A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Once Yesung had gotten over his shock (which might have taken several long minutes… or it might have taken an eternity he wasn’t entirely sure), he grabbed his phone again, and barely peeking at the screen with squinted eyes to avoid seeing the text again, he closed the message app.

Then, he called the police station. He was still reluctant about police involvement, but Dr. Lee had made him promise to immediately contact the police if Siwon tried to reach out to him again. And Yesung would rather deal with more drama and stress from police involvement than to disobey a direct order like that from his cardiologist.

Upon contacting the police station, Yesung was told that officers would be sent to his apartment to check his phone.

Half an hour later, Officer Shindong and another police officer arrived. They inspected the text message and connected Yesung’s phone to the computers and other gadgets that they brought along so that they could record and better study the data from Yesung’s phone. However, Officer Shindong honestly told Yesung that the chances of tracking Siwon through the text weren’t so good, given that the number was withheld and that Siwon’s device likely had security features that prevented it from being tracked. Not to mention that Siwon could easily just ditch the phone that he used to contact Yesung and get a new one.

The police officers also gave Yesung an update on their search for Siwon. And the update was about… the lack of update, really. They still had no idea where he was. It seemed, according Officer Shindong, that he just disappeared from the face of the planet.

This just made Yesung feel much worse. After the police officers left, Yesung quickly locked and bolted his front door, quite afraid. Siwon still hadn’t been caught, and now, he was contacting Yesung again. 

Yesung’s body started shaking and trembling again.

When will this end? Will it ever end? Why won’t it just end?

Thankfully, the next day was a Sunday. Yesung didn’t have to go to work at the academy. He didn’t have to leave the apartment at all. He stayed locked inside his apartment. He was determined not to leave his home today. He wasn’t even going to open his door for anyone or anything today.

However, early that afternoon, there was a knock on his door. 

Yesung immediately froze. He tried to ignore it, hoping that whoever it was would just go away (and hoping even more that it wasn’t Siwon), but the knocking just continued.

Yesung was starting to panic. What should he do? The noise would start bothering the other tenants soon. Should he open the door? Or even just ask who it was? But what if it was Siwon? Even if he just asked through the door first, if it was Siwon, then Siwon would know that he was in there.

What should he do?

However, his panicking was interrupted, and finally stopped, when he heard the familiar voice calling for him from the other side of his door.

“Yesung? Are you in there? Yesung, are you home?”

And just like that, the voice washed away all of Yesung’s fear and panic. He quickly unlocked and unbolted his front door.

“Kyuhyun!” Yesung breathed out in relief as he opened his door for the doctor.

“Oh, there you are. What took you so long to answer? I almost thought that you weren’t home.” Then, Kyuhyun noticed the expression on Yesung’s face. The doctor’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. “What’s wrong?”

Yesung shook his head. “No, nothing’s wrong.”

And really, apparently, there was nothing wrong. It wasn’t Siwon at his front door. Even better, Kyuhyun was here. Nothing was wrong. Everything was alright for now.

“Yesung…” Kyuhyun said warningly as he let himself inside in Yesung’s apartment and closed the door behind him. He was getting to know Yesung quite well, and he could easily tell then that Yesung was hiding something. There was something wrong and bothering him, and Kyuhyun was getting to the bottom of it.

“Kyuhyun, there’s really nothing—” But Yesung broke off at the stern look from the doctor. He noted how both Dr. Lee and Kyuhyun were very good at giving stern looks. Maybe it was a doctor thing? It must be how they got stubborn patients to follow doctors’ instructions.

“Tell me. Right now.”

Yesung sighed, but he conceded defeat. He told Kyuhyun about how he had recently gotten weird phone calls and about the text message that Siwon had sent him last night. He also told Kyuhyun about the police arriving last night and how, given the recent events, Kyuhyun’s knocking had initially scared him.

“He’s back and bothering you again?!” Kyuhyun’s temper immediately flared upon hearing about this new development. 

