Dare // Taegyu

17 | Eomma

Beomgyu went through with his plan of eating ice cream while watching sad movies and inevitably fell asleep again while doing so.

However, when he woke up this time, it was to the face of his mother.

"Choi Beomgyu."

Beomgyu's eyes flickered from his mother to the mess he made on the coffee table and back.

"M-mom.." he starts as he sits up, feeling the familiar throbbing sensation in his head. "It's.. not what it.. looks like?.."

"Gyu-ah.." she softly spoke as she sat down on the couch next to her son. "I was about to scold you about your attendance today, but I don't think now is an appropriate time."

Her focus drifts off to the coffee table, eyeing the mess of used tissues and dried-up spills of ice cream.

"What's wrong, honey?"

Beomgyu opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out as these words open the floodgates of the boy's eyes. His mother frowns and embraces him tight into her hold as she rubs circles up and down the boy's back. Beomgyu melts into the touch and nuzzles his face deep into her neck as he cries.

"E-eomma.." he whined. That was something he used to call his mom when he was younger. Something he now rarely calls her unless he's feeling small and vulnerable. He has so much more to say. He wants to tell her what's hurting. Why it's hurting. How he wants nothing but for the pain to go away. But that's all he managed to get out.

"Tell eomma what's wrong, baby."

Beomgyu nodded against her neck and tried to calm himself down. He took a deep breath, his nostrils getting filled with the woman's perfume. His mother has smelled like this for as long as he can remember, even after long hours at the hospital. The smell is calming to the boy. He feels relaxed just from his mother's comforting presence and warm embrace. Beomgyu felt himself almost slip to sleep again but he quickly reminded himself that he had an explanation he owed his mother.

"Eomma.. I c-confessed to my crush t-today.." Beomgyu looked up for his mom's reaction. She knows that the boy is crushing on Taehyun. He never could shut up about him. His mother looked at him with sympathy in her eyes with her lips jutted in a frown.

He chuckled as he continued, "As you can see, it didn't turn out very well.." The boy felt tears prick the corners of his eyes again. "B-but e-eomma.. I r-really thought h-he was the one f-for me.. I thought he l-liked me b-back," he spoke through voice cracks. "And what's almost worse is the fact that everyone led me to believe that he actually did. They helped me confess to him and everything! But I-I think they just set m-me up.." he hiccuped. "Even Yeonjun hyung!"

"Baby.. I know you're hurting right now. And when we feel strongly about things, we tend to think irrationally. You probably think they betrayed you because that's the only thing you're willing to believe right now, hm? Now if you don't mind, could we think rationally for a minute?"

Beomgyu broke free from her embrace and nodded, wiping his tears away. When he was done, the boy's mom pulled his chin up to make eye contact with her and grabbed his hands.

"When you confessed, what did you say?"

"I.. I told him that I like him.. and then I asked him to homecoming.."

"And what did he say after that?"

"He said.. he can't." Beomgyu confessed.

"He can't?" his mother repeated.

Beomgyu nodded his head.

"Okay.. Let's dive a bit deeper. Do you remember his expression when you confessed?"

Beomgyu shook his head. "Eomma, why is this even important?" he asked, overwhelmed. "I-I'm struggling to even remember what exactly h-happened.."

"Okay, I'm sorry baby. I was just wondering what his face said rather than his words. The two can be quite contradicting at times. If he said he can't, then there might be something or someone restricting him. He could want to."

"You.. really think so?" Beomgyu hesitantly asked.

The woman nodded her head. "You mentioned that everyone led you to believe that he likes you back. I believe that he does. And think about it, Yeonjun has been your friend since you two were children. He couldn't ever lie to you. He cares about you too much."

Beomgyu let the truth sink in. It was only then he realized just how irrational he'd been. His cheeks burned in embarrassment. He felt so stupid. Of course they didn't set him up. At least not on purpose.

"So what I say you do is have a nice talk with everyone. Individually, of course. I don't want all of your relationships to be ruined over a miscommunication," she giggled.

Beomgyu nodded and let his hands slip out of his mother's so he could instead wrap them around her and trap the woman in his embrace.

"I'll sort everything out tomorrow. Thank you for the advice, eomma. I love you."

"Of course honey. I love you too." The woman placed a kiss on her son's head before hugging him back and resting her head atop his.