Chapter 10

Seoul, Korea

NuStarr Talent Management Headquarters

Suddenly Rain was falling and landed hard on the concrete.

“Hey!” she shrieked.

Kita stood there looking down at her sprawled out on the ground.

The look of irritation and disgust was more than evident on his handsome face.

“Why did you do that?!” Rain demanded.

“Did you just try to kiss me?!” he asked, appallingly, with an unfamiliar accent.

Rain’s eyes widened; at the moment she wasn’t grateful she knew Japanese because she clearly understood what he said. “No! Of course not! Why would you assume such a thing?!” she demanded in Japanese so nothing was lost in translation.

Kita cocked an eyebrow, giving her a look; her Japanese was criminal.

“Do you have any idea who I am?!” Rain demanded, not liking the way her heart was racing or that her cheeks felt as if they were on fire.

Was it embarrassment or something else causing her to blush and her heart race with deafening force?

“Wait until Chairman Hu hears what you did,” she warned.

His head tilted to the side to regard her. “You should be ashamed of yourself for such lewd and dishonorable actions,” he retorted. “The niece of Chairman Hu throwing herself so shamelessly at an innocent bystander is truly unbecoming of a lady and something you should work on not doing.”

Rain’s eye widened. “The nerve to even suggest that Chairman Hu’s precious niece would do something so… So… So-”

“Scandalous?” he dryly offered since she had apparently used up all of her big words for the day.

“Ugh!” she screamed in frustration, kicking at him.

Kita was neither moved nor impressed.

A chuckle came from behind them.

“That is no way to treat a lady, Kitty,” Lula mused in French from the doorway, looking down at the embarrassed young woman.

“Do not call me that,” Kita grumbled under his breath in French in return, stepping over Rain and around his sister. “You said this would not be babysitting a spoiled brat,” he reminded her, giving her a look in passing.

Lula rolled her eyes and dismissively waved her brother away. “Do not mind him,” she said, speaking in Korean. “Kita thinks rather highly of himself all of the time, and thinks every woman with a pulse, and a few without in our youth he was certain, are trying to seduce him. His ego you can see from space, I always tell him.”

Rain continued to sit there on the floor, looking up at the beautiful woman looking down at her.

She was tall and lean with an exotic look to her. The soft dusting of freckles masking under her almond shaped hazel-green eyes and bridging across her sculpted nose made her look younger than she most likely was. There was something strikingly familiar about her face, but Rain couldn’t place from where. She was certain she hadn’t seen the woman before, but her lips and eyes were familiar, as was the way she carried herself.

In the black on black fashionable tailored European style suit she wore, she could have been the female twin of the man that just dropped her on her backside and left.

“Are you well, Girl?” Lula asked when Rain continued to sit there on the floor, staring at her.

Rain started to nod, but stopped then shook her head. “I can’t do this.”

“You cannot get to your feet?” Lula asked. “I can call Kita back over and have him pick you up and carry you since he broke you. Would you like me to?” she asked, motioning someone over.

“No!” Rain shirked. “No. I mean, please don’t.”

Lula chuckled then squatted down so she wasn’t towering over the humiliated young woman. “Very well. Wounded pride is much, much harder to recover from, but you will get over. Kita already has.”

Rain groaned, burying her reddening face in her hands. “That is your brother?”

“My big brother,” Lula confirmed. “Kita is a very proud man, and duty and honor is all he knows. There is no one you could be safer in the care of.”

Rain’s eyes widened. “Wait, he isn’t here for a modeling job?” she asked.

Lula shook her head, amused. “No. Though, with our unique heritage blend we do have a rather commercial appeal in the modeling world. It never appealed to any of us though. Being in front of the camera all the time, being hounded for interviews and autographs. How you do it is beyond me. It is not something I would want to subject myself or my brothers to.”

That’s what Dae-Ho had told Rain growing up whenever she asked why he was content being her assistant instead of trying to follow in her footsteps. In their youth they both modeled, and Dae-Ho had a recurring walk-on role on the television show she was starring in. But once she got more popular and the demand for Myo Mi-Sun grew, Dae-Ho stopped acting and modeling and became her assistant.

When she asked, he said it wasn’t for him. She had a sneaking suspicion there was more to it than that, but she never pressed it.

“Your brother is my bodyguard?” Rain wanted to clarify.

Lula nodded.

“Then why are you here?” she reluctantly asked.

“This would be a discussion more suited to have in Chairman Hu’s office, but if you like to have it now we can,” Lula said. “You require more than a bodyguard. You need a personal protection detail that will handle all aspects of your security needs from a dedicated driver to a personal guardian. Lucien, you have met him even if you did not realize it, will be your driver and act as a guard for Dae-Ho when needed. Kita will be your dedicated guard; what he says is law so do not argue with him.”

Rain’s eyes widened. She had never been threated before, and regardless of Lula’s smile and the friendly tone she was speaking in, there was no mistaking it was a threat.

“Kita has a very impressive resume when it comes to protection details, and his experience with high profile female targets will prove to be invaluable for keeping you safe,” Lula explained. “I will be oversight, coordinating your schedule, housing, protection, and every means of escape possible.”

It was a struggle, but Rain eventually swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

“You are all?” she stammered.

It wasn’t a coherent statement or question, but Lula understood it for what it was.

“We are siblings and we have experience in personal protection,” Lula confirmed, offering her a hand up then pulled Rain to her feet. She eyed the short young woman and a ball formed in the pit of her stomach.

Lula could already tell that this was going to be a problem for her pain in the butt big brother.

“As insulting as you may take this,” Lula started. “It would be in your best interest if you never entertain the unrealistic idea of making a move of an intimate nature on Kita again,” she warned, her tone darkening greatly.

Rain’s eyes widened and she stepped back from the woman.

“Good, we are on the same page,” Lula said with a smile. “This way, Ma’am,” she said, waving towards the doorway. “Chairman Hu would like to discuss what this protection assignment entails to the ones being protected, so if you would be so kind.” She motioned for Rain to head back to the office.

The look on her face and tone left no room for discussion.