HEARTBEAT | VKOOK - Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Just like any other night, Taehyung found himself in his office, leaning against the desk and head embedded in a file and a throbbing headache peircing through his skull as he attempted to focus on the work he had chosen to complete. The silence lingering in the full atmosphere was only broken a few times with sighs and grunts, tapping of foot on the ground and scribbling of pen on a paper accompanied with the tapping of fingers dancing on the keyboard.
Taehyung placed the file down on the desk with a sigh, closing his eyes and massaging his temples to ease the pain throbbing at the back of his skull. A knock broke through the eerie silence of the atmosphere, indicating someone's presence at his office. For a moment, Taehyung frowned, unable to recall saying anyone to stay late for work. It was almost midnight, and he remembers dismissing everyone from work, who'd stay late even after his orders?
A voice of approval later, the door opened, revealing the person who had almost slipped off his mind. For a moment, he was taken aback by surprise although he displayed a mundane expression. However, he recalled his words the moment the person— more like his assistant, made an appearance.
An awfully exhausted and fatigued Jeongguk walked into his office with droopy eyes, signifying the sleep he hadn't gotten properly for the excessive amount of work. His hair was dishevelled to different directions, signifying the countless times he had ran his fingers through his hair, perhaps out of frustration or exhaustion. His clothes were dishevelled as well, the tie being loosely hung around the collar of his slightly unbuttoned shirt.
His appearance somehow seemed rather amusing to Taehyung, who had only witnessed the presentable look of Jeongguk. After a moment of scrunitizing his appearance, Jeongguk broke the lingering silence.
"I've proofread and typed away three of these files till now. I'll do the rest tomorrow, I'm tired." He placed the documents on Taehyung's desk and leaned against the wall, resting his head on the hard surface and closing his eyes.
"Three files in eight hours, a great accomplishment I must say." Taehyung muttered, an amused smirk spreading on his lips as he glided the files towards him to take a look. "You've done a great job, Jeon."
"What do you expect? These long ass documents took me eight freaking hours! My neck hurts like hell now!" Jeongguk glared at the male with a look of grimace before rolling his eyes insensibly and resting his head back on the wall.
"How do you even do it?" Taehyung looked up with a clueless expression at the male, lifting a perfectly arched eyebrow. "How what?"
"How do you just... stay up late and complete all the work? Don't you ever get tired? Or just simply bored of the same work?" Jeongguk had a genuinely curious look replacing his previous frown, eyes locking with Taehyung's for a brief moment before the older looked away, gazing down at the file as though he was reading it.
"I don't get bored of it, Jeongguk. It's my responsibility. And as for being tired, of course I am, but work comes first." Because my father comes for my throat the moment something goes wrong. He added in his mind, pursing his lips as he avoided meeting Jeongguk's questioning eyes.
"Responsibilities are tiring." Jeongguk commented, gazing forward aimlessly. "Don't you wish to run away from them?" He whispered almost inaudibly, and if it wasn't for the pin drop silence of the room, Taehyung might've unheard it.
"Of course. But it just isn't in my defence to abandon my work. My responsibilities are my priorities."
"What about Minjun? Shouldn't he be first?" Jeongguk glanced at Taehyung, watching him freeze in his position and look up at him with a slight frown, that was almost immidiately concealed with his usual monotonous look.
"Of course he is. What kind of question is that? I love my son a lot if that's what you're implying to ask."
"Then... why do you stay up late and leave him alone at home with the company of maids?"
"That's none of your business." Taehyung grumbled under his breath, a frown taking over his calm expression as he attempted to restrain himself from venting his anger on his assistant.
"Rude much," Jeongguk chuckled softly, flickering his gaze from Taehyung to the wall in front of him.
"Anyway, you've done a great job, Jeongguk. I hope you'll be able to complete the rest of them within the given time." Taehyung closed the file and tossed it on his desk before taking off his glasses and loosening his tie. Jeongguk couldn't help but steal a glance at the incredibly handsome man that never failed to surprise him with his charms and actions.
"Its getting late," Taehyung mumbled as he took a swift glance at his wrist watch before turning to the younger, " Since you decided to stay back late and overwork yourself, I'll drop you off."
"W-What?" Jeongguk was caught off guard, absolutely taken by surprise as he shifted his eyes from the wall to Taehyung, eyes widened and lips parting slightly in shock and bewilderment.
