The Witness ➳ Taegyu

11. Guilt

Beomgyu squeezed his eyes shut after a paramedic checked his reflexes. He sat in the back of an ambulance with a blanket around him, watching people investigate the warehouse he was in.

It was probably close to 4 a.m. now. He was exhausted and still sick.

He should have never left.

He looked down and clenched his teeth in anger at himself. All these people had to come save him because of his own stupidity. None of them died, but one cop got shot in the arm and was rushed to the hospital. It was all because of him.

"How are you feeling?"

It was Taeyong. He stared at the captain and then signed. "I'm sorry for getting everyone into this situation. I'm sorry for taking you away from your other case too. You helped find me, didn't you?"

Taeyong nodded and leaned against the back of the ambulance to talk to him. "I did help find you. It was my choice. My case is going just fine. Also, why are you apologizing for getting us into this situation? It's our job to protect you."

"Someone got shot. And it's the middle of the night."

He understood Beomgyu's point, but there was something he didn't understand. "A cop's job isn't to protect people, you know. Well, besides Taehyun. That is his job. But the rest of us aren't mandated to protect people. We're here to prevent crimes from happening, or restrain people who have committed them. When we save people, it's just to prevent a crime from happening." He looked forward at all the different detectives and news anchors who were entering the building. "That's what the government says, Beomgyu. That our job isn't to protect. It's to stop crime. But all of us want to protect. That's what we always wanted. I'm glad we were able to save you tonight."

He walked away to go inside and Beomgyu's eyes widened. Sure, his father has talked about his job before, but he had never mentioned anything about that.

Why did one become a cop?

Across the dirt driveway that the ambulance and cop cars were parked on, Beomgyu saw a faint figure sitting against a tree. His knees were pulled up to his chest, his arms were wrapped around them, and his cheek was resting against them.

He hopped off with the blanket still around him and made his way over, carefully wrapping it around Taehyun. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Taehyun's eyes were closed, so Beomgyu couldn't tell what was going on in his mind. Finally, he hummed and lifted his head, staring at the dirt with low eyes. "I'll get over it eventually."

"That was self defense. The guy was gonna hurt you." He sat down beside him and watched everyone walk around talking. "Are you angry with me?"

"No."

""No"? Why not? I disobeyed your wishes to not leave-"

"Please." He put his head back between his knees. "Please leave me alone for a while."

***

After telling the chief everything that happened, Beomgyu sat at Taehyun's vacant desk. Apparently, Taehyun and Taeyong were the only higher-ups here because it was so late, but the chief came in after hearing that one of the commanders was involved in his abduction.

Beomgyu rested his chin on his arms that were on the desk and continued thinking, although he probably shouldn't have. Whenever he was able to think, all he felt was guilt for screwing up. He just wanted to sleep his exhaustion and illness away, but he couldn't rest while everything was on his mind.

"Get some rest," Taeyong's words made Beomgyu's eyes widen at his ability to read his mind. "You need to. We have resting quarters." He sat in his chair and pointed at one of the hallways connected to the huge main room they were always in. "Third door to the right."

"I can't sleep..."

Taeyong looked over at him while turning his computer on and sighed. "Nothing that's happened is your fault. Go." He threw a pen at him and Beomgyu groaned, but just turned his head in the other direction.

"Does Taehyun cry a lot?" The question was one of the things that was clouding his mind the most. He didn't see Taehyun cry after he shot the man, but when they were talking after the paramedics came, Taehyun seemed like he was on the verge of tears. "He always seems so happy. Seeing him about to cry was not enjoyable at all."

"I've only known him for about two years, so I can't say anything about him or his mindset that could be completely true. Nobody knows that much about him. I've never seen him cry, but he probably hides it a lot when he does. He's not unemotional or anything. You should have seen how pissed he was when he found out you were abducted." He chuckled and Beomgyu finally lifted his head up. "Considering how caring and empathetic he is, I think he definitely does cry. He just hides it whenever he does, but I don't know why." He looked at Beomgyu again. "Go to bed."

His voice was very demanding and Beomgyu hurried away to the resting quarters.

A little while later, Taeyong was still working on his case when Taehyun finally came back. "Where have you been?" He asked. "We all came back over an hour and a half ago."

"I was just enjoying the outdoors. Where is Beomgyu?"

"The resting quarters. I made him go there."

Taehyun sighed and took off his jacket before heading to the room. When he entered, it was dark, and the only bed that was taken was by Beomgyu. He kicked off his shoes and laid down on a different bed nearby, staring at Beomgyu's face who was across from him.

There were multiple reasons why Taehyun was upset. He killed a man, they were dealing with Kami, and the Black Reaper was more active. Even more than those was his inability to protect Beomgyu. That's what he was supposed to do. All he was supposed to do was protect witnesses, but he couldn't even do that.

"I'm sorry Beomgyu. I'll be better." He shut his eyes, falling asleep almost immediately after being awake and exhausted for so long.

A/N: Sorry for the slow and shorter update. I've been a bit busy 🤭.