Month 1, Week 3

“You did what now?” Krystal asks over the phone.

“Almost kissed him, yes. And I know I was an idiot, I spent all of last week telling myself that so you can save whatever scolding you were planning.” Suzy sighs.

“How’s he been acting?”

“He was already doing as little as he could, now it’s only quick pep talks and he doesn’t even look at me during that. I mean, he’s doing his job fine but it didn’t feel like it was a job four weeks ago and that’s what makes it so hard.”

“Why don’t you just let him go then?”

“I can't do that, he may be a bit older but it will still look bad on his résumé. Either he resigns or stays because I can't fire him without cause and I won't be making anything up.”

“What if you ask him to resign?”

“I tried but I couldn’t get the words out.”

“Well, you’ve pretty much crossed all the lines of celebrity-bodyguard stuff. It can't go on like this.”

“I know.” Suzy drops the call.

Month 2, Week 4

For some reason the security on the day of her shopping trip is quite high. When she asked Myungsoo he replied with, “I don’t know, not authorized to do so.” The silence that followed was deafening.

She gets out of the car, already seeing some guards standing around but they’re not too close. Only Myungsoo is nearby and goes into the store with her but he’s looking around for cameras.

The amount of comments discussing the two of them was huge and she hates it. She wishes she didn’t feel that way, she really does.

While browsing the racks of clothes, she sees Myungsoo looking at a packet of three papers yet again. She’d seen him do that quite a few times in the past two weeks. There was never a smile on his face and when she could see his eyes, they were confused and sad.

She looks at her reflection; she’s tried on a white, long sleeved sweater that gives her a pretty good figure and a look of innocence.
“What do you think of this?” Myungsoo looks up. He almost retorts that he’s not there to give fashion advice but forces that urge down.

“It’s nice.” He says instead. She nods and changes back into her normal clothes. This is the fourth store.

“Myungsoo,” She starts as she goes to the counter to pay, “About what happened in the apartment, I—”

“Let’s not talk about that now, please.” He replies and she nods. They leave the store in an uncomfortable silence.

“Myungsoo!” A guard screams. He grabs Suzy’s arm and they start running.

“You , she’s mine!” A guy sprints over to them. Myungsoo pushes her behind him. The guy evades one guard and gets to them. She hears Myungsoo let out a gasp and then the guy is thrown to the ground.

“Get her out of here!” Another guard yells. They run to the car and then she sees a red stain growing on his white shirt. Without another thought she gets in at the driver’s side.

“What are you doing?” He asks.

“Just get in!” He does what she says, “We’re going to the hospital and do not protest!” They start driving and out of the corner of her eye she sees him trying to breath evenly. He’s also paling.

They get to the hospital and both jump out. She takes his arm and they go up the stairs quickly.

“Help me please, he’s been stabbed.” She says and Myungsoo is taken immediately to the ER.

“I’ll lead you to the private waiting room.” Suzy nods and a nurse leads her to the place. She can't even sit down. Is this the reason there were so many guards today? She’s the reason he was stabbed. Why did she even go shopping today?

He was so pale and she can't get the image of him lying there on the bed, pained eyes looking up at the ceiling. She closes her own eyes.

She waits there for four hours. They had brought her water three and a half hours before and it took three hours for her to drink some.

“He’s asleep but you can still go see him.” A nurse finally comes in. Suzy jumps up and follows her out of the room.

She opens the door to see Myungsoo lying there. He’s still very pale but alive and she feels the tension in her ease. He’ll be okay.

Then she sees his clothes on a chair next to him and that piece of paper is poking out of the back pocket of his trousers. She chews her lip. She can't look at it; it’s an invasion of privacy. She keeps looking at it and then sees three big black letters, ‘–ION’ Wait, she ignores the nagging feeling and grabs the papers unfolding them. ‘LETTER OF RESIGNATION’ Her heart sinks. He had been ready to go already. Each paper is identical except two papers have been signed. One has his signature, the other, her manager’s. The third is blank but there’s a pink post-it note next to the blank line. ‘When the time comes, Bae Su-Ji’s signature should come here.’ She frowns and looks at the date of the other two. The first was a day after their almost-kiss and the second was a day after that.

“So you were ready to go for almost two weeks?” She asks aloud.

“No, I waited because I wasn’t sure if I was.” She turns. He’s sitting up, looking at her sadly, “I got that because I had crossed the line, many lines actually. It would have become very complicated had I waited any longer.”

“Why weren’t you sure? This seems likes a situation where one would resign immediately.” He looks down at his hands not saying anything, “I should have fired you. I know I should have but I didn’t for two reasons. The first was because I would have needed a reason to; a real one at that and there wasn’t a good enough one. Well, not one that existed. I would have had to make it up and that would have looked very bad on your résumé for future jobs. The other is that I couldn’t bring myself to ask you to leave. I tried, I really did but the words wouldn’t come out. I didn’t want to send you away like that I—” The door opens revealing her manager.

“Su-Ji, we have to go.” He says apologetically and she realizes she’s crying.

“Oppa, can I have a pen?” She asks wiping her face. He nods and gives one to her. She puts the paper where she should sign on the table and signs her name and the date. “Get well soon, Myungsoo and thank you for your service.” She puts it beside him and then walks out of the room.

She almost feels humiliated. She cried in front of him, she hasn’t cried in front of anyone but her family, closest friends, and then fake cried while filming. She didn’t even cry in front of Min Ho when he ended their relationship. Now he’s seen her cry, her (until shortly) bodyguard. A bodyguard you almost kissed too.

But still just a bodyguard, she adds sadly.