"Really mom? You called Hyun Joong?" Min Ah asked as she slammed the key down in front of her angrily.

"He's your friend, I don't see how a visit can anger you so much. You were so heartbroken when he went off to sing that I would imagine you'd be happy" She answered coolly, placing down her cup in front of her.

"Well I wasn't and we're not friends anymore. Just admit it, you sent him over so that by some miracle I would think I didn't love Minho! How stupid do you think I am?! That was years ago!" Min Ah yelled in frustration.

"Lower your voice, the maid could hear" She hissed as she gave her a sharp look.

"The maid?! Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much I hate you?!" Min Ah yelled, feelings from long ago colliding inside of her. All this time growing up, she spent hours crying because her parents were never there. The one time she had ever felt close to her mother was when she gave her that mirror and now she waltzes in and tries to control everything?!

"Don't you think you're being childish? You're a university student now, act like one" Her mother said in a softer tone, something passing through her eyes.

"That's your problem mom. To you showing feelings is being immature. Well it's not! It's called being a human being and it's called being a good mother! You should try it sometime" Min Ah snapped angrily, flinching when her mother looked up at her with a deadly look.

"You have no idea what it's like to be a parent Min Ah. Sure I couldn't be there when you needed me, but you never went hungry, you always had everything you've wanted and if going to America and opening another business so that every single opportunity could be at your fingertips then I did what I had to do! And now you're willing to just discard it all for some boy! It wasn't easy leaving you, but I had to. What did you want me to do, break down in tears every time we talked?!" Her mother yelled as she pushed her chair back and stood up aggressively.

"And what about me mom? Did you ever consider that I needed to hear your cry at least once so that I wouldn't feel so alone? Minho is the first person who's actually put effort into our relationship, everyone else, you, dad, even Hyun Joong. You guys act if I don't matter all the decisions you've made, no one ever talked to me about it!" Min Ah said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Min Ah..." Her mother whispered as she took a step closer.

"Stop, I needed your love and support all this time, but now? I don't want or need it anymore. So just let me be happy, hop back on a plane and get back to America" Min Ah said seriously.

"You're going to get hurt Min Ah" Her mother insisted.

"You can't know that" She shot back quickly.

Her mother sighed deeply and for the first time Min Ah saw something, real in her mother's expression. Her shoulders drooped slightly as she turned and walked into the living room silently. Min Ah waited a second before she followed. Her mother sat on the sofa staring off into space, one hand rubbing her forehead tiredly.

"Before I married your father I was like you. I fell in love like a crazy teenager. I met that man at a party, you should have seen him Min Ah he was so... captivating and when he looked at me out of all the girls my heart sped off straight into his hands" Her mother began softly.

Min Ah cautiously approached her and sat at a distance. It was sad that she was uncomfortable that her mother was talking about this, it felt weird.

"It was right before his popularity really shot up that he asked me to be his girlfriend. I didn't put up any sort of defense and just happily agreed. Then he all of the sudden became popular" She continued, her voice even, "It was great at first we were so happy, but Min Ah you don't understand how hard it is to love someone in secret. He eventually grew tired of me, I wasn't made for his glamorous life and so we broke up. My parents were happy and quickly arranged a marriage match for me" She said with a small chuckle.

"That's when I met your father, he was so kind Min Ah that I agreed. It's amazing that he put up with me to begin with. I did nothing but cry for the first year of our marriage. He told me later that he felt more like a psychologist than a husband at that time" She said with a small smile.

"Where is that man now?" Min Ah asked quietly, still trying to process what her mother was telling her.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him in person since we broke up that day and I'm glad for it. We were young and immature and we thought we knew what love was" She said as she suddenly turned to Min Ah.

"Minho isn't like that, we really do love each other" Min Ah told her.

"Can you really make it Min Ah? Despite everything I know the way you are. You're stubborn and determined, can you really stand hiding in the shadows for years? Will you be able to stand sitting at home while scandals pop up, while he meets the most beautiful women out there? There isn't a man that wouldn't be tempted" Her mother said frustrated that she wasn't listening.

"There's a difference between being tempted and actually going through with it" Min Ah whispered.

