"fuck," jay whispered to himself, as he looked up from his phone and glanced at the man following him. "why isn't he picking up?"

it was his fifth time calling his older brother, yeonjun, and he still hadn't picked up. jay sighed and with shaky hands put his phone in the pocket of his sweatpants.

for now, jay decided he would continue walking to the store. was it a bad idea to go to the store to grab cereal at 9 PM when it was already dark? yes, but he's paying for it now. with every step he took it felt like the man following him took three more, getting closer and closer to jay.

jay felt the panic sink in as he felt the man approach. his palms became sweaty and there was a heavy feeling in his chest. he had to do something.

in this situation i should ask for help, right? jay thought to himself. he took in a shaky breath and, to the best of his ability, he tried to calm down. quickly, jay looked around to see who he could ask for help. it seemed no one was around except for a boy walking in his direction.

"should i do it?" jay whispered to himself. he thought it would be too embarrassing to approach a random stranger for help. in the end, logic got the better of him, jay knew he wouldn't be able to defend himself if anything happened. plus it was better than walking alone with a random man following you.

so, without thinking, before the boy could pass jay, he reached out with a shaky hand and grasped onto the sleeve of the boy's hoodie.

"um, excuse me?" jay slowly rose his head, as the boy was taller than him, and his eyes met with a blank face, he was definitely good looking though. he had black hair, his skin was slightly tan, he had a nice nose too. great, jay thought to himself.

jay bit his lip in thought, he wasn't sure if asking for help was the right thing to do. he's probably bothering the boy infront of him. before jay could think about it any further the boy had replied.

"yes?" the boy responded, keeping his face blank, this scared jay. i'm definitely bothering him, this was a bad idea, jay thought. though the boy didn't show it on the outside, he was both confused and concerned. he noticed jay visibly shaking and he felt the tremors coming from jay on his arm through the hand that was still grasping onto his hoodie.

realizing the boy had said something, jay tried to come up with a response. should i just tell him straight up that there is a man following me? without realizing, jay was so deep in thought he tightened his grip on the boy's arm. this caused the boy to look down in concern, not that jay noticed.

what's wrong, the boy in the hoodie thought to himself. why is he so scared? before the boy in the hoodie could think about it anymore the boy infront of him spoke up.

"can i walk with you? there's a strange man that's been following me." jay quietly spoke in a whisper, feeling tears prick his eyes. because the boy infront of him was so quiet, the boy in the hoodie leaned in closer so he could hear.

as soon as he realized what jay had said, the boy in the hoodie looked around. not more than twenty feet ahead of him was a man dressed in all black standing by a pole. he was on his phone but the boy in the hoodie could see the man constantly glancing at them.

"should i beat him up for you?" the boy said it so seriously and so suddenly it surprised jay. though, jay quickly recovered and rushed to assure him that was not needed.

"are you sure? i'll go over there right now." the boy stared at jay trying to gauge his reaction to see if jay really wanted him to take action. jay grew flustered by the gaze and averted his eyes.

"i'm sure."

"ok then. my name is lee heeseung. what's yours?"

"it's uh- park jongseong, but you can call me jay or- you know, whatever you'd like." jay's cheeks grew warm, that was embarrassing.

"is there anything you want to do? i should stay with you until that man leaves." heeseung said as he took jay's hand from his arm and instead held it firmly, their fingers lacing together perfectly. jay slightly flinching at the contact, looked down at their interlaced hands and felt his face grow hot. why are we holding hands?

heeseung spoke up, wanting to make sure jay was comfortable with holding his hand and also hoping to clear up any of jay's confusion. "is this okay? he might think we're a couple, maybe he'll leave then."

"oh ok- yeah. this is fine." jay looked down and with his free hand he touched his warm cheeks. why am i blushing so much?

"what do you want to do, then? while we wait him out," heeseung said nodding his head in the direction of the man following jay.

"oh. um there's nothing i really want to do. is there uh- something you want to do?" jay spoke, he was still anxious about the man following him but he definitely felt calmer now. though he didn't know if he felt calmer because of heeseung or if it was just because he had someone to help him if anything happened.

"is it okay if we go to the park then? i was gonna meet some friends?" heeseung said, looking at jay to see if he would be comfortable with that.

"oh, um-," jay was unsure if he wanted to go, and just before he was about to say something, his phone rang before he had to answer.

with his free hand, the other still tightly holding onto heeseung's as if he would disappear any second, jay grabbed his phone. the lit up phone displayed the words, yeonjun calling.

faster than lightning, jay picked up the phone. the relief he felt now that he finally got a hold of his hyung calmed him down greatly. as soon as jay picked up, yeonjun's worried voice reached his ears.

"seong, what's wrong? you called me so many times." yeonjun said, his worry being clearly expressed thorough his tone. in the background jay could hear papers rustling. he must still be at work.

