Stay With Me - Yeongyu FF

Chapter 40

Yeonjun POV

Beomgyu's words got to him. To my father. The doctors we had him see hadn't been able to calm him down during his appointments. He never apologised. I guess it's Beomgyu's way of doing: he stayed polite, yet he scolded him. He was... harshly polite. It doesn't seem possible, but at that moment, it was. My mother and I are still surprised, and it's been an hour. We all know that it won't last, that he'll get mad again soon, but Mom and I make the most of this short moment. Suddenly he's back, suddenly, I have my Dad back. Suddenly, this house feels like home.

I hug my father, telling him that I accept his apology. He hugs me back. It's been two, maybe three since he's hugged me last. It feels like I'm getting my hopes up. Heck, he even kisses Mom. He hasn't done that in two weeks either. I take my phone discreetly, just in case it gets him mad again, and thank Beomgyu. He only replies 15 minutes later, with a confused emoji. I laugh. He's so ignorant, he has no idea what good he's done to our family.

But, as I thought, it didn't last. The next day, he was back at it again. But this time, Mom and I instantly call the therapist and ask him to come. He says that my father is getting better, but that it's taking time. I get angry at him, I tell him that he's not possibly getting better, that he's hurting us again. He says that because he was better yesterday, he'll get better today. Mom and I try to deal with him, but every medicine wears off, and so does Beomgyu's injection of words in my father's body, so we end up feeling forced to leave the house three days after his new anger. One evening, after my father falls asleep, Mom quickly calls Beomgyu's mother to ask her if we can stay. I get dressed, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a random pair of jeans to hide the bruises. Once we get her answer, we swiftly pack only the essentials and drive up to their house. It's about 11pm when we get there, so although Beomgyu answers the door, her son is already asleep, so I try as silently as possible to take the second half of his double bed without waking him up. I don't know where Mom is sleeping, but I can't move now. I just hope she can sleep okay. As if Beomgyu feels my presence, his left arm lands on my chest, attempting to hug me in sleepy weakness. I fall asleep like this, only realising now how safe I feel and have felt in his room, with him around me, and how he wasn't only trying to hug me and show me endless love, but also trying to protect me.

When I wake up the next morning, Beomgyu is already out of bed. I make my way down to see Beomgyu completely confused as to why my mother is in his kitchen. I chuckle, and he turns to me, that same confused look growing even more confused. I burst out laughing at his expression. He looks so ignorant in the cutest way possible. Mom comes out of the kitchen and greets me. I can't stop laughing, so I just hug her, then Beomgyu.

"You're so cute when you don't know what's going on" I manage to say between chuckles.

He pouts "You're not nice"

Once I calm down, he asks if we're here because of my father. I nod, the reminder glooming me down a little. He tells me that it'll be okay, but I hear something from the kitchen that I can't ignore.

"Beomgyu, one of my friend and I are looking for proof, but we need your consent for this. We're thinking about... bringing him to court"

I look at Beomgyu, frightened. He heard them too. He nods.

"But... It won't be easy..."

"There's little chance of him winning. 'Ma's friend is a lawyer, and a good one at that, meanwhile, your father really is guilty. We just need to get the social services and the court on our side. We don't want to imprison him, we just want him to be away from you until his full recovery" he explains. I hear Mom whisper a small 'ok'. We all feel reluctant to do this, but we also all know that now, we don't have a choice.

Beomgyu's mother calls her friend over that afternoon, and Mom and I testify what my father has done to us. I take off my shirt to show my bruises, the action not going unnoticed in the eyes of Beomgyu, probably because of all of the purplish blue not-so-circular circles on my chest. The lawyer decides that the testimony and bruises are enough proof, and that he'll take care of 'spitting out laws' like he said. He also tells us that he'll try to make our case get to court in less than a week's time, and that he'll go tell our father at his workplace.

The few days that pass between then and the day we're supposed to take my father to court was definitely the calmest one, and Mom and I know exactly why. My father got himself a lawyer and has been trying his best to keep his calm so we wouldn't have any bruises or physical proof of pain, but still, he hit us a few times. Beomgyu and his mother's lawyer says that I'll probably have to show my bruises to the jury, so if I have any on my arms, I should wear a short-sleeved shirt to avoid needing to remove it completely, so on the day of the judging, that's what I do, covering the shirt with an open jacket so no one on the streets have questions to ask.

My father joins us directly in court, and it feels weird being against him. Mom and I are with Beomgyu and his mother, along with their lawyer, while my father is alone, with his lawyer. The judge asks me and Mom to testify first, and to answer my father's lawyer's questions. He asks us a lot of things that Beomgyu's lawyer had already predicted would be asked and he asks me to show the bruises. I take off the jacket and take a peek at the people around. Beomgyu seems shocked again, so do the jurors and the judge. My father looks down guiltily. Then, it's my father's turn to answer our lawyer's questions. He seems rather angry while beside the judge testifying, and Mom and I notice that he's trying to contain the anger like he's been trying for the whole week. The jurors had to make a choice during the afternoon - the court time being 8am by the beginning of the process - and by 5pm, we had to come back to see what they had chosen. This time, I'm really, really stressed. I have to hold on to Beomgyu to try and control myself, because I feel like screaming, like fainting, like crying from the fear of the jury deciding my father was innocent. But they don't, but their punishment is rather extreme.

They decided to have him taken to an asylum.

THAT makes me faint though.

My father. My Dad. In an asylum until he's fully recovered. I know that it's probably the best punishment he could get, because if he's just in a hospital or hotel somewhere he could come back, and if he was in prison he'd probably get madder, and an asylum will probably help him better than anything else and keep him from hurting us, but it's just so shocking. My own father, getting taken away for spouse and child abuse, when barely a month back, he didn't even dare do me any physical harm. 

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Sorry for such a harsh chapter .........

But I promise it's sort of necessary, a lot of things will - if my procrastinating ass accepts it - be based off of this.

But again, this story has already gone in so many different directions and is now so far away from the original storyline, but hopefully I can bring it back on track.

Which means that the sad might start soon, just a heads up 🙃