Their hands are swinging back and forth, locked in between them. Yunho pulls BoA towards the entrance of the club with a sweaty grip on her fingers, pushing past the mingling, sweaty bodies in the club as he glances around furtively. He feels a tug on his hand but makes nothing of it, just tightening his hold on her own.

His breathing gets heavier and he picks up his pace, eyes pinched at the corner as sweat runs down his face, and it isn’t until BoA stops moving, yanking him back with her, that he finally slows down. “Wait – Yunho, wait, wait one second.”

“Yeah?” He turns around to look at her, taking in the flush in her cheeks and the glow in her eyes.

“Shouldn’t we tell one of them that we’re leaving? Changmin, Siwon? Sooyoung, at the least?” She doesn’t mention Yoona, who is probably off getting piss drunk at the bar with Changmin by her side failing at chaperoning her, and he smiles, slightly, shaking his head.

“They’ll figure it out, it’s – it’s okay. Come on,” and his grip on her hand tightens all the more, but she doesn’t seem to mind, “let’s get going.”

They stumble to the bus stop and wait in the chilly summer night, BoA huddled under Yunho’s arm, and it isn’t until the bus arrives and Yunho shakily makes his way up the steps that the reality of this has hit him all.

He kissed the boss’s daughter. The boss’s daughter. Jaejoong’s fiancée.

His arm drops from her shoulder and he maneuvers his way to the back, sliding into one of the corner seats and only half paying attention when BoA slips into the seat next to his. “Are you feeling well?” she whispers, and she’s still shaking, but he just turns his head away, lips twitching with all of the unspoken rejections he should’ve said earlier, much much earlier. “Yunho?”

The bus lurches to a stop again and a drunk man stumbles on, laughing maniacally and tripping over his own feet as he tries to find enough balance to take a seat. Yunho stiffens and stands up, pushing BoA off to the corner and sitting on her open side so no one can sit next to her.

“Yunho?” she says again, and it’s much quieter this time.

“I’m fine. We need to get you home.”

“I – okay.” She says nothing after that, but Yunho doesn’t pull away when her hand reaches for his, fingers slipping through the empty spaces, cool against his overheated skin.

In his dreams, BoA trembles in his arms. He doesn’t try to shake the thought out of his head.

“Yunho. Yunho, wake up.” BoA shakes at his arm, brushing his hair out of his eyes, and it isn’t until she leans down to whisper in his ear that his eyes finally blink open, soft and innocent and so sad. “Yunho,” she whispers again, “we’ve arrived.”

“Arrived? Where?”

Yunho’s arm stretches out above him and she swallows. “Your apartment. Come on.” She grabs his hand and stands up, motioning to the bus driver who nods sleepily at them, and then drags him off the bus with her. “It’s late, let’s hurry home.”

He follows after stumbling, keeping her close, and they arrive at his apartment in one piece. They walk in slow steps to his apartment complex, one foot in front of the other, hands tight in each other’s, and it isn’t until BoA heaves a loud sigh that Yunho finally says something. “Why didn’t we get off at the stop for your house?”

“No particular reason.”

“BoA…”

She turns to him, smiling despite his confused expression, and holds a finger to his lips. “Ssh. Don’t fret over it. Just… walk with me. Let’s walk home.”

“Home.” The word tastes unfamiliar on Yunho’s tongue and he doesn’t say anything when she pulls her finger away, laughing. “Okay. Home it is.” He drops her hand only to toss his arm over her shoulder, and when he lets the thoughts float away, lets the mob and Jaejoong and Je-chul and all of this, lets it all disappear, it doesn’t feel as wrong. Home. It’s fitting.

Maybe it’s her words, maybe it’s the way she says it, maybe it’s just because it’s her, but Yunho finds himself on top of her in the next hour, letting BoA pepper kisses all over his face. “BoA–" and it’s like that’s the only way he knows how to say her name. When he’s warning her, when he’s reprimanding her. Not like he loves her.

“I know,” she mumbles, and she kisses him anyways, dragging her hands into the collar of his shirt to pull him closer. “I know, just–"

“We can’t,” but he makes no move to stop her, lips against hers, insistent.

“Tonight.” BoA pulls back breathing heavily, and her lips are a deep red, glossed with spit. Yunho runs a thumb across her bottom lip and sighs. “Just tonight, I promise. You can't tell me you don’t want this either.”

Yunho laughs, brokenly, head dropping as he presses a soft kiss across her collarbone. “How could you even ask me that? Of course I want this.”

BoA sighs and pulls his head up to kiss him before pushing his head back down. “Then put your mouth to good use, Jung Yunho."

He exhales softly as his lips find their way down her body, pressing kisses against her neck, down her chest and to her stomach, the ridges of her ribs and the skin of her hipbone, down until he’s breathing against the thin fabric between her thighs. Yunho glances up at her once, then, sees the torn expression in her eyes, how much she wants and how she knows the consequences just as well as he does.

