Xinyue didn't sleep.
Not really. She drifted in and out of shallow half – dreams where every sound sharpened into meaning. The creak of pipes, the distant elevator chime, the faintest shift of fabric outside of her door. Each time she surfaced from her sleep, the first thing she did was listen. And each time, she was painfully, undeniably aware of his presence.
He hadn't entered her room. he hadn't even crossed the threshold of it. But the presence pressed against the wall like heat, like gravity, like something that altered the shape of space without touching it.
She turned onto her side, staring at the dark aimlessly. This is ridiculous she told herself. You've worked thirty-hour shifts, you've slept in on call rooms with alarms screaming every twenty minutes. You can't get rattled by a man standing outside your door. She told herself.
Except she did. Because he wasn't just standing there, he was watching an enemy unknown to her but known to him or maybe not.
She knew it the way she knew when someone was staring at her back in a crowd. The way her skin prickled, not with fear but with awareness of you being watched by some unknown entity. With the uncomfortable certainty of being accounted for.
By morning, exhaustion had settled into her bones like damp cold. Xinyue emerged fro her room to find Jin already awake, seated at the table with a cup of coffee he definitely hadn't found in her cabinets. He looed up, expression neutral, eyes sharp.
"Morning," he said.
"Is it?" she muttered. "Because my brain says it's still three a.m."
Jin's mouth twitched at her remark. "He didn't sleep either."
She froze mid – step after his words, like she wants to know what fuck that moron does in his free time. But she didn't express it, instead asked at Jin "You monitor his sleep now?"
"He monitors yours," jin replied evenly. "Seems fair to me."
She shot him a strange look. "That's not a very comforting information."
"It's not meant to be either."
Damn, these people and their going around with words. She sighed and poured herself water, before asking him. "Where is he anyway?"
"Hallway," Jin said. "The same place as last night."
Of course he was, she thought and stepped closer to the door. Hesitated a bit at first, then opened it. He stood exactly where she expected him to be – back against the wall, one knee bet, phone in hand. He looked up immediately feeling her presence, attention locking onto her with unsettling precision.
"You look terrible," he said.
She scowled. "Good morning to you too."
"You didn't sleep."
"No, not really," she said flatly.
His gaze flicked briefly to the dark circles beneath her eyes. "I told you it wasn't safe."
"And I told you, I hate being told things."
A corner of his mouth lifted. "I've noticed."
Jin cleared his throat to grab their attention. "I'll give you two space."
"No," Xinyue said at the same time Taehyun said, "Stay."
They both paused. She raised an eyebrow. "You want an audience?"
"No," he said, "But I want accountability."
"From what?" she demanded.
"For the way you look at me when you're angry," he replied calmly.
Jin coughed at this boss remark. Xinyue face heated at his response. "That's not…"
"Breakfast," Jin interrupted them smoothly, letting them know his presence again. "I'll be downstairs."
He retreated before either of them could stop him. "Is this your strategy? She asked. "Say something unsettling and walk away?"
"Usually it works," he said. "You're still here."
She crossed her arms. "Barely."
He studied her for a long moment, gaze tracking the way she shifted her weight, the tension in her shoulders. "You're wound too tight," he said.
"You say that like you're not the reason to it."
"That's fair."
They stood there, too close now. She could smell his cologne – clean, understated, something she couldn't place but felt like it belonged on him. She hated that her body registere it before her mind could object to it. "You're hovering again," she said.
"I'm not," he replied. "You stepped forward."
She glanced down and he was right, she had. "Don't read into it," she muttered.
"I don't need to."
"I don't need to."
That earned him a glare, sharp enough to make Jin glad that he actuly left two them in their own world.
They left together. The elevator ride was quiet, heavy with thing neither of them wanted to say. He stood between her and the doors, subtly angled, as if shielding her from a threat that didn't exist.
Yet.
When the doors opened in the lobby, Yuerin was waiting for her. Xinyue blinked. "What the are you doing here?"
She left relief flashing over her body after seeing her best friend, it felt like ages to her. Yuerin grinned at her, "Good morning to you too darling. I brought coffee, pastries, questions and me."
Her eyes flicked immediately to Taehyun standing beside her best friend, with a complicated feeling and interest. "Oh! You again."
He inclined his head politely at her. "We've met again."
"Oh! How could I forget that experience," Yuerin said. "You're the reason half of her problems and half of the hospital staff think Xinyue joined a crime syndicate."
Xinyue groaned at her remark. "Yuerin."
"What? I just said the truth" Yuerin shrugged at her. "They're impressed. So far, it's positive response."
"I don't want to be impressive," Xinyue said. "I want to be boring."
He glanced at her. "That ship sailed."
She shot him a unimpressed look. "I was talking to her not you," Pointing at Yuerin.
"You talk to me the same way."
"That's because you provoke me."
"And yet, you're still standing very close to him." Yuerin said still unimpressed by his presence, because according to her he is walking red flag of unnecessary problems and dangerous.
Xinyue stiffened and took a step sideways. But he didn't. that was the a problem.
They walked towards the hospital together, Yuerin chattering about the rumors and missing files and the way security had been unusually jumpy and how much work load she actually getting that felt like a sabotage etc. Jin rejoined them at the entrance, scanning the crowd with professional detachment.
"Anything?" he asked.
"Not yet," Taehyun replied. "But I don't like the timing."
Xinyue frowned at his words. "Timing of what?"
"Of you being seen," he said.
She stopped walking. "I don't belong to you."
His jaw tightened. "I know."
"Then stop acting like I'm an asset."
"Then stop being valuable."
The word landed harder than either of them expected. Yuerin looked between them, tension sharpening her expression. "Okay. I'm missing the context since the last encounter, and I' m not liking it."
"You shouldn't," Xinyue said. "Because I don't either."
They entered the hospital.
Almost immediately, Xinyue felt it again - that sensation of eyes where there shouldn't be any. A nurse paused mid-conversation when she passed. A man in maintenance uniform lingered too long near the elevators. He noticed it too. She could tell by the way his posture shifted, the way his attention narrowed.
He moved closer not touching, but near enough that she felt it. "Stop that," she whispered. "Stop what?"
"Standing like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you're daring someone to try something.
He leaned down slightly, voice low. "I am." Her pulse stuttered. "That's not reassuring for me."
"It's honestly form me."
They reached her floor. Yuerin peeled off reluctantly, eyes darting back. "Text me. If anything, weird happens." "And you," she pointed at Taehyun and said. "Protect her, you caused this."
"Everything weird is already happening," Xinyue said. Yuerin smiled thinly at her, not knowing what to do but said. "Then don't face it alone."
she watched her go, then turned back to him. "You're staying again," she said.
"Yes."
"That wasn't a question."
"No."
She hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. But we're setting boundaries."
He raised an eyebrow at her with interest. "Such as?"
"You don't stand this close unless you mean it." Silence. Then, softly he asked her, "And if I do mean it?"
Her breath caught despite herself. "Then," she said carefully, "you say it."
A beat of a second passed. Then another. He didn't step back, he didn't step closer either. But his voice dropped, steady and dangerous and intimate.
"Be careful what you ask for."
She turned away before her resolve could crack.
Behind her, Jin muttered under his breath, "This is going to get messy."
She didn't disagree though. Not when the silence followed her down the corridor, not when she felt his eyes on her back, not when she realized - too late - that she was starting to feel safer because of him.
And that was the most dangerous thing of all.