MY GANGSTER PROTECTOR ✔

EPILOGUE

"I'm glad I'm back," he whispered.

The girl read the last line of the book and hugged it, squealing giddily. "God, I want to have my own Jiro!"

"Me too," her friend seated next to her sighed dreamily, cupping her cheek with her palm while sipping her drink as they sat in a café restaurant near their school. She flipped through the pages of the magazine laid down on the table, admiring the female model at the centerfold named Riko Takizawa. "There are rumors going around on Twitter that the author used real people and some real events while creating the story, but she just changed the names."

"You mean Jiro is based on a real person? Oh my gosh!"

The man seated at the next table with a scar on his forehead smirked as he hovered his cup of coffee over his mouth.

"That's what the rumors say," her friend told her and smiled. "It would be really amazing if it's true. I would love to meet all the characters in person!"

"I'll definitely ask the author later at the book signing event." Her eyes shifted to the LCD monitor hanging by the wall, showing the end credits of a TV show.

Graphic Design: Picaro Rostelli, it said. She then looked at the clock and gasped.

"I think we need to go now. There's going to be a long line and—oh! Good afternoon Professor Tsai!" the girl greeted the small guy that just entered the café.

"Good afternoon. Going home?" he asked.

"No, sir. We're going to the book signing event of our favorite author," her friend replied, pulling her book from her bag and excitedly showing it to their professor.

"I see. Be careful on your way home later, all right?"

"Yes, sir!" the two simultaneously replied and headed to the door while their professor proceeded to the counter after nodding at the man seated at the next table.

"Hey, can you imagine Professor Tsai being a gangster?" her friend nudged her as they walked on the street.

She giggled while shaking her head. "Absolutely not! Professor Tsai is too nice to be a badass."

"That kid right there looks like him," her friend pointed at the boy helping an old lady in crossing the street.

"Oh, he does. His mohawk hairstyle suits him. But I don't think that hairstyle suits our professor," she remarked.

The two entered the mall where the book signing event was going to be held and as expected, the venue was already packed and the line was long since the book was a bestseller. But the two didn't mind as they excitedly chatted with the other readers while waiting.

"I can't believe this is happening right now. I'm actually tearing up with the success of Miss Ramirez," her friend said, wiping the corner of her eyes.

"Me too. It used to be an online novel. I can still remember how we craved for an update every week, but look at it now. I heard there are talks of it being produced into a movie," she said. "I've been an avid reader of Miss Ramirez since she started writing the online novel while working as a feature writer of a magazine at the local publishing house. Even her featured stories were brilliant. She really deserves this."

A woman with long, black hair walked past them followed by a guy with an aristocratic air. They went past behind the ropes, heading straight to where the author was seated and happily chatted with her.

"That's her publishing manager, right?" she asked.

"Yes. And that man, I think, is her husband who helped in creating the book cover graphics. I recognize their faces from the pictures tweeted by Miss Ramirez. She thanked her friends and posted a picture of that couple including that man in dark suit behind her."