Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! May you receive many blessings!
여러분 새해복 많이 받으세요!

Wang So

Standing with his back against Soo's door, So's heart tore in half as he listened to the woman he loved cry… and it was all his fault. He heard each inhale, each choked sob. She was too close to the door and he could not bring himself to leave- not when he wanted to rush in and hold her and chase her sorrows away.

It's for the best, he decided. Better to love from afar than lose someone close. I can't let her get hurt because of me. Let her believe I think we're not meant to be together. She'll get over me and I'll watch her from afar. I'll protect her.

He held his hands to his face as Soo cried, swallowing his pining.

Tearing himself away from the door, So took a step forward and then another, and another, and another until he could not hear anything but the dead silence of night. The dim house felt eerie and the atmosphere heavy. As So made his way back to the servants' quarters, he looked at the three closed doors that were beside his. A maid and Chae Ryung- they were the only staff present aside from him. Both slept in their beds, oblivious to what their neighbor had been up to. So wondered if it might be nice to live as normally as the people beside him.

He slept fitfully. Just a few days of sharing a bed with the woman he loved had spoiled him. So tossed and turned on the small mattress, staring at the birds on his walls and wondering how he had gotten into this mess. He could still hear her in his mind, see the hurt in her eyes, feel her soft skin beneath his lips as he kissed her goodnight a final time.

Pulling his duvet over his shoulders, So groaned and tried to justify his actions. No matter how many times he told himself it was because he did not want to hurt her, So did not know if even he believed what he said. Of course he wanted to protect her- he loved her. But did that protection have to come with the termination of their relationship?

It's because she doesn't need to stoop to your level, he thought. Little pieces of self-doubt and deprecation made themselves known when there were no other thoughts to chase them away. And So believed them. She's the daughter of a conglomerate and the wife of a revered politician. She already has everything she needs in life- she doesn't need you. You're a dirty hitman that can't do anything right. You promised to protect the thing she cared the most about in the world, but you failed. You can't even do this job right because you fell in love with a married woman.

Of course he had fallen in love with her. So moaned and swore, pressing his face into his pillow as he chided himself. He had never thought himself capable of loving simply because there had never been anything for him to love. His parents? They beat him for breathing the wrong way. His brothers? One ignored his existence and the other was gone.

Now, working for an unknown entity, So had managed to find and fall for the one woman that seemed to just… understand. She cared for him- of that he was sure- but he wondered if she would ever love him the way he did her. He supposed it was karmic that he fell for her. The degenerate hitman falling in love with the rich, married woman. It seemed like a plot from the dramas his mother would watch.

The next morning, So woke and opened his laptop for the first time in weeks, breathing deeply as he enabled a proxy, weaved through firewalls, and opened his bank account and work e-mail.

Slowly but surely, the amount in the account was rising. So's stomach knotted as he looked at the money sent for him to stakeout the Hwang Bo house. They had not even asked for information on the family. All they wanted was for him to remain still and wait until it was time to pull the trigger.

So heard himself laugh at the cruel irony of the situation. He wondered if his benefactors would send a hitman to kill him if they ever found out he had no plans of ever harming Hae Soo or her family. They were paying him by the bucketful to do nothing. Either his benefactors were extremely lazy, extremely rich, or extremely stupid. So could not yet tell which type they were, but he knew he could take down whatever lackey they sent to dispose of him.

Sooner or later, the order to kill the family would come in and So would be like smoke in the wind. He would disappear from his benefactors' gaze and wait until they sent someone else to do his job. So would get rid of any threats to the Hwang Bo house for as long as Soo and her children lived inside it.

For now, with no kill order on the horizon, So shut his laptop and prepared for his day- his first as a newly single man. It would take every ounce of self-restraint not to touch Hae Soo. He would have to recede back into his shell and rebuild the walls she had torn down.

When So exited his bedroom, he was surprised to see Chae Ryung printing Soo's daily schedule. The governess wore a tight expression on her face and she stood by the printer, waiting for it to spit out the sheets of paper that would dictate the staff's movements. "Late start?" he asked, trying to keep himself as composed as possible.

Chae Ryung turned towards him and So watched her snatch a paper from the machine. "No, I had Soo's schedule prepared but she texted me a few minutes ago and said she wasn't feeling well. Said to knock her first two meetings off. Only Yoon is moving as usual. Mi will only be at school in the morning and I'll pull her before recess."

