The next couple days were just... how should Yongguk put it... a bit awkward. Going from class to class, Youngjae would drop by here and there to see how she’s doing and to give her a lunchbox and whatnot. Of course, Jieun would cheerfully accept and then afterwards the two would eat the lunch together while Yongguk just watches them chatter along. Yup, awkward was an understatement. So here Yongguk was on a fine Tuesday noon, eating a piece of bread while standing behind the tree, watching the two share a nice meal together. 

Youngjae wanted to walk her to class all the time and carry her stuff... it was getting quite annoying on Yongguk’s part. Bro, give her some space. Yet at the same time, it kind of felt like Youngjae was just... taking Yongguk’s job. 

Yongguk just finished his bbang and milk in time to see the two lovebird walks back to their next class. 

“I’ll see you after school?” Youngjae asked her as they neared Yongguk and his beloved tree.

“I actually can’t,” Jieun said, “I have dinner planned with my dad and I never get to see him.”

Youngjae just nodded and smiled, “Have a good day then. I’ll see you tomorrow!” He turned to Yongguk, “Good bye Hyung!” and walked to his class. 

“That’s all you ate?” Jieun asked, staring at the bread wrapper and empty milk container in Yongguk’s hand. 

“It was a good meal.” Yongguk said as he tossed it in the trash, “Let’s just go to your other class.” and he briskly walked away with Jieun running behind him to catch up.

--

Jieun hummed while shifting through the clothes in her modestly large closet. She decided to wear something a bit “classier” that her dad would approve of. Opting to wear a nice Michelle Obama-ish Magenta dress, she laid it out on her bed. Jieun continued to hum along to the radio as she changed in her attire and wore some pearl jewelry. Honestly, she really didn’t have to dress up. But she knew her dad loved it when seeing her in “nice clothes” so might as well be a good daughter during his stressful days, right? After all, election day was rolling around soon... in a little more than a month. 

She finished up putting on her make up and starting applying her chapstick when there was a knock on the door.  “Yes.” She said. The door opened and Yongguk’s head peeked into the room. 

“Are you almost ready?” he asked. Jieun nodded as she got up from her dresser and grabbed her purse. “I’m ready!”

She left the apartment with a suited up Yongguk in tow. 

The drive was rather quiet, with Jieun making a comment here and there about how nice the weather is or about other mundane topics to which Yongguk would just nod along. It was a bit uncomfortable... Jieun sighed. She would always cheerfully act in the same usual way, but he would responded in short, curt sentences. He must be getting real sick of her now. 

So Jieun just looked out the window and sulked by herself. Well, at least things with Youngjae were going okay. Youngjae was extremely sweet to her. He always texted her, walked her everywhere, bought her things... and it had only been a couple days. It was kind of awkward at first, especially when he became bright red as he held her hand. Yeah, Youngjae wasn’t bad. He was trying and Jieun could see that. Even though it’s still a bit hard to see him as something more than a friend, at least it was pleasant. 

They finally pulled up to the white house and Youngguk flashed his badge so that they could go in. As they parked, the national security came out and opened the door for Jieun. They bowed to her as she nodded and walked into the White house. 

“Hi appa!” Jieun said as she ran up to hug her father. 

“My sweet daughter.” He said heartily as he patted Jieun on the back.

“Did you get prettier?” He said, chuckling. 

“I always was this pretty.” Jieun said jokingly. 

Mr. Song looked over at Yongguk who gave a very deep courtesy bow. 

“I see you’re still alive.” Mr. Song said laughing, “I’m very glad that you’re still sticking around and keeping her from trouble.”

“It’s my pleasure, sir.” Yongguk said, standing up straight and stiff.

“You never act like this” Jieun said poking his arm, “Are you like nervous or something?”

Yongguk glared at her and looked back up, stiff and tall. 

“Well, come, let us eat!” Mr. Song said as he ushered Jieun into the dining hall, “You may come as well” motioning to Yongguk.

“I actually would like to eat with um, Seung Won Hyung, sir. If you don’t mind.” Yongguk said.

