JONATHAN’S POV

A maid pointed me to a garden in the backyard where I would find Rosalie William—the spoiled heiress that I was hired to protect. As I exited through the door that led me outside into the garden, I had an image of what I thought Rosalie would look like—my exes—dressed in the latest fashion with tons of makeup on and extremely high maintenance.

The walking path, filled with colorful flowers of different kinds on each side, directed me toward a big tree with a connecting swing. Immediately, my eyes zoomed in on the person sitting in it. A young girl in a simple white summer dress oscillating back and forth while her skirt would rise up every time it went against the wind.

She had a smile on her face as the breeze blew her long brown hair back revealing her beautiful happy face. She was not what I had expected. She had a look of simplicity, elegance and low maintenance—the complete opposite of my previous girlfriends even though both came from wealthy families.

She seemed oblivious to my presence as she kept soaring higher and higher. I stopped walking when I was a few feet away from her and just enjoyed the scene in front of me. The previous image of Rosalie in my head dissolved into the background as the new image formed to replace the old one.

Suddenly, as if she had finally detected my presence, she looked over and almost fell out of the swing due to the surprise.

I laughed as she awkwardly stopped the swing and tried to balance herself as her hands gripped tightly onto the ropes on both sides. I would've helped but it happened so fast that I didn't react in time.

Once she got her footing balanced against the ground, her hand went to her chest as she exhaled. "You scared the heck out of me."

"Sorry." I said still laughing. "I didn't mean to scare you." I walked up to her as I put out my hand. "I'm Jonathan, you're new bodyguard."

She stood up from her seat as she lifted her face to look at me. She blushed while she took my hand as if seeing me for the first time. "Y-You don't look like a bodyguard."

"What is a bodyguard supposed to look like?" I teased as she turned another shade redder while trying to take her hand back. I held it a second longer before I released her soft hand.

"Um...Well, you don't look like the bodyguards around my father." She answered timidly as she averted her gaze to my chest—right at her eye level.

"You still didn't answer my question." I said unrelentingly and playfully.

"Well...you're a lot younger than they are and you don't look the part."

"And what part is that?"

"You're not stiff and serious." She said thoughtfully. "You seem more relaxed and laidback...and you just don't seem like the type to protect someone." She looked back up at me as she said the last part.

"And somehow I still got the job." I shrugged with a smirk on my lips.

"How did you get the job?" She asked curiously as she emphasized the word 'did.'

"Easy. After your father saw my shooting skills and how I managed to easily take down two of his guards, he immediately offered me the job." I said casually. "He even said he needed someone young like me so I can blend in with you while at school. He didn't want the regular bodyguard who would stand out like a sore thumb—older, more serious and rigid like a block of wood."

She giggled at the last part. "That's because they all have a military background."

"Apparently, I don't need to have a military background to qualify for this job, just my hobbies."

"Hobbies?"

"Yeah. Guns and martial arts, jiu-jitsu specifically." At her frown, I continued. "Don't worry, I have a lot of other hobbies, not just those two." Like dating women, I wanted to add but decided to keep that snippet of information to myself.

After eyeing her, I said. "You're a short little thing aren't you?" She was probably 5 feet 1 or 5 feet 2 to my 6 feet 2.

"I'm not short. You're just tall." She said defiantly while pouting adorably.

"I am tall, but you are short, princess." I chuckled.

"Don't call me that. I have a name, it's Rosalie, but you can call me Rose for short."

"What's wrong with calling you princess? I thought all girls love being princesses."

"Maybe they do but I don't, I feel like you're calling me a spoiled brat."

"I did picture you like that at first but not anymore." I said honestly.

She made a face at my statement. "Well, you're not exactly how I pictured either."

"I think we already established that."

**********

ROSALIE’S POV

I opened my mouth about to bicker further on the topic but his phone rang. He took out his phone. "Sorry, do you mind if I take this?"

I shook my head telling him no.

He walked a few steps away and picked up the call. I sat down on a bench nearby as I silently and shamelessly eavesdropped on his conversation. Usually, I would have more manners than this and would not listen in on someone's private chat. However, I couldn't help myself because I wanted to know more about him—he intrigued me.

