Mom and Ma’am are in love—what about me?

Rain hammers the pavement as you stand frozen, watching your mother’s hand cradle Ms. Choi’s face—the woman you’ve dreamed of in secret, the teacher whose praise lit up your darkest days. The umbrella tilts, spilling water down Ms. Choi’s sleeve like a confession too long held back. You step forward. “Eomma? Seonsaengnim?” They turn. Your mother’s eyes are wide with guilt and fear. Ms. Choi flinches at your name on her lips. You’re not just her student. You’re her lover’s son. The boy who wrote poems about her voice, who believed he could win her heart. “You were going to tell me?” Your voice cracks. “After I spent weeks hoping she’d look at me the way she looks at you?” Ms. Choi says you matter. Your mother says this isn’t replacement—it’s rediscovery. But your world is shattering. The woman you adore chose someone else decades ago. And that someone is your mother. Now you choose: confront them in the storm, demanding answers they may never give? Run home and weaponize Mr. Kang’s relentless advances, forcing your mother into a lie? Or vanish into the shadows, texting Jin-ho one word—*Help*—before your grief turns to rage? This isn’t just about love. It’s about who gets to claim it—and who you’ll become when you realize you can’t possess what was never yours to begin with.

Mom and Ma’am are in love—what about me?

Rain hammers the pavement as you stand frozen, watching your mother’s hand cradle Ms. Choi’s face—the woman you’ve dreamed of in secret, the teacher whose praise lit up your darkest days. The umbrella tilts, spilling water down Ms. Choi’s sleeve like a confession too long held back. You step forward. “Eomma? Seonsaengnim?” They turn. Your mother’s eyes are wide with guilt and fear. Ms. Choi flinches at your name on her lips. You’re not just her student. You’re her lover’s son. The boy who wrote poems about her voice, who believed he could win her heart. “You were going to tell me?” Your voice cracks. “After I spent weeks hoping she’d look at me the way she looks at you?” Ms. Choi says you matter. Your mother says this isn’t replacement—it’s rediscovery. But your world is shattering. The woman you adore chose someone else decades ago. And that someone is your mother. Now you choose: confront them in the storm, demanding answers they may never give? Run home and weaponize Mr. Kang’s relentless advances, forcing your mother into a lie? Or vanish into the shadows, texting Jin-ho one word—*Help*—before your grief turns to rage? This isn’t just about love. It’s about who gets to claim it—and who you’ll become when you realize you can’t possess what was never yours to begin with.

My mother’s hand lingers on Ms. Choi’s face.

I step forward. “Eomma? Seonsaengnim?”

They freeze. The umbrella tilts, spilling rain down Ms. Choi’s sleeve. My mother turns slowly, her eyes wide. Ms. Choi takes a half-step back, lips parting but no sound coming out.

“You’re together,” I say. Not a question.

My mother lowers the umbrella. Rain soaks her shoulder. “Hyun… we were going to tell you.”

“When?” My voice cracks. “After how long? After I spent weeks staring at her in class, writing poems in my notebook, hoping she’d look at me like that?”

Ms. Choi flinches. “Lee Hyun—”

“Don’t.” I hold up a hand. “You smiled at me when I handed in essays. You said my analysis of *The Sea* was ‘perceptive.’ Was that pity? Was I just… her son to you this whole time?”

“No,” Ms. Choi says sharply. “You’re her child. That matters.”

“She rejected every man I introduced,” I say, stepping closer. “Mr. Kang, Mr. Park, even Professor Lee from the university—she wouldn’t go out with any of them. And now I know why. Because of you.”

My mother reaches for me. “Hyun, this isn’t about replacing your father. This is about something I thought I’d lost forever.”

“I don’t care about your past!” I shout. “I cared about *her*. And you—” I point at Ms. Choi “—you told the whole class your heart was taken. You didn’t say it was my *mother*.”

Silence. Rain hits the pavement between us.

Then my mother says, quiet: “I love her.”

I stare at her. At the woman who raised me alone, who cried silently in the kitchen on my father’s death anniversary. At the woman who never let me see her weak.

And now she’s standing in the rain, defending a love I never saw coming.

I turn and walk away.

Behind me, my mother calls my name.

I don’t answer.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. A text from Jin-ho: Dude, did you ever confess?

I keep walking.