Dandelions ⭒ Jaywon

11. Mom 2.0?

Months passed. The rest of the college year had gone smoothly. Heeseung was going to his final year, and Niki was now finally free from school. The group had gone on a little vacation during their break, to a resort by the beach, where they had so much fun. They spent the entire day playing volleyball in the water and sat up until late night having drinks and snacks and just chatting with each other. They felt like kids again, but also like adults. It was a splendid feeling.

Jake and Sunghoon were going strong and thinking of moving in together soon. Heeseung had cut ties with his boyfriend, finally, and he received a massive toast for that, considering how stupid and opressive their relationship was. He was still single but wasn't really looking for a relationship. He still needed to heal. Niki had passed his final year exams with flying colours, and he thanked Sunoo profusely for that.

Jungwon and Jay were finally happy again. The younger boy had no further episodes of self harming, thankfully, and was finally fully settled. 'Jay's house' became 'Jay and Jungwon's house' and it felt like home. And he didn't need therapy sessions from Dalhyun that often, which was a plus for Dalhyun as well.

Today, the penultimate day of their break was a stressful day for Jay. His parents had decided to drop in at Jay's house — they didn't know that house was being shared — for lunch.

Jay had been on his feet all day, stressing and tensing about cleaning up, making himself look good for his parents, and mostly about how they'd react to him living with a boy, his boyfriend. He expected his mother to be supportive, but he knew his father would probably hit him. He didn't want that to happen in front of Jungwon, definitely not. It would probably spark the trauma again. Nevertheless, Jay was rambling on and on about his worries to Jungwon as he stood in the kitchen in just his sweatpants, cooking lunch. Jungwon was putting on a white shirt with blue jeans; formal to make a good impression on Jay's parents.

"And oh my god what if they like, take the house away? What if they kick me out? What if—" Jay screamed frantically, digging his fingers into the skin of his stomach. Jungwon rushed forward and pulled Jay's hands away. He kissed the boy on the forehead and said, "Jay, baby, stop worrying so much. Nothing has happened yet, and hopefully things go well today. Alright?" Jungwon wrapped Jay in a hug and the latter slumped into his touch and sighed, a sulky pout on his face.

"Okay," he mumbled, kissing Jungwon's neck.

"Now go get dressed, I'll fix lunch. Okay?"

"Okay."

They kissed each other on the lips once affirmatively before Jay got up and went to get dressed. He soon texted his parents saying there's someone he'd like them to meet. He left it at that, though.

When they rang the doorbell, Jay screamed into one of the cushions on the couch, shut his eyes for a minute and regained his composure. When he opened the door, his mother quickly wrapped him in a hug and laughed.

"Hi mom," Jay smiled, kissing his mother on the cheek. She was wearing a white dress with little flowers on it. This was a familiar dress, one Jay found homely.

Jay's father appeared close behind her, looking crisp and proper in a black suit. God, why did he have to dress up so much to meet his son?

"Jongseong," the man greeted, nodding his head slightly.

"Father," Jay greeted back in the same manner. Jungwon could tell they weren't on good terms.

Jay introduced Jungwon as his roommate, first, and when he saw his mom look a little suspicious of that, he ignored it. They all say and had conversations over lunch about business and studies and stock markets and shared and other rich kid stuff that Jungwon stopped relating to after a point.