"Look Marilyn I know this doesn't look right-"

"It's looks totally perfect to me. My best friend, my suppose to be killer and his friends. Makes perfect sense don't you think"

"You wouldn't listen!"

"I see why I don't! You know what? I don't even care so what if this is the end of me, Xiumin what do you want?" Once frozen solid across the room staring blankly at me xiumin finally came to life. Sitting on the couch and gesturing for his friends to join he began talking.

"We weren't invited. We just showed up and your friend-"

"Ginger"

"Your friend Ginger"

"No just Ginger"

"Oh well Ginger here let us in. Marilyn I'm not here to annoy you or stalk you I'm really trying to protect you. I don't think Gallister has accepted this whole "Marilyn is dead thing". I mean he's really taking the fact that your crew crashed his party to heart and the idea that you survived his assassination attempt is sending him over the edge. I just want to be here for you because you're a good girl and you know it. We are with you not against you. We just want to protect you"

I'm so sick of all this talk about what needs to be done to protect me. I don't need to be protected, I can take care of myself. I've been doing so ever since I entered Cloud 9 and years before that. I don't need some random guy coming into my life and telling me I need him. Especially since all of a sudden he wants to protect me from his boss. I turned my seething eyesight toward Ginger, who coward under them. I was seconds away from reconsidering our whole entire friendship. I've known her since middle school and it's hard but not impossible that she could turn her back on me. I mean she was held captive for a long enough period of time and what if they brainwashed her to join forces with xiumin. She sided with him pretty easily and trust him more than she does me. 

I walked away from the crowd and onto the balcony into the open fall air. I had my back towards the questioning gazes behind me. I controlled my breathing as so they wouldn't notice my hiccup like movements as I let streams of tears fall down my face. Never in my life had I ever for a moment regretted working for Cloud, but at what was cost will I continue dealing with this. I can't see my family so they won't be put in danger, I'm paranoid out my mind, and honestly my chances of dying at any moment is pretty damn high like ALL THE TIME. I don't know how much longer I can take this kind of stress and danger. Maybe I could take some kind of paid leave. I subtly wiped the tears from my eyes as I heard the approaching footsteps; I prepared myself for another argument with Ginger.

"Don't you think it would be safer if you thought inside" it was a male voice; xiumin. I turned toward him staring into his eyes. I can't lie his brown eyes are mesmerizing and a part of me longs to see them again. His eyes looked genuinely filled with worry, but then again I learned how to do the same thing in drama class.

"Well don't you think it's a little amateur for you to be standing on the baloney with your boss mortal enemy. Someone can snap a picture for later blackmail use." He walked up next to me and leaned across the balcony. His arm touched me sending sparks up the right side of my body. I moved with a quickness sending a chuckle from xiumins mouth. 

"Your not his mortal enemy, which gives him more of an incentive to off you. He doesn't want anyone to know some random escaped him. Though you wouldn't have if I wasn't-"

"Okay where are you getting at?! You mention being my "hero" any chance you get. Are you hinting that I should be more grateful or something?" I moved away from him and started pacing back and forth. Xiumin turned toward me.

"No. But let's get down to business. The reason that I am here is because I want to protect you. Gallister hasn't forgotten about you and if you wanna survive long enough for him to get sidetracked with something else then you're gonna need me for quite a while."

"I'm gonna need you?" I let out a sigh of disbelief. Walking over to tans face to face with xiumin "how convenient is that. Instead of stalking and following me around, now all off a sudden I need you close to me? How cute what's next xiumin you wanna move in with me?" His cheeks turned a slight rosy color as he darted his eyes around me. He took in a sharp intake of breath starting to speak before being caught off by me again.

"Are you usually this pathetic to a girl you never really met? All of this, the following, the lies, the desperation, just to get close to me. It's not even flattering it's jut plain annoying and another thing what makes you think I find you attractive like-" In the middle of my little rant, Xiumin stood up straight and walked back into the living room leaving me outside in the chilly winds by myself. I stood starting into the building watching him talk to his little comrades before they all made their way out of my apartment all together. I walked inside to a sullen Ginger.

"Do you want to join them?" She didn't answer back and instead left into the kitchen to make herself something to drink.

I headed straight to bed sleeping off the rest of the entire night and the whole Xiumin situation. I know he led randomly because he was embarrassed and although that wasn't my essential goal, what had to be done had to be done.

I woke up the next morning with a new outlook on life. No more hiding in my condo, now I was gonna enjoy the little rest of my "vacation", because now I was ready to be reunited with my family. The house was quiet, no Ginger in sight. It wasn't abnormal for us to argue but somehow I felt this time was a little different and would take a while for things to simmer down. Anywho I spent the next day ignoring the subtle ankle pains as I visited as many stores in the mall as I could making only a couple of stops to get my eyebrows waxed, a mani/pedi and to refresh my hair. It was a day of total relaxation. I took a can home, half expecting Ginger to be waiting for me which is why I kinda sorta bought her some items to quicken the "I'm not talking to you" stage we are at right now. 

I stepped out of the cab making my way to my place, hands filled with bags. I was almost to the entrance when I felt a horrible sting to the back of my head. Everything went black.

I awoken, a mysterious amount of time later, to a scene straight out of an action movie. A bunch of bulky men were going at it punching and kicking one another to a bloody pulp. I looked to the left of me, a stick lay next to me, a un identifiable liquid covered it. I Laid on the ground watching the scene until it looked like one side had came out victorious. They took a moment to regain their composure before spraying the faces of the defeated men. 

"That'll leave them clueless" one guy commented before instructing the others guys to get rid of the bodies. Another guy, clothed in all black approached me and picked me up to my feet, my head throbbing something serious. A different guy gather my personal belongings. The walk back to my place was cold and silent as I recounted these crazy moments. The moments that continued to remind me that I was far from having a normal life. We reached my door. Xiumin sat at my door drinking something hot from a mug, my mug. Without warning he jumped up to his feet grabbing me into a hug. I stood staring forward for quite a while before giving up and laying my head on his shoulder. Taking in what all of this actually meant. 
 
This boy. Xiumin. The "son" of the man trying to kill me. Just saved my life AGAIN. 

I need him.