As I have nothing to give you, I give you my heart (IU Verse Book#1)

Chapter 19

          "Jieun ah, are you listening?"

          Jieun snapped away from her thoughts and shifted her gaze back to the person in front of her. Taeyhun was looking at her with a mixture of concern and a little bit of annoyance, she could tell. She removed a strand of hair that was covering one side of her face and smiled at him in apology.

           "Sorry, Oppa. I was just thinking about something. What were you saying?" She asked. Taehyun changed his expression into a lighter one as he sipped on his drink and smiled at her. "It's just that, I am happy that we got to do this. You know, hanging out, just the two of us." Jieun gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

         They were sitting in a cafe near the "dream" movie set. Taehyun had come up to her and asked her out to the cafe after their shoot, and she hesitantly agreed. She didn't want to come off as rude by refusing him, because well, they are working together. It was evening by the time the shoot was over and he bluntly asked her out to dinner. She would have politely refused and used her team as an excuse, but Seri just gave her a wink and interpreted it the wrong way, and ushered her to go with him. She had no choice but to follow him, not after throwing Seri a glare. 

         Their orders came soon afterward and Taehyun rubbed his hands together excitedly as the waiter set their plates down on the table. He told her to dig in to which she smiled nonchalantly and looked down on her plate, which was a plate of carbonara pasta. The aroma of the pasta hit her nose causing her mouth to salivate. She quickly picked up her fork and began to dig in. As soon as the bite hit her mouth, she let out a satisfied sigh and chewed on the food happily. 

          "It's good right?" Taehyun asked, digging on his own plate of pasta. Jieun nodded and continued eating her meal. They were both silent as they enjoyed their meal quietly. As she was munching on her pasta, her thoughts went back to Jihyuk. She wondered if he was having a good meal with his mother. He had left the shoot early and asked for her permission to go see his mother again, as the latter had called him and asked him yet for another meeting, this time for dinner. Jieun didn't want to let him go at first, as the last time he was with his mother, which was less than a week ago, he had collapsed and had a panic attack. She was afraid something would happen again, but he reassured her that he would be fine. She had reluctantly let him go after she received an odd look from Sangin, who was standing just a few meters away from them, next to the car. 

          Sangin had come back from Daegu the day after the incident, and neither of them had told him what happened. They just greeted him with smiles and hugs. They were also informed that his sister was fine now, which brought both of them smiles of relief. Sangin returned to being her bodyguard, but Jihyuk remained her personal bodyguard, as he was appointed to be so until they caught the perpetrator. Jihyuk hadn't left Jieun to go meet his mother if Sangin wasn't there.

          The sound of Taehyun's voice brought her back to reality as she shifted her focus to Taehyun, who was still talking. "I'm glad Sangin hyung is back." Jieun nodded and agreed with him and went back to her pasta. His next words caught her throat as she paused midbite.

"Does that mean Jihyuk ssi is going to leave his position as your bodyguard? You said he was a replacement for Sangin Hyung. If Sangin Hyung is back, does it mean he has to go back to the NPA?" 

          "Well, not exactly, no. He's still working with me." She replied. She didn't want to tell him the real reason why Jihyuk was still her bodyguard. She didn't want yet another person to know that she was being threatened. Who knows, maybe he was the one behind everything. She shook that thought away. There's no way Taehyun would do this. He was always the one chasing after her, that much she knew. If he turned out to be the one, then it would be the biggest twist she's ever seen.