「Stalker Unknown || Saeyoung Choi x Reader」

「seven」

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."