I listened to my grandmother telling me about the thugs that were disturbing her shop days ago. I went out of town for two days and came home seeing all the broken vase my grandmother and I spent hours making.

It was only my grandmother and me that were living together in the city. I lost my parents in a car accident when I was a child and my grandmother took care of me since then. 

“I'm going to pay those heads a lesson! Ow!” I whined when grandma spanked me on the head. I thought she was still in the kitchen seconds ago, how could she hit me so fast without me noticing it? “What was that for?” 

“Look who's talking? If you didn't go with your friends, this wouldn't have happened! Aigoo! You're giving me pain in the neck-” she said and held her neck. I got up and immediately held her and led her to the chair. “Get me some tea,” 

“Yes,” I nodded and went to the kitchen to get her a briskly hot green tea. “Careful, grandma,” I said as I gently placed the cup on the table.

“I promise. I will do something with those thugs,” I assured her but she looked at me as if she doesn't believe me. “Trust me?” 

“If you could stay here with me and forget about your dream for a while, that will put me to ease,” she said and leaned comfortably on the cushion I made for her chair.

“I will grandma,” I said despite how hard it was for me to take a pause for a while in reaching my dreams.

Later that night, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go out for a walk. I brought my small sling bag, phone and earphones plugged in my ears. I was listening to some of the calming music while I take a walk. What grandma said about the thugs kept me awake. I don't understand why they suddenly showed up. We didn't even owe them anything. Could it be my parents had some business with them before they died? Or could it be my grandma was an ex-thug lord? Or could they be taking interests in our shop? House?

“HEY!!” I heard someone shouted but it was vague that I thought it was just my mind playing games with me when I saw a bright light shone right behind me and a man running towards me with a face that seemed to have seen the face of death.

In a matter of seconds, I heard the truck held into a screeching stop and I found myself lying on the cold paved road and a man holding me close to his chest. I stopped. Shocked. For it was my first time to have a guy hugged me like this.

The truck driver got out and helped us got up from the road. He apologized but he was still mad because I was not looking on my way and that I should have heard his truck blew its horn.

I apologized to the driver as well. I believe I'm the clumsiest person in this world that even my grandmother thought of throwing me into the river when I was young. 

When the driver left, I turned back to the man who saved me. But when I thought I will be the one surprised to see him, the man looked at me as if he'd seen a ghost. “Thank you for saving me a while ago. I really owe you big time,” I dipped my head but then he was still quiet and looked at me in horror. “Uhm?”

“Sulhee,” I said. “Kim Sulhee,”

Now that I have noticed. He looked like a gangster. He wore a leather jacket, black tight pants, he even owned a huge bike and he looked really badass with his hair styled in such a y bad way. The , Sulhee.

Even I told him my name, he didn't say something at all. Instead, he ignored me and walked to his bike.

“Eh? He is so odd.” I said to myself and shrugged about him too. But then I decided to go back home because grandma might have been looking for me.

But that guy kept me awake the whole night. It felt like I've seen him somewhere. Is it in the club? School? If it was just nothing, I would have ignored it. But there was a strong feeling inside of me that I've seen him somewhere. 

“Grandma, do I have a lost sibling?” I asked in the morning while having a veggie omelet and buttered toast for breakfast. My grandma was spraying water to her mini herb pots that kept her healthy for years.

“Have you been drinking? The answer is no,” she said before putting the spray can to the sink and seated beside me. “What's the matter?”

“Nothing. Well, I just saw someone last time. I didn't know him but he looked familiar,” I said as I re-imagined the guy’s face that night. He was handsome, mischievous, but lost. There was something in his eyes: he was longing for something so important. “Could it be someone in my past life?” I grinned but then again my grandmother never believed in such stories of having a past life. 

The store we owned was only in front of our house and that we just set a table to display our pots and vases to sell. And just as we were about to start our money-making, the thugs arrived in a group. I knew the moment grandma ran to my back and handed me a kitchen knife to scare the thugs away.

“Oh, it's Sulhee~” the rough looking men came to coo at me with their devilish smiles and bearded faces. Their exposed arms covered with dragon tattoos and very strong words that could really scare people like grandma. But hell no, they aren't scaring me. 

“What do you want?” I said as I quickly aimed the knife at the person who took a step forward to me. “Don't get close or I'll-”

“Or you'll what?” He spat and I winced when he swiftly grabbed the knife from my hand and threw it away. “Gonna hurt me with that puny kitchen knife?”

