Stalker Unknown | Saeyoung Choi x Reader {7/10}

    Saeyoung immediately got to work, not even wasting time to drive back over to his place. He and Vanderwood stayed at your apartment which, under normal circumstances, you would’ve been overjoyed about, but Saeyoung barely even looked at you, let alone spoke to you. It was obvious the gnawing feeling you felt in your stomach was guilt over failing to tell him sooner. All you had wanted to do was to make things easier on him, but now everything was just getting worse and worse…

    
    Over in the kitchen, you poured some Ph.D. Pepper in a cup and set it on the table beside Saeyoung in hopes of him finally speaking to you since starting his work. Instead, he didn’t even bother to glance at the cup. His eyes were focussed on the screen of your laptop while his fingers flew furiously across the keys.

    
    Releasing a deep sigh, you turned and headed back to your room with tears stinging in your eyes. You knew Saeyoung had every right to be angry with you - you just wished he wouldn’t, especially not while all of this was still going on…

    
    A knock on your door jogged you out of your thoughts. You quickly brushed the tears out of your eyes and perked up, expecting it to be Saeyoung who walked through that door. Instead, you felt disappointment flood over you when it was only Vanderwood who peaked his head through the doorway.

    
    “Can I come in?” he asked.

    
    You sniffed and nodded in reply before he entered your room, leaving the door ajar. You pulled your knees close to your chest, giving him room the take a seat on your bed. He hesitantly sat down on the edge and sighed.

    
    “I’ve never seen 707 care about something as much as he cares about you. I hope you know that,” he told you, never breaking eye contact.

    
    “Probably not as much anymore…,” you mumbled, guilt clenching at your insides once again. This whole situation would’ve never been as stressful as it was now for Saeyoung if you had just told him from the beginning instead of withholding it. It was your fault that now he was refusing to eat or sleep.

    
    “What you did was foolish, but I understand you had good intentions in mind.”

    
    “Good intentions that brought nothing but stress and worry.”

    
    He didn’t respond. It was obvious he had no argument against your statement, but Vanderwood knew he needed to say something in an attempt to cheer you up. It was far too awkward for him to be around you and Saeyoung with all the tension between the two of you. Since there was nothing for him to do to help with discovering the identity of the stalker, he might as well try to smooth over the tension if nothing more than for his sake.

    
    “From what I’ve seen, this stalker is dangerous,” Vanderwood told you. “707 is upset because he fears what will happen to you if he can’t catch the stalker in time and when you keep things from him, it only makes his fears intensify. I know you don’t want to stress him out, [name], but how do you think he would feel if you continue to withhold information and something happened to you while he thought you were safe? That would affect him far more than any kind of extra work ever would.”

    
    You lowered your head, tears building in your eyes once again. Vanderwood was right; there was no denying that. Even after concealing information from Saeyoung, you always thought that he’d still manage to stop the stalker no matter what. The possibility of the stalker doing something more than just sending messages never crossed your mind. If any harm came to you under Saeyoung’s protection, he would be heartbroken. You didn’t even want to think about what he would do…

    
    “I’m sorry,” you choked out, trying to stop your tears from flowing out. “I never wanted this situation to get this bad.”

    
    “I don’t think any of us wanted it to.”

    
    You were going to reply back when something cut you off. From out in the living room, Saeyoung’s voice pierced the quiet air.

    
    “Oi, Vanderwood! I think I got something,” he called.

    
    In an instant, both you and Vanderwood were out of your room and hovering near the redhead in an attempt to see what and how much he managed to discover about the stalker.

    
    “I tried tracing the email, but this guy knew how to cover his trail. There was no way to trace who send it and from where,” he explained, still typing away vigorously at his keyboard. “Instead, I went back to the security footage from outside the convenience store and spotted something; the same hooded figure who left the note for you got into a car with a driver. After zooming in on the footage, you can clearly see the driver wearing a certain robe. Look familiar?”

    
    Saeyoung pulled up the image for you to see. You squinted, trying to make out the blurry footage but the longer you viewed it, the clearer it got. Just like he said, the robe did seem awfully familiar to you, you just couldn’t name exactly where it was from. You shot him a curious glance, hoping he would take it as his signal to elaborate further.

    
    “Mint Eye.”

    
    The second those words left his lips, everything clicked. A gasp left your mouth as you tried to piece together everything in your head. As relieving as it was to finally have a probable suspect, it was just as unnerving.

    
    “Do you think… your brother…?” you hesitantly asked.