"You heard me." Taehyung rolled his eyes, exhaling deeply through his nose once the boy turned down his offer— lips pursing as he looked down. The aforementioned male then walked up to the window concealed by the curtain, parting it slightly, enough for the two of them to gaze outside the window and acknowledge the sight before them.
Droplets of water hit the glass concealed slightly with fog, trickling down, followed by the others doing the same, a repeated action signifying that it was pouring heavily outside.
Taehyung tilted his head back to look at the younger who was no longer leaning against wall, however, facing the window with his arms crossed over his chest, frozen at the sight of the raindrops hitting the glass, his wide bambi eyes moving to Taehyung and lips parted slightly in shock— displaying the two front bunny teeth he carried.
The smirk on Taehyung's face irked Jeongguk who frowned, shifting his gaze back at the window and scoffing lightly at the sight, exasperation surging through him as he pondered over the fact that it was almost past midnight and raining heavily, and on top of that, there was no transportation outside which only led to the conclusion of Taehyung being his only option.
"I'm assuming you've ran out of options, hm?"
"No way I'm going with you. I'll walk home." Jeongguk muttered, the frown still evident on his face as he scrutinized the older's movements. Taehyung sighed, dropping the fake act of kindness and returning to the usual cold exterior he chose to show the world. Eyes dark and peircing into Jeongguk's ebony eyes, jaw tense and a glare directed in his way, causing his blood to run cold and fear seep into his veins, however, the male chose not to show it to the other.
"Its no request, Jeon. You're leaving with me. End of discussion." His voice boomed through the eerie silence of the room along the noise of the soft pitter-patter of the rain outside. Jeongguk could only swallow harshly and nod, dropping his gaze to the floor. In his peripheral vision, he could see Taehyung shuffling around, turning off the computers and locking the drawers that consisted of important documents before grabbing his keys and heading for the door.
Jeongguk silently followed the male outside his office, both waiting patiently for the elevator to slide open as an unknown tension dawned over them, lingering in the silent atmosphere. Jeongguk gnawed at his bottom lip, eyes darting anywhere but the male beside him. His hands were clasped tightly behind his back as he could only pray for the elevator to open up already and allow them to leave the damn company.
He wondered what could've pissed the older. Perhaps it was the fact that he turned down his offer, something no one else did before. Or probably because he went too far with the conversation. Perhaps it was the latter. For he stopped talking the moment Minjun was dragged into the topic, resulting him to grow frustrated without an apparent reason.
Jeongguk felt pity for the boy who put up with so much alone at such a young age when he should be with both of his parents, goofing around and living the time of his life. The only difference was, his mother died and although he had a parent, his dad seemed to push him away and prioritise his work more.
The situation itself reminded Jeongguk of his own childhood. His thoughts going back in time to the memories he chose to bury deep in the back of his mind. It reminded him of how he lost his mother at the age of six, along with his father who turned into an utterly different person after her death. It seemed like all of it was a façade, an illusion that seemed to shatter in the absence of his mother.
Perhaps they were never a happy family that he always pictured them to be, the family that he always witnessed in cartoons or random dramas. They were a broken family and Jeongguk failed to realise it. For even after her death, Jeongguk refused to deny that fact and create his own little world in his head where his mother was still alive and his dad was still the same.
However, as years passed by in a blur, he found himself actually embracing the truth and living with it thanks to the regular beatings he recieved almost everyday which only shattered his hope bit by bit till he could no longer believe in the word.
Jeongguk found himself comparing his childhood to Minjun's situation, contrasting the fact that his dad turned into an abusive alcoholic asshole. However, Taehyung chose to overwork himself rather than face the truth and raise his child properly on his own.
At least it's better than turning into an abusive prick. Jeongguk's thoughts were interrupted when the doors of the elevator slid open, allowing the two of them to enter the small space before Taehyung pressed the button to the ground floor.
Silence seeped in between the two again once the elevator dinged and closed shut, sliding down. Jeongguk couldn't help but steal a glance at the older male, who wore his usual stone-cold expression with no give away of what was actually going through his mind. Unlike Jeongguk, he he quite difficult to read.
It wasn't long before the doors slid open and the two of them skipped to the parking lot after tossing the keys of the building to Jeongguk for him to lock up the doors and hand them back to the older.
The moment the two of them stepped a foot outside the building, they were immidiately drenched all over, causing Taehyung to mumble a string of profanities whereas Jeongguk simply grunted, shaking his head with an exasperated look imprinted on his face— causing his bangs to fall over his eyes.
