So... yeah, this chapter comes a bit earlier than usual because I'm not taking my laptop to Seoul. I was going to skip updating this week, but we have ground to cover and story to continue, so... yeah.

Wang So

If there was one thing So hated, it was annoying people. People who did not know when to shut up, people who used others for political gain, people who looked down on those they thought beneath them. They reminded him of those he encountered as a child growing up in rougher neighborhoods.

He wanted to duct tape Hwang Bo Wook's mother's mouth shut. She reminded him of his mother, except his mother only beat him- never nagged him about why Soo wasn't personally ironing Wook's shirts. As if he knew why a businesswoman did not have the time to iron her husband's shirts.

The older woman wore a fur coat and clutched onto a snakeskin handbag that So knew to be above the pay grade of a stamp maker's wife. No, those two articles were gifts from her much richer daughter-in-law. He wondered why Hae Soo even put up with her in-laws, let alone give them lavish gifts. He swore he even saw a Rolex on Wook's father's wrist.

Soo herself wore jeans and a fuzzy sweater with the collar of a button-down peeking out from her neckline. Another jacket was draped over her shoulders and leather gloves protected her hands. She seemed to be better at dressing herself in the daytime compared to night. At least now she was not turning blue from the cold.

So stood by as the family took a walk together after having lunch at a restaurant. He could tell how on edge Soo felt. He noticed her nervous tics included pressing a hand to her collar or her heart, and clasping her hands together before unclasping them.

She and Wook had scheduled a date night for the evening before, but Wook's schedule had suddenly fallen through, leaving a dejected Soo to lean against a wall and kick her heels off. She had pulled the pins from her own hair and used them to give both her girls French twists before leaving them in Chae Ryung's care and retreating to her room. He remembered passing by her door and listening to her call Kim Eun and apologize for the change of plans- the girls would not be sleeping over with him.

Morning came, and so did the in-laws. Even before they had left for the restaurant, So had been cornered by a woman who seemed to think she was above him. Wook's mother had asked to know his position in the household before demanding the answers to a bucketload of questions. So barely had time to reply that he was Soo's bodyguard before Mi had taken her grandmother's hand and led her toward one of her school projects. So never thought he would be thanking a seven-year-old for her prudence, but when the child turned back and smirked at him, he nodded to her in gratitude.

All in a day's work.

Popping the collar of his coat, So protected his neck from the wind and glanced around to search for any unwanted tails. He also made sure none of the main family were missing; he could not care less about Wook's parents.

Yoon darted past So's legs, running toward Wook and colliding face first into the backs of his knees. She almost tipped her father over, but Wook steadied himself in time and turned to pick his daughter up, carrying her and tickling her. He pulled her onto his shoulders and laughed when Yoon covered his eyes. "Daddy can't see!" she screeched.

"Yoon, your father needs to see," Wook's mother said to the girl. "Remove your hands from him."

"It's fine, Mother," Wook laughed. He placed a hand onto Hae Soo's shoulder. "My wife will lead me. Won't you Soo?"

So narrowed his eyes as Soo's shoulder tipped from the weight of Wook's hand. But no matter how heavy his arm was, how annoyed she was, or how much she seemed to want to shoot herself in that moment, So was amused when Soo smiled and nodded. "Of course I will," she replied. "Yoonie, you need to let Daddy see."

At her mother's words, Yoon removed the arms that blindfolded Wook. She laughed at her own antics before waving down to her sister. "Mi! I tall! Tall like a gimaffe!"

"Giraffe, Hwang Bo Yoon, not gimaffe," sniffed the girl's grandmother. The woman pulled her coat tighter over her shoulders. "Soo, what are you teaching the girl if she can't even speak properly?"

So frowned but remained silent. His respect for Hae Soo rose tenfold when the younger woman merely smiled at her mother-in-law. "I'm sure Yoon doesn't have to know how to pronounce 'giraffe' if she becomes a dinosaur. Isn't that right, baby?"

"I'm a T-rex!"

Wook laughed and Mi giggled at Yoon's declaration. Soo high-fived her youngest and So felt himself smirk at her comeback.

The family continued to walk, only pausing when a passing person asked Wook for a picture or proudly declared that they had voted for him. Soo stood by with the children and smiled as Wook interacted with his constituents. So wondered if he imagined Soo's look of annoyance when yet another person asked for a photo with Wook. But to her credit, she smiled through it all, even offering to take pictures for one group.