Nodding, So made his way toward one of the bathrooms but paused when Chae Ryung called his name. He stopped in his tracks as the governess sighed. "I'm glad you're still working here."

So offered a tip of his head in response, continuing on his way to the bathroom.

So went about his day, thinking about Soo and worrying if she was alright. He dropped the girls off at school, helped Mi to get from point A to point B, and went about his work as naturally as possible. Of course there would be no sympathy from the rest of the staff- he was the reason Mi could not walk, and he had carefully hidden and buried any traces of his and Soo's relationship. Nothing was wrong and no one broke up.

He mentally slapped himself when he caught a glimpse of Soo in her room. Eyes red, she sat in a chair and clutched a mug of something steaming. Her knees were pulled to her chest and she wrapped her sweater over her legs, sighing. So held back from going to her. He pulled himself away from holding her against his chest and hugging her so that he could take her sadness.

Every emotion flitted through his mind. He regretted breaking up with her but knew it was for the best. He was sad that he had lost something that meant so much to him, but happy that she was now able to be free from him.

In his mind, his emotions were so cleanly cut that there was no way for him to transfer any semblance of negativity toward the spot dedicated to Hae Soo. He gave her his love, happiness, and pride. His pain and fear, she had forced away from him, destroying the years of terror his parents had instilled. Any other unsavory emotions, he kept to himself.

So retreated to the security offices for the day. It would be better for him to take care of his work away from the house. If he stayed, he would run into Soo and have to face the damage he had inflicted. It was better for him to disappear into his job and blend into the background. That seemed prudent.

He took the stairs up to the second story of the building and opened the opaque, glass door that led him into a room of computers and screens. Men sat at desks, reviewing footage, reading over timestamps, and gruelling over menial tasks that never provided anything worth reporting. They all wore the same white shirts and black pants as per dress code, leaving So to be the only one in a suit. He accepted the bows of the security guards as he made for his office. So ignored those that brought their lunches to their desks and pretended not to see the liquids in open containers that were too close to the computers.

"Team Leader," someone called. So turned at the sound, dropping his hand as it reached for the banister that led to the small loft his office resided on. Making for the source of the voice, So nodded to one of the younger security guards. A head of frosted tips turned towards him and a tattooed hand motioned him over.

"Yes?" So moved to stand behind his subordinate's chair and stared down at the young man that sat at his desk, a cup ramyeon steaming beside his mouse as he pointed to a live image of a boy near the Hwang Bo house. With new, high-tech cameras installed all over the grounds, it did not require any strenuous eye movements for So to figure out who the boy was.

Lee Jung tossed his bike aside before unlocking the Hwang Bo house's front gate and walking in. "Son of a bitch," So growled.

"This boy seems to know the front gate's code," the younger man explained. So narrowed his eyes as he scanned other screens for Jung's movements. The boy plodded through the front lawn and stopped to stare into the little fish pond by the driveway. His yellow parka created an easy target for So's gaze to land on.

"How the fuck..." So hissed. The sudden sound of profanity brought the eyes of the other guards towards him, but So was too busy to care. Dialling Chae Ryung's number, So tapped his foot when she immediately answered, her voice flat.

"Governess."

"This is Wang So," he called, pressing the phone to his ear. So watched Jung continue to stare into the fish pond, admiring the white and gold koi mill around. He sincerely hoped there was no reason to worry. "Is there a reason why Lee Jung is on the front lawn? He seems to know the code to the front gate. Did anyone tell him?"

There was a bout of silence and So glared when he heard Soo's voice. "Is that my bodyguard? Hang up. If he wants something, he can get it from me."

Closing his eyes, So internally groaned as the connection cut. Any attempts to avoid conflict with Soo had been dashed. If not for his own curiosity, then for the security reports, So gritted his teeth before dialling Soo's number.

His thumb tapped against her name on his phone and he walked away from the security guards, trekking up to his office and shutting the door. He made a note to change Soo's name on his phone back to her usual title.

Calling: My Darling

Four rings and So heard Soo. "Yes?" she asked, her soft voice light and airy.

Accessing the live images on his computer, So slouched at his desk and glowered at Jung as he drew smiley faces on the frosted windows of one of the cars with his finger. "Mrs. Hae, why is Lee Jung in possession of-"

"Oh wow, 'Mrs. Hae?' You're fast, So." So flinched at her accusatory tone. However, he continued.

