Mrs. Min looked at her watch and let out a small gasp. "Look at the time. We've been talking for almost two hours."
Seo-yeon glanced at hers. It was nearly three. She had told her mom she would be back before lunch.
"I should go home," she said. "My mother must be worried."
"Of course." Mrs. Min began to gather her bag, then stopped and looked at her. "Wait. Have you eaten?"
"We had a snack at the hospital."
"A snack? You're carrying two babies!" Mrs. Min shook her head. "No, no. You can't go home on a snack. Come to my house. I'm making dinner tonight. It's nothing special, just soup and some side dishes, but it's hot and it's good."
"Auntie, I couldn't. I've already troubled you."
"It's no trouble. I live alone with my husband, and he eats like a bird. I always cook too much." She smiled. "Come. Let an old woman feed a pregnant girl. It would make me happy."
Seo-yeon hesitated. A part of her wanted to say yes so badly it scared her. She had spent years loving this woman's son from a distance, and now his mother was holding her hand across a table and asking her to dinner.
But another part of her said, Don't. This is how everything gets complicated.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Min asked.
"Auntie," Seo-yeon said slowly. "I'm sorry, I have to ask something. Is your son at home?"
"Min Yoongi?"
"Yes." Her cheeks turned warm. "It's just... I'm a little shy. I've been a fan for so many years, and I don't think I could face him. Even though he's my bias, I wouldn't know what to say. I'd probably faint or say something stupid."
Mrs. Min burst out laughing. "Is that all? Oh, my dear, don't worry. He's not home."
"He isn't?"
"He hasn't been home in four months." Her smile faded a little, and she sighed. "He's always at the studio or at the dorm, or traveling. He calls me twice a month and says he's busy. I haven't had a meal with him since the spring. It's only me and his father in that big house."
"I'm sorry," Seo-yeon said softly.
"Don't be. It's the life he chose, and I'm proud of him." Mrs. Min patted her hand. "So you see, there's no one to be shy in front of. Just two old people who are happy to have a guest."
Seo-yeon looked down at her hands. Four months. That was longer than she had known she was pregnant.
"Then... I'd love to come," she said. "Thank you, auntie."
"Wonderful." Mrs. Min clapped her hands. "Let me call my driver."
---
While Mrs. Min went to the counter to pay and make the call, Seo-yeon took out her phone and stared at it for a moment. Then she opened her messages and typed.
Mom, I'll be home late. Don't cook dinner for me.
The reply came in seconds.
Late? Where are you? Did you get lost? Are you tired? Is it the babies?
I'm fine. I met a friend at the bookstore. She invited me to her house for dinner.
Which friend?
Seo-yeon bit her lip. She was not good at lying to her mother. She never had been.
An old friend. You don't know her.
There was a pause. The three dots appeared and disappeared twice.
Is she nice?
Very nice.
Did you eat anything?
Yes, Mom.
Take your vitamins. Don't stay out too late. And call me when you're ready to come home. Mr. Cha will pick you up.
Okay, Mom. I love you.
I love you too. Don't walk too much!
She put her phone back in her bag and felt a small, guilty twist in her stomach. She would tell her mom everything someday. She just wasn't ready to say, The friend is Min Yoongi's mother.
"Ready?" Mrs. Min said, returning with her bag. "My car is outside."
---
A black sedan was waiting at the curb. The driver, a polite man in his fifties, got out and opened the door for them. Mrs. Min helped Seo-yeon in first, tucking a cushion behind her back.
"Is that comfortable?"
"Very. Thank you."
"Good. It's a short drive."
The car pulled away from the curb. Seo-yeon watched the streets go by, but she couldn't focus on any of them. Her heart was beating fast.
I'm going to Min Yoongi's house.
She put a hand on her stomach.
Your grandmother wants to feed us, she whispered silently to the babies. That's all this is. Dinner. It's only dinner.
The flutter came again, softer this time, as if they were listening.
Mrs. Min was talking about the neighborhood. She pointed out the bakery where Min Yoongi used to buy bread as a boy and the school where he had once won a singing contest. Seo-yeon listened with her heart in her throat. Every story was one she had never heard, and every story made him a little more real. Not the star on the stage, but a skinny boy with a loud voice who used to sing in the shower until the neighbors complained.
"He was a stubborn child," Mrs. Min said, laughing. "When he decided he wanted to be a singer, we tried to talk him out of it. His father wanted him to be a doctor. But he wouldn't listen. He stayed up all night practicing. He ate nothing but instant noodles for a year. And then one day he came home and said, 'Mom, they chose me.'" She wiped the corner of her eye. "I cried so hard I couldn't speak."
"I remember," Seo-yeon said before she could stop herself. "The first fan meeting. He cried too."
Mrs. Min turned to look at her, surprised. "You were there?"
"I was in the back," Seo-yeon said with a small smile. "I was nineteen."
"Then you have watched him grow up." Mrs. Min squeezed her hand again. "I'm so glad we met today."
"Me too," Seo-yeon said, and she meant it, even though her throat hurt.
---
The car turned into a quiet street lined with tall trees and low stone walls. It was an expensive neighborhood, not far from where her parents lived, but older and calmer, with large gates and tall hedges. The car stopped in front of a dark wooden gate with a brass nameplate on the wall. MIN.
The gate opened automatically. Beyond it stood a house that was nothing like she had imagined. It was not a glass mansion. It was a long, two-story home with a tiled roof and warm wooden beams, surrounded by a garden of persimmon trees, their fruit starting to turn orange. There was a stone path leading to the front door, and on both sides, rows of herbs and vegetables grew in neat wooden boxes. A pair of worn slippers sat on the porch, next to a pair of boots.
It looked like a home. A real one, lived in and loved.
"Here we are," Mrs. Min said as the driver opened the door. "Come in, come in. Watch your step."
Seo-yeon stepped out of the car and stood on the stone path. She looked up at the house, at the lit windows, at the persimmons glowing in the late afternoon sun.
This is where he grew up.
Her hand tightened around her bag. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she was sure Mrs. Min could hear it.
"Come," Mrs. Min said, waiting on the porch with her hand held out. "Dinner is waiting."
Seo-yeon took a deep breath, put a hand on her stomach, and walked up the path to Min Yoongi's house.