his shield

003

jaehwan is running late for yet another lecture. the kid keeps sleeping in. i can't blame him, his lecturer is shit.

i lean against the wall outside the apartment building as i wait for him to leave. i figures that i would give him a bit of a hand so he is not as late to his lecture.

the door swings open and i watch as he runs down the path.

i sigh before kicking myself off the wall. i slip my hood over my head and glamour myself before chasing after the younger.

the lights are red and jaehwan rapidly presses the button. i run over to the lights and place my hand gently on the pole.

cars skid to a halt as the light suddenly changes to red. jaehwan runs across the crossing and continues to hurry to the university.

he usually catches the bus but he has missed it of course. he is smart like that.

i run ahead of him and make sure that the path is clear for him to follow me.

i know the route he takes all too well.

we arrive at the university and i see the lecturer grabbing the door handle to the lecture room. i click my wrist causing all of his loose sheets of paper to go flying everywhere outside the classroom.

he curses as he rushes to pick them all up. jaehwan notices and quickens his pace.

he continues to sprint and only stops when he is at the door to the lecture room.

he walks inside just as the lecturer picks up the last sheet of paper.

i feel something dripping down my nose. i wipe it with my finger and pull it away to see it stained red with blood.

i have a blood nose.
my payment.

i pull a tissue from my back pocket and block my nose as i tilt my head back slightly. i read somewhere, that's right, i'm dead and constantly keeping someone alive but i still have time to read, that tilting your head back with a blood nose does nothing but it makes me feel better.

the blood soon stops dripping and i throw the red tissue into one of the bins on the campus.

i take a quick look at my senses and i'm surprised when i see that jaehwan should be fine for the rest of the day.

i'll probably still hang around though.

i turn on my heel and go to head to a cafe. i remove my hood as well as my glamour. us shields still enjoy visiting restaurants and cafes in the mortal world, even though our food is much better.

i see someone jump out of their skin as my glamour disappears. to them it would have looked as though i had appeared from no where.

i smile to myself as i continue to walk. my feet take me to my favourite cafe on the campus.

i come here quite regularly actually.
"ah well isn't it my favourite customer?" hyuna exclaims as she sees me walk in.

she owns the joint. she works here 6 our of 7 days and has the best customer service.

"hello my friend" i greet her as i walk up to the counter. she wipes her hands on a towel before picking up the pen and writing down my order. she knows it off by heart.

"how are things going, taekwoon?" she asks me. i gave her a false name. i couldn't risk having her know my name.

that is an unspoken rule amongst shields. don't give out your real name. it can be used against us even though we aren't mortal.