···

« It was only a threat.. I didn’t need to do it.. Right? It was only a simple threat.. It wouldn’t have been serious. It was only a joke.. They meant it as a joke, but I did it.. I did it for them, showing them how stupid I was… How the hell am I supposed to face Irene now..? In front of her? I can’t do it.. Irene’s going to think of me as a strange human being now.. My image to her, my impressions, my manners –– all ruined! » Seulgi thought.

It was a good thing that Seulgi picked the largest stall in the corner. She had space to huddle in the corner with her knees to her face and  her arms wrapped around her legs.

The door to the restroom opened.

She could hear slow footsteps, making clicking sounds.

« Whoever sent that threat… It’s sick! That person is sick! » Seulgi shut her eyes tightly, tears streaming down her face.

“Seulgi?” The other person who walked inside the restroom, “Seulgi..”

“P–Please leave me alone, Irene.. I want to be alone right now..” Seulgi sobbed, “It’s embarrassing, I don’t know how I can face you.. I’m sorry.. I’m sorry!”

“Seulgi, let me in,” Irene said, as she knocked the stall door.

But she was answered with sobs and sniffs.

She sighed.

The lock on the stall snapped and ricocheted off the wall right in front of Seulgi. She lift her head up and saw Irene standing there with a facial expression that she wouldn’t like to see on her face –– the sad, frowny look.

“It’s okay, Seulgi. You must’ve had a reason for doing so. Don’t worry, I really understand –– I don’t care, especially what they think of me at this school. It doesn’t matter to me,” Irene said.

She inched toward the one who was crawled into a ball.

“Let’s just get school over with, and then we’ll have fun on our date, okay..? It’ll be over soon, trust me. We will spend time together tonight –– just the two of us,” Irene assured, “So just bare with me, and do this for me, okay?”

Seulgi sniffed once more, “O–okay… I–I’ll try..”

···

A few punches and slaps were given here and there. A sharp object was held in Taeyeon’s hand while she bled continuously, dripping little amounts at a time.

Sehun’s red irises were clearly visible as he restrained himself from diving onto the floor to the blood or from pouncing onto Taeyeon just to the opening on her hand.

Her cut was soon to be healed again like it was never there anyway.

Baekhyun, who now had an extra extended part of his mouth, suffered from the pain that he received. The right edge and corner of his mouth was sliced 2 inches into his cheek.

But this wound will not heal. Not until a while later.

It was going to be there for quite some time, definitely not gone within a day or a week.

“Is ridiculing my stepsister really all that funny to you? Is it fun? Is it that fun?” Taeyeon held Baekhyun by the collar.

Baekhyun giggled, “I–hehe… I–Is.. Haha –– is this… How I can get your attention? Keheh.. Hehehehe…” His eyes showed great disatisfaction through his tears, “I’m so sick and tired of this.. You make me feel this way.”

Taeyeon’s facial expression twitched.

“I–I was only.. Making Seulgi suffer more. Irene won’t get ridiculed –– at least not as much as S–Seulgi.. Hahahahaa…” He laughed once more, “So when.. Will it be me? When? Do I also have to kill that girl?”

“You don’t mean.. –– ”

“Yes! I mean it! Her! Tiffany!” Baekhyun forcefully took Taeyeon’s arms away to release her grip on his collar, “You make me feel this way! This –– unexplainable thing! It’s love sick! It’s sickening and I want to get rid of it! To the point where –– ”

“Then die.”

Baekhyun stopped. Only his a tear streamed down his cheek to his chin.

And Sehun was the only one to witness this scene as he stood quietly behind Taeyeon, not wanting to interfere. He felt bad –– pity –– for someone like an older brother to him. He had his upper jaw on his bottom lip, two of his hands clutched together, fingers playing together. He was nervous.

“It’s just infatuation,” Taeyeon continued, “It’s not real –– whatever you feel for me, that is.

And. If you don’t want to die, you should think about fixing your mentality, too, before you face me again.”

Baekhyun only stared at her, his broken, torn, and scarred mouth quivered while tears continued forming and overflowing in his eyes.

“Sehun.”

“Y–yes..?”

“Get him out of my sight now.”

Without hesitation, Sehun listened and scurried onto Baekhyun’s side and held him by the shoulders.

