Daehyun let out a small sigh as he opened the front door of the Yoo estate, trying to keep as quiet as possible sinc Mrs. Yoo was most likely asleep. The door closed with a small click and a small turning of gears as the it automatically locked. Daehyun’s eyes narrowed, feeling an ominous loom around him. He quickly moved to the side, raising his arm up to block the incoming punch aimed at his temple. The two men tensed as they allowed the impact from the blow settle. Daehyun let out an amused snort, side glancing at his assailant with a lopsided grin. His assailant flashed Daehyun a gummy grin as the bodyguard raised a bemused brow. 

“You’re getting better at this. A second late and I’d have a nice bruise on the side of my head.” Daehyun chuckled, lowering his arm. 

“Have to keep you on your toes, ya know what I’m saying?” Yongguk grinned as he released his fists and placed his hands in his gray dress pants. “So how was the meeting?”

Daehyun let out an exasperated sigh, leaning against the door as he let out a sputter of air. “As expected. I got the confirmation I needed,” Daehyun ran his hands through his haggard locks. “How about you? Youngjae give you a run for your money?”

Yongguk let out a snort. “Your princess was fine besides the occasional grumbling, whining, and overall tantrum.”

“Sounds like Youngjae.” Daehyun let out a chuckle, just imagining the younger’s puffed out cheeks and furrowed brows brought a delightful smile on the bodyguard’s face. 

“He was unusually quiet though after his little rendezvous with that girl though,” Daehyun raised a brow at Yongguk’s words. Youngjae? Quiet? Those words did not go together. “He’s holed himself in his room since we got home.” Yongguk nudged his head in the direction of Youngjae’s bedroom. Daehyun glanced at the slightly ajar bedroom door at the top of the glass staircase. Daehyun lt out a small sigh, placing his hand on Yongguk’s shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze. 

“Thanks for tonight, Guk. I owe you one.” Daehyun smiled at his old friend. Yongguk flashed a gummy smile. 

“Funny, cause I’m pretty sure that I’m the one that owes you my life.” Yongguk gently punches Daehyun in the shoulder before leaving the Yoo estate. Daehyun let off a playful scoff as he shook his head at Yongguk’s comment. Daehyun had told Yongguk many times that no debt needed to be paid, but Yongguk’s sense of honor wouldn’t allow him. That stubbornness was one of the reasons why Daehyun saved him. That and the man’s right hook was something to watch out for. 

“Go away,” Youngjae grumbled in his blanket cocoon. When footsteps could still be heard approaching the younger, Youngjae’s frown deepened and his temper rose. “I SAID GO AWAY! ARE YOU DEAF!?” He hollered, throwing the blanket aside to glare at the intruder.

“I might be now,” Daehyun cringed slightly, putting his finger in his ear to tweak his hearing. Youngjae’s eyes go wide to seeing that it was Daehyun in his room and not Yongguk. Despite the slight joy the younger felt seeing the bodyguard, Youngjae refused to crack a sigh of relief or smile and instead chose to put on a sour face. “Yongguk mentioned that you suddenly got quiet after your meeting with Somi, you sick?”

“Rude .” Youngjae huffed and turned away from Daehyun as the bodyguard sat down on the bed beside Youngjae. 

“So what happened? You were excited about your ‘date’ before.” Daehyun leaned back on the bed, increasing the dent he was making on Youngjae’s plush bed. 

“It wasn’t a date,” Youngjae grumbled, the thought about the night’s get together only increasing his foul mood. “Me and Somi are just friends.” Daehyun caught the slight bite in Youngjae’s voice. 

“Ah, I see,” A small smile crept on Daehyun’s face. “She likes someone else doesn’t she?” Youngjae didn’t even need to answer since the bright red flare on Youngjae’s cheeks answered all of Daehyun’s questions. Daehyun knew that it was inappropriate to feel a bubble of joy that things didn’t turn out well with Somi, despite it bringing misery to Youngjae. Was it professional? Probably not, but life couldn’t just take away all of his little joys. “So who’s the guy?”

