Hee Won, upon entering her home for the first time, froze in his tracks, unable to move carelessly at the sight before him.

The scene that met his eyes before he even took off his shoes at the entrance was a mess in many ways.

Though he didn’t presume to know everything about her, Hee Won had guessed that Na Eun was quite a tidy person.

Whenever he glimpsed her school supplies during lectures, they were all neatly organized, and her note-taking style showed she liked to keep things in order.

Seeing how all her items in her bag were sorted into pouches by purpose, he could tell she was naturally an orderly person.

But the state of the room before Hee Won’s eyes now was quite miserable.

Despite it being a studio apartment with little space to make a mess, there was a strewn blanket, pillows rolling on the floor, and while the desk had books open for studying, they were in disarray.

The low table on the floor, doubling as a dining table, was occupied not by traces of food, but by empty cans of all sorts of coffee and caffeinated drinks.

The kitchen, for its part, showed no signs of eating, but also no signs of cleaning.

In short, it was a complete disaster.

“Sorry. I didn’t think to clean up.”

Na Eun, who had just calmed down after crying for a long time, belatedly rummaged through the fridge with her reddened nose.

It was a natural action stemming from the habit of offering something to drink when welcoming a guest.

Hee Won stood at the entrance, hands on his hips, taking slow, deep breaths.

While Na Eun’s willingness to let a strange man into her home at this late hour could be attributed to her unwanted trust in him, the sight of the room looking like a bomb had hit it made him feel sick to his stomach.

It was even worse because just looking at it, he could deduce in one glance how Na Eun had been living for the past two weeks or so.

Unaware of Hee Won’s feelings, Na Eun, her eyes barely dry, innocently offered him a drink.

“Sorry. This is all I have right now.”

What she handed him was coffee milk, famous for making it hard to fall asleep.

Staring at it blankly, Hee Won took the milk and asked.

“Has this been your main diet?”

“Huh?”

“When was the last time you ate a proper meal?”

Hee Won asked seriously to Na Eun, who blinked her eyes wide. She hesitated for a moment, then rolled her eyes.

“Um… yesterday?”

“What did you eat yesterday?”

“Cake…”

She had eaten about two bites of the slice of cake she had ordered along with coffee at the cafe, feeling awkward to just order coffee.

“And what else?”

“Vanilla latte…”

Hee Won rubbed his face wearily.

“Let’s eat first.”

Following the advice of her friend Seung Joo, who said that ordering delivery food rather than cooking was showing respect for ingredients, Na Eun’s studio apartment fridge wasn’t abundantly stocked with food ingredients.

However, true to the saying that a master doesn’t blame their tools, Hee Won managed to prepare quite a decent meal with those meager ingredients.

Though it was just a simple setting of rice and soup, Na Eun, after taking a spoonful of the soup, let out a small exclamation of admiration.

“You could open a restaurant someday.”

Hee Won smiled weakly as he watched Na Eun across from him, her eyes sparkling with delight at the tasty food.

Though he was already emotionally devastated by the bombshell Na Eun had dropped on him earlier outside, he tried his best not to show it as he spoke to her, who was focusing on the soup.

“From today, my protection will change from personal to center-wide security. I’m sorry, but the app installed on your phone is no longer optional, it’s mandatory. Keep it on at all times.”

With that app on, her real-time location would be revealed to him, but now it was a matter of protection, not privacy invasion.

Knowing this better than anyone, Na Eun nodded obediently while putting a spoonful of rice in her mouth.

While answering with a nod, she found it strangely interesting how easily the rice went down her throat, and she even had the odd thought that if Seo Hee Won ever opened a restaurant, she might become a regular customer.

It was possible because for the first time, she had unburdened the stress she had been carrying to someone, and Hee Won’s attitude of taking responsibility and handling everything had eased her mental pressure.

Until yesterday, even putting one meal in her mouth a day felt like it would make her vomit, but now food was going down surprisingly well.

Hee Won continued speaking from across Na Eun, who was eating eagerly like someone who hadn’t eaten for days (which was practically true).

“The same app will be installed on your mother’s phone. It would be better if you did it, but if it’s difficult, we’ll take care of it.”

For them, secretly installing an app on a civilian’s phone for a moment was no big deal.

Na Eun said she would do that much herself, and that she would visit her mother’s house tomorrow.

She glanced cautiously at Hee Won with her half-eaten bowl of rice in front of her.

“…But really, if I happen to meet him again… can I not tell you?”

“I said I’d handle it. You just stay put.”

“…”

Actually, that’s what she wanted to hear. Na Eun nodded quietly, and Hee Won gazed at her intently.

With the most serious eyes he’d ever shown, he briefly informed her about what would happen from now on.

“Not just our team, but other personnel will be mobilized for this case. It’s quite a big deal.”

“Is me meeting him such a big deal to you guys?”