He whispered, “C–come on.. Let’s go.”

Once the two boys were out of her line of sight, Taeyeon turned around, only to see another visitor leaning against the pole with arms crossed against her chest.

Tiffany.

“T–Tiff –– ”

“What? Surprised to see me?”

“Where’s Irene? I thought you were with her.”

“Well, she hurried away after Seulgi, wherever that girl went..”

“Did you hear and see everything?”

“Mm.. Yeah, I guess. You don’t seem to be alright. Plus, you still seem to care for Irene, don’t you?”

But Taeyeon doesn’t answer to her question. She turned away from Tiffany and started walking away.

She was stopped in her tracks.

“You know what, my sweet Taeyeon…”

She turned her head to look back at Tiffany.

“I have something for you –– a present.”

“Present?” Taeyeon cocked her eyebrow.

“Yeah, I’m giving it to you tonight,” Tiffany smiled.

“Why does it have to be tonight?”

“Because my present… Isn’t ready yet..”

Taeyeon eyed her carefully, but she only stared into thin air as Tiffany disappeared in a flash.

···

“This is not acceptable! I will not let this happen. I can’t even believe Seulgi could do something like that, whatever we just saw with her and Irene –– Look, I can’t even!” Jinri exclaimed, flinging her arms everywhere, “We’re going to follow them straight after school.”

“What are we now, spying agents? Stalkers!?” Amber retorted, “Hell nah, I ain’t in this, Jinri.”

“Jinri, I think you’re taking this overboard –– Hey wait, where’s Wendy?”

Everyone within the dance crew looked around, but they did not see her.

Wendy ran around the halls. Lunch was still an ongoing period while the other students, who acted as if nothing happened for now, carried on with their daily routine.

She turned into a corner and panted, looking for Seulgi.

And finally, she came into her sight ––

But with someone else.

Irene.

“S–Seul… Gi…” Wendy’s volume decreased. She hid behind the wall as the couple neared closer, overhearing part of their conversation.

“Trust me, Seulgi.. Everything will be better. Wait until after school, then we can play freely on our date.. It’ll be better.. It’ll make you feel better, trust me. Just bare with me, okay?” Irene tried to encourage Seulgi to carry on.

Wendy was relieved, but at the same time, sad. It was nice to see that Seulgi had at least someone to rely and count on to encourage and to reassure. It was saddening at the same time because that someone was not her.

Her lips quivered, her eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes were teary.

Where did our relationship go wrong…? She thought, What does Irene have that I don’t…

“Just tonight, hold on until tonight. We’ll finally have our first date tonight, so don’t be sad, okay? You wouldn’t want to ruin our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if you’re crying on your first date..”

Wendy lifted her head up, Tonight? She took a note mentally.

Suddenly, a rhythmic vibration sounded. Her phone rang.

Jinri

She was about to slide decline until she remembered how Jinri was ranting non-stop at lunch about something like interfering with Seulgi’s date tonight. An idea popped into her mind. She answered the call.

“Hell –– ”

“Wendy!!” Jinri shouted over the line, “Where are you right now!? Where’d you go?”

“A–ahh.. I’m just in one of the hallways. I just wanted some alone time, that’s all. But hey Jin –– ”

“Whatever! Okay, what I’m about to say is something important. You and me and maybe the others are going to sneak up and follow Seulgi around during their date tonight! I can’t wait to interfere and ruin something like this..!”

“Wh –– ” Wendy was surprised. Everything that Jinri said was according to what she had wanted.

“Look, Wendy. I know how stalking your ex-best friend is kinda weird and all that, but look. I have to make her feel bad okay? I’m doing this for you, so support me on this okay? You’re coming along tonight. We’ll pretend that we didn’t plan to intentionally see them, and we’re just having a normal girls’ get-together, alright? I will make Seulgi feel bad! She’s so ing shameless –– I can’t even!”

Wendy just remained silent until she looked at the couple from a distance, walking away from her direction with their backs toward her. She saw Irene tugging onto Seulgi comfortably, somewhat in a way as if she was still comforting her. Wendy’s eyes twitched, and unknowingly, she frowned.

“Okay, I’m in. Let’s do it.”

“Alright! Now we’re talkin’! So here’s the plan…”

···

“I–is that so?”