She was the apple to his eye, truly there was no one that could compare to her beauty. Her body structure was unlike any of the other girls and her smile was – any cheesy as it sounded – was brighter than the sun. Indeed, she was remarkable in every shape and form. He’d often secretly attend her dance rehearsals and just sit there, admiring her like she was a work of art. And you couldn’t touch art, just like you couldn’t touch her. All Myungho could do was stare and keep his distance, because he was so afraid. He was so afraid that she would hurt him, or worse, he would hurt her.

And he couldn’t live with himself if he ever hurt her. So, he kept in the shadows as though he belonged in the dark. His friends would often ask if he was okay and he would shrug it off and proceeded to continuously visit her whenever he got the chance to. He could feel his friends’ eyes on him, judging him tremendously but he didn’t care. He couldn’t care less.

And so, he came up with the idea that if he couldn’t talk to her in person, he would talk to her in writing. His friends disapproved of his intentions, but whatever made Myungho happy made them happy. And so, they assisted him into getting the materials necessary for his letters to his Juliet.

Every day, he would sit on his desk, scribbling aggressively before tearing it apart and tossing it into the nearby trashcan. He’d often miss and he’d get scolded by his friends to properly dispose his trash. It was on the tenth try that he’d finally succeeded on writing his first letter to her.

Everything had to precise, right down to the bone. He had tried his best to make it look like he was supposedly passing by her whenever she opened her locker. It was a pain in the to try to look at her lock combination when she would hastily open and shut it. It took Myungho a week before he had finally figured out her combination and ultimately slipped the envelope in with a single rose. Everything was good. She’d finally acknowledge his presence.

Cheng Xiao was astonished, this stalker really was something else. It was probably a prank – a cruel one at the most. Still, Cheng Xiao couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, as if the hairs behind her neck stood up. Something didn’t sit right. Curiosity got the best of her as she reread the sentence repeatedly.

“I killed someone.”

What the ? This Seo Myungho had the audacity to write her these cringe-like letters and suddenly end it with a sentence such as that. And to that it top, she’d never even heard of a kid named Seo Myungho. Cheng Xiao grabbed the stack of letters that she had in her letters and ran home as fast as her feet could carry her.

“I have to reread these,” she whispered to herself. Just why her? Out of everyone, why did Myungho have to target her? She started to list everything she had done in her years in school, nothing sinister came to mind. Sure, she humiliated a few boys here and there, but that was just child’s play. Wasn’t it?

Reaching her home, she dashed into her front door, and ran up to stairs. She slammed her door shut and let her bookbag fall into the carpeted floor. Slowly, she began to order each letter from the earliest date to the latest.

The second letter after the first was dated April 9, 2012.

“Okay,” she said, lightly biting her lip. She hadn’t opened this since the day she had gotten it. Now it felt like a thousand bricks on her hands, it created a large burden on her shoulders. But she wanted to know, no, she needed to know what he meant. “Okay,” she repeated and proceeded to slowly open the beagle-printed stationary.

Hello.

I figured today would be the best time to introduce my first friend. We will call him Leader, who, like his name, is just like a leader. He’s talkative and loud, but he acts like a father to all of us. Shorty likes to make fun of him, saying he may as well be our grandfather. He looks like a strong guy, like one of those anime characters, but he’s one of the softest people in the inside. I’m afraid he may break one day.

One thing I love about him is how affectionate he is. How much he cares for us. I feel as though sometimes he prioritizes us more than he does himself. Which isn’t good. I wouldn’t want him to die for us, but he seems like the type, doesn’t he? You can’t hear me right now, but I’m laughing silently to myself as I write this.

I wonder if you have friends like him. I’d really like to know. I’ll write again soon.

Seo Myungho

Leader? What kind of name was that? Cheng Xiao slumped her shoulders. It was safe to assume that all of Myungho’s friends were boys, and that wasn’t good for her because she had never paid attention to boys. She didn’t get along with boys, she didn’t care for boys, and now suddenly she has to look for this Leader kid. Hell, this was one boy out a thousand in her school.

“Perfect,” she muttered to herself, glancing back at the letter and gripping it tightly. What the hell was she doing? Why did she care if he killed anyone?

No. That was too much. She had to know, even if it meant divvying all her attention to him. For all she knew, he could dead but curiosity overtook her and she vowed she would begin her search for Leader tomorrow.

Hopefully she wasn’t too late.

a/n: next chapter is going to be a long one bois