bodyguard ; kth

15 ; you decide!

i was walking in the gardens later that afternoon. with each step, i watched as the flowers swayed in the wind. the bonsai trees lined the perfect lawn in their wooden boxes. i strolled towards the pond that had floating lily pads.

i thought about how calm and peaceful the pond looked. the lily pads gently floated on top, moving with the breeze. but i was wrong. it was a different story inside the water. the surface may look peaceful but on the inside, fish and bugs struggle to live with limited food and resources. just because you see its calm surface doesn't mean you know everything about it. perhaps the reason i felt this way was because it was comparatively similar to me.

many will look at me and mistakenly assume that i am a composed and collected person. but in reality, i was in deep shit. every minute of every day, i'm worrying about where the killer was, whether i could arrest him before he gets to aera. all these thoughts didn't stop coming, i was starting to lose my mind.

these thoughts suddenly got interrupted when i heard footsteps behind me.

someone's coming...fast.

in a flash, i whipped my body around and threw a punch. just before it made contact, i stopped my fist a millimetre away from the intruder.

"taeby."

i blew a sigh of relief. 'it's just her,' i said to myself before bringing my fist down.

"sorry, didn't mean scare you," aera said with a smile on her face, her eyes not moving from my tired state. i cleared my throat, avoiding eye contact with her. slowly mumbling, "no, uhh..i thought you were someone else."

she nodded in response. glancing up at her, i could tell she was feeling much better than last night. i mean, anyone would be terrified after an experience like that.

"i wanted to talk to you," the female uttered, looking into my eyes. there was a new look in her eyes, something i couldn't recognize.

"hm?" i hummed in response.

"um..well, i have this problem," aera started saying. she was avoiding my eyes now. i noticed her nervously fiddling with her fingers. i blinked, confused over her sudden change in persona.

"i like to...you know, go out sometimes..just me and a guy. you know...like a date?" she asked with a look on her face. i looked at her, nodding blankly. the topic of dating was something I never dealt with. if she wanted boy advice, her best shot was jaeho.

she continued, "but I can't go out because you have to be with me every minute. i mean, what if my date invited me to his place afterwards? are you going to come too?" she asked, amused. i laughed sarcastically, smile dropping in seconds.

aera grew more quiet, making me grow more curious.

"and?" i asked after she took a little too long to reply. she looked at her feet. I caught her cheeks turning into a bright red color.

"so..the only thing i can figure is... for you to take me out," aera finally said with a shy smile.

blink, blink, blink. i stared at her with blank eyes. this was the last thing I expected to hear.

is she seriously asking me out? so what gun said yesterday was the truth? aera likes me?

she noticed my stillness and quickly said, "you don't have to if you don't wanna. i just thought..." she looked away, i stared down at her.

"only if you want to..." she said quietly, looking up at me. i was utterly speechless. she turned away, her cheeks still burning red as she grinned to herself.

"you decide, taeby!" she yelled and ran off, leaving me in my shocked state.