Youngjae puffed out his cheeks, reluctant to answer Daehyun’s question. On the way home, Youngjae was convinced- well he tried to convince himself- that he was mad that Somi liked Daehyun. Annoyed that the elder had managed to swoop in and steal the girl he liked without even knowing it. He thought he was mad that Daehyun had beat him, showed up put in some cheat codes and beat the final boss. The more Youngjae pondered on it, and banged his head against the car window, the more it dawned on him. Youngjae wasn’t mad that Somi liked Daehyun, he was made that Somi liked Daehyun. He didn’t know why he felt this way and it made him want to rip his hair out. Why should he care that someone likes Daehyun? Youngjae wasn’t his girlfriend or mother. Hell he could give a rat’s who the stupid bodyguard dated. It shouldn’t matter to him! That’s what he kept chanting as if was meditating under a waterfall. He must be delusional. Exhausted from all the work and crap he has to put up with. 

“Some …” Youngjae grumbled, pulling up his knees to hug them close to his chest. Daehyun scoffed at the very ‘Youngjae-esque’ answer. “How was your whatever?” Youngjae glanced over at Daehyun only to see the elder’s expression tightened. Youngjae had never seen that expression on the elder before: anger, frustration, and regret? Daehyun looked like a whimpering wolf. Threatening yet there was melancholy in his eyes. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” Youngjae mumbled, hugging his knees closer. 

“It went as I expected. Thanks for asking.” Daehyun smiled softly before touseling the younger’s hair. 

“That doesn’t sound very good…” Youngjae frowned, matting down his locks from Daehyun’s tousel.

“Perceptive as always. It’s a wonder why Somi didn’t fall for you,” Daehyun teased, which earned him a smack to the stomach from Youngjae. The bodyguard could assure, however, that the action hurt Youngjae more than it hurt himself, seeing the cringe of pain Youngjae had upon impact. “But hey, it’s her lost. Despite all of this spoiled princess act of yours, you’re a real sweet and upright guy.”

“I don’t know whether I should thank you or slap you right now.” Youngjae glared, but a light smile was on his lips at Daehyun’s words.

“I prefer the former honestly. Your ‘thank yous’ occur as often as solar eclipses.” Daehyun chuckled.

“That’s it. I’m going to slap you now.”

“Earth to Daehyun!” Daehyun stared intently at his computer screen, roaming through the detailed background information he got on the Yoo’s. Despite the chaos of emotions Daehyun felt for Sejun, the bodyguard knew that the other wouldn’t give him false information to get him off track. Sejun was like a lion. He enjoyed stalking his prey, watching it widdle away till it was on the brink of life and begging for it to end. A cat driving a mouse into a corner. Daehyun knew his old friend well and knew that Sejun would prefer to see Daehyun knocked down and complicit to him than send the bodyguard on a wild goose chase. “DAE-TO THE ING-HYUN!” 

Daehyun jumped slightly at the sudden shout, looking away from his computer to only see a pouty, frustrated Youngjae staring down at him. Nothing new. “Language Youngjae.”

“‘Language Youngjae,” Youngjae mockingly mimicked before letting out a huff of air and grabbed his coat. “What are you? A nun?” 

“Okay, what has gotten your in a twist?” Daehyun sighed, closing his laptop and swinging his long leads over to the edge of the orange couch. 

“One you. And two I have just been tasked to the most annoying mission ever.” Youngjae scowled, shoving his hands into his pockets as he left his office. 

“Really? I thought was awarded to me.” Daehyun smirked as Youngjae sent him a flying middle finger. 

“I don’t need sass from a snail,” Youngjae huffed, crossing his arms as he plopped himself in the passenger seat of Daehyun’s car. Youngjae’s brows furrowed together, his jaw was clenched, and his chest was rising and falling heavily to calm his tightly wound nerves. “Why are you staring at me with that smirk on your face?” Youngjae barked, seeing as Daehyun had yet to move the car and instead opted to casually rest his arms and head on the steering wheel while staring at Youngjae. 

