Billionaire's Bodyguard

Ch 5. What job was that?

The first man came from the front, swinging his fist toward Rey's head. Rey dodged, then countered with a punch to the ribs. The man groaned and stepped back half a pace.

The second one threw a punch immediately. Rey blocked and kicked hard into the inside of the man's knee, making him lose his balance.

"Take this damn it!" Emily shouted from behind.

Rey turned and saw Emily throwing a plastic box toward two men on Rey's right, hitting one of their shoulders quite hard.

The man turned toward Emily with a furious expression, but before he could step forward, Emily had already thrown her own sandal at the man's face.

"Eat that!" Emily shouted furiously.

Rey used that pause to shove the third man who was approaching hard. The man crashed into his friend, both colliding with each other and falling.

"Em, get away from here!" Rey ordered without turning around.

Emily didn't answer, she had already knelt on the asphalt, gathering pieces of wood from the leftover packaging. She threw them one by one at the men and disrupted their concentration.

"Take this!"

A small pebble flew, however, it missed its target and hit the back of Rey's head with a clear small thud.

Rey stopped for a moment, his hand rising and touching the back of his head.

He turned toward Emily with wide eyes.

"Em ...," Rey said furiously.

Emily froze with her hand still raised.

He turned back to face forward just as the fourth man swung his fist from the side. Rey ducked and dodged, then pushed him down.

From the end of the alley, the sound of a long whistle made everyone stop for a moment. Followed by the sound of two people's footsteps running.

Two market security officers ran with security batons in hand. The men dressed in black turned toward that sound simultaneously, and their attention was completely diverted.

Rey grabbed Emily's wrist and pulled her without giving any warning first.

"Rey, wait!" Emily tried to pull her hand back, but Rey's steps didn't slow down. "Wait, my motorcycle!"

Rey kept running.

"Rey, just wait a moment!" Emily ran, forced to follow Rey's long strides, one hand trying to break free of his grip. "My goods are still there!"

Rey didn't answer, he kept running then turned into a small alley, beside a shop. Rey immediately pressed his shoulder against the wall and peeked slightly toward the street to make sure no one was chasing him.

Emily immediately yanked her hand hard. "Let go."

Rey turned to face Emily, his breath still ragged.

"What did you do?" Emily stared at him with eyes already red at the edges. "You left the motorcycle and all my goods there just like that."

"Didn't you see the officers coming?" said Rey. "If you had stayed there, you would have gotten into a more complicated problem."

"But my things–"

"Em." Rey cut her off, his voice not loud but firm. "Calm down, let's see the situation from here first."

Emily stopped talking, both of them peeked from behind the wall toward the crowd still visible from a distance.

At the fighting spot earlier, the men dressed in black were already standing facing the two security officers. One of the men spoke in a tone that looked calm.

A few minutes later, the men walked away toward their car without anyone stopping them. The two security officers called someone, then one of them bent down and started standing up Emily's motorcycle that was still lying on the asphalt.

Emily let out a long breath. "Look." Her voice cracked slightly at the end. "They're going to take it."

"They'll detain you if you're there, Em," Rey said softly. "You won't be able to sell anymore if that happens."

Emily didn't answer, she turned to the wall beside her and hit it once with her fist.

"Three years." Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "I saved for three years to buy that motorcycle."

Rey looked at her from the side, he didn't say anything.

"Mom's cart, they already confiscated." Tears fell down Emily's cheeks despite her facial expression. "Now my motorcycle too. Damn it!"

She turned around and walked without telling Rey where she was going. Rey followed behind her at a one-step distance, not trying to speak.

They had only walked about 20 meters when a white SUV stopped at the roadside beside them. Its window went down and a man stuck his head out with a wide smile.

"Hey! Rey? Rey Walker?"

Rey stopped, he stared at the man's face for several seconds with an expression trying to dig up his memory.

Neck-length hair, a cream shirt with the top two buttons left open and gray fabric pants. His face was familiar but Rey couldn't remember him right away.

"Et ... Ethan?" Rey said with a hesitant tone.

"Yes!" The man opened his car door and got out. "No mistake. Rey Walker."

Emily kept walking without turning around even slightly. Rey looked confused, glancing toward Emily and back toward Ethan.

***

The coffee shop was small, with four wooden tables and a fan in the corner spinning slowly. Rey and Ethan sat at the corner table with two glasses of black coffee between them.

"Ten years and more, Rey." Ethan leaned back in his chair, his head shaking slowly. "You don't look like you've aged at all. Seriously."

"You're still the same too," said Rey.

"Liar." Ethan laughed. "I've doubled my weight. But seriously, you're still like before." He gestured toward Rey's body in general. "Hairstyle, posture. Are you a soldier now? Or a police officer?"

Rey lifted his coffee and sipped a little. "Two days ago I was still a security officer. Now I'm a job seeker."

Ethan straightened his back. His smile didn't disappear right away, but there was a small change in his eyes. "Oh."

Both were silent for a moment. The sound of the fan in the corner filled that silence.

"So you need a job?" Ethan asked.

"If you have good information, please tell me, friend." Rey looked at his friend with an expression that was casual on the surface but serious underneath.

Ethan lifted his glass and sipped his coffee slowly. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if weighing something in his head.

He put his glass back down on the table slowly. "There might be something," Ethan said.

His tone dropped a little, different from how he had been speaking for the last ten minutes. "But this isn't something I can offer to just anyone. Only for someone I can trust."

Rey put his glass down. His shoulders tensed slightly, his back straighter than before. "What job is that?"

***

The house felt quieter than usual when Rey came home. The sound of objects clinking softly could be heard from the direction of the kitchen.

Rey stood at the kitchen doorway. Emily was arranging her cooking equipment, rearranging the position of pots and cutting boards that weren't right.

Her back bent toward the bottom shelf. Occasionally her hand wiped away tears that were still flowing even though Emily wasn't crying anymore.

Rey watched from where he stood. He opened his mouth slightly but made no sound, unsure what he should say.

Emily reached for a large jar on the bottom shelf with both hands, then stood up while groaning slightly.

"Ah." One hand immediately held her right hip.

Rey stepped inside. "Are you okay?"

He took the jar from Emily's hands and placed it on the table. Then his eyes lowered to the area of Emily's right hip.

The woman lifted her shirt slightly at the waist area. The edge of a dark purple bruise was visible there, spreading from the hip bone downward.

"Wait here." Rey turned around and went to the living room, opening a shelf and taking a medicine box.

Emily was already sitting on a kitchen chair, one hand still on her hip. She didn't refuse when Rey knelt beside her and opened the medicine box.

Rey took out a bottle of dark green bruise relief oil. "Hold your shirt up."

Emily did so without speaking. The bruise was worse than it first appeared, its color dark purple with a bit of redness in the center.

Rey poured a little of the oil into his palm, then applied it to the bruised area with light pressure.

"Sorry for snapping at you earlier." Emily's voice came out softly.

"It's okay, I'm sorry too about your motorcycle." Rey didn't stop his movements.

"No need," Emily continued. "That was all my own fault."

Rey lifted his gaze briefly toward Emily's face, then returned his focus to his hand. "What happened earlier? Why did they end up beating you?"

Emily was silent for several seconds. Her hand gripped her shirt tighter.

"I saw that man," Emily said.

Her voice was flat, but there was clear emotional pressure behind that voice. "He was in the car. I've seen his face before."

"Who is he?"

Emily stared straight ahead at the kitchen wall. "The man who killed my parents."

Rey's hand stopped moving. His fingers were still at the side of Emily's hip. He looked up and stared at Emily's face from below.

"Killed?" His voice was soft. "Not an accident?"

***