“Ahh, that’s fine. Go ahead then.”

Yongguk made his leave and Jieun sat down to eat with her dad. The chef came around with plates of different foods. 

“I made sure they had your favorite Gamja tang.”

“Thanks Appa!”

The two ate their meal while talking about little stuff here and there. 

“Only one more month left, huh?” Jieun asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing fine.” He answered, “Our campaign is going well. I have many more speeches and different charity events to attend. Plus, our platform seems to have much public support.”

“That’s great dad.”

“And how’s school and stuff going for you? Your graduation is coming up soon, no?”

Jieun nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be done by June.”

“Are you going to be looking for government jobs? There’s always internships and opportunities here at the house.”

Jieun grimaced. She was very weary of this conversation and it’s not something she really wanted to talk to her dad about while he was stressed and stuff.

“Um, I’m not completely sure what I want to do yet, dad.” She said.

“Oh, it’s fine.” Mr. Song said, “There are a bunch of things you can do here, I’ll make sure to find more information for you. Or, maybe even in America. There are a lot of opportunities there too. My good friend works at the Pentagon. Maybe we can get you in there.”

Jieun just took a deep breath. “Um, yeah. I don’t know about America. But we’ll see. I still have some time to decide.”

“Yes yes.” he replied happily, “And don’t forget... we have a party coming up soon!”

Jieun looked up. “Party?”

“Jieun...” Mr. Song said sadly, “You don’t even remember your appa’s birthday? I’m getting old, my child.”

Jieun gasped. “OH YEAH! Oh my gosh, it’s already April? Oh gosh.” She took out her planner to check the date. “It’s next week?!?!”

Mr. Song laughed, “You really are airheaded sometimes. Yes, it’s next Friday! Don’t forget about it. It would be sad if my only daughter doesn’t come to the president’s huge dinner party. “

“Of course, Appa!” Jieun replied, “It’s a big day for you, not just because you’re getting old, but it’s a lot of publicity, right?”

Mr. Song nodded. 

“You know, I’m very surprised that you kept the bodyguard around.”

Jieun looked at him funny, “What do you mean? You’re the one who told me to keep him. Remember?”

“Yeah, “ Mr. Song agreed, “But when did you ever really keep them?”

Jieun sighed. “He is very stubborn... and then I found out that he wasn’t so bad.”

“mmkay.” Papa Song said, “Well, it’ll only be for one more month. Okay, and then I’ll stop placing these guards in your life.”

Oh yeah... one more month. Jieun nodded, “Good riddance.”

“He’s not doing anything bad to you, is he?” Mr. Song asked seriously.

“No no.” Jieun said, “But thanks for asking now after we spent the past two months together. What if he turned out to be a psychopath or something? How guilty would you have felt?”

“I trust the guy who hired him” He replied, “And look. you’re safe and sound!”

“yeah, yeah. Whatever, dad.”

Mr. Song just chuckled as he brought out some wine to pour into the glass. 

“Will this cheer you up?” He asked, handing Jieun the glass.

She smiled as she toasted with her dad.

--

“HAHAHAHAHAA.”

Yongguk just rolled is eyes and waited for Seung Won to stop laughing. Yongguk was telling him about the first encounter he had with Jieun and his hyung was having a field day about it. How nice of Seung Won to laugh at his sufferings.

“Well, you somehow stuck it through for a whole two months.” Seung Won said after quieting his laughter. 

“It wasn’t too bad after the first couple days.” Yongguk replied, “I think I scared her.”

“How are things going now? Hanging in there?”

Yongguk nodded. “Yeah, it’s alright. She’s been going out more often so it kind of gets annoying sometimes. But whatever, I can deal with it for another month.”

“Senior year of college, she should be going out.”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s going out with some guy.”

“She has a boyfriend?!” Seung Won exclaimed, “Wow, that’s new. I wonder how the president will feel about that. He didn’t really like Jieun’s old flames, ya know.”

“He’s a good guy.” Yongguk said, “Just a bit annoying at times, but he’s a relatively nice kid.”

