"You're getting much better." Sehun commented, sipping on his water as he watched Tao practice in front of the mirror.

"Well duh. I guarantee you if I stayed here as long as you did, I'd have stolen your job." He grinned.

"Psh, no way. I'm still way more flexible that you are."

"That you are. I'm sure you put the flexibility to some pretty good use by now." He said with a suggestive smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sehun retorted, feeling heat creep up to his cheeks.

"You know... With your boyfriend. Lucky him. If I were in his place right now, I'd totally-"

"Okay okay, stop! I get it." Sehun quickly interrupted, face red hot as Tao laughed at him. He shoved him, watching in satisfaction as he stumbled on his feet.

"Okay easy there, it was just a joke." Tao held his arms out defensively. Sehun huffed. "Why are you still here anyway? Lesson's long over."

"Waiting for Kai to come pick me up."

"Oh that's him over there-" Tao said, motioning to the door. When Sehun turned to look, there was no one there. "What the..." Tao suspiciously made his way to the door, looking out into the hallway.

"Hey!" He called out, but the person had already long since turned the corner. "Who the hell..."

"Dude, maybe it's just one of the students." Sehun said nonchalantly.

"That didn't look like a student," Tao said with a frown.

"Mind helping me put all these punching bags away?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure." With one more look out the hallway, he shrugged it off and went to help Sehun. Just as they were finishing up, Kai walked in.

"Hey, sorry I was late," he said, panting as if he had just run up the stairs.

"Oh hey Kai," Tao greeted as he walked out of the store room with Sehun following suit. Kai's eye twitched ever so slightly when he saw them.

"You sure took your time," Sehun grumbled as Kai hugged him, a moment too long, leaving an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"Sorry, I was actually just having a dance session with Lay. Got caught up with editing and lost track of time."

"It's alright," Sehun mumbled, leaning into him shyly. Kai smiled and kissed the top of his head before turning to Tao.

"How you doing, man?"

"I'm good," he said, eyeing the two of them with an unreadable expression before quickly shaking it off. "I was just gonna leave, actually."

"Let's head out together then."

"Uh, yeah. Sure," he shrugged, before grabbing his things and making his way to the door first. Sehun sent a pointed look towards his boyfriend, but the other only ignored it as they walked out together, turning off the lights.

When they made it outside, Tao excused himself first to go home on foot, leaving the two alone together.

"Kai, what was that all about?"

"What?" Kai frowned.

"Come on, you don't have to rub it in his face that we're dating now."

"I wasn't rubbing it in his face. And he already knows right? So why can't I just act natural with you?"

"Seriously? You would never do this in front of Victoria, would you?"

Kai went silent for a moment, "Well no... But why is this bothering you again?"

"You... Ugh," Sehun shook his head, looking infuriated. "Forget it. Let's just go."

The ride to Sehun's house was quiet as the two thought over the whole situation. It was true Kai was starting to see his point, but he couldn't help himself. He got jealous. He always did and that was his problem.

When they arrived at Sehun's porch, Kai parked his bike and turned off the ignition. Sehun was quick to get off and make his way into the building without a single word.

"H-hey!" Kai called, only to be ignored. He sighed, quickly getting off and following Sehun in. He stepped into the lift right before the doors could close. "Thanks for waiting up." He said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Sehun grumbled, crossing his arms. They stayed quiet until they got into Sehun's apartment.

"Mom!" He called out, not recieving a response. "Goddamn she must be working overtime again," he grumbled to himself as he kicked off his shoes.

"Your mom's working overtime?"

Sehun didn't reply and simply made his way to his room.

"Sehun," he sighed, following him. "Look I'm sorry." He grabbed his arm, only to find his own arm twisted and within a second, he was pinned to the ground by Sehun.

"Don't make me test out my karate skills on you."

Kai looked at him in surprise for a moment before a devilish smirk started to form on his face.

"Actually, I don't really mind this." He motioned to the way he was sprawled out on the ground with Sehun on top of him, pinning him down with his knee, hands locked on top of his head, faces inches apart.

Sehun face reddened immediately, making a move to get off but Kai grabbed him by the waist before he could. With a surprised yelp, Sehun fell back against him.

"As I was saying..." Kai spoke, looking up at Sehun seriously, "I'm really sorry about earlier. I was kinda being a ."

