He Started It by Hitting on Me

Boyfriend

She was home way too early. It was only 5:14, and she decided to come back from work? With Jonghyun in my bedroom, nonetheless. Damn it, I knew it was the wrong day to bring him to my house. I even thought about this scenario, but shrugged it off, seeing that it wouldn't be in my chances. I see everything has a loophole.
I exhaled sharply, running a hand through the tangles of my hair. "Now what the hell are we supposed to do?" I muttered. Jonghyun had been on my bed the entire time I discussed matters with myself mentally, keeping a curious eye on me.
"We could sneak out of the house," he suggested.
I shook my head. "Not that simple. She's always in the kitchen and the kitchen gives you a good view of the door out. She could be in the living room, but the door's nearer by there," I explained, diminishing that plan.
"Oh. I'm not falling down the window, and that's final," he said, folding his arms. I made a face at him for a moment.
"We need to think of some way to get you out of here. You can't stay here for long."
"Well, will she come into your room? If not, we can stay quiet until she's gone and can't see us. Then I'll go home," Jonghyun recommended, raising his eyebrows for confirmation on the idea.
I shook my finger at him, nodding. "We can go with that. She doesn't bother coming in here," I mused. Jonghyun grinned, pleased with my reply. "Okay, since we got that covered...what do you want to do?"
Jonghyun blinked. "I don't know..." he trailed off. He patted the spot beside him. I locked the door before making my way towards him, taking the seat. I gave out another tired sigh as I folded my legs in a pretzel form. The mood around us suddenly became hushed. Clatters of dishes were sounded from downstairs; clearly telling us my mother was in fact in the kitchen. We heard water rushing, dishes clacking against each other. The sounds seemed to keep going on, as if they were recorded.
"Red," Jonghyun said out of the blue after minutes of silence. I frowned at the random word that was chosen to come out of his mouth.
"What?"
"Yellow," was his second reply.
I cocked an eyebrow. "Green."
"Blue," he responded.
"Purple."
"Orange."
"Black."
"White."
"Pink."
"Key."
I uttered a laugh, audible for him to hear only. "Lock," I made a response. We exchanged words back and forth, random at the most. Sometimes Jonghyun would say a disgusting word, and I would always think of a way to get around it. There was one time when he almost got me laughing, but he ssh-ed me before I could have barked out loud. The game didn't last long and we went on to something else, like "Rock, Paper, and Scissors".
"Rock, Paper, Scissors, say shoot!" I did rock; he did paper. Jonghyun waggled his tongue at me, raising his brow up and down. "Rock, Paper, Scissors, say shoot!" I did rock again; he did scissors. A smile came out of me as it spread across my face triumphantly. "Rock, Paper, Scissors, say shoot!" I went for a change and decided to paper, while Jonghyun stuck with scissors. His "scissors" attempted to cut my hand, yet they had a difficult time doing so.
"You can stop trying," I told him when his "scissors" weren't getting very far. They weren't anywhere at all, really.
"No...ugh...I have to cut your hands," he muttered. He groaned almost loudly when he pressed firmly against my hand, which resulted into nothing but me giving him a good whack on the head. Jonghyun's body reacted by jumping back, startled, and a small pout came over his face. He opened his mouth to say something-it was probably repulsive-but nothing came out. His eyes traveled to the door, as did mine when I figured something wasn't quite right. The floorboards were creaking, getting louder by every creak.
I knew those creaks well. I also had in mind what was creating those creaks. ", don't make any noise," I whispered hastily to Jonghyun, who sat frozen in his place. There were two more floorboard squeaks until I discerned solid footsteps walking through the hallway. The sound grew audible as it drew on closer to my door.
I listened attentively as my ears tried to pick up which direction she was going. She walked past my door, the footsteps fading in noise. A door shut, which might have been her bedroom door. I gave out a relieved sigh, turning to Jonghyun. "Okay, I think she won't be coming out of her room for a few minutes. That gives us enough time to get you out of the house," I informed him.
"Shouldn't we wait a little longer?" he tried.
I shook my head. "She'll come down to the kitchen or living room, possibly. Now is the chance to get you out of here."
He agreed to my plan ultimately. "I'll go down first so that if she does come down, we'll know it's not the time yet. Stay in my room without any excuse, got that? Don't move from the bed. I'll take my phone with me and text you when it's safe to come down," I instructed, pointing a finger at him.
"Okay, Commander Park." Jonghyun saluted me with two fingers as a soft, small smile appeared on his facial expression. I nodded and walked out the door. I walked down the stairs with silent footsteps, though the creaks didn't give a helping hand in this.
I landed at the front door, taking in view of both the kitchen and living room. There was no mom in any room. I clicked on 'Create Message' and typed Come down. I clicked 'SEND', waiting for Jonghyun to come down. I didn't have a good view of my bedroom from here so I would just have to stay patient until I see Jonghyun coming down the stairs. I glanced at the door behind me then back at the stairs. He should be here right about now.