The walk was mercifully cut short after Yoon declared she had to 'go potty' and Mi complained about her aching feet every two hundred yards. So almost laughed at Soo's proud smile when her children's complaints promptly ended the stroll.

She took both girls while Wook escorted his parents to his car. Soo waved to her husband and So nodded to Wook's bodyguard as they walked away. Wook's disgruntled parents were none too pleased that the walk had ended, but they went along with their son anyways.

"Mr. Wang," Soo said, once her husband and his parents were out of earshot. "Don't take us home. I think we all deserve some ice cream."

They first stopped by a bathroom and So stood outside with Mi who happily skipped around. He watched the little girl's hair fly as she twirled and marvelled at her skirt as it fluttered about her. "Mi, stay close," So called to her.

"I'm not scared!" the girl giggled, stopping to wave at him. "I have you, Mr. So!"

So blinked in surprise at the girl's familiarity with him but otherwise remained silent, watching as her red skirt spread out around her white stockings. Her black slippers shone with each flouncing movement.

"Do your feet not hurt?" he asked the girl. She seemed too happy and danced around too much for a child that had just spent the greater part of ten minutes complaining about her pinchy shoes.

Mi paused from spinning to readjust her headband. Pulling the red band from her hair, she placed it back into its rightful spot and returned to So's side. So glanced down when she reached up and tugged on his hand, motioning for him to come down. Her gloved hand grasped his pinkie and gave it a gentle pull.

Looking down at Mi, So obliged and knelt until he was face to face with the girl that so resembled Hae Soo. "You can't tell Mommy, okay?" she asked solemnly. Her wide eyes implored him and So cleared his throat as he found himself falling to the whims of a seven-year-old.

"I won't tell your mother," he promised.

"Pinkie promise." Mi held her hand out before pausing and staring at her mitten. So knew she saw the problem in her statement.

"How about a handshake?" he suggested. He shook Mi's little fist, taking her gloved hand and giving it a firm grasp.

Mi seemed satisfied with their agreement and So remained still as she leaned closer to him until her mouth was by his ear. So held his breath to prevent from sneezing as her fur poncho tickled his nose.

Mi quickly glanced around before whispering, "Don't tell Mommy, but my feet didn't actually hurt. I just know Mommy doesn't really like Grandma, so I pretended they hurt so Grandma would go home early." She leaned back with a toothy smile and So blinked at her in surprise. With raised eyebrows, he watched as the girl scampered away and continued to twirl, wondrously laughing at how pretty her skirt looked in the wind.

Hae Soo stepped out of the restrooms, holding Yoon's hand and So walked to her side. "Mi!" Soo called, beckoning for her daughter to come. "Come on! Let's get ice cream!"

Bewildered, So watched as Mi nodded and ran to her mother's side. Hae Soo held both of her children's hands and So followed behind them, watching as Mi bounced up and down, singing, "Ice cream! Ice cream!"

He drove them to a small ice cream parlour and sat at one of the tables, watching as the three chose flavors and toppings. Soo held Yoon up to look at the glass display while Mi pointed to the ones she wanted.

The interior of the parlour was white and lit with vintage, yellow bulbs, featuring retro neon signs and workers in bright pink t-shirts.

Each girl got a scoop of their preferred flavor and So gazed around the perimeter to make sure there were no threats. So sat still as a little boy toddled over to Yoon and waved at her before running back to his mother and hiding behind her skirt.

"How cute," he heard someone say. So looked up and saw Hae Soo sitting down at the table he sat at, setting a pink cup of ice cream before him. "I didn't know what you liked, so I got you vanilla with dark chocolate chips and a rum cherry."

Surprised, So blinked and looked down at the pretty little cup. It hosted one scoop of vanilla bean with chocolate and a black cherry that dribbled liqueur. "Ah, thank you," he said, picking the cup up and examining the tiny pink spoon that came with it.

"It's what I usually get anyways," Soo replied, showing him her matching cup. She gave him a little smile and So nodded and took a nibble of ice cream, making sure both children under his jurisdiction were still within the shop. A warm flutter filled his stomach and he cleared his throat to bring himself back to reality. She's married, he chided himself. You can't sleep with a married woman.

