teacher • kth

19: the complete truth

"The case I was assigned before you, was another girl. Her name was Mira Chang." He said, a silent shudder leaving his lips after speaking her name.

He was sitting beside me on the bed, the both of us in our pajamas. I nodded, urging him to continue.

"It was years ago, my first ever case. Mira, she was, she was so special." He said, a dreamy look in his eyes, as he reminisced in his past.

"Her parents were involved in politics, and they never felt safe about leaving her alone." He explained.

"Everyone knows politicians play dirty, but there's so much more than that. Some are just innately, downright evil. So, I was hired as a bodyguard to stay with her and protect her."

"Of course, I did my job as asked, and I ended up staying with her a lot more than we both expected. All the time we spent together, all our harbored emotions eventually broke through." He said, biting back a bitter grin.

"When I first entered this business, Namjoon hyung, he always told me, never to have personal relations with any of our clients. He told me, it could break me." He said, letting out a dry chuckle as he clenched his fists.

"I didn't listen, and, we started seeing each other romantically." He stopped, before shutting his eyes. He let out a shuddery breath, before looking back down, biting the inside of his cheek.

"She, uh, she was my first love. One night, um, almost a year after we met, I took her out for dinner. I-I wanted to do something nice for her, we always stayed inside, and- she loved sushi, so-" He paused, clearly overcome with emotion, and I instinctively clutched his hand into my own, and he relaxed his jaw before continuing.

"We, had dinner. And we came back home. But someone followed us. A hit man. I was so happy that, I didn't even realize. He snuck into the house, and after I fell asleep, he-"

He stopped, his breathing getting shallower.

He was panicking.

His face grew paler, and he began gasping to breathe.

"Whoa, hey Taehyung. Look at me. Breathe. Come on, breathe with me." I said, holding his hands in mine, breathing in and out rhythmically.

His eyes met mine, and very slowly, the panic in his eyes went away, and his expression went blank.

"He killed her." He said, his face bare of emotion.

A tear ran down his cheek, curving with the mold of his face, before dripping on his shirt, right over his heart.

The red color turned maroon, and Taehyung let out a shallow breath.

"I was asleep. I could've saved her. I was so stupid. So dumb." He whispered, shaking his head as he looked down.

"No," I started, moving my hand to wipe his tears away.

His hands shook, as he struggled to hold them down in an attempt to calm himself.

(WARNING! TRIGGERING CONTENT)

"He-he raped her. I don't know how I didn't hear her. I-" He shook with tears, his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white.

"Taehyung, you don't have to-"

"And then he slit her throat. Left her in my pantry."

"Sick fuck cleaned up after himself and everything. I was gonna make her breakfast. I opened the door, and there she was-"

He was suddenly cut off.

I was hugging him.

My arms were thrown around his shoulders, and I squeezed him close to me, my tears permeating his shirt.

He trembled underneath my touch, before he let out a silent sob, burying his head into my neck.

"I am so sorry, Taehyung. No one should have to ever experience anything like that, and hold that in for so many years." I whispered, before reaching for his clenched fist, spreading out his fingers.

"It's not your fault. It's the world's cruel way of showing us just how fucked up everyone is." I whispered, before moving my hand to his cheek, wiping away his tears again.

My forehead met his, and we stayed there, in each others arms, surrounded by tears of grief and loss.

-

"If we ever go back to Korea, there's a place I want to show you. There's this skyscraper, and at the top level, right before midnight, you can see every constellation imaginable. It's like, you can see all eternity in the sky. I didn't even know you could see that many stars in Seoul." I said, looking up at the starry night sky.

Taehyung laid beside me, an arm under his head as we looked out the sky light in my room.

"When, we go back to Korea. I would love to see that." He said, turning his head to look at me.

"Thank you, Taehyung." I said, before smiling softly at him.

"You already said that earlier." He teased, and I shook my head, looking back up.

"Not for this. For sharing her with me."

"Mira. It must've been, unimaginably painful to go through." I whispered.

He nodded, as his eyes shut.

"It's crazy. It feels like, she's still here with me. Sometimes, I have to consciously remind myself that she's gone." He said, and I frowned, nodding my head in agreement.

"I know what you mean."

a/n
sorry guys!! short chapter, i know! i'll try my hardest to update often to keep you all entertained through this time of isolation. stay healthy everyone, wash ur hands often!
thanks for reading!!