A shadow of a figure appeared before it made it to the stairwell. I watched the shadow come into my sight, only to my dismay it turned out to be the woman who had given me birth. And right behind her was the guy I was attempting to help escape. My heart dropped ten feet, making a large, squishy thud on the ground. .
She strolled down the stairs with an impassive look in her eye, her gaze directed at me. I would rather hit my head against the wall than to stare into her lifeless orbs. I gave a brief look at Jonghyun, who seemed to be apologetic by what had happened. I nodded my head slightly to assure him it was fine. By the time she stood in front of me with her arms folded, the words began to roll out. "He was getting out of your room when I was already out. Explain why," she wanted to know.
I blinked first. My mouth opened halfway to reason with her, to answer her and give her a justified reason. I thought about it, though, and my causes weren't really that great or strong. My mother kept her stance tall and did not gesture me to go on nor did she tell me to go away. I had no words to develop on my tongue. Say something, at least; my conscious urged me.
"I asked if I could come over," Jonghyun spoke up behind my mother. "I never really did come over much, so I thought maybe..." My mother had turned around to stare at him, which had him look at her as well. His mouth stopped halfway."...Maybe I could come over today. I didn't do anything to her, I swear," he finished, his voice faltering to a low tone. His flytrap shut tight after his last utterance, eyes still on my mother. Her intent gaze stayed intact on him until she slowly took her time going back to me.
"He's right," I said, taking over what Jonghyun had tried to say. "I invited him over because he doesn't really come."
"Who is he?" my mother asked.
"My name is Kim Jonghyun, ma'am," Jonghyun interjected, bowing down. A flick of recognition came across my mother's face.
"Then whyare you here?" she asked. I could tell she remembered exactly who he was. She knew he was the boy who I kept having trouble with at school, the one who was the cause of my dirty clothes and a few grades dropping slightly. What she didn't know were the results of all this. Her eyes were piercing through Jonghyun's, and from this point he seemed to want to die in a hole.
"He's my boyfriend," I answered, saving all the trouble away from him. My mother and Jonghyun's attention aimed at me, both equally bewildered and stupefied. Attagirl, a part of my conscious complimented. "I...have a boyfriend now," I added on, scratching my forearm.
Jonghyun's eyebrows rose, unable to give me some sort of communication. My mother's expression had not fazed. "How long?" she asked out of a sudden.
"A few weeks," I responded automatically. She didn't say much after; her eyes stayed in place on me. Just let us go, I begged mentally. We stood in silence for a couple more minutes, causing me to get somewhat restless. My mother had been staring at me the entire time while the quietude swallowed us whole. Her eyes instantly fell to the floor.
"You should go home, um, Jonghyun. Your parents must be wondering where you are," she told him.
"Um, actually, they're not ho-okay," he replied. He bowed down once again while bidding goodbye. He passed me without another word and closed the door behind him, leaving my mother and I alone. I stayed put for the insults coming my way. I didn't even bother to look at her. It's better to think of something, look at another thing, than to just face the problem and make more negativity out of it. However, she stayed just as quiet as I had. I glanced up at her, only to see her bitter gaze wasn't on me. In fact, she didn't seem to look anywhere near angered. Her mien was vacant.
"I think the boy forgot his bag," she told me, eyes not meeting mine.
"I'll give it to him," I offered, already making my way towards the stairs. As I went up, my ears were still open to any kind of criticism. Nothing but a gust of stillness made it over. The door to my bedroom was unlocked, already open. I retrieved Jonghyun's bag from the floor and went back down the stairs. Once I made it to the front door, my mother was nowhere near in sight. I looked around for a few seconds but didn't spot her. I opened the door and went out, making sure the door would be unlocked when I came back.
Jonghyun loitered around the front yard, a few yards away from me. "Hey," he called out with a soft tone.
I walked over to him, handing him his backpack. "You forgot it," I said.
"Sorry about that. Are you fine? Did she smack you? Do we have to become Romeo and Juliet?" he asked, the concern smothered over his expression.
"I'm fine. She didn't really do anything. She was the one who pointed out you left your bag," I mentioned.
He furrowed his brow. "Okay. So everything is fine? Just like that? You're not pissed at me or anything?"
"I don't know why I would be pissed at you, but I'm not. Go home and I'll see you at graduation," I said.
"I can't get a kiss from you either?" he asked, almost whining.
"Shut up and go home," I muttered, pushing him forward.
"Fine, fine. My girlfriend is so rude..." he whispered to himself, turning away from me. Unknown to him, a smile crawled on my face from the words he stated earlier. I overlapped my lower lip with my upper lip, trying to prevent the grin to extend more. Jonghyun ambled on further away, the distance increasing leisurely. Before he could have become a speckle of dust, he turned around. "We're not finished with what we started! Next time, I'll win the game. You'll see!" he yelled, walking backwards for a few moments. In response I waved him away.
He was recalling back to the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" game we were playing in my house. The more Jonghyun's silhouette distanced, the more I cameto register what he was really referring to.