He had known Cheon Seong-im since she was a baby. How could he not when his mum made him go see the baby when he was trying to play with the rest of the little boys? He saw the sweet little baby smile at him and his mum made him promised that he will always protect her. He frown, his elder brother hadn't been protecting him but then again, he always protected his brother, one more person, it didn’t matter.

Seong-Im took a liking to him since she was young. She remembered as long as he was around, no children would even dared to raise their voice at her. Everyone would try to keep her happy lest the boy would come hard on them. Sometimes she will just hang around him to feel safe.

When she entered the elementary school, she would look for him to have lunch together, sitting with a table of boys. The boys would treat her like she was transparent, but he would always look after her. He told her she need to find friends her age, and so she did. She had two best friends and him, she thought it was enough, since he didn’t encourage her to have more best friends. Sometimes, the three of them will hang around him and his friends.

After he went to high school, his shield around her didn’t disappear. It had protected her well. She didn’t manage to meet him at high school, only occasionally around the neighbourhood, their relationship didn’t change much, he is still the brother that protects her.

They finally met each other again, when they were at university. She was the fresh man while he was doing his masters. He was studying master in music while she was doing a degree in arts and accounting. She almost didn’t recognise him, but someone called his name, “Kim Jong Kook” the name of her protector since young. That was when she turned and saw him. He had grown well, his small eyes were framed by a handsome face, his body was muscular and his smile dazzled her eyes.

“Kwang Soo, must you drawn attention to me” he hissed at his friend. Ji Hyo’s skipped a beat. His voice was melody to her ears. Should she introduce herself and be protected under his wing once again? Or should she just try to be independent this time. She couldn’t make up her mind, while her eyes follow his back until he disappeared from her sight.

“Oh well, I need to grow up sometime.” She sighed, she was under his protection long enough.

Jong Kook had heard Seong-Im was in the same university as him, he tried not to extent his influence this time, and it would have been more bad than good. He knew universities girls were not so innocent anymore and they sometimes more drastic. He had been a victim, for the past 4 years, different girls would come and ask him to be their boyfriends and he had witnessed more than once when 2 girls were fighting over him when he didn’t even know them. His mum had shown him picture of her recently and he must admit that she had grown to be a beautiful woman. His heart had raced when he saw the picture.

He had seen her a few times in campus, with her groups of friends and she seemed well but she had not recognised him, well, not surprising, they had not met since she was in elementary school. She was more beautiful than the picture and he could felt his heart chasing after her.

The inevitable reunion came; they both chose to take part in the same children charity event. Both of them were elected to be chairman and the vice chairman of the event. They couldn’t pretend not to know each other and so they acknowledged each other. They were shy but their goal was clear, to help the children.

During the preparation of the event, they re-knew each other. She found him to be a solemn man when he was with people he was not comfortable with but when he was in his comfort zone, he was a goof ball, playing tricks and joke around a lot. He was a gentleman that did not spend much of himself but would treat his friends to meal. She had seen the state of his handphone, it was tied up with rubber band and bandage with tapes. She was slowly growing closer and fonder of him. But at the same time, she was warily, she could sense the jealousy from some of his admirers. They seem to think he treated her better.

He found her to be the strongest woman he knew. She was not like the rest of woman who survived on salads, refusing heavy work. She was on par with the males. She didn’t really mind a good trick been played on her. She could be a prefect lady and yet she was one of the guys. All his friends had loved to have the pretty lady around, but he had told them she was off limit, or else they would answer to him. He saw his friends smirked, and the dragons brother gangs had ever since.

After the late night meetings, he would walk her to her hostel, making sure she was safe. They would talk about anything under the sun or in this case, the moon. The 15 minute walk became 30 minutes, then it became phone calls. Their relationship took baby steps, both trying to keep the relationship under the lime light, both knew they couldn’t bear the consequence of it leaking out. Their best friends helped to guard this budding love, but the news still leaked out. Rumors spread like wild fire, the girls who had admired Jong Kook were agitated. How could Jong Kook fall in love with a freshman! They were united to go against Seong-Im.

Some of the of them sent threatening emails and messages, some of them wanted to meet her to give her a few good slaps and tell her to get lost, a few of them even felt like killing her. Jong Kook was angered by all their behaviors. Were they trying to test his ability to protect the woman he love? He was considering their feelings when he laid low in his relationship but that does not mean he could not protect his woman. Before any of the girls really took action, he did.

He sent out words, “I would not be able to beat the girls who had been threatening my woman, but I vowed to take care of their men. If from this instance she was received any threats, I would be watching the sender current and future men.” This sent a freeze to many of the women hearts. The killer move was he managed to find a person that took part in the sending of the threatening email and had a boyfriend. His gang waylaid the guy and “invited” him to meet Jong Kook in the middle of the school, Jong Kook gave him a punch in the stomach and knocked him out immediately. He looked around the people who had gathered, intimidating them to go against his will. The crowd went silent and quickly dispersed. The man was not seriously hurt and he was compensated for his injury, but the message was delivered loud and cleared to the girls. If they valued their future happiness, left Jong Kook and his woman alone.

Almost immediately, Seong-Im could sense the treatment towards her change, the hostile treatment had been changed to a more neutral one. Those dagger eyes disappeared, in fact, a lot of girls will avoid her glance. She felt at ease in university. She had also felt Jong Kook concern for her, he had called her his woman but is that what he really felt, she didn’t know.

Jong Kook also felt a sense of relief, his lesson had not only help Seong-Im but also him, those admiring girls had given up on him, and now he could go after the woman of his heart, Seong-Im. He planned to ask her the question but yet he didn’t know when it will be more appropriate.

They continued to meet to finish up the charity project, their relationship still took baby steps although they knew how each other felt. It was frustrating for Seong-Im, she had decided to take the bolder step of asking him to be her man instead of waiting for him. She planned to ask him after the project had been completed.

She asked him to meet her at han gang, she came prepared with food he like. She waited nervously, while spreading the food out. Finally, she saw him, running towards her.

“Sorry, I was late. I missed a bus” He said out of breathe.

“It’s ok, sit down and take a breather” she asked him to take a seat on the mat.

His eyes reflected the joy he felt when he saw his favorite food. Seong-Im picked his most favorite food and fed him, he opened his mouth and accepted the food, his tan face had a slight red tint. Seong-Im took a deep breath, it was now or never.

“Oppa, I knew you all of my life” she began “Most of them, I knew you as my protector. In this past half a year, I had gotten to know you better, you are not only strong, but clever, sensitive, a perfect gentleman.” He was wondering where she was going with this, is it going the directions he was thinking. He saw her face getting redder and redder, like an apple, he wanted to take a bite out of it.

“Oppa, before the other girls figured out they could date you, I wanted to make you mine first. Please be my boyfriend” There, she had said it. She had asked him to be her boyfriend, but at the same time, she also felt shy and she was now staring at her toes.

She felt a hand gentle lifted up her head. Her eyes were now looking into his.

“Thank you Seong-Im, for saying something I couldn’t. You are already my woman” His face was getting closer as he said those words, and he planted a kiss on her forehead, then another on her left cheek, another on her right and then one on her lips.

It was her first kiss, it felt sweet and she melted into him, enjoying the kiss. He broke the kiss first and she opened her eyes and looked at him bewildered. Is there something wrong? Her eyes questioned.

He smiled and his lips travel to her ears, he whispered “My woman, Seong-Im, I love you”.