Just Friends

Chapter 14

Further inspection reveals more concerning details. Like the dark circles under the bloodshot eyes that are normally bright, brooding, and fastidious. The sloppy tie, loosely strung around a sore neck, reddened on one side from being rubbed too hard. The ink and coffee stained, wrinkled and untucked, expensive white Armani button-up—the same one Jeongguk saw him wearing when he suddenly rushed out of the house the day before.

Now, normally Jeongguk's father is the epitome of wealth and success. Jeon Jeonghun is sophisticated. Handsome. Rigidly in control of his emotions. The type that is brilliant and intelligent enough to have walls lined with degrees and titles he's earned from Korea's most prestigious law schools yet still believes a single stray thread on his 10k custom-made suit could reveal his weaknesses--if he had any.

But this isn't right. . .this messy, unshowered slump of a human in front of Jeongguk right now. . .

It can only mean there is something way more serious going on. Something far worse than anything Jeongguk could have done.

And that's when he realizes there are two other people in the room with them, seated in the brown leather chairs at the front of his father's desk. One is a white-haired, professionally dressed woman busily retrieving a stack of folders and papers from the briefcase at her side.

The other person, too slumped over in the seat, remains a mystery. Aside from the dirty, tattered off-brand sneakers he can see from under the chair.

"N-nothing, sir." Jeongguk murmurs, taking a few steps backwards towards the door, just as he was trained to do when his father is conducting business from home. He wouldn't have just barged in like that, had he known, but his father never said anything about holding any meetings at home or having any clients over today.

"Come in, son. I want you to meet Mrs. Yin, and Kim Taehyung," his father permits with a more gentle style, waving him in with a heavy hand.

The woman stands and turns to bow while Jeongguk steps forward, stopping only when he can get a better view of the mystery person in his peripherals.

Whoa. Kim Taehyung is way younger than Jeongguk expected. In fact, he looks really close to his own age. Though it is a bit hard to tell with all the overgrown, shaggy brown hair hanging in his face.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Jeongguk. Your father has told me so much about you," Mrs. Yin says cheerfully, smile not reaching her eyes as she holds the mass of papers she took from her briefcase tight against her chest. Meanwhile the boy in the chair doesn't say a word. He hardly moves an inch.

Jeongguk peels his gaze away from the only teenager besides himself that's ever breathed in the misery that is this room. "N-nice to meet you," he sends back, and in the process of returning a perfectly executed 90-degree bow, he catches a glimpse of the badge clipped onto Mrs. Yin's black blazer, detailing that she works for Seoul's largest hospital, in the Children and Family Services department.

Well, that only partially explains why there's a minor in the chair, and why he's never met Mrs. Yin before.

During all the years of being forced to tag along and shadow his father, Jeongguk's been personally acquainted with just about every agent from the various organizations he works with during his cases. Some of them becoming like aunts and uncles to Jeongguk as they're always around while his father commits his life to his career more than his marriage.

The part left unexplained is why these two are even here, consulting with a strictly high-profile business law attorney. This is the first time (and will likely be the only time) Jeongguk's ever known his father to take on a legal case involving a minor.