I observed his tall lean figure as he stood facing away from me with one hand holding the phone while stuffing the other in his pants pocket.

His dark chocolate brown hair was thick and shiny. The suit he wore fitted him perfectly and the watch glinting against the sunlight on his wrist looked expensive. He reminded me of the guys I met at my father's company parties—arrogant, confident and they knew they were a good catch.

However, there were a few things that were different. He was more easy going like he would still have a smile on his face even if he were buried deep in a bad situation. And he was extraordinarily charming—not to mention exceedingly attractive—as if it was effortless for him to be so. He could probably charm his way out of a speeding ticket or probably charmed himself into getting this job.

"Hey baby. What's up?...Where?...No, I won't be able to pick you up from now on since my father froze my assets and took away all my cars..."

So that's why he took this job.

Tonight?...Sure. I'm up for it..." He said into the phone and suddenly turned to look at me.

I blushed and immediately turned my head in the opposite the direction.

Oh my gosh. He saw me. He probably figured it out that I was eavesdropping. My face got hotter the more I thought about it. Crap! This is so embarrassing.

Finally, he spoke again into the phone and I turned around to gaze at his back feeling sure that I was safe to eavesdrop one more time. "Actually, I have plans tonight. I'll talk to you some other time." With that, he hung up and put his phone away.

Before he turned in my direction, I had already twisted around pretending to focus my attention on something else.

He sat down next to me and commented, "Hey. I know we're not moving into the apartment until next week but do you mind if I move in tonight? I can't stand to stay with my buddy for another night. His place is a pigsty and he brings a new girl home every night. I'm getting pretty sick of it."

Red colored my cheeks when I heard the implication. "Um...Actually, all my stuff has been moved in. The only reason I'm still here is because my father wanted to have a bodyguard for me before I moved in by myself."

"Great!" He said enthusiastically as he stood up. "Let's go then."

"Okay. Let me ask my father for permission to move in tonight." I said as I got up and we walked toward the back entrance of the mansion.

"Do you have a car?"

"No, since I don't know how to drive." I said and he looked shocked like it was the craziest thing he had ever heard. "But my father will provide us with a car."

"You're 19! How could you not know how to drive a car?!"

"There are a lot of things I don't know how to do." I admitted with embarrassment, my voice low and my head down. "But that's why I'm moving out, to learn those things and be independent."

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A/N

First chapter! What did you guys think?

Let me know in the comments :)

ROSALIE’S POV

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe my parents agreed to let me leave tonight. How did you do that? My mom is easy to persuade, but my dad?" I looked over at Jonathan who still wore a smug look on his face. "It's like he trusts you." I whispered in amazement.

We were walking toward the giant garage to grab one of the cars.

"What can I say? I got skills." He held out his hand, pretending it was a gun and shot. Then he blew on the invisible smoke coming from his pointing finger.

I laughed while rolling my eyes. "Fine. I guess you do if you can get my dad to trust you. He tends to be a little paranoid due to his line of work."

"Let me guess, he's the Chief Security Officer at some big company." He said nonchalantly.

"Yes! How did you know?" I was impressed with his guess. Not a lot of people knew what my father did.

"I noticed the security guards and how your mansion was more like a safe house than a normal regular house."

Not only is he charming but he is also observant.

We arrived at the garage door. I seized the handle and opened it as we entered the enormous space.

"Damn!" Jonathan exclaimed and looked disappointed.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I was excited when your father said I could pick any car I wanted. I was hoping for a cool looking sports car but they're all black Audi's."

I laughed. "Gezz. And here I thought it was something serious." I rolled my eyes again. "Of course, they're all black. My father prefers to be inconspicuous and not attract attention—again, due to his line of work. You understand."

We took one of the keys hanging on the wall next to the door and got in one of the Audi's. We drove out of the long driveway and onto the main road.

"We're going to my buddy's place first to get my stuff and then we'll go to your apartment."

It took us an hour to retrieved his stuff and then I showed him the address to the apartment on my phone.

On our way to my new place, Jonathan randomly blurted out. "Remind me to teach you how to drive in the future."

"Really? You'd do that?" I excitedly twisted in my seat to fully look at him. That was the nicest offer anybody had ever given me. I was really touched.