“Well, I’m not sure if he’s back. He could be, but he could also be still far away when he’s calling and texting me… And that’s the problem—we still have no idea where he is…” Yesung wearily rubbed his forehead. “I don’t even know how he got my new phone number…”

“Probably similar to how he tracked Wookie’s heart in the first place,” Kyuhyun scowled. “Used his money to pay people to hack and get the information for him…  The police still don’t have a clue where he is?”

“The police told me last night that they still don’t have any leads on Siwon’s whereabouts. Officer Shindong himself visited Choi Corporation, but Siwon’s parents and the workers there claimed that they had no idea where he is. Actually, according to Officer Shindong, Siwon’s parents were insisting that their son was innocent and that the police should call off their attempts to catch him.”

Kyuhyun scoffed harshly. “His parents don’t know where he is?! Yeah, right! Like that’s believable!”

“I know, but we also can’t prove that they know his location…” Yesung said helplessly as he slumped down on his couch.

Explaining the recent events to Kyuhyun, while necessary, was bringing back Yesung’s panic and fear. The police still hadn’t caught Siwon, and those close to Siwon were refusing to cooperate with the police’s search. How will Siwon be caught, then? Siwon clearly had the power, money, and influence to avoid capture. Will Yesung be forced to live the rest of his life in fear, always looking over his shoulder for any signs of an obsessive, psychopathic murderer? Or, worse, will his life just end soon in the hands of Siwon?

Yesung was so focused on his panicked thoughts that he really didn’t notice that he was trembling again until Kyuhyun sat beside him and gently took one of his hands.

“You’re shaking again,” Kyuhyun murmured, enclosing Yesung’s baby hand in his own much larger hands.

“What if Siwon isn’t caught, Kyuhyun?” Yesung asked, not paying any attention to his shaking hands and just looking at the doctor with anxious eyes. “Maybe I should just accept that I can’t escape him?”

Things looked pretty bleak and hopeless to Yesung at this point.

“Don’t say that!” Kyuhyun said fiercely. “Siwon won’t get to you ever again! I won’t let him!”

Yesung didn’t reply. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it (maybe it was his fear or his need for comfort right now), but he let his head drop against Kyuhyun’s shoulder. He let a few tears escape from his eyes. He didn’t understand what it was about Kyuhyun that let him be comfortable enough to drop his façade of maintaining that he was fine and coping, but there was just something about the doctor that compelled him to be honest with Kyuhyun as well as to himself and show his real emotions.

Kyuhyun, for his part, wrapped an arm around Yesung in an attempt to comfort the older man. The doctor vowed that he wouldn’t fail this time. He just couldn’t. He already failed Ryeowook. He will not fail Yesung, no matter what.

Eunhyuk and Donghae were currently debating on the dance moves for their new choreography when someone knocked on their office door. And the two dance teachers were shell-shocked when Donghae opened the door and their hyung’s cardiologist came in.

“Dr. Lee?” Donghae greeted her with a puzzled smile. “What brings you here?”

“I got off at the hospital earlier today, and I thought that it was a good chance to stop by here.”

“Are you looking for Yesung hyung? The music area is at the other side of the building,” Eunhyuk informed her.

“No, I was actually looking for you two. The secretary at the reception area told me that you were free now and pointed me to your office.” Then, she sighed. “Actually, it would better if Jongwoon didn’t find out that I came here to see you guys.”

At the teachers’ confused expressions, she elaborated, “You know how much Jongwoon doesn’t like that we watch over him and keep him accompanied.”

“Is this about Siwon contacting him again recently?” Eunhyuk immediately frowned. Yesung had, at Kyuhyun’s insistence encouragement, also informed Eunhyuk and Donghae of the weird phone calls and the text that were apparently from Siwon.

“Yes,” Dr. Lee replied, biting her lip with worry. Since Kyuhyun had told her and her husband about the recent developments in the situation, she had been restless and fearful for her patient. During her medical school, she took some required psychology classes, and she had some idea of how dangerous obsessive stalkers can be. “He’s reaching out to Jongwoonie again. I’m worried that he might soon do something more than just call and text Jongwoon. What if he comes back and attacks Jongwoonie again?”

