The Twenty-Seven-Year Itch – Chapter 16: Strength in Numbers

After dinner, Yoongi walked her home.  His bodyguards were still there, walking a few feet behind them.  She couldn’t help but notice them now.  Yoongi reached out and took her hand with his own.  Just a light clasp, a reassuring connection once again reminding her that she was no longer alone.

She glanced up at him.  “Yoongi, are you in a lot of danger because of what you do?  Is that why you have so many bodyguards?”

“Today I was very glad that I have them.” His eyes caught hers.  “I don’t usually go around with this many.  But today we all felt it was necessary since your boyfriend was an unknown.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” she corrected him.  

Never to trespass against these lips again.

That thought reminded her that she had wanted to kiss Yoongi.  She still wanted to kiss Yoongi.  He probably thought she was nuts.  She’d known him for not even three days yet.  However, she felt like she’d known him for years.  She’d found him in a difficult time in her life.  He’d inspired her to come to South Korea.  To help kids learn English.  And to discover a world beyond her own.  The only problem with that was…sometimes the world was an ugly place.

But Yoongi was a beautiful element in a world gone mad.  And she wanted to be closer to that beauty.  Hence, the kiss.  She longed for a deeper connection with this lovely mystery.  She wasn’t naive enough to believe that she knew all there was to know of Yoongi or his moods.  But she had seen the gold hidden within his soul.  And she wanted more of him.

Their hands still lightly clasped, they walked the remainder of the distance to her apartment in silence.  His bodyguards walked through her flat before leaving to wait in the hallway outside her door.  She and Yoongi then entered the small apartment together.  Alone at last.  She shut the door.

Then she turned towards him.  Joy flooded her heart.  She knew they were surrounded by half-packed boxes.  Yoongi was here to help her unpack those boxes.  Eun would never again cross the threshold of this, her sanctum.  She could not just breathe again.  She could begin to live again.  A peace invaded her soul, and she threw her arms around Yoongi’s neck, drawing herself up against the length of him.  His arms reflexively came up around her waist.  She buried her face in the shirt covering his heart.  

“Thank you, Yoongi,” she sobbed.  “I don’t know how to thank you!  You’ve truly set me free!  I’m not alone anymore.”

 

Leave a Reply