    
    Saeyoung’s lips were pursed tightly forming a thin line as he mulled over the possibility. “I’m not sure if this is Saeran’s doing, but there’s no doubt Mint Eye is behind it.”

    
    “How do you plan on handling this?” Vanderwood inquired.

    
    Closing the laptop, Saeyoung stood up with a stony look on his face. “I’m going to Mint Eye.”

    
    “I’m going with you!” you told him, determined to be of help to him.

    
    “No, you’re not,” he told you sternly. “You’re staying here with Vanderwood so nothing happens to you.”

    
    “I just want to help!”

    
    Tears of frustration sprung to your eyes at just the mere thought of being nothing more than extra baggage for the two men. After all the trouble you’d been putting them through, you just wanted to be of some help to them.

    
    Saeyoung wrapped his arms around your shaking body and pulled you close, repeatedly hushing you until you seemed to have calmed down. “I’m not bringing you right to the doorstep of the place that seems to want you most. I want you to stay here where you’re safe with Vanderwood and I’ll go.”

    
    “You’re not going by yourself. Take Vanderwood with you; I’ll be fine on my own.”

    
    “I-”

    
    “Instead of wasting time arguing about this, allow me to provide a solution,” Vanderwood suggested, cutting Saeyoung off. “I’ll go with 707 since I know he’ll need the help. Don’t you have any friends you can stay with, [name]?”

    
    “I could always go to Hye’s place.”

    
    Although he was a little out of the way, Hye was still the only person that came to mind and he should be back from visiting his grandmother by then. At the current moment, his apartment was the safest place you could possibly be. Despite this, Saeyoung still seemed torn about it.

    
    “Fine,” he sighed. “Get whatever things you need ready because we’re leaving now.”

* * *

    Judging by his expression, Hye was clearly concerned when you showed up at his door with two men standing behind you. Besides him, there weren’t too many people you socialized with so this was a great shock to him.

    
    “Is there something I should know about…?” he questioned, making that the first words he said to you after opening the door.

    
    You shot him a curious look before realizing just how odd of a situation this must seem to him.

    
    “Oh! This is the boyfriend,” you explained as you linked your arm with Saeyoung’s. “I’m sorry for the sudden introduction, but something is going on and I was kind of wondering if I could stay here for a few hours.”

    
    Hye chuckled, not surprised at all that it would be you to do this. “Come on in.”

    
    It didn’t take long to explain to him everything that’s been happening. Given the current circumstance, you were surprised with yourself at how easy it was for you to downplay all the threatening notes. It didn’t seem as terrifying to you now that Saeyoung was one step closer to putting an end to it once and for all.

    
    “That’s why you came over last night…,” he mumbled to himself, realization finally hitting him. “Oh, god… So  you want to stay here while they go and find the stalker?”

    
    “Yeah. Your only job is to protect [name],” Saeyoung told him, his usual playful tone missing. His voice sounded cold and harsh; it almost sounded like a stranger’s voice. You couldn’t understand why it was like that.

    
    “I would never let anything happen to her. As for you two, do you have any idea who the stalker could be?”

        
    Saeyoung opened his mouth to reply and judging by the look on his face, you assumed it was going to be in the same cold voice he used before. You quickly cut in before he could get any words out.

    
    “They believe the stalker is apart of a secret organization called Mint Eye,” you told him quickly.

    
    “Wow… That’s honestly terrifying. I hope you stop this guy before anything bad happens.”

    
    That’s what everyone hoped, especially Saeyoung, but you had faith he could do it. You were putting your safety into the hands of these three men and you could only hope that everyone came out unscathed.

    
    “We should leave now,” Vanderwood told Saeyoung who merely nodded in response.

    
    Saeyoung embraced you in his arms and placed a soft kiss on your lips before pulling away and staring into your eyes. Despite how dangerous this would be for him, the only life he feared losing was yours. He would do anything to protect you, no matter what it took.

    
    “Just give me a few hours,” he whispered. “You’ll be safe - I promise.”

    
    You nodded and hugged him tighter. “I trust you.”

    
    You stood beside Hye as Saeyoung and Vanderwood headed toward the exit. You were nervous as you watched them leave, praying that only good would come out of this.

    
    “Good luck finding the cult. Stay in touch!” Hye said just before they left.

    
    After Saeyoung and Vanderwood left the apartment, Saeyoung froze halfway towards the staircase. Vanderwood kept walking a few steps before noticing his partner had fallen behind.

    
    “Well?” asked Vanderwood. “Honestly, 707, this is not the time to be joking-”

    
    “Hold on,” he said hesitantly. “I have another idea in mind.”