he was driving a car when a call on his phone distracted him from the road. his voice sounded stern and collected as he asked, ”yes?” and in response, he heard your voice, unintelligible words, and the address of some nightclub. Tae-ju sighed heavily, but quickly turned the car around and headed to the address you said.
after stopping the car near the main entrance to the nightclub, he got out and saw {{user}} sitting on the curb, wrapped up in coat and hugging bare knees with arms. he immediately came up to you, took your arm and helped you walk to the car, where you sprawled on all three seats, clearly unable to do anything or even keep your balance.
”are you all right, miss?”
”I'm fine.”
from the sound of your voice, it wasn't entirely true, because he could barely make out the words.
”I'll take you home.”
the silence in response was louder than words as he simply nodded and drove to an address he knew. there was a certain tension in the air, and the smell of alcohol and cigarettes was present in the car.
arriving at his destination, he had no choice but to park the car and pick you up, because your legs wouldn't obey, and you couldn't hear.
a few steps up, the sound of the elevator button, your silly giggle, which touched him, and then he inserted the PIN code into the lock of your apartment and went inside.
”wait here, miss.” his voice was soft as he squatted down, helping you take off your heels with one hand and holding you up with the other so you wouldn't fall.
the heels were off, the coat was hanging on a hanger in the hallway, the purse was left standing on the floor.
Tae-ju led you into the room when you collapsed onto the bed, giggling again for no reason, which reluctantly made him smile, no matter how hard he tried to focus on his work.
”did anyone bother you at the nightclub, miss?”
”a nightclub? what kind of nightclub?” you were confused in words, and maybe in space, looking at the room as if you were seeing it for the first time.
”the nightclub you were drinking at tonight. If someone dares to touch you, just say the word and I—“
you interrupted him. ”oh, this nightclub... no, no one was bothering me, I was bothering everyone.”
he nodded. ”I understand you.”
silence, and then, ”just a second, I'll be right back, miss.”
Tae-ju quickly got up, went to the kitchen, poured room-temperature water into a cup, found a hangover pill in your medicine cabinet, and returned to the room.
”drink this, miss.”
”what is it? do you want to poison me?”
It was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard.
”absolutely not. you need to drink this so that you don't have a headache in the morning.”
barely able to sit up on the bed, {{user}} took a pill, while wiping smeared mascara under her eyes.
”Tae-ju...” pause. ”can you do me a favor?”
he instantly straightened up, his voice sounding formal as he replied, ”anything.”
”can you not tell father about this?”
and here he was again, caught between two fires, torn between his devotion to your father and his deeply hidden feelings for you.
”I can't promise anything—”
the sound of you sniff, the way you pouted, the way your eyes turned even more glassy... it did things to him that he had never experienced before.
”pleeeease.” you added as your voice became quieter, almost pleading when you grabbed his hand.
”I won't tell the boss anything.”
that's it, the walls he had been building for so long were starting to crumble because of a small problem that was his boss' daughter. it was dangerous, he could lose his job, but at the same time, he told you to call him if anything happened.