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Operation ChromeShe was scared, really really scared. She felt her head spinning when the thing was dropped on top of the car. She grabbed the hem of her sweater with her trembling fingers in an attempt to steady herself before she lost her mind, before everything overwhelmed her---
But right before she lost her mind, someone grabbed her, pulling her back to reality. It was her new bodyguard, Tiffany Hwang. She remembered Tiffany being really warm and soft.
"It's okay, it's okay. We are reaching home." Her voice steady and reassuring.
She tried to breathe in, taking in her bodyguard's flowery scent. Her bodyguard's arms were tight around her.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the car finally stopped, she was still trembling, still afraid.
When her bodyguard carried her back to her bedroom, and smiled that gentle smile, she felt safe again.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asked.
She had badly wanted to ask the bodyguard to stay and accompany her when she left the room.
==
It has been nearly a week since the incident. Life went on as normal, and she was slowly getting used to her new bodyguards. They weren't like her previous bodyguards. They were always nice without being overly pretentious. She was still too shy to talk to them, even though she had badly wanted to make friends with them.
Especially with Tiffany. She wanted to thank her for the other day. But somehow, she just couldn't bring herself to say it. She doesn't know how to thank her bodyguard. She doesn't know how best to express herself without sounding like an idiot. Every time she tried to open , something just gets stuck in and she found her heart pounding.
The morning immediately after the incident, she secretly told her housekeeper to make an extra bowl of her usual Lucky Charms cereal. She wanted to offer it to Tiffany to thank her. She even told the housekeeper to add extra chocolate sauce and marshmallow, hoping Tiffany would sit and eat breakfast with her. But to her dismay when the housekeeper offered it to Tiffany, the bodyguard merely smiled and said that she had already eaten her breakfast. She pretended not to notice but deep inside, Taeyeon's heart sank a little.
From then on every night, she would sit by her bedroom's balcony, waiting for a certain someone to appear.
That someone was Tiffany.
At exactly 10 pm every night, Tiffany would go on her nightly jog around the mansion. Taeyeon would hide right behind the slit of the curtain (like a creepy stalker), waiting to catch a glimpse of Tiffany jogging past. It makes her happy.
Tonight was no exception. Even though she had already changed into her pajamas, she told her housekeeper that she didn't want to go to bed yet. She made up an excuse saying that she wanted to finish up her assignment.
The housekeeper nodded and left her alone.
She quickly wheeled herself out to the balcony. 15 more minutes to 10pm.
She had a sketchbook on her lap. A drawing that she had been working on. She pulled out her pencil and began sketching, while waiting for that someone to appear.
Right on time, her bodyguard emerged. Taeyeon noted that she was wearing a black sleeveless top paired with a grey pair of sweatpants tonight. Her long flowy hair was tied up in a bun. Taeyeon had always wondered how Tiffany would look with her hair let down.
Taeyeon smiled to herself while watching her bodyguard jogged past.
Only this time Tiffany stopped. Right under her balcony. She seemed to have noticed Taeyeon.
"Good evening Miss Kim." She looked upwards at the balcony on the second floor and waved.
Taeyeon wanted to turn around and hide.
"It seems to be a windy night tonight. You should at least put on a jacket. Your sleepwear is too thin."
Taeyeon looked down slightly embarrassed at herself. She was wearing her favourite pajamas - the one dotted with baby ducks while Tiffany was looking all sporty and flawlessly beautiful in her sports attire. Suddenly, Taeyeon feels inadequate in her wheelchair. Her cheeks heated up. She tightened her grip on the pencil that she was holding.
"Miss Kim?"
"T-thank y-you..." She said those words that she had long wanted to say, her words came out shakily and rather softly.
"Huh?"
She took a deep breath and repeated her. "T-thank y-you."
The bodyguard furrowed her eyebrows, not exactly understanding what on earth was going on.
"Miss Kim, I can't really hear you where I am from-- ah...wait a minute."
The bodyguard ran to the tree outside the balcony and started climbing it. Grabbing onto one of thicker tree branch, Tiffany used it to pull herself up the tree. She then proceed to wriggle her way onto one of the more sturdy branch of the tree and rested against it.
