femboy ꒱ nohyuck

꒰ twenty seven ꒱

Donghyuck sighed loudly to himself as he walked back through his front door after his soccer practice that Monday afternoon, still using the towel around his neck to pat down his damp hair after the shower he had recently taken. He was excited to just lay down and rest after the long hours on the soccer field, but when Donghyuck looked up and saw Seohyun standing in the middle of his living room next to his mother, he almost keeled over in surprise.

"Uh... mom?" Donghyuck asked meekly, and tried not to flinch as his mother turned to look at him. Things between him and his mom were still pretty awkward and tense after their fight, especially when neither of them had really spoken to the other since. "What is she doing here?"

"Don't be rude. Come and greet your girlfriend properly, like a gentleman," Mrs. Lee said firmly, and Donghyuck gritted his teeth. It looked like his mother had ultimately decided that she simply did not care about the feelings he had expressed to her, and was planning on being stubborn until the very end.

Fine, two could play that game.

"Hi," he said, nodding at Seohyun casually before turning and walking up the stairs without another word. He heard his mother gasp and start to try to frantically explain on his behalf, and he couldn't help but snicker a little as he dumped his soccer gear back in his bedroom.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just hide up in his room while Seohyun was there, because he had just worked out for the past three hours and he would probably die of starvation if he didn't sneak down to at least eat a small amount. So, he resolutely ignored both women as he walked back downstairs, putting his phone on the counter heading straight past them and into the kitchen, where he began to fix himself a serving of his favorite post practice snack.

"Donghyuck," his mother hissed at him, but he paid her no attention as he spread mayonnaise across one slice of his bread, arranging meat and lettuce on the other half.

"Donghyuck," she repeated a bit more firmly, which finally made him sigh and glance at her over his shoulder.

"What, mom? Can you not just wait, like, two seconds so I can finish making my sandwich and get some food in me before I pass out?" He snapped, joining the two pieces of bread together and taking a bite. His mother glared at him, but dutifully waited in tense silence as he ate, only opening her mouth to speak again when he was on his last bite.

"I invited Seohyun over so you could get to know her better. I know you'll like her if you just spend a little more time with her, and I knew you wouldn't invite her over yourself, so I took the initiative for you," she said, her voice scarily calm in that same way Donghyuck had heard before when she fought with his dad, "I'm going out for a while, and your father is out with his friends, so you two have plenty of alone time to get acquainted with each other."

"She can do whatever she wants, but I'm going to be in my room doing homework," he said nonchalantly, brushing the crumbs off of his hands before dumping his plate in the sink, "I don't want to hang out with her, and I will not be forced to spend time with her against my will. Have fun while you're out, though."

"Lee Donghyuck," his mother seethed, crossing her arms over her chest, "is that any way to treat a lady? She's still right there, you know. Don't you even think about how your rude behavior will upset her?"

Donghyuck glanced over at Seohyun, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Her lips were pulled into a dramatic pout and her eyes were brimming with big, obviously fake alligator tears, giving Donghyuck's mother her most pitiful "kicked puppy" expression. The blonde boy couldn't help but scoff to himself, immediately turning his attention back to his mother.

"You and dad never seemed to care about hurting my feelings by forcing this relationship on me, even when I was clear from the beginning that I wasn't interested. So what, is Seohyun your child now? Why do you care more about her feelings than you do about mine?"

His tone was sharp and accusatory, something he had never, ever used on his parents before, and his mother's face twisted in shock as she stared down at him.

"Donghyuck... what is wrong with you? What happened to my sweet little boy who thought the world of the people who gave him life? Who loved the woman who worked so hard to give her child the very best?" She said, her voice edging on a whisper. Donghyuck had to fight himself not to openly roll his eyes. Great, now his mother was trying to fucking guilt trip him.

"I'm done playing nice, mom, our fight about Jeno was my last straw. I'm not going to put up with your backhanded comments and the way you force the personality you want me to have on me. I love you, mom, I love you so much, but I feel like... I feel like if you're doing all this, you must not love me as much as you claim you do."

"How can you say that?" Mrs Lee whimpered, her eyes brimming with her own tears now, "of course I love you, Donghyuck. You're my only son, my baby boy. I love you more than anything."

"Yeah? Because I think the person you love is the version of me that you've created in your head. I think you love perfect child Donghyuck, the Donghyuck who never says no to you and bends to your will and never talks back or has his own opinions or thoughts or feelings. But you don't love the real Donghyuck, who has been working himself into the ground for years to try and make you proud, who has sacrificed so many things just to get your approval, but in the end you want nothing to do with him the minute he tries to finally stand up for himself," he blurted out, inhaling sharply to calm himself before he squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled, "if you loved the real Donghyuck, then I would have never seen Seohyun again after I expressed that I didn't like her. But the fact that she's still here, standing two feet away from us and is the only person in this room who is receiving any sympathy from you, that speaks volumes to me."

He then turned to Seohyun, who was stunned to the point where any trace of the previous fake crying had disappeared from her face. "I'm sorry you had to be here for this conversation. I think you should just go home for today."

As he started to walked out of the kitchen, he reached at the spot where he placed his phone on the counter earlier, and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw that it was no longer there.

"Where is my—?"

"Oh! Here," Seohyun said, pulling the device from her pocket handing it to him, simply smiling when he fixed her with a suspicious glare, "it slipped off the counter when you and your mom were talking, so I caught it and saved it from shattering into a million pieces. You're welcome."

"Uh... yeah. Thanks," he mumbled, ignoring the way his body felt heavy with anxiety at the thought of Seohyun having his phone in her possession. He was already emotionally exhausted from pouring his heart out to his mother, and he simply could not be bothered with trying to think about Seohyun having his phone too deeply.

"I'm going upstairs, mom. We can talk about this again once we've both calmed down a little," he said softly, not daring to look back at either woman before he escaped up the stairs and into the safe haven that was his bedroom.