Bodyguard, Reluctantly Yours || ONC2022

Chapter 9

I knew the voice. It was Ai-jiejie's, yet at that moment, my instinct to protect leaned heavily towards Junjun, who I knew was right there with her.

I rushed downstairs and barged inside unannounced. Unaware of what had transpired and fearing the sight that could greet me, I wondered if it would be rude to check on my charge first.

I pushed the urge to enter the spare room and sprinted across the hall to Jiejie's bedroom.

It was empty.

Panic danced, just out of reach, and I yelled, "Ai-Jiejie!"

"Ah-Zan!" I heard her call my name.

I swirled around and watched my landlady stumble towards me from the room Junjun was supposed to be occupying. I recalled in that instance that the shriek that I had heard not moments ago had come from none other than the spare room. "Are you alright?" I rushed towards her and held her close. "Are you hurt?"

Her fingers fisted in the lapels of my shirt, "I think there was someone here...someone other than Junjun."

Trembling, the terrified woman buried her face in my chest as
I led her to the dining hall. I guided her to the dining chair and handed her a glass of water, "Where is he? I don't see him?"

"I… I don't know. Did Junjun perhaps rush out behind the other man?" Jiejie spoke more to herself than me and reached for my hand, "You need to go look for Junjun. Now. Go Now!"

I couldn't do that. For starters, I didn't know where to look for the boy. Secondly, I couldn't leave Jiejie alone when she was clearly on the verge of a panic attack. Lastly, I wasn't sure if the intruder was working alone. What if he had an accomplice!?

"I know I am not supposed to ask about your secret guest, but this is an emergency. Do you think-" I heard my phone going off, "I will be back in a sec," I reassured her and rushed upstairs.

It was Haoyu.

What an incredible coincidence!

"Huang Zong" was all I got out before he demanded, 'Go downstairs and check on your landlady.'

I must have heard wrong. Why was my boss asking about-

'Did you  hear me?'

"Yes."

'Go check on her right now and call me back immediately after.'

I heard a click from the other end; Laoban had disconnected the call without as much as mentioning his brother. More importantly, I could sense the tension in his voice when he had asked about Ai-Jiejie.

Why?

The way he had ordered me to check on her this late in the night could mean two things:

1. He knew Ai-Jiejie personally.

2. He knew that we were close.

In all my years working for Haoyu, I had never brought up Jiejie to him. Yet, here we were, with him, specifically asking about her.

As I got off the last stair, an idea began to form in my mind.
I had never seen Jiejie go out anywhere except with the mystery man.

Was it possible that he was none other than boss-man?

"Jiejie," I walked up to her, "How do you know Haoyu?" I asked the woman I had thought of as my sister for the past five years. I felt betrayed as her brows rose to signal that they were acquainted...

"Was it him?" She enquired, clutching the glass of water with both hands. Her knuckles turned pale.

"Yes."