𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ¹⁵

After giving me a quick kiss, Jungkook walks down the stairs with me. I'm going very unwillingly, not wanting to face my parents.

When I reach the bottom, my mother is standing there tapping her foot, arms crossed.

"Took you long enough," my mom says in an obnoxious tone, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry," I mumble, looking at the
ground. "I thought you weren't getting back until tomorrow."

"Taeyong's game finished early. So we came right back, mostly because we weren't sure we could trust you to have the house to yourself."

Ouch.

"Excuse me Mrs. Kim," Jungkook interrupts from beside me. "But Tae literally did nothing but homework since you've been gone, I hardly think he was going to burn the house down."

I glance at him. That wasn't entirely true. We did skip a whole day of school to do nothing but watch Netflix. But I
wasn't going to mention that now, was I?

"Yes, well, we just wanted to be sure," my mom says in response to Jungkook.

"Anyway, there's lots of stuff we need to get out of the car. Jungkook, you're free to leave."

The way she said it was like she was implying that she wanted him to get his ass out of there as soon as possible, and I think he picks up on that. Jungkook stands up a little taller, and says loudly,

"If it's all the same to you, Mrs. Kim, I was going to stay the night. I can help with the bags if you want."
Jungkook may be rude and disagreeable to the rest of the adults in the universe, but you have to give him credit for the polite tone in his voice now. He knows that if he's rude to my parents, they'll just take it out on me later.

My mother, eyebrow still raised, looks him up and down. "That's fine, Jungkook," she says, not really trying to hide that she wasn't very fine with it.

Jungkook shoots her a brilliant grin, and we go out to the garage together. My little brother is just stepping out of car, carrying a big bag. He smiles when he sees me.

"Hey, Tae," he says.

"Hi," I reply, smiling back. "How was your game?"

"Awesome!" I see his eyes light up at the mention of it. "We beat the other team by so much!"

I laugh a little at his enthusiasm, and walk over to him. "Here, let me take your bag."I offer and take the duffle from his arms.

"Thanks bro," he says before running to the other side of the car. I grab a couple more bags from the trunk, and Jungkook does, the same, before we go back to the house to dump them in the front entry.

Just as we're about to go back out to the garage, my dad steps out in front of me. He's a short, kinda pudgy guy, so he doesn't look very intimidating.

But I know better, and the look he has in his eyes makes my heartrate speed up.

"Taehyung" he says, crossing his arms. "Can I speak to you for a second? In private?"

Jungkook and I look at each other. He silently asks me if it's okay, and I nod a little. He hesitates before nodding back.
I go with my dad into the other
room, and he closes the door behind us before facing me with a harsh expression. I slouch a back a little.

"So," he says, disapproval lacing
every part of his voice. "We got a call. Apparently you missed school the other day."

"I was sick," I lie quickly.

"Really? With what?" His eyebrow is quirked.

"Uh. Stomach flu."

He's not buying it. "And you're
magically better today? Aren't you afraid Jungkook's going to catch it?"

"He, um, he didn't care."
My dad scowls at me. "Tae, come on. Just admit you skipped."

I sigh with defeat. "Nothing was going on in school, okay? And I was doing homework, I swear. I was getting caught up."

"I don't care." His voice is getting
louder, harsher. "Why can't you just be more like Taeyong? He never skips school just because he feels like it."

I slouch a little more and train my eyes on the floor. My dad continues on his rampage.

"Your mom and I do all these things for you, we treat you just like Taeyong, and what do we get for it? A son with bad grades and nothing else going on in his life! Why can't you just try a little
harder?"

"Sorry," I mumble, still staring at the floor.

~~~~~~~