1st Year - 2nd Semester (After Chapter 12 of Part 4: On Their Way To The Royal Ball)

Mrs. Cha was in the middle of her dinner preparations when her phone gave a ring. Turning the heat to low, she went to grab her phone and wondered for a second why he's calling her. He doesn't really call that often.

"Yes, hello?"

"Ah, yes. Hello. Good evening, ma'am." he greeted.

"Good evening, too, Taekwoon. Why did you call, dear?" She smiled on her end of the line. Taekwoon had always had a soft voice but through the phone, it sounds really soothing. H may look intimidating at first sight but his voice can totally warm up his presence.

There was silence for a few moments and she had to remind herself that she was talking to Taekwoon. The boy that needs a bit of time to compose his chosen words. 

"Have you heard anything from the school today?" he asked, his nervousness permeating even through the phone.

Worried, she turned off the stove and sat herself on the dining table, before answering Taekwoon's question.

"I haven't heard anything... yet. What's going on, dear?"

She's a mother. And just the fact that Taekwoon called her, instead of Hayeon herself, made her all the more worried. Has something happened to her daughter? That's why she couldn't call? Is that why Taekwoon is the one speaking to her right now?

She wanted to ask all these questions but did her best not to. It would be counter productive to overwhelm Taekwoon when he already sounds nervous.

She waited but the only thing she heard was a shaky exhale from the speaker. "Is this about Hayeon?" she asked carefully. She'll give Taekwoon the push he needs if that will make it easier for him to tell her what he called for.

"Yes. Yes, this is about Hayeon." he said, a bit more stable.

"Okay. Is she injured?"

There are very few things that can rattle Taekwoon and one of those things is seeing Hayeon hurt. It's very sweet of him to be this protective over his friend and she isn't even sure if Taekwoon is fully aware of this fact. There was this one occasion when Hayeon cut her finger while she was playing assistant for Taekwoon in the kitchen. The boy dropped anything he was doing at the moment in order to tend to such a small cut. Even after the band aid was safely wrapped around Hayeon's finger, there was still obvious worry in Taekwoon's usually stoic face.

"She's fine, ma'am. She isn't injured." Okay. That's one thing out of the list.

"Is she hurt?" she asked next. Hayeon may not be injured but that doesn't mean she isn't hurt in some other way.

The sigh Taekwoon let out was answer enough. "Taekwoon, please tell me?" she urged.

After that, they spent a good half an hour talking about the whole ordeal about Hayeon's boy-- no, ex-boyfriend. From the moment Taekwoon punched the -- no, cheater of an -- idiot, then to him getting suspended, (Mrs. Cha has to stop herself from dropping the call with Taekwoon and directly calling the school for that stupid move.) then to Hayeon breaking up with the motherfu-- stupid guy and her also getting suspended for kicking the guy on the face (That's my daughter!) for calling Taekwoon names.

"You might get the call tomorrow so I just wanted to tell you beforehand." Taekwoon finished. She thought he was done talking when the next words followed, "I'm sorry. It's my fault Hayeon also got suspended so please don't scold her too much."

"Taekwoon, dear?" she said, calling for his attention.

"Yes, ma'am?" His nervousness was back, probably expecting Mrs. Cha to have a word with him about both their suspensions.

"Where is Hayeon right now?" She also wanted to ask if she's okay, but she wouldn't be hearing all this from Taekwoon if her daughter was okay so she didn't even mentioned it.

"She's... She's taking a bath right now. I'm waiting for her in her room." he answered carefully.

She figured that would be the case. Hayeon had always hated being alone when she's going through something. Either staying with her or with her sisters, and recently... with Taekwoon. "Take care of her, okay?" she said after.

There was silence from the other line again. Then Taekwoon's voice was speaking ever so softly, "You're... you're not angry?" he asked, sounding like a little boy despite his age.

"Oh, I am!" she answered and she could almost see Taekwoon tense, "But not with the two of you. I just hope you will be both okay." she finished.

Taekwoon still sounded confused when he ended the call, but Mrs. Cha was already smiling to herself. She considered reporting this to Yunho but thought better of it. Her eldest might drive himself to the university to go and look for Hayeon's ex-boyfriend and... well... Yeah, better not tell him right now.

"I finished cooking."

She turned around and found her husband wearing an apron and is already scooping some rice in the bowls. "And I think you shouldn't tell Yunho yet, or even Minah and Sora." he said, smiling warmly as he settled the bowls on the table.

"Did you hear?" she asked, putting her phone down and helping her husband set the table.

"You were talking to yourself after you finished with the call." he said, laughing a little. "And if it's anything about Yunho driving to the university to potentially murder someone, then I really think you shouldn't tell him yet."

An hour and a full dinner after, along with a full relay of what the phone call was about, Mr. Cha was silently sitting on his chair, chopsticks neatly placed next to his bowl. "Honey, how long again for that drive to Hayeon's university?" he asked, a smile on his lips but...

Looks like Mrs. Cha would need to call Yunho for a totally different reason, after all.