Teacher's pet

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 08

TAEHYUNG

I found out in a roundabout way—asking her questions here and there so she wasn’t too on guard about it, she didn’t like those kinds of questions —that her worthless relatives still had her social security card and birth certificate.

Their address and names were easier to access, so I didn’t even have to ask her for those and clue Nova in to my intentions.

I paid them a visit for multiple reasons, not the least of which that I felt the need to give them at least a small piece of my mind. They deserved much more, but I tried to come at it as her teacher, not her lover.

Her aunt answered the door, eyeing me up in a curious way, though the twist to her mouth was so unpleasant that it made you think it was frozen in that shape.

She was a frumpy middle-aged white-korean woman with nondescript brown hair. Nondescript everything, really. I caught on instantly why she’d taken such exception to an exceptional girl like Nova.

I was dressed in teacher business casual, my expression blank and professional as I asked, “Are you Laura Jeon?” Her brows raised.

“I am. And who are you?”

“I’m Kim Taehyung . I’m one of Nova’s teachers. May I come in?”

She didn’t look pleased about it, but she moved aside and said, “I guess, if you insist. You know, she doesn’t even live here anymore. She ran off again. Not our fault.”

I felt my blank expression slip as contempt filled me. “Is your husband around?” She sneered.

“He’s unemployed, as usual, so yeah, he’s usually around.
I’ll go get him. He should handle this. She’s not even my blood.”

She disappeared and I hoped that was the last I ever saw of her because I wasn’t sure I could be civil to that awful woman for even one more second.

She was gone for a while, which was curious because their rundown house was tiny. She couldn’t have had a hard time finding him.

As I waited, sounds drifted to me. It sounded like there were at least a few small children in one of the three closed doors.
A man in a dirty white tank with a beer belly hanging out stumbled out of that room at one point.

I eyed him up. Something about him set me off immediately. Somehow I instantly knew this was not her uncle. Perhaps he was just too disgusting to be a blood relative to her, perhaps it was him coming out of the room with the crying children, but somehow I knew.

He almost flinched when he caught sight of me, and I didn’t like that either. He felt instantly threatened by me, and he should have.

“Who are you?” I asked him bluntly.

“Erm, I’m Laura’s brother. Who are you?”

“I’m Kim Taehyung , one of Nova’s teachers.” His flinch at her name made my fists clench.

“Is she in trouble?” he asked.

“Not at all. This is a welfare check. I’m here to see why her relatives put her out on the streets when she’s still in high school.”

“She’s eighteen,” he said defensively. “And it was her idea to leave. You know, she just took off one day without a word.”

I stared at him until he started fidgeting and looked away. “And why, I suppose, would she do something like that?” It was an accusation. Every instinct I had told me this creep had something to do with her feeling the need to leave. “Where did she sleep while she was here?” I asked him.