Trusting (KTH)

Chapter 60

Clara couldn't hide her anxiety. Perhaps she'd become too accustomed to the relaxing pace of life here on vacation. She thought she had a good handle on what the future would look like. Sure Taehyung would be busy again but at least he'd be coming home every night. What more was there to say?

"Sweetheart", Taehyung started, "A few weeks after we get back to Seoul some of the court proceedings related to the invasion of our privacy while we were on tour will begin."

Clara nodded, she knew the company was planning to take action against several individuals and companies for everything that had happened. She hadn't really been briefed on all the details, trusting the company had excellent lawyers and could take care of everything.

"Well," Taehyung paused, trying to think of what to say next, "It seems like they may need us to testify in court regarding a few things."

"Can't you just do that for both of us?" Clara asked. "I'm not sure I have anything unique to say."

Taehyung heaved out a sigh. There was no way to say it besides just saying it. "It seems like the company that served as the platform for the video of our private time together is claiming that they can't be held liable because there is no evidence that you or I were not the ones to post the video."

"What?" Clara drew back. "How...I mean why would we possibly do that? Of course it wasn't either of us."

"I know." Taehyung leaned forward to grab her hand to gently caress it in his. "But it seems like this is the approach they plan to take in court. If we don't go and confirm that neither of us were behind it they may get off with just a light slap on the wrist. For obvious reasons the company would like to make this a lot more painful for them."

"Ok, I mean I don't really want to go but I guess I can if I have to. I agree, I don't want them to get away with this. It really wasn't right."

Taehyung scratched the back of his neck. "The thing is this, in order to confirm that we didn't post the video they are going to need to play the video in court."

Clara's eyes got wide. "What? I mean why would they do that? Isn't that just punishing us more?"

Taehyung closed his eyes for a moment. "It seems like this is part of their strategy. That we'll be so uncomfortable with the video being shown again that we'll decide to just let them go."

"Oh" Clara became quiet, looking down at her hand that was currently being gently stroked by Taehyung. "I guess I see."

"They can largely clear the courtroom while the video is being played, but some people will have to remain. The judges, lawyers for both sides, representatives from the company and the defendants, the security guards, courtroom staff, and of course any witnesses."

Clara began to squirm in discomfort. Why would anyone need to see the video again? How was it fair that she had to be humiliated again? Have their private lives dragged out in public like that again?

"And," Taehyung continued, "we have to be questioned separately. I can't be with you to support you because they are claiming I'll try to influence you. So they are going to show the video twice, once for each of us. And we're going to have to actually look at it so we can confirm we are aware of the video and didn't record it. I'd offer to have your parents or Namjoon join you but I'm not sure how comfortable you'd feel about that considering that the purpose is to, uh, show us in a compromising position."

Taehyung felt both an overwhelming weight of dread but also relief that he'd finally gotten the news out there and off his shoulders. The whole situation made him furiously angry and the company had been pressing him to talk to Clara about it considering they couldn't really move forward with the legal case until she agreed to participate. The defense was trying to make it as painful as possible to limit their legal risk. They'd obviously done their homework on Clara in particular and must have known how excruciating it would be to force her into this position.

"What do you think sweetheart?" Clara had been almost totally silent as Taehyung talked, her eyes growing increasingly wide as what he said sunk in.

"I...I don't want to do that."

Taehyung leaned forward until their foreheads were gently pressed against each other. "I know," he whispered, "but will you? I know you can do it but I need you to be willing. If you don't agree they will probably get away with it. But more importantly we won't be able to force them to give us any information they have on who recorded the video, which is the most important part."

Clara's eyes welled up with tears as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was clear she wasn't going to be able to continue the conversation right now.

Taehyung settled his hands on her hips and guided her to straddle his lap, pressing her face into his neck as he tried to soothe the pain of the blow. "We'll talk about it later, ok? For now it's just us."

Taehyung gently rocked them back and forth, continuing to lightly rub her back with one hand while the other held the back of her head, pressing her tight into his neck. He softly hummed while he felt her body convulse with tears, his collar becoming increasingly damp.

"Shhh, baby please don't cry. I promise we'll get through this together." Taehyung hated this. The last few weeks had been so beautifully peaceful, protected from the world and fully focused on each other. This jerk back into the pain of their reality was almost more than he could tolerate. Every heartbreaking sob from Clara affected him just as deeply. He had made so many promises to protect her and he was still struggling to find a way to make good on that commitment.

Eventually Clara calmed but refused to engage in conversation so Taehyung focused on continuing to rock her back and forth and offer her what comfort he could. After several minutes Clara pulled away and wordlessly got up and went to the bedroom to wash up and crawl into bed. Taehyung attempted to follow her but she once again seemed to be pulling away from his touch, shifting away from his hand when he touched her shoulder and largely refusing to engage. Taehyung remembered his father in law's advice that he needed to offer her space to think when it felt like the world was overwhelming. Contributing to the oppressive tidal wave by suffocating her would only force her further into her shell.

With that in mind he gently brushed his lips against her forehead and whispered a quick reminder of his love and hope that she would sleep well. Taehyung returned to check on the boys to ensure they were sleeping well and after confirming all the lights were off and the doors locked tight he returned to the bedroom to snuggle his wife, who he hoped would be sleeping by now.

He knew he had to convince her to go to the trial. There really was no option. The company had told him in no uncertain terms that she would be testifying and they would force her to appear as a witness against her will if necessary. Even so everyone was in agreement that it would be much much better if she was willing to go at least partially under her own terms.

The thing that worried Taehyung the most was that he wouldn't be allowed by her side. While she had a strong support system of others around her, it was hard to imagine her feeling more comfortable with any of them by her side as the video played. He was similarly uncomfortable with being forced to watch the video surrounded by people and he was used to being in the spotlight. They really were going to need to consider everything to get over this hurdle.

Taehyung hardly slept that night watching over Clara's fitful rest. He could only hope that after they put this behind them they would never have to talk about it or deal with it again.