"What a pity, I thought you were smarter than that Min Ah. I'll give you two years at the most, I'm sure you won't, but if you make it past that time with him then I won't stand in the way of your relationship. If you break up beforehand then you'll listen to what I say" Her mother said as Min Ah saw her build up her icy walls around her, "You'll learn one way or the other the lesson I tried to teach you today" She finished as she stood and walked away.

Min Ah sat and stared at the empty sofa in front of her. So, even her mother had love stories like this. She know understood why she always felt sorry for her father. It was look of longing in his eyes when he looked at her mother. She wondered if he loved her and if her mother loved him back. The man her mother dated, he probably wasn't like Minho. She closed her eyes, why did her mother choose moments like these to open up. She felt doubt creep up when her phone rang suddenly.

"Hey what are you doing? I have a little time, I might smell a bit but let's go out for coffee real quick?" Minho said, she could hear the music from his practice playing in the background softly.

"I'm at my mother's house, I talked to her and convinced her to leave us alone" She said, omitting the little story she had just heard.

"Are you serious?! Then we definitely have to celebrate! Are you sure she's not tricking you or something?" He asked a bit suspicious.

"No she's serious, but we can talk more about that later. Want to meet at that cafe we went to last time?" She asked as she grabbed her stuff and walked out of the large and lonely house.

"Yeah I'll be there soon! Love you!" Minho added in quickly, loving the way it felt to say that.

"I love you too" She said brightly.

That's right, she had no reason to doubt Minho. They were going to do fine, she would show her mother that not all men are the same. She rushed to get there when her phone rang once again, she looked down in surprise to see it was a blocked number.

"... Hello?" Min Ah answered hesitantly.

"I want to talk to you I'm dropping by your house" Hyun Joong said suddenly.

"Sorry I'm busy" She responded quickly.

"Busy with what? I'll come get you" He said as he parked in front of her apartment and looked around, well her car wasn't there so at least he knew she wasn't lying.

"I'm going on a date so I don't have time. I'm also going to be very busy from now until the end of time so don't call again" She snapped and hung up.

Well, he's still as persistent as he was before.

Her phone rang again and she silenced it as she headed to where Minho was waiting.

Min Ah's mother watched as she ran out and hopped into her car. Guilt was an ugly thing she realized, as Min Ah's words fluttered around in her head. She knew she hadn't been a good mother, but she had tried. Clearly not enough though she realized as she walked into her husband's study.

"I heard some yelling, I assume Min Ah was here?" He asked as he put down some papers and looked at her.

"If you knew why didn't you come down?" She asked him accusingly as she took a seat.

"I felt like I would intrude and you two haven't spent much time together and now with that boy in the picture... honestly, I didn't want to" He joked as he gave his wife one of those looks that made her heart skip.

"I'm listening to your advice, I'm going to let her find out on her own what a mistake she's making, I gave her two years. I just wish she didn't have to go through the pain" Her mother said softly.

"She'll be alright. She's a lot stronger than we think. I'm going to make some calls so that his group has more opportunities to become popular, what was it called again? Sparkly?" He asked as he picked up his phone.

"It's SHINee dear. How is that going to help us again?" She asked him with a smile at his forgetfulness.

"I heard it's hard out there, if his group doesn't become popular then things will stay the same. We have money to spare, if we help give them...a nudge in the right direction faster then we can save Min Ah from wasting any more time on that kid" He said, pulling out his address book and searching for the right numbers.

"Right... she'll thank us eventually" Her mother said more to herself than anything.

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I really wanted to put her parents in a slightly better light. I think most parents always think they're doing the best even though they might not be so I gaveher mom a bit of a background story =) On a more SHINee related choice of topic I'm soooo excited for their comeback!!!! I've missed them sooo much! I was listening to their Japanese album and their song Seesaw... OMG <3 <3 <3 It's so... y XD I've had it on replay for a while and almost title this chapter Crazy Seesaw even though it has nothing to do with the chapter... AT ALL  Why didn't that one have an MV?! I wonder what kind of concept they;re going to comeback with? *-*

Thanks for reading!