“He? Who’s he? Who are you talking about? Who knows where we live, babe?”

Instead of responding to her husband, CL just stared blankly at her phone, and this really made Himchan feel uneasy. His heart was beating abnormally fast as panic began to overwhelm him. He’s never seen his wife acting this way before – all shaken up and uncannily quiet. He could see a glint of fear in her eyes. Himchan really wanted to know what happened but he chose to let it slide for a while. The most important thing for him at that exact moment was to help her calm down, for her own sake as well as their babies’.

Himchan slowly removed the phone away from her grip and put it inside his pocket before taking her hand in his, and guided her to their bedroom. CL, on the other hand, remained silent and just followed her husband like an obedient child. He then tucked her safely in their bed and caressed her forehead soothingly. Himchan stayed by her side, humming a lullaby until she relaxed and slowly drifted off to sleep. Seeing her calm, sleeping face made him feel a little tingly inside. But that didn’t last quite long as worries came to him again.

‘C-Channie, he knows where we live.’

Who could she possibly be talking about? Why was she suddenly all shaken up like that? What exactly happened to her while he was away?

Himchan ruffled his hair roughly in irritation. He really couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to find out. He kissed her forehead before gently getting out of bed and back into the kitchen. He mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the dirty dishes in the sink. Putting all the worries aside for a moment, he decided to do the dishes instead, which really didn’t take too long. Within minutes, everything was squeaky clean and organised neatly back in their respective places. Himchan smiled while mentally patting himself in the back, surprisingly satisfied with his achievement. He looked around one last time, to see whether he’s missed anything or not, and that’s when he spotted a box sitting on the dining table – the box that he found in front of their doorstep just an hour ago.

With heavy steps, he moved closer to the table. His eyes immediately examined the box in front of him. It was addressed to ‘Lee Chaerin’ but other than that, it looked pretty normal, just like any other box. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But somehow, Himchan couldn’t help but smell something was rather fishy. He contemplated opening the box, unsure if it’s a right move to open it without her concern. After all, it’s her package, not his. Even though they’re already married, they still have a certain boundary and Himchan knew very well not to cross it.

“That’s from him,” Himchan jumped a little, startled by CL’s sudden appearance.

His heart was still beating quite fast out of shock when CL took a seat next to him. She seemed much more calm compared to earlier. Sighing heavily, she began explaining all the weird things that had happened for the past three days Himchan was away – to the mysterious phone calls she’s been getting to how the box was related to the caller. His eyes widened beyond their normal size. To say that he’s shocked would be an understatement.

Himchan paced back and forth like a madman as a bundle of emotions took over him. Something terribly bad could’ve happened to her – someone could’ve kidnapped her, her or even killed her – and he really couldn’t fathom just the mere thought of it happening to her. Immediately, Himchan notified his manager about it and commanded him to investigate the matter as fast as he could. The only thing that he could think of was keeping CL and their unborn twins safe. Just the thought of a crazy stalker was enough to agitate him.

Himchan was still on the phone with the manager when a sound of a box falling on the floor was heard. He instantly turned around and his heart dropped when he saw CL gasping, with her right hand covering and her left holding what seemed to be a picture – a picture of him with another woman. There were even more of the photos scattered on the floor and Himchan started to panic.

“B-baby, I can explain.”

CL took a deep breath and turned around to face her husband with a blank face, there was no emotion in her eyes, none at all. And that made Himchan even more nervous. Was she angry? Was she sad? He really couldn’t tell. He really wanted to explain but her blankness, and surprisingly calmness, really took him by surprise that his mouth just froze, as if his words were caught in his throat.

“Go ahead, explain.”

“A-aren’t you angry with me?”

“Maybe I am, maybe not.”

CL sighed, rolling her eyes in annoyance, when she noticed that Himchan couldn’t bring himself to explain. He seemed really uncomfortable, really lost. Minutes have passed and Himchan still remained quiet, staring blankly at the floor – with guilt in his eyes. “Look, it is a lie if I told you that I am not at all affected by this because I am,” she started, holding the photo up to him, “But I also know how it feels not to be given any chance to explain myself when this happened to me not that long ago.”

Ouch. Himchan knew exactly what she meant by that. He didn’t give her a chance to explain when a similar situation happened to her and Yongguk sometime ago. Instead, he just ignored her; he drank all night and indirectly accused his own best friend of stealing his wife the very next day. He was just being plain stupid back then. To be honest, he couldn’t really forgive himself for that. He still felt a bit guilty somehow, but there’s nothing he could do to change the past. The most he could do was learn from his mistakes and never to repeat them ever again.

Taking a long, deep breath, Himchan slowly walked closer to his wife and took both her hands in his before he started explaining everything, from A to Z. To his luck, CL took everything in surprisingly well and Himchan’s really thankful for that, and for giving him chance to explain. He knew that he’s lucky to have married such a wonderful woman, but sometimes he did feel like he didn’t deserve her at all. CL was just so kind, so understanding, so caring and so forgiving.

Two agonizingly long weeks have passed, and that crazy stalker has yet to be found. After that stupid box incident, the mysterious phone calls have oddly stopped. It was as if he knew that he’s being watched or something. But Himchan wouldn’t let his guard down just yet. He knew that they’re still being watched, he just could feel it. It’s only a matter of time before they get him. So until then, Himchan would continue with his own little investigation while keeping his wife safe at the same time.

