The Witness ➳ Taegyu

16. Field of Flowers

"I don't think Taehyun will be mad at you at all," Beomgyu told Taeyong. "He probably thinks he deserves it more than you thought he did."

The three of them were sitting in the main room mostly in silence, until Taeyong voiced his regret for what he did. Neither of them could blame him. They were all shocked up about it, and the fact that he killed Taeyong's brother didn't do much to help his emotions.

Though, Taeyong was inredibly intelligent. After the initial anger and sadness subsided, he thought about it by himself for a while. He couldn't forgive Taehyun, but he could understand why he didn't have a choice. Now, he was just hoping Taehyun wouldn't hate him.

They needed to talk, badly.

Taehyun was in the infirmary, and Chief Kim was talking to the other cops who witnessed the violence that Taehyun just displayed. They didn't know what he was planning on telling them. What kind of excuse could he come up with to justify what Taehyun just did?

"We never knew anything about Taehyun," Rosé spoke. "But now that we do know, you also know. The witnesses are the last people who should know things that private, so it's funny." She chuckled. "Hey. Do you think the reason Taehyun is protecting you so closely is because he was with them? If he knows basically everything about them, maybe he's protecting you because he knows how to."

Beomgyu hadn't thought about that. It made sense though. Taehyun's allies were Seojun and Kami, so he knows how they fight and how intelligent they are. Taehyun always protected him. At first, it was odd to Beomgyu that he wasn't insanely upset to find out about Taehyun. But that's the thing.

Taehyun always protected him.

He put his life on the line to protect him.

Chief Kim told them that Black Reaper believed he died along with his father, and that's why Taehyun wore a disguise wherever he went. Wherever Beomgyu wanted to go, Taehyun had to wear a disguise. He was always in danger. If Black Reaper found out he was still alive and was a police officer, they would probably try to kill him for being a traitor.

That's why nobody, not even normal police, could know Kang Taehyun was a cop, the chief had told them.

Taehyun was always in danger, but he always protected Beomgyu. That's why he couldn't bring himself to be mad at or distrusting of Taehyun.

Just a few days ago, Taehyun told Beomgyu that he always wanted to lie in a field of flowers with someone. That's what led them to lying there together. Beomgyu wasn't going to school, and they were bored. Lying in a field in silence didn't cure Beomgyu's boredom though.

"You wanted to lay with someone, in silence?" He asked, looking over at him. Taehyun was calmly looking up at the blue sky, seeming to be more content than he had been lately. "Why did you want to come here anyway?"

"It's peaceful," he whispered. "It's a kind of peace that's hard to find in life. What's more peaceful than lying in nature with a close friend and staring up at the sky? It was just the other day when you said I'm your friend."

He was right. He was Beomgyu's friend. That's why it was so hard to think negatively about the current situation.

His phone started ringing and he picked it up, seeing that it was his mom. "Hello?" He asked after picking it up.

"Beomgyu, how fast can you get here?" She sounded hysterical. "Your father... he's been shot."

***

Because of what was going on, Rosé and Taeyong did not want to drive Beomgyu all the way to Daegu. It was too dangerous with everything going on with Taehyun, and they didn't want to leave the city.

They didn't stop Beomgyu when he left, only asking for the name of the hospital and a promise that he would text every few hours to let them know he was okay.

He left by train and arrived in a couple hours, immediately going up to the floor his dad was on. "Mom!" He called out when he saw her sitting in a waiting room.

She stood up to hug him, looking like she just got done crying. "He's stable. They're getting the bullet out now and stitching him up."

"What happened?" When she hesitated to answer, he immediately knew what it was about. "Tell me mom. I deserve to know."

She contemplated it for a moment before bringing him over to sit down. "There's a group of criminals. They're in many different cities in South Korea, especially Seoul. Your father went to infiltrate one of their bases in Daegu, but he got shot."

Beomgyu's heart started pounding. What if it was... no, it couldn't be. Black Reaper was only in Seoul, wasn't it?

"Does the group have a name?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Do I make you happy?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to think of you on a personal level," Beomgyu smiled cheekily, laying on his side to stare at Taehyun.

"I just want to make sure you're happy. That's in my job description."

No it wasn't. His job was to protect Beomgyu, not make him happy. It was the harm that Black Reaper did Taehyun that made him want to bring people joy. Beomgyu's father got shot by a member of that group, but he still couldn't find it in him to be angry at Taehyun.

It wasn't his fault.

"I've heard of them," Beomgyu replied. "They're dangerous, aren't they?"

She nodded. "More than you can imagine."

"What if they came here right now and attacked us?"

Taehyun finally looked over at him. "I couldn't stop them. But how would they know who we are?" He looked back at the sky. "We're laying in relatively tall grass. We're okay."

He was right. Beomgyu sighed and laid flat on his back, feeling tiny flowers beneath his hands at his sides. The ground was soft, and the smell of flowers that would normally be overwhelming was calming. Smell and touch. The sound of birds chirping and cicadas singing. The bright blue sky above him. The taste of nothingness. His senses were all clouded by things that brought him peace today.

He would never think something like this could be so relaxing, but as his body sunk into the grass and flowers, he shut his eyes and let out a deep breath.

With everything going on, Beomgyu wished they were back in that field.

A/N: I got a few chapters out pretty quickly, so I'm gonna take a few days away from this story and write my other one lol.

That story doesn't have TXT in it (Beomgyu showed up once as a cameo though XD). It has other idols, but you don't need to stan those groups to read it. If you want something to read, I do think it's my best story by a long shot. It is the thing in my life I'm most proud of, and if you do end up deciding to read it, I hope you enjoy it as well ❤.

It also has my best cover that took me at least an hour to make 😂.