Athazagoraphobia [k.th]

Chapter 17

    Everything looked ordinary that day. Taehyun mended his relationship with Sunrin, and Beomgyu is his best friend. It was as if he was living a dream. Just a month ago, he didn't believe in anything that had to do with kindness. Back then, kindness was a feeling that was nonexistent in his life.

He was thankful that Beomgyu never gave up on him, because he was a really good friend. He was genuinely happy for the first time in so long. It was as if all his broken pieces were mended so easily, and it was all thanks to Sunrin. He owed everything to her.

That day, he walked home with Beomgyu. Sunrin stayed behind to talk to her friends for a while longer, much to his dismay. Before he even made it past the school grounds, he saw someone that he knew too well. It was worse when Beomgyu continued pulling him in the direction the person was in.

"Kang Taehyun! What do you think you're doing with my son?" The woman screamed. In an instant, he was brought back to reality. Everything he had at the moment was all a dream. Beomgyu was going to leave him and forget everything. Sunrin would stop talking to him and leave him alone again. He was living a dream this entire time.

He watched as she prepared to slap him, but he didn't bother trying to dodge. He had much more important things to worry about. He subconciously gripped onto Beomgyu's shoulder tighter, not wanting him to leave. He finally had his best friend back, and he was going to leave already? It wasn't fair.

Right before she slapped Taehyun, Sunrin stopped it by grabbing her hand. "Miss, please refrain from hurting students at this school. You're making an unwanted scene, and it isn't very pretty. Calm yourself before someone films this and spreads it online." Sunrin hissed as politely as she could. As much as she wanted to just swing at her, she knew she couldn't.

"Let go of me right now! Can't you see that Kang Taehyun is hurting my son? How much damage do you have to do to our family before you're satisfied?" The woman yelled at Taehyun, making Sunrin grip her hand tighter. She was extremely tempted to just break her hand right then and there.

Taehyun opened his mouth to say something, but Beomgyu beat him to it. "Mom! Can you not make a scene in front of the entire school? It's embarassing and it doesn't look good. If you're going to have a tantrum, please wait until we get home." Beomgyu asked. Even Taehyun could tell that Beomgyu was desperately trying to hide how pissed he was.

"Me, have a tantrum? Is this how you talk to your own mother? I'm trying to protect you and you say I'm having a tantrum? Who raised you to be so disrespectful?" Beomgyu's mom gasped, making everyone around her roll her eyes. Even the strangers that walked past couldn't stand her.

"Protect me? When was the last time you actually protected me without dirty tricks? Don't think you can manipulate me into thinking my best friend is a bad person, just like you did before. I know he isn't, and the darkness in him is simply all in your mind." Beomgyu retorted, laughing. This time, it wasn't the light-hearted laugh that Taehyun was used to. It was a dark cackle, one that sent shivers down his spine.

"Do not talk to your own mother that way! You don't even know what kind of stuff Kang Taehyun did to you in the past! You don't realize how evil Kang Taehyun truly is because you're blinded by his innocent persona!" Beomgyu's mother accused, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Sunrin saw Taehyun blinking back tears, so she decided to help Beomgyu. "I know I have nothing to do with this conversation, but do NOT accuse anyone at our school of something so ridiculous. You don't have any right to do that, and you have no proof to back yourself up." Sunrin spat, making Taehyun shocked. He knew that she had a dark side to her, but not a dark AND logical side.

"Shut up you bitch! You don't even know half of the shit we're talking about!" Beomgyu's mother responded. She lunged towards Sunrin, causing Taehyun to hold her down. By then, a lot of people were already gathered around, ready to watch what happened next. She was stronger than he thought, which meant that he had to work harder to hold her down.

"Who said I didn't know what Taehyun did in the past? I recovered my memories 2 years ago. I spent the next 2 years desperately trying to find him. When I finally did, he was a completely different person because of you. You manipulated my best friend into thinking he was disgusting just because he made a mistake. He isn't the villian, you are. By the way, if you try and mess this up for me then I'll just tell dad about the amount of people you fucked before you met him. It was all recorded in your diary, and I found it." Beomgyu told her casually.

Sunrin subconciously let out a wicked laugh of triumph. It was something that she didn't even know she was capable of. She found it amusing when Beomgyu called out his mother on just about everything so casually. She was feeling quite sadistic, and Beomgyu's mother just fueled her sadistic tendencies.

In an instant, Beomgyu's scary persona was dropped. "Alright, let's go home together, mom. Do you want me to make some kimchi with you for dad?" Beomgyu asked innocently, grabbing his mother's hands. Even Sunrin was shocked at how fast he was able to change personas. She mentally noted to one day ask him about it.

For now, she was going to stay by Taehyun's side. Although she had no idea what happened, she knew that he needed support more than anyone else at the moment. And she would gladly give that support to him. He deserved it, because of how strong he is. Whatever happened in the past, she knew that it impacted Taehyun more than anyone else.

She walked home with him, careful to not let him out of her sight. She was afraid that he would run into the road the moment she took her eyes off of him. It was something that the old Taehyun would do in a heartbeat, so it wouldn't be surprising if the new one would too. She wasn't used to seeing him so sad, so it unsettled her quite a bit.

He wasn't in a good state, and she knew it. So, she was going to attempt to bring back the happy Taehyun within him.