The sweet taste of cold milk filled his mouth, matched with the bitterness of dark chocolate and the taste of the alcohol that dripped down the cherry. Soo had chosen well.

"You said you fixed people problems, didn't you?" So turned when he heard her speak. Removing his spoon from his mouth, he nodded, mute.

"Yes, I did say that," he replied. So stabbed his spoon back into his ice cream and met eyes with Soo, staring into the wide, doe-like eyes that glinted in the yellow lights.

"Can you make my mother-in-law go away?" she asked playfully.

For the right price, I can. So thought. "Unfortunately, I don't think that I can," he said with a small shrug. Not exactly a lie.

"Too bad," Soo said with a laugh. Her smile was contagious and So found himself grinning. He spooned more ice cream into his mouth as Soo sighed. "I don't want to go home," she muttered, her eyes turning to watch her children as they sat at one of the colorful kiddie tables. Mi pointed something out to Yoon before quickly stealing a bite of her distracted sister's strawberry ice cream.

"Would you like me to take you to your parents' home?" So asked, his voice taking a gentler tone than he would have expected of himself.

Soo shook her head. "We can't always run from our demons, can we?" She scooped her dessert into her mouth and So tilted his head when he noticed a smudge on her bottom lip. A small dash of white ice cream and cherry liqueur hid just under her lipstick.

Looking back on that moment, So knew he could have done many things- handed her a napkin, for example. Instead, he reached forward and, using the pad of his thumb, wiped the ice cream off of Hae Soo's smooth skin.

She blushed red and So coughed before looking away. He wondered if the heat he felt on his face meant he was blushing as well. So lowered his gaze before mentally berating himself. Stupid, she's married. You won't get anywhere with her!

"I- I apologize for my actions," he muttered, still unable to look at Soo.

"It's fine, um- really, I- I wasn't expecting-" Soo stumbled over her response and So wondered if she had liked his actions or was mortified by them. "It's fine," she uttered.

In that moment, they sat awkwardly until So looked up and saw Soo walking towards her children, her ice cream in one hand and the other pressed against her mouth. He did not know if she was blushing or wanted to throw up.

So's eyes narrowed at the droplet of ice cream on his thumb that mocked him. A smudge of cream on his finger that called him a coward. He raised it to his lips and licked it off. It tasted divine.

So finished his cup of ice cream and tossed the empty container into the trash can. It was only later in the car that he remembered he hated sweets. He wondered what had compelled him to eat an entire scoop of ice cream. Perhaps it had been the person that had offered it.

Driving back to the house, So tapped his thumb against his chin and switched lanes, taking the safest routes. His eyes shifted to the rear-view mirror and So glimpsed Soo sitting between Mi and Yoon. She stared out the window, her fingers gently perched against her chin.

When they returned to the house, So looked in the backseat and raised his eyebrows at the two children that slept in their car seats. "I can only carry one," Soo whispered as he parked. Already, she held Yoon in her lap, rocking the sleeping toddler and collecting her handbag. "Could you take Mi?"

So stepped out of the car and moved to Mi's door, opening it. He unbuckled her from her booster seat and gently put his hands beneath her arms, pulling her dead weight from the car and holding her against his chest. Using his forearm to support her bottom, So lowered her skirt and hoisted her higher. He froze when Mi wriggled against him before going still. She yawned and continued to breathe steadily.

So wondered if this was what fatherhood felt like; carrying your sleeping daughter from the car after confiding in secrets with her. Don't tell Mommy. He ran over Mi's words in his mind as he walked.

Holding the little girl in his arms, So shielded her from the wind before jogging to the house's back door and opening it. A blast of warm air hit his face and So followed Soo inside, removing his shoes and nodding to the maid that greeted them by the door.

"Bring her upstairs," Soo quietly said. The house seemed desolate and So wondered if Wook was even home. It was obvious from the silence that his parents were not.

So followed Soo up the stairs and, for the first time since he had toured the Hwang Bo house with Chae Ryung, walked into Hwang Bo Mi's bedroom.

Tossing stuffed animals away from the princess bed, So pulled at the pink duvet and threw pillows around until the bed looked ready to sleep in. He reached to pull Mi's ballet flats off of her feet, dropping them onto the ground and listening to the little thumps they left on the floor. So paused and wondered how he would get Mi from his body to her bed without waking her.

