Decoupled • KTH : Book 1✔

Chapter 33

Taehyung
*many hours ago*

"What's the trouble here?" I ask in a loud voice, trying to snap Jang-Mi out of her angry 'momster' mode. She whips her head in my direction and shoots me a glare that seems like it could set my skin on fire.

Except for the missing fire breath through her nostrils, Jang-Mi actually looks like an agitated dragon.

"What did I do?" I place my bag on the couch and question her, clueless about what's going on.

When I entered the house, I heard her scolding Areum for something, and since Areum wasn't apologizing or responding, Jang-Mi apparently felt irritated and kept raising her volume. So I had to step in to sort the issue out.

But from the angry look on her face, it looks like I might have done something wrong—as always.

"What are you teaching her, Taehyung?" She crosses her arms under her chest and stands facing me.

"To solve the Rubik's cube?" I raise my eyebrows in doubt, shrugging a little.

"Not that!" She retorts back, and Areum runs up to me and hides behind my back.

"Get out of there and get back to your seat now, Areum. I won't say it so nicely once again," Jang-Mi fumes, pointing to where Areum was sitting earlier, a vein popping in her neck and indicating how furious she is.

I safely hold Areum's hands that are wrapped around my waist from behind.
"Let her be. Tell me wha-"

"Did you tell her that it's okay to hug and kiss a friend?" Jang-Mi quirks a brow at me, tilting her head to one side.

SHIT!

"I- yeah, I mean, in a friendly and comforting way, yes. I did," my eyes turn to look at my daughter who is peeping from behind me to look at her mom, terrified.

"Waaah! What a great father you are!" She slow claps dramatically, her tone thick with sarcasm. "Do you know what she did at school today?" Her voice raises once again.

"Tell me what it is, but you don't have to scream. Just speak so that I can hear," I'm trying my best to maintain the decibel levels in the house.

"Stop telling me what to do, Taehyung. I'm so done with you both. She freaking kissed a boy right in front of my eyes, and when I asked her why, she said that appa told me it's okay to hug and kiss a friend," her chest heaves furiously.

My mouth hangs open, and my eyes widen as my mind reels back to that night at the airport.

SHIT! Taking her to the airport was a bad idea. The worst, probably.

"Did she kiss him like-"

"ON THE MOUTH!" Jang-Mi angrily completes the sentence for me, causing my eyes to freeze wide, and my heart to screech to a halt.

"WHAT?? I never told her that it's okay to kiss a boy on the mouth. I swear, I never told her that. AREUM!" I pull her to the front and get on my knees to meet her eyes.

"Did appa tell you that it's okay to kiss a boy on the mouth and hug him at school?" My hands that are holding her shoulders are trembling, and I'm not sure if I'm starting to feel a little guilty to think that I might have been a shitty father.

"But you hugg-" she begins protesting.

"Shhh!" I put a finger on my lips and silence her from revealing anything more and tearing down the little dignity that is left for me to preserve, even though I'm pretty sure about the conversation that she and Jang-Mi must have had earlier because Areum just pours out everything to her mother without her having to ask many questions.