I never thought I would fall for anyone playing the damsel in distress, but looking back, that is exactly what had happened. The only difference was that I was the victim here.

After being rudely shoved out of the room by the said damsel: the person I once respected but now loathed (just kidding) who just happened to be my boss, shortly after the said damsel had handed over his supposedly 'wild' younger sibling's responsibility to yours truly, aka me, I had skimmed through the file, picked up my stun gun, and my big-boy gun before rushing to the parking lot, where I had found my assigned car sporting a flat. Cursing, I had jumped into my beloved Lavida instead and was out in record time.

I was at the airport with about ten minutes to spare; standing with a placard in my left hand and a pen in my right, I wondered what to write on it.

Writing 'Huang Haojun' on it would be counter-productive. Writing the agency name was not a wise choice either.

To be honest, it was the first time in my ten years of service that I was put in this position. The usual protocol during such pickups was for Haoyu to send the driver's picture along with information about the make of the car to the client, who would then find the vehicle and board it.

Since the procedure was similar to booking a cab, it was inconspicuous and ensured maximum anonymity to our clients.

As I stood there feeling and (probably) looking like a fool, a boy with dark shades, a well-worn gray-colored sweatshirt shirt, and a matching face mask approached me. "The sun is shining," he stated casually.

I specifically remembered the weather lady on the radio chirping something along the lines of 'cloudy with thirty percent chances of light drizzle.'

I was about to correct him when the boy zipped down his sweatshirt; 'The Shadow's' cold, sexy, green eyes shot me a smoldering glance from the center of the young man's otherwise white T-Shirt.

'Stop drooling over hot, fictional, mysterious guys with emotional baggage, Zhao Laoshi.' Bastard suggested.

Excuse me, I don't discriminate. I would have drooled over an equally hot gal as well!

If the T-Shirt the boy was donning was his choice, he had impeccable taste; without meaning to, I leaned in and whispered, "But the ice is slippery."

It was an iconic line from the 1994 movie, The shadow, which starred a then-very-hot Hollywood actor, Alec Baldwin, in the lead role.

Neither my proximity nor my reply made him uncomfortable. For the boy didn't back away as most his age would have. Instead, he tilted his head and stared at me for a few long seconds.

"I didn't expect you to look like this, but since you said the right words, you must be my man." He shrugged, and without a single word, he walked past me, leaving me alone with my blank placard and blue marker pen.

What the fuck did he mean by that!? What words!? And most importantly, I was no one's man except my own!

I turned around, fully intending to set the record straight when he put his palm out and handed me his ID. I casually glanced at it, and Haoyu's brother's face stared back at me. According to the document, the boy standing in front of me was Huang Haojun.

I felt like a fish out of water; if this boy was, indeed, who he said he was, then what did he mean by: 'you must be my man'?

Clearly, I was missing something. "Listen-"

The boy...no. The idol shook his head and gestured to me to unlock the car. I obliged. After all, I was there to pick him up.

"Call me Lion," he said authoritatively.

Lion!? There was no way I was going to call this boy LION.

Without giving me a chance to voice my thoughts, he hopped into the backseat of my silver Lavida and slammed the door shut, "Let's get out of here. Quick."

Alright.

I took my place behind the wheel and hit the road.

The boy left a relieved breath, "I hope you have prepared a place for me to crash. As you already know, I am a private person and don't like to answer too many personal questions-" I heard some kind of snap, and then he continued, "- I am cool with the rest. I didn't want to give too much earlier. I was not sure if you were up for it."

Up for what? And why did it sound like we were hooking up later? Did he perhaps confuse me with a-

"I am here on a break and would like to enjoy myself. A won't be a burden, I promise. All I need from you is to hang out with me, feed me hearty meals, keep me safe and make sure no one finds out who I am."

'Are you disappointed, Zhao Laoshi?' The Bastard leered.

No. I am relieved that that's all he wants.

Unaware of how much his words had put me at ease, the idol left an exasperated breath and continued. "When I don't show up at my brother's place, he will no doubt try to reach me. He is the head of the best security services in the country, you know?"

"Oh, is he?" I played along. I needed to understand what I had gotten myself into before deciding what to do next.

"Yes." Lion replied softly, fondly. Then cleared his throat and continued in a business-like tone, "So you need to be alert 24/7. I still can't believe we ditched that Zhao Zan guy my brother sent to fetch me." he let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh!"

"Ya, I will text you my brother's number as soon as I get a new SIM and a phone. Use it only in case of emergency. Any questions?"

Yes, I have questions, Lion! I have a fuck ton of them, to be honest. But I can't expect you to answer them; can I, Lion?

"For now, I have one. What kind of emergency are we talking about here?"

"If I get kidnapped or murdered. That kind of emergency." Lion clarified; words fell out his lips naturally like he wasn't talking about his abduction or demise but ordering food off of a menu card he knew by heart.

The hell kind of life was this man-child living!?

"Hey, Bunny?" The boy tapped the edge of my shoulder.

Did he just call me Bunny!?

"What's your name? I can't keep calling you Bunny-" He paused and caught me glancing at him from the rearview mirror.

I noticed that he had gotten rid of his mask now. His inky mono-lids stared back at me, and a devilish grin lit up his face. "-unless you want me to. I kinda like it, actually."

My mind ran a mile a minute. Laoban had given him my name, so I couldn't use Zhao Zan. The next best alternative was to modify the truth a smidgen, "I am Zhao Zhan. You can call me-"

"What!? Stop the car right now! I am not going anywhere-"

"That's my name. But can't two people have the same name?"

