A/N: Did anyone try to check the meaning behind yellow carnations? Hihihi.
The fourth time it happened was at Sasha's newly purchased 3-bedroom home in Orlando. It was an investment she decided to get for herself, considering how close it was to the Performance Center, where she still often trained and prepared for her matches. She had turned over her apartment in Boston to her mom, who she visited once or twice a month when she wasn't going on pilgrimages all over the world with her college friends. Seth had been very vocal about the Orlando house being a waste of money. She hardly ever did go home—choosing instead to fly to Davenport the rest of the week after Monday nights, where they played Hell Divers until the wee hours of the morning, and trained together at his wrestling school. His extra bedroom had turned into Sasha's living quarters—she had everything from towels, to a set of clothes, to a toothbrush, down to her choice of cereals and juice. It was exactly why Superstars wondered what the hell was going on. With them practically living together, it was only a matter of time before something happened.
And the truth was—something already did. Right after Sasha won the Woman's Title for the third time against Charlotte. Still one of her most memorable matches on RAW to date, she had been so thrilled, she invited Seth over to her room, where they celebrated with two bottles of red wine each. Completely buzzed and still giggling about the night's events, Seth couldn't help but lean over and kiss her. And boy, did his senses explode from how good she tasted—like peppermint with a hint of vanilla. One thing led to another, and before they knew it, they fell asleep naked while tangled in sheets.
Seth woke up the next morning completely ecstatic with Sasha in his arms. But the moment she woke up and realized the position they were in, she sat up quickly and panicked. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" she kept saying, holding the sheets up to her chest in complete shock. "Seth, you can't tell anyone this happened!"
Hurt and frustrated, Seth stood from the bed to pull up his boxers. "Sash, relax! You're overreacting!"
"No, you don't get it! I don't just sleep around, okay?!"
"You don't think I know that?! Geez, I think I've been in love with you since NXT. This was practically a dream come true for me!"
Massaging her temples, Sasha kept shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, no. This just complicates things. Oh god," she covered her face in her hands.
Seth sat in front of her with a pang in his chest, still wounded about how she was reacting over everything. Sure, they hadn't planned it. And sure, they shouldn't have done anything without first talking about it. But fuck, if Sasha left his life forever because of this, he wouldn't have it. He had to manage the situation fast. "Sash, please. Relax. I have feelings for you. I think I always have, alright? This isn't just some one-time thing for me. This is the real deal. You know me better than anyone else in that locker room. You trust me more than you can ever trust Bayley, Becky, or Charlotte. Why can't you trust me with your heart?"
"It's not that, Seth," Sasha began to hyperventilate. "I just don't think I'm ready for a commitment right now. It's not something I want. You know that."
Seth's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach, and he spoke sadly. "Yeah, I do. But I figured I'd make an exemption."
Tears formed in Sasha's eyes and she didn't bother to fight them back. "Please don't do this, Seth. I can't lose you this way," her lips started quivering.
Even though he was still hurting, Seth closed the gap and enveloped Sasha in his muscular arms. "Woah, woah. No one is losing anyone," he assured her. "I'm not going anywhere."
"But I can't be what you want me to be right now," Sasha hiccupped, crying on his shoulders while gasping for air.
"It's alright," he spoke. "I'd rather accept that than lose you for good."
Sasha cried harder, holding on to Seth as if her life depended on him. "I don't deserve you."
"Ssshhh," Seth rubbed her bare back. "I'm not going anywhere."
"For now," Sasha croaked, wiping the tears away. "And then one day, you'll meet someone and fall in love with her, and I'll just be a sad mess in the background who still can't figure out what she wants."
Seth chuckled, kissing her forehead. "You're overthinking this," he told her. Lacing their fingers together, he looked her in the eyes and spoke. "How about I promise you this—I promise I won't tell anyone about last night. We can just keep this our little secret," he winked. "And I promise that nothing will change. You and I can go back to doing Crossfit, having coffee dates, flying home to my house to play Hell Divers, and traveling together 24/7."
Sasha gave him a sad smile. A part of her wanted to cry all over again at how incredibly selfless he was being. "What about what you want?"
"All I want is to never lose you."
