I widened my eyes and stood there flustered. 

 

"Jisu...?" I softly said her name. "What's wrong?"

 

She shook her head without a word and dug her face into chest. With a concerned look, I embraced her. I felt her tears seep through the fabric of my shirt, but that didn't bother me one bit. Slowly and carefully, I led her in and shut the door behind us. 

 

I continued to rub her back to comfort her as we stood at the entrance.

 

"Shhh, it's alright. I'm right here," I softly said and she responded by gripping onto my clothes tighter. 

 

Thank goodness Miyeon was having her daily nap, I wouldn't know what to do if she saw. 

 

I caught a glimpse of her and saw her cheek extremely red and possibly a hand print. My heart dropped and I clenched my jaw. I didn't have to second guess what had happened to her and I wasn't going to hold back anymore on taking any actions. 

 

In my arms, I felt Jisu grow weak at the knees and I supported her up leading her to the living room and tried to set her on a chair but she refused to let me go. I had guessed she didn't want me to see her face but I had already seen it. 

 

"Jisu-ah, sit down and I'll go get you something to drink," I whispered, but she shook her head. "You need to sit down or else your legs will lose out on you."

 

"I don't want to let go," she whimpered. I let out a sigh and continued to hold her in my arms. 

 

Eventually, after an hour or so of being in each other's embrace, she loosened her grip and let her arms fall to her side. Her head slowly moved away from my chest and she was now sniffling, but her head was hung low. 

 

I didn't know how much pain I'd cause her if I touched her, but I gently her red cheek and she flinched at my touch. 

 

"Will you look at me?" I softly asked and she shook her head. "Let me see, Jisu."

 

She turned her headed away, showing the unharmed cheek. I let out a sigh and placed a finger under her chin, gently turning her face to look at me. Her eyes were swollen and red. Her cheeks were red, maybe even starting to bruise as the hand prints were vanishing. 

 

I noticed that her tears were starting to form again and she pulled away from me. 

 

"I'm sorry you had to see me like this," she hiccuped. I furrowed my brows and shook my head. 

 

"Don't be," I said and hugged her once again. "I want you to be able to rely on me."

 

She nodded against my chest. I let her go and led her to the bathroom. 

 

"Take a warm bath, then come out. I'll cook you something warm," I said and she nodded. I left her alone and walked to the kitchen with my hands on my hips. 

 

I pulled out my phone and called my lawyer. 

 

"Good evening Myungsoo-ssi. How may I help you?" he answered after the 3rd ring. 

 

"Good evening Mr. Kim," I replied and we eventually talked about Jisu's situation. I wasn't going to involve him; I was only calling about some informations to take legal actions against Madame Jung. 

 

"...please prepare the necessary information and documents by this week, then we'll discuss details later," I said and we ended our conversation. By that time, I heated up some canned soup with my poor cooking skills and she had just finished up clothing herself I'm my clothes. 

 

With her wet hair, I worried she was gonna catch a cold, so I stopped her and headed to the bathroom with her before dinner. 

 

"You should at least dry your hair before you come out," I said and sat her down on the closed toilet. She didn't say anything and continued to lower her head. 

 

I took out the blow dryer and began drying her hair. I took a comb and untangled some strands of hair. It didn't take long for it to become damp, so I left it like that. We then headed back to the kitchen and sat down, silently eating our soup. 

 

"For now," I started to say, not looking up from my soup. "Stay here with me."

 

I heard a little gasp, but it wasn't her usual happy, excited gasp. It was low and worried. 

 

"I'll handle the situation with Madame Ju-"

 

"Please don't!" she pleaded and I looked up to see her eyes moist once again. I set my spoon aside and laid back in my chair, crossing my arms. I waited for her to speak more as her lips trembled, wanting to say more. 

 

"Are you scared?" I asked and after a hesitant silence, she nodded. "Why? She can't hurt you here. I won't allow her to."

 

"But you don't know what she's capable of-"

 

"And you don't know what I'm capable of," I interrupted with a firm tone. I was being serious; I wanted to protect this fragile girl sitting in front of me. I tried to lighten the mood and gave a warm smile. "Let me be your Knight in shining armor, Jisu."

 

She looked up at me with round eyes full of shock. A tear slipped out and I leaned over the table to wipe it away. 

 

"Don't cry," I softly said and caressed her cheek. "Trust me and you'll be able to free yourself from all of this."

 

She swallowed hard and nodded. I smiled and we continued our now cold dinner. 

 

-----

 

Haneul came and picked Miyeon up after her classes were over and asked about Jisu. 

