─────── 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑    𝟐𝟏 ───────

[5:00am]

Yeram was up from the crack of dawn; printing and piling up heaves of paper in a frenzy.

Her mind was going crazy from the fact that someone knew her secret and had the capability to expose her and her friends for it.

She downloaded every single image she got from the unknown person, and printed them out along with screenshots of the three messages she got from that number.

The first one being from the town party, and the other two back-to-back ones from yesterday.

Aera even sent her a picture of the orange post-it note she had stuck on her vanity mirror, which Yeram also felt the need to make a copy of.

And the phone number she recovered from Dana's diary? That was scribbled on an A4 piece of paper in big, bold letterings and stuck onto one of her free walls. Everything else was also stuck all around it, until Yeram had her very own mini investigating board in the comfort of her own room.

She stared blankly at one image, showing Yesol on the ground, her head bowed down. She was kneeling, crusted blood matted all over her body. She was severely bruised and hurt.

Yeram remembered how she stood behind Hari as she clicked the photo in place, giggling about how helpless Yesol looked. Her fingers trailed along the smooth paper, her lips set firm in a straight line as her eyes glistened.

"You want payback, huh?" Yeram mumbled. "Good luck then."

[7:12am]

If Yeram was going out of her mind, Aera was doing much worse.

This just can't be happening. Yesol was never meant to get out of there; we made sure.

How is she possibly back?! She seemed hopeless before she left- and now what? She's all cured in a couple of months? No, no that's bullshit. This must all be an act, she probably acted all good to get out and come for us.

It has to be her. It definitely is her. It's her. That stupid bitch. Stupid fucking bitch!

She's taking revenge for what I- we all did... just like that fortune teller told me.

"Destruction is inevitable."

The woman, whom she got a palm reading from, by the name of Hwa Jinsil told her those 3 words just a mere couple of months ago. Her voice kept repeating in Aera's head, like a haunting ritual.

Again and again before she heard laughing. Loud cackling.

It just wouldn't stop.

"Arghh," Aera bit down on her arm to prevent from screaming out loud. She swung her hands over the stationery on top of her desk, everything falling down.

Thank goodness she had carpeting on the floor.

Her face crumpled, hands moving away from her ears and moving to cover her sobs. "No," she cried. Aera wiped away her tears, going calm just for a second.

She's gonna ruin your life.

"Oh," she broke down again, her hands falling limp on her sides.

She cried for almost 5 minutes straight, but when she tried to stop it felt almost impossible. She got up, walking into her bathroom and reaching for the medicine cabinet. She grabbed a blue capsule, emptying the pills inside. She put back half, just 4 or 5 now in her palm.

"Water, water," Aera muttered, frantically looking around. She sped-walked out of there and into her bedroom again. She filled the empty cup on her bedside table with the small jug she always kept there as well.

A few heavy breaths before her hands shakily went up to her mouth and she put the pills in her mouth. With a sip of water, she tried gulping it.

It wasn't easy, but she forced herself to down it anyway.

Aera became calm, not for very long though. A deafening ping made Aera look down at her phone on the bed with wide eyes. Her eyes twitched, as she reached out to grab the phone.

And to her luck it was unknown again.

Aera shook her head, taking in a deep breath and forcing out a very shaky smile. She opened up the message.

looks like those pills might destroy you before i get any chance:(
aww i rlly wanted to do it myself y'know

Aera's face suddenly set in stone as her head trailed up to her window.

[8:02am]

Hari was striding towards the girl in front of her.

Yesol was standing by her open locker, getting out some books, when she got harshly pulled back. "What the-"

Hari was almost in her face, staring at her with squinted eyes. Yesol was shocked at first, but then she slowly smiled.

"Hari, how are you? We haven't-"

"Cut the bullshit," Hari interrupted, her resting face looking bitchier than ever. "Let's get straight to the point, yeah?"

Yesol frowned, clearly confused. "What?"

"Listen here, pretty girl," Hari snarled, getting closer to her face. "What do you want, huh? How much is going to take for you to get over it? We'll pay everything. Compensation, therapy and all that shit, just name the price. How much for you to leave us alone?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about Shin Hari. I think you've getting something wrong," Yesol tried explaining but was cut off again.

