It's Way Too Late To Stay Locked Up Inside Ourselves

Sunday

"This is a huge pain in my ass, Ri Jeong-hyeok." Deputy Director Kim's tone was exasperated but kind. "The last thing I need right now is your father breathing down my neck."

Jeong-hyeok shifted the phone to his other ear and sat down on the bed. "I know, sir. I'm sorry."

"But I also don't like prosecutors telling me how to run my department -- especially in the middle of a manhunt. If you are telling me that you need to stay, I trust my agents."

"Thank you sir."

"Alright, let's plan to talk again in an hour when we should have the forensics back from the last two muggings. I don't like that they are closer in proximity to Yoon Se-ri's residence."

Jeong-hyeok clenched his fist at the thought. "Yes, Deputy Director."

He tossed the phone next to him and rested his head in his hands. This is such a mess. 

He had underestimated his father's rage at his choice to protect Yoon Se-ri. Jeong-hyeok knew that he had ambitions for higher office but he had no idea that meant an imminent run. Yesterday's torrent of recrimination weighed heavily on Jeong-hyeok's heart. After all of the tragedy and sacrifice, why was Jeong-hyeok risking his father's candidacy at such a pivotal moment? What if the press caught wind that the son of Ri Chung-ryeol, celebrated warrior against the wealthy and privileged, had become the live-in body guard of Yoon Se-ri on the taxpayer dime?

It wasn't that Jeong-hyeok didn't understand the optics or the risk. It was that he was simply incapable of making a different choice. His eyes drifted to the leather bound journal. How could she know. Jeong-hyeok had spent much of the night staring at the blank pages. He wanted to write but the words never came. Instead, he had sat stunned that this woman knew him better than his own family.

After five years of feeling dead inside -- of going through the motions of being a soldier and now an agent -- something was stirring within him. His refusal to be reassigned was Jeong-hyeok's first act of rebellion. It was wrong of his father to try to alter the course of an investigation out of personal considerations. But as much as principle fueled Jeong-hyeok's defiance, in his heart he knew that it was personal for him too. He had spent a day in the glow of the miracle that was Yoon Se-ri; her warmth, her generosity, her courage to reach for connection.

It had confirmed that Jeong-hyeok's thoughts about her when they were apart had not been some fantasy. No, now he had glimpsed what his life could be: a partner who seamlessly folded into his family of brothers; who encouraged him to create; who made him feel again. He was falling in love with her. Jeong-hyeok knew that for certain now.  And it didn't matter how hard his father fought him; he wasn't going to let Cho Cheol-gang hurt anyone else that he cared about ever again. He owed that to his brother and to her.

But there was more than one way to hurt someone. What purpose would acting on it serve? Yoon Se-ri was about to become the only woman executive of a top twenty corporation in the nation. By her own account, she had worked her entire life to reach this point. He had witnessed first hand how Yoon Se-ri was hounded by the press -- she had refused medical treatment and police support after being mugged; was stalked for merely going to a concert. Jeong-hyeok shuddered to think of the scrutiny that she would endure if he was publicly in her life. The press and his father's political opponents would exploit it in every way possible. And it would be Se-ri and his father who would pay the price. What future could they have under such circumstances?

Jeong-hyeok flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He had ached to kiss her last night. To pull away yet again felt like a sacrilege; a waste of the fleeting time that remained with her. And yet Jeong-hyeok had forced his heart to obey. He knew what he felt -- it would not stop at a kiss. But such selfishness would only make things harder for her in the end. Yoon Se-ri had clearly been wounded by the people who should have loved her. He refused to do the same.