The Witness ➳ Taegyu

19. February 5th

*The next morning*

"You stayed in a hotel? You could have just stayed here so you would be here when I woke up."

His father's words hurt a hell of a lot more than Beomgyu would like to admit. He came all the way from Seoul to be here, but the man still wanted to be critical about it.

"I had a long day. I just wanted to sleep."

"I had a long day too. I always do. That's clearly something you dont care to take into consideration." Beomgyu frowned from where he was standing in front of the bed, and his father looked at the door. "Who are you?"

"Captain Kang of Seoul's police force. It's nice to meet you." Taehyun forced a fake smile. "Beomgyu, can I talk to him for a moment?"

Beomgyu was confused. Why would Taehyun of all people want to talk to his dad? Regardless of his questions, he left the room and Taehyun closed the door behind him.

"Who the hell are you to kick my son out of my hospital room?"

"Who the hell are you to treat him that way?" The man's eyes widened and Taehyun sat in the seat beside his bed.

"Treat him what way?! I treat him fine."

That was an obvious, almost humorous lie. "I understand that right now, you're probably just cranky because of your situation. But he's told me a lot about his childhood, and I have to ask... what happened to your family to make you protect him so much? Maybe if he knows the reason, he'll forgive you for treating him like a fragile baby until he was an adult and left on his own accord."

He sighed and stared up at the ceiling. "Why would I tell you anything? Your face is covered, and the only parts of your face I can see are bruised." As he was talking, Taehyun took off everything on his head and looked at him.

"I only wear it because of how dangerous things have gotten lately. And the bruises are because my colleague and I got into a heated dispute. Nothing serious."

Taehyun is a lying liar who lies.

He seemed to believe him though, only asking for his ID and badge to confirm his identity, which Taehyun gladly handed to him. "One of the members of the group shot me. Black Reaper. A little over twenty-one years ago, they hurt our family for the first time. I don't... I don't know how to say it." He put his hand against his forehead as tears formed in his eyes and Taehyun dreaded the next words that would come out of his mouth. "A year after Beomgyu was born, I took his brother who was a few years older than him to the store in my patrol car. On the way back, there were multiple cars with multiple members of Black Reaper in all of them, and they shot at us. It wasn't the gunshot that killed my son. Our car spun out and hit another one, and both vehicles flipped."

Taehyun's face went pale and he opened his mouth to speak, but no words could come out, until finally, "wh-what day of the year did that happen?"

"February 5th."

When Taehyun was a teenager, he finally found out why he didn't have a mom. When she was pregnant, she went to Daegu to do business, but went into labor early. She was being escorted by multiple other cars to the only Black Reaper building in Daegu at the time. His father told him that as she was being driven, a cop car was driving amongst their team. To keep her safe, they shot at the car, but when it spun out, the car ended up hitting the one she was in. She passed away not long later, but her child survived.

"Is there any reason you asked that?"

Taehyun blinked and then panickedly shook his head. "No, no. That was a random question. Um..." he was about to stand up to leave, but stopped when he remembered he still had a question. "So the reason you guys were so protective of him is because of your other son?"

He nodded. "I love him dearly. I truly do. His mother does to. It's just... that day broke us, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to give Beomgyu a normal life like we wanted."

Taehyun remembered when Beomgyu first told him his dad is a cop. Taehyun asked if he ever took Beomgyu to the station and the boy replied something along the lines of "he would never do something like that". It made sense now. He was afraid of Beomgyu getting hurt if he was involved in police stuff.

This man deserved some kinds of explanations.

"Beomgyu witnessed a murder by Black Reaper. It's been my duty to protect him." He looked terrified at hearing that. "Did Chief Kim ever tell you about the two commanders of Black Reaper?" He nodded. "Seojun is after Beomgyu now, so we've been protecting him. I'm pretty sure Beomgyu told his mom about this though. Did she not tell you?"

"No. Why didn't anyone tell me? I could have him incredibly well protected here."

Taehyun had thought about it last night. It was true that Beomgyu would be safer in Daegu. He would be away from Black Reaper's main city of operation. Away from Kami and Seojun.

Away from Taehyun.

He decided he would try to convince Beomgyu to move to Daegu, but it wasn't gonna be easy convincing him.

***

Beomgyu wanted to sleep in the hotel another night. Something about the comfort of the bed is what he said. But after hearing everything his father told Taehyun, he had his face shoved into his pillow, clearly not wanting to listen to any excuses. "You don't have to forgive him. I just thought you should know why they acted that way all those years."

"He could have told me earlier. Maybe I wouldn't resent them if I knew way earlier. I just... can't forgive them." He rested his cheek on the pillow and stared at Taehyun. "So that's why you wanted to talk to my dad?" Taehyun nodded and he sighed. "Thank you."

He didn't tell him that his mom was involved. All he said was that a shootout happened. He didn't mention why Black Reaper shot at them in the first place. He would tell Beomgyu one day, but not today.

They continued talking for a while longer before bed, and even with everything that's happened and everything that's continuing to happen, Beomgyu felt happy and comfortable talking to him. Taehyun was definitely his friend. Even after finding out almost everything, he still liked Taehyun and didn't feel scared around him at all.

Beomgyu fell asleep with a slight smile on his face, believing everything would be okay.