For several days, Julian felt extremely alert because it wasn't just once that someone had rung the doorbell at Arcane's house, but over the past two weeks it had happened three times. He did feel a little scared, but he tried to muster up the courage.
When the doorbell rang, he immediately went outside carrying a baseball bat he had bought specifically for self defense. But there was still no one there. He even walked around the house, passing through the side yard and all the way to the back yard.
"This is the third time someone has rung the bell, but there's no one there. How can the bell ring if there's no one there? Especially since it's still locked," he muttered suspiciously.
He knew the fence wasn't very high, only reaching an adult's thigh. Someone could have jumped over it and hidden outside their property.
But if that was the case, what was the reason? Was it because they found it amusing to see Julian's surprised and puzzled reaction, or did the perpetrator have something else planned?
He finally went back inside the house and locked the door. For today, he wouldn't open the door at all unless Arcane came home.
Not only was he confused by the strange situation where someone had pressed the doorbell but there was no one outside, but Julian was also driven a bit crazy because he kept thinking about Arcane's body.
Sometimes his face would suddenly flush red whenever he recalled the moment he had fallen asleep right on top of that man's body.
Feeling the warmth of his body, and Arcane's strong arms wrapped around his waist. Especially his slow breaths and the rhythmic beat of his heart, matching Julian's heartbeat.
"Why do I keep thinking about him? I shouldn't have these feelings for him. It's all just a lie, but why does my heart always beat so fast whenever I think about him?" Julian muttered in confusion as he hugged his legs.
He wondered, is this just normal because this is the first time someone has treated him so specially?
Or was it a special feeling that he truly felt? But he still didn't understand what this feeling was. This was completely new to Julian, which was why he didn't really understand it. Was this normal or not?
He continued to daydream until he remembered that he had to go grocery shopping for dinner.
"Damn, Arcane will be home soon! And I forgot to go shopping. He could kill me with just a breath!" He jumped up from the sofa where he was sitting, checked his phone, and headed to the grocery store not far from his house.
At the grocery store, he looked for the food items on his shopping list. Occasionally, he glanced at the food shelves and then looked back at his phone to make sure he didn't pick the wrong items.
"Fortunately, Arcane was very detailed in writing the shopping list. What food brands should be bought. Okay, for the tuna..." He chose the tuna carefully so that there would be no defects.
At the grocery store, there was not only him but also many people passing by, even choosing the same fish as him. However, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl who kept passing him by while he was choosing tuna.
The girl seemed to pass him once towards one shelf and then go to another shelf, but she kept getting closer to him. It was as if she was going from shelf to shelf just so she could see him up close.
'I wonder why this girl keeps looking at me. Does she know me? But I don't even know anyone here, including a schoolgirl,' he thought suspiciously at that moment.
He tried to ignore the girl and went to the snack shelf to buy some snacks. He thought that maybe it was just a coincidence that she kept passing by him.
However, his suspicion returned when the girl also went to the same shelf, standing right next to the chocolate snacks while Julian was in the chips section.
'It turns out she really is following me. Or maybe I should try going to the other side and see if she'll still follow.'
After picking up some snacks, Julian deliberately went to another shelf at the end of the grocery store.
And sure enough, the girl followed him, but as soon as she entered the aisle, she immediately ran out with a red face.
"So she really was following me. But why did she run away so quickly? Was she embarrassed because I caught her?" Julian asked in surprise.
When he looked at the items on the shelf, his face also turned red because what was on the shelf were condoms.
His yellow eyes widened, he didn't expect that the shelf at the end of the aisle was for sexual items.
"Oh fuck—"
He froze for a moment, until his eyes glanced at one of the samples with the letters XL on it. His face flushed even more as he imagined the XL label paired with Arcane's bulge size.
"Damn, damn, damn!" He ran away from the shelf, causing several people to turn and stare at him in confusion.
"What's wrong with him?"
After paying for all his groceries, he walked quickly home because he was sure Arcane had already arrived. He was very familiar with his schedule, as he usually arrived home around 5:30 p.m.
As he had expected, Arcane was already at home, waiting for him to bring him the groceries.
"You just bought them? Usually, they're already at home when I get back. Did you forget to buy them?" he asked in an interrogative tone.
"Yes, I forgot to go shopping earlier because I was busy with that prank again," Julian replied honestly as he placed the groceries he had bought on the table.
"He came again?" Arcane asked again as he began cooking.
Julian nodded, saying that he still couldn't find anyone around there, even outside their yard. But there was one strange thing that had just happened while he was shopping.
"What kind of strange thing do you mean?"
"Earlier, there was a student who seemed to be from the school where you teach! Then I felt like she kept passing me by as if she was watching me. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but when I deliberately went to another shelf, she still followed me," he explained.
But he laughed because the student ran away when he entered the shelf.
"Really? That's strange. What shelf did you enter?" asked his husband while eating cherry tomatoes.
Julian paused for a moment when he heard the question, and his face turned red again because he felt he couldn't answer it. There was no way he could tell Arcane that he had gone into the shelf containing condoms.
However, as if suddenly getting a clue in his head, Arcane immediately changed the subject by asking, "What did the student Julian was referring to look like?"
At first, he fell silent again, trying to remember what the student looked like. Arcane had already begun to guess who the student was.
"If I remember correctly, she was very pretty with blue eyes and pink hair."