𝑴𝒊𝒏-𝒆 || Min Ho x Reader

✧˖° | 07

"You were at a party with alcohol??"

My mother's voice erupted from my phone the next morning. At 6am. What an effective alarm clock.

I winced, holding the phone away from my ear and muttering, "It's not that deep, Mom."

"Don't tell me what's deep!" she shouted so loud that I had to instinctively push the phone away from my ear.

When it felt safe to bring the device closer again, I tried reasoning with her. "Mom, I wasn't even drinking!"

"Maybe not, but the press doesn't know that," she countered, her words biting. "You were at the party. That's just as bad. You know I don't care, but the public does!"

"You care that the public cares, meaning technically you do care," I grumbled.

"It's a good thing you weren't caught!" she shrieked, completely ignoring me. "Who else were you with?"

"Min Ho, I suppose," I recalled dully. "He got me out when Principal Lim and the authorities showed up."

There was a momentary silence on her end of the line that caused an ominous tension to settle in the atmosphere. I tapped my phone impatiently. "Hello? Mom? Are you still there?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GET CAUGHT?!" she suddenly burst out, splitting my eardrums into two. I held the phone as far away from my head as possible.

"WHAT??" I yelled back, my confusion mingling with fury. "I thought you were mad because I almost got caught!"

"No, if you got caught holding hands at a party with Dami's son, rumors about you two would surface and everything would be set in motion!"

I rubbed my temples in a desperate attempt to control my language. The absurdity of the conversation was almost too much to bear. " I don't want rumors about us floating around anyway!"

"I want you two to stir something up. Become the next big story. The teen hit romance. Star in a movie together and win an Oscar, I don't know!" she exclaimed. I slapped my forehead with my palm. Why did she have my whole life planned out already?

"Can you not focus on what affects reputation for a singular second and instead focus on what I actually value?"

"I would, if you didn't spend a thousand dollars every month," she snapped. Whoops. "You want to throw away the lives your father and I have worked decades for."

"Hearing you talk about 'my father' is taking this whole debacle to a next level of hypocritical," I muttered, crossing my arms. "You don't even call him your husband nowadays!"

I almost saw the face she made. "Legally, we're married. But emotionally? He's dead to me."

"Wow," I said, my tone flat. "You really shouldn't be telling your daughter that." I already knew it before though, so I didn't really care.

"I don't care anymore." Her voice grew cold and unyielding. "You know what? You need someone to watch over you. You've already proven you can't be trusted to roam around without adult supervision."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I'm sending you to life with your father."

My heart sank and my panic rose. "Why?? I have a single dorm already! It's all to myself!"

"You paid for a single dorm??"

"Umm... yes? You know I strongly dislike people in general—"

She hissed through clenched teeth. "That defeats the purpose of having a dorm! You're supposed to make friends and learn new experiences and social skills."