I am very protective of myself, and of course people who are close to me.  One day, I was walking home at night from a friend's house. It wasn't late, but it wasn't early either. The sun was already set, and the moon was already up. I wasn't scared, because I can protect myself. After a few minutes of walking, I felt something was wrong. As I listened, I heard 3 pairs of footsteps. I didn't turn around, I began to walk faster. The footsteps sped up as well. I began to run, I looked behind. 3 men were running after me, I turned back and ran full speed. I lost them for a while, I gasped for air. I soon saw the shadow of the men, I continued running. I soon stopped at a metal bar inside of a park, that was above a higher level of the ground. I turned around, I didn't know what to do. I was shocked and I couldn't think straight, the men slowly walked up to me.

"Leave me alone." I said.
"Sure, as long you come with us." One of them said.
"Never." I replied.

I slowly began to back up against the bar, without taking my eyes off of them. Suddenly from behind them, I saw a young man. The man saw me, looked at me for a few seconds and ran. I didn't know what to do, I didn't cry for help, my mouth was frozen. They began to close in, I backed up even more.

"Don't be afraid, just come with us." One of them said with a grin.
"Like I said never." I shouted.

They suddenly lunged at me, my eyes went wide. I backed up and tripped on a big rock, I fell backwards.

"No!" I screamed.

I fell over the bars, towards the ground below. I closed my eyes, suddenly someone caught me.

"Uh!" I let out a loud breathe of air.

I opened my eyes, and looked at the person.

"You.." I said dumbfounded.

It was the same person that I saw before I fell over the bars.

"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Yea, thank you." I replied still looking at him.
"You can never corner yourself like that, especially at a place where you can fall over the edge,like what just happened." He said.

I nodded. He lowered me gently onto the ground, and looked at me.

"You need to stay here or hide, I'm going to teach them a lesson." He said.
"No, wait.." I began.

The young man ran back up the slope towards the men. I couldn't see what was happening above the lower ground, but it was nothing good. I crawled towards the cemented wall, so noone can see me. I couldn't get up and run, because I twisted my ankle. I hugged myself, for protection. I closed my eyes, and tears rolled down my eyes.

"You'll be ok ______... He'll be ok." I repeated.

After 10 minutes, someone came running towards me, and knelt in front of me. The person gently took my hand, I opened my eyes in shock.

"Oh my!" I shouted.
"Shh it's fine, we're safe now." The person said.

I looked at his face, it was the same person.

"What happened?" I asked dazed.
"I've taken care of it, we have to go before they wake up." The person said.
"I can't run, my ankle is twisted really bad." I said.
"Get on." The person said, turning the opposite way.

I looked surprised, but then got onto his back. He carried me all the way out of the park and into the busy night streets, without stopping.

"You can let me down now, I don't want you to be tired because of me." I said.
"It's fine." The person said.
"No really, you can let me down, let's sit on that bench." I suggested.

The man gently lowered me onto the bench, and sat down beside me.

"I want to thank you for saving me back there." I said.
"It was nothing, it's what guys SHOULD do." He responded.

His face was flawless, he has a Chinese background in his facial appearance. His black hair gently swayed in the night breeze, it was an amazing sight.

"I'm _____, by the way." I shyly introduced myself.
"I'm Tao, how's your ankle?" Tao asked.
"Oh... It's something that I shouldn't be too concerned about."I said.

Tao gently lifted my ankle and placed it onto his lap, and touched my ankle area. I squinted my eyes at places that were painful, but I tried not to.
"Nothing to be concerned about? It seems pretty serious, your whole ankle is swollen." Tao laughed gently.

I kept looking at his face when he was talking, my brain was somewhere else. Tao gently moved my foot side to side, to slowly get the tendons to slowly go back to place.

