Noona [Ateez]

The Question

Later that day
Bosam's Point of View

The rest of the lunch went surprisingly well. My mom asked the guys a few questions about when they debuted, how their workload was, what they thought of my work, and what they thought of the company as we ate. She didn't seem particularly displeased by any of their answers.

The guys also asked my mom a few questions, like making sure she was okay with them calling her "mother", and what I was like as a kid.

"Our Bosam was a bit of a quiet kid at school, but she was never a push-over." My mom said "one time, a new rich kid came to school when she was in middle school and he immediately became popular because well- he was rich. He saw Bosam as an easy target since she was a bit of a lonely kid and tried to pick on her, but Bosam ended up being the one to bully him, and they both got in trouble. I got called to school because Bosam punched a kid in the face." My mother explained, making everyone at the table laughin surprise and turn their heads to look at me. "You punched someone in the face as a kid?" Yunho asked as he laughed, covering his mouth in a mix of amusement and shock. "Yeah. I did it in highschool too. I got into a few fights when people found out I'm mixed race and thought they could use that as an insult." I said casually, before remembering my little impressionable toddler was sitting next to me. "Which is super bad and I'm not proud of it! Violence is never the answer, I learned that, and I got in trouble a lot for it. I wouldn't do it again." I said, making Yunho laugh even harder as he saw me get into mom-mode after speaking so casually about beating kids' ass back in my school days.

"I really never expected that," Seonghwa said, his round eyes wide as he covered his mouth, still shocked to hear that I was a quiet, and somewhat violent kid. "Yeah," Mingi said, quieting down after laughing along with his best friend, "I didn't even know you were mixed race, noona." He said, to which all the guys nodded and spoke up in agreement to. "Mother, are you not Korean?" Wooyoung asked, looking over to my mom, eyes wide, since my mom looked 100% Korean. "I am, I'm from here."

"Then it must be father," Hongjoong said. I smiled sadly and nodded. "Yeah. My dad was Mexican." I said. Yunho, Seonghwa, Hongjoong, Yeosang and Jongho seemed to catch up immediately, because their faces dropped into a mix of surprise and empathy. But sadly, I don't think San was paying enough attention, because he said "we should meet him too, next time!"

My face saddened a bit more. We had never really talked about my dad in front of Rowoon, since I was avoiding the subject of fathers up to this point. I was trying to muster the strength to tell the guys and my baby that actually, my father was long gone, when my mom, stronger than I'll ever be, stepped in. "That's very sweet, San-ah, but I'm afraid my husband passed away."

Oh... sorry. I'm making it sound like things got all somber after my dad was brought up, but honestly, we weren't really that sad to talk about it. It's been seven years since my dad passed away, and time heals most wounds, so we were able to move on from the topic easily, and it seemed like Rowoon wasn't really paying attention to what the grown-ups were saying, which was also a relief.

Either way, what I was trying to say is that it seemed like my mom got a good impression of the guys, because of how she acted when I was going to send her back home.

"I'd offer to drive you, but Jaehyun took the van. I'll call a cab and drop you off instead." I said to her as we walked outside the house and into the driveway, while the guys watched Rowoon again. She just smiled sadly at me and said "It's okay, my daughter. I'll take the cab alone this time. I feel reassured, because I now know my child is in good hands."

"So I take it you liked the guys," I said, my face lighting up as she nodded with a chuckle. "They seem like a fun bunch. Less rowdy than the last. Very polite. Good kids." She said, and I had to resist the urge to laugh. 'Oh mom, you just haven't seen them play mafia- or anything, for that matter' I thought, but I just nodded in response instead. "And... about Yunho?"