1. Mr Alex's proud bodyguard

Bugh!

Luna's eyes, which had been closed as she waited for Adrian's kiss, suddenly opened wide when she saw her lover, Adrian, lying on the ground.

As if not satisfied with seeing Adrian in pain from the blow Matteo had just landed, Matteo Vicenzo, Luna's bodyguard, rained more blows down on Adrian's stomach.

"Teo, stop!" Luna Winterbourne screamed, managing to make Matteo stop his punches, his clenched fists halting in mid-air.

The girl approached Adrian, who was struggling to sit up.

Luna's touch on Adrian's bruised face was immediately rebuffed by her lover.

"I've told you repeatedly not to bring your bodyguard when we meet! He always messes everything up!" Adrian growled before finally getting up slowly and leaving Luna.

Luna's eyebrows knitted together; she herself did not know where Matteo had come from. The man appeared suddenly without the sound of his loafers. As far as Luna remembered, she had asked Matteo to wait for her in the car.

"Adrian, where are you going?" called Luna, but Adrian ignored her completely. The man walked away from the park bench where they had been sitting.

"Look what you've done!" Luna growled as she massaged her throbbing temples with one hand. The girl's expression showed her disappointment in the innocent-looking man in front of her. The man seemed unaware that he could have killed Adrian if he had continued to rain blows down on his future fiancé. "You always show up at the wrong time!" Luna cursed, causing one of Matteo's eyebrows to rise towards his forehead.

Matteo did not expect the girl in front of him to be so foolish as to continue her relationship with a man who would have raped her if Matteo had not followed her when Adrian took Luna on holiday.

"It's getting late, miss. We'd better get back home before Mr. Alex calls me to ask about your whereabouts," replied Matteo as he picked up Luna's bag, which had been lying on the park bench, and walked towards his employer's car parked on the side of the road.

"Hey, I'm not finished talking; don't interrupt me!" shouted Luna, who was forced to follow her bodyguard to the car.

Matteo opened the car door for Luna and looked back at the girl he was escorting with an emotionless expression.

"Please get in, Miss."

Seeing her bodyguard's annoying expression, Luna's face immediately turned red. The girl folded her arms across her chest and stared at Matteo intensely.

Was the man in front of her deaf, or was he just pretending to be stupid by not responding to her earlier outburst?

For a few minutes, they ignored each other, until Matteo raised one eyebrow and pointed into the car.

"I'll go home with you, but on one condition!" said Luna, opening the negotiation.

"Tell me what the condition is," Matteo replied with a sigh. He felt reluctant to engage in Luna's often childish conversations.

"From now on, stop following me wherever I go! I'm sick of you!" Luna pressed her index finger against her bodyguard's chest, which made Matteo's eyes glance at the slender finger touching his chest. "How about it? Can you agree to my terms?"

Matteo grabbed Luna's hand and pulled her finger away from his chest.

"I am willing to no longer follow you wherever you go, as long as Mr. Alex agrees," replied Matteo as he forced the girl into the car and locked the door.

After that unpleasant incident in the park that afternoon, Luna went straight to see her father in his office. She was fed up with her bodyguard's annoying behavior.

The sound of a knock on the door prompted Alex, who had just been tidying up his desk, to tell whoever was on the other side of the door to enter his office.

"I see that the evening sky is quite clear. But why do you look so gloomy, darling?" Alex immediately asked when he saw his beloved daughter enter his office with a gloomy face.

Luna immediately sat down with her arms folded in front of her chest and her lips pursed, a sign that something annoying had just happened. Alex knew that the girl was going to complain about something to him.

"Tell me, my daughter, what do you want to complain about to your father?" asked Alex with a smile, looking gently at his daughter's face.

Not long after, Matteo entered Alex's office carrying Luna's backpack. The 32-year-old man wanted to hear whether Alex would agree to Luna's request that he no longer follow her wherever she went.

Luna and Matteo's eyes met, but Luna quickly looked away from the man.

Alex, who saw his beloved daughter's gesture, immediately furrowed his brow. What was really going on between Luna and Matteo?

Luna cleared her throat before expressing her request to her father.

"Dad, from now on, I don't want Matteo to follow me wherever I go," said Luna, then snorted afterwards. The girl herself could guess that her request would certainly not be approved by her father.

Alex seemed to be weighing things up. There must be something behind his beloved daughter's request.

"It's difficult for Father to agree to your request, Luna. You are Father's beloved daughter, and Father doesn't want anything bad to happen to you." Alex took off the reading glasses that had been perched on the bridge of his nose and sat up straight. The man placed his folded hands on the table, indicating that he was ready to listen carefully to Luna's explanation.

"Today he hit Adrian, Father," said Luna, glancing cynically at Matteo, who was standing beside her.

The frown on Alex's forehead deepened, because he thought it was impossible for Matteo to hit his daughter's fiancé without reason.

"Is that true, Matteo?" asked Alex, looking away towards the bodyguard he had chosen to protect Luna.

"Yes, sir." Matteo nodded without the slightest hint of fear.

"Why did you do that?" Alex's question made Luna quickly turn to Matteo, hoping that he would not tell Alex what had really happened.

"Because Mr. Adrian tried to kiss Miss Luna, sir. It is my duty as a bodyguard to protect your daughter from anyone with bad intentions."

Luna's eyes widened instantly. She did not expect Matteo to tell the truth. A red blush spread across her cheeks as she felt embarrassed.

"What do you mean Adrian had bad intentions? Adrian and I are about to get engaged, and kissing is a natural thing for a couple to do." Luna brushed some of the hair on her shoulder back, feeling a sudden wave of heat wash over her for some reason.

Alex shook his head and smiled. He was so proud of Matteo for truly protecting his daughter. Matteo even dared to firmly forbid Adrian from kissing Luna, even though Matteo knew that Adrian was Luna's fiancé.

Everything Alex wanted in someone who would protect his beloved daughter was embodied in Matteo. Because Alex really wanted Luna to remain honorable until a man proposed to her in front of him.

“Forgive me, Luna, but what Matteo did was right. You are my beloved daughter, and I want your honor to remain intact, even if it is your own fiancé who seeks to take it away.”

Luna immediately protested, "Dad, Adrian and I just kissed; we didn't think of doing anything more than that! And every time Adrian tried to do more, Matteo always stopped him!" The girl looked at Matteo with a glare, but of course that didn't faze Matteo.

Matteo cleared his throat to speak a sentence that was immediately agreed upon by Alexander, but not by Luna.

"Sorry, I'm not trying to provoke anyone here. Maybe you'll just be treated gently at first, like holding hands. After that, he'll kiss your cheek and then your lips. And when you don't resist and he manages to get you used to his behavior, it's very possible that things will go further," explained Matteo, looking at Luna with a triumphant gaze.