Tiffany didn’t quite believe the bodyguard. Dying for someone was beyond her imagination. Why would anyone give up their life for another? It might make more sense if they were family, like sisters, but she was just a client to the bodyguard. Would Taeyeon really die to save her? Then again, it was easy for the bodyguard to make a promise like that when there was no danger in sight. She couldn’t test it anyway.

“It’s alright if you don’t believe me,” said the bodyguard, smiling as though she could read Tiffany’s thoughts. “You don’t have to. But if there’s danger, trust that I will be on your side.”

“Why would you give up your life for mine?”

“It’s my job to protect you.”

“Don’t you cherish your life?”

“Do firefighters and soldiers cherish their lives?”

Tiffany stared. “Well, yes, of course they do.”

“Well, that doesn’t stop them from dying for a cause. Firefighters die while saving people from fires and disasters. Soldiers die fighting for their country.”

“And you would die to save my life.”

The bodyguard nodded. “It’s my responsibility.”

“Just because my father paid you money.”

The bodyguard’s eyes grew dark and her lips thinned. “You’re very good at insulting people, intentionally or not. I am going to leave, because I might end up punching some sense into you if I don’t. Goodnight, Miss Hwang.”

An inexplicable sense of shame clouded Tiffany’s heart as the door clicked shut. It seemed she had gone too far in cheapening the bodyguard’s honourable dedication to her job. She wanted to apologise but the bodyguard had left the room so quickly that she didn’t even have time to react. Damn the bodyguard and her swiftness. Where did she learn to move like that?

There was nothing she could do now. It was late and Seohyun might come back anytime and the bodyguard might end up punching her if she showed her face again. All the more reason to finish up her supper and get ready for bed. Her apology could wait. The bodyguard would still be here tomorrow. Or would she have quit? No. She wouldn’t be irresponsible like that.

Tiffany picked up another piece of beef with her fork but her appetite had left her just like the bodyguard and the food didn’t look appetising anymore. With a sigh, she put her fork down. Forget it. Just go to sleep. Setting the food tray aside, Tiffany went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She had just changed into her silk slip when the doorbell rang. It must be Seohyun. Didn’t she have a room access card of her own? She must have lost it. Or maybe she was too drunk to find it.

Chuckling to herself, Tiffany walked across the living room to the door and opened it. “Seoh—” Her eyes widened in shock when she realised it wasn’t Seohyun. The stranger pressed a gag over as she opened it to scream and another stranger appeared from behind, deftly twisting her arms behind her. In the span of two seconds or so, Tiffany found herself trapped against the wall, gagged and wrists bound by some kind of cuffs. She heard the click of the door closing and panicked, fearing for her life.

That fear swelled in urgency when she was thrown over the edge of the bed and pressed into the soft mattress. She struggled, kicking out her legs and paid for it with searing pain all over her scalp as one of the men pulled her head up by a fistful of hair.

“Shut up.”

The whispered words of the man only terrified her even more and Tiffany’s eyes refused to open. She screamed, but her cry for help was muted by the gag.

“If you don’t stop screaming,” the gravelly voice growled, “I’m gonna inject you with something you won’t like.”

Tiffany stopped screaming immediately.

“She’s pretty,” said another voice, deeper than the first.

Tiffany flinched as a big hand d her thigh, panic rising anew.

“No time. Hold her still.”

A whimper