Sehun pouted, "And?"

"And I won't do it again."

"And?"

"And... You look really cute today?"

Sehun rolled his eyes but blushed. "You are so not fair."

"I know," Kai smiled, caressing his hair gently. "And you were right."

Satisfied with that answer, Sehun placed a small peck against his lips. "I'm always right." Kai grinned, intertwining their fingers as he kissed him again, a little longer this time. For a good minute, they completely forgot that they were still on the floor in the hallway as they got lost in each other. Kai tilted his head up, cupping Sehun's cheek. Sehun relaxed on top of him, deepening their kiss. He could only describe Kai's kisses as an addiction at that point. The more they made out, the more of him he wanted, and he could never get enough. He couldn't go a day without faces with his boyfriend anymore. And there was no moment as annoying as when they had to pull away.

But ugh... I really am starting to smell.

He reluctantly pulled away and got up, holding his hand out to help Kai up.

"Come on. I'm in serious need of a shower."

"Did you need help with that or...?"

Sehun's face scrunched up, "Eww, no thank you. Shower time is my private time."

Kai wiggled his eyebrows, "Offer still stands."
 

As Sehun let the steamy jets of water hit his body, he kept thinking over what he was going to do about the Z situation. The stalker was obviously relentless. But he still didn't think he was doing much harm, nor was he terrorising him.

In the end Kris and Kyungsoo's efforts yielded nothing, and he couldn't tell whether or not that was a good thing. A part of him kind of liked the validation he got from those creepy notes, as weird as it sounded. He just didn't get this kind of thing often and it made him feel good. He certainly didn't want Z, whomever he was, to get into trouble over a couple of silly love letters.

In the end Kyungsoo decided he'd lock the art room over the weekend, just to see what Z would do next. Sehun wasn't sure what result to expect from that, but it was worth a try. Sighing, he tried to shake all those thoughts away. He hated the fact that he was hiding it all from Kai. But it's for the best.

When he was done, he dried himself off and got into a clean change of clothes. He was drying his hair with a towel as he walked out into his room. Only to find Kai sitting at his desk.

With a bunch of notes sprawled out in front of him.

Z's notes.

Kai's face was expressionless as Sehun's eyes widened in realization.

"Y-You... You went through my stuff!"

"Yeah, I did. Look what I found." He said coldly, gesturing to one of Sehun's photos. Sehun shook his head in disbelief, gathering all the notes and stuffing them back into the drawer. Although it was pretty futile at that point since Kai had already seen everything.

"You know I had a feeling you were hiding something, but I didn't know it was this." He chuckled humorlessly.

"Look it's not what you think... Someone's been leaving those notes on my easel every single day, all week. I don't even know who it is "

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I..." Sehun stuttered, unsure of what to really say. Either way, Kai was mad at him.

"Those photos... This person is stalking you! And you didn't find it even remotely important to tell me?"

"I just didn't want you to worry." Sehun mumbled.

"Of course I had to worry! Sehun... We could have tried to figure this out together... We could have caught this and taught him a lesson by now! Why are you just letting this happen?"

Sehun sighed in frustration, "You don't get it!"

Kai stared at him for a long minute before he started to realize something.

"Why are you keeping those notes?"

Sehun visibly stiffened, but didn't say a word.

"If you don't speak up... I'm gonna walk out of here right now, Sehun. And I'm gonna find this guy on my own."

He waited a few seconds but Sehun didn't even move from his spot. He shook his head in disbelief. "Unbelievable."

As he was making his way out to the door, Sehun finally spoke up.

"Wait, Kai..." He sighed, "You're really gonna make me do this, huh?"

Kai crossed his arms, "I'm listening."

"Alright fine, yeah. I kept those notes because... they made me feel good about myself. And those pictures... I couldn't bring myself to throw them away. I just couldn't."

"Seriously?" Jongin retorted, "You don't need those tacky notes to make you feel good about yourself... I literally tell you every chance I get how attractive you are. Why can't that be enough? Why do you need to seek validation from some stranger?"

"It's not like I went and asked Z to send me these! They just happened to be there... and yeah I just kinda went along with it! Why is that so wrong?"

