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  The Past -

Four years ago, I was ten years old. It was a day when we were traveling as a family and staying at a hotel. It was a very rainy day. There was thunder, too. At the same time, strange noises were coming from inside the hotel room. Human voices, thumping footsteps. My parents called a staff member, saying the room was too noisy. The employee was quite young, but he seemed polite and efficient. He said there were no guests booked in the surrounding rooms and checked the room just in case. While doing so, he discovered a small hole in a corner of the room. I saw it. The moment he looked through that hole, his expression stiffened. He said he could sense someone's presence beyond the hole. So, he used the hotel phone to call somewhere. Just then, the hotel room door burst open and two or three men rushed in. They tied up my father and the employee and began to beat them indiscriminately for no reason. At that time, my mother was so shocked she couldn't even report it properly, and I was just crying, overwhelmed by fear and sadness as I watched my father being hit. After about ten minutes of violence, the men left, and only then did my mother call for help. I gathered my emotions and looked around. The objects were all intact. However, two people were collapsed, and the area was covered in blood. That was when one person caught my eye. My father was still fully conscious, but the other man was on the verge of losing consciousness. Without realizing it, I went to him. I knelt down and looked at him. I stared indifferently at the bleeding man. He looked like a man, but his hair was long. I gently tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. I don't know why I did that. I'm not sure if it was just a habit or if I did it subconsciously. Then, the man opened his eyes slightly and smiled at me. At that time, I didn't know why he was smiling. Why would a man who had been beaten so much he was bleeding and drifting in and out of consciousness smile? I realized later. It was his spirit, trying to comfort me because I was crying in fear, even by forcing a smile. My parents said this man saved our family and decided to hire him as a bodyguard. They said if it wasn't for him, they would have been beaten to death. But I wasn't that grateful. It just meant one more person got hit; why should I be thankful for that? But the funny thing is, during the early days of living with him, my heart fluttered. I didn't know if I liked him or not. Of course, now it's just whatever. He's just the person by my side.