Click. Whoosh. Click.
"...Mom, I am home!"
Chaewon shouted as she walked through the front door, closing the door behind her and putting her shoes away in the closet.
"In the living room!"
Her mother’s shout echoed from down the short hall.
After putting her stuff away into the closet, she walked to the living room and saw her mother sitting on the couch.
She was watching the drama TV shows that she liked very much, and this one was about a family torn apart by betrayal and lies.
"How was work?"
Her mother, Yerin, turned around and asked with a smile on her face.
She was a gentle-looking woman. Had the same brown hair as her daughter, also looking like she wasn’t a day past thirty, but she was actually already in her fifties.
"It was good!"
Chaewon said with a smile, sat down beside her mother, put her head on Yerin’s shoulder, and held her hand tightly.
They lived on the 98th floor, and the living conditions were already very good here. It wasn’t a normal one-story apartment.
It also had a second floor with all the bedrooms there, and the 98th floor itself was very well-maintained.
It felt more like a neighborhood in some suburb than a high-rise apartment building.
They watched the TV show in silence, and after the end credits started rolling, Chaewon stood up to get ready for a bath.
"Chaewon, before you go, I have something to tell you about. Please, sit."
Yerin said with a smile and patted the spot beside her on the couch, and Chaewon, curiously, sat back down.
She looked at her mother in confusion, asking, "What is this all about?" with her expression.
"You know Lady Izumi, right? She goes to the book club with me, and we’ve met her a couple of times on this floor."
Yerin said.
"I do, of course."
Chaewon said.
"Her son just became a brain surgeon on the 171st floor. Isn’t that amazing? Izumi never stops talking about her son these days!"
Yerin said.
"...Wow, that sounds amazing. I know her son, don’t I? I think he was in the same class as me in high school."
Chaewon said.
"Yes..."
Yerin said, paused for a moment, and looked into her daughter’s eyes, which were full of innocence and youth.
"Izumi told me that she had a conversation about you with her son at a dinner table. Apparently her son’s eyes lit up when he talked about you, at least according to Izumi.
"I think he is very fond of you, and since you aren’t seeing anyone, maybe I can arrange a meeting between the two of you?"
Yerin asked.
"Mom, no!"
Chaewon exclaimed in frustration, stood up, and said, "I’ll go to bath," with a not-so-happy face.
"...Chaewon, can you at least meet him? I told Izumi I would try, and if you don’t like him, that’s fine, as I won’t force you to date someone you don’t like!"
Yerin said.
She knew how hard it was to find a love inside Megaworld. It was a rare opportunity that she didn’t want Chaewon to pass up.
"I am not interested in dating right now..."
Chaewon mumbled, but inside her mind, there was a certain someone that she was much more interested in.
She remembered Izumi’s son—barely—and during the school days, he was pretty much an outcast and didn’t seem to have a lot of friends.
He was good at studying, always being at the top of the class, and he hated any sport activities, but he liked reading books.
Chaewon, on the other hand, was part of the popular group because of her beauty, and they were almost from completely different worlds.
"Will you try for me?"
Yerin asked.
"..."
Chaewon walked to her mother, kissed her on the cheek, and said with a pout, "Tell Izumi that I already have a boyfriend," and then headed to the bath.
"Sigh..."
Yerin shook her head.
"You’re beautiful, Chaewon, and in a blink of an eye you will be as old as me with your beauty faded off!"
Splash!
Chaewon dipped in the bath, looking at the bubbles rising, and she flicked the duck toy floating in the water.
She closed her mouth and sank down into the warm water until her ears were completely submerged.
’I’ve never kept secrets from my mom before, but there is no way I can talk to her about Raon and things I’ve done with him.
’He is the reason why I won’t go meet Izumi’s son, but I can’t tell my mom about that because it would be scandalous!’
She knew what she was doing with him was very wrong, and she would be fired instantly if it ever got out.
’Mom has always been supportive of me, but I don’t think even she would approve of that relationship... I don’t know what I am supposed to do.’
Chaewon sat back up, coming out of the water, and quickly washed herself before drying off with a towel.
She then covered herself with a towel and also wrapped her hair in a towel before walking out of the bathroom.
After changing into her sleeping clothes, it was getting very late, so it was time to sleep, as she had to wake up early tomorrow to head back to work.
She didn’t have a lot of free time because of the long work hours, but she found herself very excited to go to work.
The only thing that bothered her was that she couldn’t see Raon as much as she’d like because he was always in the game.
"Are you sleeping with me tonight, Chaewon?"
Yerin got settled in her bed, and Chaewon said, "Sure, Mom," and lay beside her under the blanket.
It had always been just two of them, and they were very close because of it.
"Will you tell me about what you did at work? I’d like to also hear about this patient of yours that you have been taking care of."
Yerin said with a smile.
Without noticing, Chaewon flinched, having a "Why does she want to know about him?" expression on her face.
"...Uhm, I took him outside Megaworld today. Did I tell you that he recovered his vision suddenly? Which is why he wanted to see Megaworld from outside for the first time."
Chaewon said with a smile.
"Wow, from what you said before, his illness seemed extremely serious. You seem to be very glad that he is getting better."
Yerin said.
"Of course, why wouldn’t I be? Raon is very nice, and I’ll keep helping him to get better any way I can!"
Chaewon said firmly.
"..."
Yerin looked at her daughter silently and saw something that only her mother would see, and she sighed under her breath.
’My dear daughter... If you already had someone you had feelings towards, you could’ve just told me!’