I'll Protect You

     Jeremy grabbed his bags then continued inside the room. He shut the door with his foot. When he lifted his eyes, Hae Jae-Woo stood before him in nothing but a knee length white towel. But to Jeremy's shock, Hae Jae-Woo was obviously not a boy. Her long wet russet hair hung down the front of her body. He jumped back at Hae Jae-Woo's short girlish scream, tripped over his bag, which burst and sent his clothes sprawling about the floor, and landed on the ground trying to hide his eyes. Since when was Hae Jae-Woo a girl? He heard the bathroom door slam shut.

     He stood slowly and gaped at the dark brown door. If this Hae Jae-Woo is a girl, what happened to the real Jae-Woo? And who is this this? Jeremy stood and began to debate on whether he should leave and tell the others or if he should stay. As he stood there, he heard a sob. He stepped to the door but paused when her breathing caught. He couldn't tell the others. If she disguised herself as Hae Jae-Woo, she had to have a reason. He realized then that she was either crying because he walked in on her and she was embarrassed, or she was afraid of being caught. Since he did not know which one, he decided to speak of both.

     "Hey," he began, "umm, I… I'm sorry for walking in on you like that. If I'd know you were a… I—I would never do that. I'm so sorry." He ran his hands through his hair and his bangs covered his eyes. He noticed the breathing had calmed. After ten minutes of standing and chewing his lip—he had no gum, so he resorted to his to his old habit—he said," I—I promise I won't tell anyone your secret. You can come out," he said after ten minutes of standing.

     "I can't," she replied, but again to Jeremy's shock, her voice sounded just like Hae Jae-Woo's.

     "Why not?"

     "I left my clothes in the drawers beside my bed upstairs," she muttered.

     "Hold on." Jeremy turned and darted up the stairs. The second he made it to the top floor his eyes began their search for the drawers. His feet rushed him over and his hands jerked the drawer open. He bit his lip at what he saw and his face flushed. Definitely the wrong drawer.

     He went to the second drawer and brought out a shirt and pair of pants. He groaned when he realized he had to get her underclothes. He returned to the above drawer and quickly grabbed her undergarments. Filled with embarrassment and still biting his lip, he raced half-way down the staircase and leaped over the rail.

     His feet thumped on the ground and alerted the girl in the bathroom. "Are you okay, Jeremy?"

     "Umm, yeah," he replied; "Clothes are by the door.  I'm going to stand outside for a minute." He hurried to the hall and shut the door loud enough that the girl could hear.

     Hae Mina sighed and quickly cracked the door open, grabbed her clothes then shut the door. As she was placing on her clothes, she grew embarrassed knowing Jeremy had touched her more personal items. This was going to be more difficult than she had thought. After she had pulled her pants up, she wrapped the ace bandages around her torso, and placed her baggy shirt on.

     She then slipped out of the bathroom. She paused and looked at Jeremy's scattered clothes before she sighed and continued upstairs. She replaced her belongings and sat on the bed. The main door crept open and Jeremy's feet touched the floor. "Jae-Woo?" he called. Hae Mina sighed. Okay, she had to face him. She stood and ventured down the stairs.

     He looked up at her and gave a shy smile. Hae Mina noticed he had rearranged his bangs to hide most of his face. He must have been embarrassed, too. "Yes, Jeremy?"

     "Why are you here?" he asked, but his eyes drifted to their feet.

     "It's complicated. I don't think you need to know." He looked at her.

     "I'm not going to tell. I sware. And I'm not like Jiho, so don't worry about getting blackmailed. I just want to know why I've got a girl—that looks just like Jae-Woo—dressed up like a guy living in my room. I need to know how to process this."

     "Umm…" Hae Mina paused: "Let's take your things up to the room. I don't want someone walking in and hearing." Together they forced Jeremy's things back into the bag and what they couldn't stuff, they carried.

     Jeremy grabbed his re-stuffed bag and forced himself to follow Hae Jae-Woo and not stare at her long wet swishing hair. He wanted to know who she was and what she was doing there, but more than anything, he wanted to talk to her about why she was posing as Hae Jae-Woo.

     Once upstairs, he dropped his bag and sat on his bed. Hae Jae-Woo laid Jeremy's things on a chair before sitting on another chair and facing him. "Go ahead and ask your questions."

     He had to stop himself from bouncing up and down on his bed so to hold in his excitement he, again, bit his lip.

     "Jeremy, you're making your lip bleed," Hae Jae-Woo informed. Jeremy paused and let go of his lip.