***

“Come on, Channie, just tell me already,” CL couldn’t stop bugging him since the day Himchan told her about Annie, the woman seen in the pictures with him.

Annie’s just a close friend of his, someone he met back in high school. He had a little business with her but he couldn’t let CL know about it, not yet. He has planned a mega surprise for her and he’s really worked hard to make everything perfect for the past few months. But with CL nagging him, asking him endless questions about the surprise, Himchan was really going crazy – fast. There were times when he nearly slipped his tongue but thankfully he managed to stop just in time. 

“Nope, not gonna happen. It will not be a surprise if I tell you everything now, will it?”

“Fine, whatever, I hate you,” Himchan couldn’t help but giggle at his wife rolling her eyes at him; he knew that she was annoyed but she still looked adorably cute, nonetheless.

“But I love you,” he replied cheekily, planting a kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Eww, go away, I still hate you,” she retorted as she got off of his lap but Himchan just laughed.

***

From Himchan to Annie:

How’s the plan going?

From Annie to Himchan:

Great! It’ll be ready in a couple of days. ;)

From Himchan to Annie:

Awesome! Thank you so much, Annie. I owe you big time!

From Annie to Himchan:

Ha! No problem, no problem at all. Anything for my old friend.

P/s: You don’t owe me big time, you owe me Korean BBQ!!!! /insertsangryface

From Himchan to Annie:

Ha ha! That is so lame! XD Anyways, Korean BBQ it is! Thank you again, chingu ya~

From Annie to Himchan:

Enough with the thank you already! Geez~ And make sure you bring CL along with you so I can tell her your embarrassing stories back in high school. Nyehehe >;D Anyways, good luck with the surprise! Fighting!!!

From Himchan to Annie:

Tell her and I’ll tell Zelo you have a huge crush on him! :D *coughs* pedonoona *coughs*

From Annie to Himchan:

Fineeeee! You win! -_-“

From Himchan to Annie:

As always. :D

***

[CL’S POV]

It felt great to finally be back in the studio. Ever since I told Himchan about the crazy stalker a couple of weeks ago, he’d asked me not to go anywhere without him. So I was kind of stuck following him around like a leashed dog following its owner. Not that I hated going to fan meeting events or TSE studio with him though, I actually quite enjoyed it. It’s really fun seeing B.A.P at work and it’s quite refreshing to see a more serious side of Himchan for once in a while. It’s actually quite y. No, very y. But I needed my own creative time and space as well.

I am not really the kind of person to nag but I did just that every second of every minute, of every hour, of every day until Himchan finally agreed to let me go back to work. Trust me, trying to convince a stubborn Himchan was like moving a mountain – it was not at all easy. But of course, he wouldn’t just let me go without a long- lecture of what I should and should not do; reminding me to immediately call him if I ever felt like someone was watching me and whatnot. It’s actually quite adorable of him to be so concerned about me but sometimes he just needed to loosen up a bit. Anyways, I was finally Himchan-free! Just for today, at least.

I have informed the girls of my comeback and they were equally excited as I was. And to my delight, they’re already in the studio waiting for me when I arrived. All of us screamed like a bunch of hormonal, teenage girls, startling our poor manager. I guess we all just missed each other so much. Being girls, we spent the first three hours catching up on the past two weeks that we didn’t see each other. They were quite shocked to know that the stalker had the courage to actually come to our apartment. Bommie eonnie, being the weirdo that she was, wanted to catch the culprit herself (though I wasn’t quite sure on how she planned on doing so) but I assured them that Himchan got everything under control.

“Where can I get myself a Himchan?” Bommie eonnie whined, staring out the huge, glass window in front of us.

“Nowhere, because there’s only one Himchan in this world and he’s mine,” I replied, sticking my tongue out playfully at her.

“Damn, you’re such a lucky girl. I want my own Himchan.” And people thought that Dara was the one who’s lovesick but no, Bom’s even worse.

We just got back to the studio after a long bonding time and having lunch together when my phone suddenly rang. My heartbeat accelerated a little when I saw an unknown number on the screen. Could it be that stalker again? But then I noticed that the number’s not the same as the one of the stalker’s from weeks ago. Could it be possible that he’s changed his number? A lot of things crossed my mind as I continued staring at my ringing phone in my hand. I contemplated answering it for a while, but the ringing stopped as soon as I made up my mind to press the green button.

“What was that all about?” asked Minzy, concerned.

Before I could even utter a word, our manager suddenly came in; informing me that someone was at the lobby to see me. I just stood there, confused, my eyes wandering around the room trying to grasp everything that just happened. First, the phone call from an unknown number and immediately after that, someone’s downstairs waiting for me. Coincidence? I didn’t think so.

“Who is it?” asked Minzy again.

“I’ve never seen her before but she said her name’s Annie.”

Annie.

Annie.

Annie.

Annie?

THE Annie?

And then it hit me, it’s Annie – Himchan’s friend from high school, the same Annie in the pictures that was sent to me. I unconsciously sighed in relief. At least, it wasn’t that crazy stalker again. But… why was she here in the first place? Why on earth did she want to see me?

TO BE CONTINUED.

A/N: Hi, guys! I'm back! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Only three more chapters to go! Ho ho ho. As usual, feel free to subscribe, upvote and comment! ^^ Thank you~ I love you all! <3