Keep You Safe was a story about Seungcheol, a VIP whom you were tasked to protect as his secret bodyguard. But what if it was the other way around? You, the most normal out of normals, never thought that you would be of interest to anything or anyone so it was quite a shock to find out that you were being targeted and that you had a secret bodyguard.

“No! Don’t download the app!” your mom exclaimed, grabbing her phone from your hands.

“Mom. I told you countless times already—”

“They can gather information easily through these things,” she said, cancelling the download. “I told you. We’re being watched. We have to be careful.”

You closed your eyes and sighed. It’s one of those moments again. Just when will your mom believe you that downloading a social media app is (to some extent) harmless?

You watched her in silence as she tapped on multiple things on her phone screen, the keypad sounds ‘tacking’ being the only thing you can both hear. She’s been complaining about her Facebook account getting logged out again and again from her browser since yesterday not that it was the first time it ever happened.

“Mom,” you laughed, “we’re nobodies. No one’s interested in us. We don’t have anything that anyone would want to steal or whatever. We’re not important people! Can’t you just let me download the app for you? Then you won’t have to worry about getting logged out all the time.” But your mom merely pursed her lips and silently tapped on her phone, ignoring you.

“Fine,” you said, resigning to your bag and preparing to leave. “See you after class.” You were nearly out of the door when she called out again.

“Honey?”

You looked back. Your mom, phone and Facebook worries now forgotten, had eyes of unease reaching out to you as they always did whenever you left the house.

Her small frame projected the years she spent working inside and outside the home for as long as you can remember. Her eyes were sunken and seem to have seen so much of the world. Her hair was lined with gray and white though not fully. Her skin, though still beautiful, showed that she wasn’t as young as she used to be. You can’t help but wonder again: after all those years of hardship—working in an environment that demanded her time and health, going through loss and through life without a partner—just how much strength did she had in her to raise you, her far-from-perfect child, and care for you alone to this day?

You couldn’t help but smile in admiration towards the hero of your life in front of you, forgetting the worries that she has been trying to make clear time and time again. “Yeah?”

She returned your smile softly but not without the same small pool of unease that formed every time she gave you those eyes. “Be safe.”

“Morning sunshine!” A familiar voice called out from the jungle of a hall you were in and you turned to see your best friend weaving his way through the students behind you.

It was Monday morning. Somehow, the college board of directors thought it would be nice to have the most delightful day of the week packed with classes. No wonder your best friend took some time to catch up to you.

“Hey, Josh.”

Joshua, now walking right next to you, peeked to take a look at your face. “Huh. The sun has a cloud in front of her today. You okay?”

“Well, they did say it’s going to rain today,” you said, avoiding the rushing students coming your way. “I’m…fine.”

“Is it that thing again?”

You shrugged. “Mom…she’s at it again with the whole security thing and being watched by who knows what. And the eyes. The way she looks at me every time I go out just bothers me. It’s as if I’m never coming back, you know? I know it’s nothing but I can’t help but get worried. Josh,” you turned to him, not wanting the words to spill, “do you think…maybe…maybe…”

“—you’re actually a secret royalty living a fake life and now those people looking for you have found you?” he finished with a small grin.

“What kind of—no, ,” you said, hitting him on the shoulder as he laughed. “And if there’s any royalty in this school, it’s you, you know?”

“Am not.”

“Then am I lying Mr. Hong Jisoo who has a bigass family-owned chain of cafes and restaurants all over the state, which, may I remind, Mr. Hong Jisoo hasn’t accompanied me to as of yet as payment for leaving me behind and partnering up with other people for our project in Management class?”

“I told you already, they grabbed me first before I can grab you!” he laughed. “And remind me again later this week, okay? Promise. You can eat whatever you want.”

“See? Royalty.” You smiled in triumph as you arrived at the small auditorium.

But as you sat on your usual seat at the back, a couple of rows away from his, the taste of small victory wore off and your worries started coming in again.

You watched as he sat on the seat next to you, a thing he always does before class. “What if the stress is getting to her?” you started again. “She’s been working nonstop, Josh. My whole life, she’s been working job after job. I have no idea how she’s never gotten sick before but what if…”

You didn’t have the courage to say the words but in reality, they have been swimming in and out of your mind for a while now. Sure, she’s never gotten sick before but you know firsthand how the mind can be a dangerous battlefield.

Joshua sighed and reached out, patting the top of your head gently. “Just try to be there for her, I guess. Listen to her and, I don’t know, just be patient, maybe?” he said with a soft smile.

That’s what you liked about your best friend. Though he was your age, there’s this older brother side to him that you can’t help but be thankful for especially with the garden of anxieties growing in you for the past years. He was like a gardener that helped pull out the weeds for you or with you or at least helped you live with them for a while.

