Once she hears me, she walks inside but stays at the door frame. "Y/n. We gotta talk."

"What?" I sigh but keep my head on my pillow, and she closes the door behind her. "Your behavior today. Do you like going against my orders because two men are in the house and that you want to look cool in front of them?" her ridiculous assumptions get me to scoff. I cannot believe it. She is a hypocrite.

"Sure," I do not even attempt to defend myself, knowing how useless this is. "Stop acting like a child for god's sake! You were trying so hard in front of my colleague! Don't you feel ridiculous?"

"Ridiculous?" I raise my eyebrows at her. "Aren't you the one doing everything to have your body against Mister Jeon? You think I don't notice how desperate you are to get his attention?"

A chortle instantly escapes her, and she rolls her eyes. "I'm so sick of you..." she heaves a sigh, daring to say those words when she has no idea what I have to deal with every day because of her. The room remains awkwardly silent, and she breathes out in a sharp manner. "Don't you think your dad would be—"

"Do not fucking dare to talk about my dad," I sit up to cut her off with no second thought, and I fix my eyes on her. "You do not know anything about my dad, alright? Do not even mention him again."

She does not say a word anymore, standing where she is, I nibble on my inner cheek but get back in the position I was to lie down, and she walks out of the room, quietly.

— Three days later —

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021.

6:30 pm.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

"Dad," Joonha walks down the stairs and appears behind me as I am cooking dinner for us, so I turn around and take a sip of my drink. "Can I use your car to pick y/n up at her house?"

"Why?" I frown, wondering why she cannot join him and his friends with her own car or her mother's one. "She told me her mom doesn't want to, and she cannot use her car, and she doesn't own one."

"Oh," I put my drink down and think about my decision. I always fear letting him get in my car and drive, especially at this time. I lick my lips and lean back on the counter. "Don't tell me you don't trust me..." he understands the reason for my quietness, and I cannot help chuckling. "I trust you, but not the other people on the road."

"Come on...it's just once," he insists, willing to go skating with y/n and his friends. "Alright," I give in to him but hate it. "Thanks! I'll be back for eight," he already runs away with excitement, but I quickly straighten my back and stop him. "Wait," I walk to the other side of the kitchen bar to have him within sight. "You better be careful, wear your seat belt, and respect every sign. Got it?"

"Yes, dad. You know I'm not gonna do anything stupid or dangerous," he rolls his eyes, not knowing what it is to have a kid and be worried for them. "I just want to make sure I said it," I tuck my hands in my pockets, watching him put his shoes on. "And take care of y/n. She's the only girl, so don't let your friends bother her."

"I won't, and my friends aren't dumb," he grabs his skateboard and sets his eyes on me, his hand landing on the door's handle. "Love you, and don't be anxious for no damn reason," he opens the door, and I nod. "Love you too."

My words put a smile on his face, and he hides his head with the hood of his hoodie to get out, and he closes the door.

I am anxious, but no one can blame me, I hate to know him on the road without me. No matter how old he is, I know he is an adult, but that does not change the fact that he is my child.

My fears taking over me, I try to get rid of them by occupying my thoughts with something else, and I head back to the kitchen to check the food. I stand in front of it while it is cooking in a pot, and I stare at the inside but touch the chain around my neck.

The house feels so empty when he is not here, but I have to get used to it. He is getting old enough to slowly build his own life and leave the family house, but thinking about it just scares me, despite how happy I am to see him grow up so well.

My thoughts never giving a break to my mind, the sound of my phone takes me away from them. I grab it to check what this is but feel surprised at the sight of the name of the person who sent me a message.

< thank you, Mister Jeon😊 ]

I smile at this cute text I received from y/n and answer her.

[ No need to, I hope you'll enjoy your time there >

I get my phone back on the counter and turn the ignition off, I cover the pot with the top, and since I know that my son will not be here any time soon, I leave it there in the warm and head to my bedroom that is on the right of this opened kitchen.

In case Joonha texts me, I take my phone with me and unbutton my shirt, and once I enter my room, I drop my phone on the bed and undo my belt, make it end on the same spot, then I get inside the bathroom to put my clothing in the laundry basket and take my pants and underwear off.

