chapter 5
05. I want to live with my mom
“Mother~”
I ran to my mother with my arms wide open.
“Jinhyoya~”
My mother, who confirmed my appearance, spread her arms wide as I did with a wide smile.
In addition, she bent her legs so that I could be held comfortably, and was fully prepared to receive me.
In response to my mother’s intentions and expectations, I rushed into her arms.
Warak─.
“My son~”
My mother took advantage of the recoil from my run and picked me up and spun around.
“Kyahahahaha~”
Did they say that when the body gets younger, the mind gets younger too?
I laughed and was delighted even when I was spinning in place, which was not a big deal.
“My son~ Our pretty Jinhyo~”
After the rotation stopped, my mother put her face on my cheek. She then rubbed her cheeks as if tickling them, holding her face against hers.
Bubi bubi—.
“Ahahahaha, it tickles me.”
“So~ do you hate my son?~”
“No! hehehehe.”
My mother must have been very satisfied with my answer, and she hugged me tighter with a pleased expression.
It must have been frustrating to hug her like this, but I didn’t hate it at all.
Because her mother’s arms were very warm and cozy.
Plus, my mother smelled very nice. It was such a nice scent that made me feel at ease just by smelling it.
Feeling comfortable and cozy, I burrowed deeper into my mother’s arms. And involuntarily, a snort came out.
“Huh~”
“Oh my gosh, hehehe. You are a fool, my son.”
My mother stroked my hair with a benevolent smile.
Swoop, snooze.
My mother’s gentle touch made me smile.
“I missed you, mother.”
“Mom is also our Jinhyo Eom~chung! I miss you. My pretty son, would you like to see his face?”
“Hee hee.”
Mother studied my face as she straightened my slightly tousled hair.
“Yes! You’ve gotten prettier since then, my son.”
“Hee hee, mother too!”
My mother gently stroked my cheek and moved her steps slowly.
“How have you been?”
“Yes! I was doing well. What about your mother?”
“Umm~ Mom misses our Jinhyo you~mu so I haven’t been well. Sobbing.”
My mother deliberately put on an exaggeratedly sad expression and cried playfully.
I also cried mischievously at her mother’s prank.
“Ugh, to be honest, I haven’t had a good time because I missed my mother.”
She said, rubbing her forehead on her mother’s shoulder. She smiled mischievously.
“Oh, our Jinhyo, then, did you lie? You guys~ You guys.”
“Ahh~ I’m sorry.”
My mother played with me by poking my cheeks as if she was having fun.
After playing with my mother affectionately, I came to a table in the middle of the terrace before I knew it.
My mother sat in her chair while holding me. She then made me sit comfortably on her lap.
My mother sat me on her lap and looked at me warmly. She and she said nothing and she stroked my hair.
I leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder and closed her eyes, enjoying her mother’s touch.
I spent a quiet time with my mother in silence for a while.
After a while, my mother took her hands off my head and opened her mouth.
“My son, have you had lunch?”
“Yes. But since I met my mother today, I ate less.”
On family visit days, my mother always brought her snacks. So, on the day of the visit, I deliberately ate less lunch.
But my mother said with a worried expression, as if she was worried when I said I ate less lunch.
“Oh, you have to eat properly.”
“I want to eat snacks with my mother. But I’ll take care of it so you don’t have to worry.”
At my words, my mother erased her worries and looked at me with a moved expression.
“Huh, so? Mom is so happy to hear that.”
“Ehehehe.”
My mother stroked my hair once more. She then reached for the basket that was on the table.
My mother said as she took a well-wrapped square of something from her basket.
“Today’s snack, voila~ tiramisu.”
“Wow~”
Tiramisu!
It was one of my favorite snacks.
In my previous life, I didn’t really like sweets, but now I like sweets very much and even eat them well.
It seemed that as my body changed, so did my taste.
After opening the tiramisu wrapper, the mother took out a spoon instead of a fork from the basket.
“This is a product sold at a famous dessert shop, and it is a unique tiramisu that you eat with a spoon.”
“Wow~ Really?”