     "Habit," he replied, "I do that if I don't have gum."

     "Here," Hae Jae-Woo leaned over and grabbed a pack of gum then tossed it to Jeremy. Jeremy ripped the new pack open and quickly received a piece, and it settled his nerves the second he began to chew it. "So, why are you pretending to be Jae-Woo?"

     "Jae-Woo is my twin. As you know he met you guys during the summer and he was invited to join Nightide, but a few weeks ago, the day school started, he got in a car crash. You heard about that, or sort of heard. He's terrified that Jiho will be upset and remove him from the band because he has to use the money for hospital bills and he had no way to repay Jiho if he doesn't perform. He's also upset because the concert was coming up soon. Jiho had told Jae-Woo that he'd announced Jae-Woo as a new member and that he would be performing at the next concert. There's no way he could recover in time, so I agreed to become him and join the band; however, I wasn't supposed to get caught nor was I supposed to stay long. I'm just here till he gets out. Which should be a few more weeks."

     "So what's wrong with him exactly."

     "I just know what I was told and what I could see. He broke his leg and had to have stitches and surgeries. He hit his head, broke his arm. I'm not sure of everything else, but I do know yesterday, he looked better."

     "So you're here because your brother is hurt and he's afraid to tell Jiho, yet you don't fear him?"

     "You're wrong there; we fear the power his money and his family has not him. Jae-Woo could knock Jiho out anytime he wanted; he's just not stupid enough to risk it—unlike me."

     "Yeah, I noticed you have more of a courageous spirit, yet you're kinder. By the way, what's your name?"

     "I think it is best if you don't know. You might end up slipping."

     "Awe, I wanted to know the pretty name that fit such a pretty face," he stated with a pout. "Honestly, I should have noticed you weren't Jae-Woo. Your face is more delicate, and your nose is smaller." She looked down, her russet bangs concealed half of her face, but he could see the blush on her cheeks. He smiled.

     "I'll tell you some other time. Right now, I need to fix my hair and become a boy again. Thanks for keeping this a secret."

     His smile brightened, "No, problem. Actually, it makes me feel great. I'm the first person to know; therefore," he put his fist over his heart,  "I'm your protector. I'll do my best to help keep your secret safe. I'd even fight Jiho."

     "Thank you, Jeremy. Soon, you won't have to protect the secret because I'll be gone."

Jeremy stood up. "I'll let you finish getting ready."

     Hae Mina stood and smiled at Jeremy, "Thanks, Jeremy." She gave a brief bow. At least she had one person to confide in. The door below scraped open and Hae Mina stood straight and pulled her hair up as fast as her fingers would allow. Jeremy was half-way down the steps before the wig was in place.

     "Did you bring any food, Hyung-nim?" Jeremy asked.

     "No, Jeremy," Cass's voice replied. Hae Mina took in a calm breath. She could do this. She nodded and walked down the steps.

     "Looks like Jeremy's going to be a new roommate, Cass," Hae Jae-Woo announced.

     "Why'd you change rooms?" Cass questioned Jeremy.

     "I don't want to deal with Dae-Su and Min-Jun too much. Besides it's easier to have Duskin do my homework if we're in the same room."

     "True. Jae-Woo, you eat yet?"

     "No."

     "Me either, so what are we going to do?" Jeremy asked.

     "Let's go to The Maid's Diner," Cass suggested.

     "Okay, let me call the others." Jeremy pulled out his bright blue phone and tapped a name on the screen. He waited for three seconds then spoke. "Hey, Jiho. We're going to the Maid's Diner. You want to come? We don't care how you get there. Could you call Duskin? I'll get Dae-Su, and Min-Jun's gone, so we don't need to invite him. No, Cass and Jae-Woo are standing with me. That'd be everyone. Yeah, he has to come. Get over it."

     "I don't have to come. I can eat somewhere else. I'd rather do that than be in the same room as Jiho anyway." Jeremy ended the call and faced Jae-Woo.

     "You both can get over it," Cass said. "I'm going to eat and I plan on talking to both of you about practice. So let's move: I'm starved."

     "If you're not starved for food, you're starved for girls; can't you make up your mind?" Jeremy laughed.

     "Nope, and hopefully we'll get to check out some girls while we're there. Come on let's get Dae-Su." Cass pulled the door open and disappeared into a room down the hall."

     "Wonderful," Hae Mina muttered to Jeremy.

     "You'll be okay. I'll protect you," Jeremy promised with a wide grin and two thumbs up by his face.