“You haven’t told me why you’re ditching work and where we’re going.” Daehyun raised a brow. 

Youngjae let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. “We are heading to Joko Studios. That cousin of mine is starting another ruckus and we need to settle this before someone gets hurt or fired again…” Daehyun started the engine, glancing at Youngjae who was chewing on his lower lip. “My mother usually lets these things be or intervenes herself, but she said she had an appointment to attend to.” 

“Why do you seem so skeptical about her words?” 

“I don’t know...just an itching feeling. She kept coughing when she was talking to me…” Youngjae brought his thumb to his lips and began chewing on the nail. “She told me that it was just a cold…” 

“Hey, hey,” Daehyun gently grabbed Youngjae’s hand to prevent the younger from chewing off his finger. “Don’t think too much about it. The weather has been changing lately so Mrs. Yoo might just be feeling under the weather,” Youngjae hummed at Daehyun’s comment. “If it makes you feel better, we can stop by a pharmacy when we get back and grab some medication for her, hm?”

“Thank you…” Youngjae released the tension in his body and relaxed himself into his seat. 

“It’s my job to protect your mental santity...or what’s left of it.” Daehyun chuckled before letting out a yelp as Youngjae bit his hand cause of his rude . 

“Okay, you whiny es, calm your !” Youngjae hollered entering the drama set with a presence of a mob boss. Daehyun standing beside him letting out a sigh as he facepalmed at Youngjae’s usual antics. One would think that the bodyguard would get used to Youngjae’s crass nature. But then again, one could never really get used to Yoo Youngjae. 

“What are you doing here?!” Jihoo hissed. The young actor was wearing a high school student’s uniform, his cheeks a fuming red at not having his way and Youngjae’s presence. 

“Cleaning up your mess obviously,” Youngjae scoffed before turning his attention to the director of the production. “So what is going on?”

“W-well Mr. Yoo…” The director side-glanced at a fuming Jihoo to Youngjae’s annoyance.

“Don’t worry about his punk . Is he your boss? No. So tell me straight up what happened.” Youngjae crossed his arms, annoyed that he was here babysitting Jihoo instead of doing his actual work.

“Well during production actor Park,” The director gestured to the actor sitting in the back corner on one of the classroom props. He older than Jihoo by at least 2 years and he had a scowl on his face, probably due to the black eye he was sporting. “and Jihoo got into an argument upon the method of acting each of them were portraying. Things began to escalate and then well…”

“So what you’re trying to say that Jihoo said something rude to his elder, pissed him off, the two got into an argument and then the punched actor Park?” Youngjae took the director’s silence and fidgeting as a yes. Youngjae sighed, shook his head in dismay, and headed towards actor Park. Daehyun stayed behind, seeing as Youngjae seemed to have everything under control. A bubble of pride built up in Daehyun’s chest. Maybe his baby chick could fly after all. “Actor Park, firstly I would like to thoroughly apologize for my cousin’s behavior.”

“What the hell!? I’m the victim here! If anything, that guy should apologize! Look at what he did to my hand!” Jihoo hissed, pointing at his slightly reddened knuckles, probably from punching the other actor.

“Please pardon the idiot,” Youngjae let out another exhausted breathe. Actor Park let out a small chuckle at Youngjae’s comment. Good. “We promise we will compensate you for any losses this has caused you and you can be assured that we will halt production until your injuries are fully healed,” Youngjae smiled gently at the actor. Daehyun couldn’t help but have a lopsided grin of his own. Despite the protest of the younger to hold any form of responsibility, when it came down to it Youngjae was a natural. Again, the younger was always full of surprises and Daehyun couldn’t help, but be pulled by that spontaneity.  “And you,” Youngjae glared at Jihoo. “You can’t go around punching people so you’re fired.”

