Words (TaoXChanyeolXreader fanfic)

Chapter 29: it's complicated

"Is it her?" his father finally asked. It was close to two in the morning and Chanyeol was tired but he so rarely got to talk to his parents that he didn't complain. He hadn't talked about Vic and Tao to anyone except in vague terms to his classmates where he usually used the word 'friends' which never felt quite right for what they were.

"It's complicated," Chanyeol said.

His mother came to sit beside him but kept quiet. She flung words around like no one else except maybe Tao but she knew when to fall silent and let someone else talk.

"More complicated than being a foreign national from an unfriendly nation?" his father asked.

"China is not an unfriendly nation, Joe!" Wen said, "We are close trading partners and allies."

Jonah smiled at Chanyeol and winked. There were some arguments that were so practiced they had ceased to even be debates and this was one of them. He had brought it up to break the tension that had been building. Chanyeol took a moment while they talked past him about political alliances to be thankful that these were his parents. They weren't like most people's parents. They were more like long distance friends who felt a little too comfortable scolding him for not eating enough.

"Not that kind of complicated," Chanyeol finally said interrupting them.

"What kind of complicated? Is she a cult member?" Wen asked giggling.

"No, she's married," Chanyeol said and turned to his mother and waited for her to react. She sat up and made him repeat it. Her expression went from curious and entertained to angry in an instant.

"Jian Ming," she said.

Chanyeol looked at her. She had a stern look on her face. He was about to get a lecture on integrity and cheating and probably the sanctity of marriage. She crossed her arms tightly and Chanyeol wasn't sure she had ever looked at him with that kind of disappointment or anger on her face. He cut her off before she could start putting that look into words. He was going to lose all his nerve if she started to yell at him. Being yelled at by his mother had only happened three times in his entire life and he wasn't sure he could handle it on this topic.

"She's married to a man named Tao. Tao went to Briar Pines. Remember the boy with the blue eyes? The one who read my words? Him. I had a pile of poetry in front of me when she said it, she was arguing with a friend and wanted my opinion. He's her match too," he said in a rush. Just saying it out loud was like letting a weight go. His mother's burgeoning anger was headed off by confusion.

The questions lasted almost until dawn but talking it out, defending it, explaining it, talking about it destroyed any last doubts. His mother pulled out her phone and started looking for neat answers in search engines just as he had the night after the meeting in the cafe. His father asked questions. Not questions about the words but about them. Questions about what they did and what they were like. The kind of questions you might ask about someone's new girlfriend or boyfriend in a normal conversation.

"It's not how these things are meant to work," his mother said when they were finally leaving. She grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down so he was eye to eye with her. She studied him, "But you are happier than you have been in years. I want to meet him as well before we go get on another cursed plane back to the next UN Summit."

"I'll let them know that," he said.

Left alone in his apartment. Chanyeol wrapped his arms around himself and stared at the door. He was exhausted. He had been up all night and the emotional whiplash was dragging on him as much as the physical exhaustion.

He started to laugh.

He was still laughing as he collapsed onto bed. In spite of it being four in the morning and knowing that Tao had to work in the morning, he sent him a text message.

<my mother wants to meet you>

There was no response but it didn't damper his giddiness. He fell asleep still fully clothed and smiling.