Hyunjin was always attentive, maybe too attentive. At first, it felt sweet—how he would text you the moment you got home, how he somehow knew when you were running late from class, how he’d call if your phone battery dipped below twenty percent. He framed it as worry, and you believed him.

Tonight, though, the concern was written all over his face when you went to the café with some friends. As you arrived home you saw him on the couch, one leg slightly bouncing. His silver earrings caught the warm light, but his eyes were sharp, scanning you head to toe like he was checking for damage.

“You didn’t tell me you were going out.” He said flatly, sliding his phone across the table. The screen was still lit up with the little location-sharing map where your name blinked on the street you’d just been walking.

You sat down. “I didn’t think I had to announce every little thing.”

Hyunjin’s jaw tightened. He leaned in, lowering his voice. “When it’s dark out, and you’re alone? Yeah, you do.”

The words made your chest tighten—not because you were angry, but because you could see it. The way his hands clenched and unclenched like he’d been waiting for you. The way his leg bounced under the table. He worried. Too much.

You sighed, softening as you placed your hand over his. “Hyun, I’m fine. I promise.”

His gaze flicked to your lips, then back to your eyes. He hesitated, but his voice dropped, rougher now. “I keep tabs on you because I can’t stand the thought of something happening. You don’t get it—every time you don’t text, every time you’re just a little dot on a map moving around the city without me…I go insane.”

The confession sent a shiver down your spine. Part of you knew it was too much, unhealthy even. But the way his fingers laced through yours, how his thumb brushed against your knuckles like he couldn’t stop touching you, made it hard to push back.

“You can’t watch me every second.”

“Then stop making me worry so much.” He shot back, though the bite in his tone was softened by the way he cupped your cheek. “Just…let me take care of you.”