The Snake in the Garden Of Eden [Yandere Arlo]

Chapter 9

Ever since Arlo mentioned about his Instagram, John has allowed him to take as much pictures of him as much as he wanted, and Arlo has been taking an advantage of it quite frequently. Taking pictures when he's eating, smiling, or just simply talking. There is no limit to what photos Arlo wants, and how many he'll take. That is, only if John lets him. But Arlo is a smart man, he knows the boundaries John has and he doesn't dare to take more than his fair share.

Observing John from afar was not an easy task, especially when he was able to take in the environment around the boy. It's tense enough to snap. There are students around John that glare at him once they realized that Arlo was nowhere near him to punish them, but they aren't stupid enough to physically provoke John.

If he's being honest, restricting himself of spamming the capture button and give John some breathing room was more of a mental challenge than he would have ever thought. He was someone who, if given the freedom to do whatever he wanted, would do what he enjoyed every second he could. This kind of habit appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

His set mentality was, if he didn't do it now, he would miss it as a whole. He couldn't risk his prey slipping out of his grasp.

But this time, he needed to bring John's feelings about him into consideration. There was no way he would agree to every bit and detail of Arlo's desires—especially something so alarming as photos being taken of you and having someone stick to you 24/7 despite only knowing them for a couple of weeks. He could only take some in secret, when John wouldn't notice. It would be pictures taken in the halls, during lunch, or simply after school when John was heading home. In no time, he had a whole stock of images at his disposal... He simply couldn't be happier than that.

Of course, he made sure to keep these photos in a secret, locked section on his phone so that it would be difficult to find. This way, if John ever asked to see his phone for whatever reason, he simply wouldn't find it.

He has no choice but to conceal this side of him. Being the King gave him the freedom to do whatever he pleased. Now look at him—being forced to intentionally hide something... this is an agonizing feeling to live with. He wasn't use to sneaking around like a criminal and wished to never do this again. But if it was for John... if he needed to cut off a limb for John's happiness, then he'd agree without a second thought. He was all too comfortable with the thought of self-sacrifice.

But as of now, he's just so happy. The relationship John and him as is—is too perfect. It's advancing at a rate that satisfied his desires well enough to keep him stable, and didn't seem really weird to John.

Arlo leans back into his chair, an overwhelming feeling of ardor filling his chest when he sees John's limp body slumped over the table. How could he not get excited over John's peaceful sleeping expression? He's really lowered his guard down—and it's really just too easy. Slipping a tablet into his food was an simple task when he was the one who was in charge to cook for the boy. No logical person would suspect their friend to drug them, especially when it's someone of a status like Arlo. The funny part was that he even joked about Arlo slipping a drug into his food. He truly is so amusing.

John doesn't have a single clue of what's going on, does he? Arlo loves this naivety part of John to death. Believing that Arlo didn't have any ulterior motives for getting close to him... Even if the blond wasn't interested in John romantic-wise, he'd definitely still have plotted something against him. Arlo smiles fondly at those thoughts.

"You're so cute when you sleep. You even snore a little. It's a shame you only have eyes for Seraphina... when clearly, I love you more..." He feels a sincere smile surface but then falter when the topic of Seraphina gets brought up. He quickly takes a sip of his water, "I'll tell you the truth, John. I'm really salty. I've been like this since we met. I can't stop myself from thinking when Seraphina returns, how fast she'll steal you from me. Every time either of us mentions her, I feel... Angry. No, it's something more than anger." Each word comes out more irritated and annoyed than the last.