The Angel Next Door (Rosé X Female Reader)

13: Meet the Parents

Word Count: 12,126

Rosé stole a glance at me sitting beside her as a small smile crept onto her face.

'Can we visit your apartment tomorrow, Y/N?'

My father, Shuuto, sent that message at ten o'clock in the evening on January 3, after dinner and after Rosé had gone home.

'It's all right that you didn't come home for the holiday, but I do want to see you. Besides, I heard about her from your mother, but I think I'd better say hello to your neighbor myself.'

My father probably wanted to meet the person taking such good care of me. And since my mother had already discovered my relationship with Rosé and was actually in regular contact with her, I didn't see much point in refusing.

I no longer had anything to hide, and I didn't want to turn my parents away after not visiting for the holidays. Plus, I figured that the presence of my father should help keep my mother in check and prevent her from making a big scene. If nothing else, I was counting on him to help me avoid a repeat of her last exhausting visit.

Besides, I had a feeling that even if I did refuse my parents, my mother would come over to see Rosé anyway, so after setting up a time with my father (who had been courteous enough to ask in advance), I sent Rosé a heads-up message.

'Um, well, is it all right for me to be there during your family time? Won't I be intruding?'

-

The next day, Rosé came over to my apartment early. She seemed nervous.

That was only to be expected, in a way. Rosé had been taking care of me... though phrasing it that way sounded a bit misleading... In any case, Rosé had been spending a lot of time with me, and now my parents wanted to meet her.

Rosé was already used to talking with my mother, or at least being talked at by my mother, but my father would be joining this time. It was no surprise that she was nervous.

"Well, now that Dad is coming to say hello, and since Mom has taken such a liking to you, I'd appreciate it if you were here. Really, I need you here."

"Y-you say that, but..."

"I'm sure you would rather avoid it, but it'd really mean a lot to me if you'd put up with it just for a little while."

It was somewhat surreal to be introducing her to my parents, but they'd requested, and now there was no way around it.

I felt bad for taking up Rosé's time, but I knew that my father was the type of person who likely wouldn't rest until he'd met her, so I hoped she wouldn't mind it too much.

"I wonder what your mom has told him about me." Rosé whispered.

"Relax. I made sure to tell my dad that you are someone who helps me out a lot. Even if he gets the wrong idea, I've already told him that my mother's crazy ideas about you are not at all true."

My mother seemed to have already decided that Rosé was my bride-to-be and her very own future daughter-in-law. I had made sure to firmly deny everything coming out of her mouth. My father had laughed and said, 'Shihoko has always had the bad habit of letting her imagination run wild.' So apparently, he understood the situation.

Rosé seemed relieved to hear that, and I smiled wryly as we waited. "Sorry about this." Then, with perfect timing, the intercom rang.

My parents had already gotten past the lobby with their duplicate key, so I expected that they had come directly to my door.