"yeon, there's a strange man following me. i-i didn't know what to do. so i called you, but you didn't pick up and-," after finally getting in contact with his brother, jay broke down. after all the anxiety that he had built up, now that he finally let it go, the tears running down his face seemed unending.

oh shit, heeseung thought. he had no idea how to comfort a crying person. he quickly looked around racking his brain for an answer. hesitantly, heeseung brought up his finger to jay's soaking cheeks and wiped away his tears. is this how you comfort someone? am i doing it right? heeseung thought to himself, his mind racing with unanswered questions.

honestly, heeseung didn't need to do much. jay was so focused on his call with his brother that he barely felt heeseung wipe away his tears.

"what? where are you right now?" yeonjun's voice grew in both volume and worry. he felt guilty for not picking up jay's calls. their dad had a no phone policy during their business meetings but still, he felt like he should've done something, anything, to prevent his younger brother from calling him crying like this.

"i'm b-by that cafe that you like. the one w-with the good milk tea." jay spoke, finding it hard to catch his breath and speak.

"ok, stay right there. i'm-," yeonjun was cut off by a voice in the background. jay couldn't tell what was said, but by the sigh yeonjun let out he could tell it wasn't anything good.

"jongseong, i have to stay behind for a meeting. i'm sorry, you know how dad is. i can't get out of it." the disappoint jay felt made his shoulders sag. suddenly the relief he felt when he heard his brother's voice was gone and was replaced with the constant anxiety he had been feeling ever since he noticed the strange man.

"oh ok. ok that's- that's fine. i-i'll just... ," jay trailed off, not knowing how to finish his sentence.

"is there someone else you could call? someone that you could stay with until i can get there?"

"oh yeah. i uh- actually asked someone for help. his name is lee heeseung." jay spoke, and for the first time since he picked up his phone, he looked at heeseung. heeseung, who was also on his phone looked up at the mention of his name. not that he was nosy, but jay happened to see what was on heeseung's phone, and as soon as he read what was on his screen jay felt his checks grow warm once again. 'how to comfort a crying person'. jay fought a smile as he looked at heeseung. said boy looked at jay with masked confusion, 'what?' he mouthed, and before jay could reply he heard his brothers voice.

"heeseung? is he a tall boy, has black hair and a nice nose?" huh?

"uh yes, that's him," jay responded, extremely confused.

"ok, that's good. this is good news." yeonjun said, sounding relieved. why is he relieved? does he know heeseung? "put him on the phone please."

"ok," jay said, confused. do they know each other? what is going on right now? before he could think about it any further he held his phone out to heeseung who raised his brows in question.

"my brother wants to talk to you." jay whispered, and in response heeseung nodded and quickly put his own phone in the pocket of his hoodie, and gently took jay's from his hand.

"hello?" heeseung spoke. he was also confused, but as soon as yeonjun spoke he smiled. he's smiling. why is he smiling, jay thought.

"it's been a while yeonjun. how are you?" as they continued to talk, jay bit his lip in thought, absentmindedly playing with the rings adorning heeseung's fingers. how do they know each other? are they friends? have i met heeseung before? so many thoughts were racing through his mind and before he knew it he could hear heeseung saying bye to yeonjun.

"ok i will. bye, see you soon." heeseung handed jay his phone and said, "he wants to talk to you."

taking the phone, jay had so many questions, but they were put aside as he listened to his hyung.

"seong, for now stay with heeseung, ok? at least until i'm out of the meeting." jay furrowed his brows, are heeseung and his hyung close?

"ok," jay said still very much confused. "but yeon, how do you two know each other?" jay finally asked, hoping to get the answer and appease his confusion.

"you didn't recognize his name? heeseung is ceo lee's son. you know, our business partner, the ceo of lee corporations," yeonjun said, a bit surprised jay didn't know heeseung. the lee family had been mentioned a couple times at their family dinners, heeseung's name being said here and there.

"oh." it was an understatement to say jay felt dumb. how did he not know ceo lee had a son? this is a sign to start paying attention to their talks at dinner.

"i have to go now. just stay with heeseung ok. i might have to stay at the office tonight though. there's an upcoming project and dad has me working my ass off. if that happens i'll call you and we can figure something out. okay?"

"okay," jay felt a little more at peace knowing heeseung wasn't a complete stranger. but he was slightly upset about his hyung not being able to pick him up. for once, he wished his family would put him before the business. that was the least they could do.

"i gotta go now. bye, i'll call you later."

"alright. bye," jay said hanging up with a sigh.

for a slight second there was an awkward silence that washed over them, that was until heeseung broke it by saying, "everything alright?"

taking a deep breath, jay responded, "yeah, everything's fine. let's go meet up your friends."