Don't Hurt Me, Please! (Killing Stalking)

❶ THE SUMMER THAT STARTED IT ALL

"Just need to check to make sure I got everything," Xain mumbled to himself as he began to strike each possession on his list a third time. "That's got to be all of it." He packed up his bags, struggling to zip one of them. After winning a strenuous battle against his bag zip, Xain exited his hostel room and headed out. At the college gates, he took a final glance at the establishment. "See you in August." He then turned and walked in the direction of the train station.

Xain stood at the train platform, waiting for the train to arrive. I wonder... if anyone else here is from the same college? After all, this week is the time when most people staying in the school hostel pack up to leave for home for the summer... Xain was deep in his thoughts when the train arrived. The loud sound jolted him and he was aware of his surroundings. The train had stopped and many people were alighting from the train. Xain waited patiently in line that began beside the train door. When all the train passengers had left, those waiting for the train began entering it systematically and orderly. Xain got on the train and found a seat relatively easily. Bless, he gave a silent thanks and promptly went on to sit down. He placed his baggage on the floor under his seat, then swiped out his phone and began happily surfing the net. "The train is departing soon. Please remain seated, or hold on to the handrails firmly." The train announcement was filtered as background noise as Xain quickly became engrossed in playing a mobile game he had recently installed. Furious tapping... Followed by even more aggressive tapping... Some time passed when Xain grew tired of his game. His fingers were tired from tapping forcefully on his flat, hard, and now overheating phone screen. He cracked his knuckles and stretched his fingers by interlocking his hands and stretching forward. He then separated his two hands and examined them closely. The bones on Xain's hands were prominent; His fingers were long and thin, and had an almost feminine quality to them. He continued looking at his hands for a while, before he realised: How long have I been on this train? Wait, where am I?

Panicking, Xain swiftly looked up and searched for the signboard that indicated the train's current destination. Oh, there's still 40 more minutes... He was turning his attention back to using his phone, when suddenly he noticed something in the corner of his eye.

Something... Or someone. Xain looked up and stealthily glanced in that direction. And standing there, beautifully and perfectly, was the one and only Reithen. Reithen was the most popular guy in school—well, maybe not the most popular, but he was considerably well-known and well-liked by his peers. More importantly, Xain idolized him. He followed Reithen on every single social media possible, opting to switch on notifications for when there was any activity from him. The moment Reithen posted a picture on Instagram, Xain would be online to give it a like and screenshot to save the picture in his personal album. Whenever Reithen makes a post on Twitter, Xain likes his tweet immediately and retweets it, as well as copying and pasting the tweet onto his iPhone's Notes application. In short, Xain was a dedicated fan obsessing over Reithen.

"I've got to take a picture of him," Xain muttered to himself. After all, it was a habit retained from his stalking days, when he followed Reithen around 24/7 and took thousands of pictures each day. Now, Xain did not stalk Reithen anymore, instead he followed him closely on his social media. He unlocked his phone and raised his arm to point the camera in Reithen's direction. Using his other hand to stabilize the phone, Xain began taking pictures of Reithen. One... Two... Three... Four... He was so engrossed in taking pictures that he did not realise that Reithen had noticed him. Great, he's looking at the camera. And he's now smiling and posing! He looks perfect. Xain was oblivious to the fact that Reithen was deliberately posing for the camera. After a while, Reithen became more and more curious about this skinny guy that had been taking his picture for about 10 minutes... or more. He walked towards him.

"Hey."

Xain realised that Reithen, now right in front of the camera, was talking to him. "U-uh, hello..." Xain managed a form his words in a whisper. What a timid guy, Reithen thought. Maybe... Well, let's get to know him first. "What's your name? I'm Reithen," he initiated another conversation. "I k-know... I'm Xain," Xain replied, and after taking a deep breath he continued, "I'm actually a big f-fan of yours. I follow you on all your social media and I like and share everything you post. I--" Xain stopped in the middle of his sentence. Wait, what am I saying? He's going to think I'm a creep. Xain looked down at his hands and started fiddling with his phone nervously. Reithen broke the awkward silence. "Oh, uh, thanks, I guess. Ahaha..." Xain continued fiddling with his phone, which caught Reithen's attention. "Hey... Mind if I see those pictures you took? I just want to make sure I look good, you know." He said jokingly while extending his right arm towards Xain. "Y-you always look good," Xain retorted meekly as he unlocked his phone and handed it over. Reithen chuckles as he began browsing through the pictures of him. There were some really blurry pictures, and some in which he was caught mid-blink. Worse yet, his eyes were completely closed in some. "I'm just going to take the liberty to delete some of these uglier shots," he stated before proceeding to delete the pictures without waiting to hear Xain's response. Obviously, Xain was displeased, and tried to object. "No..." But it was too late, for Reithen was currently engrossed in quality-checking the pictures of him.

After going through what seemed to be a couple of hundred pictures taken of him, Reithen swiped right to discover a picture that was not of him. Oops, went too far. I guess that's all the pictures Xain took of me. He was going to return the phone when he realised what the photo was. Reithen's eyes widened slightly as he spent some time taking in the details of the picture. The abnormally skinny legs, the numbers on the scale, it all pointed to one important fact about the guy that was seated in front of him. And the thought of that turned Reithen on. Subconsiously, the corners of his lips curled up into a small smile. I wasn't sure before, but now I am. Xain is the perfect guy that I've been looking for. "Uhm, what are you looking at? Is there something wrong?" Xain asked, noticing that Reithen had stopped swiping and tapping on his phone screen. "Oh, no, it's nothing. ...I deleted most of the ugly shots, so here you go." Reithen closed the Photos application, locked Xain's phone, and handed it back to him. "Uh, thanks, I guess. Although in my opinion, you look perfect in every picture I took." Xain replied.

Minutes of awkward silence passed. Suddenly, Xain remembered that he was on his way back home, and looked up at the signboard to find out the train's current destination. Shit, he thought to himself as he saw that he had missed his stop 4 stops ago. To make things worse, the train he was onboard was heading toward to high-speed tracks, where the train travels like an express train and does not stop at any stops until it reaches it's designated stop. In this case, it was about another 50 minutes before he could alight at a stop to board the train back. Xain heaved a sigh of disappointment and slumped into his seat.

"You look like you just missed your stop," Reithen commented. Xain's eyes widened in surprise. "Is it that obvious? Also, I didn't just miss it, I missed it 4 stops ago," he muttered sourly. "And now it's the express tracks... Just great." To be honest, Reithen could barely make out half of Xain's soft murmuring. However, he could tell that Xain definitely missed his train stop some time ago. Knowing that, he decided to make an offer he knew Xain, a supposed huge fan of him, would never refuse.

"Hey... Want to come over to my place instead?"

☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎☁︎

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is Chapter 1 of this story, "Don't Hurt Me, Please!". I hope that everybody will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!

In case you're wondering if this is related to Killing Stalking, THIS IS INSPIRED BY KILLING STALKING. It is not a fanfiction between the actual characters, Yoonbum and Sangwoo, but it is an fanfiction based on the concept of Killing Stalking. Think of it as an alternate storyline, with main characters with different names!

PLEASE read the description of "Don't Hurt Me, Please!" to be informed of the trigger warnings. I have not fully decided on the future events in the story, so some of them are put there just in case.

Also, feel free to suggest anything! I haven't thought of the settings, side characters, etc. so don't hesitate to share your opinions!

♡ Thank you so much for reading! ♡