I have time to take a bath and relax until Joonha comes back to eat dinner together.

40 minutes later...

I get out of the bath after almost dozing off, and I grab a towel to quickly dry my hair, wipe my torso, back, then my lower body, and I wrap it around my hips to get out of the room and check my phone again.

This time, it is from Harin.

< Good evening, I hope I'm not bothering, but I wanted to ask if you're busy tonight? ]

[ Good evening, not really. Why? >

I drop my phone on the bed to take my towel off and get a pair of pajama pants in my wardrobe. I put them on and throw the damp fabric in the laundry basket that is in my bathroom, and I take hold of my phone to head back to the open-plan living room.

Before checking the text that I received, I look for my cigarettes and lighter that I often leave in the pocket of my jacket, and once I get them, I only take one out and light it up, taking the opportunity of Joonha's absence to smoke.

As soon as the cigarette touches my lips, the guilt takes over me, but I puff on it and walk towards the sofa that is some feet in front of my bedroom. I open a window, and I sit down.

< Would you like to dine at my house to not stay alone tonight? ]

I breathe out for the smoke to fill the room, and I think about an excuse to refuse.

[ Oh, I'm sorry but I was planning to dine with my son once he's back. He likes to have moments with me only >

I hold my cigarette between my fingers, hating myself for the lie I just said.

< It's alright, no need to apologize. Hope you'll have a good meal with your son then, and make sure to sleep a lot. Work has been exhausting lately for you ]

[ I will, thank you. Make sure to do so, Harin >

< I will ]

I put my phone down now that she is done, and I only focus on the relaxation my cigarette brings me.

I do not like to be mean to anyone, especially women, but I do not like the ones who do not treat their children properly. She obviously cares more about having my attention than checking up on y/n and taking care of her. I hope she does not act that way again in the future but that she shows me she is just clumsy.

Willing to not be bothered by this but only focus on me and my son from now on, I brush it off and move forth to stand up, and I take a drag on my cigarette while heading to the garden. I close the window that was open, and I open the sliding door then close it behind me to be able to smoke outside and not intoxicate the whole house.

I truly hope Joonha is having fun with his friends and y/n right now.

'YOUR P.O.V'

I keep my eyes on Joonha while he is skating with his friends as if he had been doing this since he was a kid, and right when he does a heel flip right in front of us, I gape at this amazing trick but wish I could do the same.

This looks so cool, fun, and great, but being good at skateboarding implies going through a lot of pain, and I am not ready for that.

"Joon," one of his friends, who is next to me, stops him, so he puts his feet on the floor to grab his skateboard and comes closer. "Your speed is not fast enough," he hands him his cigarette, and Joonha grabs it to take a puff on it.

Does his dad know about this? This is not good for his health. 

"I know, I wasn't able to take that jump over there," he drops his board on the floor to put his foot on it, checking what his friend is doing on his board. "She wanna try," the silver-haired boy, Seunggil, who is on my left, says something he does not even know, getting Joonha to lay his eyes on me. "You changed your mind?"

"I...no. I don't want to fall and break a bone," I shake my head, but he chuckles and brings the cigarette back to his mouth. He slowly rolls the board to my feet and runs his fingers through his hair. "Come on. I'll help you if you want."

"I know you'll let me fall just to laugh," I do not believe him, but he smiles at me and gives the cigarette back to Seunggil. "I'm not a monster. I'll hold your hand."

"And let go once I lose balance?" I raise my eyebrows, but he lets out a 'tch' and inches closer. "Come on," he lifts his hands up to me, but since I believe that he would not risk getting me hurt and get scolded by his father, I trust him and put my hands on his larger ones.

"First, put one foot where the bolts are," he points at them but already lets go of one of my hands, so I mention it. "Hey! Your hand."

"You're not even on it, chill," he takes it lightly, but I do not complain and place one foot on the board, exactly where he told me to put it. "Now here. Do not go too fast but too slow either," he does not give good enough advices, making me doubt but still follow. "You're holding onto me, so it cannot be hard at all."

"Yeah..." I half agree and eventually decide to get my other foot on it. This suddenly feels way more uncomfortable than the ground. It is way too unsteady, I am already scared to fall off. "Now, I'm gonna hold only one hand and make you move."

