Watching Over You • Nomin

Prologue

Jeno looked up to the magnificent night sky as he comfortably laid on his porch. The light summer breeze that swept across his face was calming him down.

He sighed.

He was thinking things through and having a recap about things that happened. He would be walking into his new University grounds in less than a month. University, where his subjects would be getting powerful by the semester. And he was already concerned.

He wasn't sure if he was going to miss high school… all his best friends were still going to be with him and that seemed too good to be true. Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin still sounded as precious as they used to and Jeno would love them forever.  He doesn't even remember the first time he met them, he thought it was somewhere in his middle school or before.

Renjun and Haechan would be breaking their heads with their business and accounts stuff again, He and Jaemin would be on the verge of tears questioning science and their life choices. And they would break their heads all together with math.  Things always seemed to place themselves just to connect them, maybe that's what they liked about them being together. Luck liked them and their friendship as much as they did.

The feeling of moving into a new house was still around but Jeno liked this house a lot.  He moved here before he gave his final exams for his senior year and all thanks to Jaemin for helping him to find one. He also liked the fact that Jaemin's house was very near to his.

His focus shifted back into the stars and he tried to identify some constellations. This was his favorite pastime besides reading and working at a bookstore near the University he would be going to. Jeno didn't have a choice, he just wanted a place to work. When he found out that Jaemin's brother, Mark, was working at the same store, he volunteered. It was like any other retail store. And because Mark was so into books, he got himself into reading and he was enjoying it.

Now that he was invested in books, he was interested in working at a bookstore. Although some of the customers bugged the hell out of him, he learned to adjust to situations better. He was now in love with that store since the Library was also there. It also gave him a reason to pick English as his language instead of choosing computer science as Jaemin did. Those would be the only subjects they wouldn't share.

Besides reading, he loved to spend time at the park either running or playing basketball with Haechan, Renjun, and Haechan's brother, Chenle. Or playing video games.

Thinking about Jaemin made him miss him even more. He was visiting his parents and left immediately after he had completed his University admissions and stuff, perhaps a few weeks ago. It already felt like ages to Jeno and he already had a lot of stuff to tell him.

He was enjoying one of the graphic novels Jaemin himself had gifted him for his birthday and he couldn't wait to sit and talk about it with him. He wanted to spend time with Jaemin in this peaceful ambiance, just look at the huge night sky and just enjoy comfortable silence with him.

His attention was back at admiring those celestial bodies. He was just looking up at the past. Just like how he was thinking about his.

Past. His thoughts traveled back to his Junior year about his strange and concerning experience. He exhaled. Just thinking about it made him sick.

He remembered those days so well like it happened yesterday. Perhaps it was on his final exam when his parents were out and he was home alone...he started feeling a lot weird, uneasy like… he wasn't alone. Someone was with him in his house. Or not in his house but somewhere around. He didn't know how to explain and whom to tell either.

He remembered all those strange incidents following that day. When he started getting letters from an unknown person.

You looked so peaceful while you slept today. I hope you had written your exam well and your parents had a good time at the wedding. That first letter said. And these got completely specific as time passed by.

He remembered those letters so well as if he had memorized them.

None of his best friends knew that he was alone and he wasn't a very popular person in his high school. He started finding these letters mostly in every place he would frequently visit. On his bike when it rested in the school parking, at his bench in his classroom, at his house. Gifts, flowers, and whatnot, it was a terror.

Some of them were good morning and others were asking him if he had a good day and some days it was incredibly specific and scary. Like details of what happened in their class. At that point, Jeno was sure it was from their classmate but which class? There were different students and half of them he wasn't even familiar with.

When he was in his senior year, he thought about moving out. Well, that was a bummer for him too.

The house was situated near the main road, so people used to pass by often, horns and commotion made him insane. He couldn’t sleep because of it sometimes. And it had too many windows… he grew uneasy of windows as time passed by. The feeling of being watched didn't leave him anywhere.

Letters, gifts, and flowers were at his doorstep every day. Everyday. His favorite chocolates or some of his favorite color t-shirts or some fashion stuff like bracelets, necklaces. Who knew letters and gifts would become a phobia for him.

He and Jaemin were used to going to school together. One day, Jeno had a headache and something was off, and this was not something new for him. He thought it was because he didn’t sleep properly… but the unease and discomfort with it were unbearable for some reason.

He played a lot that day and felt too self-conscious… like someone was judging him or just- watching him.  Here he was at it again.

It grew concerning. Those letters and stuff were so bizarre and whoever it was, they never revealed themselves and he didn't find it cute/affectionate, he was pretty sure that the unknown was interested in him with their letters but with this behavior, he was getting creeped out every other day.

He kept looking back while he was going home that day and even Jaemin asked him what happened. He didn’t know… and didn't know how to tell him.

But do you know the feeling of not being able to see a person watching you but you just know they are?

In the initial stage, he thought it was because he just moved into a place alone…but his parent's house gave him the same anxiety.

That night after he had dinner, he sat for his homework … It was nearly midnight and there was some peace outside. But…someone didn’t sleep. He kept looking out of his bedroom window feeling that someone kept their gaze stuck at his house or his bedroom itself.

It was terrifying… and he knew someone was out there. It was a feeling in the gut and it wouldn’t go away. And again, he felt like he wasn’t safe anymore… it was all over again. He endured it but couldn’t do it for long… it was getting worse- he was getting worse every day.

He wasn’t sleeping properly... Or every small thing freaked him out. He was overthinking every other day and those waves of thoughts made him think he was being crazy.

At last, he confessed this to Jaemin and he helped him to finally move near his house. 

One day, all those things stopped. No more letters, creepy gifts, or flowers. Instead, it was technological. Texts and calls. There were good mornings every day and thousands of spam calls. Blocking and reporting were no use at all. Some of the calls were so annoying. He would say hello and ask who this way a few times until he hung up or they hung up themselves. He wanted to throw that phone but deep down; he knew he couldn't.

When Jeno was back into his senses he realized he had drifted into a tiny nap. He got up immediately and went into his house and was back to his dreams.

As much as he thinks things were coming under control, things hidden in darkness were still waiting to be unfolded, waiting to be realized, for him to be conscious about. He wouldn't want to step on the unfolded red flags and let it torture him again.

Still, he was in his deep slumber.
His future was anticipated…

To be continued...