Taeyeon watched the entire process and was awestruck by the way her bodyguard nimbly made her way up the tree without breaking a sweat. She was fit and athletic, everything that Taeyeon was not.
"Yes Miss Kim what were you saying again? I couldn't really hear you from below." Tiffany said.
The girl fidgeted in her wheelchair, feeling smaller than ever.
"I said, t-thank y-you..."
The bodyguard still looked as lost as ever. "For?"
"Savingmelastweek" She mumbled shyly and lowered her head in embarrassment, half expecting the cool bodyguard to mock her.
To her surprise, the bodyguard smiled gently and said, "You're welcome, Miss Kim. It is my job to protect you. Alright, I shan't disturb you any longer. Stay warm and have a restful night."
Before Taeyeon could craft a proper reply, the bodyguard had already hopped off the tree. Taeyeon watched as the bodyguard jogged away.
For the first time in a long time, Taeyeon had a restful night devoid of any nightmares.
==
Indeed, it has been a week since the incident. When Tiffany first reported it to Mr Kim, the man was livid.
"How dare they do this! On your first day of work! It is definitely not an accident." Tiffany remembered how loud the man slammed the table on the other end of the line.
But then he eventually calmed down and thanked Tiffany profusely for protecting his daughter.
The call ended with Tiffany promising to do some investigation on his behalf. Tiffany understood that she was slowly gaining her client's trust which will eventually come in handy. So far she hadn't managed to scrape any details about Mr Kim's apparently illicit activities. She was planning to slowly and surely gain the Kim family's trust before trying to dig for more intel. She was confident of gaining the man's trust.
Today Tiffany was back at the HQ, together with Yuri to review the footage with Seohyun.
"So have you found anything?" Without wasting a second, Tiffany asked Seohyun the moment she stepped into the office.
"We have managed to retrieve the camera footage from the traffic department."
"Play the footage."
"Yes Unnie." Seohyun connected her laptop to the hologram projector and the image of a lone man appeared.
The man was dressed suspiciously in an all-black outfit and had a huge wooden crate beside him.
"Looks like he is trying to attract all the attention in the world to him." Yuri noted.
Tiffany frowned. It is as if they purposefully wanted us to notice them. Like they are not afraid of us. What are those people up to?
"Run his face through our internal database. See if you can find any match "
"Unnie, I had ran it through our internal database. The culprit is just a petty ruffian whose previous charges only consists of some petty crimes. Nothing big. If you want, I can send the footage over to the law enforcement to follow up on him."
The bodyguard sighed. "There is no point. He is just a puppet at the end of the day. The real culprit remains hidden behind. What do we charge him with? Vandalism? You keep him in the jail and they would still have other replacements."
Tiffany understood the game that she was playing. Her influence is limited. At the end of the day, her duty is simply to protect her client.
"I wonder who is after Miss Kim's life." Yuri commented.
Too many people sadly, the bodyguard thought to herself.
"They will certainly strike again. I'm sure of it. And the next time they do, we will be ready for it." Tiffany concluded the meeting with a considerable amount of steel in her voice.
As they walked out of the meeting room, Tiffany cornered Seohyun after watching Yuri went to get the car.
"Hey Seohyun."
"Yes Unnie?"
"Give me the details of that man. I wish to speak to him personally."
"Is this part of the investigation of Kim Bongsu? Be careful Unnie, they don't seem like simple people to me." Seohyun was the only agent present in the briefing and so she was one of the few that knew about Tiffany's secret task.
"I know what I am doing, just give it to me." She passed Seohyun a secured thumb drive. "Put it in this thumb drive."
==
Taeyeon was disappointed when she saw Sooyoung waiting at the dining hall instead of Tiffany.
Before she could ask, the lanky woman clarified the situation.
"Miss Kim, Agent Hwang has gone out for a meeting. So I will be taking over her for the day."
The girl deflated. She was especially looking forward to seeing the bodyguard again after last night's encounter on the balcony.
Nevertheless, she nodded and allowed Sooyoung to help her up the car.
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