"You seriously don't see anything wrong this? Not only did you not tell me, but you were also okay with all of this! And you didn't mind keeping this from me no matter how long it went on for, huh?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Sehun sighed, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Sehun stared at Kai for a long moment, and his eyes were urging him to speak up and say the truth. Here goes nothing. "You wouldn't get it! I don't think you even understand what it feels like to be me. I have never felt attractive, Kai. For as long as I can remember I've had really low self-esteem. But those photos... They made me see myself in a new light. Feel more confident about myself. It's not just about being told I look good... It's about seeing myself and actually feeling that way."

Kai went quiet, staring at Sehun thoughtfully as if trying to comprehend what he was saying. Sehun made his way over to the drawer and pulled out one of the photos, showing it to Kai.

"It's just something about... Something about the way he portrays me... I took many pictures of myself but never quite got this feeling before. I don't expect you to understand, Kai. But I really am sorry I didn't tell you. I guess part of me just didn't want all this to stop."

Kai stepped forward so he was right in front of Sehun. He took the picture from him, scanning it through cold eyes. After a moment of contemplation, he abruptly tore the picture in half and threw it to the floor. Sehun's eyes widened, horrified.

"W-What did you-"

"You don't need those," Kai said coldly, stepping closer as Sehun backed away. "I don't care if they're amazing pictures. If you wanna know how beautiful you are..."

He stepped even closer, grabbing Sehun's arm so he couldn't back off again. "All you have to do is look at yourself through my eyes."

Sehun blinked, gazing up at Kai's warm brown orbs. He could see his reflection alright, and ew that is not a good view of my forehead. But that wasn't quite what was bothering him.

Where did I hear that before?

And then it occurred to him. What he said.

Who Z really was.

"Then maybe you should start seeing yourself through someone else's eyes."

"Lay!" He suddenly said in realization. Kai frowned in confusion.

"What?"

His eyes widened. Lay was one of Kai's close friends. No matter how this went, it was not going to end well if Kai knew.

"I mean... I need to lay down. My back's really starting to hurt from that class today..."

Kai narrowed his eyes at Sehun suspiciously. "You are not a good liar."

Sehun sighed. I really need to work on my lying skills. "It's honestly nothing. I just remembered that Lay said something similar before."

"Huh..." Kai nodded in understanding, before realization dawned upon him as well. "It's him, isn't it? Z... Lay Zhang! He's your stalker!"

"What? Come on, that's a little bit of a reach." Sehun scoffed, internally freaking out.

"I knew I felt something was off when he met you!"

"Excuse me? You were the one that kept telling me he was harmless. So if he actually is Z, technically this is all your fault!"

"Oh he is so gonna get it!" Kai's fists were clenched and his whole body tensed up. Oh ... this is not gonna go over well. Think, Sehun, think.

"Dude... Even if by some slim chance Z actually is Lay, last time I checked, he doesn't even know we're dating. So you don't even have the right to be mad at him. You need to calm your ."

He paused, knowing Sehun had a good point. He never really told Lay they were dating. It was hard enough to tell Kris. But it just seemed to make so much sense. Lay was not around as much over the past week. Even when they were practicing earlier that day, he left early. He was convinced it was him, because there was no one else he could really suspect. But why?

"Goddamn I never knew my friend was a weirdo! Well actually I kinda knew. But not like this."

"Look, can you just let me handle this? Please?"

"No actually, I'm still gonna beat the out of him."

"Kai-"

"This is my friend. I'm gonna deal with him and that's final."

"No. He sent those notes to me, so I should be the one to confront him."

"The hell you are. Just stay right here while I go take care of this."

Sehun stared at his boyfriend, mouth agape as he watched him grab his things. "You're going right now?"

"No time like the present."

"Can you just calm down? I thought you came here to spend time with me..." He complained, trying to stop Kai from leaving.

"That was before. But now I need to go deal with this once and for all. I can't just sit around and pretend nothing is going on."

"Why can't you just trust me to handle my own ?!"

"And how exactly do you handle ? Because stuttering and mumbling your way through things won't cut it. You'd better just stay here and let me take care of it myself." He said dismissively.

"Wow," Sehun said sourly, offended and mildly hurt. "You know what Kai? you. You and Amber sure love treating me like a child who can't take care of himself. Well guess what? I was alone for a really long time and I did just fine for myself. I don't need you guys constantly babysitting me."

