Fiction 1

Untitled Part 1

I stepped out and took a deep breath. The door closed itself behind me. I always take a moment to absorb the world around me before walking out anywhere. Am I the only one who does that? Can't be. After all, what other uses can a porch have? Maybe people use it some other way but, not me. For me, the porch is the middle ground. A loading dock. A lookout to see what the day might bring. Nothing much really. Just like any other day.

A car pulled up and out came a man from the depth of its belly. The man reached into his pocket and with one swift motion he's got a phone by his right ear. A testament to his professionality. I started moving and my phone started ringing.

"Yeah. I saw you out front. I'm coming down."

I took the stairs for no reason. Maybe I thought I'd feel different if I take the stairs instead of the elevator. I don't know why I had that ridiculous idea but I thought it was pretty smart. I can assure you taking the stairs 12 floors down was not that smart. As I reached the ground floor, the man from earlier was standing in front of the elevator. I waved at him and he rushed to me.

"You took the stairs? I was about to go up!"

"Yeah. Please don't ask why I did that. I have no idea."

He looked at me with a fatherly look. At least it looks fatherly to me. It could be his annoyed look and I won't even know. He raised his hand to look at his watch.

"We still have some time. Want to grab a drink?" he asked me.

"Let's just buy something and have it in the car."

The man nodded softly and turned around. Next destination, vending machine. I followed suit. He might not seem like it but he used to be a bodyguard. That's right, a real bodyguard. How cool is that? Once, I tried telling strangers I worked as a bodyguard. Most of them are amazed and asked if I have ever worked for the prime minister or celebrities. I would just say yes. I wondered if that was really the case. Does a bodyguard only work for prime minister and celebrities?

"Mr. Sazae. You said you used to be a bodyguard right?"

"That's right. Used to but it was already almost ten years ago," he said with a hint of a laugh in his voice. I saw his soft smile through the reflection on the vending machine. He pushed the button in. Two coffee. I wanted a coke. "Are you going to ask if I worked for any celebrities?"

Bingo.

He laughed. This time out loud. Meanwhile, I was still eagerly waiting for an answer. "I must say, I did not expect you to ask me that," he told. He held out a cup of coffee for me. "Well, truth is, no. I have never work for them. My company was a small one. Those people. Ministers, celebrities, they don't ever bother with us. They already have huge security companies to take care of them on top of the police that generally just guards them during events. If you're a young female idol, then you might have your fan clubs forming a security team. That's another level though. My company, we deal with smaller clients. Usually some rich middle aged women, with too much money to spent, they hire us to guard from an imaginary stalker or sometimes paranoid salarymen thinking someone higher up is out to get them because they saw something they shouldn't have. It is ridiculous. The only thing they will do is buy them into shutting their mouth."

Huh. That was way more banal than I imagined.

"You're not wrong if you think it's boring. Life is never as colorful as the movies you know," I nodded to say I'm listening. Though I must say, I didn't quite understand how a bored bodyguard can switch to becoming an actor's manager. I wouldn't say his job now is more interesting than before. Maybe I'll ask about it later.