cynical | soonhoon

41 || orange vegetables

the faint sound of humming could be heard in the kitchen along with the sound of dishes being washed. soonyoung smiled as he entered the kitchen, looking over the shoulder of the woman in the kitchen and watching as she effortlessly washed the dishes.

the older woman glanced over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye and smiled when she saw soonyoung leaning his head on her shoulder. the brunette was always clingy as a child and loved to just plant a hug on his mother whenever he got the chance to. he claimed he was too mature to do that now, but occasionally the brunette found himself planted to his mom's side when he was absolutely bored. "no plans with jihoon today?"

"nah this week jihoon wanted to take it slow. he has a big music project to work on so I don't want to bother him." soonyoung mumbled as he picked his head up off of his mom's shoulder. she turned off the sink faucet and dried up her hands before turning to face the cutting board behind her. she picked up the knife beside the cutting board and sighed when realizing she had forgotten the carrots in the sink.

that's when soonyoung rinsed them out and turned around, joining his mother's side before placing the carrots on the cutting board. she laughed at herself for forgetting where the orange vegetables were before thanking her son. "that's so sweet of you."

"yeah I know I'm a very sweet person mom, I do get it from you." soonyoung said smoothly, making his mother laugh warmly in response. the brunette was very content with his mom's reaction, he basically glowed with pride as his mother praised him. "what did I do to deserve a son like you?"

"well I can tell you what we did but I don't think you want me to go in detail with this one around." an older man who resembled soonyoung to a high degree and walked into the kitchen to give his wife a kiss goodbye before he made his way to work.

soonyoung's father had a truck job where he drove packaged goods to and from two locations. it wasn't much but it did help with providing money for the family. the upside to this was that the older male had enough time to drive his truck and tend to his hobby of farming. the downside was that some jobs required more than a day's drive to get from point a to point b and when that happened he had to stay overnight in some motel rather than be home with his family.

when he was home though, soonyoung's father made sure to spend as much time with his family as he could. he went to all of soonyoung's dance recitals when he was younger and even readjusted his schedules so that he could attend to both his and his daughter's (soonyoung's older sister) performances in their school plays.

"dad seriously?" soonyoung scrunched his nose in disgust at the dirty joke. his dad only laughed as he ruffled soonyoung's hair and gave the two a wave goodbye. the older man left after that, he had already said bye to soonyoung's older sister who was dead asleep, leaving soonyoung alone with his mom in the kitchen.

"I have no idea why I married your father sometimes." soonyoung's mother scoffed way after her husband left. she continued with cutting the carrots finely and when she was done she turned to check on the stove, adjusting the flame under the pot of soup she was boiling. when she looked up to check on where her son had gone off to, she noticed he was putting on his jacket. "plans with someone else?"

"wonwoo got this new game but mingyu spilled grape juice on his console so we're going to jun's house to play it." soonyoung responded after walking back to the kitchen counter. he laid his chin on the counter as he slumped forward and talked to his mom before leaving the house. "wonwoo must be pretty upset about that, he does take his gaming very seriously."

"he's not too upset because it's mingyu. if I spilled juice on that console I'd be six feet below ground right now." soonyoung said with a very straight face, making the older woman laugh in response. she knew all about their love-hate relationship and knew that her son was only joking around with her. "I think you're exaggerating there."

"that smells really nice mom, what is it?" soonyoung changed the topic because he didn't want to discuss how right he was about wonwoo commiting murder on him if it were him who broke his gaming console. soonyoung broke his crayon once and wonwoo returned the favor by waxing one of his eyebrows off with elmer's glue. the brunette had no idea how wonwoo pulled that one off, they were only five at the time.

"I made some rice soup, actually I'm sure the wens would love some! I do have to pay jun's mom back for that dessert she shared with us." soonyoung's mother caught herself rambling on, straying from the point of the conversation. she didn't mind doing so thought because soonyoung wasn't as bothered by her rambling as her daughter was. "would you mind taking it with you to jun's house? it would save me the trip of doing it later."

"ooo the strawberry one? that was so delicious! and of course I will mom." soonyoung nodded eagerly. he liked bringing his mom's food to share with his friends; he just loved bragging about how good of a cook she was.

"let me pack it up for you, don't forget to give some to wonwoo too. that boy could use some extra muscle." the sound of the older woman's voice became clouded because she moved away from the kitchen counter to get some containers to place the soup in. "he already has too much. he's gotten really good at arm wrestling, I keep losing to that fool!"

soonyoung pouted as he finished up his complaint. his mother chuckled to herself as she began to pour the rice soup into the containers she prepared. she made sure to pack four containers, one for each of the boys and an extra for jun's mother, before placing them in a bag for soonyoung to carry.

"to be fair dear you are really bad at arm wrestling, you always lose to your cousins and they're half your age." she spoke as she placed the bag on the counter space right next to where soonyoung was resting his head. he hummed to himself at the warmth of the bag against his head, but grumbled he replied to his mom's comment. "now that's exaggerating."

"sure it is, don't you have to get going? you wouldn't want to make your friends wait on you now would you?"

"they wouldn't mind either way honestly." soonyoung stood up from where he laid on the kitchen counter, stretching before taking the mildly heavy bag into his dominant hand. "I'll see you later mom."

the brunette looked back towards his mother after walking to the front door of their house and slipping on his favorite pair of sneakers. he smiled as his mom cupped her hands around his cheeks and kissed him right on the forehead. "come back home in one piece."

of course that would be a challenge considering he was hanging out with both jun and wonwoo at the same time, without adult supervision. regardless of that, soonyoung made sure to nod and assure his mom that he would do just that.

= = =
yes this is a weirdly long chapter and yes it may be because you guys inspired me with your amazing suggestions (I don't have a good ending in mind yet but at least I know how to continue now :3)