The protector

One last date (MM)

Hi readers! Been silent for a while as there wasn't much to say. I suppose some of you were finding it obvious for the first plan to fail, while others wrote me shocked (shocked, not shocking) DM.

My two cents: all the situations were too simple and fast to be believable. Every character had a reason to hurry, but hurrying rarely is a good idea, there's always the risk to forget and/or neglect something. This extra time will prove useful to all of them.

I apologize to the readers who were expecting an epilogue, but I'm a fan of the long and detailed stories, so... sorry not completely sorry, even the 'I'd like for this story to never end' deserves their FF.

Last but not least: today we'll meet a new character. Clue: the desert winds he's used to cross with his bike have cut him a little sharp, but he's a good boy. Hope you'll enjoy him 😉

Pyongyang, February 14, 2028

Several weeks before, In-ah had asked him what he would have liked the most for his birthday. "Name a thing, we'll do it, it's your day."

He hadn't needed to think of it before replying.

"I want to date you." In a fancy place, and then spending the night at his apartment pretending it was their holidays' cottage. He wanted to experience Valentine's Day. He wanted a last date, a proper goodbye, a thank you, a last decadent night thinking of anything but being one with her, a moment that could have been for the two of them only. He wanted to be his boyfriend for the last time.

A few hours before, on that day, the same woman had repeated him nearly the same question.

"We can change the programs if you want. It's your day, whatever you want to do, we'll do."

This time too, he had needed no time to reply.

"I want a date, just a date tonight," he lifted up his look to meet hers. "Can we have it? A night just for the two of us?" Were they allowed to close the door behind their backs and pretend for a while that everything that happened didn't exist?

In-ah stroked his hair, there was no need to voice that question. It would have been a farce, but what was the problem, if that farce allowed them to feel better for a while? Was it such a crime, hoping to stop thinking for one night only? "Just a date," she had nodded.

Just a date. For a night, only for that night, he wanted for the two of them to act as if that was just a date, only focusing on feeling good. Let's let the rest outside for tonight, his eyes had pleaded, and she had squeezed his fingers in agreement.

Jeong Hyeok had never been someone used to organize parties, much less three in a week. Nevertheless, it was exactly what was happening: that one was a week with three parties. Well, just one party, and he hadn't organized it, and the other two had been merged in a single dinner – eventually he had arranged that one -. Three above his usual average, though.

And, he was thrilled.

Even that was one of the many things the man credited to the magic of the elf. She had changed him.

There were plenty of girls like her, in Swiss. Girls used to party till dawn and then bear a whole school day with just two cups of coffee. Fun, nices, even pretties. Though they'd never been his type. Not that he disapproved them, but his type was of a different kind.