It was the next tomorrow after the incident when Daehyun decided to talk about it with you. He had been keeping it for a long time and he knew it wouldn’t be good for the both of him and you.

He really needed to talk to you about it as soon as possible. It had been killing him to continuously bottle up his feelings and everything. He felt bad whenever he saw you; who was also waiting for the right time for his explanation.

“That’s all for today, class. You can go to break now,” the teacher announced before leaving the class; followed by the students who seemed so hungry.

You were putting the books under your table when you felt a cozy presence next to you. You looked up to find Daehyun with his usual cold face but it wasn’t that cold today; it seemed like he was in lots of thought. You waited him to speak first.

“Do you have some time to spare?” he asked casually.

Since you didn’t really eat during break, you nodded your head at him, “Maybe. Why?”

“Maybe this is the right time to talk about it,” he mentioned.

You thought for a few seconds before giving him another small nod, “Sure.”

Eunji; who had been watching cleared and looked at the both of Daehyun and you, “I think it’s better for me to go. Solve your problems wisely, okay,” she gave one last smile before dashing out from the classroom.

Daehyun pulled a chair nearby your place and sat down as he started, “So, where do you think I should start?”

You looked quite shock at his question. You didn’t think he would be this opened up and thought he would have asked you to start first.

He snapped his fingers in front of you when he realized you were having a shocked face, “Hey. Is there anything wrong?”

You blinked your eyes at him and answered, “N-No. Never mind about me. You can start at wherever you feel comfortable with,” you genuinely told him.

He clucked his tongue and nodded, “Maybe I should tell why I did it in the first place, I mean disguising. Yes, that secret warrior of yours is actually me; Jung Daehyun. The one that had saved you numerous times, it had always been me; Jung Daehyun that appeared to be cold towards people and even you. Do you know why I become your savior? It’s because I want to protect you in whatever consequences you are in; I want to let you know that I’ll always be there to save you. I thought it’s the only way that I can show my protective side to you without really showing myself. I’m afraid if you’ll grow scared.”

You threw him a confused look on your face, “But why? I mean why would I be scared? And why do you want to protect me when I’m not even that special for you,” your voice slowed down nearing the end of your sentence. To be honest, you were so excited at the fact that he wanted to protect you. But why would he?

“I just didn’t want you to be shocked…”

“Well, I am shocked already,” you rolled your eyes. Realizing that your sentence had cut him off, you gestured him to continue.

“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to find out in such ways. I wanted to tell you in the right time but I couldn’t find the most right timing and you ended up suspecting it from my stupidity. Back to your question, wouldn’t you be astonished when the one who had been acting cold and ignorant towards you suddenly shows up to protect you? I mean, how ironic that is?” he chuckled softly.

“It’s true. So that’s why you decided to be a masked man and made me look so stupid for not recognizing you when you only covered your mouth and nose? But I still don’t get it. Why would you want to protect me?” you demanded since you had been curious about it.

He grew silent for a while as his eyes wandered around. He suddenly grew nervous. Should he say it to you now? But how would he say it?

“B-because I feel like I have to protect you,” he answered spontaneously.

“You feel like? How am I supposed to understand that?” why would he feel he had to protect you? That was just weird.

“I want to protect you. A big part of myself told me to protect you, to always stay right by your side. I feel like it’s one of the things that I can do for you even without showing myself. I’m satisfied to be able to protect you even though you don’t acknowledge me as Jung Daehyun and someone mysterious instead. I’m doing it for myself, for you and most importantly, for us,” he stopped as his eyes gave a tender gaze at you.

You looked at him back with pounding heart. You felt the warmth and protected feelings under his gaze. You couldn’t reply anything to him at the moment because you were too astonished.

With a deep breath, Daehyun began, “Do you know why I want to protect you real bad? It’s because I l—,” his voice dropped abruptly at the sudden ring of his phone. He took it out from his pocket and stared at the number on his phone screen before deciding to answer it.

“Hello, yes it’s Daehyun speaking,” you realized he was using an unfriendly tone when he spoke on the phone.

As you looked at him, tension was shown in his expression as he listened to the caller’s before his expression changed panic as he said, “I’ll be coming soon!” he quickly put his phone in his pocket.

“What happens, Daehyun?” you asked in worry. You had forget your earlier conversation with Daehyun after seeing his panicky face.

“My father is hospitalized! I need to go right now. Can you tell the teacher that I won’t be present in next classes for today?” he asked for your help.

Your eyes went round as you nodded, “You should go now, I’ll tell the teacher that you need to leave.”

He took his bag and just before he left, he thanked you, “Thank you, Jinae. I really appreciate that,” and his figure was completely gone from your sight.

“I hope his father will be okay and he won’t be worried much too,” you hoped. But then something just hit you right on your heart.

“Well , I had a fight with my da… Oh wrong , I mean my caretaker.” He answered you as he clenched his fist.

“Caretaker? What about your dad? Did he…” You bit your lips.

“Yes , he is dead too.” Daehyun replied without hearing you finishing your question. He didn’t want to think about his father anymore.

You paused momentarily. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ask you such question. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” You apologized.

“Don’t be. I’m glad if he’s actually dead though.” He mumbled the last part.

“Excuse me?” You blinked as you didn’t hear him well. You saw Daehyun was shaking his head, assuring you that it was nothing important.

You slightly nodded but your curiosity was building up. “Did you visit your father’s grave just now?” Once again, Daehyun shook his head to your question.

“His grave is in Japan. He was killed when he was having some business affair in Japan three years ago.” Daehyun lied. He could see how shocked you were.

“K-Killed?! In Japan? I’m sorry once again.” You took a look on his face but all you could see was his coldness. “It’s okay. Beside I’m not that close with my father so yeah.”

The memory of Daehyun and you when you two were in Busan replayed without you wanting to. You didn’t realize when your eyes started to grow watery as you sat down on your chair before burying your face in your arms.

“Jung Daehyun, why do you have so many secrets and lies?”