Heaven ➳ Taegyu ✔

62. Bad Boy

Everybody was surprised to see them walk up, near silence filling the room that had Taehyun more nervous. He stood behind the podium with Beomgyu standing next to him, looking at his Hyung for comfort.

Beomgyu nodded in encouragement.

Staring back at the crowd, Taehyun felt his cheeks burning up and his heart pounding at the doorway out of his chest. "I learned something over the past few years," he said. "People will look at the things you do, and immediately think you're in the wrong just because you have that reputation."

Their eyes didn't look degrading. They seemed to be paying more attention to his words rather than him, and he was thankful for that.

"This speech is supposed to be about all of you, and I'll get to that soon. But first, I'm gonna talk about me, because I feel like I deserve to explain myself after everything this student body has done to me. I understand that I've made mistakes. I've made pretty shitty mistakes at that. But I've accepted them, and I hold myself accountable. The issue is, you all seem to blame me for your mistakes too. You don't own up to the things you do."

He looked at Hyunwoo who just looked down. Taehyun hoped it was in shame. He hoped he was making everyone regret everything.

"I'm asking you all now to think about who started all those fights. Think about when you fought me, and ask yourself if you were antagonizing me or someone I love. When you figure out the answer, then you will know who I truly am. My entire life, my father made me believe that my mom died giving birth to me." He looked and Nari and Hwayoung. "My mom was put into a mental hospital right after giving birth to me. She's a psychopath, a gentle one, but she hit my dad in self defense, and they assumed that meant she was a violent psychopath. Growing up, my father made me believe that what he did was out of love. Everytime I came home from a fight that I won, he would give me the bruises that you all couldn't. I could've killed him if I wanted to. I'm strong enough to kill someone with one punch apparently." Yeonjun laughed a little bit and Taehyun smiled at him. "But I was too afraid to ever fight back. I don't know why. Now, I'm glad I didn't do anything to stop him. What if I did?"

He turned to look at Beomgyu and got lost for a moment. That was the thing though. As much as he got lost in Beomgyu's eyes, they were the thing that grounded him and kept him going.

"What if I told the police back then when I was a child, and I got put into foster care? What if I was forced to go to a different school in a different city? I would've never met Beomgyu." Beomgyu finally noticed him staring at him and shyly hid his face in his neck. "The only thing I would've ever done differently was convince him that I was in love with him earlier."

After a few more minutes of talking about his past and Yeonjun, Soobin, and Kai, they both went to sit back down. Everyone was clapping and Beomgyu giggled at Taehyun's shy mood.

After a while, the teachers were all done talking and the principal walked up. "We have one more thing before you all get your diplomas. To give the farewell speech, please give a round of applause for our best student, Choi Beomgyu!"

Everyone started clapping once again and Beomgyu stood up, stopping right in front of the stairs of the stage.

Taehyun accepted his need for love. He accepted that he doesn't need to be independent all the time, and that he can ask for help, just like Beomgyu does. And Beomgyu came to realize that he can save himself when he's in distress. He can be independent sometimes and take care of himself, just like Taehyun does.

He looked back at Taehyun and smiled before walking up the stairs by himself. A tiny bit of nervousness was there, but he couldn't help but think about Taehyun for comfort. He faced his fears a lot. He overcame a lot. Beomgyu felt like that gave him the courage to overcome this.