Seulgi’s point of view

After a few days, Wendy was discharged from the hospital after having minor burns and problems with her lungs after almost getting suffocated by the smoke from the incident. Irene just stayed at the hospital for one day then got discharged.  The investigation claimed that it was a gas leakage that ‘causes the incident. The police stated that it was a complete accident.

The incident alarmed Irene’s father and requested to add some guards at the house and even to guard Irene outside apart from me for it was not an accident but rather was done by purpose based on my investigations and I believed that General Jonghyun has something to do with it. It is not a coincidence that he owns the zoo and the hotel SECRETLY..

‘I need to investigate more if things like that would keep on appearing’ I thought to myself as I clicked my ballpen while sitting on the couch. You could say my bed also. Then I beautiful creature got my attention.

I accidentally glanced at Irene who was sitting on her bed while reading a book. She still has some small bandages on her arm and hand from the incident. She’s still beautiful even with those wounds as if she was glowing while reading peacefully.

*Flashback at the hotel incident*

I was able to carry Wendy at my back and got our way down stairs but the whole path was covered with thick smoke. I can feel myself being numb, running out of air but I still tried my best to walked pass through and inch closer until we get to the exit. I walked weakly; I can feel Wendy’s heaviness and my arm’s wound cut opened again because of the pressure that I’ve been putting to my body. I let out a dry coughed and kneeled to the floor, I’m losing my energy until my visions became blurry and all I could hear was the sound of my breath as I inhale and exhale slowly. I was about to faint.. to lose consciousness..

..but then I heard a voice..

“SEULGI!!! COME BACK QUICKLY!!!”

..a familiar voice that I wanted to hear so bad at this moment. As I recognized who owns that voice, I immediately pulled myself together and pushed myself to my limits until we finally reached the exit.

*End of flashback*

“Why are you looking at me?” Irene suddenly asked while still looking at her book. I was startled but just looked away as if I wasn’t caught looking at her for too long.

“Seul.. I mean Ms. Kang” Irene called out.

“You can call me Seulgi if you want. You’ve been calling me by my first name lately. No need to be awkward” I said coldly to her. I always noticed whenever she calls me on my first name. It’s funny because I like hearing it from her.

“Really??.. I mean if you say so” She said cheerfully at first then acted prideful at the latter obviously hiding that she was happy. I chuckled upon seeing that.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing. Irene” I said as I shook my head.

“What did you say?” I saw her eyes sparkle when I called her name.

“Irene. I should be calling you Irene in return” I reasoned.  I noticed that she was holding herself not to smile. It was easy to read her expressions lately.

“Irene, why are you preventing yourself to smile?” I asked.

“I’m not!” She hissed.

“And now your overly defensive about it” I countered and heard her let out a sigh.

“Fine” she said accepting defeat and just continued reading.

“Why stop yourself from smiling if you look beautiful while doing that?” I asked but almost like a compliment to her.  Then the next thing I remember was me getting hit on the head real hard by the book she was reading.

Irene threw it to me and ran outside the room, Of course I followed her while holding my head in pain because I don’t even trust this place to be safe. She locked herself on the guest’s room.

“Irene. Why did you run away? Is there something wrong with what I said?” I asked after knocking the door gently.

“Nothing. Just go away. You shouldn’t see me now” She answered.

“But..” I trailed off but was cut by her.

“Just go away!” She commanded. But I can’t let her be alone at this kind of time.

“Irene, I have a key and even without it, I can break this door easily if you just don’t know” I explained calmly. She didn’t respond and it was dead silent but after a few minutes the door creaked slightly opened. There Irene was standing with her facing downwards while covering her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked being confused what she was doing.

“Nothing. Don’t look at me” She hissed again. But the more she tells me not to look, the more I want to look at her. That’s curiosity right? She walked out of the room and was heading back at our room but seeing her like that made me does something that I thought was stupid to do.

I pulled her hand to make her turn to me and suddenly hugged her. Seeing her like that makes me want to hug her and make her calm and comfortable but I’m not sure if it’s the right thing to do.

“Sorry if I said something wrong” I apologized. It was the first that I apologises to a client because I complimented them. I even rarely compliment a client but she shook her head in return.

“You did nothing wrong. I… I was just..” She trailed off while resting her head in my chest.

“I was just blushing real hard that it made me embarrassed for you to see” She said shyly almost a mumble.

“Did you just really confess that you blushed?” I chuckled.
“Atleast, I’m honest” She countered softly. She surely looks cute while being honest and shy at the same time. I almost forgot how sneaky and bratty she could be.

“Okay okay” I answered while patting her head. I was about to let go of the hug but she hugged me tight not letting me go.

“Seulgi, Can I ask you something?” She asked as she looked up to me. For a moment, I felt nervous while waiting for what she’s going to say.

“Sure. What is it?” I asked

“Can you promise to always keep me safe?” She asked.

“Yes, It’s my job. You don’t need to ask for it” I answered back after nodding to her.

“Can you do that… even if it’s not your job anymore?” I was confused by what she meant but I nodded anyways. She smiled warmly to me after that but her eyes where shaky as if she was shy to look straight to my eyes.

“Let’s go back to the room. It’s getting late” I said and took her hand and went back to her room.

She sat on her bed, I started walking back to the couch but Irene didn’t let go of my hand and stopped me. I turned to her, raised my eyebrows and gave her a ‘what’ look.

“Can you… stay here beside me” she asked shyly not looking at me.

“I mean you’ve been sleeping on the couch so..” She trailed off.

“So I’m offering you to sleep on the bed… I won’t do anything to you if that’s what you’re thinking” making the latter part sounded defensive.

“Huh? I didn’t think of anything” I chuckled and went my way to sit beside her as she let go of my hand. I just sat beside her peacefully. I was really tired for this day so I guess sleep will soon come to me but I still need to wait for Irene to sleep first. I took out my phone and browse the internet for news to pass the time.

But after a while, I could feel that Irene was inching closer to me. I looked at her examining what she was doing. She stopped as soon as she almost closed the gap between us. I saw her looking at my arm then to my face then back to my arm. It was strangely cute. She immediately looked back at her book as soon as she saw me looking at her in confusion. Then I figured out what she was trying to do though I’m not that sure.

I patted her shoulder and opened my right arm wide and smiled to her warmly indicating that she can lean on it. She smiled like a five-year old kid and jumped next to me having my arm around her shoulders then she continued reading happily.

It made me happy seeing her smiling and cheerful even after all the danger she went through.

‘she’s one tough girl’ I thought to myself while looking at her. She’s making me want to protect her more.

“You’re different today” She suddenly spoke while still looking at the pages of her book.

“Why do you say so?” I asked.

“Hmm.. You keep on chuckling and smiling which was a rare sight for me” She answered back.

“Well, you’re also different today” I said smiling at the thought.

“Why?” She asked.

“I can easily read your expressions and you’re not quite bitchy today. It seems like you have a shy and cute side” I kind of regret saying the latter part thinking that I might get hit again by a book. But surprisingly, I wasn’t. Instead, Irene closed her book and put it on the bedside table then pulled me to lay down on the bed with her lying on my arm. I was just looking at her being confused what she just did. She closed her eyes and hugged me with her face so close to me.

“I feel safe doing this” She whispered to me as if she read my mind and gave me an answer without me asking any question. And slowly both of us drifted to sleep.

At that moment..

I swear..

.. my heart was beating faster than a speed of light.

--END OF CHAPTER 11--

Just taking some break from all the danger that I'm planning. 😂

Don't forget to vote and comment 😉😁