Bonded: A Min Yoongi x OC Soulmate AU

69

To say that dinner was tense would be an understatement. It was as quiet as a mouse as everyone sat down to eat. Yoongi's mother was clearly pissed, a disapproving scowl permanently etched on her face; Guemjae sat with a protective arm around Akira, who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else; Yoongi's father looked nervous; and Yoongi was upset with what she told him had happened in the kitchen.

After he'd reminded her that they could communicate in their minds—duh—she opted for showing him rather than forcing him to read long text messages. She was so irked, their special abilities hadn't occurred to her in the moment.

"Let's just get through this dinner and we can go," he'd said, which landed them here.

Mr. Min was the first to break the ice, asking her questions about herself, and how she was adjusting to her new life as a soulmate and as a regular person who was thrusted into the limelight as he'd put it. He had a nice sense of humor and a warmth about him that made him easy to talk to, which she appreciated. When he started talking, it was like everyone, save for his wife, could relax a little. She was in the middle of answering one of his questions when Mrs. Min interrupted with a question of her own.

"Why do you speak so properly?" she asked, her head tilted as she surveyed Crystal like she was some form of alien.

"Because I was raised to. Is it an issue?" she shot back without even having to think.

The woman had been talking to her since she'd been here so she knew this little inquiry of hers was meant to be rude and perhaps get some sort of reaction from her.

"Hm, not necessarily I suppose, but it does come off a little bit...snooty. Not everyone could afford a fancy education like you dear. Would've loved to but our family was out working at the age you were learning that fancy vocabulary of yours," she says with a smile that could only be described as a sneer.

Mr. Min clears his throat as a way of getting his wife's attention, to which she simply shrugs and Yoongi sits up as if to say something, but Crystal assured him she could handle herself for now.

"I got this," she thinks before replying to his mother.

"Although Im actually very flattered that you got that impression of me, it couldn't be further from the truth. I grew up with little to nothing and attended public school while my mother worked 3 jobs just to keep us from losing our home. Still, she was very strict about my and my siblings' vocabularies being up to par in both Korean and English. I speak like this as a result of that, so I deeply apologize if my vocabulary offended you," she says with that same little sneer on her face.

Geumjae coughs and Akira hides her smile with a napkin as they look back and forth between the two. After a beat of silence, Mr. Min speaks up.

"Well, I think it's nice. You're going to be a lawyer, not a farmer. I'd be a little worried if you spoke with bad grammar. You speak like you're going places—which you are," he says, making her smile genuinely.

"I appreciate that Mr. Min. Personally I feel that if we as humans, spent less time alienating people for their differences—we could all go places—further than closed minds could imagine. It pains me to think of how many opportunities and how many great things haven't occurred because of things like...discrimination and racism. We as adults should be able to look passed that outdated and ignorant way of thinking," she says, staring directly as Mrs. Min across the table as she emphasizes certain words.

"As much as I want to stop this before it goes too far, she needs to be called out on her shit," Yoongi tells her mentally and she could practically feel the shrug that came behind it despite him sitting stiffly and stoically next to her.