Chapter 18: The Red Dot
It started with the feeling of being watched.
At first, Danielle thought she was imagining the feeling that something was there, following her from the library. But it didn't stop.
It got closer.
And Theo noticed that too.
He was the kind of man who picked up on things before anyone else did. A small reflection in a window, a camera that wasn't supposed to be on, the way a person's eyes followed too long.
When he checked the security footage that evening, he saw the same person loitering near the girls' dorm for three nights straight.
He didn't tell Danielle right away. But she found out anyway when she overheard him talking quietly to another guard by the entrance.
"A stalker?" she demanded as she stormed up to him. "You knew and didn't say anything?"
Theo turned around slowly, and looked into her eyes. "I was handling it."
"Handling it?" Danielle repeated louder. "What does that even mean, Theo? Someone's following me, and you're handling it?"
Theo crossed his arms, and gritted his teeth. "Yes. That's literally my job."
"Well, then you can handle it from my room tonight," Danielle said without hesitation.
Theo blinked, clearly caught off guard. "Excuse me?"
"I said you can stay in my room," Danielle repeated loudly. "If there's someone out there, I'm not sleeping alone."
He let out a slow breath, running a hand through his hair. "That's not happening."
"Why not?" she challenged.
"Because it's unprofessional," Theo replied flatly.
Danielle's eyes narrowed. "So is letting a stalker sneak up on me."
Theo stared at her and Danielle stared right back, unflinching by his clearly stronger energy. It was one of those rare moments when he saw not the scared girl from weeks ago, but someone who refused to back down.
"Fine," he said at last. "One night. That's it."
Danielle turned around quickly to hide her grin. "Good."
By the time Theo finished checking the building's perimeter, Danielle was already in her room frantically cleaning, spraying perfume, and trying not to look like she was trying too hard.
Her hands were shaking a little as she brushed her hair.
Growing up controlled so much, she didn't know what real love was. Every little attention to Danielle meant affection.
And being so close to Theo, she just couldn't understand that weird bubbly electricity in her belly.
Last time, Danielle told Theo that she liked him, but was it actually true?
Danielle liked the feeling of being next to him, and this was mixing up her emotions with real feelings.
'He's just my bodyguard,' Danielle told herself.
'A very muscular, serious, irritating bodyguard who doesn't care what I look like.'
Still, she shaved her legs.
…Aggressively…
Then took a shower that was half steam, half panic.
'What have I done…?'
When Danielle came out, she stared at her reflection in the mirror, wrapped in a towel, wondering if she looked too… obvious.
Her face was flushed, her hair slightly damp. She hesitated before putting on the short, pale-blue pajamas… the ones she'd never worn before.
A little too cute.
Danielle sat on her bed pretending to read when Theo knocked on the door.
"Come in," she said quickly, trying to sound casual but failing completely.
Theo stepped inside, looking exactly as he always did… calm, clean, and completely unaffected by her shorts.
His dark shirt clung to him just enough to make it impossible not to notice his shoulders.
Danielle's stomach flipped upside down, but she covered it with sarcasm. "Make yourself at home, I guess."
He nodded once, pulled a chair to the side of the bed, and sat down facing the door. Looking around with his eyes like he was a robot who could scan the room, the window, the curtains, everywhere but her.
Danielle frowned. She had imagined at least some reaction, but Theo didn't even blink.
She cleared her throat. "You're… really not going to say anything?"
"About what?" Theo asked, still scanning the room with no emotions.
"Nothing," she muttered, crossing her legs.
He leaned back in the chair, folded his arms and Danielle caught a smirk. Theo was in full guard mode, and that drove her crazy.
Danielle shifted on the bed, pretending to get comfortable. He didn't even glance at her once.
"Unbelievable," she whispered under her breath.
"What is?" Theo asked without looking.
"Nothing," she replies again quickly, lying back and glares at the ceiling.
Eventually, the frustration faded into drowsiness. The weird tension on her shoulders that had burned through her all evening turned into exhaustion. Within minutes, her eyelids drooped.
Theo heard her breathing slow down. It was stable and soft. He turned his head just slightly. She had fallen asleep halfway across the bed… arm dangling off the edge, and one leg…
Resting right across his lap.
He rolled his eyes, exhaled quietly, and muttered to himself, "Of course."
Very carefully, Theo stood up, lifted her leg, and placed it back onto the bed. But instead of leaving, he lingered for a moment.
He expected himself to look away. To stay professional. To stare at the door, the window, anything else.
But he didn't…
Theo found his eyes tracing her face instead…the slow rise and fall of her chest as she slept, the small furrow in her brow even when she was resting.
Danielle looked peaceful, but not entirely. Like she was fighting something in her dreams.
Reaching out unconsciously, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek before catching himself and pulling back, Theo took a deep breath in.
Then, something moved outside.
Theo's attention snapped to the window. A red dot was slow, but moving — danced across the far building wall, then along the edge of the courtyard.
A sniper scope!
He didn't move. He knew this kind of trick. Whoever it was wanted him to panic, to run outside, to leave the girl unguarded.
Theo's heart slowed instead of racing. He pulled the gun from his holster silently, safety off.
The red dot vanished.
He stayed exactly where he was, back in the chair, with his weapon lowered but ready. He returned once to Danielle, her face still half-lit by the desk lamp.
'They want me to leave her,' he thought.
'They'll learn I don't leave.'
And so he waited.
The clock ticked quietly, the wind whispered against the glass, and Theo sat there calmly, still, guarding her like a shadow that refused to move.
Outside, someone in the darkness watched him back.