In the name of love

018

"Jeongyeon!" She wheeled around, only to see an unexpected familiar face.

"Taewoo sunbae?!" Jeongyeon croaked nervously. Of all times, why did she have to bump into the deputy head of the royal security act now? Two tall black suited men were following right behind Taewoo and Jeongyeon could easily have guessed they belonged to the top elite of the royal guards.

"You have grown so much during your stay in Europe!"

Taewoo stood beside Jeongyeon and started to compare the girl's height against his much large 6-feet frame. He held a hand above her head and it stopped just slightly above his chin.

"What did you feed on to grow past my shoulder?" He teased, patting his cherished junior on the head.

As the deputy head for the past two years and prior to that, a top-notch royal guard serving under Prince Yesung and ex-commando, he had personally trained Jeongyeon for a year before her assignment to London. With Jeongyeon's loud but lovable nature, on top of her relationship with his boss, Taewoo was exceptionally lenient with her, acting like her big brother.

"Sunbae, when did you return? I didn't see you while I was in the palace," Jeongyeon said, trying to remain calm and most importantly, to buy time for Dahyun to board the plane before they could catch wind about it.

"I was escorting His and Her Majesties along with your dad during the diplomatic tour. We've just returned to Seoul a few hours ago." Taewoo smiled without any sign of weariness.

"I see." Jeongyeon trailed off, thinking of more topics to chat upon. But before she managed to, Taewoo continued.

"Oh, I heard you're assigned as His Highness's personal bodyguard recently," Taewoo surveyed the area casually, "Are you here to escort His Highness?"

"Eh?"

"Weren't His and Her Highnesses on a holiday vacation trip or something? They are coming back this afternoon right? I got orders to pick them up since it's your off day today, but you... seems to be on duty now?"

"Oh, I'm waiting for them here! I mean, I don't have to be on duty to pick a friend up!" Jeongyeon laughed weakly, hoping Taewoo wouldn't find it suspicious. Thankfully, he merely laughed.

"Sunbae! Since it's been a while since we last met, wanna go for a coffee? My treat!" She quickly added, dragging his arm.

"As much as I want, I'm afraid duty comes first. Hasn't the jet landed? I've received the call from the pilot that the plane has landed around fifteen minutes ago. Clearing customs for the Highnesses should be quicker than normal passengers." Taewoo replied as he threw a meaningful glance at his two men, whom responded instantly as they spread out.

"Sunbae-"

Before Jeongyeon could say further, Taewoo added, "Safety issues for the royal family must not be compromised, Jeongyeon." He ended with an obvious commanding tone.

________

"Where are we going?" Sana asked with an utterly confused look as the prince held her hand and pulled her along, navigating through the crowd. Moments earlier, he had told her that there was something he wanted to tell her but instead, he stopped short of his sentence and simply held her hand tightly and walked in a total opposite direction from Jeongyeon.

"Wait, you're hurting me!" Sana whined at the increasing strong grip force Dahyun had applied on her hand. When Dahyun realised what she have done, she immediately let go of the girl's and dropped hers down, letting it hang by her side. Her left hand was still clutching onto the tickets tightly.