TOUGH ROMANCE || scoups || BOOK ONE

32

"There's our girl!!" My mother, looking bright and happy, opened her arms.

At 44, Lee Yuna still dressed to accentuate the curves that had caught my father's eye in college. She took pride in keeping her hair curly, the same it had been on her wedding day. She golfed, worked part time as a school counselor, and breathed life into every room she entered.

"Mum??" I croaked, automatically leaning in for a hug.

"Baekhyun, isn't this the cutest little cottage you've ever seen?" She said.

My father grunted. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts and was nudging the porch railing with the toe of his sneakers. "Seems solid." He said.

Mum was impressed by pretty things. Dad preferred to appreciate sturdiness.

"How are you doing, darling?" He asked.

I transferred my hug to him and laughed as my toes left the ground. While mum was few inches shorter than Chae and me, Dad was over 6 feet tall. A bear of a man who always made me feel like everything was going to be okay.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked as he carefully put me down.

"Sweetheart, you can't tell us we have a granddaughter and not expect us to drive straight here. Did we get you out of bed? That's a lovely nightgown." Mum noted.

Bed.

Nightgown.

Sex.

Seungcheol.

Oh god.

"Uhh.."

"I told you we should have cut that cruise short, Baekhyun." Mum said, slapping Dad in the shoulder. "She's obviously depressed. Still in her pajamas."

"She's not depressed, Yuna." Dad insisted, rapping his knuckles on the door frame as he stepped inside. "What is this? Oak?"

"I don't know, Dad. Mum, I'm not depressed." I said, trying to figure out a way to get them out of the house before my naked guest woke up. "I just..uh.. worked late last night, and there was a family emergency-"

Mum gasped. "Is something wrong with Mimi??"

"No- Mum. Sorry. Not our family. The family who owns this place and the restaurant I work at."

"I can't wait to see it! What's it called again? Locking Glasses?"

"Lock's Glass." I corrected her, spying my dress on the floor. "Did you see the living room?" It came out as an almost shout, and my parents exchanged a glance before pretending to be enthralled with the space I was waving at.

"Just look at that fireplace, Baek!"

"Yes, yes. Look at the amazing interesting fireplace." I all but screeched.

Dad grunted.

As my parents admired the fireplace, I hooked the dress with my toes and swept it under the kitchen table.

"And you got a dog!! My, you have been busy since the wedding."

Kkuma lifted his head. His tail wagged up, and my mum dissolved into a puddle of affection. "Who's a handsome boy? You are, sir! Yes, you are!!"

"See, Yuna, She's not depressed. She's just busy." Dad insisted.

"Isn't uhm the view of the woods great?" I said, the words sounding strangled as I pointed frantically at the windows. I needed to get Seungcheol out.

When they turned to admire the woods through the glass, I grabbed Seungcheol's shirt off the floor and threw them into the cabinet under the sink.

"Chua, come meet your niece or nephew doggy!" My mother was using her loud proud voice, which was definitely loud enough to wake the man upstairs in my bed.