"Ok, when I count to three, I'm going to place it back to it's original position." Tao told me.
"Wait....what?" I said with wide opened eyes.
"Don't worry, it will hurt, but it won't hurt too much." Tao assured me.
"How?" I asked.
"Let's just just say that I know Martial Arts, and by learning that it also taught me how where the tendons and pressure points are on a person." Tao smiled.
"I feel much relieved by hearing that." I smiled back.
"Ok, all you do is close your eyes and bite your lips to relieve the pain if you have too, but it will go by really fast." Tao reminded me again.
"Ok, I got that in mind." I said.
"1,2,3!" Tao counted fast.

My eyes went wide, not being able to catch up. Tao twist or flipped my ankle to the opposite side, the pain rushed through me. I closed my eyes, and bit down on my lips. The pain disappeared, but it took a while. I opened my eyes again, Tao was looking at me

"You ok now?" Tao asked.
"Yea..thanks." I replied back to him while looking at him.
"It is back in place, but you need it to rest and recover. So don't walk around too much for about 2 weeks." Tao gave me the advice.

I gently wriggled my foot, it didn't hurt to much, but it still did.

"Thank you for helping me.." I looked at him once again.
"No need, here, I'll carry you home." Tao suggested and stood up.
"Oh no, it's ok, I can call a taxi or something." I shyly smiled.
"It's getting quite late. I think the sooner you get home the better." Tao said.
"You're right, ok." I finally gave in.

I tried to stand up, but I fell back down. But, before I did, Tao grabbed onto my hand. I looked up at him, he looked at me. The two of us stared at each other for a few seconds, then Tao gently pulled me up. I got onto his back, and he carried me home. Some people smiled and whispered,

" They're so cute."

Tao and I would shyly smile at the comments.

"So, why did you just stand there and didn't call for help, when we were back there?" Tao asked.
"Oh.. Well... It's because I'm usually strong, but probably it was dark and there were two people." I said embarrassed. "Haha,you need to be careful next time, _____." Tao laughed.

I gently tightened my arms around his neck, but without him noticing.

"Thank you for saving my life back there back again." I smiled.

Tao turned his head.

"No need." Tao smiled.

When we got to my house, I opened the front door.

"Uhm Tao, I was wondering, whenever you're free, maybe we can spend some time together and get to know each other better?" I asked with a pounding heart.

Tao looked at me then at the ground, then back to me.

"Sure." Tao replied back.
"It's a deal then?" I asked hopefully.

Tao nodded his head.

"Great, I'll be going in then, goodnight." I smiled.

Tao waved,and then left. I closed the front door and leaned against it, I closed my eyes. I placed my hand over my chest, my heart was beating really fast.

"I'm in love..." I whispered to myself.

Tao and I became really close with each other, even though we only known each other for about a month. I, who has fallen completely in love didn't tell Tao yet. Tao on the other hand, has too, but like me, didn't say anything. The two of us one day walked side by side in a big park, there wasn't alot of people that day. Because it was slightly raining, and it was pretty windy.

"Since when did you learn KungFu?" I asked Tao.
"Oh, it was a pretty long time ago, haha why?" Tao laughed.
"Nothing, I was just wondering why you're learning it that's all." I replied embarrassed.
"Well, you can say it's a hobby, a self-defense, and something else." Tao answered.
"Oh." I said looking at the ground.

The two of us walked for about another 15 minutes, then I decided to speak up.

"Uhm Tao? Can I ask you a question that involves with us?" I softly said.
"Of course, go right ahead." Tao said looking at me.
"Well, in this month, I realized that I, well, fell in love with you. And I was wondering, if you have just a tiny bit of harbored feelings for me?" I asked.

Tao looked straight ahead. "

Guess you don't, it's fine, hope we can still be friends." I gently smiled a little.

Suddenly Tao dropped the umbrella, and grabbed me. Tao pulled me into his chest, and covered the top of my head. I looked at my right, a fast speed bicyclist zoomed passed us. I looked at Tao, and he looked at me.

"Thank you...." I said.
"Anytime." Tao replied.

The rain was slowly raining a bit harder, the two of us just stood in the middle of the path walk.

"You sensed it, is it a part of your KungFu training?" I asked him.
"It is." Tao said.

