“Where’s Min Hee?” Changmin asked SongSun as he looked at him through the mirror. With one hand, he brushed off the imaginary dusts on his shoulders and continued to examine his reflection for a while longer.

“Milady is at the back garden, playing with Pooka, Milord,” SongSun informed.

Changmin nodded in comprehension and fixed his hair one last time before making his way downstairs. It has been nearly two weeks since he was shot and the wound has been healing pretty well, however, it wasn’t enough to convince Min Hee that he was ready to go on missions again.

Only a few nights ago did Changmin intentionally asked for Min Hee’s permission to let him work. He knew that Min Hee wouldn’t let him and he wasn’t planning to push her. But circumstances are making him very impatient and he thought he could go crazy, so he pleaded, and she finally gave in. It hurt him to see her sad, but her reluctance did made him smile. She cared for him…

“Min Hee baby~” Changmin sang as he walked down the stone steps towards the fountain where Min Hee was sitting with a dog at her feet, wagging its tail lazily.

She looked up and smiled, but Changmin could tell that it was forced. Min Hee was beyond worried.

“You’re leaving now?” she asked softly which Changmin nodded at. “When will you be back?”

Changmin hesitated for a while, “I don’t know yet.”

The look on her face itself made his heart sank. His arms instinctively reached out for her and he hugged her closely, feeling each other’s comfortable warmness in the cold morning breeze. He wanted to take her worries away, and with that he needed to come back in one piece, unscratched.

Min Hee then slipped her arms under his ed jacket and she could feel the stiffness of the bullet-proof vest. Her hold on his waist tightened as she tried to remove all negative thoughts from her mind.

“Be safe…” she whispered.

He pulled away reluctantly and pecked her lips. “I’ll be back soon,” he said simply and walked away, a couple of black-suited men followed suit. Min Hee could tell that it still pained him to walk.

As his figure started to disappear, she sat back down at the edge of the fountain and stared at Pooka. Her vision suddenly blurred.


*FLASH*

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” he asked me for the umpteenth time and my reply was still the same.

“I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’ll be completely alone,” I assured softly, referring to the servants, maids and the guards at the entrances. He only looked at me as I fixed his jacket and smoothed out the wrinkles on his shoulders. “Take care of yourself, arasseo?”

He forced up a smile and held onto my hand to get my full attention. “You take care… I’m going to worry about you every second.”

“Yah, Shim Changmin. It’s only going to be a few days.”

“I know,” he spoke softly and looked directly into my eyes, reaching to my soul, “But I just have this weird feeling that something is going to go wrong.”

His reasons amused me. He had always been very smart, and to think that he could actually figure out the reasons for my hidden smile is just very exciting. But I doubt