Bodyguard | Heesun

9

— ♤ —

Heeseung went home more confused than worried. The day almost seemed like pure hallucination, a day that never happened.

It started well, and nothing seemed to threaten the peaceful time the both of them would spend, yet everything happened so fast. The people gathering, crowding the little space Sunoo even had to breathe—it was suffocating, and Heeseung couldn't deny it no matter how he's lived through far worse. So he couldn't even think about what Sunoo could have felt.

Lying on his bed for the past hour now since he came back from retrieving his car at the parking lot back at Apgujeong Rodeo, Heeseung stares at the ceiling. Thinks about how Sunoo went from offering a smile, to completely ignoring him. It makes Heeseung wonder if he could have done something else to avoid the situation, or make it easier. Should he have asked the owner to close the place, and let them leave through the back door? Should he have called the company to send other security staff members to help? But then again, none of this was in Sunoo's schedule, so what could he have done differently to end the situation quickly?

Those questions keep running and running in his head even when he slips under the shower for another hour, even when he mindlessly cooks some meat that he even ends up burning with how far in his thoughts he already is.

"You got too involved now, didn't you?"

Heeseung sighs at the voice coming from the phone he left on his bed, on speakers, as he's changing into more comfortable and oversized clothes.

"I didn't do anything, though. Yet, I feel like it's somehow my fault—I mean, I didn't even let him get his frustration out through smoking. Sunghoon, I—you know, I acted like a parent."

"Well, that can't be helped, you hate seeing someone ruining their health like that after what happened to your father. It's because you care, he'll understand that. Still—"

"I know, hyung," Heeseung interrupts, slipping into gray sweatpants and choosing a sweater of the same color, "I got too involved. Now I feel like I need to protect him further than this."

"How so?"

Heeseung closes his wardrobe, hesitant. He turns to catch his phone and walks towards the living room, glancing at the clock. 11:50 p.m. Where has the time gone? "I told you, didn't I? That his company feels... sketchy. The rules, the process to hire new employees, the contract, the lack of privacy... They're not treating him like a human. It's just—terrifying. I need to do something."

"We're just running in circles here, Heeseung-ah. I told you, there's nothing you [...]"

The phone buzzes, the screen lighting up with an incoming call.

Heeseung looks at it, frowning when he sees an unknown number. He goes back onto Sunghoon's call, saying, "Sorry, someone's calling. It's probably nothing since it's an unknown number, but just in case."

"Yeah, of course. Text me if you need anything, I'll probably go to sleep soon, anyway."

"Go rest," Heeseung smiles, "talk to you tomorrow."

When he hangs up with Sunghoon, he stares at the number still calling persistently, takes a deep breath in and out and responds, thinking that it's probably either a prank call or a scam.

"Lee Heeseung, hello?"

Loud music is heard through the device. Boasting, echoing as if the person on the other side is somewhere at a bar, or a club. His first instinct is to hang up, but before he does anything, he freezes when he hears a familiar voice. That can't be.