Namjoon and I awake the next day, curled up together in his bed. I don't want to go back home, not after last night. He kisses me awake, his head above mine and radiant smile on his face. "It's nice waking up next to you."
"You're too good to me," I say, sitting up to place my lips on his. I check my phone after dressing myself and realize I never told my parents where I was. "They must be furious and worried sick..." I say to myself.
"Who?" Namjoon asks, coming up behind me.
"My parents..." I cover my mouth, panicked.
"I'll drive you home. Or at least close," he says.
"O-Okay," I nod, very worried. We leave almost immediately and speed home. I am so lucky it's a weekend, or else I'd be screwed for school. He drops me off a few blocks down and I sprint to the front door and inside.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Appa barks when he hears, coming out of nowhere. I am momentarily afraid he'll strike me like he did Dasan and I tense up. But when he looks at me all he can do is breathe a sigh of relief and hug me. Eomma comes around the corner and cries out in relief.
"Where did you go, we never got an update."
"I'm so sorry, I got really busy and stayed the night," I lie effortlessly. I realize that this is the only time I've lied to my parents about something big. Yeah, little ones like I did the laundry have happened , but they're virtually harmless and I always do what I say I've already done really soon after.
They release me and then look at each other with worry. "What?" Is all I can ask.
"Hyemi, we love you," they say. It scares me.
"I know you do, I love you too."
"Your eomma and I are just worried..." Appa says, choking back a lot of emotions, I can tell.
"About what?"
"That you're in a bad situation..."
"What?" I say, shocked. "What would make you worry about that?"
"We just...we just love you so much and don't want you to be in a situation like Dasan was..." Eomma says. When she says my brother's name, I hear her voice crack a bit. She'll never got over him, and I understand why.
"I promise I'm not in any situation like that. I'm a good kid, I wouldn't dream of doing something like that."
"We love you," Appa says now. "And we just want the best for you. We can't lose another child to something so hostile."
"You won't lose me Appa and Eomma. I promise." I smile at them and they smile back with love. But their love is different. I do love them, that's no lie, but part of me now prioritizes love. I define two types of love. Biological and relationships. And the love that I feel with Namjoon is higher than my own parents. What that means for real, and how strong that love actually is, I don't know, but I do know that if push comes to shove, I'll stay with Namjoon over my family.