In no time, the two of them made it to Taehyung's car— Taehyung being the first to slip into the driver's seat and expecting Jeongguk to follow after him. Which Jeongguk obeyed by silently slipping into the passenger seat and closing the car door shut, an exhale leaving his lips right after.
Jeongguk frowned when he felt a pair of eyes burning on the side of his face and turned to the older, only to catch him staring at him with an unfathomable expression.  "What?" He whispered into the thin air.
Taehyung looked away and wordlessly started the car— the engine roaring to life before driving away from the perimeter and onto the high way. Jeongguk stared at him for a brief moment with a perplexed look before looking away, landing his gaze on the tinted window. A sigh left his as he faced the sight ahead of him with a poker face.
"Do you still live at Jimin's?" His deep voice cut through the deafening silence, causing Jeongguk to look over at the male beside him, who kept his gaze focused ahead of him on the road.
"I rented an apartment now." He muttered, casting his gaze down onto his lap, fiddling with his fingers nervously. He told him the address and the next thing he knew was silence suffocating him again.
"I'm sorry," The tense silence was disrupted yet again by Taehyung, causing Jeongguk to whip his head to the older, wondering if he heard it wrong. Taehyung's face was void of emotion, blank as ever, never giving away the slightest hint of what was actually going on in his mind as his eyes stayed glued to the road.
"For what?"
"The first time we met. I shouldn't have leashed out my anger on you. I'm sorry." Taehyung whispered into the air almost inaudibly, and if it wasn't for the deafening silence of his car, Jeongguk might not have caught his words.
At this point, Jeongguk was beyond baffled and speechless, mind going truly and utterly blank as he pondered on what the male had stated. Was he hallucinating or was the Kim Taehyung actually apologising to him? He might sound awfully dramatic but he never once thought of the possibility of Taehyung ever apologising for his actions no matter how minor or major it may be.
"As a father, I know I'm overprotective of my son and... the possibility of him being kidnapped just drove me nuts." Taehyung licked his lips before pursing them together as he stared ahead, as though not really expecting a reaction from the younger.
"I-It's okay. I understand," Jeongguk looked down at his fingers fiddling with the hem of his shirt, not knowing what else to say or even think about this whole ordeal.
Another short pause later, Taehyung spoke up again, "Are you perhaps in an underground fighting club or something?"
The skin between Jeongguk's eyebrows creased into a frown as he snapped his gaze at the older, "No way, I don't even seem like one."
"Then what were those bruises for? You were severely injured and it seemed like you had broken a few bones since you were limping." Taehyung lifted an arched eyebrow, glancing at the younger for a brief moment before refocusing on the road.
This had Jeongguk swallowing harshly, dropping his gaze down to his lap and at his fingers as he thought of a possible response. His nervous expression was quickly replaced with a frown as he snapped his head towards the older, scowling, "T-That's none of your business!"
"Rude much," Taehyung hummed, a smirk spreading on his plush lips as he tilted his head and leaned back in his seat, balancing the steering wheel with one hand while the other stroked his chin softly.
"Not more than you," He scoffed and turned away, crossing his arms over his chest and facing the tinted window, huffing once again in annoyance as he faced ahead again.
"I see," Taehyung mused, "Its not that difficult to get you all worked up."
"Fuck you," Jeongguk mumbled under his breath, hoping it'd go unnoticed by Taehyung. However the older caught up with his statement, taking a swift glance at the younger before gazing back at the road, shaking his head with an amused smirk still lingering on his lips.
"We're here," Taehyung announced as the car slowly halted to a stop, causing Jeongguk to look out the window again, only to frown at the black glass that displayed almost nothing. "The fuck's wrong with your windows." He muttered under his breath which had the older chuckling softly, his deep chuckle ringing in the younger's ears and causing shivers to run down his spine.
It was then Jeongguk noticed that the windows rolled down, revealing the view outside— the sight of his house being the first thing to come into his view along with the droplets of water hitting the ground, giving away the fact that it was still drizzling.
He then turned to the older, meeting his intimidating gaze before pursing his lips as spoke, "Thank you for the ride,"
"No problem," Taehyung flashed him a small smile, watching the younger walk out of his car and shut the door softly, their eyes meeting again through the window for a brief moment before Jeongguk gulped and turned away, heading towards the entrance of his apartment complex.