Taemin could not sleep the entire night. He was furious, nervous, and anxious about Kris’s text message. How did the motorcyclist get hold of his number? The psychopath had already forced himself on Kai at the arcade. Luckily he could not succeed. What if he tried again? This time the sun-kissed junior had managed to save himself, but what about the next time? Was he in danger? Would Kris look out for an opportunity? A lot of questions plagued Taemin’s mind. He watched Kai, who had long fallen asleep safe and sound next to him. The sleeping student drooled lightly but wiped it away with his palms in his sleep.

“Nini… How can I protect you?” Taemin whispered and brushed his index finger down Kai’s nose bridge, “What do I do… if something happens to you?”

He then put his arm around Kai’s body and hugged him with a worried expression. His boyfriend breathed calmly in his arms.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

The next morning Kai woke up to a terrible headache. He slowly sat up on his bed and blinked his eyes with a tired and confused expression. He looked to his right and spotted the handsome player sleeping deeply next to him. Kai needed a second, cleared his throat and slowly got up from the bed. He did not bother to put on clothes first, as he went straight downstairs in his shorts to get some water. He hissed to the painful bruise on his leg, thanks to the bump against a machinery last night, which he could not remember.

“Oh! Good morning!” Onew greeted him with a smile, tied his shoes as he was about to leave, “Put on some clothes, Jongin! You’ll catch a cold!”

At this time of the day, Jungah was in Kamong. It was Sunday, and thus the busiest day of the week. Onew wanted to assist her, since Kai would not be able to do so today. Jungah had not called for her little brother’s help because she wanted him to rest. Last night when she slept on the couch with her boyfriend, she had woken up to Kai’s giggling voice. She had seen that her little brother had returned home drunk with the handsome player. That is why she did not want to disturb them this morning.

“Senior Jinki…” the tired junior mumbled still half asleep, “I’ll- I’ll be ready in a few minutes…”

Onew straightened himself with a laugh. He shook his head and waved at him.

“You better stay at home today and rest. You don’t seem like you can handle a busy day!” he told the brother of his girlfriend and finally left the place.

Kai pouted, pressed his palm on his forehead and poured some water in a big glass. His throat was extremely dry, and he was indefinitely thirsty. Right when he wanted to drink, Taemin hugged him from behind. The sun-kissed boy flinched and spilled some water on his body.

“Ah…” he was startled by the veiny, and now also wet, arms of his boyfriend and added with a sulky expression, “I wanted to drink that…”

Taemin chuckled behind him. He tightened the hug and kissed Kai’s neck. He inhaled the scent that the upper body of his boyfriend emanated. He was addicted to it.

“Why don’t you wake me up before you leave?” he asked, kissed his shoulder once and let go of the junior.

Kai refilled the glass, turned around and blinked with his brows knit, as his head still hurt a lot. He leaned back on the kitchen sink and drank slowly. Taemin watched him silently, noticing his Adam’a apple going up and down with every gulp. His eyes wandered over Kai’s wet chest, and he could not keep himself from his own lips to the y view. Kai put aside the glass and looked up. When his eyes met Taemin’s, he automatically smirked in amusement. He noticed that his boyfriend liked his messy morning look. Kai leaned forth to kiss the love-struck senior, but Taemin was quicker to snap out of it and stepped back with his hands up.

“Nini…” he said with a concerned expression, “Don’t drink again like last night… at least when I’m not around.”

Kai tilted his head apologetic and pushed himself away from the kitchen sink. He wiped his wet chest with his bare hands and nodded wordlessly. Taemin watched his palms brushing over his smooth skin, then he stepped towards Kai and kissed him right away. He put his arms around the junior and enjoyed the moment. Kai embraced him too. After some small, repeated pecks they let go of each other with smiles and smirks.

“My head’s still hurting…” Kai admitted and sighed, “What- What happened last night? Did you pick me up from the arcade?”