"Mn?"

"If my name is the problem, then I will drop you wherever you want. Please don't try to contact me again. So, where will it be?"

I knew I had risked a lot by offering the idol a choice, but in my experience, this kind of reverse psychology usually worked.

There was no sound from the backseat for a minute or so, then the boy spoke again, "I will call you Lao* Zhao." The boy decided and winked at me like he had done me a favor.

I wasn't going to let him call me Lao! It made me sound like a middle-aged man, and I was many things but not that.. yet. Nonetheless, I was older than him, and even though Haoyu and I were not very close, we were friends and could trust each other with our lives.

"Lao Zhao, is there a problem?"

"No!"

"Mn?"

The boy was making me question my vanity. I couldn't have that. "Do I look that old?"

The boy recklessly unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed forward. His breath fell on the nape of my neck.

"Get back in your seat!" I yelled.

"You sound like my mom." he pinched his lips as if disappointed and sighed, "I was just about to compliment you, but now-"

I felt flustered, "I am worried. Can't you see? You told me to take care of you, remember? This is me taking care of you!"

The idol's eyes bore into my neck. The heat in them made me shift in my seat.

'Admit it. You fucked up. Your communication skills suck and-'

"I am sorry. You are right." He returned to his seat and bucked up, "I keep forgetting that this is the first time we have met in person."

The way he had said the words hit me like a cannonball. They didn't belong to a brat but a lonely soul. "I am sorry for yelling. I didn't mean to." I caught him in the rearview mirror again, "Lao Zhao sounds kinda old-fashioned, don't you think? I prefer Zhao Laoshi."

"I prefer Bunny." The predatory grin was back, and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

Did he know that I was looking at him from the mirror!?

"Too bad," I shrugged, "Bunny is out of the running."

Lion sighed, sounding highly put-upon, "In that case, I will go with Zhao Laoshi."

"Great! Now that we have that out of the way, I think calling you Lion will attract too much attention. How about I call you Junjun?" I was sure that he would turn it down, but a shy smile bloomed on his lips.

"Junjun... " He whispered softly. "I like it."

A few seconds of silence followed; then, "By the way, Zhao Laoshi, did you buy a phone for me like I asked you to?" The inky eyes looked at me expectantly.

Fuck!

I was contemplating how to reply when my phone rang.

It was Haoyu.

"I need to take this, Junjun. I won't take long." I said without replying to the idol, and stopping the car at the side of the road, I got out.

"He is with me," I spoke before my boss could start.

'What?'

"I can't talk now; he is safe. I will talk to you later. Don't call me. Bye."

Disconnecting the call, I returned to my Lavida, smirking. Though a part of me understood that he might be worried, the other just thought: 'Pay-back-time, sucker!'

Making boss-man wait for answers felt like sweet revenge. However, my happiness didn't last long.

"Who was that?" The curious idol asked. He was wearing his mask again.

I lied with ease. "My mother. She wants to know when I will be back home."

The boy's body stiffened, "But you said you lived alone."

Fuck.

What other details had Junjun exchanged with the bunny guy? In any case, one thing I had learned from this misstep was that I needed to steer clear of mentioning personal things.

"Yes, I did mention that. I do live alone." I replied sincerely, "She is in a retirement home. She calls up like this sometimes, and I just humor her." I pursed my lips and took the wheels.

If the boy had a heart, he would feel guilty and stop talking to me for a few.

I needed time to think. What I had so far was that:

1. He didn't want to stick with what either boss-man or his people had planned for him.

2. He was probably running away from something or someone, but I didn't have enough information to guess the cause.

3. I couldn't take him to his brother's place, and I couldn't put him up at a hotel either.

4. Fuck.

5. I needed to get my hands on a new phone; however, I didn't know whether the idol had discussed the model and the make of the phone with Bunny.

6. Would Laoban reimburse me for it? The boy was an idol and filthy rich; he probably wanted a luxury phone the kind I had seen others like him use.

7. Fucking phone!

8. I needed to recall where I had stashed my fake ID cards from my time in service.

9. Fucking IDs!

Junjun didn't have a phone at the moment and was trying to observe me without being too obvious about it, so he probably hadn't guessed that I was just driving around aimlessly and had already circled the mall and shopping area twice.

I hadn't gone on a holiday in ages. What I needed was a good long drink of scotch on the rocks and a good book to immerse myself in, but I got a heartfelt apology instead.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to sound like a jerk. I just, I guess I still don't trust you enough not to sell me out, you know?"

I nodded, hoping he would just shut up and let me think, but that was not to be. Immediately, the idol started firing instructions about what he wanted to eat and drink and the places he wanted to visit over the next three or four days.

From what I had understood, the boy just needed some 'me time' before disclosing the details of his whereabouts to his brother and manager.

The one-sided conversation started slowing down soon after, and his words came out slurry. A minute or so later, Junjun fell asleep with his lips slightly parted.

So fucking cute.

'Stop being a pervert, Zhao Laoshi.' The (so-far-silent) Bastard warned.

I ignored him and flipped him a bird.

I am not a pervert, Bastard. I am his bodyguard. It's my business to watch him... I mean, watch over him. Understand?

'If you say so, Zhao Laoshi.' said the irritating thing in my head with as much condescension injected into his tone as possible.

Fucking Bastard!

[Chapter word count: 2374
Word count so far: 4670]

Glossary:

Lao - literal meaning 'Old'. Used before family name, to address an old or older person one is familiar with.