Amalia's POV
With no other way to get home aside from calling my parents and explaining what had happened, I accepted Taemin's offer to drive me. He traded car keys with his brother, zipped up his hoodie and snuck the both of us out of the hospital through an alternate route, avoiding the waiting room as much as possible.
Once outside, I pulled the sleeves of my jacket over my hands as the chill of the night hit me and followed him through the parking lot over to an old Nissan which had clearly had some work done. We got in, flipped down the visors and got on our way, both of us relaxing in our seats the further we got from the hospital.
A few minutes or so into the journey, Tae cleared his throat and asked, "So, you met my brother... what'd you think?"
I pressed the ice pack to my head and shrugged. "He was nice. But I gotta say, I wasn't expecting him to be a doctor."
"...then what were you expecting?"
"I don't know." My free hand fiddled with the strap of my bag, my gaze fixed straight ahead until I gave my last answer. "An illustrator, an actor... another obnoxious pop star?"
He quirked an eyebrow at me. "So you think I'm obnoxious?"
There was a short pause before I rolled my lips together and glanced beside me in a teasing manner. "I don't think you're not obnoxious."
Tae stayed silent and simply nodded; there was somewhat of a smile on his face, but there was something more hidden behind it. I didn't question it, though, as I didn't know what to say. We just continued on, occasionally saying a few words to each other when necessary until we turned into the street where Riley's grandparents lived. As we approached the house, I could see all the lights were off but Rose's car still wasn't in the driveway, so I knew Riley and Yuna were still out. I could only hope all the adults were fast asleep and knowing how early most of them had woken up that day, I believed that was the case.
"That one there," I said, pointing to the house. Tae pulled onto the driveway and parked up, shuffling to sit up a little as he looked over at me. "Well... thanks for the ride home, I guess."
I turned to open the car door, but had a hand placed on my arm. "Amalia, wait—" He paused and glanced down. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about tonight... hitting you was an accident, and I just— I hope you can forgive me."
"Sure, all forgiven. Can I go now?"
"Yeah, yeah... sure." He awkwardly cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, looking away as I undid my seatbelt and popped the door open. Just as I was about to step out, however, a bright white light suddenly flashed behind us and after a quick glance in the wing mirror, Tae slid down in his seat and mumbled, "Shit!"
"What? What's wrong?"
"It's the paparazzi. They followed us." I followed his gaze, glancing behind us to see a dark van with bright headlights at the end of the road. "How? How did they know where to find me?"
As if on instinct, I moved down slightly in my seat as well to hide my head. "You sound surprised. It's their job to know where celebrities are and follow them around."
"I know, but I thought the car would..." Tae sighed in frustration and despite his attempts to keep it together, I could tell he was panicking. "You have to help me."
"Why?" My question was quick and snappy, as though I was offended by such a suggestion.
"They'll take a bunch of pictures and ask a bunch of questions, and they won't leave us alone." He was desperately trying to get me on board and yet I felt there was some truth to his words. "Do you want flashing lights and loud voices to wake your parents? To have to explain to them why I'm here?"
I bit my lip and considered it; it would no doubt be difficult to explain to my parents why I'd left my best friend and sister at the club and had driven home with a multi-million dollar celebrity. Then on top of that, there was the chance of them telling Riley and as much as I loved her, she would make the situation so much worse. I just wanted to brush off the whole thing and move on.
"Alright, fine. Just... give me a second."
Still panicked, Tae simply nodded and watched as I sneakily slid out of the car and hurried over to the garage door, opening it before motioning for him to pull inside. He did so, and the second I was able to, I pulled the door shut. Surprisingly, I felt almost as relieved as he looked.
Now out of the prying view of the public, Tae got out of the car and awkwardly leaned on the roof. "Thank you." He mumbled, to which I nodded in response. "Is it... would it be alright if I stayed here for a while?"
"I don't... ugh. Just— promise you'll be out of here by morning, and don't let anyone see you. I really don't want to have to explain why I have an international superstar stuffed away inside my best friend's grandparents garage." That comment caused him to quirk an eyebrow, seemingly amused by how ridiculous it all sounded. Still, I remained stern. "Seriously, don't make me do that."
His hands raised in defence as I wandered over to some shelves and pulled a rolled up blanket from the top, throwing it at him so he fumbled to catch it. I couldn't help sighing and crossing my arms over my chest, completely ready to just forget what had happened and go to sleep.
With nothing else to say, I turned to leave but stopped once my hand touched the door handle, hearing Tae speak from behind me. "Goodnight, Lia. And... thanks again."
"Goodnight."