"No, you do know. The messages, the threats... Dana. It's all you, isn't it?"

"What messages and threats? And what about Dana?" Yesol asked.

"'What about Dana?' What do you mean? You know.. she's fucking dead. And you killed her!"

Yesol's eyes widened, and she backed away. "Excuse me? Are you accusing me me of doing something I wasn't even aware of?"

"Yeah right," Hari scoffed, crossing her arms. "You killed her so how would you not know?"

"Look Hari, I've heard enough here," Yesol's tone changed. "I thought this was some misunderstanding but clearly you've gone crazy and you're after me for no reason. And I'm sorry but I don't have the time nor effort to put up with this. You've done enough as it is, now leave me alone. Please." She looked at Hari dead in the eyes, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go. Have a nice day."

Yesol slammed her locker door shut before brushing past Hari without any further words.

Hari looked back, watching the girl walk away. She clenched her jaws, fists curling enough to leave pink moon shaped marks against her white palms.

[8:09am]

Jiu walked into the school library, carrying a couple of thick books in her hands. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a figure sat on one of the front tables, with their head nestled in between their arms on the table.

It didn't take long to identify the person as the bright, red hair pretty much gave it away immediately. Jiu looked to both sides of her. No one else seemed to be in there. It was empty.

She carefully walked over to where Jungwon was, standing just next to him. "Jungwon-ah," she lightly shook his shoulders. "Wake up."

Jungwon stirred around, his eyes slowly opening. He stretched his arms, yawning. "Where am I?"

"At the library, silly," Jiu said. "I wouldn't have woken you up but it's almost time for class."

"Oh- thanks for that," Jungwon replied, hazily trying to tidy up the mess of books in front of him.

"How long were you even in here for?" Jiu asked as she began walking further away from him to one of the shelves.

"Since about 6, I think," he shrugged.

"That long?" Jiu gasped. She put her books down on a trolley by the front desk. "No wonder you feel asleep then."

"Yeah," he grinned.

"Anyways, are you coming?" Jiu asked, heading for the door after finishing her business.

He looked up, "Yeah, gimme a sec."

After stuffing his book into his bag, he slung it over his shoulders, making his way to where Jiu was.

She beckoned for Jungwon to go before her, but he refused. "No, after you."

Jiu wanted to pretest, but Jungwon remained adamant. She said a 'thank you' before walking through the door, Jungwon holding it back from closing. He followed out after her.

"So what do you have first?" Jiu asked.

"English Literature unfortunately," he sighed. "You?"

"Statistics... which isn't any better."

"Aww, man. Sucks for us then."

The two walked into a busy corridor, having to dodge past multiple bodies at a time.

"Whoa, be careful." Jungwon grabbed Jiu's hand to move her away from bumping into some guy that was walking backwards.

Jiu stumbled forwards but was quick to catch on her feet. "Oh, thanks."

"No problem," Jungwon smiled, his eyes trailing down to the hand he was holding. A subtle crease appeared on his face when he saw a familiar birthmark on Jiu's wrist.

"Uhm- you can let go of my hand now."

He cleared his throat, quickly releasing her. "Oh sorry."

Jiu scowled, looking at his muddled expression. "You ok?"

Jungwon shook his head, trying to push his thoughts away. "I'm fine, I just need to get to class. See you around."

He rushed to turn away.

Jiu lifted her arm to wave subtle. "Bye..."

She watched him walk away and wondered why he began acting weird all of a sudden. Her hand lowered down to eye's point and she looked at her wrist, head cocking to the side. Her eyes lingered around the small heart-shaped mark just where one of her veins was. Her smile dropped, and eyebrows loosened.

Jiu looked up again, catching a glimpse of Jungwon's red hair for a brief second before he dissipated into the crowd.

———

i feel like im writing the scenes too dramatically but then my ocd is trying to get it as perfect as possible and that makes it take up hours to write a chapter, arghh i hate this😭

but how was it, give me some hope to continue huhuuhh😫