world outsiders, nct dream

chapter forty

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
AGING BACKWARDS

❝I'VE MISSED YOU.❞

━ MINSOO FOCUS ━

"Minsoo!"

The said girl looked up from her homework sheet and glanced over at the doorway where she'd heard her name being called.

"Your mother is here for a visit, sweetie." Nurse Lee smiled, opening the door a bit wider as she let the teenagers pass through.

"My mother?" Minsoo questioned with an undertone of anxiousness. If she was asked why she was anxious, she would have no idea what she would reply with.

"Yes. She is currently in the conference room waiting for you." Nurse Lee informed her, following step by step.

When they finally reached the conference room, Nurse Lee took a step back. "I will be waiting out here for when you are finished. When you come out, I will escort your mother outside."

Minsoo nodded and took a deep breath before twisting the needle doorknob.

The sight of her mother sitting at the table with dead eyes made her heartbeat quicken. Unlike the lady she knew and loved, the one sitting in front of her looked like she hadn't gotten much rest recently. She had deep eye bangs and her hair was messier than usual. The glimmer she used to have was no longer there either.

"Mother?"

If the lady at the table hadn't looked up at the sound of Minsoo's voice, she would be able to say she knew it was the same mother she once loved dearly.

The older lady stood up and opened her arms, waiting to embrace Minsoo. When it finally happened, it was nothing like their hugs from before.

This one was awkward and had underlying tension that dropped from the air around them. It only lasted a second before they pulled apart from one another and took their seats.

"So why'd you come to visit?" Minsoo asked, trying to put a smile on her face.

She didn't know why seeing her mother made so much emotional rage within her. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear. She was of course happy to see her mother. But she was also sad and upset that the only person she had in life decided to put her in a home. And she didn't even know what the fear was for, she just knew it was there. Mocking her.

"Well, I just wanted to come and see my daughter and check up on how you're doing. And it's also almost that time of year so I thought I'd come by and say hi."

Time of year? It's the beginning of July, what's the big deal- oh. Birthdays!

"I nearly forgot," Minsoo laughed, making her mother smile at her. "It's almost your birthday and Bolt's! How old do you guys turn this year?"

Minsoo's mother thought for a second, "I turn 52 and Bolt turns 2."

Minsoo smiled with a nod. "I miss Bolt. Will you tell him I said hi?" Her mother agreed. She knew how close her daughter is with their pup and knew they were both missing each other.

Ever since Minsoo had to leave, Bolt would sleep on her bed. Since Minsoo's mother knew she'd be gone for a bit and that she couldn't take out Bolt as much as her daughter had, she placed a doggy-door into the house for him to use. She was lucky that Minsoo trained the dog so well and could trust him on his own.

They talked for a minute or two longer before Minsoo sighed deeply with a smile much smaller than her real one.

"We've only gotten to see each other for such a short time but I really must be getting back to my studies and chores before lunch." She sighed.

Her mother stood up first, opening her arms for another hug. "I understand. Your education is still as important as ever. I wish you well in your studies and I will be sure to tell Bolt you said hi. I love you, Minsoo."

Minsoo smiled, pulling out of her embrace. "Love you too, Mother."

As she turned around and walked out of the conference room, her smile wavered. As soon as she saw the nurse make her way to her mother, it completely dropped.

Her footsteps were quiet against the cold and hard concrete floors. The friction between her shoes and the ground was weakening. Just like her relationship with her mother, it felt like.

She hadn't been lying when she said she had chores and schoolwork to finish. So after putting away all her school work, she went to the kitchen. She had clean-up duty.

While organizing the shelves, she started thinking back to her mother and the weird feeling she was having.

Her mother's birthday was coming up. That was true.

Fifty-two. She doesn't look a day over twenty. And her voice isn't much different either.

She thought back to her childhood. Her mother had always looked and sounded the same up until this moment.

And she'd never met any of her mother's family. Her mother always said that she cut them off for their behavior but even so, she'd looked on social media's for people under her mother's maiden name but never got any family results.

There was something weird going on with her mother. And she wanted to know what it was.