Madison was helpful to me. She was a dear about helping me around the house, making things for me, and asking me if I needed anything. My new bodyguard almost didn't exist. She really did stay off in the shadows, I barely remembered she was there. Madison asked about "Joonie" all the time. I told her that he finally found a new place to live.
I had managed to push him out of my mind briefly. I didn't want to think of Park and whatever feelings were trying to develop. I preferred to ignore them.
Jaeyoung was pretty nice. She rarely talked, and sometimes I caught her giving me supremely dirty looks. I guessed Park wasn't the only one who found me annoying. Jaeyoung was also slightly deaf in one ear. Sometimes when I called her, she would look in the completely opposite direction before figuring out where I was. It was weird who they let become bodyguards now a days.
One evening, three days before Christmas, with my leg healing, King invited me over. I didn't go out much and was stuck in the house. I worked from home most of the time. I was sitting by his fireplace, attempting to keep warm. He had offered to make dinner for me. It wasn't weird being in his presence, but it was surely different. He treated me like a porcelain doll. I wasn't used to the kindness.
"Hey Grace," he had stopped using my last name. "Will you get my phone off my nightstand?" He asked.
"King, I'm crippled. How dare you," complained as I got up on my crutches. I was working on my laptop, puzzling over a few more anomalies in our stock. We had lost 300,000 more dollars somehow. Zeroes were being misplaced and going to a charity fund that didn't seem to be in existence. It still hurt to move my leg. While one bone had fractured in one leg, the other had suffered from a sprain. It wasn't fun being useless in not just one but two legs.
"What's that?" He mocked me. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of your complaining," he joked. I rolled my eyes and hobbled to his room. He lived in a penthouse in the city. There was a beautiful view of the city's night lights out of his bedroom window. It was snowing outside, finally. It looked like we would have a white Christmas after all.
My thoughts shifted to Park momentarily. He didn't check in. He didn't talk to Madison. He didn't send a postcard. It was like he had disappeared into the wind. I shook my head. I needed to get over whatever....this was. These feelings. I grabbed King's phone. My eyes randomly fell on something bright red in his closet.
The door was open slightly. Something drew me to the color of the jacket. I found myself opening the door to the closet and seeing a familiar, red coat. The arm. The arm that had done this to me. My mouth hung open as I recalled being pushed and losing my balance on the slope. I felt fear grip me, causing my entire body to start shaking. It was King. That's why he pretended to be so concerned.
That kiss was a distraction. The whole time, it was him. I heard a dish clink in the kitchen sink and I felt adrenaline set in. I had to get out of there. "Grace? Are you okay?" King called from the kitchen. I jumped in my skin, heart racing.
"Y-yeah!" I called. I hurriedly tried to shut the closet door, but it was jammed. I heaved against the door, but I wasn't exactly in the best shape.
"Grace? What are you doing?" King appeared at the door. I spun around, one of my crutches falling to the ground. I leaned on my bad leg, pain shooting up it. "Are you okay?" The CEO stepped closer and reached his hand out to me. Without thinking, my hand flew out. My crutch slammed into the side of his head. I watched as his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.
My bodyguard. Where was she? Outside of the apartment. I crawled out of the door, my legs in casts so it was hard to move them. As I crawled past King, his hand reached out and grabbed my ankle. I shrieked and kicked him in the jaw, my entire leg reverberated with the shock. King's head snapped back and I hurriedly crawled away. When I got to the living room, Jaeyoung was standing there, her face serious.
