My first reaction was: Wait, what?! Since when did Leo care about me...at all. It was almost like by spending some time with Ji, I opened my eyes to realize how much of a douche Leo was. I was done with being sad and depressed because of him. And I would most certainly not quit my job for an idiot, especially when that job involved a very y male.

“Leo…I won’t quit my job. You should know that.” I said, my voice turning colder by the minute.

“Oh yes you will. I make the decisions in this relationship, not you. You will come back tomorrow, am I making myself clear?” he said, starting to yell, again.

I actually laughed. How could have I been this stupid to not notice how much of a he was?! I got so angry that I exited my room, slamming the doors behind me.

“Now you listen to me. You do not own me, I am not yours. I make the decisions that concern me and my life. You have no power over me. That being said, I want to say another thing. Go yourself, we are over.” And I hung up. Usually girls cry after breaking up with their boyfriends, but wanna know what I did? I laughed. I felt happy and free for the first time in 3 years. No more bull. No more boyfriends that act like they are constantly on their PMS. And most certainly no more drama.

Turning around I saw Ji, leaning on the door frame, looking at me, with a small smile playing on his lips. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I could see all of his tattoos and muscles. That was enough to make me forget about Leo entirely.

“Want to talk about it?” he said, the small smile widening after seeing my reaction to his body.

“Sure, just put on a shirt first. You are distracting me too much.” I said jokingly, and while he went to his bedroom to do that, I called Lilly.

“This better be good.” I heard her grumpy voice and immediately smiled.

“Lilly, I broke up with Leo.” Before I even finished I heard her scream from happiness.

“Finally! Okay, I’ll make you tell me all the details later, but what do I need to do now?” I could almost hear the concentration in her voice.

“Can you please take all of my stuff out of the house and put it in a storage unit or something?”

“I’ve got you babe.” We both laughed and hung up.

I loved it how we both understood each other so well, that I didn’t even need to tell her what I thought or felt, she already knew.

I felt somebody’s hands on my shoulders, and knew that it was Ji. I knew that not only from the fact that we were alone in the apartment and I had so many alarms installed that it was pretty much impossible to get in, but also because the moment he stepped closer to me I was wrapped in his scent. Cologne, cigarettes, and something completely Ji. I smiled to myself, letting him hug me. I kind of felt like just for tonight I could drop my guard and let him in.

“You know, you can stop hugging me now.” I said, still resting my head on his chest.

“But I don’t want to.” And with that he gently kissed my neck and I melted into his arms, letting him, for once in my life, have complete control over me.

I laughed so he didn’t sense my shivers from being in his strong arms. Finally he stopped hugging me, and instead took my hand and led me to the couch. We sat next to each other, and for the first time in ages, somebody asked me how I was doing.

“I mean, correct me if I’m wrong but you just broke up with your boyfriend, and you are looking pretty happy about it too, so I just, you know, wonder how you felt.” Ji explained and I couldn’t help but smile. He actually wondered how I felt! I haven’t had a male ask me that…ever.

“Well, me and Leo, our relationship was very complicated. At first he was the perfect boyfriend, but as time passed he…changed. Because of my job, I hang out with a lot of guys, but Leo never trusted me enough and always though I was cheating on him. He would always yell at me, and accuse me of being a ‘dirty, lying ’. I just let him do that, because I loved him more than anything. But after I came to Korea, and spent some time away from him, I realized that I really didn’t want to put up with his bull anymore. And when he asked me to quit my job, I-I kind of lost it. Sorry for all the noise.” I said and laughed when he hugged me.

“You are the strangest girl I have ever met in my life.” He whispered, and at that moment I thought he would try to kiss me, but instead he lightly pecked my cheek, and stood up.

“Come on, pretty girl, let’s go to sleep.” And instead of going back to my room, I followed him to his bedroom. I laid next to him, and listened to his heartbeat.

I knew I was doing something against the rules, becoming emotionally involved with a client, but I couldn’t help myself, I was drawn to him. Right before falling asleep, a last silly thought floated through my mind: at least now, I was physically protecting him while he slept. Nothing could happen to him while I laid next to him.

My alarm was ringing in the kitchen, and for once I wanted some superpowers to turn it off without having to peel my eyes open. I was warm and comfy, in my bed, in Ji’s arm-Hold up a minute! In Ji’s arms? In his bed? . My eyes opened like somebody pinched my , and I was out of his arms in a flash. I didn’t want to distance myself from him, but we were dangerously too close to each other, both emotionally and physically. I had let my guard down, and stopped being professional, and if I wanted to do my job and protect him, I needed to stop doing what I had been doing for a while now. You know, no flirting, hugging, kissing, etc.

With a heavy heart I stepped away from the bed, and sleeping Ji, and went to the kitchen to turn my phone off. I looked at my phone and saw that I had at least 10 missed calls from Leo.  Can he just crawl back to the hole he came from?

With a sigh I went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. As the warm water poured over my tensed body, and steam filled the room, I had this bad feeling in my stomach that something would go wrong today. I went quickly over Ji’s schedule today in my head, but he was only scheduled to be in the studio. I tried to shake the feeling off, and as I went to shampoo my hair once more I heard somebody clear their throat. In the bathroom. With me. But before I could even panic, I heard Ji’s calming voice.

“Relax babe. I’m just here to ask why you ran way like the bed was on fire.” I gulped as I watched his figure through the blurry shower doors. Really, God? I would have to do the talk in here? ?

Taking another deep breath I spoke, my voice trembling just a bit.

“Ji…thank you for yesterday but we ca-“ he cut me off, his voice betraying just a tad bit of hurt.

“But we can’t do that again, right? I-I understand…you are my bodyguard and I am your client. I’m sorry I made this more difficult for you.” He didn’t sound pissed off or angry, but I could sense that he was controlling his voice. I didn’t want to hurt him any more than what I already did.

“I-I’m sorry, Ji…”

“Don’t worry about it babe, you’ve got a job to do and all that good stuff.” I saw through the steam his sad smile, and as a tear slid down my face, he exited the room.

The moment he closed the doors behind him, I broke down. I placed my hands on the glass doors, my head down, and started crying. I think not even the water could muffle my sobs.

It took me 10 minutes to calm down, and another 10 minutes to muster up the courage to exit the bathroom.

 I tiptoed through the hallway and passed the dining area where Ji was sitting, busily writing something into a small notebook. He raised his head when he heard me approaching, and I saw the worry pass his face as his eyes landed on my puffy eyes.

“Did you get the shampoo in your eyes again?” he asked me and I knew that was his way of clearing the air of any awkwardness and at the same time asking me if I was okay.

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine.” I said, smiling sadly. He nodded and I resumed the journey back to my room. I guess to do my job properly, I needed to make some sacrifices. My relationship with Ji was one of them.

I dressed casually, but because of the feeling earlier I still strapped my gun to my ankle.

Ji smiled a bit when he saw it.

“What, somebody will try to kill me today?”

“You never know…” I whispered as we exited the apartment.

And for most of the day everything went smooth. We got to the studio unharmed, Ji made Ri repeat his lines 20 times, making everybody laugh as Ri had a little drama attack because his big hyung was teasing him, and the day went on, everything looking harmless.

It was already 10 pm when Ji finally decided that the day was over. He and the boys had Inkigayo tomorrow and needed to rest. I escorted them to the garage, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements in the shadows.

We just reached Ri’s car when I noticed somebody moving in the shadows, and when I saw that somebody pull out a gun, the last thing I could do before I heard the gun fire was to yell:

Down!