Seung Won just stared at Yongguk. Yongguk awkwardly blinked. 

“Is something wrong?” Yongguk asked.

“Did something happen?” Seung Won asked.

Yongguk looked confused. “What?”

“Did something happen between you and Jieun? Cuz I swear, if you guys fooled around I’m gonna kill you.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Yongguk defended, “Why in the world would you think that? Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing.”

“Good.” Seungwon replied, “There would be just too much trouble if you guys did. And there won’t be, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Seung won sighed, “Just everything would be bad. For the president, for Jieun, for you, for me. It would be too complicating. So nothing better be happening. I know she’s pretty, but one more month, yes?”

Yongguk nodded, “She’s not even THAT pretty.”

Okay... maybe she was really pretty. But she had a boyfriend. She had other things to think about. There was no reason for Yongguk to be any different to her, right? Things should be exactly the same as before... as a somewhat friend and bodyguard relationship. 

At that moment, Jieun came into the room with her dad in tow. 

“Are you ready to head back now?” she asked Yongguk while giggling. He nodded as he got up.

They both said their goodbyes as they departed. 

“Did you enjoy time with your dad?” Yongguk asked Jieun while driving back.

Jieun giggled and hiccuped. “Yes. Hehee. He fed me good food and wine. WIIIINE!”

Yongguk laughed while shaking his head. She was such a cute drunk. 

“I’m SO happy right now” Jieun said, “I think I can fly~”

She opened the sun roof and stood up to stick her head out the top of the car.

“Jieun, what are you doing?” Yongguk yelled while trying to pull her down.

“WHOO!” She screamed off the top of her lungs while throwing her hands up. 

“Jieun, get down. That’s dangerous”

She stuck her head back down for a second. “But it feels SO good!” Jieun threw her head back up the window. “WHOOO!”

Jieun sat back down on her chair and giggled. 

And then passed out. 

Yup, she was definitely a light weight.

--

It was the weekend. Finally, thought Jieun. After the dinner at her dad’s place, she was swamped with some school work, but now that it was the weekend, she was free to play. Kwanghee was a man of his words and actually pulled through with the tickets to the amusement park. Jieun was super excited because, well, she never really went to amusement parks. Maybe when she was really really young, but she doesn’t remember those days very well. Which is why she was running around the living room excitedly while Yongguk sat stone faced on the couch, reading the newspaper.

“I think I packed everything!” Jieun exclaimed as she popped up next to Yongguk. She had a huge school back pack filled with... important things?

Yongguk raised his eyebrows. “Why are you taking so many things?”

Jieun blinked at him, “What do you mean?”

He grabbed her backpack and looked inside. “Five water bottles? What is this, a lunch box? A stuffed animal?!? shoes? A towel? Where are you going, on a overnight trip or something?”

Jieun grabbed her backpack back and pouted. “What if I get thirsty. Or hungry. And what if I get scared because of the rides. Or if my feet start hurting. Or if I start sweating or get wet. I’ll be prepared.”

Yongguk incredulously laughed. He took the backpack from her and took out everything. Save a couple water bottles.

“If you get thirsty, we can buy more water bottles. If you get hungry, we can buy some food. If you get scared, you don’t have to ride the rides. If your feet hurt, we can rest. You don’t need all this stuff.”

“Fine...” Jieun said. She grabbed her now almost empty backpack and threw in sunblock and a hat. “Let’s go now!!”

--

Yongguk stuffed his hands into his pockets as Jieun chattered next to him excitedly. They were waiting in front of the park entrance for the other to arrive. Not that Yongguk knew who these other people were, but that’s beside the point. Jieun was saying something about getting light up ears when Yongguk saw a couple of her friends in the distance. It was the stalker friend. Zinger. Oh, and she had her brothers in tow as well. Yongguk hadn’t seen them in a while. 

“HYUNG~” Jongup yelled from far away excitedly. Zelo looked over and saw Jongup and copied as well. “Hyung, hyung!” Zelo started running toward Yongguk and Jongup followed suit. Yongguk doesn’t really know what goes on between those two, but it seemed almost as if they were racing towards him. 

