"Well, that was a nice hangout with our friends." Beomgyu says with a hint of sarcasm, earning an eye roll from the younger.
"Maybe if a certain someone didn't try to pick a fight." Taehyun shoots back.
"You're just being dramatic as always, I was just teasing ya."
"And I have feelings."
Beomgyu chuckles and just in time, the two boys reached the door of their dorm. The older pulls out his keys and unlocks the door only to find it already unlocked.
"It's unlocked? Did you forget?" Taehyun asks, batting his eyelashes in confusion and Beomgyu shrugs his shoulders.
"I'm sure I locked it though." Beomgyu says before pushing the door knob down only to find a lady inside, sitting on the couch.
Beomgyu's eyes widen and Taehyun's face turns as perplexed as ever as his eyes land at the random lady in the room.
Taehyun automatically thinks it's one of Beomgyu's flings but he's pretty sure Beomgyu isn't the type to hit on some old random sugar mommy.
"Where did you go?" The lady asks.
"What are you doing here, mom?" Beomgyu asks, glaring at his mom.
Taehyun's eyes widen and he instantly looks over Beomgyu's shoulder to look at the lady.
'His mom??'
Beomgyu's mom however was quick to spot the smaller boy behind Beomgyu's stature.
She gets up from the couch and approaches the two boys with her arms crossed, an eyebrow lifted as she peeks over her son's shoulder to look at Taehyun.
Taehyun, flustered by his action, slightly pushes Beomgyu to the side to give a 90 degree bow at the woman.
"Hi, Mrs Choi, I'm Kang Taehyun, a freshman." Taehyun greets after bowing.
His eyes remain locked onto Beomgyu's mom as a sign of respect. However, his mom continues to stare at him, not breaking eye contact, making Taehyun feel small in his position, especially at how she scans him from bottom to top.
She clicks her tongue and mumbles a word, her face clearly plastered with a look of disgust. Taehyun being quick to notice, can't help but be hurt.
"Your tastes are becoming more and more peculiar, son." She says, giving Beomgyu a judgemental side eye.
"What are you talking about?? He's my roommate." Beomgyu says.
"Roommate??!" His mom exclaims, eyes bulging out in shock as her eyes drift back to Taehyun.
"U-Us freshmen this year are a big batch so there weren't many dorms left so they decided to place me here with Beomgyu. I'm also a scholarship student..." Taehyun says, trying to sound confident although Beomgyu's mom had her intense gaze on him, soon making his composure falter.
"Which scholarship?" She asks, her voice stern.
"Byeol Foundation scholarsh-"
Beomgyu's mom gasps loudly, cutting Taehyun off, dramatically clasping her hand over her mouth and she takes a step back, eyes glaring at the blonde.
"THAT DREADFUL FOUNDATION." She exclaims.
"What is a Byeol scholar doing being roommates with my son??" She asks.
"Mom, can you not do this?" Beomgyu says, stepping in for Taehyun only for his mom to lightly push her son away.
"What's wrong with my scholarship?" Taehyun asks, earning a scoff from the lady.
"Do you not know who we are??" Beomgyu's mom asks as she boldly approaches close to Taehyun.
"Does it matter?" Taehyun boldly asks back.
"Any Byeol scholar would know their own foundation's industry rivals. Honey, if you didn't know, I'm Mrs Choi Eunsoo, the chairman of Haneul Foundation."
Taehyun's eyes enlarge in shock, clearly the name of that foundation rings in his mind. He glances over at Beomgyu who's hiding his face in his palm.
'HE'S A CHAEBOL???'
'FUCK, I JUST DUG MY OWN GRAVE.'
But as far as Taehyun knows through his many researches and from stories told by Soobin and his family, the Haneul Foundation weren't much impressive. Heck, now it kinda make sense when he links it with Beomgyu.
They're all thick headed and arrogant.
"Then you should be ashamed." Taehyun says, finally having the courage to stand up for himself and his scholarship.
There's no way in hell he'd let their rivals put down Byeol Foundation, not when they're worse.
"Excuse me??"
"There are always rumors and news stating that you only give scholarships to the rich and never the poor. You don't even have to pretend to not know, it's kinda obvious you're taking favours from your investors." Taehyun says, letting out an airy laugh in satisfaction.
Beomgyu's stares at Taehyun in shock.
No one ever dares to fight back his mom's words.
Without a care in the world, Taehyun turns on his toes and heads towards the door.
"I'll be going." Taehyun says.
"Taehyun..." Beomgyu calls out but is instantly cut off by the younger.
"I'll be staying over at Soobin's, hyung." Taehyun says before leaving the dorm and closing the door behind him.
Beomgyu sighs and crosses his arms, meeting face to face with his mom again.
"Seriously, mom??" Beomgyu asks in disbelief but his mom brushes it off.
"Gosh, I'm gonna have a word with that wrench, Choi Yura. How can she put her own scholar in the same room as my son?? Especially when I've asked for this room to be yours and only yours-"
"Mom."
"What's the use of investing in this school when they can't even get an order done??"
"Who the fuck cares if I'm roommates with someone connected to your rival?? That's your business and not mine!!"
"Have you asked for a change??" She asks, clearly ignoring whatever Beomgyu had just said.
"What??"
"Well, have you??"
"Of course, from the very moment he stepped foot here, but they couldn't allow it." Beomgyu replies and his mom clicks her tongue in annoyance.
"What's the use of funding this university if they're gonna treat the future heir of the foundation like this??"
Beomgyu frowns at the word 'heir'.
It's not like he doesn't want to take over his family's business, if he doesn't, he wouldn't be taking the course he's studying now but whoever his mom uses the term 'heir' on him, it reminds him how lowly she treats him as a son, and more to a future heir just to continue a family legacy.
"Mom, I think that's enough." Beomgyu says before walking towards the door to leave.
"Where are you going??" she asks and Beomgyu rolls his eyes at that.
Where else is he going? He's obviously going to look for his roommate, Taehyun. He owes him an apology for his rude ass, inconsiderate and selfish mother.
"Act like a mom and not a business partner before asking about my whereabouts." He says before slamming the door on his mom.
His mom clicks her tongue before fishing out her cell phone from her branded hand bag.
She dials her secretary's number before placing the gadget close to her ears.
While waiting for her secretary to pick up, she recalls back Taehyun's face, more particularly, the boy's doe, big and bright eyes.
"His eyes..." She mumbles to herself before the other end of the call picks up.
"Hello, Mrs Choi." Her secretary greets.
"Secretary Jeon, I need you to do something for me." She says.
"What can I do for you?"
"Find out more about Kang Taehyun, a Byeol scholar."