Sea was careful now.
Too careful.
He didn't linger in hallways.
He avoided the library entirely.
He kept his eyes low, his steps quiet, and his heart steady—at least on the outside.
But no matter how much he tried to disappear, Boss saw him.
He always did.
Sometimes it was a passing glance—too quick to hold, too intense to forget.
Other times, it was in the mirrors, glass, the shiny tiles of the school's rich corridors. Boss was there. Behind him. Beside him. Across the damn floor.
Watching.
Sea told himself he was imagining things.
Until the gifts started.
Nothing obvious. Nothing labeled.
But they showed up in his locker, on his seat, even in his bag.
– A bottle of imported cologne.
– A high-end phone case with his initials.
– A black rose pressed between a page of his literature book.
He asked Van.
He denied it.
He asked Nick.
Nick laughed darkly and said, "You don't get it, do you?"
"What?"
"Boss doesn't give things," Nick said. "He marks them."
Sea blinked. "Marks what?"
Nick leaned in close and whispered like it was a warning, or maybe a threat.
"What he wants."
Later that day, Sea found a note in his locker. No name. Just two words:
"Mine soon."
His hands trembled.
That night, as he walked back to his dorm room alone—he felt it again. That pressure on the back of his neck. That heat crawling over his skin.
He turned.
No one was there.
But in the window above, on the top floor…
A silhouette stood watching him.
Still. Silent.
Boss.
---
But it didn't stop there.
One day, Sea entered the small piano room in the music block—his favorite quiet spot—and froze.
The lights were already on.
Boss sat at the piano, fingers gliding over the keys with a skill that didn't match his cold exterior. Something raw filled the air… deep, aching notes that made Sea's chest tighten.
"You play?" Sea whispered before he could stop himself.
Boss looked up slowly. No smile. No words.
Just… that stare.
"I listen more than I play," Boss finally said. "I only touch things when I'm sure they'll be mine."
Sea took a step back.
"Do you always break into locked rooms?" he tried to joke.
Boss didn't laugh.
"I own this building. The keys obey me."
"Why are you always watching me?" Sea finally asked, heart racing.
Boss stood slowly. Each step toward Sea felt like gravity itself bending. When he reached him, their faces were inches apart.
"Because I know what's real," Boss said.
His hand moved—slow, gloved fingers tracing the edge of Sea's jaw, down to his collarbone. Sea didn't move. Couldn't.
"You're not like the rest of them," Boss whispered. "You breathe differently. You break differently."
His lips brushed Sea's ear.
"And I break things I want."
Sea's pulse pounded in his throat.
Boss stepped back, as if the moment had never happened.
He sat down at the piano again and began to play.
Sea ran.
But his skin still burned…
and he wasn't sure if it was from fear.
Or from wanting more.
---
To be continued