Page 20 of When Worlds Collide (Between Worlds #2)
Mum sighed. “Are you sure about this, Ky? Where are you living? What are you doing for money?”
Ah. I’d hoped they wouldn’t bring that up. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.
“I’m staying with my-” I cleared my throat.
“With my boyfriend. He has his own place, so…” Gah, was there any way to deliver that information without making it sound like I was mooching off Jihoon?
I deliberately omitted the fact we’d been staying in a fancy hotel up until this point.
There was no good reason for them to know that particular fact.
“You’re living with him?” If my mum’s eyebrows shot any further up her forehead, they’d disappear into her hairline. “How long have you known this boy?”
I suppressed the urge to grin at her calling Jihoon a ‘boy’.
“Since April, Mum.”
“What does he do? Can he support you?”
“Good grief, Val,” my dad interjected, “are you going to ask to see his bank statements, next?”
My mum pulled back slightly. “I’m just asking if he’s capable of taking care of her. I mean, she’s clearly dropped her entire life to swan across the world to be with him-”
Dad plucked my mum’s hand out of the air – mid-gesture – and pulled it in towards him, holding it in a way I’d watched him do a million times.
“Val, she’s an adult. She’s made an adult decision. Besides –” he turned back to face the screen, leaning closer and offering me his best, conspiratorial smile. “You’ll get a job soon, won’t you, love?”
I just nodded.
My mum rolled her eyes with barely-contained theatrics. “Do I at least get to know his name?”
“Jihoon.” I omitted his surname in case my mum got it into her head to ‘ask Google’ about him.
She sniffed. “Hmm. And you’re living with him?”
“Yes.”
“So, it’s serious then?” Dad asked, leaning forward.
I flicked my eyes up to where I could see Jihoon, who’d walked into the living area, leaning down to get a bottle of water out of the mini fridge. As if he felt my eyes on him, he looked up at me as he straightened.
“Yes,” I said with more certainty about this than I had about anything else. He smiled at me in a way that never failed to simultaneously stop, and then start my heart.
“When do we get to meet him, then?”
That got my attention, and I refocused on the screen. “Sorry, what?”
“When do we meet your young man?” Dad repeated, a glint of mischief in his warm, grey eyes, as if he knew he was winding me up.
“Um…”
“I agree with your dad,” Mum piped up. “If you’re living with this boy, I want to meet him.
“Okay, fine, fine,” I agreed, “but not right now, I don’t wanna spring you two on him.”
“‘Spring?'” My mum held a hand to her chest, while my dad laughed.
“Alright, poppet, you prepare him for your old parents and let us know when we can all get on a call together-”
“Or you could bring him home for Christmas?” my mum piped up, hopefully, and much as I hated to disappoint her, I was nipping that in the bud.
“Absolutely not,” I laughed.
“Your dad will behave himself,” Mum patted my dad gamely on the shoulder, earning her an outraged look from him.
“It’s not Dad I’m worried about,” I assured her.
“Wouldn’t want to scare him off, eh, love?” He winked at me.
“He might as well know sooner or later what he’s marrying into,” Mum grumbled.
“Whoa, whoa,” I held up a hand and cut them both off. “No one said anything about marriage.”
“Well, you’re living with him.” My dad shrugged.
“And you moved to Korea to be with him,” my mum pointed out. She was very stuck on that point, I noticed weakly.
“I’m not having this conversation,” I said faintly, holding a hand up to my forehead. I could practically feel the silence from across the room.
“Alright, alright, calm down.” My mum was trying – and failing to keep a grin at bay. She’d won, and she knew it.
“Are you happy though, love?” The pivot from joking around to serious caught me off balance, and for a moment I felt overwhelmed, barraged with emotions.
“I think I’m getting there, Mum.”
“You know that me and your dad,” she paused. “We’re proud of you, love. We always have been, and we always will be. You know that.”
I blinked furiously. “I know.” And I had known that, but I think, after everything, I think I’d needed to hear it.
“About uni-” I started, but my dad interrupted me.
“Bollocks to uni,” he said gruffly.
I watched my mum reach over and take his hand, giving it a squeeze I swear I almost felt on my own hand.
“Sometimes,” she said, “the paths we take in life don’t always take us where we think they will. Sometimes they take us where we need to go, and it’s okay if we hit a few bumps in the road.”
“Very poetic, darling,” Dad said, patting my mum’s knee.
“Anyway,” I said, discreetly wiping under my eye. “I’m gonna go, it’s dinnertime here and I’m starving. Speak to you soon?” I said, making a silent promise to myself to be better at keeping in touch with them.
“Okay, love, off you pop.” My dad cheerfully waved, but before I pressed the red button to end the call, my mum held up her hand.
“Ky,” she said, freezing my finger, “we love you, baby.”
I swallowed. “I love you, too.
Mum waved, and I pressed ‘end’.
“You didn’t tell them I’m a singer?” Jihoon leaned casually against the archway between the bedroom and the living room. I guess it wasn’t a stretch to assume he’d been able to hear much of the conversation.
“One thing at a time,” I said, uncurling my legs and standing up, stretching my arms over my head as he moved towards me. I smiled as he wound his arms around my waist.
“So, when do I meet my future in-laws?”
My eyes widened, before I saw the teasing grin on his face. I lightly smacked him on the arm.
Holy hell.