THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Loss and Lost, Pt. 4

"So, tea, Taehyung?"

Taehyung looked up nervously from his hands, only to see Jisoo's mom staring at her, already ready to pour him a cup of freshly brewed tea. Taehyung never liked tea, but looking at Jisoo's mom, again, it seemed more like a command rather than a question.

"Oh-" Taehyung forced a smile, picking up a teacup and holding it out with two hands. "Thank you, auntie."

In her living room, her mom sat opposite Taehyung on each side of the table. Her dad and her sat in between them, facing the television. The atmosphere in the living room was awkward, and tense, and Jisoo knew that Taehyung felt the same, but she didn't know how she could help him out of the situation. She didn't even have the guts to talk back to her parents for herself, what's more for Taehyung.

"So..." Jisoo's mom put down the teapot after pouring tea for Taehyung, leaning back in her chair and scanning Taehyung carefully. "You're Jisoo's... classmate?"

"Hm-" Taehyung pulled away from his cup, trying hard not to wince from the bitterness of the tea. "Yes, I'm Jisoo's classmate, we've been classmates for two years, haven't we?" Taehyung glanced at Jisoo for help.

"Haha, yeah," Jisoo grinned, or rather, winced. "Yeah, we've known each other for about two years now? But we've gotten closer lately-"

"And so, you know Jisoo's boyfriend, Seokjin, as well?" Jisoo's dad intercepted, and Taehyung realised that all this while he had been quietly sitting there, observing his every move.

"Seokjin?" Taehyung tensed up, glancing in Jisoo's direction, but Jisoo looked away uncomfortably. "Oh, Seokjin. Um, yeah. Of course I do."

"Well, we still haven't," Mr Kim sat up from his seat, picking an apple from the fruit basket Taehyung had brought. "They dated for three months and he hasn't been here once."

"He hasn't?" Taehyung frowned. "I thought he sent Jisoo home a couple of-"

Jisoo gave him "shut up" look.

"Wow," Mrs Kim scanned Taehyung once more. Taehyung instantly realised that she had already done that about five times in the past ten minutes, and that that was what made him feel extremely uncomfortable. "You must be close to Seokjin too, then."

"Um-" Taehyung swallowed hard. Was Jisoo okay with him revealing his identity? Probably not. Taehyung looked over at Jisoo. She was simply sitting there, her hands on her lap, her head down, not uttering a single word. "Um, well, yeah- I guess you could kind of say that-"

"Then could you tell us what kind of person he is? My daughter refuses to tell me," Mr Kim said authoritatively, and Taehyung felt the same vibe he got from Mrs Kim - this was a command, not a question. "What's his family background? How's his grades like? Does he treat my daughter well?"

"Um..." Taehyung really felt uncomfortable.

"Dad..." Jisoo croaked.

"I just want to know what he's like," Mr Kim brushed Jisoo off. "You refuse to tell me, he refuses to even come visit us, how do I even know if he's real?"

"Well, Mr Kim, I don't think-"

"Dad-" Jisoo raised her tone slightly. "Please stop asking-"

"He must not be a great person then," Mrs Kim barged in, sipping on her cup of tea. "Didn't even bother fetching my daughter home during the prom, nor coming in when he did during other times, I wonder whether he even deserves my daughter-"

"Mom!" Jisoo exclaimed, looking up, and Taehyung finally noticed that there were tears in her eyes.

Why wouldn't there not be, he'd be annoyed too. They literally just broke up last night, the wound must still be fresh, and yet her parents still... Well, they couldn't be blamed too, they knew nothing. They could be authoritative, and really pretty scary in his opinion, but they still wanted the best for their child, their only daughter.