The thug who I don't know the name moved closer to me and reeked of cigar smoke and alcohol. So I pushed him away before I could die in gas poisoning from his mouth. “Get away from me!” 

“I told you, boss! She will not like you!” One of them laugh, but the one whom they were calling ‘boss’ was just looking at me with an unamused smirk then he simply turned to our table and wiped the vases on display off the table breaking all the work we have done.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I yelled as I began to scream for help when they entered our house but all the passersby just watched us as if we were like a movie scene where the thugs destroy a poor girl’s life for fun.

“What do you guys want?! We don't owe you something!” I yelled again almost in tears as I held grandma close to me.

“Hey, pay the loan you old hag- or we'll make a living with your grandchild,” the boss said with a smirk.

“What loan are you talking about?” I asked having no idea what was going at all. The boss just ignored me but I was too curious to just ignore that, so I grabbed his shoulder but he suddenly yanked my wrist and pushed away. I fell so hard on the floor and I cut myself with the broken vases around. Then a loud strong shout from one of the thugs appeared and he seemed to be in so much pain that he collapsed on the floor, revealing the person who hurt him.

“The are you?” The boss snapped at the man whom I immediately remembered at first look. He was the same guy who saved me last night. He looked so scary standing quietly on his ground. His hands slowly clenched into balled fists before he lifted his head and gave the thugs a deadly look, specifically the boss. This man had the scariest and deadliest look I have ever seen in my life. Totally different from what I remember from him last night.

Then all of the sudden ones of the bravest thugs came running to attack the man with a baseball bat but the dark knight… 

My dark knight since I don't know his name, quickly blocked the thug's attack by holding his arms and twisted it like a pretzel, then gave him a strong jab on the chest that caused him to stumble back to where he came from. The next one came out with a brass knuckle but my dark knight flew into the air and gave him the most awesome high-kick that I have ever seen. There left the boss shaking in fear as if he was now facing death himself.

“The boss, huh.” My dark knight finally spoke and his voice was oozing with charisma that I was in my dreamland for a moment. “You ing stole my bike and now you ing want to attack me?” 

“Don't know what you're talking about-” the boss stopped when my dark knight placed a knife on his neck.

“Where is my bike?” 

“At the back…” The boss shivered almost crying.

“Pay for what you break,” the dark knight said glancing at me before he looked at the man. “Or I'll cut your head off with this puny kitchen knife,”

“Fine! Damn it!” The boss pulled out the crumpled money from his pocket and threw it to me before he and his gang scrammed away. There was a heroic applause from the ‘movie watchers’ when the thugs disappeared. I gave them angry looks just to remind them that they didn't help grandma and me earlier.

“You alright?” I paused when I heard my dark knight spoke to me for the first time. He looked so handsome during the day and he never looked scary if I look closely at him.

“Y-yeah, I am. Thanks-” I paused when he walked past by me and went to my grandma and helped her up. “Oh, it's grandma… I thought it was me.” I said to myself out of e embarrassment. 

He led my grandma inside to rest and went back outside. He found me picking up pieces of broken vases and stood there for awhile before he grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I was about to fight back when I saw his eyebrow bleeding.

“Oh, God! You're hurt!” I gasped and was about to touch his wound when I saw my own hand bleeding as well. “My God! My hands are bleeding!” I panicked and immediately washed my hands inside and grabbed a clean kitchen towel and wrapped my wounded hand with it before I went upstairs to get the first aid kit. I went back outside and saw other people helping grandma clean the mess and my dark knight standing idly on the ground, the exact place where I left him a while ago.

Without any hesitation, I grabbed his wrist and started dragging him somewhere where he and I could be at least comfortable with each other. It'd be awkward if grandma watches me clean his wound.

I led the man to the place where a few people would go to. A very old shrine, it's already closed but the ambiance of it is comfortable. There was an elevated concrete on the side, it was high enough to sit on so I made him sit there before I placed the kit beside him.

“Do you know me?” I asked him and he just looked at me with his clear brown eyes. He looked like he had been sleepless and troubled for so many nights yet manages to break those thugs’ bones. He looked at me for a while before saying a short ‘no’. “Really? I feel like we've met before,” I smiled and he surprisingly smiled back.

“I'm Kim Sulhee,” I said and extended my hand towards him. He got up and his height towered upon me, making me feel so short then he grabbed my hand and shook it. 

“Jungkook,” he said.

 

 

***

 

 

After that day, Jungkook has been part of our small family. My grandma was happy to have a man in the house. It has been a long time since my father died and my grandma has b