Yonghwa gulped down his remaining drink at once. He fixed his eyes on Mizuki the whole time. His appearance might tough but he could see his gaze slightly changed, though he remained expressionless. Yonghwa couldn’t really tell by the look on his face if Mizuki would retreat from being Ren’s bodyguard due to that incident in the past –he didn’t want that to happen, of course, yet he could understand too if he did so—or would keep protecting her.

After a long paused, Mizuki spoke carefully. “Your friends are very… protective of her. You are very protective of her.” Yonghwa let a tiny small as response, most likely a giggle to himself. But he kept his mouth shut and waited for Mizuki to continue.

“You care about her,” he said at last. “None of you want her to be hurt, and so do I. We’re on the same side, here.” He paused, letting his word sink in. “I’m hired to protect her, and I plan on carrying my job all through the end. However, to do that… I need to know from what I’m protecting her. From who. I need to know why. I need to know who she is. Who you are.” He paused once more, and his face softened slightly. “I need you to tell me everything you know, Yonghwa.” 

The brown hair guy grinned at him. “This is the first time you call my name.” said Yonghwa a bit cheerful. “I’ve told you who we actually are, Mizuki. We were just a bunch of homeless guy who happened to bump into a sadist angel.” Replied Yonghwa, grinning again. He leaned forward and placed his intertwined hand on the table, pushing the plate away.

His face became serious now. “And to repay everything she had done for us, we pledge to provide her our service. She refused it at first, but we insisted. We followed her everywhere, even waited for her in front of her house, believe it or not. Because we knew we owe her a life. And that…” Yonghwa’s gaze turned sad. “… she seems lonely…”

Drumming his finger on the table, he continued. “It was hard to convince her. We need a month to do so when she finally gave up and let us stay with her.” Yonghwa was fidgeting now, “We work for her. And she… works for Takami Sueda.” He paused and waited for Mizuki reaction. Just as Yonghwa expected, Mizuki’s eyes shot open hearing the name and his face became stern. His skin looked even paler.

“Yes…” Yonghwa carefully spoke. “It was the most notorious and powerful gang from Japan. What do you call mafia in japan? Yakuza?” Yonghwa tilted his head to the side, frowning. “And as you already know, they are dealing with drugs and illegal weapons. So you can guess what in the bag was yesterday, right…?”

Mizuki fell silent.

“….”

“Listen, Mizuki…” Yonghwa lowered his voice. “We, ourselves, even we’ve been with her for almost two years, don’t really know who Ren is, because she never really exposes her past to us. She was like that since, and hasn’t changed. All we know that she is an orphan. That she tends to keep everything to herself.” His eyes asking Mizuki for help now. “I’m not sure what you’re protecting her from, but I assume it must be something related to her work and this Takami Sueda.”

“…”

Yonghwa’s worried expression brushed over his face. “… I am worried about her, honestly… As her best friend, I’m begging you to ask her to resign from her job and… start a normal life.” Yonghwa crossed his arms and let out a long sigh. Mizuki should have known by now that her life was in danger. It was just waiting for the time.

Silent fell upon them once again, but it wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t tense.

He smiled. “There’s still many things that I would like to know too from her. She hides too many pain and secret. She is strong and almost unbreakable, but deep down, she is very fragile. We all knew this, that’s why we are protective towards her… especially Jonghyun.” Yonghwa held his laugh. “Believe me Mizuki, he must see you as his rival that would, one day get in his way, or else, he won’t act like jerk.”

Yonghwa held his hand up to call the waitress. Three minutes later, she came with a bill on her tray. “It’s on me, no worry.” Yonghwa refused the money Mizuki about to give him. “I’d be appreciate if you pretend that today had never happened.” They both rose from their seat and walked out of the café.

“We’ll meet again.” He bid him goodbye but stopped mid-way and turned his head at him. “Ah. I forgot to tell you… No matter how hard the rock is, rain will finally break it through. That’s how I picture Ren. When you get to know her, you will see she is actually a softie.” He winked and left.

- - -

Mizuki said nothing as he watched Yonghwa left. The man was cheerful—a lot more cheerful than he’d expected, for someone who had gone through so much in so many years—and while a part of him certainly admired that, another part was more full of questions than anything else. 

The bodyguard couldn’t quite believe that the singer had requested of him: to ask Ren to resign from her position in the yakuza and start a normal life. If the young woman herself didn’t listen to Yonghwa, supposedly her best friend, then Mizuki couldn’t fathom any possible reason why she would listen to him. 

Furthermore, his insinuation at Mizuki being Jonghyun’s rival was completely ludicrous, if nothing else. Mizuki could tell what he meant by those words: that Jonghyun probably looked at Ren as someone more than just a friend but rather as a woman he probably wanted to protect by himself, but it was exactly because of this that his jealousy seemed all the more irrational, all the more immature. Mizuki was here to protect Ren, not to jeopardise her life and relationships, and Jonghyun should have been able to understand that it was better if someone could guard the woman he cared for rather than no one at all. 

Not only that, Yonghwa had seemed a little worried that Mizuki would stop guarding Ren, but it wasn’t like he could do that. An assignment was an assignment, a client was a client, and he wasn’t about to abandon that. He was a professional bodyguard and he knew where he belonged and what he had to do to continue to belong there. 

Still plagued by these thoughts, he turned around and started walking in the direction of the apartment. It was unusual for him to be alone when he was on an assignment—he was a bodyguard, for goodness’s sake, he was supposed to be guarding his client twenty-four-seven—but Ren was the most difficult client he’d ever had to guard, what with her history and baggage and whatever burden she was carrying on her shoulders right now, unseen by anyone’s eyes, untouched by anyone but herself. 

When he arrived at the building, he looked up and counted the floors to Ren’s room. The lights were on, and he somehow knew he was in for an even more difficult time. Inhaling sharply, he ascended the stairs and entered the lobby, taking the lift up. 

Ren was sitting on the couch when Mizuki entered. As he had expected, she completely ignored him, not bothering to even grace him with a nod of acknowledgement or a turn of face as he stepped into the living room. In complete silence he stood there for several seconds before the corners of his lips twitched with irritation. 

Still frowning, he walked towards the sofa and sat on the coffee table in front of her, blocking the television from her view. A look of indignation crossed her face as she looked up, glaring at him heatedly. Completely used to her fury, Mizuki stared back, unfazed, and for a moment they were at an impasse.

Finally he relented first. “Miss Harada, this has to stop.”

When she didn’t answer, he ran his hand over his hair, willing himself to swallow his frustration right into the pit of his stomach. He knew from experience that stubbornness was not to be fought by stubbornness, but more patience and forbearance.

Holding her gaze unwaveringly, he continued, his voice clear and quiet and soft, “I understand this is very troublesome for you, but you hired me for a reason, and that is, to protect you. I can’t have you running around without telling me where you are going anymore. I promise to try my best not to interfere with your personal life, but would you at least let me do my job properly?”