I can see you

Chapter 2

(ROSY'S POV)

I wasn't planning to follow him. Not really but it just happened. Natural like gravity, like breath. Like obsession.

The school day ended and Edward walked out alone, earphones in and head tilted slightly down. He didn't glance back, not even once but I knew where he'd be before he turned the corner. I always knew. It's all etched in my notebook. Every thing he had been doing for the past seven days.

I walked a few steps behind him. Casual and careful. My sneakers quiet against the pavement. He didn't slow down. Didn't act suspicious. He just kept walking-past the main road, past the busy café where I'd watched him through the window yesterday for three straight hours, past the bus stop. Until we reached the part of town where things stop pretending to be safe. An empty, long and quiet alley

No cameras.
No people.
No escape.

I hesitated at the entrance. The scent hit me first. It was like stale water, old rust and something much bitter underneath. Like something dead that had passed through but never really left. However Edward didn't even flinch. He just kept walking and I kept following. I counted my steps. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty one...

Then suddenly he stopped dead still and turned around. My breath caught and I could hear my heart drumming against my ribs loud and clear. He was standing in the middle of the alley like he'd been waiting. His gold eyes met mine without surprise. There was no confusion in them. They resembled a desert that was calm before a storm. It felt like he'd been expecting me the whole time.

I froze. There was no way he could have known with his earphones on and me being so careful. Could he? But if he knew then why didn't he stop me earlier? Why only stop now?

He pulled one earbud out slowly. God, his fingers. They were long, clean and veined just enough. I swear I could die for them.
The way they curled lazily around the cord like they had all the time in the world. They made touching anything, even plastic, look like a sacred ritual. How are they going to feel on my skin.

"Why are you following me?" he asked. His voice was different now It was not warm or amused. It was flat and it felt like he was evaluating. It was the kind of tone that strips you naked in one sentence.

My lips parted but nothing came out. "I..." I tried to smile, to make it sound innocent. "I was going to give you this." I held out the student ID.

"I found it earlier and I called your name but you didn't hear me" I took a breath and continued, "All this week I tried to contact you but I couldn't. So today when I saw I called you name but you didn't listen so I had to follow you" His expression did not change.

"I swear I'm not trying to kidnap you or anything." I laughed lightly but maybe it was a little too quick.

He stared at me. No smile or answer. Just... silence. I took a step closer. My heart was pounding so hard I was afraid he might hear it.

He finally moved. Walked toward me slowly and deliberately. I tightened my grip on the ID, unsure if I was about to be pulled into something or pushed away. He stopped just in front of me. Close enough that I could see the flecks of amber in his eyes but then I swear I saw his whole expression change. It looked like he got punched in the gut. He paused like that for some seconds and then he just took the ID from my hand, his fingers brushing mine.

"Thanks," he said. Just that and nothing else. He looked so calm, composed and indifferent but I felt my whole world spinning. I was dizzy, breathless and way past gone to even be able to form a sentence because I knew it wasn't over. Not like that. It was the beginning because deep down I didn't want to be just thanked, I wanted him down on his knees for me.

"There is a cafe nearby, I was going there. You want to come with me?" He asked just when I thought he wouldn't.

I nodded like I hadn't imagined this moment a hundred times. Like I hadn't rehearsed the lines. Like I would ever even in my dreams say no.

He took me to a cat café. The walls were a blinding shade of purple like a grape soda can exploded and no one bothered to clean up. Annoyingly cute cats roamed everywhere. Some were fluffy, some bald, some grumpy but everyone was spoiled. One fluffy black one jumped on my lap like I'd signed a contract.

Edward just smiled. He said this was his favorite place. I blinked. His favorite place? This? A pastel hell filled with purring goblins but somehow... That made me like him more. Which probably says more about me than him.

"I come here a lot," he told me, stroking a fat gray cat curled in his lap. "They calm me down. They make things feel a lot easier. My first one was a cat in fact." He looked at me and for a second I thought I saw a flicker of expectation in his eyes.

I tilted my head. "Your first pet or first friend?"

His eyes met mine as he shrugged. "Not exactly like that but it taught me a lot." He's expression was somewhat dreamy. "About control and about silence."

I laughed not really sure why. "You're so poetic about cats."

He smiled back. "You kind of have to be. They're delicate so if you're not careful, they break too easily."

There was something in the way he said it, something that was eerie. But the cat yawned and the moment passed So I just smiled because nothing's more charming than a boy who loves animals. Right?

We talked for hours. I already knew a lot of what he told me. Bits and pieces from overheard conversations, his social media, classmates I'd questioned casually this whole week. But hearing it from him? It felt like validation. It finally felt like I deserved this.

Before we left, we exchanged numbers. He typed his into my phone without hesitation. I watched the way his fingers moved, slow and deliberate. He was so calm like he had nothing to hide. But something in the back of my mind tugged at me.

As we stepped outside I asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

He looked at me, amused. "No, I don't"

Thank God because if he had, I didn't know what I would've done. No girl got to touch Edward, no girl got to even look at him. He belonged to me. He just had not realized it yet. But as he said goodbye and walked away his phone buzzed in his hand. He didn't check it right away but he smiled to himself, and maybe it had nothing to do with me but I let myself believe it did. Because it had to.

And in some alternate universe I hoped against hope that he had seen me long before this morning. Maybe even studied me. Maybe even waited and when I followed him, it wasn't a surprise. It was a step. A step he had been waiting for. And now? Now we were finally starting. I hoped that this silence between us was not indifference but an invitation.

---

Later that night, I laid in bed with my window cracked open even though it was too cold. I imagined him standing in the alley again. Waiting. What if he had grabbed me? What if he hadn't let me leave?

The thought made me shiver. Not from fear but from something worse. I turned over hugging my blanket to my chest. My fingers still smelled like ink or maybe it was his skin. My thoughts were buzzing, static and sugar and heat. I couldn't tell what was mine anymore. I could still feel the heat of his fingers against mine.

And then something whispered "He saw you". The voice wasn't loud but it was sharp like it was inside my head. I sat up my heart hammering and my breath frozen. The room was empty and no one was there. Just me. Just... me?

"Okay, sleep-deprived brain, chill," I whispered to no one.

But no amount of sarcasm could erase the look he gave me. He saw me and part of me knew he liked it. That was the moment I stopped being careful.