“AAAHHHHHH!!!!!” screamed Sooyoung, as the doctor attending to her cleaned the wound on her knee.

“Mianhe, Park Sooyoung-ssi. But this wound is quite deep and I need to clean it properly before I can stitch it up, so you’ll have to bear with it for a while,” explained the doctor patiently, as he picked out the various grains of sand from her wound and applied alcohol to it.

There was a knock on the door and the nurse opened it and said apologetically, “Mianheyo, seonsaeng-nim but this boy claims to be the boyfriend of your patient and asked to be present during her consultation.”

“It’s all right, let him in,” replied the doctor.

Sungjae walked past the nurse with a grateful nod and walked over to Sooyoung.

“Be careful, Sungjae. She’s in a lot of pain,” warned Joohyun.

“Arasso, noona. Hold my hand while he stitches up your wound, Sooyoung-ah,” asked Sungjae comfortingly.

Sooyoung didn't reply but held out her right hand, which Sungjae took and held comfortingly. He ran his thumb over her hand, trying to help her tolerate her pain better.

Sooyoung bore with the pain for another 10 minutes as the doctor stitched up her wound. Sungjae collected Sooyoung’s prescription for her, which consisted of antibiotics and painkillers.

“I’ll send her home, noona. Leave it to me. Thanks for bringing her to the clinic,” said Sungjae gratefully to the three senior girls.

“Arasso. Make sure you see her enter her house. Don’t just leave her on the street and head off,” warned Joohyun.

“He knows what to do, unnie. It’s not as if it’s his first time sending me home,” said Sooyoung.

“Arasso. I’m just worried for you, Sooyoung-ah,” said Joohyun.

As Sungjae walked off with Sooyoung, the three girls walked home together.

“Who could have done that to Sooyoung?” asked Seungwan.

“Molla. Our Sooyoung never made any enemies in school or anywhere else. Why would someone do something like to her?” asked Seulgi.

“Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity. Nevertheless, we should help Sooyoung watch out for potential suspicious characters. Sungjae can’t be around her 24/7,” said Joohyun seriously.

“But neither can Sungjae, unnie,” replied Seungwan. “I think we need to get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can.”

“But what can we do? We have no clues to work with. Where can we start?” asked Joohyun.

“Maybe we should go back to the café, unnie. See what we can find there,” replied Seulgi.

The trio walked back to the café where Sooyoung was attacked and looked around the front of the café. The water had dried up but the pail had remained lying on the ground where the culprit had flung it. Seulgi picked up the pail and examined it to see if any traces of evidence could be found, to no avail. However, Seungwan’s sharp eyes spotted a small pink rhinestone lying near the gutter.

“Unnie! Look at this!” called Seungwan.

The other two girls hurried over to Seungwan and the trio looked at the rhinestone together.

“Does it look familiar to either of you?” asked Seungwan.

The other two girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Well, it’s all we have now. We’ll hold on to it and see if we can spot anyone who wears accessories that have such rhinestones on it in school,” said Joohyun.

“How are you so sure that it’s someone in school, unnie?” asked Seulgi.

“Sooyoung doesn’t have many friends outside of school. Who else does she hang out with apart from us and Sungjae? If someone’s targetting her, I’m quite certain it must be from school,” concluded Joohyun.

“I see,” said Seungwan. “Do you think we should hang around her more?”

“No more than what we usually do. Like I said, we can only watch out for potentially suspicious characters. I highly suspect it’s someone from school. Maybe we can walk her to and from class during break or something,” replied Joohyun.

However, the girls didn't have long to wait to witness the culprit’s second attack. The next day when Sooyoung stepped into class, she nearly took a step back from the vibe she felt in the class, as they turned to look at her. When she walked to her seat, she saw that her table had been scratched all over with something sharp and on it was written in pink lipstick “JUST DIE, !”

Her classmate Moonbyul walked over to her seat and put an arm over her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sooyoung. It was like that when we came into the classroom and we didn't know what to do. I swear it wasn’t any of us.”

Sooyoung looked at Moonbyul and tried her best to smile. “It’s okay, Moonbyul. I’m fine.”

Moonbyul took out tissue from her pocket and helped Sooyoung wipe off the lipstick on the table. Sooyoung smiled at Moonbyul gratefully and sat at her table.

“Are you all right, Sooyoung-ah? Do you need me to call Seulgi or Seungwan?” asked Moonbyul.

“Anni. Kwenchanayo,” replied Sooyoung.

“Arasso. Let me know if you need anything then,” said Moonbyul.

However, unbeknownst to Sooyoung, Moonbyul fished out her handphone and texted Minhyuk, explaining the situation and her concern for Sooyoung.

MB: What should I do, oppa?

MH: Don’t worry, Byul-ah. I’ll let Sungjae know. The other guys and I will take over from here.

MB: Gomawo, oppa.

MH: Anniya, I should be the one thanking you. See you later then.

MB: See you later, oppa. :)

After their short text exchange, Minhyuk waited till his break before walking over to Sungjae’s classroom.

“Sungjae-ah,” called Minhyuk from outside Sungjae’s classroom.

Sungjae looked up and walked out to meet Minhyuk.

“Oh hyung, what is it?” asked Sungjae.

Minhyuk related everything that he heard from Moonbyul, though he kept a firm hand on Sungjae’s shoulder as he observed how Sungjae’s ears were slowly becoming redder and redder.

“Don’t act rashly, maknae-ah,” advised Minhyuk. “You know how Sooyoung feels when you act rashly.”

Sungjae took a few deep breaths before he trusted himself to speak.

“Why didn't you tell me this earlier, hyung?” asked Sungjae.

“Because I knew you would react like this and it would have done you no good in your lessons in the morning. You would have exploded and run to Sooyoung in an instant,” replied Minhyuk, as he looked Sungjae in the eye. “Even if you had exploded, there would have been nothing constructive you could have done. We have no idea who the culprit is.”

Sungjae listened to his hyung with a bitter taste in his mouth, especially since he knew that Minhyuk was right.