"And how do I stop, dummy?" I tighten my grip on him to make sure he does not pull away, but he laughs at me. "You know. The best way to learn how to skate, is to do it on your own. You'll hurt yourself for sure, but that's the best way to learn."

"I don't want to hurt myself, so I'll never learn..." I tell him the truth. "Well...Then let's do it like you're a baby. Does it feel stable on it like this or do you need to change your position?"

"It's not stable at all," I look down at my feet. "Then get off," he tells me to do, so I step down on the ground and finally move my hands away from his, but he keeps them in his hold. "Go back on it and do it as many times as you need to find the right position you're the most comfortable in."

I trust his orders and do as told, so I do it once and try a different spot, but since it is not good enough again, I try another spot, and I keep on doing it until I feel like it could work.

"Here, this position feels the best," I do not move anymore, not knowing what to do after this first step. "Alright, do you think I can let go of one hand?"

"Hmm..." I do not answer yet. "I'll just let go but keep my hand against yours so you can grab it if you're scared," he does it in a more gentle and serious manner than I expected him to do, so I slowly loosen one of my grips. "Don't keep your eyes on the ground, look at my hands or at me."

I raise my eyes up to do everything he says. "Now, try to put your hand down, and I'll get mine near your arm to catch you," he takes it slowly, making every step long enough to put me at ease with him. I breathe in and out then attempt to lower my hand down to my leg, but as soon as I feel the skateboard move under my feet, I rush my hand to his wrist and nearly crush it, getting him to chuckle at me.

"It's fine. You're doing good," he does not let me feel bad for freaking out like a kid, so I try to relax. "Don't be scared when you feel it move, you won't fall. Move your feet, this is important because no matter how weird it sounds, you cannot stay still without moving on a skateboard," he speaks, he and his friend not even getting bored. "Move them back and forth and control the steadiness."

"Okay," I nod but hear his friend scoff next to us. Joonha peeks up at him but smiles too. "Shut the fuck up. I'm trying my best, I'm not good at teaching, damn pervert."

The sound of this word makes me turn my head towards his friend, not understanding what he meant by that, but once we make eye contact, he puffs on his cigarette and glances at the one holding my hands. "Don't mind him, he's just dirty-minded," Joonha drags my eyes back on him, but I now get what this scoff was for. I usually get those types of jokes, but I am so focused on trying to do good that my brain did not work the way it does every day.

"Let's try something else. Follow me," he allows me to go delicately back on the floor, then he grabs the board and leads me towards his other friend, Munhee, who is still having fun on his own and practicing. "Come here," he places it down in a gentle manner, so I get in front of him to face the board as well and have the beach view behind me. "Alright, when I began, I remember that the easiest for me was to move from one point to another, but standing still on it was the hardest. So what you're gonna do here is put one foot on it and learn to push forward for the first time. I swear it's easy."

"Show me first," I step back to make him do it and allow me to have an example, and he goes forward with no problem. "Okay. So the first thing you do is just put the foot, which you're gonna keep in the front, and which is the one on which you keep your balance the easiest, you put it in the same direction as the board, then as easy as it sounds, you push with your foot that is in the back," he shows me and slightly leaves to the right. "And you place that one foot on the back to make sure you don't stay on one leg only and lose your balance," he raises his voice to make sure I hear him, and I nod, seeing him go a little further, with the wind blowing in his fluffy light-brown hair, getting his dangling rose earring to move the same way.

Now, he moves back, not being able to only show a small trick. He must be passionate about it.

"Here, try it. You cannot fall when you do that. I or the old man will—"

"I'm not old, you little shit!" Seunggil yells at him, standing where I am supposed to go with the board. "Silver hair is pretty as heck, you just have bad taste."

"Sure," he irritates him even more by ignoring his complaints, and I chuckle but listen to the rest of the sentence he could not finish. "So, he or l will be there if you ever lose your balance, and on top of that, I picked this area because once you'll go in a straight line, the railing over there will be here so that you can grab it if you're too scared to stop the skateboard yourself. So don't be worried, alright?"