He nodded.

"Can you teach me how to use a gun and...and jiu-jiu-jitsu?" I tried to recall the term he used and asked overly enthusiastically as I couldn't contain my excitement.

"Hold your horses, princess." He said indifferently. "Let's try driving first and see how you do before I teach you anything else."

I twisted back and looked straight ahead, slightly dispirited. "Fine."

"Are you pouting like a five year old over there?" He laughed and gave me a brief glance over.

"Maybe I am." I answered with the same dispirited tone.

"I didn't say I wouldn't teach you. I only said to focus on driving first." He said gently like he was trying to soothe me.

Before I could reply, something on the road caught my eye and I gasped. "What's that over there? Can we please check it out? Please." I begged as he looked in the direction of where I was pointing.

"Oh. That's just a food truck. There's nothing interesting about that."

"Can we please check it out?" I begged again. "I've never had food from a food truck. And from the long line, the food must be good. And it's 5:30 already and I'm hungry." I sounded like a whiny baby but I didn't care.

He sighed and pulled over as he parallel parked in one of the open spaces.

I immediately ran out the moment the car stopped and got in line. Jonathan came up next to me a minute later and warned, “Next time, wait for me. Don't run ahead. I can't protect you that way if something were to happen."

"Oh." I made an o with my mouth. I had completely forgotten that he was my bodyguard. It had only been half a day and I already got so used to him like a comforting shadow.

As more people got in line, Jonathan was pushed right up against my back. His intriguing scent wafted by my nose and I automatically turned toward him to take in another breath.

He smelled amazing.

"What cologne do you use? You smell amazing." I blurted out without thinking and I wanted to slap myself.

"I don't know." He said with mirth. "I have a lot of them and they're mostly gifts." From ex-girlfriends I bet.

Suddenly, someone bumped into Jonathan from behind which made his chest pushed against my face. His arms instinctively went up and wrapped around my back as he said, "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

My heart skipped a beat and my stomach felt weird.

What's this? What's this feeling?

I stood frozen at the odd sensations in my stomach.

At my silence, he grabbed my shoulders and pushed me out at arm's length to have a better look. “Hello? Earth to Rosalie?"

He didn’t wait for my response as he cupped my face and lifted it up to look at me. "Are you okay?" He asked as his face got closer to mine—only a couple inches away.

My cheeks instantly turned scarlet and my hands flew up to cover my embarrassed countenance. "I'm fine." I mumbled through my fingers and twisted around, out of his grasp. "Oh, it's our turn to order."

I was thankful for the distraction.

All was forgotten as I ordered what was on the menu. It was a sandwich truck and I ended up getting a Vietnamese sandwich called banh mi.

We stood on one side of the truck as we ate our sandwich standing like everyone else.

"This is delicious!” I marveled between bites.

"Yeah, it is. And it's actually really common around here. I'm surprised you haven't had it." He said as he finished the last bite. "I'm sure there's a few places that sell these around your school."

"Really? I already know where I want to go for lunch tomorrow." I said greedily.

"You're eating right now and you're already thinking about tomorrow's lunch?" He laughed while shaking his head like he just couldn’t believe it.

I finished my sandwich and threw the wrapper into the trash bin nearby.

"Come on, princess. Let's go." He grabbed my arm and led me through the small crowd toward our car.

By the time we arrived at the apartment, it was almost 8:00 o'clock. Jonathan ended up in the second bedroom since my stuff was already in the first. Each of our room had its own bathroom which was super convenient.

Our rooms were of the same size so it wasn’t like I took the bigger bedroom. Mine was next to the living room while his was farther away.

After my nightly routine, I came out of my room about to say goodnight to Jonathan. I stopped behind a corner the moment I heard his voice. He was on the phone with someone and I found myself eavesdropping again—I started to develop a very bad habit.

“No, I won’t do that...You can keep your damn money...You figure it out yourself!”

The conversation got more heated as it went.

“You got yourself into this mess, you get yourself out of it!...Fuck that! I’m not doing shit!...Why the fuck would I help you? My mother’s the one who was hurt.”

Oh no. His mother is involved.