He remembered once carrying a woman's corpse in the way he currently held the little girl. However, that woman had been dead and Mi was very much alive and breathing. Sighing, So decided he needed to stop comparing his past jobs to this one. Hwang Bo Mi was just a child. It was wrong of him to even think of a dead woman when he was carrying her.

Pressing his hand to the back of her neck, So gently lowered Mi onto her bed and pulled the pink comforter up to her shoulders. He looked down at the little girl as she slept peacefully, her long eyelashes fluttering.

"You're good at this." So looked up and saw Hae Soo in the doorway. She crossed her arms and gave him a peculiar smile.

So thanked her. "I used to care for my brother when I was younger," he explained. So had little memory of his baby brother except that the child had been put into foster care and put up for adoption by his mother. After becoming an adult, So had tried to track his brother down, but the paper trail was sparse and few people had actually remembered the little boy that had been adopted. He had given up after his twenty-second birthday, praying that the little boy was safe. They had been so poor that his mother had not even bothered naming the baby. So remembered his baby brother as "Child".

He looked at Soo as she smiled. "You're very good with small children," she noted.

"Thank you," So replied, allowing himself a smile. He assumed Hae Soo was not too miffed by his wiping ice cream off of her face.

He stepped out of Mi's bedroom and walked down the stairs with her. "Mrs. Hae, if I may, do you have siblings?" he asked. So had no idea where his question came from, but he asked it anyways.

The younger woman smiled and nodded up at him. Her hand reached for the guardrail as she walked. "I have an older brother," she replied. "Hae Baek Ah. He's a year older than me."

Nodding, So reached the end of the stairwell and prepared to leave for the servant's quarters, but Hae Soo stopped him, holding an arm out to block his path. "Mr. Wang, I just told you about myself," she stated, playfully smirking at him. "I think it's only fair that you tell me something about yourself as well! Tell me about your siblings. Are they as annoying as mine?"

So paused.

My older brother is your husband's political rival. I haven't spoken to him since I was in high school after he ran away from home to work and send himself to college. My younger brother I haven't seen since I was a teenager. I don't even remember how old I was when he was born.

Staring into the wide brown eyes that smiled at him, So could not bring himself to lie. It was one thing to lie to Hwang Bo Wook or to Chae Ryung about his past, but So refused to distort whatever image Soo might have of him. It was a serious risk for a hitman to reveal anything about himself to his victim before he took their life, but So had already used his real name and age for this job. What was another minute detail worth anyways?

"I haven't spoken to either of my brothers since I was fifteen," So said. His heart panged with an old, forgotten longing, but he swallowed those aged feelings; they were no longer relevant. "I have an older brother who I see occasionally on the news. We don't speak to each other and my younger brother…" he trailed off with a shrug and watched Soo's smile fade.

Sympathy. Her once bright eyes now showed sympathy and sadness. So wished she would smile again.

"I'm so sorry," she stated. Her hand met his arm and So looked at her as she stared up at him with those wide eyes. It felt like she was peering into his soul, but So did not feel violated- he felt sad. "It was rude of me to pry- I'm-"

"A deal is a deal, isn't it?" he said gently. He offered her a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Mrs. Hae, I don't mind. I haven't seen or spoken to them in two decades."

So wondered how Soo would have reacted had Yoon not started crying from upstairs, calling for her mommy. Soo looked away, her gaze pivoting in the direction of the noise

"I'm so sorry," she repeated herself before taking her hand away from So's arm and rushing back up the stairs.

So touched the place where her hand had been, imagining a handprint where her skin had touched his jacket. He found himself missing her touch... The touch of a married woman against a hitman's arm. So knew that he would either complete this mission with dire mental consequences or he would be unable to due to how immersed he had become into the Hwang Bo household. Either way, he was already in too deep.

For a moment, he decided that it might not be the worst thing to quietly fold his career as a hitman and just continue working for Hae Soo. So found that just by being near her, he felt happy and needed. He was Mi's secret keeper and the person Soo spoke to when she was lonely. He felt wanted- and not just because he could easily get rid of people's problems, but because the Hwang Bo girls and Hae Soo trusted him.

Trust. So hoped he had Soo's because he already knew that she had his.

Thank you everyone for all the good vibes. My exam is on Saturday, so when I update next Tuesday, I'll have already taken my first SAT and will be even more dead inside. Hopefully that won't make me too cynical and murder everyone in the story. But hey, who knows? :)