Bodyguard

Ramyeon

It was the end of the school day and I had already got all I needed from my locker. Young-Do really stuck to the promise he made me because he hadn't left my side all day. Even when I was in classes and he had free periods, he'd wait in the back of the classroom. It was kind of nice to know somebody was watching over me and would step in if I faced any trouble. Everybody was really walking on eggshells around me because of Young-Do. If anyone got close to me, he'd shoot them a death glare and they'd immediately go away. He's could possibly be stopping me from making friends, but at least now nobody was bullying me.

We walked out of the school together and ended up out on the sidewalk. "What's your plans for the rest of the day?" I asked. Young-Do shrugged. "Whatever I feel like." I nodded. "Well, my mom's not going to be home for a while, so I'll probably get something to eat at the convenience store. I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." I did a polite little bow and started on my way. "Hey, newbie!" I turned around to see Young-Do walking up to me. "My job's not done yet. Not until you're safely home." He stopped in front of me and smirked. "This is what I feel like doing. Come on." He grabbed my wrist and walked in the direction I was heading. "Where are we going?" I asked. "Isn't it obvious? The convenience store. I could go for some ramyeon."  I smiled and pulled myself next to him, wiggling my hand out from his grip. "Sounds good." He looked down at me with a smile. 

We walked as all the students were getting in their limousines. Suddenly, a black limousine pulled up right next to us. The window was rolled down to reveal the driver that had taken us to school that same morning. "Mr. Choi, are you not getting in?" He asked, confusedly. Young-Do shook his head, still smiling. "Nah, I'm going to take a detour. I'll be home in a couple hours. Tell my dad that I'm studying at the school's library." He continued walking and I followed him, after bowing to the driver. He shrugged and drove off back to Young-Do's house. I looked at him. "So, your dad doesn't approve of convenience stores either?" I joked. Young-Do just looked at me. 

"I know it's because of me, Young-Do." I sighed. He looked straight ahead, still walking. I could tell he didn't want to talk about this subject. He obviously didn't have that great of a relationship with his father. Whenever he came up in conversation, he'd either go really quiet or get irritated, so I tried not to bring him up. "What's your favorite type of ramyeon?" That was my best attempt at changing the subject. Young-Do looked at the ground and scoffed. "That's your best try? How many different kinds of ramyeon are there?" "A lot! There's cheesy, plain, spicy, soy sauce flavor, so many!" I argued. He laughed. "I guess spicy. It has the best flavor to me." "See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" I teased. 

He just smiled at me and ruffled my hair. I could tell this was going to become a habit of his. I fixed my hair and chuckled. "I'm going to have to start carrying a brush when I'm around you." "I guess so." He winked. He looked to see that we had arrived at the store. He walked up the steps to the door and opened it for me. "Ladies first." I smiled and went inside. The lady behind the counter bowed and greeted us nicely and we did the same to her. I immediately walked over to the ramyeon section and picked out my favorite chicken flavor. 

"Ah, chicken flavor. Maybe that should be your new nickname." Young-Do joked, getting the spicy ramyeon flavor next to me. "Newbie is bad enough." "Well, it's going to stick." He teased me. We both went up to the counter and paid for our meals. We went outside and sat down on at one of the tables. We opened up our ramyeon meals and started to dig in. I looked at Young-Do with curiosity. "I never struck you as the type to like ramyeon. I thought this would all be beneath you." "I may be rich, but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy the everyday pleasures of common life." I nodded. "I'm glad you're somebody that can appreciate things like this. Some people aren't as great as you." I complimented. 

He looked my way, holding some noodles on his chopsticks. "You think I'm great?" He asked, almost as if he thought I was lying. I nodded. "Yeah, I do." I smiled. "Who else would volunteer to be the bodyguard of some random transfer student with no money?" "Somebody that was bored and wanted to do something." "But why would you pick this?" I asked. "I told you, I saw somebody close to me go through the same thing." He sighed. "Because of me." I stopped slurping my noodles. "Because of you? Were you a bully or something?" He set his chopsticks down and sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Some called me that." I thought for a moment. "Are you doing this because you feel bad about bullying that person?" 

He looked into the distance, like he didn't realize that is what he's been doing all this time. "Huh. That's something to think about." He chuckled. He looked at me with his usual piercing stare. "You know more about me than I do myself." I smiled. "I've gotten to know you pretty well over the past few days." I bragged. He sighed. "You don't know everything about me." I was taken aback by that. "What do you mean?" I asked him. He shook his head. "That's all for another time. Did you finish your ramyeon?" I nodded, showing him my empty cup. He did the same. "Come on, let's go." He stood up and threw his chopsticks and ramyeon bowl into the trash can. I did the same and followed him out of the little eating area. 

"Where are we going?" He looked back at me. "There's something else I want to show you." "Another rooftop?" I joked. He smiled. 

"It's better than a rooftop."