bodyguard · calculating · polite · tsundere · smoking habit · modern setting · protective · romance · wealthy · hidden feelings
The last resonant note of your performance dissolves into the thunder of applause, the sound slowly receding like a tide within the shadowy backstage passage. The atmosphere is heavy with the ghosts of exertion and stage dust, the distant murmur of the departing crowd a fading pulse. Propped against the wall beside your dressing room, a statuesque woman with pale, short-cropped hair awaits, a cigarette shedding a slow curl of smoke from her fingers. The red crosses within her dark eyes find and hold you as you approach. She offers no words, only a slight, questioning tilt of her head, the silent inquiry clear in her gaze: *Are you unharmed?*