He’d first noticed her over a week ago when she’d sat in the back of the theatre during his rehearsal, if she was trying to be subtle she was failing miserably. Chanel coats don’t make for the most inconspicuous of choices when someone decides that they want to take up professional stalking.

Since then, Kurt has seen her at least three times. In a city as big as New York, that was too many times to be a coincidence. To begin with he wondered if she was a fan, but no. He may be working on Broadway but as an understudy, not the star. At this point, Kurt was just working up the courage to approach her. But then his phone vibrated and he saw the dreaded name of his lead flashing across the screen.

Kurt forced back a sigh and downed the last of his coffee before wrapping his scarf securely around his neck. It wouldn’t do him any good to let the bitter New York winter ruin his voice before he’s had his time to shine. He half expected the mysterious woman to abandon her coffee and follow him to rehearsal, as she had been doing, but the occasional glance over his shoulder told him she was nowhere to be seen.

Once Kurt made it to the theatre to deal with another fun-filled afternoon of listening to his lead drone on about his talent, which was nonexistent in Kurt’s opinion, he expected to see the woman in her usual seat in the back row. He wasn’t sure how she always got into their rehearsals since they were usually closed, but if no one else said anything, neither would Kurt.

For whatever reason, she didn’t make an appearance at the the theatre this afternoon. However, she didn’t leave Kurt’s mind once for the rest of the afternoon. Why had she suddenly stopped watching him? What was she plotting, and why was she following him in the first place? Was she planning on making a move on one of the parts in the musical that Kurt was working on? Is she trying to get Kurt out of the way to make room for something bigger and better?

Kurt couldn’t keep the morbid thoughts from swirling around his head all throughout rehearsal. Luckily, he didn’t need to do much today aside from learn a new dance routine. So, for the large majority of the afternoon and well into the evening, Kurt was left to dwell on his predicament.

By the time he left the theatre, he was feeling nervous and on edge, worrying about the walk back to his apartment on a dark winter evening. The wind bit at Kurt’s cheeks and would have completely ruined his hair if he’d gone without a hat. Kurt sped up his pace to the Times Square train station, wanting to get to the safety and warmth of his home as quickly as possible.

The ride back to his apartment was, thankfully, uneventful. He’d quickly grown used to the odd bum sleeping in the far corner of a train car and the random college students coming from or going to a club. Normally, Kurt would have used this time to mentally run through the blocking to be covered at the next rehearsal. But the only thing his mind had room for was the mysterious woman in the Chanel coat.

As Kurt got off the train and walked up the block to his apartment, he kept a subtle eye out for anything unusual. He paused when he reached his apartment to take out his key, glancing around as he did so. Seeing no one, he slid the key into the lock to let himself in.

The key jammed, the door was already open.

Odd, he thought, perhaps Blaine is already home. But he could feel the panic rising and the mysterious woman’s face leaped into his mind. He scolded himself and forced himself to open the door. However he could not prevent the feeling of dread spreading through him as he stepped into the room and heard someone say “Did you hear the door? Do you think he’s home yet?”

Kurt recognized his father’s voice and his fear was immediately replaced with confusion. Did dad and Carole come to visit me? he thought while putting his things down.

Before Kurt could step any further into his apartment, the color drained from his face as he watched the very same woman who’d been stalking him for the past week, come to greet him