“She’s a big girl, she knows what she’s doing. I’m not getting involved...You and your damn mistress can stay unmarried for all I care. Don’t fucking call me again because I’m done talking about this!” He snapped into the phone and hung up.

Was that his father on the phone? Should I ask? Do I even have the right to ask?

We only knew each other for a day. I stood rooted to the floor while I heard him plopped loudly onto to sofa.

As I internally battled on what to do next, I didn’t realize he got up and walked toward me. Instead of accusing me on listening in, he only said, “I’m going out.” His tone indifferent, the easy going attitude from earlier gone.

Instead of nodding, I found myself asking, “Can I come with you?” At his blank stare, I immediately felt self-conscious and said the first thing that came to mind. “You’re my bodyguard. You’re supposed to be by my side at all times.”

God, did I really just say that? That was the lamest thing I’ve ever said and I wanted to crawl into a hole at that moment.

I felt like I was shrinking smaller and smaller as he continued to eye me. Finally, he raised his brows and asked, “You’re going in that?”

I looked down at my white nightshirt and blushed. “I’ll change.” I ran back into my room and put on another white summer dress.

I came back out only to have him eyed me again. “Do you own anything else that’s not white?”

“I like white.” I answered easily as if that completely explained everything.

“Alright. Let’s go.” He motioned his head toward the door.

“Where are we going?” I asked as he ushered me out the door.

“A drive.”

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A/N

I was inspired so I got this done pretty quick :) what didcha think?

ROSALIE’S POV

Thirty minutes into the drive and Jonathan had not said a word. His hand still gripped the steering wheel tightly and had not loosened one bit. If it were not for his white knuckles, I wouldn't have known his mood since his posture seemed relaxed—the opposite of how he was feeling.

I sat with my hands in lap as I contemplated on what to do. It wasn't that the silence was uncomfortable, it was quite comforting actually. However, I found myself grabbing at straws trying to think of a way to make him feel better—to make him smile again. Somehow, his mood really affected me and I desperately wanted to take his sadness and frustration away.

In the end, I came up with nothing and I did nothing.

Another thirty minutes went by and I finally spoke up. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

He didn't answer and just kept driving. I looked at him one last time before I turned to gaze out the window. I decided to wait until he was ready to tell me, if he wanted to tell me at all.

Eventually, he pulled into an airport observation area and parked the car. There were a dozen other cars parked around us with people in them watching the planes take off.

We sat in silence a while longer as we observed one airplane landed closest to us made its way toward its designated gate.

Finally, Jonathan spoke up, his voice low and calm. “You live with someone almost your whole life and you think you know them only to find out 23 years later that it was all a big lie." He said dejectedly as his hand came up to comb through his perfectly styled hair.

I stared at him quietly as I waited for him to continue.

"Growing up, I always looked up to my father thinking that he was the kind of the man I wanted to be. But recently, my mother and I found out that he had a mistress this whole time while he was married to my mom. They even have a daughter around my age." He said sadly as his arms crossed over the steering wheel while he lowered his chin onto them.

"Now, he wants to divorce my mom. My mom won't sign the papers and is fighting back at full force. It's not that she wants his money since she has more than enough for herself. I think she just wants to hurt him as much as he had hurt her." He straightened and leaned his head back against the headrest while I stared at his flawless profile.

"Eventually, the court will grant the divorce even if my mom doesn't sign. However, that will take a couple years and my mom intends to make his life miserable until then. Also, my dad wants to marry his mistress right now and that's another reason why they're fighting so hard." His hand came up and rubbed down his face tiredly.

"It's hard watching the two closest people to you fight. Even if one is wrong while the other one is right, it's still hard to pick sides let alone when one is wrong and I'm not sure if the other one is completely right. It didn’t help that my dad's been forcing me to get my mom to sign. He went so far as to kick me out of his company and froze all my assets. Well, they were the company's assets so he could easily take them all back but still." He sighed and closed his eyes, still leaning his head back.

My brain processed what he said while my eyes still continued to study his handsome face.

When he didn't speak up again, I said, "I'm so sorry. I'm sure it's tough for you being in the middle of it all." I didn't know what else to say. It was one of those situations where there wasn't any real advice to give.

