Bodyguard

Rachel's Anger

Young-Do decided he had to walk me to my music class for bodyguard reasons. I didn't mind, I guess that just meant I had a friend to walk with and talk to. Ever since that moment in the garden, he had been surprisingly nice to me. There wasn't any teasing or anything. He was just walking alongside me. It didn't make me feel weird, but I wasn't exactly comfortable with the situation either. We finally reached the music room. I peered inside the windows to see nobody there, not even a teacher. 

"Hm, there's no one here." I told Young-Do. He stepped closer to me and peered through the window as well. "Guess I get to hear some of your amazing piano skills." He smirked. I looked at him, but before I could say anything, he had opened the door to the music room and walked inside. I didn't know if that was allowed without a teacher present! I couldn't necessarily trust him - the casual rule-breaker and class-skipper. 

I scurried in the room and grabbed him by the wrist. He turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Can we go in here without a teacher?" I whispered, like I didn't want anyone but him to hear. He chuckled. "You're such a goody goody." He walked over to the baby grand piano sitting in the corner of the room. I sighed and went along with him. This boy was going to get me in so much trouble. 

"What can you play?" He asked, staring down at the piano. I looked at the piano. It was such a nice one. I had never played on anything as nice. I had a little keyboard that I bought with my allowance money that I brought with me in the move, but to play a grand piano was such a dream. "Oh, I like any song that sounds pretty to me." I chuckled. "Pretty broad, I know." He chuckled as well. "Play me something." I looked up at him. He was standing there, hands in his  pockets, moving his head towards the piano. "I want to see why you love music so much, newbie." He smirked. 

I rolled my eyes, smiling all the while. I sat down at the piano bench and played a quick little chord to see what the keys felt like. They were really nice, a bit harder to press down, but still nice. I completely forgot about the song as I just kept playing scales. It was so different to be playing on an actual grand piano. It felt nice. I remembered Young-Do's request and stopped playing. I shifted in my seat and turned back to him. "Sorry, I got caught up in the keys." I excused myself. He seemed caught off guard. "Oh, I thought that was the song." I laughed. "No no, those are just warm-ups." I turned back to the piano and positioned my hands back on the keys. "Is there anything you want to hear?" He shook his head. "I told you, I don't know about this kind of stuff. Play whatever you think I'd like." 

I thought about a couple of songs, but one really stood out. I think that Young-Do would enjoy this one. I positioned my fingers and started playing Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy. Young-Do immediately perked up and started watching me play, intensely focused on my fingers. He put a hand on the wall and another hand of the top of the piano. I kept playing, feeling just a bit nervous at how intensely he was watching me. I didn't play the whole song, since it would have been too long, but I got to the quicker part. I skipped to the end of the song and ended it with that nice arpeggio, wrapping it up with a beautiful bow. 

I smiled and looked back at Young-Do. He was just staring down at the keys with a serene expression on his face. That serenity was muddled with a splash of sadness. I wondered what he was thinking about. He straightened up and sighed. "No wonder you like music so much. You're great at it." I smiled. "Thanks. Did I choose the right song?" He looked back at me. "More than you could know." I was a bit puzzled by the answer, but I didn't say anything about it. 

Students started piling in for the class, all setting up music stands and sheet music, getting instruments out of cases, and preparing for the class. "The teacher's going to be here any minute, I should probably go get ready for class." I said, standing up from the piano. Young-Do nodded. "Alright, newbie, I'll see you after your class." He smiled at me and ruffled the hair on my head, turning to walk out of the door. I fixed my hair and chuckled. 

I noticed a lot of students looking towards the door. I figured it was just because of Young-Do, but when I looked over, I discovered something else. It wasn't him in the door, but Rachel. She was standing in the doorway, clutching her purse tightly. The daggers in her eyes were directed towards me. She started walking towards me and students parted like the Red Sea to get out of her way. It was like I was paralyzed with fear as she was coming for me. 

Rachel stopped close to me, making me step back a little bit. "I thought I told you off the other day. Was that not clear enough a message?" "W-What?" I asked. My heart rate was increasing by the second. She looked at my school bag sitting on the piano bench. She walked by me, grabbed my bag, and turned it upside down, dumping everything out of it. I was so shocked I couldn't even say anything. She looked at me, still holding my bag in her hands. "That's what I thought." She dropped my bag on the floor and stepped on it, walking up to me. Her eyes narrowed at me. "You've brought trash to this school." She raised her hand to my face and before I could even cover my face, her slap was stopped short. 

I stood there, breathless. I looked up to see Young-Do holding her wrist. She tried to shake herself out of his grip. "Let go!" She yelled. Young-Do threw her hand down, making her stumble a bit. I couldn't believe that had just happened. I looked over at all my stuff lying on the ground. I broke out of my stance and walked over there, picking up all my stuff. I was on the verge of tears as every student around was looking at me, whispering and gossiping about me. I started picking up all my things before my hand was grabbed. I looked up to see Young-Do holding my wrist, standing over me. The expression on his face sent chills down my spine, like the first time we met. Except he looked even more threatening. 

"Get up." He breathed. I looked up at him. "But, I have to-" "Get. Up." His tone got even more serious. I didn't want to mess with him when he was like this. I stood up and he tightened the grip he had on my wrist. He walked us out of the room, not even bothering to close the door behind us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rachel glaring at us. I wanted nothing more than to just disappear from her sight. He walked us down the halls and out the doors of the school. We walked through the courtyard until we were out of sight of all the students outside. 

"What were you doing?" He asked, irritated. I looked up at him. "I-I was picking up my things." "No, why would you let her treat you like that?" He snapped. I backed a little away from him. "I don't know, I've never had this kind of problem. I don't know how to deal with it." Young-Do huffed. "You can't just let her walk all over you. You're setting yourself up for a whole world of hurt." "Why are you so upset at me? I thought you were supposed to be protecting me!" I snapped. I couldn't handle him being mad at me, even though I knew this wasn't his fault. 

He shut his mouth and sighed. "I know." He spat out, frustrated. "But I can't be there all the time." I nodded. "I know you can't." I crossed my arms tightly. Young-Do just kept looking at me with that same concerned expression. He angrily groaned and raised his hand to his head. "But I should." I looked up at him. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Rachel's out for you. Now that I know that, I can't possibly leave your side." I looked up at him, un-crossing my arms. He took a step closer to me and looked down at me. 

"I am your bodyguard, and it's my job to be by your side 24/7. That's the deal." He reminded me. I looked at him. "You're still going to be my bodyguard?" His usual smirk reappeared on his face. "No backing out now, newbie." I smiled up at him. It was nice to see his usual self back. 

"Alright, bodyguard."