M

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"Mom?" I call for the second I made it home.

I immediately found her in the kitchen, chopping some onions.

"Hey, sweetie. How was first day?"

I sat on the stool by the kitchen counter, mom's back facing me. "I think something's wrong with me."

She just chuckles, as if knowing that what I was about to say wasn't really something worth freaking out about.

How come she always knows stuff ahead of me?

"What's wrong, baby?"

"The drumming in my chest is back," I say wearily. "I don't know how, but I think it started when I met this girl, Mina."

Mom just hums, as if letting me know she's still interested in my narrative.

"Was she pretty?" She asks, the same exact thing she did about Nayeon when I first told to her about my problem.

I thought it was weird.

Nonetheless, I replied, "Sure."

And then, she stopped chopping onions to face me.

"So my hunch was right," she says, as if talking not to me, but to herself. "You get nervous around pretty girls."

I felt my face flush, because she was smiling when she said that, almost as if it was a good thing.

I wasn't so sure, myself, if it was.

"Is... that a good thing?" I hesitated, but mom only laughed heartily, before pulling me in for a tight embrace.

"Oh, sweetheart," she coos by my ear. "Mommy loves you so much. You know that, right?"

I nod.

I felt my mom smile to my hair.

"I'm so happy I read you right." Her voice cracks slightly when she said that in a softer tone. "I'm so happy I always do."

"What does that mean, mom?"

Pulling away, mom just wipes a few of her tears away before cupping my cheeks.

She made me meet her gaze, making sure I saw the way she smiled at me sweetly.

"My love, it means that I'm doing a good job, being your mom." Her tears attempted to fall again, but I used my thumbs to catch them for her this time. She smiled. "It means that I get you, that I already know things about you, even before you do so, yourself. And yes, that's a good thing." She kisses my forehead before wrapping me up in a warm embrace. "That's always a good thing, Momo."