"It's a serious security risk for Lee Jung to have any codes to the house," he explained in the most level voice he could muster. He watched as the front door of the house opened. So frowned when Soo appeared in a tight, black hoodie and leggings. He could see each curve of her body accentuated by the stretchy material. She carried a box in one hand and held her phone in the other. So closed his eyes.

"What I do with the codes to my house is none of your business." He opened his eyes and watched her lips move on screen while he heard her from his phone. "Jung! Honey, thank you for waiting." She waved to the boy as he scampered over to where she stood. So exhaled loudly as she patted the boy's shoulder and passed the box over to him. "Thanks for coming to get your mom's tupperware. Jung, you have to show me that thing your mom told me about- parkour?"

So's elbow tipped off of his desk and he groaned audibly, scrutinizing his desktop screen. "Mrs. Hae- you can't-"

"Your mom says you can jump fences as tall as me!"

Jung nodded and grinned. He said something about practicing parkour with his friends and So made a face at the screen.

"Can you show me, then? Is that wall too tall or can you jump it?"

"Soo!" So shouted. He watched her point to the front gate and its surrounding brick wall. Jung nodded and chucked the box over the fence before hugging Soo and letting her ruffle his hair a last time. And, as nimbly as a cat, the boy vaulted over the brick wall and hurtled past the black gate.

So could see Soo clapping as Jung bowed before taking his bike and carrying the box back to his home. "Mr. Wang, I hope you enjoyed that show," Soo said as she pressed her phone to her ear. "I don't feel safe living in a house that a dedicated teenager can break into… so come home and make me feel safe."

He blinked at the sudden request and So coughed, suppressing any reaction he felt towards Soo's soft whine. The reprimanding he was going to give her for giving out gate codes flew away from his mind, and instead of any coherent thoughts, all he could manage were scattered half-sentences that hardly connected in grammar or logic.

"I- ahem- it's your fault he came in the first place- your codes- the house. Mrs. Hae, I don't think there's any situation my presence requires. You could have injured a young boy, and… and we're not… we're not together. I would ask that you don't…" His mouth dried when Soo gently stretched her arms and legs out, innocently tilting her chest towards the camera So currently stared through.

"The reasons you gave me for our breakup were bullshit, so I don't believe you," Soo said cheerily. So swallowed and looked away before his body could react. "And Jung was never in danger. He's been jumping our gate for snacks since he was thirteen. This is just the first time I've made him do it."

She saw right through him. So did not know how she was able to tear down his walls so easily. It had been a day and he was already pining for her. "I think you're guilting yourself because of Mi's accident. I still consider you very much a part of my life, so whenever you're ready, I'll accept either a kiss or a better reason to break up. Have a good day, Mr. Handsome Bodyguard. Oh, and try to smile more. Even if you're unhappy, it always helps… and I really like seeing you smile."

The call ended and So tipped his head back against his seat. "Goddammit, Hae Soo," he swore. Through the corner of his eyes, he continued to watch the video feed of the woman he loved.

Soo held her arms against the cold and shivered. So felt his lips pull against his teeth as he chuckled toward his ex-girlfriend. She hopped in place a few times to get her blood running. "Go inside, dummy," So murmured.

He continued to gaze at Soo, watching her breath fog as she bounced on her heels, waiting for something- someone. So did not move from his seat but maintained his vigilance, allowing him the small pleasure of looking at Soo.

Her jacket and leggings clung to her body, only pulling his eyes to her hips and chest. He wanted to go to her, but that was out of the question. It was selfish of him to wish that she was waiting for him even when he knew full well he would not give in to her wants.

Soft footsteps ran up the stairs to his office and So minimized his screen as he prepared to face whichever of his subordinates were heading his way. He slipped his phone back into his pocket and cleared his throat, adjusting the black tie wrapped around his neck.

There was a knock and So looked up.

"Enter," he said, facing the door as his subordinate opened it.

"Mr. Wang, here are the receipts for this month as well as the typed reports." He set an orderly deck of papers onto So's desk as well as a folder of documents before pausing. So reached for the clipped pile as his subordinate continued to speak. "May I ask why Mr. Hwang Bo's car has been consuming almost triple the amount of fuel Madam Hae's car has been taking?"

So's hand stilled.