They go slowly, Yunho’s hands on either side of her as he pushes into her later, and her breath is lost in the spaces between his shoulder and his jaw, face pressed into his neck to muffle her moans. Yunho kisses her forehead, her nose, her eyes, the high points of her cheeks and down her jawline, the tip of her chin and the base of her neck, and finally, when he feels himself reaching the edge, presses against a kiss her lips and swallows down her cries.

BoA follows soon after and Yunho collapses down on the opposite end of the bed, but BoA pulls him back towards her. She drapes his arm over her waist and pushes in closer until she’s against his chest, so close that her lips brush over his skin with every slight movement.

She shivers in his arms, pressing her cheek against his chest. “Don’t leave me.”

Yunho sighs and buries his face into her hair, inhaling deeply. He doesn’t know how she could think he could ever leave her.

BoA wakes up to a heavy weight on her chest and a ringing sound echoing through the apartment. She sits up slowly in the bed, blinking slowly, and glances around the room in a futile search. She’s all alone.

The ringing reaches her ears when she finally realizes where it’s coming from. BoA grabs at the telephone on the bedside table on instinct and picks up the receiver, whispering a breathless, “Hello?”

“Hello? Yunho?”

“Ah, no, it’s–”

“BoA?"

The tone is all too familiar, and she swallows, glancing at the bathroom where she hears incessant shuffling. It’s her father. “Yes, Papa, it’s me. How are you?”

“What are you doing at Yunho’s apartment?”

“I–” Her stomach churns and her eyes dart around the room. The shower starts running in the bathroom, and she frowns. “We were running errands, and he had… forgotten something. He asked me to pick up the telephone."

“Ah. I see.” His voice is calm, composed. There is a pause, shuffling on the other end of the line, before he speaks again. “How is Yunho treating you?”

“Fine.” Perfect. She thinks back to the night before, to the hands on her hips and the kisses pressed against her lips, to soft fingers brushing her hair out of her eyes as he pushed into her. Her face flushes and she brings a hand up to her face, feels heat seeping into her skin. “He’s fine, father. Just fine.”

“And you’re liking him as your bodyguard?”

“Yes."

“Well then. That’s nice to hear. And Jaejoong?”

Her mind blanks, and BoA treads over his loud personality and stiff demeanor. “What about him?”

“What do you think of him?” He says it without as much of a pause, as if the answer is right there in front of her. BoA’s not so sure she has the right response.

“He’s… he’s fine, too.”

Her father doesn’t say anything for a while, complete silence on his end, and it isn’t until she is about to speak up again that he finally chuckles. “Wonderful.”

“Did – did you need something, father?”

“Well, I just wanted to inform Yunho that if your errands aren’t too important, I would like you to come have lunch with me for today. You’ve been out so much these past weeks. I missed you.”

BoA opens to respond, smiling, but then the door to the bathroom opens and Yunho steps into the bedroom, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. He scowls when he sees her, and her eyes widen. She averts her gaze when he stares at her blankly, fixing her focus at an empty spot on the wall. “Of course, father. I will tell him."

“Wonderful.” She hers her father murmur something unintelligible, and then, “And bring Yunho with you as well.”

“I–” BoA turns back to Yunho, who has retreated once again into the bathroom, door left wide open. “Of course, father.”

“Excellent. I shall see you then.”

The telephone clicks off and she lets the receiver drop from her hand, clattering against the table loudly. BoA stands up from the bed and grabs at a bathrobe from the floor, making quick move to put it on, before shuffling into the bathroom quietly. “Yunho?”

“I’m changing.” His voice comes out muffled, and then he comes out of the large walk-in closet, dressed more appropriately in a collared shirt and dress pants. His whole body stature is stiff, and his voice is stiff when he speaks. “What?”

“Your – I mean, my father called. He invites us over for lunch.”

His eyebrow raises. “Us?”

“Yes. The both of us.”

Yunho glances at his watch, eyebrows furrowed, and then looks up at her without actually looking at her. “It’s half past twelve. Go get dressed, and we can leave right away.”

“I only have the outfit from yesterday, and I don’t think that would be appropriate for a lunch invitation.”

Yunho tenses, relaxes, and pushes past her all in one move to go to the bedroom. “You have a change of clothes in the room. I kept it with me just in case.” He doesn’t elaborate, just tosses a plastic bag into the bathroom before slamming the door on his way back out.

BoA sighs, grabs the wrinkled bag, and doesn’t hope for the better.

“Come in, come in. Master’s waiting at the table.” Yunho lets BoA go first before following after her as she leads to the way to the table. They arrive in the dining room and Je-chul is sitting at the head of the table, laughing about something with Jaejoong, when he finally notices the two guests.

“Ah, my daughter, Yunho! You’ve arrived. Come, come, sit down.” He makes no motion to stand up, but gestures at the chairs, BoA takes a seat next to Je-chul, and Yunho takes his next to Jaejoong.