“What!?” Jihoo shrieked. 

“Deaf and stupid? Such a tragedy,” Youngjae shed crocodile tears. “You. Are. Fired.”

“Y-you can’t do that!” Jihoo was going into panic mode. 

“Hmmmm, let me think. As the son of the CEO of this company I can practically do anything so tough coconuts.” Youngjae shrugged.

“You ing mutt!” Jihoo lunged at Youngjae, grabbing the other by the collar. “You act like a hotshot when you are really a no good country bumpkin like your mother,” Jihoo spat out his venomous words at Youngjae. Youngjae could feel his temper rising and chose to clench his fist to subside his anger. “You think you would be worth anything if your mother wasn’t a gold digging ? You are a parasite within this family and aren’t worth a damn thing if it weren’t for your mother.”

“Enough.” Daehyun growled, angry and annoyed at hearing curses shouted at Youngjae. The bodyguard grabbed onto Jihoo’s arm and threw it aside, removing the brat’s grip on Youngjae’s collar. Jihoo slightly shuddered at Daehyun’s intense glare, the blood lust eminent in the elder’s eyes. But like a , Jihoo still tried to bark back. 

“Of course scum like you would have scum as company, Youngjae,” Jihoo let out a maniacal nervous chuckle. He was putting up a front, it was obvious. Jihoo refused to be the only one humiliated. If he was going down, he was going to take as many victims as humanly possible. “You didn’t think I would dig up info on that thug of yours did ya?” A small smirk of arrogance forming on Jihoo’s lips. “You tried to hide it ‘Daehyun,’ but I know all about you. How you were some killer for higher! Men, women, children, didn’t matter to you as long as you got paid, right?”

Youngjae glanced at Daehyun to see the elder’s expression tighten, his stance stiff. Daehyun’s fist were clenched so tightly the whites of his knuckles were showing. Youngjae stared at Daehyun, aback by the expression he saw. Daehyun’s teeth gritted tightly, his eyes sharp and dark, his figure trembling to keep his composure.

“I-Is that the expression you gave when you killed your victims?” Despite the arrogance in Jihoo’s words, the other was stepping back from Daehyun’s intimidating aura. “You pretend to act like a friend of Youngjae, but you only care about money just like the rest of us,” Jihoo let out a scoff. “At least we didn’t have to have blood on our hands like you. You think you’re better than us, Youngjae? At least we don’t keep the company of-” Jihoo feel back with a thud, a giant red mark on his right cheek. The room fell utterly silent as all eyes were now on the three men. Daehyun stood there in shock as a fuming Youngjae stood above the beaten Jihoo.

“Shut the up.” Youngjae snarled, turning on his heel and stomping out of the studio. 

“Youngjae! Youngjae!” Daehyun chased after the younger as he was making way towards the parking lot. “What the hell was that!?” Daehyun grabbed onto Youngjae’s wrist, spinning the boy around to face him. “What were you thinking!?”

“What I was thinking!?” Youngjae’s anger began to burn like a forest fire at Daehyun’s anger at him. Youngjae was defending him. He was having Daehyun’s back. How dare the elder be mad at him!? “I was thinking that punk was talking about you so I told him to shut the hell up!” 

“Did you even think about the consequences!? Were you even thinking at all Youngjae!?” Daehyun was furious. Not at Youngjae, but at the fact that the younger had fell into Jihoo’s taunting and could possibly pay the price for his actions. Jihoo could go to the press and spread rumours that Youngjae assaulted him. He could bring this evidence to the board and show that Youngjae was incapable of inheriting Yoo Corp. 

“Why the are you mad at me for!?” Youngjae barked, his face red from anger and screaming. His mind was elsewhere and he didn’t give a rat’s if he was making a scene in the parking lot. 