“Uh…”

Your attention was brought to a guy in a blue cap, a classmate, standing behind Joshua. It was your seatmate, a handsome guy who, 40% of the time, was either painfully awkward or painfully talkative with his silent commentaries about class. The remaining 60% would be him trying not to fall asleep. Seungcheol, as you found out after asking him out of concern, was a working student.

Joshua immediately stood up. “Morning, man.”

“Morning,” Seungcheol replied to him before turning to you. “Morning.”

“Morning.”

You both watched Seungcheol as he settled in his seat and put his cap away in his backpack before rummaging for whatever it was. His eyes…were his dark circles always that noticeable?

“Well,” Joshua said, bringing your attention back to him, “let’s talk about it later?” He patted your head a few more times before going back to his seat just as the professor arrived.

You tried not to think too much about what was happening and instead tried to focus on your enthusiastic professor dancing around the board with his Xs and Ys. It was a good distraction too or else your worries would’ve eaten you away, not to mention you would have nothing to answer for your future tests. That and you would’ve noticed your seatmate stealing glances at you with unrest painfully obvious in his eyes.

Was it a good thing or a bad thing? You weren’t sure. But having a discussion about your worries with Joshua after class would have to wait.

“Sorry.”

“I know, I know. Your world needs a superhero and you have to go. Can’t I really go with you, though?” you asked bargaining for the second time. “I could just go and eat chicken while you’re in your meeting. That way your debt would be gone before you know it.”

“What and you get to eat alone? Without me? I need my healing time too, you know?”

“Healing time?” you said with a laugh. “I guess you can call it that.”

It was nearly 5 in the afternoon and the longest day of your week is finally coming to an end with every step you took away from the school.

“But hey, you own the thing,” you continued, now nearing the edge of the campus. “You can eat chicken and have your healing time anytime you want.”

“I can’t, okay? It’s not exactly healing if you’re eating alone. Besides,” he turned back to you with the car behind waiting for him, “you need a friend,” he smiled. “Or else, you’ll binge eat and whine about how your pants won’t fit anymore afterward.”

“You’re such a babysitter. D’you know that?” you asked, rolling your eyes at him.

“Aren’t you grateful?” he laughed before going in. “Chat me up, okay? See ya!”

You forced a small smile and waved as he closed the door, watching the car drive away in silence. It’ll be a few days before you share a class and a schedule with him again. Once more, you were left to your thoughts.

Or so you thought.

The way home was supposed to be a short one but for some ridiculous reason, you had to make it otherwise.

It started a couple of days ago. Almost every day on your way home, there would be this chilly feeling of you being followed. You tried to chase the thought away thinking that it’s the worries and your current ‘mom problem’ getting to you.

You shook your head. Now you’re just getting worried about your worries getting you worried.

But the feeling just won’t go away today. Usually, you would only look behind and see other commuters walking past you, maybe even catching a bus ready to leave from the bus stop, and the feeling would stop. Nothing else would happen after but today was definitely different.

You tried to stick to open spaces, even going to shops and pretending to do something there but even when you didn’t see anyone, it was still disconcerting. It was like having another shadow, apart from yours, but not seeing where it is. And this time, it felt awfully near.

You tried not to hurry, even humming a song to mask your growing fear as you went down the steps to the subway but inside, your chest was pounding and you were about ready to scream in case anything happened.

You turned to the right and dreaded what was before you. You’ve always hated this part of the tunnel. Only a handful of people used it at this hour and it doesn’t help that there was a long way to go until you get to a place with more people.

You took a deep breath and pulled out your umbrella from your bag.

Well, if anyone tries anything, I could at least smack them in the face with this.

With your heart beating fast and your umbrella tightly in your hand, you walked through the tunnel and silently prayed for everything to just be your mind playing tricks on you. It would’ve helped except that there were sounds of footsteps behind you that was not too near yet not far too.

It was off rhythm, you thought, as if trying not to be too obvious.

You heard the man (you assumed it was a man) cough, even talking to someone, maybe on his phone. But as you neared another corner, the footsteps tuned unhesitant and that made you all the more hurry.

Your feet weighed like bricks that you were dragging in front of the other. Chills kept running down your spine and you can tell, sweat was starting to form on your forehead.

Just a little more, you cried inside, willing yourself to make the corner in safety.

A presence hovered by your shoulder,

“Excuse—”

“Hey—ow!”

You caught your scream in your throat just in time for you to realize who you just hit.

“What was that for?” the guy asked, rubbing his left arm. “I told you to wait for me, didn’t I?” he asked, not minding the look of disbelief now splashed on your features.

“Seungcheol?”