I guess sometimes all you can do is listen and you hope that is enough.

He turned to look at me for the first time since we got in the car. "You're the first person I told about this." He smiled sadly. "I haven't felt like telling anyone this—throwing my family's dirty laundry in their face."

"I'm sure every family has its own dirty laundry. We all have skeletons in our closets—some more than others—but we all have it nonetheless.

"Really. What's yours?" He teased as his mood brightened a little.

I remained soundless as I looked down at my hands.

"I thought so." He said mockingly. "You got no skeletons. You're Miss Proper-and-perfect. Even your clothing choices show that."

"Hey. I am not that proper or perfect." I looked up at him as I lamely countered his statement. He made it sound like I was a boring person, or at least that was how I took it.

"Really. Then what’s the most improper thing you've ever done?" He taunted me.

What? How did we get to this topic and about me no less.

I couldn't think of anything to say to contradict him.

At my silence, he smirked like he had won. "See. I knew it!"

"It's not that I haven't done anything improper. I just haven't had the chance yet." I said and instantly realized how stupid that sounded. I decided to turn it around and challenged him instead. "What about you? What HAVE you done?"

"I'm not telling you. You haven't given me anything worthwhile in exchange." His smirk turned devilish while his eyes turned mischievous. "Besides, your virgin ears aren't ready for it."

Heat rose from my neck to my face as I took in his meaning. At least, he was in a better mood—enough to tease me—and that made me happy.

"I think we need to leave." I tried to change the topic. "The last car just left."

He looked around and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go home."

************

JONATHAN’S POV

Surprisingly, I felt much better after talking with Rosalie last night. She didn't say much throughout the night but it was comforting to have someone listen to my troubles without voicing judgement.

Today, I took her grocery shopping since we didn't have any food in the apartment. She was super ecstatic since it was another thing she had never done. It was quite entertaining watching her in the store.

She seemed so happy being around the food that one would think she was starved as a child or something.

She grabbed a bunch of random stuff and threw them in the cart: fruits, snacks, milk, eggs, some frozen dinners, bread, peanut butter and jelly. I had to keep myself from laughing out loud.

She stood looking at the shelf filled with boxes of cereals, her lips were slightly parted as she marveled at the many choices. I couldn't hold it in any longer and guffawed. "You act like you're looking at some rare gemstones. Just pick something already."

"They are and I can’t.” She complained while still examining her options. “I mean look at all these choices. I can't decide which to try first."

"Just get them all and try a different one each day." I pretended to offer.

"Yeah. I'm going to do that." She agreed and started grabbing the cereal boxes.

"Woah. I was kidding. Ever heard of sarcasm." I tried putting some of them back on the shelf. "How about you get half of them today and we'll get rest once you finish them."

"Fine." She relented and her signature pout appeared. I noticed that she would do it whenever she was disappointed at not getting what she wanted.

She is so amusing. Somehow, I find myself laughing at almost everything that she does.

I looked at the cart and chuckled. "You know that none of the stuff you picked are real food besides the fruits and eggs right?"

"Huh?" She looked at the cart and inspected the food inside. "What's wrong with the food I chose?”

"We need meat and vegetables." I offered helpfully.

"Maybe." She said after some thought. "It's just that my parents have been on this low carb diet for a few months. And all we've been eating were meats, vegetables and other nasty low carb stuff that I'm just sick of them. I'm ready for some junk food." Her brown eyes shined brightly at the last statement like she was taking the biggest risk of her life.

"Wow. You are quite the daredevil." I tittered.

"I am aren't I." She said proudly and my fingers came up to pinch her cheek before I knew what I was doing.

“Hey!” She frowned as she rubbed the sore spot.

“Let’s get some meat and vegetables before we leave. We can make tacos for lunch tomorrow.”

She didn’t react and continued to massage her cheek. “Let’s get some ice cream after this.” I proposed and she instantly brightened.

I knew it. She would probably follow anyone who would present her with food.

I chuckled. “You are way too easy to please.”

“Is that a bad thing?” She asked innocently.

“No. Not at all.”

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A/N

What did you think lovely readers?

Do you like it so far?

Let me know in the comments :) I would love to hear from you 😍😘😍😘