Part 74
(Alex's POV)
The light from her computer screen flickered across the room, painting pale shapes over the walls. It was nearly 2 a.m., and she hadn't slept — she rarely did anymore.
Most nights, Alex scrolled through old clips of Adrian — archived interviews, concert footage, fan posts — not because she missed him, but because she needed to remember the way he looked when he still belonged to her world.
But tonight was different.
The headline blinked across her feed like a pulse:
"Where Is Adrian? Idol Missing for Three Months."
Her hand stilled on the mouse.
Then she clicked.
Photos filled the page — his face, his smile, his name — all over again.
Only this time, they called him missing.
Her heart jolted in a way that almost hurt.
Missing?
No. He's not missing. He's hiding.
She leaned closer to the screen, her eyes darting over the paragraphs.
They mentioned his stalker — without using the name.
"Unidentified individual suspected of prior threats."
A faceless villain in their story.
Alex's lips curved in a small, bitter smile.
They had no idea.
No one ever did.
She sat back in her chair, letting the words sink in.
He'd really tried to disappear — to erase everything she had been to him.
Even after she'd given him everything she could.
Her pulse quickened. It wasn't anger at first — it was something sharper, colder.
It was the realization that the world had noticed him again.
If people started searching, if the media kept digging — they might find him before she did.
And that thought…
That thought made something in her snap.
"You shouldn't have left like that, Adrian," she whispered to the empty room.
"You shouldn't have made me look for you."
Her fingers moved automatically — opening old accounts, checking fan sites, tracing comments from obsessive fans like herself. Somewhere, someone might've seen him.
She would follow every lead.
Every rumor.
Alex straightened, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her reflection faint in the black of the monitor.
Her eyes looked calm, but her pulse was hammering.
He's out there.
And now the world's watching again.
She smiled faintly.
"Don't worry," she murmured. "I'll find you before they do."
And in that quiet room, surrounded by the glow of her screens, the hunt began again.