The Boy Next Door | Taegyu ✔️

54

If there was a word to describe how he was feeling right now, it would be lost. Everything that has happened during the last few hours was like fragments of a memory from a dream compiled together after waking up in the morning.

What was he going to do now? What will happen to the house? And where would he stay? Had his father maybe left him a generous portion of his savings that would be enough for Beomgyu to survive before graduating?

The fact that Beomgyu absolutely loathed his father was a given. But the boy couldn't deny how he was given a roof to sleep another, 3 meals a day, and the blessing to go to school.

If only, he thought, his father had kicked him out of the house on the day he was born. Perhaps then, Beomgyu wouldn't be feeling guilty at this very moment for his actions. He hated it. He hated how he was feeling a twinge of remorse for his father.

But then again, Beomgyu had to remind himself that for all 15 years of his life, he was a bird, trapped and confined in a tiny cage. Unable to escape as it sings a sad tune every day and night about how it wishes to see the blue skies and green trees once more.

But now that the bird is finally freed, it can't help but feel lost by the world that surrounded it. It didn't know where to look for food. Dumb and oblivious to the dangers that lied in the outside world after living its whole life as a prisoner.

The sky it once longed to see now seemed far too big—far too broad for the bird's small, feeble wings to fly to. It felt scary as the bird looked from its left to its right helplessly—hoping for a path to magically appear right in front of its eyes and guide its way back home.

But nothing appeared no matter where or how far it looked as the oppressive world around it swallowed him whole.

»»—— ♡ ——««

"Beomgyu, are you alright?" Asked Taehyun, looking to the boy who seemed to be caught in a daze. It was 6:56 pm, 10 minutes since their dinner ordered arrived, yet, Beomgyu hasn't taken a single spoon of it as the dome shape of his fried rice remained untouched.

"Oh—well, not really," muttered Beomgyu. "I just feel lost and, to be honest, I don't know whether I should even be telling you this—I know you spent so much time helping me with my situation, and I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, but I can't help feeling a little overwhelmed. Should I be happy now that he's now gone? If yes, then why am I not feeling that right now?"

There was a pause for a few moments as Taehyun tried to register everything he had just heard.

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't and wasn't expecting you to react too happy with all of this happening—I know it's all going way too fast. So please, take your time, and plus, I'll be here with you until the end," smiled Taehyun warmly.

Seeing the latter smile was nearly as good as free therapy as Beomgyu felt the aching sensation in his body slowly melting away.

"Alright," he replied as he took a spoonful of his fried rice. It went cold, but it's better than having air for dinner as Beomgyu continued to eat it.

"You're going to live with me," said Taehyun all of a sudden. Beomgyu choked on a grain of rice.

"I'm sorry—" he said, after collecting himself together, "I am WHAT now?"

"You're going to live with me. Well, with me in my parent's house of course. Unless you can whip out enough money for the both of us to rant a small studio, of course," joked Taehyun as he let out a laugh.

Only Beomgyu didn't as he had his mouth agape. "And do your parents know about this or—"

"No," Taehyun merely shrugged. Of course, he wasn't on the best terms with his father. But he was so sure that he'd be able to talk his way into getting both of his parents to allow Beomgyu to live with them. "I'm staying here for the night," Taehyun continued.

"And what about the clothes you're going to change into—"

"I'm going to change into yours," smiled Taehyun as Beomgyu swore he had caught the latter winking for a split second.

"Well, let's clean up first. I'll show you my wardrobe later and you can pick what you want to wear I suppose –just a heads– up that I don't have anything too fashionable," he replied, getting up to clear the dishes

"I don't mind," replied Taehyun flatly. "I just want to spend the night with you," he smiled.

»»—— ♡ ——««

After they were done cleaning up, Beomgyu showed Taehyun his, very, small wardrobe. Without even thinking about his choices for a moment, Taehyun grabbed the cloth hanger that had a white hoodie, as well as taking another with loose black sweatpants while Beomgyu chose to wear a black tee with long plaid pants.

They played a simple game of rock-scissors-paper to decide who would go in the shower; Beomgyu won.

Once they were done showering, Taehyun helped the latter to change into new bandages as they chose a movie to watch afterwards. Later (with Taehyun's begs to not choose another horror movie after being eternally scarred from the last one), they chose to watch a romcom together and after watching Holidate, they could both confidently agree that this would be their go-to movie genre from now on.

»»—— ♡ ——««

The house Beomgyu once feared to roam around felt so spacious now that he can walk around freely without having a psychotic father to look out for. It felt...weird. Like visiting a mall that's typically filled and bustled with human life now left deserted.

The ceiling he would always look up to whenever he had his eyes welled with tears now seemed so calm... it felt like home. A feeling he never thought he would be able to go through; feeling so safe and at ease.

The smell of alcohol and the moans of women were now gone. Along with his father.

It will take a while to get used to not living with his abusive father around. But Beomgyu was sure that he'd be just fine as he will grow around with the people who cared for him.