Wait a minute, that’s exactly what they were doing. And it didn’t look like they were slowing down. Yongguk awkwardly shuffled to the side and the two zoomed past him. 

He heard them fighting over who got there first and laughed a little bit. Oh, boys.

Jieun already went over to Zinger and a Sunhwa and Kwanghee who popped out of no where. 

The young boys came to bug Yongguk a little bit more, to which Yongguk oh so lovingly accepted. Youngjae came along with Hyosung and Himchan. Apparantly Daehyun couldn’t make it because of an upset stomach from eating too much cake. How does that even really happen? Yongguk didn’t know.

Yongguk groaned. Couples... He was basically here to... Yongguk looked over at the two boys who were now fighting over who was stronger... babysit. 

They decided to start off with some water rides, so they headed out towards the ride. The couples walked next to each other while Zelo and Jongup bickered between themselves. That left Yongguk and creepy gi- no, no, Zinger to walk together. And they were having a rather pleasant conversation... about the weather. 

No really, they really were.

“It’s been so humid these past couple days. The moisture is killing me.” The girl complained. Yongguk just awkwardly nodded.

“Don’t you agree?”

Yongguk just nodded while staring at Jieun and Youngjae who were a little bit ahead of them.

“You don’t really like to talk much do you?”

“Huh?” Yongguk turned to look at the girl, “Yeah, sorry. I only like to say what I have to say.”

“Mmm, I know how to deal with people like you.” Zinger replied, “I just need to find that one thing that you can talk about for days.”

Yongguk chuckled. “Oh yeah. You think you can find that out?”

Zinger nodded. 

“You like cars?”

“Eh, not really.”

“Mmm... do you like playing video games in your spare time?”

“I don’t really got spare time.”

“Ah, you like sports?”

“I do, but I only like playing it. Not a big fan of watching them.”

“Mmm.” Zinger nodded. “Ah... what kind of music do you like?”

“Just like some underground hip hop stuff. You probably don’t really know much about that stuff though.”

Zinger scoff-laughed. “Are you serious? Soul company? Soul Connection. That’s my jam.”

Yongguk looked at her in amazement and awe. “You know them? Like Kuan and Maslo and all those people?”

Zinger nodded. “I like to go to some underground concerts, too. Though it’s pretty hard to follow and find those.”

Yongguk smiled as he continued blabbing on about the new album that recently came out which Zinger excitedly replied back to.

Stalker girl wasn’t so bad.

--

Jieun smiled politely as Youngjae described how delicious some cafe place he found was and how they need to go try it together. It’s not like Youngjae was a boring guy or anything. But ever since they... well, started dating, it felt just awkward. Maybe because he was trying so hard to be like a guy? But whatever the case, Jieun didn’t want to be rude so when all else fails, Jieun would just smile. 

Thankfully they soon arrived at the water ride and stood in line. She heard laughter coming from behind. Jieun turned around and saw Yongguk laughing to something Zinger was saying. Hmm, she never saw him laugh that freely and... genuinely before. 

“Hello? Jieun?” Youngjae waved a hand in front of her.

“What?” Jieun said looking at Youngjae, “Sorry, the heat must be getting to me. I was spacing out.”

“It’s okay. I was just asking when we should go visit that cafe.”

“Mmm, I can do anytime next week.”

Youngjae nodded and said that he’ll let her know to which Jieun just nodded. She turned back once more to see them laughing before returning to look at Youngjae. 

--

After standing in line forever at that water ride place, they finally got to ride. Yongguk was stuck with Zinger and the young boys (as he lovingly decided to call them). Not just this ride, but practically the whole day, since they were paired off. 

After the refreshing water ride (which Yongguk did not really like, because he’s not really an amusement park, nevertheless a water type of guy), they went on some other kiddie stuff, much to the chagrin of the young boys. Sunhwa then complained that she was hungry so they stopped by a pizza house and ate their share of food for lunch. They rode the viking and some other stuff, but the young boys REALLY wanted to ride the roller coaster.