Of course, it was an earth-shattering event for Na Eun herself, but she asked, finding it a bit strange that it was so for the heroes too.

Hee Won looked at Na Eun with a slightly complicated expression before choosing his words carefully.

It was right to tell her only after everything was certain, and anyway, it was still just his intuition-based inference for now.

…Moreover, he even thought that the more she knew about all his predictions, the less positive impact it would have on Na Eun.

In any case, with a lot to be decided only after everything became certain, Hee Won chose to change the subject.

“Still, I’ll continue to be in charge of your protection. Take this.”

What he handed over was a pair of earrings. Seeing Na Eun’s puzzled expression at the small, sparkling objects, he tapped his own ear.

Understanding the meaning, Na Eun obediently put on the earrings.

After confirming she had put them on, Hee Won told her to touch the earrings. When Na Eun did so, she widened her eyes again in surprise.

“Wow, what is this?”

Although he was clearly in front of her, Hee Won’s voice sounded closer, as if whispering in her ear. He explained.

“If you ever encounter that bastard when I’m not around, pretend to brush your hair and touch the earring. You’ll hear my voice, and I’ll be able to hear what you’re saying and the voice of anyone talking to you.”

“Like speakerphone mode?”

“Yes. But my voice won’t be heard by anyone but you.”

“Wow, that’s amazing!”

Just like a spy movie! Her complexion, which had been haggard from crying as if she would die just hours ago, brightened up like a lie.

At her expression, just like a child starring in a superhero movie, Hee Won forgot the seriousness of the situation for a moment and smiled.

“We usually only use these among ourselves, I never thought I’d be putting them on a civilian’s ears.”

“Then, are the earrings you’re wearing originally for that purpose too?”

“Just one. The rest are because I want to wear them.”

“Ah.”

Na Eun nodded vigorously, looking at Hee Won’s dazzling piercings as if she had just realized something.

After gazing at Na Eun adoringly for a while, Hee Won pointed to the spoon she had put down and urged her.

“Don’t leave anything, eat it all up quickly.”

“Ah, okay!”

Like a good daughter answering her mother, she obediently replied and picked up her spoon.

As Hee Won watched her from across the table, resting his chin on his hand, as she ate rice and soup diligently like a hamster, she swallowed the rice in her mouth and said with a smile.

“I wish I could cook as well as you.”

“Are you that bad?”

“Yeah. Sun Jin and Seung Joo told me not to cook because it’s disrespectful to the ingredients.”

“That’s harsh.”

“Right?”

Na Eun wrinkled her nose in agreement towards Hee Won, who was taking her side.

A comfortable atmosphere naturally flowed between the two, who were now chatting casually over food like close friends.

Feeling Hee Won’s gaze, who wasn’t eating himself but just staring intently at her eating, Na Eun smiled softly.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“As if you’re in love with me.”

“…”

It’s always like this. Yoon Na Eun only showed this kind and perceptive side of herself in front of him.

Trying not to show his unintentionally struck heart, he struggled to maintain his composure.

As if completely unaware of Hee Won’s state, Na Eun chewed and swallowed her rice, then said.

“My dad used to say that. Watching someone eat means you love them.”

“…”

“When I was in elementary school, my dad always used to watch me eat. My mom did too.”

Na Eun laughed, saying that when she asked why they did that, they said that’s what you do when you love someone. Hee Won, who had been silent, asked Na Eun.

“…Is that why you said you don’t eat with men you don’t intend to date?”

“Yes. That’s what eating alone with someone means to me. When it’s just the two of you, there’s no one else to look at but each other.”

“…”

“You know, my dad, he was really bad at cooking?”

Na Eun spoke excitedly, suddenly reminded of her father.

“He always changed recipes weirdly, so everything he cooked tasted really bad. I think I got my poor cooking skills from him.”

“…I see.”

“When he came home early on weekend evenings, dad would make dinner. He said he loved seeing mom and me eat deliciously. Actually, it tasted terrible, but we pretended to enjoy it because we liked seeing him happy. On really bad days, mom and I would secretly add ramen seasoning to dad’s soup and stuff like that.”

It was really hard to add it secretly then, like in a spy movie, but now thinking about it, it was funny and amusing.

Hee Won laughed when she told him about the moment they secretly high-fived with her mom after succeeding.

Na Eun smiled back brightly, reminiscing about that time, as she put the last spoonful in her mouth and chewed.

After finishing all of Hee Won’s cooking without leaving anything, she murmured briefly.

“…I miss dad.”

“…”

“I’d be happy to eat dad’s bad cooking for the rest of my life, I miss him so much.”

Hehe. Hee Won just stared at Na Eun, who was muttering like that with a silly laugh, unable to say anything.

He didn’t know whether to be grateful that tears no longer welled up in her eyes, or to tell her to cry, and unsorted words swirled in his mouth, but as always, he chose silence.

It was because he, who was nothing to Yoon Na Eun, had no more comfort to offer her.