I looked at him and my brain began to tick. I suddenly had this thought, I looked at Tao again.

"The other reason why you took KungFu, is to actually protect people for real instead of Wushu which is just for display and style." I said.
"True." Tao replied
"And in this case, you protected me twice." I said.
"Yes, because I made a promise to myself that I'll do whatever I can to keep the person I love safe from harm." Tao looked at me and then smiled.

My jaw slowly dropped.

"You...like me?" I stuttered.

Tao smiled and slowly leaned in. The two of us shared our first kiss, it was really nice.

"Doesn't that answer your question?" Tao laughed.

I smiled and nodded my head. I hugged Tao and he hugged me back, the rain slowly stopped. As the days went by, Tao began to exercise alot. Sometimes I become worried about him, I would often say to him.

"Don't tire yourself out too much,It won't be good for your body." I would say to him with concern.

He would reply with

"I'm fine."

One day, Tao and I sat on log that was on the beach sand.

"Why are you working out so much, are you even resting well these days?" I asked Tao.
"Yea, don't worry about me." Tao smiled.

I gently held Tao's hand and held it tightly.

"Why are you working out so much, I know people should work out alot, but not THiS much. Why?" I asked him again.
"It's because I want to do everything I can to keep you away from harm." Tao finally answered.
"I know, but still, you don't have to tire yourself out like this just to protect me. And besides, you've taught me some Martial Arts." I smiled.
"Still.." Tao began.
"No, you need to rest. I can take care of myself too you know." I finished for him.
"Ok." Tao gave in.
"Good that's a promise then, and I'll promise to protect you too" I said.

Tao nodded his head. The two of us laughed. 4 days passed, it seem like Tao's condition was improving. He and I walked in the park where we first met, there was barely any people walking around. The two of us talked.

"How are you feeling these days?" I asked.
"I'm feeling a bit better, thanks." Tao replied.
"That'a good." I said.

As we talked, I noticed something weird about Tao. He kept squinting his eyes, like it was really dry or he was tired. I grabbed his hand and stopped him, I faced him.

"Tell me the truth. Are you really ok?" I asked once again.
"Yes _____. I'm fine please don't worry about me." Tao said stubbornly.

Suddenly two junkies came running towards us, Tao noticed but didn't get me out of the way in time. One grabbed onto Tao and the other grabbed onto me, we were fighting them. I was completely stuck in a position where I can't move.

"Tao! Leave after you fight him off." I shouted.

Tao fought the guy off with his skills, and knocked him out. I was trying to wriggle my way free from the person's grip. Tao began to run my way but fell down, and laid there. My eyes went wide, and my mouth dropped.

"Tao...Tao! Get up, what'a wrong?! I shouted.

I struggled, I then decided to drop down and turn my wrist around and lock the person's wrist together. I jumped up and kicked the person 2 meters away from me, I turned the other way to unlock my wrist from the person's so I won't get dragged along. The person was half knocked out.  

"I'm Warning you, get close to me again, I'll promise you that I'll send you to the hospital next time." I said.

The person grabbed his partner and ran, I ran to Tao's side.

"Tao are you alright what happened to you?" I asked him.
"Guess I passed out from too much exhaustion." Tao answered.
"Have you been working out after the promise? Why are you so stubborn." I asked getting mad.
"Guess it was with me the whole time." Tao laughed weakly.

I looked at Tao, then hugged him.

"You'll be ok Tao, close your wyes and rest for a while." I said.
"What's going to happen?" Tao asked breathing heavily.
"Just close it." I said.

2 weeks later, Tao and I sat on a bench in the park. Tao was fully recovered after coming back from the hospital that day.

"Looks like those martial arts moves came in handy that day." I said.
"It did, _____..thanks for saving me back there that day." Tao looked at me.

I took his hand and smiled.

"I promised you didn't I? That I would protect you. Just like you have always done for me." I reminded me.
"We did, didn't we." Tao sighed with smile.

I kissed Tao, and the two of us looked at the bright blue sky.

"I love you Tao." I said.
I love you" Tao replied back.