“The police can’t track him. I’m willing to bet that he’s using his money to hide. And also paying people to keep quiet about his whereabouts and to help him,” Eunhyuk scowled.

“How do we win against someone who has all the resources in the world? It’s impossible!” Donghae said desperately.

“No, not impossible,” Dr. Lee shook her head. “Just difficult. And difficult though it may be, we need to try and keep Jongwoonie safe from him. We have no other choice—we can’t just give up now and just let him get to Jongwoon… We need to keep an even closer watch on Jongwoon.”

“Hyung’s going to love that,” Eunhyuk rolled his eyes, sarcasm coating his tone. Yesung was great and everything, but his independent nature kept getting him in trouble and made it difficult for others to help him. 

“We continue with keeping him accompanied as much as possible. And maybe you guys can invite him to stay with you for the meantime?” the doctor suggested.

Donghae shook his head. “We already offered that when Siwon first started bothering him after they broke up. Hyung refused to stay with us.”

“Well, the situation’s different now. Everything’s much worse. Apparently, Siwon is not just an obsessed stalker, but he’s also a murderer. Jongwoon might not like it, but more precautionary measures are needed. Ask him again to stay with you.”

“Okay, we will, but don’t be so surprised if hyung just refuses again,” Eunhyuk agreed to Dr. Lee’s suggestion, despite knowing that his hyung will just refuse once more and insist on staying by himself in his apartment.

“We’re planning to ask him to hang out again with us tomorrow afternoon after school,” Donghae informed Dr. Lee. “We’ll also offer him to stay with us then.”

Dr. Lee started nodding, but then, she stopped, her eyes widening a bit. “Actually, if you two don’t mind, maybe you could let Jongwoon go with Kyuhyun instead tomorrow afternoon? Kyuhyun’s shift at the hospital ends after lunch tomorrow.”

Donghae frowned. “Wouldn’t he be tired since he just came from a hospital shift? He’d probably need to go home and get some rest.” Doctors had grueling schedules and difficult tasks to perform, after all. Donghae could only imagine how challenging and tiring the profession was.

“Yeah, it’s fine, Dr. Lee. We can keep Yesung hyung accompanied tomorrow,” Eunhyuk said.

“I know, but I think that it’s also good that we get Jongwoon and Kyuhyun to spend as much time as possible together. This way, we protect Jongwoon, and Jongwoon and Kyuhyun can become even closer and get to know each other much better. You know, shooting two birds with one stone and all that.”

Eunhyuk stared at the smirk that the doctor now had on her face. He couldn’t help but ask in a suspicious tone, “Why? Why do they have to ‘become closer and know each other better’?”

Dr. Lee’s smirked widened. “Well, they need to get to know each other better if they’re ever going to get together, right?”

The two dance teachers had very different reactions. Donghae gasped and then beamed at the thought, even clapping his hands together like a little kid. His boyfriend, on the other hand, started choking on thin air.

“W-what do you mean ‘g-get together’?!” Eunhyuk somehow managed to stutter out.

The doctor raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m pretty sure that you know what that means.”

Donghae slapped his boyfriend’s back. “Yah! Why a reaction like that? Weren’t we teasing him about Kyuhyun in those early months after they just met?”

“Jongwoonie talked to you about Kyuhyun back then?” Dr. Lee asked, positively intrigued with this tidbit.

At the same time, Eunhyuk protested, “But that was before we knew that Kyuhyun’s also a stalker!”

“Hey now, Kyuhyun was just trying to protect the heart,” Dr. Lee defended her colleague. As much as she couldn’t believe that Kyuhyun broke so many healthcare laws just like that, she also knew that he had good intentions. “It’s not fair to compare him to Choi Siwon when their motives are so different.”

“Stalking is still stalking,” Eunhyuk insisted.

But Dr. Lee just ignored him and turned her focus back to Donghae. “Now, tell me—did Jongwoon really talk to you about Kyuhyun?”

“Oh, yeah, Yesungie hyung about him a lot back then,” Donghae nodded, remembering how their hyung would ramble on and on and on about what he and Kyuhyun talked about whenever they were left together at the café. He also r