aversion | bbangnyu

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"Chanhee~" Mrs Choi sang as she let herself into her son's bedroom.

Chanhee pulled his phone away from his ear and looked at the woman. "Yes?" He asked.

"Let's talk..." she spoke before walking over to sit on the edge of the bed next to Chanhee.

"My mom wants to talk, I'll call you back later," the boy said into the phone, setting down the device and smiling up at his mom.

The woman raised an eyebrow, "So who were you talking to?"

"Nobody."

"Younghoon?"

"Yeah..."

She hummed, "I assumed so since the only people you talk to are Yeri and Younghoon..." her eyes wandered around the room before deciding to stop stalling. "I really don't want to be nosy and I want to give you your space...but I need to know what happened between you and Younghoon. Are you two dating yet?"

Chanhee let out a dramatic sigh before shaking his head. "We're not dating..." he stated reluctantly, "I think we're just going to go on a few dates and see how...everything feels."

"Hmm, I see..." the woman said quizzically, pretending to study the object placed around Chanhee's room, "and when would one of these dates be?"

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!?"

"Yeah..." Chanhee whispered, an uncomfortable expression flickering across his face. He let out a sigh before continuing, "I'm so nervous and I know I shouldn't be. I was literally just on the phone with him and I was fine but...I don't know."

Placing a hand on the boy's arm, Mrs Choi sent him a reassuring smile. "You and Younghoon have gone out to do things, just the two of you, all the time. Those were basically dates."

"Oh I know...but this has different stakes, mom," Explained Chanhee. His fingers gripped the blankets underneath him, suddenly feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing.

"I'm actually quite surprised you two are taking things so slow."

"What does that mean?"

A sigh fell from the woman's lips before she continued, "it's just that...I could tell you had a little crush on Younghoon the first time he kissed you. I expected things would happen faster—I mean you're teenagers after all."

"Well I don't think a relationship is very compelling to Younghoon given the...circumstances," Chanhee stated.

Frowning at her son's words, Mrs Choi raised an eyebrow and said, "If you're talking about school, you only have a few months left anyway—what does it matter?"

The boy shrugged, "I wasn't talking about school necessarily, but his parents—his dad."

"I don't think I ever told you this, but your dads parents hated me when we first started dating. And I mean hate. They thought I wasn't pretty enough for him and I would make their grandkids ugly. It obviously affected him at first, but as it continued he cared less and less. They said if he planned on proposing they would never speak to him again..." she had to pause for some time, stifling her laughter with the plan of her hand, "that night he drove three hours to see me—I was staying at my parents that weekend—and he proposed. He bought the ring a few weeks before but was too nervous to propose—but he always tells me that is what gave him the courage. As humans we love our family and we want their approval, but there are things far greater than the satisfaction of parents." She smiled at Chanhee, reaching out to pinch his cheeks, "And boy were they wrong about us having ugly kids."

"Dad stood up to his parents?" Chanhee asked flabbergasted, "he must have really loved you...because he can barely look grandpa in the eye." 

A proud smile formed on her lips as she nodded. "He would still do anything for me, and I would do the same for him. It isn't possible to find your great love without God testing you in some way," she said softly as she placed a gentle hand on the side of Chanhee's face.

"I think God has already tested me enough, mom."

"Oh hush." 

"I can't believe his parents said you were too ugly. Did they look at their own kid?"

The woman tried to hide her laughter as she hissed, "Choi Chanhee." 

✨✨✨

"Hi..." Kevin spoke awkwardly as he walked downstairs to where his mom had let Younghoon inside. He flashed a quick smile, trying to pretend like him and Jacob weren't making out less than a minute ago, "what're you doing here?"

A small sigh fell Younghoon's lips before saying, "I'm sorry for constantly coming over—you're just like the only person I can talk to about my...relationship things."

"No—no it's totally fine, I'm happy to help," Kevin responded quickly, gesturing for Younghoon to follow him to the living room. "What seems to be the problem today?" He asked like he was the boy's therapist.

"I'm going on my first date date with Chanhee tomorrow...and I want it to be perfect. But the thing is, I don't really know how to make it perfect. Do I get him something—do I get him flowers? What if he wants to pay for things? Do I force him to let me pay? What if he's not having a good time? And what if h—"

A smile flickered across Kevin's face as he held his hand against Younghoon's mouth, preventing the boy from spewing anymore nonsense. "Younghoon, just do what feels right. There isn't a first date manual."  

———

I hope you all had a happy Easter if you celebrate 

And I know it's late, but happy Ramadan 

Thanks for reading