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The city always looked colder after midnight.
Streetlights flickered weakly against rain-soaked pavement, turning the sidewalks silver beneath your feet as you walked home alone. Goosebumps made their way all over your skin, your coat doing little to stop the wind from biting through the thin fabric, but honestly, the cold was the least of your problems right now.
Your phone buzzed again in your pocket, and you didn’t even have to check to know who it was. Still, your fingers trembled slightly as you pulled it out, the brightness of the screen being a huge contrast to the darkness surrounding you, causing you to squint for a split second.
12:14 AM
You ignored my last message, angel.
You stared at it for a long moment before locking the screen again.
Then came another buzz.
12:15 AM
Did you get home safe?
Then another.
12:15 AM
Answer me.
Your chest tightened painfully as you hurriedly shoved the cellular device into your coat pocket, fingers trembling during the process.
It had been almost five months since you broke up with Toji Fushiguro, yet somehow, he still lingered in every corner of your life like a shadow you could never outrun.
You had blocked him on all platforms and changed your number, twice, yet he still managed to contact you. You even moved apartments to get away from him, thinking he would take a hint, but a week later, flowers showed up outside your door with a note written in his messy handwriting.
Pretty girls shouldn’t live alone.
At first, you thought that maybe he would lose interest. That eventually, the obsession would fade and Toji would finally let you breathe again, but Toji loved too intensely for that.
He was fucking crazy, that’s what he was, and you were too naïve to understand that, having never been in a relationship before.
However, you slowly realized, roughly, 6-7 months in that this wasn’t normal. None of this was.
The way he looked at you.
The way he touched you.
The way he spoke to you like you belonged to him long before either of you had even admitted your feelings aloud.
Everything about him was just so overwhelming, and even now, after everything, you could still hear his voice in your head, clear as day.
“My beautiful little angel.”
The nickname used to make warmth bloom inside your chest, but now it just made you nervous.
Your reflection briefly caught in the dark window of a closed convenience store as you passed by. Your dark hair was damp from the misting rain, and your usually bright eyes were shadowed from weeks of poor sleep.
Your phone buzzed again, however, this time you stopped walking completely.
12:18 AM
I thought I told you not to walk alone after midnight.
Your blood ran cold.
Slowly, your eyes lifted from the screen.
The street around you was nearly empty, just distant headlights and the sound of rainwater dripping from fire escapes overhead.
But suddenly every shadow felt alive. Every darkened alleyway felt like it was hiding him. Because he was here, somewhere.
Watching you.
Your breathing became uneven as another message appeared, eyes widening in the process.
12:19 AM
Don’t look so scared, angel.
You spun around sharply, but there was nothing. The sidewalk behind you stretched empty for blocks, and blocks.
“Jesus Christ…” you whispered shakily, gripping your phone tighter.
This was exactly why you left him.
Not because Toji was cruel. Not because he ever laid a hand on you in anger, in fact, he never would. That was what made this all so confusing.
You knew, deep down, that Toji Fushiguro would rather die than intentionally hurt you, but he also refused to let you go. And that was starting to hurt all on its own.
Your pace quickened instinctively, heels splashing through shallow puddles as you cut through a narrow alley between some sketchy buildings, a shortcut home you normally avoided this late at night.
However, tonight, you were too desperate to get away from the feeling of being watched- of being stalked.
The alley was dim, lit only by a flickering light overhead.
You barely made it halfway through before a large hand suddenly wrapped around your wrist.
A gasp tore from your throat.
The force pulled you backward fast enough to make your heart stop for a split second before your back hit the brick wall behind you, the cold rainwater seeping further into your coat. Your hands that were already trembling from the cold, were now violently shaking from anxiety.
“Easy,” a deep voice murmured immediately. “Easy, angel.”
Toji. Of course it was him.
Your breath shook violently as he stepped closer, one arm braced beside your head to keep you pinned there while the other still held your wrist firmly against his firm chest. You were tiny compared to him.
Rain clung to his black shirt, outlining the broad muscle of his shoulders and arms, dark hair messy and damp across his forehead. His green eyes dragged slowly over your face like he was checking for injuries.
As if he hadn’t been the one stalking you through the city.
“There you are,” he said quietly, almost to himself, and your eyes burned instantly with frustrated tears.
All these months you had been avoiding him. You had been avoiding this. And now he was back in your life, simply because he wanted to, against your will.
“Toji…” your voice cracked. “Please.”
The grip on your small wrist loosened slightly at the sound of your voice trembling, but he still didn’t let go.
“You’re crying already?” he muttered, brows pulling together. “C’mon, baby…”
“Why won’t you stop following me?” you let out, forcing yourself to meet his intense gaze.
“I’m making sure you’re safe.” He responded with no hesitation.
“You text me constantly, you watch me everywhere I go, you keep showing up-” your breathing hitched hard as the tears finally spilled over, “-you just won’t leave me alone!”
For the first time since you met him, Toji actually looked unsure.
Not angry, or cold, just tense. Like seeing you cry physically unsettled him. His hand moved instinctively toward your pretty face, moving a few stray hairs away as he caressed your tear-streaked cheek.
“You think you can break up with me, and then I’m just supposed to disappear?” he asked softly.
You looked up at him, nodding weakly, as you tried to even out your breathing, lips quivering.
Toji stared at you for a long moment in silence, jaw tightening. The rain poured harder around the two of you, trapping you both in the narrow alley beneath weak yellow light. Then he leaned down slightly, voice low enough to make your stomach twist.
“You know I can’t do that, angel.”