Citrus+

Chapter 19

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Nayeon looked down to her cup silently as Mrs. Im patiently waited for her to speak. A few moments later, Nayeon took a deep breath and looked up to her mother with sad eyes.

"What I have to say... m-might distress you, eomma,... b-but I... I want to understand... t-that..." Nayeon paused and gripped on her cup tightly and pursed her lips. She shut her eyes tightly and sighed. "I-it's... it's about Jeongyeon."

Mrs. Im calmly sipped on her cup as she listened to Nayeon, who was a stuttering mess.

"I... I-I... it's—"

"Nayeon-ah." Mrs. Im softly called that made her daughter look at her. She gave her daughter a warm assuring smile before saying, "It's alright. Just say whatever pops on your mind. Take it slow."

Nayeon sighed, hearing her mother's voice, calming herself down and nodded.

"Okay."

With that, she told her mother everything (except for the intimate parts, of course) about her relationship with her stepsisters- how it started, how her feelings grew, and how she was hurt. She explained everything carefully and her mother calmly listened, sipping her tea from time to time.

Nayeon doesn't know how her mother would react about it, but she just wants to get this out of her mind. She wasn't looking at Mrs. Im as she tells her their story, that's why she's feeling very anxious.

"...and all that she left to me was that letter. I only read it once, but reading it again after years... it... I just... all the emotions when she left... came back. A-and the worst part is that yesterday... I saw her yesterday, t-that's why I- I don't know what to feel anymore."

After rambling all those words, silence grew between them. Nayeon was still looking down at her still-full cup of tea and her tears threatening to fall down from her eyes when she heard Mrs. Im sigh.

"... I see."

That was the first sentence her mother said after she told her everything. And it scared the hell out of her. Nayeon didn't know what that meant. Fuck! Is she angry? Does she hate me now? Ugh, I don't know anymore! Shit!

"I-I'm sorry, eomma."

Nayeon flinched when she felt her mother touching her trembling hands on the table.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Nayeon-ah."

Those words relieved the crap out of Nayeon. When she looked at her mother, she didn't see a hint of anger, instead, she saw a proud smile. Her mother was proud of her for coming out of the closet and tell her everything.

Mrs. Im leaned her face on her arms above the table while still looking at her daughter.

"It's not wrong to love people."

Nayeon, teary-eyed, smiled and squeezed her mother's hand. She felt warm and relieved now that she finally got to tell her mother about her feelings and happy that Mrs. Im took it positively.

"I was around the same age as you, or even younger than you, when I decided to be with your father. We were both still very young, so everyone was against it." Her mother looked down as she chuckled bitterly and sighed. "We we're happy, but there was as much happiness as there was pain." She squeezed Nayeon's hand softly and looked at her. "The future you choose might also be more painful than you can imagine. The decisions you make will also come with responsibility." She chuckled. "Well~"

Mrs. Im stood up and pulled the chair beside Nayeon. She reached for her daughter's head and put it on her chest as she sat down beside her. She put her chin on top of Nayeon's head while caressing it carefully.