Kai stared at the photograph.

The image wasn’t blurry. It wasn’t grainy, and it hadn’t been taken from some distant rooftop with a cheap zoom lens. It was clear. Painfully clear.

Him standing outside the coffee shop.

The guy he’d talked to.

The paper cup in the stranger’s hand.

The exact moment Kai had laughed at something.

The exact moment he had looked happy.

His stomach twisted.

Not because someone had taken the picture. That part was already horrifying.

It was the caption.

You looked happy.

Three words.

No threat. No demand. No attempt at intimidation.

Just an observation.

For some reason, that felt worse.

It meant they weren’t watching him during the streams, or during the panic, or during the moments that had turned him into internet content.

They were watching him when nothing interesting was happening.

Just watching.

Kai realized he hadn’t blinked in several seconds.

A Discord notification appeared on his screen.

Luna.

His eyes immediately drifted toward it.

Again.

That was becoming a problem.

A serious one.

The kind future therapists would charge extra to unpack.

He opened the message.

Luna: Kai?

His fingers hovered over the keyboard before he simply sent her the image.

No explanation.

No context.

Just the photograph.

The typing indicator appeared almost instantly.

Then vanished.

Appeared again.

Stopped.

Returned.

The hesitation made his chest tighten for reasons he couldn’t explain.

Finally, a response arrived.

Luna: When was this taken?

Kai: Today.

Twenty seconds passed.

Twenty very long seconds.

Then another message appeared.

Luna: Are you home?

Kai frowned.

Kai: Yes.

The reply came immediately.

Luna: Lock your door.

His eyes drifted toward the apartment entrance.

The deadbolt was already locked.

He checked anyway.

Still locked.

"God, I hate that this is my life now."

The apartment offered no comment.

The stream wasn’t live that night.

For the first time in what felt like forever, the apartment wasn’t glowing with notifications and donation alerts.

No chat.

No viewer count.

No endless flood of strangers reacting to his existence.

Just Kai.

His desk.

And his thoughts.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were significantly worse.

He sat in front of the dark monitor and stared at his reflection.

Tired eyes.

Messy hair.

A hoodie that had definitely stopped being clean several days ago.

The face of a man who desperately needed a normal hobby.

His phone buzzed.

Derek.

Before he could think better of it, Kai answered.

"Hey."

"You sound terrible."

"Good to hear your voice too."

"You look terrible."

Kai frowned.

"I’m on the phone."

"Your stream clips are everywhere."

"...Fair."

A brief silence settled between them.

Not awkward.

Just exhausted.

Eventually Derek sighed.

"You okay?"

The automatic answer almost came out.

Yeah.

Fine.

All good.

Instead, Kai leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

For some reason, he told the truth.

"I don’t know."

The silence on the other end changed.

It became softer.

More human.

"I figured."

Kai closed his eyes.

At night, the apartment always felt different.

Bigger.

Emptier.

The corners darker.

The rooms farther away.

"I keep thinking it should feel good."

"What should?"

"The attention."

The words escaped before he could stop them.

Derek didn’t interrupt.

Didn’t laugh.

Didn’t tell him he was being dramatic.

So Kai kept going.

"My channel’s exploding."

His voice sounded strange, almost detached.

"People know who I am now."

"Yeah."

"I wanted that."

Another pause.

Then:

"I know."

Kai rubbed a hand across his face.

"Then why does it feel awful?"

Derek was quiet for several seconds.

When he finally spoke, his voice had lost its usual sarcasm.

"Because you wanted people to know you."

Kai froze.

The sentence landed harder than expected.

"The internet doesn’t know you," Derek continued quietly. "They know the version of you that had a breakdown on camera while being stalked."

Ouch.

Accurate.

But ouch.

"You really know how to cheer somebody up."

"It’s a gift."

Despite everything, Kai laughed.

A real laugh.

The first one he’d managed all evening.

The call ended around midnight.

Silence settled over the apartment once more.

Kai wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.

Immediately regretted it.

The contents looked less like food and more like evidence.

How had he survived this long?

Energy drinks.

Expired yogurt.

An alarming amount of hot sauce.

Nothing that resembled responsible adulthood.

His phone buzzed again.

Luna.

Luna: Did you eat?

Kai stared at the message.

Then at the fridge.

Then back at the message.

This was becoming ridiculous.

Kai: How do you keep knowing?

Several seconds passed.

Then:

Luna: You always check the fridge when you’re stressed.

Kai froze.

Something tightened unexpectedly in his chest.

Because that wasn’t creepy.

Or maybe it was.

But it wasn’t the scary kind.

It was the kind that came from paying attention.

The kind that came from remembering small things.

The kind that came from caring.

Which honestly might have been worse.

His fingers hovered over the keyboard.

Kai: You’ve been paying attention.

The typing indicator appeared.

Disappeared.

Appeared again.

Finally:

Luna: Of course I have.

Four words.

That was all.

Yet somehow they hit harder than they should have.

The apartment felt quieter.

The city lights beyond the window seemed softer.

His chest ached with a strange loneliness he hadn’t realized was there.

The kind of ache that came when somebody noticed things nobody else ever did.

An hour later, Kai was lying in bed.

Sleep wasn’t happening.

He’d accepted that.

The ceiling stared back at him.

His phone rested on his chest.

Discord remained open.

Neither he nor Luna had spoken for several minutes, yet neither had disconnected.

The call timer continued to climb.

It was a strange sort of companionship.

Not talking.

Just existing.

Together.

Kai hated how much he liked it.

His eyes slowly drifted shut.

Exhaustion was finally beginning to win.

Then Luna spoke.

Very quietly.

"Kai?"

His eyes opened again.

"Yeah?"

A brief pause followed.

"I liked that picture."

His stomach dropped.

"The stalker picture?"

"Mhm."

Kai pushed himself up slightly.

"That’s concerning."

A tiny laugh reached his ears.

Soft.

Warm.

"I didn’t like that someone took it."

"Good."

"I liked that you looked happy."

The room suddenly felt much smaller.

Kai stared into the darkness.

For several seconds, he couldn’t think of a response.

There wasn’t anything strange about what she’d said.

Nothing threatening.

Nothing obsessive.

Just honesty.

Simple, uncomplicated honesty.

Which somehow felt far more intimate than flirting.

His throat felt dry.

"Thanks."

The word came out embarrassingly quiet.

Luna didn’t tease him.

Didn’t push.

Didn’t make things awkward.

She simply hummed softly, sounding content.

Comfortable.

As if that answer was enough.

The silence that followed felt peaceful.

For once.

Then his phone vibrated.

Unknown number.

The warmth vanished instantly.

His blood turned to ice.

Exhaustion disappeared.

Comfort disappeared.

Everything disappeared.

Slowly, he opened the message.

A video file.

Thirty seconds long.

No text.

No caption.

No sender information.

Nothing.

Kai hesitated.

Then pressed play.

The video loaded.

At first there was only darkness.

Shaky movement.

Footsteps.

Heavy breathing.

Then the camera turned.

A familiar apartment building came into view.

His apartment building.

The timestamp showed tonight.

Less than an hour ago.

The person filming crossed the street.

Walked toward the entrance.

Walked inside.

The footage continued.

Past the mailboxes.

Past the security camera.

Up the stairs.

Past the seventh floor.

Then it stopped.

The camera slowly tilted upward.

A door filled the screen.

Kai’s door.

Apartment 7A.

His apartment.

The video ended.

For several seconds, Kai simply stared.

Then another message arrived.

Only four words.

Yet somehow they felt colder than every threat before them.

Still watching. Sleep well.