They spent another forty minutes parked at a petrol kiosk just for Ezra to douche his ass with a squeeze bottle really meant for removing gunk in a baby's nose. Then MinJae decided that he should try to clean himself out a little more just in case of accidents. They spent another thirty minutes after, stretching each other out with the sex toys that sat in the trunk of Ezra's car.
An act that seemed sexier than it actually was.
By the time they were done, MinJae was burning for an orgasm; the sexual frustration pulsated between his thighs to the steady beat of his favourite dildo between his legs. It had been ridiculously easy to shift that irritation into anger for his soulmate's actions.
He didn't blame Amber that much.
Above it all she was his precious, precious lover and there was not much she could do to stop him from loving her. He'd still love her even if she were a serial killer that ate people for breakfast. But yeah, he was disappointed and most of what he'd said to her was true. He did feel like shit about the situation.
MinJae couldn't quite put what he felt into words, nor could he really verbalise the reasons why he just needed this meeting. But he supposed he wanted his mother to accept and like Amber; wanted her to see for herself that despite everything he'd done there was no hatred in his soulmate's eyes.
He wanted to show his mother that he'd be in good hands and he was happy in their unique polyamorous family. That despite what others might say about a relationship between eight people, it worked out fine because of Amber's beautiful soul. That they were happy and definitely happier than most families. In fact, they were, maybe, the happiest family on the planet!
It would have solidified his relationship with Amber, made things official.
Dinner was an awkward event, one that consisted mostly of praise and talk of Amber. But the conversation spiralled outwards, and the questions dug into Amber's weaknesses, the negative personality traits she had and things they didn't like about her.
MinJae knew his mother, she wanted to know the person, and not the goddess that stood at the forefront of their minds. The celestial being that she knew MinJae worshipped because of the excessive bundles of lilacs that flooded his head whenever he prattled on about her over the call. She believed that MinJae was overly obsessed, and she was worried that Amber would use that against him, against them.
She thought he was a fucking slave for her.
They defended her, of course.
And then his brothers started to get riled up, because they knew that whatever they said couldn't make up for the fact that the person they were defending wasn't even there. Dinner had ended with tension tight in their jaws and heat burning in the air like candy in coke waiting to blow. MinJae had been torn, distraught and horribly embarrassed because it was his mom. And so he was on both sides of the war they'd somehow managed to create within an hour.
And then JieMi decided to lie for her. The youngest had openly swiped through his phone, made a soft 'oh' sound in the back of his throat. The kind that would drive his fans mad with the need to protect, and result in thousands of video edits featuring him and a hundred baby bunnies. JieMi'd directed soft wide, Bambi eyes at his mother with a little sigh in his throat.
"She's sick, she vomited again." He pouted, just a little. "Some people helped her home."
Lies that MinJae didn't have the heart or ability to correct.
"Oh, no, Jae Jae." His mom glanced at his direction, gripping his wrist tightly with a worried dip in her brow. Despite acting like the big bad wolf that night with questions that tore at the foundations of their family, she was still first and foremost a mother that cared for her baby chicks. "You need to go home to take care of her now. And quickly. You know my recipe for soup, right? The one with seaweed—"
"Yes Momma."
"You said she was sick last week too, the stomach bug?" His mother sighed, a hand to her cheek. "If I didn't know better, I'd think she were pregnant."
The word sent a ripple through the group, one MinJae knew his mother was eagerly waiting for. She was the type to desperately want grandchildren, and she didn't mind sowing the seeds of thought early on just to get what she wanted.
"Mom, she's not pregnant." MinJae shook his head, a hand to his forehead, fingers rubbing at throbbing temples. He shot an angry glare at JieMi who shrugged. The lies were spiralling out of control just as he'd expected them to. "You know I will tell you if she was."
"How are you so sure? Did you get her to take a test?"
He'd thought about it as he laid in Sieon's arms one night, days after she'd gotten over her sickness. He'd asked about the children in Sieon's dreams, the ones that Sieon said made him smile so hard that his eyes had permanently turned into little moons. The descriptions were useless, but Sieon managed to pull out a few baby photos of himself for reference. They had her eyes, he'd said. But my smile, he explained. And he'd slept to dreams of baby scents and cheerful excited giggles.
Children were a distant but close dream that would come once their soulmate was ready.
"Mom, she had her period last week!"
"I'm just checking, you were a mistake after all, Jae Jae."
"Oh God, Mom, please." Not that again.
"But you are my best mistake," she patted his cheek. "Condoms aren't a 100% effective, I learnt that the hard way." And now they were venturing straight towards sex education. MinJae groaned, shaking his head.
"She's on birth control."
"That isn't a 100% too. Did you boys pull out when you cum?"
MinJae blushed, heat burning across his cheeks and down his neck as he vibrated with embarrassment. Fucking hell, he didn't want to talk about children now with his mom! Let alone, condoms, birth control and cum! His brows twitched as his mother's eyes searched for answers in his face. Did they pull out? MinJae flushed, turning redder. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. MinJae didn't remember pulling out when he did cum inside—
"Mom!"
"I'm just trying to warn you, Jae Jae." She'd stroked his hair, her fingers brushing over the petals with a tenderness that reminded him of his childhood. "It's good to think about it when you're in a relationship. Things like this happen all the time and you have to be ready for it to happen. Your soulmate is very young, and I taught you to be responsible."
"You did."
"I know I wasn't the nicest, asking all those questions." She'd smiled at the rest of the group, apologetic and rueful. His best friends would forgive her easily only because she was MinJae's beloved mother, but they would be wary and defensive in her presence. "Forgive me. I just wanted to see how deep your relationship is and how much you've grown together. But I think I've overstepped."
Her words were what pushed him to speak.
"She's insecure." MinJae let out an exasperated sigh, agitation and anxiety coiling in a heavy mix thick in his belly. The situation, the conversation and the bitterness in the air was partially his fault. "She's kind and so damn loving, but she finds it hard to truly open up to us. And she would rather solve things on her own than seek help. She's too independent, and stubborn. And afraid of failure and letting others down. She'd rather cut off her own hand than hurt us, or let us know that she's hurting. She's sometimes too matured and that scares us. She will overthink, overreact and panic, which means that her lateness was definitely unintentional and she will beat herself up for this. Enough?"
"Yes, and language dear. Now go to your sick soulmate."
The entire thing was maddening and he grumbled about it when they regrouped outside the restaurant to talk before they parted ways. The team was working on a new group song, as usual, and while sleep was a little lacking in the group, stress and sleep deprivation were great motivators to kick start inspiration and productivity. It was just the way life was for them, just without the contract, the company and the instructors breathing down their back.
"She's tired with school work, it's giving her tons of stress," Hikaru had patted his cheek then, his attempt to calm him down. "Let her off okay? She didn't mean it, I'm sure she didn't. She'll feel extra guilty about it. You know how she panics when she's late for school."
MinJae blew out a low breath.
"She'll be guilty." Oliver nodded. "She'll think we're mad as fuck. Pissed off. Ready to rip her a new asshole. Very, very angry." He turned soul searching eyes to MinJae, prodding him with wide soft hazel orbs that could read his thoughts before he himself knew they existed. "Are you?" The team turned to stare at him, and he groaned knowing full and well what they thought of him to be.
A hot-headed bitch.
They were not wrong.