city lights - jaemin

43

TW for the first half of this chapter : emotionally abusive parents.

this is the last of these scenes :)

SHE sat at the dinner table, freshly showered and hair dried, put into a bun. Her parents sat in front of her, eating away, completely oblivious to what was going on in their daughters mind. She was trying to bring herself up to enough confidence to mention quitting.

It was now or never. They barely were ever together as a family recently, so she wouldn't get the chance like this for another week or maybe more.

"Mum, Dad."
She started off, her voice sounding confident until they make eye contact with her. But she knew she had to continue.
"I've been thinking about what would.. make me happy."

"and what is that?"
Her mother questioned, taking another bite of her food and slowly chewing.

"I want to quit the swimming team."

Her father dropped his cutlery and looked around the room with frustration. He rolled his eyes and just looked at his daughter who was looking nervous.

"After everything we have done for you and that stupid swimming thing of yours you want to quit?"
He spoke with an aggressive tone, yet he never raised his voice. Maybe that was what made it more scary.

"You're seriously going to put a waste of everything. Why? Because you fucked up the last competition?" Her mother spat. Micha tried to speak, but only to get cut off.

"We WASTE so much on you and you take it for granted, you don't ever think of how we feel and only about yourself." Her father added, looking at her with such a look you might think they hated her. They certainly acted like that.

"Such a selfish daughter!"
Her mother continued, looking away and at the plate of food, having lost her appetite she pushed the plate away.

"Your words won't change my mind."
Micha finally said once they fell silent for a second. They looked at her in disbelief. She was proud of herself. For once she was standing her ground to her parents.

"You're fucking shocking."
Her mother said her jaw was dropped from her daughters words.

"Do whatever you fucking want."
Her father said, pushing his chair back and standing up. He grabbed a napkin and started wiping his hands as he spoke in a loud booming voice.

"Ruin your life for all we care but never come running back to us saying you want to go back. You just keep disappointing us and I'm shocked you even have the guts to go against us."

"I wouldn't have to go against you if you just treated me like an actual daughter." Micha said, glaring up at her father who walked out of the kitchen. Her mother stood up and walked off with her father, leaving Micha alone in the kitchen.

She felt proud of herself. Despite the growing urge to cry, she was happy.

☁️

It was midnight, and she still couldn't sleep. She was on the phone with Youngmi, discussing the issue. She was becoming more and more sure she would be happier just quitting, but she wanted everyone opinions.

"You don't have to quit you know."
Youngmi said, tiredness heard in her voice but she was actively trying to stay awake.
"You could stay and just swim for the fun of it."

"I'll get kicked off the team that way." Micha whined. She knew who she really wanted to speak too about this all, not that Youngmi wasn't a great friend, but she sucked at comforting. But it was late and she didn't want to bother his life again. She did it once and didn't want it to happen again.

"Oh come on. We all know some of the girls on your team literally don't even try to swim competitively and they only do it when the teacher is recording your times." Youngmi argued, having the knowledge from the countless times she has gone to the pool to cheer micha on during practice.

"Okay... but do I quit or not."

"Whatever you want to do. It's your decision."
There was some ruffling of blankets heard on Youngmi's side of the call before she spoke again. "it's midnight Micha."

"okay, okay, goodnight, Youngmi." Micha said, deciding she should stop and try to sleep, again.

"Goodnight, try to sleep it off, okay? We can talk about it all tomorrow."

"yeah, yeah."