"I'm not trying to babysit you-"

"Yeah right! You have no respect for what I have to say! Honestly, just save it Kai. Go do what you have to do. Matter fact, get the hell out 'cause I really don't wanna see your face right now." He yelled, leaving Kai mildly shocked. He stood still, staring at Sehun in disbelief.

"Hey, just calm down-"

"Just GET OUT!"

Kai flinched, stepping back. He'd never quite seen Sehun that mad and he knew he must have really messed up if he made him that angry. But he was too angry himself to take anything back or apologize at that point. He shook his head.

"Fine." Without another word, he grabbed his coat and stormed out, leaving Sehun to slump down on his bed in defeat, staring angrily down at the torn picture on the floor.

"."

 

The weekend passed uneventfully. Sehun ignored almost all of Amber's texts and would have ignored Kai's, had there been any. But he'd gone missing and Sehun wasn't about to ask about him. He didn't care. He was pissed. Stupid es think they can belittle me... I can take charge too! I can handle my own !

With that initiative in mind, he went to school with his head held high, hair styled up, glasses off, walking in ever so confidently. I'll show you es. I am a strong independent man. Plus I'm fabulous and I know it. Y'all can just stand there and drool if you want to.

He walked into the art room as usual and found Kris and Kyungsoo in there, seemingly jumping apart on his arrival. But he was used to that by now.

"Well, good morning there." He said cheerfully as he made his way over to his spot.

"Hey, Sehun! There's been some minor developments in our Z case," Kris said. Right off the bat, huh? "We've locked up the art room all weekend. But lo and behold, a note still shows up at your easel."

"Is that so?" He drawled, mildly uninterested as he picked up the note and read it.

I love the way you fight for a better tomorrow.

-Z

This one had a photo of Sehun at the dojo while he was teaching his class. That was the first photo that was outside of school campus, which was a bit of a red flag for Sehun at this point. This had to stop, right now. He didn't want the guy stalking him to his home and taking pictures of him in the toilet or some . That would be troublesome... And gross.

He knew what he had to do.

"Now of course we respect your privacy so we didn't read anyth- ow!" Kris groaned as Kyungsoo elbowed him, shaking his head with a deadpan look on his face. "Okay yeah we read the note. But! This leaves us with a couple possibilities because there's only like two other people that have the keys. One, the art teacher, a 40-year old woman who probably lives in the back of her van because she can't afford rent with her ty paycheck and I'm pretty sure doesn't even own a camera. And two, the janitor... a 40-year old man who also probably lives in the back of his van because he can't afford rent with his ty paycheck... and I'm pretty sure also doesn't own a camera."

Sehun quirked a brow. He certainly wasn't expecting that suspect list. "So that leaves us with...?"

"Well one of them probably just planted it for Z. Possibly for money. You know, so they can afford rent. Or a camera."

Kyungsoo shook his head as Sehun turned to him in confusion. "Yeah that's pretty much the gist of it."

"Hey, you guys have worked hard. And I really appreciate all the effort. But I already know who Z is. I'll take it from here."

"Seriously? So who is it?!"

"I'd rather not say."

"Hm... Okay." Kyungsoo shrugged, "Good for you then."

"You look different today, Sehun," Kris noted, narrowing his eyes at him, "Like... Super determined to kick some ."

Sehun found himself blushing a little. "I mean... I guess I am."

"Good for you man... Let us know how it goes." Kyungsoo said with a supportive smile. Sehun nodded in determination, turning on his heel and heading for the hallway. He scribbled on a piece of paper with his messy handwriting, slipping a note in Lay's locker.

Meet me at the art room after school.
-Sehun

 

Sehun bit his lip nervously as he watched the last person leave the art room so he was now completely alone. He'd done a good job staying invisible for the entire day, which he was exceptionally good at. So he didn't have to run into anyone at all, Kai and Lay included. Amber seemed to have skipped the day altogether.

He sat alone, staring at the canvas in front of him. It was Lay's painting. The guy never really did come to the art room again to check out his painting. Better late than never, I suppose.

Suddenly, the door opened and Sehun instinctively hid behind his canvas. Wait, no. Head held high, remember?

Taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, he sat up straight and looked up at the person who had just walked into the room.

"Took you long enough to figure it out." Lay said with a knowing smile on his face, hands casually shoved into his pockets. His relaxed stance kind of annoyed Sehun because he himself was so godamn nervous. But he wasn't about to break now. He was going to put an end to the whole stalking thing, in his way.

