The Witness ➳ Taegyu

38. Forgiveness

A/N: There will be minor mentions of domestic abuse in this chapter.

*The same day*

"It's not right to feel ashamed for wanting your mother to be okay. Human beings are capable of forgiving people who've done wrong, especially when that person is your mom."

Beomgyu's eyes widened when Chief Kim said that. Of course it was natural to forgive someone important to you, but did his mom really deserve his forgiveness?

The chief moved away from his computer and leaned back in his chair, seemingly thinking about what to say.

"Taeyong and Rosé have both been officers for six years, and Taehyun was one for two. All three of them became captains two years ago. Six years ago, I heard that one of the people in training camp was going to take a personal leave for a while. His older brother was killed by a member of Black Reaper. As the leader, I wanted to help the officer. It was Taeyong. I've never had to console one of my men like that as much as I had to for him."

"Why are you bringing that up?" Beomgyu asked, not wanting to sound rude, but genuinely wondering how it was important.

"It was the hardest moment in Taeyong's life, and I became closer to him afterwards, so I felt really bad that his brother passed away. Beomgyu, Taehyun's the one who gave the order to kill Taeyong's brother. And as a commander of Black Reaper, he gave me a lot of trouble. Taeyong and I both forgave him after everything he did because he made amends. If your mom is willing to put in the effort to be a better person for you, then just like we did for Taehyun, you can forgive her if you want."

Taeyong has told Beomgyu about his brother before. How he saw a murder by Black Reaper and met up with Taeyong a few minutes later. The man was smiling even after what he just saw, and Taeyong watched as he was shot right there. Right in front of him. It was a miracle that they didn't shoot Taeyong for witnessing it, but he assumed it was because other people were there too, almost as horrified as him.

His brother was kind, smart, and Taeyong's best friend. His only friend. As he sat, crying and holding his body in his arms, he saw the retreating backs of the people who shot him. One of them looked over his shoulder, and Taeyong saw nothing but hatred in the kid's eyes.

It was Taehyun.

Back then, Taehyun hated his job. He always did. Maybe Taeyong finding out that was the reason for his hateful eyes was what made him forgive Taehyun. But with all the pain that day caused Taeyong, Beomgyu couldn't understand how he could forgive Taehyun so quickly. He beat the shit out of him right after finding out about it, but forgave him not long after.

The thought that Taeyong was so kind that he could forgive Taehyun confused Beomgyu. Why would Taeyong be so against him forgiving his mom then? What his mom has done pales in comparison to what Taehyun's done. Then again, it's not like Taehyun wanted to do any of it.

It was all so confusing. Beomgyu sighed and thanked Chief Kim for the talk before leaving his office. There was no point in sitting around wondering about Taeyong's thought process instead of talking to him about it. He walked over to his desk and stood beside him, seeing him looking at files on his computer.

"Hey, I-" He saw the corner of a paper underneath a folder on his desk and tilted his head. "What is this?" He picked it up and looked at the different patterns of the letters "B" and "I" on it.

"It's a game. I play it when I'm bored."

"O... kay." He set it back down. "I wanted to talk to you about the situation with my mom. If it was so easy for you to forgive Taehyun, then why are you so against me forgiving my mom?"

"The two situations are different, Beomgyu."

"Yeah. My mom's actions are more forgivable than Taehyun's, so what's the problem?"

"Beomgyu, tell me two stories. Tell me about the worst moment you've had with your parents, and the happiest moment you've had with your parents."

He knew the perfect stories, though he didn't know why it mattered. Rosé was somewhere else in the building, so it was just the two of them. Beomgyu felt comfortable enough to tell him about the time when he was seventeen. The people at his school were having a party that his mom somehow didn't know about, even though she was a teacher. Beomgyu decided to go since it would be his first party, but he didn't expect the consequences to be so bad.

"I see..." Taeyong muttered, sitting back in his chair. "So getting beaten and locked in your basement for four days is still forgivable?"

"You don't understand."

Taeyong nodded and pulled a chair over for him to sit down across from him. "You're right. I don't. The psychological effects that helicopter parents have on the brain is beyond my personal comprehension, let alone helicopter parents that have physically harmed you."

"It was just that one time." He looked down at his arm that still had faint scarring from her fingernails when she threw him into the basement. "I made them so mad."

"You did." Beomgyu shut his eyes at that. "Parents can get angry at their children over tiny things. While what you did was wrong since you were still a child, never does a parent have an excuse to harm their kid. Your parents have mentally abused you your entire life, and your worst memory of them was when they physically hurt you when you were nearly an adult... what about the happiest moment you had with them?"

They went to a park when he was ten years old. They ate lunch and his father pushed him on the swing. He smiled while talking about it and the friend he made.

"But when the girl grabbed my hand to go play a game of some kind, my mom yanked her arm away and she fell on the ground." Taeyong's eyes widened and he stood up. "Wait, what are you doing?"

He stopped and sighed. The number of things he was going to try to get this woman charged for were insane, but right now, he needed to talk to Beomgyu. "Nothing..." he sat back down. "Have you thought about the fact that your happiest moment with them ended in that girl getting hurt?" Beomgyu looked down. "Nobody can persuade your emotions Beomgyu, but if you want to know how my situation is so much different, it's because 99% of the memories I have with Taehyun are happy and have happy endings. It's easier to forgive someone when their good side overcomes their bad. Have you ever seen good in your parents?"

His mom was a mean, strict teacher, and his dad constantly boasted about killing Black Reaper members. Had he ever truly seen good in them?

No.

"If the bad heavily outweighs the good, I don't think they deserve your pity. They haven't made any efforts to change their behavior either, have they?"

Beomgyu soon left to go back their apartment to think alone and Taeyong looked at his computer. Coming up with a real reason for Beomgyu to not speak to his mom was pretty difficult on the spot. Now, Taeyong knew that Beomgyu really shouldn't forgive his parents, but he had no intention of making him believe that before.

He looked at the paper that Beomgyu looked at and reread the message Taehyun had anonymously sent him just this morning through email.

"Beomgyu's mom is coming to Seoul, and she's pissed that a member of Black Reaper was protecting Beomgyu. Don't let her convince him to forgive her. Please. In a fit of rage, she told me last night what she's put him through. I'm counting on you to handle the situation as best as you see fit."

The "home issue" she was referring to when she arrived at his apartment was Taehyun. She came to get away from his presence, but also to be with Beomgyu after she found out he was being protected by a member of Black Reaper before. Taeyong gave her only three days because he assumed she would go home right after, but he was going to give her longer now.

While reorganizing her name in the system, he looked at the paper and sighed in relief. Relief that even apart, his partner could still talk to him so easily.

The difference between the people at fault in Beomgyu and Taeyong's lives was that while Beomgyu's parents never showed any remorse or care for his constant pain, Taehyun wanted nothing more than to make up for what he did one time.

A/N: My name is spelled wrong on the cover 😭😭.