“He could use this against you! Did you even think that!? Do you even understand how this could put you in danger or how it could add even more stress on your mother!? Did you even think, for even a second, before you lost your cool!?”

“I don’t in care! All I know is that he was spouting bull and I didn’t like it okay!?” Youngjae glared at Daehyun, annoyed that Daehyun was making him seem like the bad guy. “He was shouting all these lies and you just took it! Why, huh!? Cause it’s your ‘duty’ to keep your cool,” Youngjae mocked. “I don’t need some prissy bodyguard who can’t even defen-”

“I didn’t say anything because it’s true!” Daehyun fumed. Youngjae stood their stunned as Daehyun let out a frustrated growl before running his fingers through his locks. “All that stuff he said was true…” Daehyun let out a sigh, relaxing his shoulders. “Before I became a bodyguard...I worked as a mercenary. Whatever I was hired to do, I did it. Didn’t matter who, where, or what the job…” The ‘secret missions’ Daehyun mentioned before began to seep into Youngjae’s mind. 

“D-does my mother know?” Youngjae was trying to keep his composure. To say that the news didn’t shake him would be a lie. Yes he knew that Daehyun was strong and intimidating, but a mercenary? That seemed like something ripped from a spy movie. 

“Yeah, she does…” Daehyun couldn’t look at Youngjae. He was scared. Daehyun had little things he feared, even death. But seeing fear in Youngjae’s eyes. Fear because of Daehyun? That was petrifying for the bodyguard. 

“Why didn’t you tell me…” Youngjae murmured.

“I wanted to pretend…” Daehyun stared down at his rough hands. “Pretend that my hands aren’t covered in bloodshed…” Daehyun took a deep breath. “I’ve done many things in my past, Youngjae. I don’t regret any of my past choices...that’s why I didn’t care that he said those things.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Youngjae snapped. “I saw the look on your face. You wanted to hit him. You wanted to throw him half-way across the studio. But you didn’t,” Youngjae frowned. “Why? Because you’ll prove him right?” Youngjae shook his head as his frustrations again began to rise. “I told you before, your past is...your past. The Daehyun I know now may be annoying as , but you aren’t a monster so why did you let him talk to you like that?”

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you…” Daehyun could feel his own frustrations rising. His cool demeanor melting away. Youngjae had that effect on people. 

“Me!?” If Youngjae wasn’t furious before, now he was. It was because of Youngjae that Daehyun couldn’t fight back. Daehyun couldn’t retaliate. Daehyun didn’t want to ruin Youngjae’s relationship so he took Jihoo’s verbal assaults. Youngjae felt sick and mad. Mad that he was to blame for Daehyun’s complacency. “Why would you hold back for me!? I may be your client, but having your reputation tarnished like that- and publicly!? You don’t even like me that much! We are like barely even friends!”

“It’s because of how much I like you, I’d rather let my past be outed than have your reputation ruined!” Daehyun bursted, whatever concrete dam he built crumbled and now his emotions were overflowing. Maybe it was because the recent visit with Sejun. Maybe it was because Jihoo pulled out parts of his past he wished to forget. Maybe it was because what Youngjae had did what Daehyun had wanted to do. Punch Jihoo in the face. Daehyun didn’t know why. He knew he should stop. That he should just shut up, but he couldn’t it. “I ing like you….”

Thanks for reading! Feedback, commentary, etc are highly welcomed!

So I literally feel as if I have risen from the dead. One I would like to apologize to you all who follow this story for my lack of updates. Two I would like to thank you all for sticking it through and loving this series so much. To be honest, I have not been in the right head space lately. Just a lot of things have happened in the time I was basically taking an hiatus and it's been an emotional toll. Right now, I haven't 100% recovered, but I'm trying my best to get better and feel better so I can write these stories again that both I and you guys adore. I just want to let you guys know that your guys' support and commentary help me a lot and they do make a difference for me. :) Sorry for being heavy, but I felt that I should be honest with you guys and you guys deserve the honesty. Love you all!