And of course, the young ones get what they want. So they were in line to ride the crazy coaster that was the “biggest” attraction of the park. While they were excitedly waiting in line, Yongguk noticed that Jieun looked a bit uncomfortable. 

“I actually don’t think I want to ride this.” Yongguk heard Jieun tell to Youngjae.

“Oh, are you scared of roller coasters?” He asked.

“A little bit.” Jieun said, “They make me nervous. I’m just gonna wait for you guys at the exit.”

“I’ll go with you.” Youngjae replied. 

“No, it’s okay. I know you want to ride this. I’ll be fine, I’ll just wait over there.”

“I can wait with her.” Yongguk interrupted. “More like I will wait with her.”

Jieun and Youngjae blinked at Yongguk.

“Yeah, that works. we’ll wait for you guys over there!” Jieun said as she rushed out of the line. Yongguk shrugged as he followed her. 

“Whew.” Jieun said, “The thought of riding that monster made me almost cry.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Yongguk asked, “That line is going to take a while.”

Jieun paused to think for a second. “Mmm, let’s just go to the carnival section. And maybe eat some food. Play some games while waiting.”

So they went to the game area to look around. 

“Oh, let’s play that game!” Jieun exclaimed as she ran to a booth. It was one of those  shooting down the bottle games. She paid her money and picked up the gun to shoot down the closest bottle... only to miserably miss. Yongguk chuckled in the back to which Jieun glared. She focused once more to shoot... only to miss again. And again. Jieun sighed. “I give up.”

“Here let me try it.” Yongguk said. He paid the money and picked up the gun. He aimed at the farthest bottle and shot it. The bullet hit the bottle with perfect accuracy as it bottle shattered. 

“Oh my gosh!” Jieun exclaimed, “You hit the big thing. You got the big doll!!!”

The booth man congratulated him and gave the large bear to Jieun. The two walked away as Jieun kept saying ‘wow.’ 

“That was so crazy! You should like be a police or something.”

“Well, it should be no surprise that I can aim... I am your bodyguard. And also, how long are you gonna be holding my bear?”

Jieun blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I won the bear. I never said I was giving anything to you.”

Jieun pouted. “But... you don’t even like bears.”

“Who said that? I love bears, don’t you know?”

“Fine.” Jieun said, shoving the bear into Yongguks arms, “Didn’t want the doll anyway.”

Yongguk laughed as he gave it back to her, “I’m only messing with you. Keep it, please. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

Jieun smiled as she murmured, “thanks.”

They bought some cotton candy and lemonade and waited on a the bench for the roller coaster people to come out. 

It was very pleasant for the both of them.

--

What just happened? Yongguk tried to comprehend what was going on. After the other people regrouped with them, they went on some other stuff and decided to end the night with the ferris wheel. Of course, the couples would ride together while Yongguk went with Jongup (which Jongup with beat Zelo to with rock, paper, scissor). Surprisingly, the kid was scared of the ferris wheel... but not the roller coaster. Yongguk didn’t understand. But Jongup was clutching on to his arm the whole time, closing his eyes, asking it’s over yet. Yongguk just reassuringly patted his back.

He looked ahead of him where Jieun and Youngjae sat together. While holding Jongup with hand, Yongguk just kept his eyes on them. You know, because he’s her bodyguard and whatnot. 

But suddenly he saw Youngjae move closer to Jieun to steal what looked like a kiss. Yongguk just blinked as he tried to understand what he just saw. It happened so fast, Yongguk wondered if he was imagining things. Not like he can ask Jongup as he is currently tightly wrapped around his arm. 

Yongguk wasn’t so sure why he was so shocked. They were, after all, dating. So stuff like that should be expected, right? But it still made him a little sad, a little mad. He didn’t really understand what made him feel like that.

He was turning complicated... 

Yongguk wasn’t too sure how to feel about this change. 

-

A/N: HI EVERYONE! I'm alive! Haha, sorry about that long wait. I'v been finishing up a crazy weeks of midterms/finals and it took me a while to recuperate. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment, they help motivate me to continue this story! 4 more chapters! WHOO!