"Yes Mother,"
Mingyu gave up on looking his mother in the eye. The sudden change was too much to handle. He looked around the living room, like it was his first time stepping inside it.
"Don't act like a fool, Mingyu,"
And that made Mingyu stop his poor attempts at avoiding conversation. He glared at his interlocked fingers on his lap instead. "Can you speak already? I- I'm-"
"I want to. There's a lot that has happened, no?"
"Yes Mother,"
There was an unplaceable silence that followed, which was filled just with Mingyu's restless tapping of his foot on the floor. "Mingyu," he heard his mother inhaling deeply, like her airways were blocked. "Why did you go?"
Her unfamiliar tone made Mingyu halt the constant pattering of his foot. His mother's voice was soft, and it was something he'd never heard before. It took him a while to register that it was actually his mother talking, and it made him want to eliminate all the lies he was about to throw in his words. "I didn't like it here. I didn't like you here."
"What?"
"You heard what I said. I will not make up any lies to tell you,"
"So you left?"
"Yes, I'm at the Pledis dorms at the moment,"
"Alone?"
"No, I have a roommate,"
"That's good. You wouldn't be able to manage on your own,"
Mingyu narrowed his eyes at her. "You can't-"
"I'm your mother, Mingyu. Even if I haven't acted like it all these years, I've done everything for your benefit,"
That made Mingyu scoff. He searched Minkyoung's face for any trace of hesitance, but there was none. She looked completely serious. "I don't believe you,"
"And I don't expect you to. There's no amount of words or statements which could convince you otherwise,"
"Why are you suddenly this way?"
"I did realise a few things while you were away,"
"How does that change anything?"
"I want to apologise, Mingyu,"
"YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT RIGHT NOW! AFTER OVER TWO DECADES!"
"Fifteen,"
"Fifteen what?"
"Things weren't this way until fifteen years ago. We were a normal family back then. You had a-" Minkyoung choked between her words, "a father too,"
Mingyu shrunk away on the couch at the mention of his father. "A what?"
"Of course you have a father, Mingyu,"
"Well, I'm sorry if that seems like an alien idea to me since I've never really fucking seen him around," scoffed Mingyu.
Minkyoung thought for a while, leaving Mingyu hanging and unanswered for a few minutes. "I think you- You deserve to know it all," she declared soon after, and it broke Mingyu a bit on the inside. Why did everyone keep secrets from him? First Chaeyeon about all the shit she did, then Wonwoo having remained silent about whatever threats he'd received from Chaeyeon – as Mingyu found out from her earlier that day – and now his mother. He'd always known there were several things with frayed ends floating around in the house, but Mingyu never imagined them to be so serious, that they made Kim Minkyoung question herself and her actions.