BoA stiffens, but says nothing, smiling at her father. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a meal together. What did you prepare for us today?”

Je-chul laughs, putting a hand over hers, but the atmosphere is too tense for anyone to laugh along with him. “Of course, nothing special in comparison to your lovely European cuisines, but hopefully something you’ll enjoy anyways.”

BoA smiles, nods. She glances at Jaejoong, who has his elbows propped up on the dining table casually, as if this is a position he is in all too often. Yunho stays motionless beside him, lips set in a straight line. “Of course, of course.”

The lunch comes out in separate courses, and the whole time her father keeps up simple conversation with her alone, as if they are the only two at the table. Across from her, Jaejoong and Yunho are immersed in their own conversation, Jaejoong animated with his whispered words and Yunho distant in his curt nods and mostly silent responses.

“Me and boss are going to Daegu today,” Jaejoong whispers to Yunho, eyes bright and one side of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

Yunho looks over at Je-chul, who is reliving a story from what seems like BoA’s childhood, and BoA laughing along. “Good for you.”

“I feel kind of sorry that you’re stuck babysitting, while I get to hang out with boss all on my own.”

Yunho snorts. “You don’t sound that sorry.”

Jaejoong hits Yunho in the shoulder, laughing, and it almost feels normal, stress-free, the way Jaejoong falls back into their routine even when they haven’t seen each other as friends in the past couple of weeks. “Don’t be bitter, Yunho. We all know your boss’ favorite.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” When he looks up again, BoA is staring at him, and Yunho swallows, looking towards Jaejoong. “He’s got a kiss on his tail all the time now, I’m sure favorites have changed.”

Jaejoong laughs and punches Yunho again, and he almost feels sorry to have to leave when their lunch ends.

“It was nice catching up with you, Papa,” BoA says, bowing her head at him slightly. “I know Yunho–” she glances over at him, turned towards Jaejoong with his hands in his pockets, “has to finish his errands, so we should head out again.”

“Of course, ma chere.” Je-chul ruffles her hair, smiling, and then nods once at Yunho. “Keep up the good work, Yunho. Your streak is looking good as always.”

“Thank you, sir.” Yunho turns to BoA, who is playing with her fingers and looking at the grown, and smiles softly. "She’s safe with me.”

The ride back to his apartment is completely silent. It isn’t until they are about to pull into the complex parking that BoA stops him, opening . “Can we please get ice cream?”

“BoA…”

“Please?” She turns to him, placing hand on his arm after having avoided contact the whole day, and widens her eyes. “Please?” she repeats. “This is the last thing I’ll ask of you, I promise.”

Yunho sighs, silent, but she knows she’s won when he pulls out of the lot and drives towards the ice cream place nearby, a small shop tucked into the very corner of a line of stores.

They enter quietly, order quietly, and take a seat outside in the summer heat quietly, a small cup of ice cream in hand for BoA and coffee for Yunho.

She pushes her ice cream to the middle of the table and leans forward, elbows on the table and chin resting on her hands. “We should talk.”

“Are you sure you want to do this now?” Yunho leans back against his chair and she frowns.

“If we don’t do this now, we’ll never do it. Tell me what I did to you.”

Yunho sighs. “You didn’t… you didn’t do anything to me, BoA.”

“Then why are you avoiding–”

“Because this is wrong! You and I both know that very well, and we both know who he would like you marry. I’m your bodyguard, BoA, not your play toy for you to release all your ual desires on before you are tied down.”

“Who said I wanted you as my play toy?”

“BoA–”

“Don’t act as if this is all me! I know you like me just as much as I like you, so stop playing this off as if I’m the only one that is at fault.”

Yunho sighs, and it frustrates her how much he doesn’t let out his emotions, how even as something as trivial as an exhale of air seems patronizing when he does it. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t all your fault, it’s just – our lives are at the hand of this. I don’t… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

BoA swallows and reaches towards his end of the table, and when he picks his hand up to twine their fingers together she doesn’t know how she’s ever supposed to stop loving him, him and his condescending manner and his haughty words and his rational thinking. Him and his fears, his soft breaths, his hair in the morning and his droopy eyes at night. She doesn’t know how she’s ever supposed to stop loving him. “I love you,” she whispers, and he smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I love you too.”

“Then don’t leave me.”

There it is again, the break in her voice, and Yunho looks up to meet her eyes for the first time that day. Her lips are curled into a soft frown, eyes glazed over, and he squeezes her hand. “I would never leave you.”

She stands up out of her chair then, leaning forward towards him, and it isn’t until she purses her lips that he realizes what she plans on doing. Yunho scrambles up out of her chair, grabbing the cup of ice cream and shoving it towards BoA. “Not here,” he breathes, and she frowns again but takes the ice cream from him anyways. “When we get back. I promise.”

“Okay. You promised.”

Yunho senses she’s not just talking abo