Worlds Apart - Taekook - Book 2

Chapter 255 - Ripple Effect

"Oh my god... let's go... we need to tell them..." Emi was getting her stuff together, ready to leave the room after what they'd just heard.

Tae was stationary, standing by the door where he'd moved to when they first heard Nuri's voice. He thought she knew they were there and was marching down the corridor to make a scene or try to create a different drama. He'd been fully prepared to lock the door so she couldn't get in as neither he or Emi wanted to deal with her, especially when they had no idea what was happening in Ryan's room and they wouldn't be able to trust a word she said. They'd panic whispered as she approached, deciding that they couldn't be alone with her, fearing that without their other halves present, the woman could invent anything and it would be their word against hers.

"Taehyung... what are you waiting for?"

The CEO's body was stone-like, almost as if he'd come face to face with Medusa. His chest was tight, his throat thick with panic as images and words from the past attacked his mind.

Emi was confused by the reaction. She thought that Taehyung would be joyous! She shook her head in a short fast movement in an attempt to shake the bewilderment.

"What's wrong?" She asks.

Tae can't breathe.

Tae is back to the time when he was standing in the suite at the Signiel... or when Han, his friend from local government, broke the news about the planning permission... when Kyong was in his office at Purple Aura, whistleblowing on the life of his parents... when he knew the unsavoury truth about the woman that had wormed her way back into Jungkook's life via the emotional manipulation route.

He couldn't do this again... be the one to have to break the news. The last time he did that, he thought he was doing the right thing by booking a table at Aqua Reef... and what followed that was nothing short of catastrophic.

The CEO couldn't hide how he felt, tears welled in his eyes and his conscious mind took a back seat. Why? Why did it have to be him? He wished that he'd stayed in Seoul.

Emi doesn't understand at all but she recognises fear when she sees it. She stands in front of the man who hasn't moved from the door. "Taehyung, what is it?" She asks softly.

"Not again."

"I don't know what's happened but we need to tell them before she goes back... IF she's going back... which I think she will after what we heard."

"I can't tell him... I can't be that person again."

"I don't understand... we need to tell them... it doesn't matter what's happened before... they 'need' to know... or we at least need to go in there and see what she's saying to them... we can't just stay here."

"It's our word against hers, you said it yourself."

"It's 'our' word against hers... Yes... but I said that before there was something to tell... don't you want Jungkook to know?"

"Honestly? No. I want to be on a flight back to Seoul... I've got enough that I need to fix... I've already messed things up..." He couldn't get a break since his stupidity at Purple Aura. They'd agreed that they wouldn't talk about it while they were in Busan, yet he couldn't help himself. He just wanted to fix it all, not pour a combustible liquid onto embers.

"It has to come from you... I don't know Kyong or Jungkook... hell! I barely know my own husband!"

Tae knows deep down that he has to tell his Husband what he heard. He'd had his head against the door as he listened to everything that woman said. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Tae can't expect Emi to take control of the situation and be the one to expose their toxic mother-in-law. He feels that she may get eaten alive and even if he were there to back her up, he can see that putting her in the firing line isn't fair.