Closing her eyes, a tear streamed down Sasha's cheek as Seth wiped it away with his thumb. "You're amazing, you know that?" she whispered. "I really don't deserve you."
That night had almost ruined things between them. The next couple of weeks were awkward, with Seth having to constantly sought out Sasha and remind her that he wasn't going anywhere. True to his word, nobody ever found out about what happened. He swallowed his pride and set aside his feelings to make sure their friendship stayed intact. At that point, it wasn't even about hoping for something more anymore. It was just guaranteeing that they stayed in each other's lives. Thankfully, no one except for Bayley, Roman, and Dean, had noticed that things became a little off between them. When confronted, Seth had denied it to death, while Sasha used her dagger glare to scare Bayley away. Eventually, with time (and with a lot of effort on Seth's part), the awkwardness subsided and now years later, Sasha found herself flying home to Orlando to finally finish setting up her entertainment room. Seth would be arriving the next day with her light bulbs, which meant she had time to wash the bedsheets in the guest room and do the rest of her laundry.
Once in a while since that monumental evening that they agreed to never talk about, Sasha would show hints that she wanted what Seth wanted, but Seth always made sure to be careful about it—hence their constrained conversations about being scared and stupid. Lately though, she had been showing more and more signs, and Seth felt that he just needed to work a little harder to get Sasha to realize he was worth the commitment.
A doorbell late that evening made Sasha furrow her brows while she was watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine in her bedroom. She wasn't expecting anyone tonight, and she knew Seth's flight wasn't until 9AM the next day. Walking over to the front door barefooted, she opened it carefully only to find it empty. "Huh?" she looked around. "Hello?" she called out. Nothing.
Slamming the door shut, she made sure to double lock it before running back to her bedroom and locking that door as well. Hearing her cellphone ring, she hurried over to her bedside table and found Seth calling. "Hello?" she answered. "Please tell me that was you who rang the doorbell?"
"What?" Seth sat up from his bed in Davenport, triggering the goosebumps all over his body. "Sash, I called because—" he paused, heart pounding harder and louder against his chest, and suddenly having the urge to throw up.
"Because what?" she panicked a little.
Seth couldn't explain what he was feeling, but for some reason he just knew he had to call Sasha and check on her that instant.
"You feel it, don't you?" she made sure her windows were locked and that she had shut the blinds.
"Listen, Sash," he stood from his bed and grabbed his suitcase to start packing. "I'm going to find the earliest possible flight and get there as soon as I can, alright?"
"Please hurry," Sasha told him, staring at her bedroom door. "Something doesn't feel right."
The next day became a blur of ill-fated events. In the morning, Sasha had opened her front door to find a clean, brown envelope sitting on top of her welcome mat. There was nothing written on it, but thinking they were probably just bills, she took it and brought it inside her house. Upon opening the flap, she found hundreds of pictures of her inside—pictures of her eating, pictures of her training, pictures of her laughing with either Seth or Bayley at a Crossfit gym, pictures of her in the airport, pictures of her on the street, pictures of her just about everywhere. It made her heart sink to the pit of her stomach, and she was so shocked, she dropped the envelope—causing the pictures to scatter all over the floor.
She stared at everything wide-eyed, feeling herself getting weak in the knees. Just then, she heard a set of keys open her front door and when she turned around, Seth entered with his suitcase and was stunned to find the sight in front of him.
"Seth!" Sasha cried, running over and hugging him before bawling her eyes out.
They called the police, who requested to take all the photos for evidence. Each photo was carefully scrutinized, with Sasha being asked a few questions about them (where she was, who she was with, if she remembered anybody suspicious around her, etc.). One photo, in particular, stood out from the rest—it was the one photo that caused Sasha to break down crying, and triggered Seth to release all the curse words he could muster.
In the photo, Sasha was peacefully sleeping on a bed and in the background on a table sat a vase of yellow carnations.
A/N: It's getting more intense! I'm trying to put together the fifth chapter in my head right now, and there are just so many possible scenarios. Who should the stalker be? How should he look like? (I decided that he'd be male.) Should he do something more dangerous? What should his motive be for stalking Sasha? Let me know! Getting more and more excited to write and finish this.