Forbidden Fruit (gxg)

Part 23

Thankfully, all of my testing came back negative.

Right in time for Valentines Day.

Not that I was doing much of anything for it. Both Kori and I agreed that Valentine's Day didn't mean much to either of us, and of course we would see each other, but we weren't going to explicitly celebrate it.

The day before Valentines Day, my mom called me.

I don't talk to my parents a whole lot outside of seeing them. My mom calls me a couple of times a month, and my dad calls me maybe once a month. Even though in person they act like all is fine, they have to know there is animosity toward them from my end.

It's the same with Alyssa, they call her even less. Addison, on the other hand, talks to our parents much more on the phone, and texts them often as well.

My mom asked me about work, and about how I was doing in general, and she then asked me, "Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day tomorrow?"

"I'm seeing someone, but no specific plans," I replied.

"Oh you're seeing someone? How wonderful!" my mom cheered, "What's her name?"

I tried to rack my brain and think if I had ever told my parents my boss's name before, and I decided I hadn't.

"Her name is Kori," I said to my mom.

"Kori, how lovely. How did the two of you meet?"

I paused before I said, "A mutual friend. She's really great."

"I'm sure she is, for you to be dating her. Well, if it ever gets more serious and you'd like to introduce her to your father and I, of course you're more than welcome to."

"Thanks, mom," I said, "I appreciate that."

I also do not know how that would go over, with Kori being 13 years older than me.

When I went to Kori's place on Valentine's Day night, I told her about my conversation with my mom. Even though Kori and I didn't celebrate, she still ordered us a very nice Thai dinner.

"I don't quite know what to make of your parents," Kori said to me, "Obviously, I know how they were to you when you were younger and all you were put through. It seems like now they're trying to make up for it all...but what they did to you isn't something that can be made up for."

"You hit the nail on the head. They act like nothing happened and that my dad wasn't an abusive alcoholic and my mom didn't shove everything under the rug. God, I get mad just talking about it."

Kori gently took my hand in hers and said, "If I ever do meet your parents one day, of course I'll be polite. But I'll know what they did. How do you think they'd react to me being older than you?"

"I'm honestly not sure. I don't think they would have too much to say about it, my dad especially. I think they'd have more to say if they knew you were my boss over anything."

Kori chuckled lightly, "Yeah...there's that issue."

"I actually have a question for you regarding that."

"Go ahead," Kori nodded.

"Do you think that I should switch departments? I don't want to, I love your department. But I wonder if that would be best, as I wouldn't want you to get in trouble if anything was ever brought to life with our relationship."

"I understand you asking me this, but how would anything be brought to life with our relationship? No one knows. Now, I get you asking me this question when it comes to you wanting our relationship to be made more public. I get that it's tough keeping it a secret from everyone."