table next to the bed before. She picked it up and looked one last time at the silent girl. "I'm sorry. I hope it'll be fine." She whispered and patted the girl gently before leaving the room.

Now the room was in a real silence. Both of them didn't move any inches nor utter anything. Not until the mother moved from her place and walked to the bedside. She put her things on the table next to the bed and then took a seat. She looked at her daughter.

"Jessi," called her softly.

Jessica didn't turn her head yet, she was too afraid to look at her mother.

"Hey sweetheart." Jessica's mother moved closer to her daughter. "Look at me."

Jessica reluctantly turned her head to see her mother. "Mom," she muttered softly before looking down.

"Hey, don't be afraid, sweetheart. Mom is not gonna eat you." The mother lifted her daughter's chin so the younger one would look at her.

"But I..I...Mom...I...," Jessica stuttered. "You heard what I said, right?"

"Yeah. Somehow." Jessica's mother looked away from her daughter. She looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Mom. You must be ashamed of me." Jessica started to cry again.

Jessica's mother didn't immediately respond to Jessica's word. Instead, she closed her eyes for awhile. Then she took a deep breath before opening her eyes again.

"Jessi," her mother called again softly.

"Yes, Mom?" Jessica answered between her sobs.

"Is it true what I heard? That you like Yuri?"

Jessica nodded weakly.

"Yes, Mom," she paused to wipe her runny nose. "It's true that I like her," continued her in a very low voice. She was really afraid of what would be her mother's reaction.

Jessica's mother only huffed before she leaned back to the chair. "Okay then."

"Ehm, Mom?" Jessica looked at her mother confusedly in her teary eyes. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering Jessica's question, she asked another question. "She got in the same accident with you, right?"

Jessica nodded. "Yes, Mom. She saved me from getting hit by the truck. In the end she got hit instead of me.”

"Hemm, so Jessi," she called again.

"Ye...Yes, M..Mom?" Jessica stuttered so badly.

Jessica's mother looked at her frightened daughter. "Hey sweetheart, don't be afraid. Mom is not gonna eat you."

"I..I know it, Mom. But there is still a chance that you will yell at me or maybe slap me or worse disown me from being your daughter." Jessica answered truthfully.

Jessica's mother instantly laughed hearing her daughter's words. "Ah, so that's scarier than I'm eating you?"

"Of course, Mom. It's better if you eat me right now than you don't want me as your daughter anymore. It's a lot more easier, Mom. I don't have to live a hellful life."

Jessica's mother laughed again, "Oh, sweetheart." She got up and hugged her daughter tightly. "Don't cry," she patted the younger one gently. "My daughter looks more beautiful when she is smiling."

"How can I smile right now, Mom? My life is at stake now." Jessica muffled between the hug.

"Oh my god, Jessi," she laughed again. "I won't disown you, so you don't have to be so afraid anymore, okay?" She let her go to look at her face clearly.

"Really, Mom?"

"Yes, sweetheart. How can I do that to my precious daughter?" She wiped away the tears on Jessica's cheek. "Hemm?"

"I don't know, Mom. Maybe because your precious daughter is a gay?"

Her mother laughed again. "So now my daughter considered herself as a gay?"

"I don't know, Mom. But ain't I? I like a girl in fact. Doesn't it make me a gay?”

"Hemm yeah, you get the point." She laughed again for the nth times.

"Mom?" Jessica looked at her mother. "You sure laugh a lot for someone who just found out her daughter likes another girl."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are, Mom." Jessica said through her sniffing.

"Oh, okay. It's because you're too cute sweetheart," she said before she pinched Jessica's cheeks.

"Mom, hurts!" Jessica pouted, completely finished her crying.

"See? You're so cute!" She laughed again.

Jessica pouted even more that made her mother smiled widely.

"Alright, alright. Mom is serious now." She had changed her expression into a very serious mode. She looked at her daughter.

“I guess I should’ve seen it coming…somehow…”

Jessica turned to look at her.

“I know I’m not always here in Seoul, but I’ve noticed it too, Jessi. You’ve changed a lot since you entered high school. Since you befriend with your new best friends. You’ve been smiling more, talking more and having more social life. You were practically a sleeping log before you knew them.” She chuckled at the last part.

Jessica sulked at her mother’s remark.

“What? It’s true. You and sleeping is like soulmate, so inseparable. All you do is sleeping anyway. You don’t really like to go or hang out with your friends. Until one point I was really scared what was wrong with you.

“Mom, I wasn’t that bad. I still hang out with Fany sometimes.”

“Sometimes, Jessi,” her mother emphasized it. “I can count it with my fingers how many times you hang out in one year before,” Jessica’s mother laughed while counting on her fingers.

Jessica could only pout to that. After all, her mother was right.

“Then you started to go out more. Until I lost count of it. You almost spent your times together with them everyday, although you’ve seen them at school too. And the good part is you always look happier every time you hang out with them.”

“And out of all your new best friends, you’ve been hanging out with Yuri a lot. There are so much ‘I’ll go with Yuri’, ‘I’ll go to Yuri’s place’, ‘Yuri will accompany me’, ‘Yuri will come over’ and so many other Yuri relating stuffs in these past months. And did you realize how much you have always talked about Yuri whenever you told the story about your best friends?”

Jessica blushed at that. She didn’t realize it.

“I…” Jessica’s mother cleared . “At some point, I actually thought you were already together…”

“What?” Now Jessica was surprised by her mother sudden confession.

She nodded. “I can see it in your interactions, Jessi. Also, all the attention she gives to you. Much more than your other best friends would do for you. It need to be more than friendship to make someone go out at night just to give sweet treats in order to cheer you up or accompany you all night just to rehearse that drama script all over again. And the way you smiled and laughed that only happened whenever you with her. You two are practically inseparable.”

“Mom, that…” Jessica was blushing furiously.

“But back then, I used to think it was just my stupid imagination. That I was thinking too much about you two. So I convinced myself that you two are just very very good best friends.”

“I used to think like that too, Mom,” Jessica mumbled.

“So you’ve just realized it now?”

Jessica nodded. “The thought of it really messed me up, Mom. At first, I denied it a lot. I can’t believe myself that I actually have a feeling towards Yuri, which in fact is a girl. I’m scared about that, Mom. I feel like there is something wrong with me. That I’m not normal. But now I finally can sort out my feelings well. Thanks to this accident.”

"I can understand your fear, sweetheart. We, me and you, live in the world constructed by society. There are things that common and uncommon. And people tend to draw the normal definition based on the largest population, leaving the uncommon one labelled as the abnormal."

Jessica’s mother tucked the strain of Jessica’s hair into her ear to get a better look at her daughter. She continued again. "And so far, we've known that girl will like boy, woman loves man, they get married and have a child. Just like me and your Dad. That's what we call a normal relationship is.