Taemin bit his cheek and told the clueless junior about what had happened the prior night. When Kai heard the part with Kris, a shudder went down his spine. His skin itched as countless goosebumps appeared on his limbs. Taemin caressed his arms and told him that luckily nothing more than a forced kiss happened. The blonde student then added that he wanted to pick Kai up from home whenever he had to go to the faculty and that he would drop off at home too. Taemin was too worried. Kai shook his head. He did not want to be a burden to his boyfriend. He told him that since Onew lived here, he could go with him.

“Nini… Chanyeol lives in the dorm now, and Onew’s courses are absolutely off your timing. There won’t be anybody taking the bus with you here anymore…” Taemin added after a while and insisted, “At least, I’ll take you home from now on… so, if your courses are over wait for me at the faculty and don’t leave the building.”

“No… I’m okay… I was intoxicated last night…” Kai stated and lowered his head in shame, “I won’t be an easy target when I’m sober… I won’t drink like that again... I promise.”

Taemin touched his chin and lifted his embarrassed head. He looked him deep in the regretful eyes.

“You’ve never been an easy target… But that Yifan or Kris dude is a creep.” he warned with a frowning expression, “I don’t know what he’s capable of… So, I just want to make sure you are alright.”

Kai sighed and crossed his arms. Then he told Taemin everything considering Kris’s nature. The things Chanyeol had told him, all of it, he let his boyfriend know. The handsome player became even more concerned about him. He quickly hugged Kai, which made the junior blink in surprise.

“Nini… if anything happens to you…” he whispered in worry and his voice broke.

Taemin did not tell him about the threatening text message. Kai pulled back from the hug and smiled cutely. His beloved one blushed to it instantly. That expression of his thou, it had such a strong impact on the handsome player. Kai told him not to worry about it, then pressed his lips on Taemin’s and kissed him softly.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

It became June really quick. It was a hot Wednesday afternoon. Kris had returned to China about one week after the incident at the arcade, but Kai still had been picked up by his worried boyfriend every single morning. Taemin did not rely on the departure of the psychopath, he feared that the motorcyclist could come back anytime. Kris had kept sending him threat messages from an unknown number over the last three weeks. Taemin still did not talk about it to the sun-kissed junior. Meanwhile, Kai had attended every single tutoring with his outstanding talented dancer of a boyfriend, and finally they were no longer threatened to fail the program.

Today as well, Taemin had accompanied him to the lockers in the morning. He had patted Kai’s shoulder and told him that he would meet him in the dance practice room in the afternoon. Although he liked to kiss Kai every single time before parting ways, he did not do it because they wanted to avoid being the topic in the university’s chat. The students had by now gossiped over them because they came to the faculty together for a while now. Some assumed that they were dating, others denied it. Therefore, neither Taemin, nor his boyfriend wanted to catch their attention.

꧁༺ ༻꧂

Now that it was afternoon, Kai opened his locker and put back his books for his poetry courses. He grabbed his cross-body sports bag to get ready for the tutoring. Suddenly, Chanyeol approached him from behind and covered his eyes. The playful student was in a good mood. Kai held his hands and lowered them, then he turned around and looked at his best friend with lifted brows. Chanyeol had tutoring lessons with Minho too, but before he went to the gym he wanted to talk to his buddy first.

“What’s it?” Kai questioned his cheerful attitude, “You are in a good mood, how come?”

Chanyeol chuckled and put his arm around Kai’s shoulders.

“Because of all that that happened, we could not celebrate Tao’s, Baekhyun’s or Suho’s birthdays.” Chanyeol informed his best friend and added all excited, “Chen, Xiumin, Kyungsoo, Sehun and I thought that we should celebrate! So, for this Friday, I booked a table at Kamong for the cake and afterwards we’ll go to the club! You gotta join us!”

Indeed, it had been a month since Kris had beaten up Xiumin and Chanyeol at the hospital. It had been over four weeks since Baekhyun and the athletic student had broken up. It had been over a month that Kai could not meet his mother due to his oldest sister’s outrage towards him. His family members had left as quick