The sound that was supposed to come out of my mouth in the form of a scream had been reduced to a simple gasp as Woo choked a bit as he hunched forward, closer to me. However, suddenly, some rage had appeared in his eyes he had managed to jam the side of his fist square into Nichkhun’s face, the other hand roughly pulling out the knife from the injured area. I couldn’t help but just be shocked as a small amount of blood had literally spurt out, and then more started dripping.

“W-Wooyoung-ah...” I managed to say in barely a whisper.

He turned to me...grinning like the dorky idiot he was. “Young miss...” he began, finally undoing the chains that had secured me to the bed with the bobby pin from earlier. “The police should be here any minute, so you can relax...now...”

...And he fainted, his body collapsing right on top of me.

“Wooyoung-ah! ...Wooyoung-ah!” I started shaking him, not even bothering with the fact that my hand was now completely stained red with blood from holding onto Woo’s wounded area, but it was useless.

For the next several days, my loving bodyguard remained in the hospital. I visited him as often as I could, but half the time he was knocked out, mouth hanging open as he slept...with the aid of drugs, of course. Both Junsu and Jin dropped by (holding hands, I noticed; still reeling from that bit of cuteness, but that story can be covered another day) to pay their respects. I even spotted Young Bae and the other oppas of his stupid group of friends (everyone called Big Thump or Big Crack or something like that) leaving his room with solemn expressions.

My mother and father broke the engagement with Nichkhun after they found out he had been taken into police custody for aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted , ual harrassment, etc. I felt extremely loved when my dad delivered the news to the bastard’s father that some stupid merger would never take place thanks to their son’s “antics,” which the bastard’s father did not take very well.

Oddly enough, a few vases of flowers showed up one day. I grew jealous when I learned they came from several girls in his classes...and immediately disposed of them. Besides, tulips are cheap- flowers, anyway. Woo deserved something better than those.

Once the doctors had determined that he was well enough to stay at home (under bed rest, of course), we took him back to the mansion. His mother had not complained; when I had told her that I wanted to take care of him, she said, “Well, of course you would. A lover would naturally feel that way.”

It took me about two hours to stop blushing from that.

One Saturday morning, as I was headed upstairs with a breakfast tray for the person on bed rest, I heard my name being called from his room. Just as I pushed open the door, I heard him huff. “MINNIE!”

I froze. “Eh?”

His eyes widened. “Oh. I didn’t know you were there. Ah...” He scratched the back of his head. “Forget I even called you that. It’s childish and unbecoming of-”

“Minnie’s actually really cute. I like it.” I hid my smile with my hand, knowing full well that a blush had spread across my cheeks. So much for being subtle. “Anyway, what is it?”

“I-” And correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe his stomach answered for him for it started grumbling right then and there. “Uh...” He looked so flustered at the moment. So cute.

“I’m guessing you’re hungry?” I taunted.

“Uh...yeah...” He scratched the side of his head as a distinct shade of pink had appeared across both of his cheeks.

“Here.” I set the tray in front of him and watched him slowing indulging into the apparently heavenly essence that was of edible substance.

“Young miss...” he slowly started after taking a pause of swallowing food.

“Yes?” I guess you could say that it irked me to hear him refer to me in such a formal manner now that we were more than comfortable with each other.

“I’m really sorry...”

“For what?”

“That I wasn’t able to protect you well enough...”

I gawked at him. HE was the one that came in to save me. HE was the one that got stabbed and lost so many pints of blood. HE was the one that I was waiting for to wake up, and here HE was, apologizing to me?!

“You’re serious?” I asked him incredulously.

“If I was smarter, I wouldn’t have been distracted, and you wouldn’t have been-”

“YAH!” I shouted at him, and began my little scolding session. “YOU, YOUNG MAN” (I mentally laughed...young man...) “ARE IN NO POSITION TO BE APOLOGIZING! If anything should be apologizing...it should be me.”

“Why?”

“I was the one that let you get hurt-”

“It’s my duty to protect you, young miss.”

So maybe it was a bit...overly dramatic and kinda stupid, since I spilled orange juice all over his lap in the process, but I don’t care. I leaped halfway across the bed and planted my lips square on his. When I felt him freeze beneath me, I pulled away to glare at him. “What did we talk about? No more young miss. Min Young. Min. Minnie, if you’re honestly in a cute mood.” I poked him in the chest. “And you are Wooyoung (which he’s always been but whatever), and Woo. If I could get away with it, I’d call you Woo-baby, but I think that’s a little too cutesy for a man.”

I nearly squealed in delight when he placed both his hands lightly on my hips and examined me with interest before leaning forward and kissing me. Once. Twice. Three times. When I felt like my head would explode with dizziness, he pulled back, grinning. “Want to hear something...funny?”

“Sure,” I giggled, very much in a daze. Hehe...he kissed me...

“I knew what I was doing that night. When I kissed you the first time.”

I stopped laughing and stared at him in utter shock. “...Really?”

“Well...” He played with a strand of my hair. “I certainly wasn’t drunk. I wasn’t high. I was in no way incapacitated. Nor was I sleepy. I was in a right state of mind. I...” He smiled bashfully. “I wanted to kiss you. You’re beautiful, young- Min Young,” he corrected when my adoring gaze turned into Evil Minja Glare. “And you’re kind and caring...how could I not want to kiss you? I always wondered, and when I was visiting my mother that night...my resolve was made then. No matter the outcome, I would kiss you.”

...a meteor could crash into the fields around my house, and I would not notice. Cloud Nine exists. Ha~

“Min Young, do say something. And breathe.”

Oh. Right. I inhaled deeply and let out a shrill giggle before wrapping my arms around him. “YOU ARE JUST TOO DAMN CUTE, JANG WOOYOUNG!”

He awkwardly patted my back. “Uh...that is good...right?”

I pulled back. “Definitely!”

“Then good.” He studied my face before letting out a sigh. “I am still in shock at Nichkhun and what he did. Not that I didn’t expect it, but...most arranged marriages do not begin in obsession.” His smile faded. “You know...Min Young...your parents were extremely worried when it looked like no man on Earth would ever suit your standards. So...they arranged for you to get married to the son of a wealthy CEO.” He sighed again. “And look where that’s left us.”

I frowned in response, but decided not to say anything, since my mind was still trying to take in the fact that Wooyoung literally had his hands around me, and that Cloud Nine apparently existed on Earth.

“So young- I mean, Min Young. What’s gonna happen now? I’m guessing there’s not gonna be a wedding for a while.”

I thought for a while about what he said, and he looked at me intently, waiting for my answer, but I just smiled at him.

“Well, of course there will be a wedding.”

“Eh?” He eyed me with curiosity and confusion. “But who’s going to be the groom-” he cut himself with a gasp. “DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE GOING HOMO ON ME, MIN YOUNG!”

“YAH!” I smacked him upside the head. “How could you even think that?!”

“I’m just kidding.” He chuckled as he placed his head on my shoulder, his own relaxing as he did so. “But seriously, who’s the groom?”

I mimicked his own actions, smiling as my chin placed itself atop his broad shoulder. “You.”

- THE END -