"Yeah, I know I can always trust boys," I sarcastically say, joking and not being serious, or not totally. "We're men, that's even better," he smiles, but for some reason, reminds me of his father, and my heart does not react the same way.

"Let's try, and if I hurt myself, I'll tell your dad that's your fault," I step away to prepare myself to walk up to the skateboard and climb on it, fearing for my life when this is only a piece of wood. "I'll take all the blame, I promise."

"Sure...that reassures me even more," I mumble in a sigh, but I focus and move forth to get to it, not let some stress stop me, and I put my dominant foot on it first, push with the one I picked as the one in the back, and I let myself get controlled by the movement of the wheels, seeing Seunggil get closer to me without even moving.

"You're doing good!" Joonha hypes me up for the small thing I just did, but since I love it, I go farther than planned and wait until the wheels stop by themselves. "Try to put your foot down!" he shouts and runs towards me, probably willing to be here in case I mess up, but I wait to get to the railing, and I grip it to not go over it and end ten feet lower on the sand.

"The next step is stopping on your own," he smiles but looks at Seunggil, who is still smoking. "Stay where you are," he takes hold of his skateboard to go back where we started, and I follow him, feeling excited after this ridiculous ride that felt ecstatic to me. "Here, Let's make it longer," he puts it down, the distance now seeming more dangerous for my safety. "I saw a slight problem when you put your other foot on the board, you didn't move your dominant one. It's fine because it was a straight line, but you cannot do this when you move around with it. So look at what I'm doing, and do the same, hm?" he combs his hair back again, the wind maybe bothering him.

I agree to this, quietly, and I watch every move he makes so that I can memorize and repeat. This is even better than I thought, but I know this requires a lot of skills and time to have the real fun that skating can offer you.

My eyes never leaving his feet and skinny legs in a pair of ripped jeans, once he stops himself, he turns around and looks at me. "See how I did it?" he comes back towards me, using the board to redo what he did. I check his feet and the position they are in one more time, and once he drops his left one on the ground, I peek up at his face. "You want me to show you again?"

"No, I wanna try," I cannot wait to get back on it, but he smiles as if he was liking this lesson as well, and he gives me the go-ahead. "Don't forget to move both of your feet after you pushed. Always the one in the back, not the front."

"I know," I speak as if I was used to it, and I climb up on the skateboard, push forth, but feel nervous as soon as I place one foot in the back and move the dominant one in a way to control the direction it goes in. Luckily, I do not fall, and since the distance between me and the railing is bigger, I give another push to not be stopped in the middle of it with nothing to have a hold on, and once I feel myself carry on without tripping over or losing my balance, I already feel like a professional.

However, for the second time, I cannot stop the board myself but wait for the railing. "Let me come back and try," I speak to Joonha who followed me, so he heads back to the beginning, and once he is there, waiting for me, I go for it and trust both of these men to keep their eyes on me and make sure I do not end on the ground. After passing by Seunggil and giving the second push, I glance down at the ground and then up at Joonha's body, and I try to get my foot down to stop the board, but everything goes wrong because of my nervousness, and my body does not adjust to the speed.

Joonha quickly notices it and catches me before I could hit the ground, saving me from two weeks full of pain. "Are you okay?" he low-key mocks me, but I do not get upset. My feelings will not get hurt. I get back on my feet properly. "Yeah. Almost died from a heart attack...but no pain, so that's the most important."

His small giggles slip out of his mouth, and Seunggil joins us. "You okay?" he checks up on me, and I confirm that my body is doing fine. "Yep. I'm good."

"Let's just avoid the 'pride topic' though," Joonha cannot hold back from remarking to taunt me, but I laugh against my will, knowing the sad truth. "I freaking hate you."

"I hate myself too, so we're even," he turns this into some dark moment, but Seunggil sighs his toxic air right near my nose. "Dude. You know how to ruin the mood."

"Yeah," he jumps on his skateboard and plays in the park, missing it for sure, but he stays close to me. "Do you wanna try again?"

"I'll try next time," I keep it here for this time, and I watch him do every trick, every move, smoothly.

•••

8 pm.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

The front door of the house opens as I got the dishes out and set the table, so I look on the right, and the relief fills me in a short second once I see my son.