Smile {COMPLETED}

22

When Changbin got home from school later that day he wasn't expecting for his parents to be home from work, but just as luck would have it, they were sitting at the dinner table when he walked in.  His mother looked up from the book she had been reading and smiled softly at her son.

"Oh, Changbin, welcome home.  How was school?" She asked and Changbin scoffed, rolling his eyes at her question.  He knew that she didn't really care how his day was, he knew that she just said that since that's what normal mothers did.  Normal mothers actually cared how their kid's day went and what they did at school, but his mother didn't.  She just knew it sounded nice and like the right thing to say, so that's why she said it.

"It was fine." He said simply as he dropped his bag by the wall and took a seat at the table across from his parents.  He already knew what his parents wanted from him and he really didn't want to sit and listen to their bullshit, well, his mother's bullshit, any longer than he had to.  His mom gave him an awkward smile and closed her book, setting her reading glasses on top of it.  She folded her hands and looked to her husband, who was too busy reading the paper to notice that the two were waiting for him.  Classic dad Changbin thought to himself and clicked his tongue rather loudly, hoping to get his dad's attention.  At this point, he didn't really care if his father got angry with him for interrupting him, he just wanted to get the conversation over with.

After another minute of silence, his dad cleared his throat and folded the news paper, tossing it to the side.  He looked up with an apathetic expression, and Changbin had to stifle a laugh.  It wasn't a laugh of amusement, but more of disbelief.  The fact that his dad was looking at him as if he was a lost cause was rich to him.  Their only son was a disappointment, all because he didn't want to have his life planned out for him without him having any say in it whatsoever.  Changbin just leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, mirroring his dad's apathy adding with it a sense of defiance.

"Son-"

"I have a name."

"Son," his dad continued without any regards to Changbin's comment.  "You already know what this conversation is about.  Your mother and I think that it would be best if you look at a few colleges over seas.  You're third year is coming to an end soon and you really should start looking into colleges.  You're mother and I made an appointment for you to visit KAIST this weekend.  You'll be touring the campus and checking out the classes.  I will also be checking out some colleges for you in the States, mainly in California, so look into those as well.  I also put a call in to the Dean at-"

"Just stop!" Changbin shouted and stood up from his chair with such a force that it fell backwards.  "First of all, I still have a couple of months until I graduate and if I didn't already know what I was going to do I would be looking at colleges, but I already know what I'm going to do.  I don't need you or mom telling me what to do, where I'm going to go to college, and what I'm going to do with my life.  It isn't up to you!  This isn't your life, so stop trying to make it!" Changbin was so frustrated at his parents.

His dad just stared at him before letting out a loud sigh and rubbing his temples.  "Son, I already told you that you aren't doing music.  That's a child's dream and you need to grow out of it!  You need to grow up and focus on something that you will actually succeed at!  But instead, you insist on chasing this childish fantasy of yours, which just proves how much of a disappointment you are to your mother and I."

Changbin was on the verge of tears, but he wasn't sure why.  He wasn't the kind of person to get super emotional about things, especially if that thing was his parents.  He was so used to his parents controlling him and his life and not living up to their expectations of him that it never really phased him, but something clicked in Changbin's brain that caused what his dad had just said to him to hurt him a lot more than it should have.  He couldn't think of anything to say to his father, so he just turned around, grabbed his bag from the floor and headed for the door.  His mother called after him but Changbin pushed her voice away and just started running.  He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that he just had to get away there.