Chapter Text
Saeroyi stayed there, on the gym floor, momentarily frozen from the impact and from shock. Yi Seo, standing near him, circled her arm in the air a few times to relax the shoulder tensed up from the weight of him.
"Kan cha na?" she asked him. Saeroyi looked at her tiny figure hovering over him, trying to remember how they made it to this point.
Yi Seo had a stalker.
She had had people following her before, for pictures or to give her presents or whatever, now more so than ever with her Instagram profile reaching unbelievable numbers and her face stamping magazine covers as one of the youngest most powerful businesswomen in Asia. But now she had a true stalker after her.
He didn’t approach her, and at first she didn’t make much of the weird guy staring at her from afar. She was pretty, of course she attracted male attention. Then it got frequent. Too frequent to be a coincidence.
"Isn't that the guy we saw yesterday?" Saeroyi asked. The guy had closed their parking spot with his car just as they were about to leave a restaurant after a business lunch the day before. When asked to move he just smiled and did so. Now he was leaning on a lamppost outside IC going through his phone.
"Yes," Yi Seo simply answered, staring at the man for a bit longer, and then heading inside.
Saeroyi stayed behind, studying the guy before following her. He was worried now. And he became even more as the days progressed and he started seeing the man more and more around. Yi Seo didn't acknowledge him anymore, but Saeroyi knew she noticed. The guy wasn't doing anything to approach her, and he always seemed conveniently busy doing genuine things for them to legally accuse him of stalking. But Saeroyi was getting restless. He started shifting Yi Seo's field work to other employees and if she had to go somewhere he would make an excuse to tag along. When it was time for her to go home, he would always call with some work issues a few minutes later, just to know if she got home ok.
One day, she got flowers. A single bouquet with an expensive jewelry box attached.
The original four saw it when they went to her office. Hyun Yi was the first one to check it out.
"This is some expensive gift. It's pretty."
Yi Seo didn’t raise her eyes from the papers she was going through. "You can keep it if you want."
"You don't want it? Why?" Toni was confused.
"I don't want the person who sent it to think I accept... whatever this is."
"You've got an admirer, enjoy it," Seung Kwon said.
"It's not an admirer if he's been stalking me."
Saeroyi didn’t say anything, but he gave her a ride home that night and made sure to take her to her door.
Yes, that was when he invited her to train with him for a few days, but with their packed schedule the opportunity only appeared days later.
Recovering his breath a little and feeling imaginary weights being lifted off his back, he couldn’t help but laugh briefly. She totally knocked him down.
"You lied to me that day," he stated, standing up to his feet.
"What day? I never lied to you." Not technically true, but small things shouldn't count.
Saeroyi still had a smile on his face when he explained, "That day in Itaewon when we ran from the guy who slapped you. You said you needed my help when you really didn't." For some reason he was finding the realization quite amusing. Jo Yi Seo was one of a kind. She, on the other hand, looked rather shy.
"I didn't lie. It's not like I can fight head on with a guy your size. I just know enough to buy me time to escape, which was what I did that day. But he had me cornered in a small bathroom, I don't know what would've happened if you weren't there."
Again, not technically true, she would've figured it out, but she didn't want him thinking she was a liar.
Saeroyi nodded, not smiling anymore. He didn't like thinking about that option.
"Ok, what else do you know?" He changed the subject, going back to the light mood.
"Hug me."
Saeroyi just blinked, not knowing what to say to that.
"Uh..."
Yi Seo smirked. "I'm not making a move on you. You asked what else I know, so hug me."
Saeroyi did reluctantly. She reveled in his arms around her for a second, but soon changed her back to his chest. She pushed his arms, and they open immediately. She snorted.
"Do you think an attacker would hold a girl like this? Keep it firm, as much as you can."
Saeroyi tried again, but she could tell he was still not using all of his strength. That's ok, she could get her point like this. Soon she had her body free of his embrace and his arm being twisted at his back; not too hard, just enough for him to know that she was capable. She let go as he gasped.
"Where did you learn all this?"
"My mom signed me up for self-defense classes growing up. She was always afraid something would happen to me, as you know I tend to make people furious quite often."
She said those words matter-of-factly, not even a bit affected, but Saeroyi saw a new Yi Seo there. A strong woman who did her best to deal with what she was handed. He had never weighed before how much of a toll her condition, if he could call it that, took on her. He knew she was a good person, he just never thought about how much of a mental exercise it took her to be that way. She was a fighter in her own accord. The realization made him hate them more, the ones he was trying to destroy. But it also made him that much proud of her. For the first time in a long time, he couldn't resist the urge of patting her hair.
"You are doing good." He wanted her to know. They smiled to each other.
"Now, about the stalker-"
"I handled it."
"What?"
"I went to the police station and filled for a restraining order."
"When?"
"A couple days after he sent the flowers. I had to wait for him to make a move and I used the CCTV footage from that day and a few other places I gathered. You haven't seen him around these days, have you?"
"A week ago? Why didn't you say anything?"
He could see a smile lurking in her lips.
"It was cute. Seeing you worrying about me."