At my mother’s explanation, I looked at the tiramisu with my eyes shining.
My mother smiled as if she was happy with my reaction. She then scooped the tiramisu into bite-sized pieces with a spoon and moved it to my mouth.
“Come on, ah~”
Like feeding baby food to a child, my mother brought a spoon to my mouth and burned it.
… Over there, mother.
No matter how young I am, it’s a little embarrassing for me to accept and eat like this.
“Uh… mother, this….”
“Jinhyo? Aang~”
My mother said, still smiling. It’s like urging me to open my mouth and accept it.
Unable to overcome the silent pressure, I had no choice but to obey my mother’s request and open my mouth.
“Ah… Aang.”
“That’s right~ Come on, ah~”
When I slowly opened my mouth, my mother was delighted and fed me tiramisu.
That’s how I slowly savored the tiramisu my mother fed me.
Scramble.
Ma, delicious?!
The softness of cheesecake, the sweetness of cocoa, and the bitter taste of coffee! It was an ecstatic taste created by perfect harmony.
As I was admiring the taste of tiramisu, my mother was looking at me with eyes full of love.
“Our Jinhyo, is it delicious?”
“Yes! It’s so delicious!”
“I’m glad it suits your taste. Come on, ah~”
“Ah~”
I liked the taste of tiramisu, so I silently accepted my mother’s food for a while.
While eating tiramisu, I chatted with my mother.
“Mom, how are you doing these days?”
“My mother’s work is going well these days.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“Not at all~ I was going to brag to my son. Aang~”
“Ah~ well, well. Are you proud?”
“Huh. This time, my mother was cast as a supporting role in the movie.”
“Wow! Really?!”
Yes.
My mother’s job is a celebrity.
He was also a well-known drama actor.
“Isn’t this your first time shooting a movie?”
“Yeah, that’s right. The drama I filmed this time had pretty good ratings. Maybe it’s because of the popularity of the drama, maybe the movie industry saw my mom well.”
“Wow! Congratulations!”
“Oh my, my mother is so happy that my son congratulated me~”
My mother expressed her delight by stroking my hair.
Hmm, it’s nice that something nice happened.
There was one thing I regretted.
“It’s a movie my mother will appear in… I really want to see you.”
At my words of regret, my mother opened her mouth, unable to hide her expression of regret.
“Yeah, I feel very sorry for Mom.
If my son watched her mother’s works, she would be happy too….”
Yes.
Unfortunately, I have never seen a drama in which my mother appeared.
The reason was simple.
Because I couldn’t watch TV at the shelter.
No, to be precise, the TV itself existed even in the shelter.
It’s just that I couldn’t watch the common terrestrial broadcasts because the broadcast cable was not connected.
There was a reason why the shelter did not connect broadcasting cables, and this is very absurd.
The reason was the problem that men in shelters could come into contact with women’s bare faces and problems through broadcasting. The cable was cut at the shelter because of concerns that the problem would further scare and repel women.
After all, this world is also the era of media.
If you do this, you will be cut off from society. Isn’t there a problem? I wondered.
However, the men at the shelter did not take this seriously.
No, rather, I was in favor of this guideline.
Once I talked to the men at the shelter about this. However, the reaction was unexpected.
Men at the shelter were dumbfounded at my question, saying, “Why do you bother watching it when there are women on TV anyway?”
Rather, they often looked at me strangely, saying that I couldn’t understand me for asking such an obvious question.
So, even if you turn on the TV, what comes out is classical music playing in the shelter, natural scenery, and a bonfire screen. There were only so-called healing broadcasts.
“Whoa, I would have been able to watch it if the TV came out properly. I’m really sorry.”
“Yes…. But I’ll be sure to see you someday.”
My mother patted my back as if to soothe me.
She seemed to be very sorry for her mother, but I could feel that she was holding back, unable to express it outwardly.
Seeing her mother like that, dissatisfaction with the life in the shelter suddenly welled up.
How long will I have to continue this life?
This life where not only social life but even daily life are not free.
I’m starting to get sick of it.