 

"Have you checked up on her?" she asked while putting on Miyeon's shoes. I was reading a book on the couch and shrugged; she wasn't aware of Jisu's presence since I hid her in my room. I'm sure she wanted to hide too, away from the attention of showing her half bruised face. 

 

"Oppa, you should check up on her. I'm really worried," she said with a distress tone. "I've tried calling her and texting her, but I haven't received a single reply or a call back."

 

I sighed and set my book aside to look at her. 

 

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it," I assured her and she gave me a grateful smile. Knowing Haneul, she was very naive and a very caring person, so I knew what I said was good enough for her to stop asking. 

 

I walked them out of the building and kissed Miyeon goodbye, waving to them as they walked away. I let out a sigh and walked back into the building to my apartment when I ran into Gongchan who was about to head out for a night walk with his dogs, Gong and Jolie.

 

"Oh, sorry," he apologized with a bow. I gave him a smile. 

 

"You're fine," I said and petted Jolie, who was the biggest and already at my hands. "Do you always go out for walks this late at night?"

 

He nodded with a soft smile. "Yeah. There's less people out and it's more peaceful that way."

 

I nodded in agreement and looked at him. I noticed that the corner of his lips kept moving as if he wanted to tell me something. I narrowed my eyes slightly, in a curious expression. 

 

"What's wrong?" I asked now moving towards him. He averted his gaze down to his shoes and shook his head to look back up to me with a forced smile. 

 

"It's nothing," he said and bowed. "Well, I'll be taking me leave."

 

I furrowed my brows and my eyes followed him out of the building. I tilted my head in confusion then headed back up to my apartment. 

 

Once I entered, it was silent. I wondered if Jisu had even left my room since. After I took off my shoes and slipped into my slippers, I made my way to my room. I twisted the doorknob and saw the dim light of the tiny lamp in the corner fill up the room. 

 

I saw her fast asleep on my bed, curled up and hugging herself. I felt my heaft clench and I approached her with slow, quiet steps. Once I was standing directly above her, I could see her cheeks swollen and slightly bruised. I sat on the edge of the bed and her cheeks as gentle as possible to not disturb her. 

 

At my touch, she curled up even more and snuggled up against my fingers like a cat. I gave a faint smile at the innocent action and brushed her hair out of her face. I looked at all the features on her face, tracing them along the way and realized how gorgeous she was for a girl who never wore makeup to cover her natural beauty. 

 

My thumb light brushed along her long eyelashes that casted a shadow over her high cheekbones. My fingers traced over her cheek, then down her slim jawline. I made sure to capture all of her features when my thumb suddenly touched her lower lip. I felt my pulse race and couldn't stop staring; her lips were the perfect shade of pink and extremely soft. 

 

She stirred a bit, startling me and so I jumped back a little, bringing my hand back to my side. I gave one last look at her before I whispered, "I'll protect you, I promise. What point would there be, to have a prince who couldn't keep his princess safe, right?"

 

I softly snickered at the last sentence and let her to sleep peacefully in my room. 

 

Morning had come sooner than I expected, but that didn't seem to bother Jisu as she was still in deep sleep. I had to go to work, so I left her a little note on the door of my room then left. 

 

I was walking out of the building when I heard fast footsteps from behind. 

 

"Hyung!" I heard Gongchan's voice and turned around to see him smiling while walking towards me. "Good morning. Are you heading to work?"

 

I nodded and wrapped my arm around his neck, like what a big brother would do to his little brother. 

 

"You're heading to school pretty late, aren't you?" I asked looking at my watch that was dangling from my free hand, but he wasn't going to be late. He nodded and took in a deep breath before breathing out, as if to catch a bit of the morning air. 

 

"Jisu suggested I go to school late to avoid the attention," he said with an innocent smile. "And it's been working."

 

I chuckled a bit when we reached my car. I offered him a ride and he agreed, so I drove him to school. 

 

On the ride there, we talked about various things getting to know one another even more. He was a lot more talkative than I remembered, but that wasn't bad at all. Having him be able to be comfortable around me or at least try, made me happy. 

 

I parked right in front of the school gates and asked him for a favor on behalf of Jisu. 

 

"Can you take notes for Jisu?" was what I had asked. He gave me a confused look with his head cocked to the side. I quickly made an excuse, "knowing her she'd miss class again and I want her to stay on track."

 

He gave it some thought and nodded in agreement. 

 

"Yeah, there are times when she's not present," he snorted into a smile. "I'll take notes for her."

 

"Thanks." I gave a sincere smile and he got out, waving goodbye as I did too. I watched him run inside the school and I let out a sigh wishing I was able to tell him and the others about her current situation. I knew they cared about her a lot, probably even more than I did, but it was information I couldn't release without her consent. 

 

I gave one last breathy sigh and drove to work.