𝖺 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗈𝗈 𝗁𝗂𝗀𝗁 - 𝖼.𝖻

★☆ ! >﹏< 𝗕𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠 !

after the graduation ceremony, my mother took me to eat. we went to a local italian restaurant. i was really craving some pasta.

my mother kept smiling like the proudest mother on the planet. i, her only daughter, had graduated high school at the top of my class regardless of the days i missed inside the cave. every person that would pass your table seemed to realise that i had just graduated because my mom kept showing me off. she was embarrassingly cute.

even if the amazing smell and the taste of the pasta that i ate was amazing, i couldn't seem to concentrate on it much. what had happened at the graduation ceremony seemed to fill the space in my mind. beomgyu's hand grasping mine and the smile that we exchanged in front of the hundreds of people in the crows still sent chills down my spine.

the way his eyes looked back at me as he said his speech was magical. seeing him at the graduation ceremony had been the first time i had seen him in days. obviously, nothing major had changed about him, yet, the way his eyes looked at me seemed a bit sorrowful and grateful. and i knew the reason why.

graduation was over. beomgyu was going to leave any day soon for his mother across the country and probably never return.

my mother stood and tapped a napkin over my cheek. i looked up and met her befuddled eyes.

"soyeon, what is the matter, honey? you should be extremely happy right now." she said sitting back down in her seat.

"oh...it's just..." i couldn't bring myself to tell her.

"you don't have to leave that far away if you don't want to, sweetie. you can always stay with me at the house." she said with a smile that made her cheeks hide her eyes.

i wiped the rest of my tears and nodded my head.

she picked up her fork again and twisted it around her plate making sure to get a load of the pasta.

"however, soyeon, i don't want you to hold back because of me. if there is a university you like in the countryside, then go for it. or if to os across the country, i don't want you to hesitate and back down because of me. you have every right to go wherever your heart desires." she said eating the twisted pasta around the fork.

as she chewed, she looked up at me and smiled.

"would you really be alright, mom?" i asked in disbelief.

"of course, you must tell me ahead of time about your decision. you're my only daughter and i love you so much, but i know you know how to take care of yourself. although i have a traumatic experience of losing you, i would not want for that to haunt both you and me for the rest of our lives. traumatic experiences like that are to teach us valuable lessons, not to hold us back, but to keep us going."

hearing my mother say those words to me sent goosebumps down my arms. her wise words always seemed too true to me. and she was right, traumatic experiences were for us to learn, not to be afraid.

after we ate, we went back home and i began to prepare myself for prom later in the evening. although i had no interest in going, something told me i had to.

just as i was heating up my curling iron, my phone buzzed. taehyun was calling. i quickly answered.

"hello?"

"hey, soyeon."

"hey, taehyun."

"are you going to prom?"

"yeah."

"great! how about i pick you up?"

"uh..."

after what happened last time with my mom asking me about taehyun, i didn't want a scenario like that to repeat again.