The Boy Next Door | Taegyu ✔️

55

Feeling the sea of light entering her halfway-opened eyes, Mrs Kang got up with a yawn as the pang of realisation had hit her that she had dozed off on the living room couch. She scrambled towards her phone, which showed the time of 8:45 am.

The phone application was the first thing she saw after entering her passcode, displaying the last 100 calls being sent to Taehyun's contact, yet, he has not picked up even once. She ran up to Taehyun's bedroom upstairs; the bed was empty and still intact.

Where could he possibly be? She sighed worriedly to herself as she turned on the messenger application only to have at least 1000 unread messages sent to her within the span of a single night.

Was it spam messages? No, they weren't; all of them were sent by contacts she already had saved. Without even thinking twice, she clicked on the message sent in by her Korean colleague.

Ms Chae: Mrs Kang, have you seen this yet?

Seen what? She thought to herself in confusion as her eyes laid upon the article that was attached to the text Ms Chae had sent. She clicked it. And a part of it wished she hadn't done that as soon as she saw the headline; Pressed Charges Against Mr Choi for believed Child Abuse.

It has been several seconds as she re-read that phrase over and over again, each, still in disbelief. Choi was a common surname—she thought to herself in an attempt to rationalise the situation. Taehyun not coming home last night was like a slap to her memory.

Taehyun.
He played a part in this.

Mrs Kang widened her eyes in shock as soon as she realised how dumb and stupid she had been acting for the last minute. She continued to read the article:

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (YONHAP)- As of 10 April 2021, the police have arrested Chief Executive Officer, Mr Choi Sung Ho on charges he abused his son. Charges filed against Mr Choi for the case of child abuse has yet to be announced.

She couldn't bear to read the whole article as a sickly feeling started to brew at the bottom of her stomach. No, she needed to hear this from Taehyun and Beomgyu themselves. Footfalls thundered down the stairs as Mr Kang entered the living room.

"Have you seen this?" She asked, not sparing her husband a moment to reply as she held up the phone in front of his face. He took the phone from her hands with a frown as he took a look at what was actually written on the screen.

"Well, with Mr Choi now under arrest, the share market value of our stocks may decrease now that we don't have a strong base of fundings from him anymore," he merely said with a sigh before walking away.

"Wait—"

Mr Kang turned around.

"Can't you just accept the fact that your son was right about this whole matter instead of brushing it off?" She said, exasperated.

"Was Taehyun a part of this then?" Mr Kang asked with an arched eyebrow.

Before his wife got the chance to defend Taehyun's case for being involved in all this, the main door behind them swung open. Completely ignoring his father's gaze resting on him, Taehyun walked into the house, a certain ash-blonde male tailing behind him—Beomgyu.

"I am going to ask this again," his father spoke, not bothering a "hello" or "good morning" to the younger. "Were you a part of all this?"

"Of what?" Taehyun questioned.

"Mr Choi's arrestment."

Beomgyu, who was behind Taehyun, winced slightly at those words coming out from Mr Choi's mouth in such a cold manner. Bad timing, he thought to himself, turning to the door; Taehyun's hand suddenly gripped onto his, pulling him back into place.