Actually, it’s a dissatisfaction I’ve been holding on to for a long time.
She was afraid that her mother would be worried, and she didn’t want to cause trouble, so she hadn’t been able to express it.
Just because the country told me to do that,
Because I want to be a good child in this life,
She had endured all this time.
Is it because of the conversation with my mother?
For the first time,
“I want to live with my mother.”
Tried to pamper her mother.
“…… Are you Jinhyo? Just now… what?”
“I want to live with my mother, not in a shelter.”
I whined as I burrowed into her mother’s arms.
“It’s not that life at the shelter is bad. Rather comfortable. But.”
“Jinhyo… hey….”
“As expected, I want to live with my mother. I want to live with my mother and the family I only heard about.”
I was really sincere.
For me, life at the shelter, which was like a prison, was a great pain.
I endured it to understand with my head, but it was too painful for my body and mind.
It was very difficult.
I hope this life ends soon.
After complaining to her mother about the feelings she had been hiding, she felt a bit relieved.
After feeling relieved, a sense of shame set in.
Out of my personal greed, I only wanted to show my mother a dignified side.
But in the end, I was just an ordinary child in front of my mother. So she couldn’t stand the opposite s*x and ended up spoiling it.
I, who is an adult in terms of mental age, was not enough to be spoiled like a child, so I even whined.
I was ashamed of that fact.
Unable to raise my head in shame, I opened my mouth with my face buried in my mother’s arms.
“… I’m sorry for spoiling you. Uh, forget what I just said—”
“What Jinhyo just said… Are you really serious?”
My mother asked me a question in a very serious tone. I couldn’t raise my head any more.
After all, did I act too cowardly?
It seemed that my mother was also angry at my spoiling.
“Jinhyo. Look at mom’s face huh?”
Frightened, I burrowed into my mother’s arms more tightly and begged for forgiveness.
“I’m really sorry. I won’t do that again.”
“Huh? No no! Don’t be mad at mom! So, are you Jinhyo? Let’s see your mother’s face.”
My mother soothed me with a calm tone.
I was relieved to hear that you weren’t angry, so I slowly looked up.
Contrary to my concerns, my mother was looking at me with a very moved face.
“Jinhyo. Do you really want to live with your mother?”
“… Yes, I want to live.”
“You won’t be able to stay at the shelter anymore?”
“I want to live with my mother rather than in a shelter.”
“… Really? Do you really want to live with your mother?”
“Yes, really.”
As soon as I finished my answer,
My mother jumped up from her seat with me in her arms.
I was startled by my mother’s sudden action and asked.
“Huh, Mother?”
“It’s okay. Everything is fine now, leave it to Mom.”
Mother comforted me and ran to the entrance of the terrace. And she spurred the terrace door as it was, and left.
Bang!
The agents guarding the entrance to the terrace were startled by the sudden uproar and asked.
“Hut! Jinhyo’s mother? No matter what-“
“Could you escort me to the vice minister’s office right now?”
It was the mother who hurriedly told the business before the agent had finished talking.
“Yes? Why is the vice minister’s office suddenly—”
“I need to see the Vice Minister. Is the deputy minister here?”
Agents expressed their embarrassment with her dumbfounded face at the mother’s reckless appearance.
“Hey, Jinhyo’s mother. I don’t know what happened, but please calm down. We-“
“Do I look real now? Our Jinhyo!”
My mother tightened her arms and held me tighter in her arms. She followed, shouting at the agents in a high-pitched voice.
“Jinhyo declared her voluntary discharge!”
“…… Yes? Well, didn’t you hear?”
“…… Did I hear you right now?”
“…… Oh my god. Nonsense.”
At the mother’s cry, the agents opened her eyes wide in disbelief and began to panic.
Wait a minute, Mother.
A declaration of voluntary discharge?
“So please escort me to the vice minister’s office quickly!”
“Ah, I see! We will guide you right away!”
“Quickly contact the counseling department! Before that, contact the secretary’s office!”
“Okay! After contacting the secretary’s office, I will contact the counseling department as soon as possible!”
I don’t know.
Something… Something is happening.