The commute between the Blue House and the Hwang Bo house was almost equal to that of Soo's office in her father's building and the house. So did the calculations in his mind, silently growing angrier as he realized Wook's cheating was a long-term relationship. Because he's still cheating on his wife, and that requires a distance commitment and commute.

So wondered if he should take it upon himself to find the woman Wook was seeing. If he disposed of her, would Wook return to making Soo happy again? So loathed the idea of anyone but himself loving Soo, but she was tied to her husband, and Wook could make her happy if he tried. So disposed of his thoughts on the matter. There was no reason he should make his life more complicated than it already was.

Looking up at the young man, So shook his head. "Politicians travel," he stated. He did not bother providing any other explanation, and the security guard took his leave.

Sitting at his desk, So went over security details, his eyes skimming over shoddily typed reports on CCTV activity. Of course- and as always- there was nothing to report. As an inhabitant of the house his subordinates wrote reports on, So knew exactly what happened when it happened. There was nothing new for him to learn.

He checked his e-mail and read over the next set of schedules Chae Ryung sent him. The monotony of his work made it easier for him to forget his conversation with Soo, and So made a note of the time Wook and his bodyguard would return from France. In just a few hours, Soo would have her husband back.

So ached to think he was leaving her with no one but her cheating husband. He hoped Wook knew what kind of a woman he was giving up with his infidelity. It was unfathomable to So that Wook would cheat on Soo… but it was Wook who was her husband- not he. There was nothing he could do to make Wook love Soo, but at least Wook was a safe person for her to be with.

Better a cheating husband than a faithful hitman.

So returned to the house an hour before Wook was scheduled to arrive. He entered through the back door and made for the servant's quarters in search of Chae Ryung.

Walking into their designated area, So wandered around the empty lounge and even knocked on Chae Ryung's bedroom. The governess was nowhere to be found and So wondered if Soo was keeping her close.

"Have you seen Chae Ryung?" he asked to a passing maid. The older woman frowned before pointing him in the direction of the living room.

So moved briskly, going through the large house in search of the governess. He hoped not to run into Soo just because he did not know what she would do if they met. She had made it clear that she would wait for him, but So did not want to be waited upon. The temptation to just drag her into his arms was already pulling at him, but the additional, welcoming invitation to do so only made him seek her further. So gritted his teeth as he chided himself for being so easily swayed.

He entered the living room and froze. Instead of Chae Ryung, Hae Soo stood in the living room, dressed in a low-cut top and tight jeans, her hair tied back. So was given a clear view of Soo's bra as she set a cake down onto the table. "Oh, hello," she said as she looked up. Soo smiled gently before turning to gaze around the room. They were the only two people inside. "I remember how you pinned me down and ate me out in this room," she said quietly.

So bit the inside of his cheek and gripped the deck of receipts tightly, letting the paperclip dig into his palm. He stood still as Soo walked towards him, her hips swaying ever so slightly. He held his breath as she stepped up to him, her hands touching his tie.

"Maybe you can do it again sometime," she teased.

Focus. Focus. Don't let yourself get distracted. She's married. She's your employer.

"Your husband is… at the gate," So muttered, mustering every ounce of self-control within his body. They both heard the sound of gravel crunching.

It was seconds before the front door opened and Soo moved away from him.

So stepped back from Soo as Wook smiled at his wife. "Hello, darling," the politician called. Dressed in a blue suit and red tie, Wook looked too formal compared to his wife, but he seemed not to care. So averted his eyes as Wook pressed his lips to Soo's. "Where are our babies? Daddy brought gifts!"

So knew where the children were. Mi was in the sitting room while Yoon was in her bedroom, tuckered out. He stood by as Wook and Soo walked to the sitting room together. He discerned the sound of happy exclamations and declarations that Mi was the bravest little girl in the world. There were kisses, laughter, and So remembered whose arms Soo would return to… and they did not belong to him.

"Mi, didn't you choose Daddy's welcome home cake?" Soo asked.

"Mm, I can't wait to have some," Wook replied. "But first, can you wait just a little bit, princess? Daddy wants to shower and change."

So pretended not to look as Wook's arm wrapped around Soo's waist, his hand drifting towards her bottom. "I've missed all three of my girls, but those jeans make me miss you the most."

Whether he imagined the apologetic glance Soo shot his way, So could not tell. He was too far from the master bedroom to correctly discern her expression, but either way, he felt his heart sink when the bedroom door closed behind her.