Evenstar

51. French Vogue

"You know, Taehyung-ssi, I'm not offended anymore." Kyubok was placing needles in specific points of Taehyung's body to improve his blood circulation and hasten his healing. "It's not just me that you don't listen to. You don't listen to any doctor. Deok-Su tells me you were prescribed five days of bed rest, and you flew straight here and performed in your concert."

"This is the official start of the five days, Harabeoji."  Taehyung was lying on his back on the bed and Si Woo had applied a warm compress on his bruises.

"Oh, is that right? I'm sure that doctor didn't take into consideration that your bruises would be this swollen." The movements had aggravated his injury and recovery would now take twice as long, if not longer.

"Harabeoji, I hate to say this, but I have a photo shoot to go to the day after tomorrow."

"What? Unacceptable!" If not for Dae Eun, he would have refused to treat this boy. He just wouldn't listen.

"After that I'd like to take Dae Eun out on a date." Taehyung didn't have that much time to spend in Paris. He had to get back to Seoul for their final concert for the tour and he didn't want to spend most of his time lying in bed.

"Do you think I'm a miracle worker? These treatments take time and your body needs time to heal. Even machines need to be repaired."

"You're always scolding me, Harabeoji." Taehyung pouted and looked at him with tata mic eyes.

"It's because you're so hard-headed!" Kyubok had finished placing all the needles. "Now sleep. You need at least ten hours of sleep everyday until you recover."

"Okay... okay...." Taehyung had no problems sleeping. His body longed for that rest and he easily slipped into dreamland. When he wasn't asleep, Dae Eun would lie down next to him and tell him everything that happened to her since May. Sometimes she fell asleep too, and Kyubok would find them asleep together. He wouldn't let anyone else in the room. He would let them be because he believed it was also a path to their healing. Often Dae Eun would wake up with Taehyung's arms around her, and she wouldn't move because she didn't want to wake him, eventually falling back to sleep herself. And Taehyung would do the same when he woke and she was asleep. For the next two days in that cycle they both got enough rest to recover from the trauma of the past.

Dae Eun told him she had been having nightmares about the girls' accident. She didn't have the courage to ask Deok-Su how they were doing, afraid of the worst.

"They were all injured," Taehyung told her as they lay facing each other in bed the next night. Jungkook had gotten an update about them from JKL's legal team. "Some more seriously than the others, but the chance for a full recovery is high. It will take time though."

"Will JKL be pressing charges against them?" Dae Eun didn't want them to. She hadn't spoken to her appa about it yet, not wanting to open the subject.

"We want to, but the girls never admitted to purposely harassing you that day. They just said that they lost control of their vehicle. We can press further and present all the evidence the team has gathered, but we're taking the cue from your appa because it could put the case in the limelight, and with their injuries they could end up looking like the victim. What do you want to do, Eun-ah?"

"I think they've suffered enough. And I don't want any legal battles." She was horrified at the thought of having to go to court and relive all the bad memories.

Taehyung placed his arm around Dae Eun. He didn't feel any pain anymore. Kyubok Harabeoji was really a miracle-worker. "Let's wait and see what your appa decides. Moon Jae-in-nim is discussing it closely with him. No matter what, we'll go through it together."