"Jinyoung, can Irene unnie ride with you?" One of the student who organized the event came approaching Jinyoung and friends.
Instead of going back to Seoul by plane, Irene took the ferry so that she could mingle with the science seniors and talked about upcoming university activities.
In a few minutes, they were going to arrive at the port.
"Are you going back to the university, Unnie?"
"I am. My boyfriend will pick me up there. But if you have any other plan I can find another ride..."
Jinyoung glanced at Bona, the two of them had a plan for the evening. Bona nodded and smiled, giving a permission.
"Sure. We'll take you there." Jinyoung replied.
"Unnie, ride with us! Tae, is it okay?" Soojoo offered. Jinyoung gave her a thankful smile.
"Sure. I'm taking the girls to the university. You can come with us if you want."
"Perfect. Thank you for adopting me." Irene smiled.
"No problem."
***
Few hours later, Taehyung and the girls arrived at the university. He parked his car in front of the science building and helped the girls to unload their luggage. It was around 7 P.M.
"I'm taking Jisoo and Soojoo with me. Tae, you go and take unnie to her building." Lisa said.
"Okay. Drive safe, Lisa."
"Drive safe. See you around, girls." Irene smiled.
***
"Taehyung, can you take me to the Medical building instead? My boyfriend is waiting there."
"No problem."
They pulled over just behind a car that parked in front of the Medical School; apparently it was her boyfriend's car. Being a gentleman, Taehyung asked Irene to go and see her boyfriend while he unloaded Irene's luggage from the trunk. He took the bags to her boyfriend's car and waited for him to open the trunk.
Irene was sitting in the passenger seat with her door open, from where Taehyung could hear faint sound of an argument. Irene tried to calm her boyfriend down, her voice was low, struggling to conceal their argument from being heard.
When Irene saw Taehyung approaching, she asked her boyfriend to open the trunk but apparently her boyfriend decided to be immature. With the luggage in his hands, Taehyung gave an assuring look to Irene to take her time, he didn't want to get involved. But a few minutes later, her boyfriend's voice was getting violent and Taehyung was worried if it wasn't just his voice he raised on her. So he stepped to the door and peered inside.
"So this is him?" Her boyfriend scorned.
"Taehyung I'm sorry." Irene ignored her boyfriend. She got up to take some of the bags from Taehyung, looking obviously embarrassed.
"It's fine. Things-"
"Get in, slut."
Taehyung quickly leered back inside the car and gave the boyfriend a sharp stare.
Her boyfriend returned the gesture with a mocking smile.
"You shouldn't talk like that to a woman." Taehyung said calmly. He tightened his grip on the bags.
"Taehyung, it's okay. I'm handling this, jus-"
"Irene get back in the car." His boyfriend now stepped out of his car, slamming the door and scowling at Taehyung.
Taehyung observed him, his face was a little bit flushed, his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. The boyfriend walked towards him and tried to take the bags from him by force.
"You reek of alcohol."
"Just give the bags to me. Irene, get back into the car!"
Taehyung brushed him off. He walked back to his car, putting Irene's luggage back into his trunk. He called up to Irene.
"I can't leave you with him. It's dangerous for him to drive and drunk driving is against the law."
"It's okay, you can leave. I'll just-"
"Aish..." Suddenly her boyfriend raised his hand to her, but Taehyung acted fast; he ran towards Irene and shielded her from him. Luckily, the boyfriend's strike fell on Taehyung's back. Taehyung threw a fast elbow on her boyfriend's stomach and took the opportunity for him and Irene to leave.
He quickly ushered Irene back to his car. He made sure that Irene was okay before asking for her address.
That evening, they drove in silence.
***