"Kai came to me the other day. Started talking about you and notes and a stalker... I told him I had no idea what he was talking about."

Sehun's eyebrows quirked up that. Seriously? So he straight up lied to his friend? That's cold. "And he believed you?"

"Yeah of course. Because I'm his friend," he said smugly, "Truth is I was just waiting for you to figure it out yourself."

"Well here I am. And I'm expecting an explanation. So why did you do it?" Sehun asked, crossing his arms.

"I suspect you already know the answer to that," he said as he stepped forward, sitting down next to Sehun so he was looking at his painting. He lifted a hand up to gently trace his features on the canvas. "You draw all these people everyday and you see something special in them, then you take that and you highlight it. That's what makes your work so unique. And I thought I wanted to do the same for you. Now of course I don't know the first thing about art... But I do know how to work a camera."

"Man, you are creepy." Sehun said honestly. "But you do take nice pictures. Although... You could have just asked me to be your model or something, instead of sneaking around and taking pictures of me."

"I wanted to capture the real you... Not you posing for a picture. So yeah I had to do it without you knowing. I heard you draw people all the time without telling them. Isn't it basically the same thing?"

"No actually... It's not the same thing."

"I guess. I'm just making excuses for myself at this point," he laughed. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out a little. And I'll stop now."

"Yeah, please do. Actually I'd prefer it if I never have to see you or deal with you again."

"I guess that's fair," he shrugged.

"If it's worth anything though... The pictures really are beautiful."

Lay smiled genuinely, "That's because you are. And I'm not even trying to flirt... I'm just being honest."

Sehun blushed, looking down at his feet. Lay watched him for a second before he eventually stood up, getting ready to leave.

"Oh, almost forgot." He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out another note, just like all the ones he sent before. "There's just one more I wanted to show you."

Sehun cautiously took the note from his hand and looked at the picture on the back. It was a photo of him with Kai, in the hallway after school. He was laughing heartily and so was Kai. Turning it around, he read the words written on the back.

I love the way he makes you smile.

-Z

Sehun looked up at him with wide eyes, a light blush covering his cheeks.

"In my defense... I didn't actually know you guys were dating. Kai literally just told me. Don't worry though, I'm gonna keep my distance from now on."

"Yeah, you'd better. Kai has one hell of a jealousy problem. You do not want to deal with that."

"I know. He is my friend after all. Whether or not you decide to tell him and everyone about what I did, is completely up to you."

Sehun nodded thoughtfully, "One question though... How'd you get the keys to the art room?"

"Oh, that?" He chuckled, "I tipped off the janitor. He's an old friend of mine. He also gets me the weed-"

"Okay, too much information." Sehun interrupted, holding his hand up. Lay chuckled in amusement.

"Alright. I'll see myself out, then. I'll see you around, Sehun." He said, making his way to the door.

"Hopefully not." Sehun grumbled as he watched the guy leave, before letting out a long breath. Well, that wasn't so bad. He still stuck by his opinion. Lay was not a bad guy. Just a weirdo.

Deciding he didn't feel like staying behind to paint, he started packing up his own things so he could leave. He paused to look down at the photo Lay had just given him.

He smiled.

This might just be my favourite one of them all.

So it was Lay after all. I bet no one, not a single human being, not even corona virus saw that coming. Ha. Ha ha ha. I'm so unpredictable.

(Yes I'm being sarcastic)

This one took me a while. Sorry about the wait, guys! I just really wanted Sekai to have a big fight. Hehe

And yeah totally off topic but I recently updated my other story. I don't know if you remember it or not, it was discontinued a while ago but I recently decided to keep writing it. It's called "One Shot at Love" and it's also Sekai but like with aliens and stuff. I know that probably sounds weird but please do give it a chance! It's also cute and fluffy and y because it's Sekai after all, how can it not be? Honestly. Just go check it out and don't forget to leave your feedback. That's an order!

Also come on guys, don't be shy to upvote and comment. Like I'm not tryna sound desperate or anything but PLEASE I NEED VALIDATION HELP A SISTER OUT T_T

*Clears throat* okay that's it for this author's note. Bye!

Song of the day(for no particular reason): "pporappipam" by Sunmi♥️