FLOWER | Winrina

Chapter 31

At some point before Jimin could use her phone again, while she was still letting tears pour out into her pillows and blankets, she heard a knock on her door. "Jimin?" Her mom. Of course. She quickly sat up, sniffing and then wiping at her dampened face.

"What?"

"Can I come in please? I'd like to talk to you."

"Thought we were talking tomorrow."

A frustrated huff could be heard from the other side of the door. "I changed my mind." The door opened, and Tiffany let herself in. Her eyes immediately examined Jimin's room, something she rarely saw. She probably first saw the painting of Minjeong that was no longer on Jimin's easel but was propped against her dresser. Then she maybe noticed the charcoal drawing of her dad, and maybe she saw a few other drawings. Jimin didn't care.

"If you want to talk, start talking," Jimin said, trying to sound firm and annoyed, but she knew that she didn't. She sounded wounded and broken, tear-stricken as she was. Tiffany stepped in further, looking like she was deliberately avoiding looking at the side of Jimin's room strewn with artwork and instead keeping her eyes focused on her daughter. "I thought about it. Obviously, I can't keep you from seeing that girl entirely. You have school."

"Her name is Minjeong," Jimin growled.

Tiffany didn't acknowledge the correction. "I don't want you alone with her. I do not want her to do inappropriate things to you."

"Are you serious, mom?" Jimin snapped. "I'm seventeen, you know? I'm old enough to consent, emotionally and legally, to having sex."

"While you live under my roof, I'd much prefer it if you didn't do such things, Jimin," Tiffany reminded her.

"What if it was with a boyfriend?" Jimin questioned, wanting to cross her arms for emphasis but not being able to due to her wrist. "Would it be okay then? If it was normal and with a nice boy?"

"Don't mock me, Jimin, especially with things that I never even said!"

"You may as well have." The younger girl was seething, for obvious reasons. "Guess you've never realized that your imperfect daughter's not a virgin anymore?"

Tiffany's eyes narrowed significantly, and Jimin was actually a bit surprised to see that she was right - her mom had thought that she'd never had sex before. Which, to be fair, she hadn't until recently. Jimin wouldn't bring that up, though, because it was better to keep her mom completely caught off guard - at least it seemed like it was. "Like I said," she growled, "I don't want you alone with her anymore."

"Here?" Jimin asked, for clarification. "You can't keep me from going to her house."

"If you're so sure about that, let me talk to her mother."

Brown eyes widened slightly before falling into the shape of a glare. "I'm sure you and her would get along just great, actually. You're both great at being huge disappointments when it comes to parenting. Sorry, though, she's hardly ever even at her house, so good luck even getting close to speaking to her."

"You're making this difficult," Tiffany said with a huff. "Could you please just respect the fact that I'm your mother, and I am giving you rules that I need you to follow?"

"You sound ridiculous," Jimin stated. "You want me to never be alone with Minjeong here, or at her house, or what, be out in public without an entourage? If I was dating someone like Jeno, you would be pushing me so much to go out with him and be with him. The reason you're being so ridiculous is because the fact that I'm with Minjeong just adds another imperfection to the list, and that's stupid!"

"Jimin."

"Go away!" Jimin yelled, her throat still scratchy from sobbing and her voice cracking. She didn't want her mother to see her cry, but she felt tears coming again. "Jimin, sweetie, you're going to hurt your head more if you keep crying like this. And your wrist, if you start using it to bury yourself into your pillows."