Taeyong and I were lazing around in my apartment. We only had two days left. Two days before Taeyong and I wouldn't be able to see each other for at least a month. I didn't really want to think about it.

Taeyong shifted in my arms and I looked down. I saw him looking at me. “Hm?”

“I'm bored,” he said. “Let's do something.”

“Like what?” He shrugged. “Watch TV? It could help me with my Japanese...” I smiled. His enthusiasm to learn Japanese always made me happy. “Let's do that then,” I said and kissed him tenderly. He hummed, then turned away from me and grabbed the remote.

The TV spoke as we laid in each other's arms silently. From time to time Taeyong would ask me what they had said or if he understood correctly and I would answer. Aside from that we didn't talk, but it didn't feel wrong. It was nice not to have to say anything, to be able to just enjoy the other's company. But this calm was violently interrupted by a call. The sound cut harshly through our silence, it demanded our attention and Taeyong reluctantly looked at his phone. I couldn't see the caller's ID but as soon as Taeyong looked I knew something was wrong. He tensed, immediately sat up and ripped himself out of my arms in the process. I could see his hand shaking as he moved it to answer. I suddenly remembered the time we were on our first date, when he had reacted the exact same way and suddenly I felt fear striking through my body and I didn't want Taeyong to pick up this call. But he did, before I could reach him, before my hand was able to stop him. He didn't say anything, for a whole minute he sat there in front of me and was silent. And what was weird was that I couldn't make out a single sound that left the phone, as if neither party was saying anything.

When Taeyong finally ended the call it was as if he was in a trance. He just stared ahead of him, not making a sound, not blinking or moving in any way. “Taeyong..?” I called out to him. That was when he finally started moving again, though it was not in a way I liked. His whole body was shaking and I reacted even before I was able to think. Wrapped tightly in my arms I tried to calm him down. “Taeyong,” I called out to him repeatedly. “Everything's going to be fine. Don't worry.” Once he had finally calmed down I asked him “Do you want to tell me what's going on?” Taeyong finally reciprocated my hug and leaned his chin on my shoulder. I had a feeling it was so that I wasn't able to see his face. “It's my ex, Thea.” I could hear the quivering of his voice. “Thea and I broke up shortly after I met you at the award show. This is kind of embarrassing to admit,” he said and let out a barely audible laugh, “but I was immediately attracted to you when I saw you. Not in the way that it was first love or something. But I think I... I think I had a feeling I would some day fall in love with you.” Trying not to get excited I drew calming circles on Taeyong's back. He still didn't face me. “After that our relationship slowly began to crumble and it led to us breaking up. Afterwards she called me almost constantly. She only stopped a while ago. That was after I admitted to her that I'm in love with someone else. She said that she will make us suffer. Just because I told her I wasn't in love with her anymore your life is in danger now.” By the last two sentences I could hear Taeyong had started to cry. Just as I was about to say something he continued. “Since that threat I've been receiving these silent calls.” Now that he was finished I started talking. “Nothing will happen to us, I mean what can she do? She won't be able to reach us.” I tried to calm Taeyong with these words but it more or less had the opposite effect. “You don't know her. If she says she's going to do something, then she is! That's the way she does everything in life. She takes nothing back! This isn't an empty threat, she's serious!” As he said that he finally raised his head from my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. I could feel that Taeyong wasn't joking in any way, that Thea was a serious threat not to be taken lightly. “But... but she doesn't know who I am, right?”

“... I think she knows.” Taeyong had stopped looking me in the eyes again, as though he was afraid of my reaction.

“But... how?”

“I don't know. But I've only been receiving these silent calls whenever I was with you. I'm sure she knows.” A long moment of silence followed. I didn't know what to do, what to think, what to feel. Then, my head started working again. “Taeyong, we have to go to the police.” But Taeyong shook his head. “No, we can't.” I couldn't believe my ears. Had he just said what I thought he did? “We have to, Taeyong. What she's doing is illegal. She's threatening you!” And me, I thought. But by now I was more worried for Taeyong than for me.

“Don't you think I know that! But I was the one who drove her to do this! Me!” He was hiding his face in his hands now. “Besides,” came a whisper from underneath a bit later, “we don't have any proof and Thea's not stupid enough to leave any traces behind.” Sighing I pulled him against me again. I gave up. There was nothing I could do. Taeyong was right, there was no proof.

I almost couldn't believe what Taeyong had told me, if it wasn't for the despair visible in Taeyong's expression. I know I couldn't do much for Taeyong besides being by his side as much as I could and even that was proving to be difficult now that Taeyong was leaving. I swore to myself to keep an eye on the situation as much as I could in an entire different country, but I couldn't help feeling helpless. What could I do? I didn't know the answer.

The night before Taeyong had to leave I stayed with him in his hotel room, as I wasn't able to join him at the airport. In the morning when Taeyong was packing the rest of his luggage I felt a tightness beginning to take form in my chest. I didn't want Taeyong to leave. Once he was finished and his manager called to meet her downstairs, he turned to me and we met in a big and long embrace. I could feel a wetness on my shoulder that told me Taeyong had started to cry. We loosened our embrace and I wiped away the tears on his cheeks, before we met in a slow and tender kiss. “You have to go now,” I said and Taeyong nodded, let go of me and grabbed his luggage. We wouldn't be able to see each other for a while now.

---

As I was met with the flashes of cameras and the screams of fans, I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I had two new messages, one from Yuta and one from an anonymous number. I opened the one from Yuta first while being led through the horde of reporters and fans by my bodyguards. It read: I miss you already. I had to smile at the cliched sappy line. Of course Yuta would send something like this.

Being blinded by my happiness, I opened the anonymous message as well, forgetting the situation Yuta and I were in and my weak metal state. In hindsight I should've expected it. What greeted me was a picture of Yuta and myself as we are kissing each other goodbye. My mind went blank.