“I know my jacket is soft but it still hurts, you know?” he said, still rubbing his arm. But then he looked to his right, just a few feet behind you, adjusted his cap and smiled. It was the same smile he had earlier but even you, who has only exchanged greetings and short comments with him, knew: that wasn’t his normal smile. “May I help you?”

You looked back to who he was talking to and behind you was a man—just as you thought—with a phone in his hand and a look of surprise on his face.

“I—Sorry. I—” he said, his hands animatedly trying to convey whatever he was trying to say. “Is this Exit 3?” he finally asks after a short moment of silence.

“This is Exit 4,” Seungcheol replied with the smile still on his lips. “You should’ve taken the left from the stairs if you wanted to go to Exit 3,” he said, pointing to the end of the tunnel where you came from. He continued to stand there with his smile.

What’s happening? you wanted to ask but you just noticed how heavy your breathing was at the moment.

“Ah. Yes,” the man looked around, a few seconds passing by before he finally turns and walks away.

“Now,” Seungcheol started, once the man was out of sight. He turned to you with the same smile still on his face. “Why did you leave without me, princess?”

“Seungcheol.”

A smile. “Wait.”

“Seungcheol.”

A head shake. “Not yet.”

“Choi Seungcheol.”

He flinched but not without smiling afterwards. “Yes, princess?”

You crumpled your right hand into a fist while looking down at your left hand held captive by the guy walking next to you. “What. the hell. is this?”

Seungcheol continued to make his way through the crowd with you in tow. Since the tunnel incident, he’s had your hand tightly in his. In the subway. Out of the subway. And now in the street. With your legs that almost turned to jelly and your heart trying to keep up with what just happened, it was, at first, a help. But almost half an hour has passed since then and all that he was doing was dragging you along.

“And stop calling me princess. It’s weird.”

“It’s uh…just put up with it for a little longer, okay?”

“Seungcheol.”

“Please?” he asked again, his eyes still busy scanning the way. “Just pretend we’re close friends and don’t mention anything about what happened. Just until I’m sure you’re safe.”

You opened your mouth once more to reply but nothing came out. Did he know?

With that in thought, you allowed him to pull you along a little further in twists and turns until you finally convinced him that your legs were on fine and that you were safe in your own street, now just a little ways from your house.

“Thank you,” you breathed, exhaustion now catching up.

“Don’t sweat it. It—”

You were waiting for him to finish but when you turned to look at him, he just smiled at you, his dimple showing from his cheek.

“How’d you know?”

“Huh?”

“My house.” You stopped right in front of your front yard and nodded towards your humble little place of dwelling.

“I-uh-didn’t?” he answered, his eyes shifting from you to your house behind you. “I was just walking along, tryin’ to feel if we were in the right direction or not,” he explained with a small laugh.

“Sketchy but whatever. Thanks again. We don’t really talk but you really helped me today. A lot. Sorry for hitting you too.”

Seungcheol shrugged as he placed his hands inside his pockets. “It’s fine.” He bit his lower lip and the look of concern was back in his face. He bounced on his feet before nodding towards your house. “You should go in.”

Just then, the screen door opened and you heard what would be your mother walking towards you. “Honey? What is this?”

“Mom. I—”

“Seungcheol?”

“A man—” You blinked. You took a second to think if you heard her right. “You know him?” you asked, watching your mom stare at your classmate.

Again. It’s those eyes again.

Seungcheol stepped forward. “I—”

“A man? She wasn’t harmed, was she? What happened?”

“Mom, what are you—Seungcheol’s a friend from school. He helped me today—”

“Did they approach her? Seungcheol, did they try to get near her?”

Your eyes switched from your mom with her hand now tightly holding your arm and to Seungcheol who looked weirdly defeated. “Mom. What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol finally answered, briefly glancing at you before looking straight to your mother. “One of them got too near her in the subway. I had to step in. I’m afraid I may have just confirmed their speculations.”

You watched the color from your mom’s face get drained and you could just feel her grip losing strength. “Mom,” you said, your hand quickly supporting her by the shoulder. “What is going on?”

You turned to Seungcheol who was just looking at you in silence. “Can either of you please tell me what the hell is going on?” The heart in your chest pounded and you found yourself unable to speak any more.

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol finally said, bringing you back to your senses. “I’m sorry you’re now in this kind of situation. You shouldn’t be. But there’s no turning back now.”

“What situation? Turning back from what? Seungcheol. What’s happening? And who…are you?”

Maybe it was the desperation in your voice or the unknown tears that were starting to form but his hand that was about to reach for your hand withdrew immediately. Seungcheol looked crestfallen.

Your heart still hasn’t calmed down and you doubt that the answer to your question will help it to be. Nonetheless, you had to know.

Seungcheol took a deep breath and looked you straight in the eye. “I’m your bodyguard, y/n and I’m here to keep you safe.”