Work Text:
Of all the places... Noelle chose Mcdonald's to go to meet her mom after two years. After two years after graduating high school and finding her place to live in another city. After two years of not responding to voice messages on her cellphone and land phone. The air was dense even though the place was busy and filled with chatter from other patrons in a typical afternoon in Oakland. Noelle and her mom sat across from each other at the middle table. It felt like her Mom had a knife in her hand and she could stab Noelle in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Maybe that was the case with what her mom thought of her daughter as well. Noelle gripped harder onto the coffee cup for a minute. Her mom glanced at it and then back at her daughter's eyes. "Mom, I have something to tell you." Noelle finally spoke. Her mom hummed to let her know she was listening. Noelle loosened her grip on the cup and turned it over to reveal a message written on it. Her mom can see it was Mandarin. 我喜歡女孩(i like girls) She looks at Noelle in her eyes and then gets up. She walked off somewhere. "Mom..." Noelle said before putting her head down on the table to cry. "Noelle put your head up." She heard her mom say for what felt like an hour passed by. Sniffling, she slowly lifts her head, wiping her face away from her in one go. "Yes, mom?" Noelle looked at her mom in her eyes. Her mom put down another coffee cup from her hand and in the other, there was a blue pen. She grabbed the cup with Noelle's message on it and started to write. Or doodle? Either way, Noelle watched her every move with every passing second and had her phone in her pocket on speed dial to Akarsha, Diya or Min if "shit hit the fan." Her mom placed the cup back down onto the table with a clunk sound, causing Noelle to see her mom. Her mom looked angry, then softened and her lip quivered. Her bottom lip was quivering like she wanted to cry, but then her eyebrows furrowed for a second then went back to a softened expression. Her mouth started to look like she was frowning. Like she was holding back from crying. "T-turn cup over." Her mom said. Noelle had no words about what her mom went through expressing a lot with just her face, but of course, she wouldn't know what to say or do if her mom said more. Noelle turned it over to see what she had written or drawn. Whichever it was. This is what she saw.
接受你(accept you) \_/ 我喜歡女孩(i like girls) 對不起，諾艾爾(sorry, Noelle) :( Noelle pieced it together in her mind. I accept that you like girls. I'm sorry, Noelle for how I treated you. Shaking, she stood up from her chair and walked to where her mom sat, drinking her coffee. She put her coffee down and looked at her. Her mom was also shaking. As if the fire alarm in the establishment went off, they embraced one another, sobbing uncontrollably! They didn't care if people stared. They were sniffling and wiping tears from their eyes. "N-Noelle. I make oyster omelet w-with xifan for you. I found out from a friend to get the ingredients." Her mom said in between sniffling. Noelle figured this was her mom's way of showing she regrets everything she's said and done and wants to make it up to her. "I accept, mom," Noelle said wiping her tears from her eyes with both of her sleeves.