can i walk with you - heejay

chapter one

"fuck," jay whispered to himself, as he looked up from his phone and glanced at the man following him. "why isn't he picking up?"

it was his fifth time calling his older brother, yeonjun, and he still hadn't picked up. jay sighed and with shaky hands put his phone in the pocket of his sweatpants.

for now, jay decided he would continue walking to the store. was it a bad idea to go to the store to grab cereal at 9 PM when it was already dark? yes, but he's paying for it now. with every step he took it felt like the man following him took three more, getting closer and closer to jay.

jay felt the panic sink in as he felt the man approach. his palms became sweaty and there was a heavy feeling in his chest. he had to do something.

in this situation i should ask for help, right? jay thought to himself. he took in a shaky breath and, to the best of his ability, he tried to calm down. quickly, jay looked around to see who he could ask for help. it seemed no one was around except for a boy walking in his direction.

"should i do it?" jay whispered to himself. he thought it would be too embarrassing to approach a random stranger for help. in the end, logic got the better of him, jay knew he wouldn't be able to defend himself if anything happened. plus it was better than walking alone with a random man following you.

so, without thinking, before the boy could pass jay, he reached out with a shaky hand and grasped onto the sleeve of the boy's hoodie.

"um, excuse me?" jay slowly rose his head, as the boy was taller than him, and his eyes met with a blank face, he was definitely good looking though. he had black hair, his skin was slightly tan, he had a nice nose too. great, jay thought to himself.

jay bit his lip in thought, he wasn't sure if asking for help was the right thing to do. he's probably bothering the boy infront of him. before jay could think about it any further the boy had replied.

"yes?" the boy responded, keeping his face blank, this scared jay. i'm definitely bothering him, this was a bad idea, jay thought. though the boy didn't show it on the outside, he was both confused and concerned. he noticed jay visibly shaking and he felt the tremors coming from jay on his arm through the hand that was still grasping onto his hoodie.

realizing the boy had said something, jay tried to come up with a response. should i just tell him straight up that there is a man following me? without realizing, jay was so deep in thought he tightened his grip on the boy's arm. this caused the boy to look down in concern, not that jay noticed.

what's wrong, the boy in the hoodie thought to himself. why is he so scared? before the boy in the hoodie could think about it anymore the boy infront of him spoke up.

"can i walk with you? there's a strange man that's been following me." jay quietly spoke in a whisper, feeling tears prick his eyes. because the boy infront of him was so quiet, the boy in the hoodie leaned in closer so he could hear.

as soon as he realized what jay had said, the boy in the hoodie looked around. not more than twenty feet ahead of him was a man dressed in all black standing by a pole. he was on his phone but the boy in the hoodie could see the man constantly glancing at them.

"should i beat him up for you?" the boy said it so seriously and so suddenly it surprised jay. though, jay quickly recovered and rushed to assure him that was not needed.

"are you sure? i'll go over there right now." the boy stared at jay trying to gauge his reaction to see if jay really wanted him to take action. jay grew flustered by the gaze and averted his eyes.

"i'm sure."

"ok then. my name is lee heeseung. what's yours?"

"it's uh- park jongseong, but you can call me jay or- you know, whatever you'd like." jay's cheeks grew warm, that was embarrassing.