Dear Sputnik

XLVI

- TAEHYUN -

He stared at his tray of beef short rib, rice, and sliced apples before slowly pushing his tray away from him. The food looked incredible, much better than what he got back at the public school, but Taehyun didn't have an appetite. Today marked his second week at his private school. Nothing had really changed since he left about around a year ago. The majority of the kids were still the same. The same old drama. His same old friends, as well. He was welcomed back into his old friend group easily, as if nothing had ever happened.

Taehyun was lucky enough to not have missed much school wise, but it was definitely filled with more challenging subjects than he was used to at the public school. He enjoyed the challenge; he was always willing to learn. That was one aspect that his mother was right about. The private school had a much better education system that would prepare him for the CSATs.

That was where his fondness of the school stopped, though. He remembered when he was so foolish when he first got enrolled into the public schools where he desperately wished he could come back to the private school. That was before he fell in love with Beomgyu. Now, he desperately missed Beomgyu. It was strange how things seemed to pan out. He was so indecisive back then, yet acting so sure of his choices. Now, he knew one thing for certain; he missed Choi Beomgyu and would do anything to be in his presence.

Lee Heeseung, one of his best friends, shot him a puzzled look as Taehyun ran a hand through his hair. His doe-like eyes studied him carefully. Heeseung seemed to understand when other people were struggling. Taehyun had confided in him many times, but he never told him about his sexuality. He kept that himself, besides telling his sister.

"What's wrong?" Heeseung asked him in a quiet voice.

"Just thinking about things," Taehyun murmured, avoiding his wide-eyed gaze.

The guys knew that his father was in prison, but luckily, they hadn't treated Taehyun any different. Along with that, Taehyun hadn't heard any rumors around school about him. His friend group was one to be trusted, even though a lot of his friends were filthy rich with gossipy parents. They kept their mouths shut, or they did a damn good job of dropping the subject when Taehyun was around. A few teachers had welcomed him back, but didn't press the subject. Taehyun wondered if they knew.

"Do you want to talk about it?" His other friend, Park Jongseong, otherwise known as Jay asked.

Taehyun shrugged some, tugging at the collar of his school uniform, saying, "I'm just trying to sort some stuff out. Maybe I need some advice from you guys."

"What's going on?" Jay asked curiously.

"I'm not sure how I can explain it simply," Taehyun said with a sigh before telling them, "So, I'm trying to go on a trip with a few friends to the United States once school gets out. I've bought my plane ticket and everything. The issue is that my family happens to hate this one friend that I'm going with. Also, my mom basically barred me from seeing him. I don't know what to do."

Heeseung and Jay listened to him, their heads nodding as Taehyun explained his whole situation. Taehyun was lucky to have such understanding friends that didn't try to pry too much into his personal life. They could have tried to ask him about everything that had happened since he left their private school a little over a year ago, but they didn't.

"I don't know, maybe be honest with your mom," Heeseung suggested, running a hand through his dark hair, "Tell her you already bought the ticket and everything."

Jay shook his head, saying in disagreement, "No, Taehyun, what you need to do is lie to her. Tell her you're going with someone else. Does she like the other guys that you're going with?"

"She doesn't know them, I'm sure if she did, she'd probably let me go because I don't think she'd find any issues with me being friends with them. I don't know, it's a messed up situation."

"It does sound messed up," Heeseung murmured, "I can't think of any solutions right now. You have to get a permission to travel and everything."

Taehyun nodded and sighed. Due to him still being a minor, he had to get a specific document signed that got permission from his mother to travel overseas and into a new country. Taehyun could only imagine how hard it would be to convince his mother to sign his permission to travel with everything that had happened.

"I have an idea," Jay murmured, "But, it's super risky if we got caught."

"At this point, it's risky no matter what I do," Taehyun perked up, staring at Jay, "What's your idea?"

"Your mom knows me and I tend to think that she has a liking for me, hopefully she still does," Jay chuckled a bit before continuing, "I travel to the United States to see my family every summer and I'm leaving right after school gets out. What if we told your mom that you're going with me?"

Taehyun pondered the idea before he exclaimed, "Jay, you're a genius! You know that?"

Jay smirked a bit, shrugging, "I'm glad someone's finally seeing it."

Taehyun considered Jay's idea and smiled. The permission to travel document doesn't say any companions on who you're traveling with. That would be a plus. Also, Taehyun's mother and father loved Jay and always thought that he was a good kid. They knew how he went on trips a lot, due to visiting his family, so they wouldn't be too suspicious. If they could pull this off, it would be amazing.

"But wouldn't it be weird if Taehyun is trying to go to Los Angeles and Jay would be going to Seattle," Heeseung suggested.

"I didn't even think about that," Taehyun murmured quietly.

"Well actually, most flights go directly to LAX anyways then you have another flight to Seattle," Jay told him, "So it won't be that big of a deal."

Taehyun nodded and began to speculate on what could go wrong. His mother could reach out to Jay's parents and then he would be doomed once he got back. He doubted that Jay's parents would lie for him.

"The issue I have would be if my mom contacted your parents," Taehyun told him, echoing his thoughts aloud, "My mom would be the type of person to contact your parents."

"Actually, this might work into our favor," Jay murmured, running a hand through his hair, "My parents aren't leaving for another two weeks after my flight. I'm flying in alone to Los Angeles and I catch my next flight to Seattle. So, as long as we took a bunch of pictures together before we left and sent them to our parents, they should be fine in assuming that we were together the whole time. You get your flight back before my parents even arrive to the United States, so they would only have proof of what we send them. We would just have to make sure that our departures are sort of around the same date."

"It seems like you guys are having to jump through a lot of hoops to even go through with this," Heeseung chimed in, "You're better off being honest, Taehyun. Just explain to her that you bought a non-refundable  airplane ticket and plan on going to stay in Los Angeles for a week and a half. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble down the road."

Taehyun nodded and ran a hand through his hair. It was hard for him to decide which option would be best. There were so many aspects to consider and Taehyun didn't want to betray what little trust his mother had in him. Maybe telling the truth was the best option, but he doubted his mother would let him go on the trip if he told her that Beomgyu was going. Could he lie and say something else that wouldn't catch her attention? Taehyun had to figure that out before it was too late. He still had a lot to do before he went on the trip. Getting her permission and having her sign his travel document would be one of the biggest issues weighing on him.

Whatever happened, Taehyun just wished that he would be able to travel with Beomgyu. At this point, if that didn't happen due to whatever circumstances, Taehyun would be extremely upset. He didn't know if he would ever be able to get over the disappointment of what could have been. Taehyun decided that he was going to talk to his mother tonight after his non-refundable trip to Los Angeles. He would say anything he needed to in order to get permission from his mother to travel. Anything for Choi Beomgyu, Taehyun repeated to himself.

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