Daddy's boy → vhope

Twenty three

As Taehyung stared down at his plate, he had never felt so awkward to be sitting with Hoseok at their dining table eating dinner as they usually did.

That was, of course, because it wasn't just him and his loving boyfriend.

"I can't believe you've found yourself such a high class job!" Taehyung's mother remarked, toying with the stir fried octopus on her plate.

"Yes, what did you say your position was?" His father added, glancing around the lavish dining room in awe as he spoke.

"I'm.. Hoseok's assistant." Taehyung glanced at Hoseok in despair.

"Taehyung is my personal assistant," Hoseok imputed. "He does small jobs around the office and he keeps the house tidy for me. He's a great help- I'm so busy, but he keeps me organised."

He smiled warmly at the pair sitting across from him, hoping that they were buying the blatant bullshit he was spouting.

"So he lives here with you?" Mr. Kim asked, eyebrows raised. "You mentioned earlier that he's an in-house assistant."

"Yeah, he stays with me. I usually wouldn't allow this sort of thing but Taehyung explained that he was finding it hard to find accommodation as a student so I made an exception for him." Hoseok explained, discreetly placing a hand on Taehyung's leg under the table.

Taehyung shot Hoseok a warning glance before he spoke up. "I'm lucky I got the job, there were a lot of candidates.."

"You're not very qualified either, what are you studying now? That useless art degree?" Hoseok raised an eyebrow in disbelief as Taehyung's father insulted him so easily.

"Ah.. I'm studying literature.." Taehyung mumbled dejectedly. "I really like it-"

"You're very kind to give our excuse of a son a job." Mr. Kim quipped, cutting Taehyung off mid sentence. "I have to admit I was worried he'd be living in some hovel with no job."

Taehyung stared down at the table in shame; his parents always made him feel small and useless. When his parents were around, so too came a feeling of hopelessness and self-hatred that weighed down on Taehyung like a tonne of bricks.

Hoseok had to take a deep breath and steady himself so that he wouldn't throw himself across the table and inflict some serious damage on the man putting his boyfriend down.

"He was doing just fine on his own I believe." Hoseok defended, a cold edge to his voice as he stared Taehyung's father down. "But naturally anyone would jump at the chance of a high paying job such as Taehyung's."

"I can't believe you live in a house like this!" Taehyung's mother gushed, cutting off the conversation before it could escalate. "Where do you sleep?"

"Ahh.." Taehyung trailed off unsurely. "I have my own room, since it's a six bedroom house and Hoseok only needs one, he didn't have a problem with letting me stay."

"Oh! I must take a look at what state your room is in!" She exclaimed. "If it's anything like home then it'll be like a bomb hit it."

Taehyung froze, all of the guest rooms showed no signs of life and wouldn't be at all believable to act as his bedroom.

"That can wait surely?" He choked out, his mind racing at the thought of being found out in his lie.

Hoseok, sensing Taehyung's panic, interjected in a lighthearted tone. "Who's for desert?"

Taehyung looked down at his plate, still packed with food before glancing up at Hoseok confusedly.

"I'd never say no to desert!" Mrs. Kim laughed, handing her empty plate to Hoseok as if he was a maid.