Real Chapter Title: "Careful, Dusts & Feathers Might Fall"

“Because you were stupid.”

The sentence echoed in her mind while she walked her way towards the living room.

Probably she really isn’t the stupid one but I am. She thought, as she struggled to keep the smile on her face.

She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment before she exhaled the heavy air making it linger around her. Wanting to divert her focus somewhere else, she looked around to find something that would entertain her. She looked around as if it’s her first time in that room.

How many times have I done this?

Fortunately, her phone left on the sofa glowed, saving her for the meantime. She took it by a simple sweep of her hand before she comfortably plop herself on the other side of the sofa. She turned her head back to check if SinB followed her in the living room but she only found herself alone in the room. She was about to call the other girl but her phone resounded, asking for little attention.

She unlocked it and she is greeted by her wallpaper. She hasn’t change it for about two years already. Its simplicity might have hung a question mark on her friends faces just by seeing the same wallpaper she had, every time they would hang out, but she doesn’t answer when they asked her the reasons why she won’t change it. They said it’s just a sky filled with stars. But that isn’t the case for Yerin. That simple ‘sky filled with stars’ is already more than enough to encourage her to get up from where she had fallen. That image that others might have been sleeping on is something that reminds her to keep on moving forward. Sometimes, people just don’t see it’s real worth because they haven’t opened their eyes and yet they had judged it already.

Seeing her wallpaper, the corners of her lips moved up. Isn’t it beautiful to see the stars shining amidst the darkness?

Her phone resounded indicating another coming notification. She took one last chance of appreciation on her wallpaper before she hover her fingers on the icons floating on the screen. She checked the messages first, just in case there might be important ones, like a change of her schedule and some important reports from her trusted friend. There are five messages from different registered senders. But she immediately opened the one on top when she saw the name of the sender.

=====================================

From: Sojung-eonnie
Message: Yo yo yo!

=====================================

She scoffed while shaking her head slowly, a smile is starting to show on her face again. There are just really some things that make her smile no matter how simple it is. And one of them is how she finds it amusing how how her manager can act like a kid. Well, it’s not really an issue because she, in her current age, is still acting like a kid almost every day. Speaking of ‘kid’, she turned her head around to check if the ‘kid’ she just allowed to sleep in her house followed her but again, the girl is still not around.

“Hey, SinB-ah!” She called out, before typing a reply for her manager.

 

=====================================
YR: What the hell is this? (x.x’)
SJ: Dude, language. Don’t curse. It’s bad for an idol. (I’m still acting as your manager so I should say that.)

SJ: I am Kim Sojung, your tall queen-dol. So to the Jung, and Jung to the So. Just wish for a wish. Granting more than a mist. Just say my name and its summer rain. I am so powerful. Rock and roll!

SJ: This is the rough of the rap, rough rap, rap rough. Lots of Love! Yo. yo.
=====================================

Yerin giggled. That random rap is just damn hilarious for her. She wonders if her manager really did rap that, and if in case she did, she wanted to know if she correctly pronounced the Lots of Love part. She hovered her finger on the keyboard screen to type a response but she saw SinB get out of the kitchen.

The younger girl is looking at her questioningly which she understands because SinB just found her, laughing by herself. Well, who wouldn’t when someone she knows acted like a kid and is now acting like a rapper. The transformation is quick. The rap itself is half invented and the lyrics of the other half isn’t even correct. She nodded and gestured the younger girl to sit near her before she typed her response.

 

=====================================
YR: I’m surprised you really make your own part dude. I just wanted to say that if you’ll scam it, make sure it’s the correct lyrics. I’ll forward that to Yuna. She’ll find this interesting. \\(o. = )//

SJ: You kid.

SJ: Anyway, I have news for you. I found Kim Yerin’s tomb.
=====================================

Yerin’s head immediately snapped towards SinB. Maybe it’s like the kind of thing that you do as a reflex, when you feel that someone is looking at your phone and you try to look at the person behind you. Well, probably it is not a reflex for her but that is just her being careful.

Her, being careful, helps a lot on keeping her head above the water anyway. She knows it is. And she knows she will keep it above.

She watched the girl just looking around politely for some seconds before she calmed down. Well, not totally. SinB is probably standing a meter away from her but she still angled her phone in a way that the younger girl wouldn’t see anything on her screen.
 

=====================================

YR: You sure it was hers? Kim Yerin? Not some other person with the same name?SJ: Oh, come on! You have to trust my skills. There are not much people *cough* with the same name, spelling *cough* and birthday living at the same time anyway.
YR: …
YR: Did you just really did that?
SJ: Anyway, I’m kinda doubtful if this is real. I found her tomb easily. Can you believe that? An heiress of a former top company’s ‘place after living’ is just… a simple one… under an isolated tree. There’s not even a fence or something.
SJ: Like literally just the one you usually see in a tomb. I don’t even know if this is just a slab of stone.
YR: Don’t judge. She likes it to be simple. She’s a good kid. YR: Anyway, send me the address.
YR: Detailed. I’ll go there.
SJ: Ooops. Nuh-uh. You won’t go anywhere else without me, especially in that place. It is dangerous for you. You know I can’t lose my job.
YR: Bruh, such an oldie.
SJ: Ssh. I love my job.
YR: Just say the fact that you can’t bear to see me be hurt. You just love me too much.
YR: Anyway, I have a visitor. Let’s just talk later.
SJ: Who’s the visitor?
YR: You’ll eventually know anyways so I won’t tell.
YR: Laters.

=====================================

Yerin thought the other won’t respond already so she put her locked phone on top of the table. But it turned out that she’s wrong. As soon as she called SinB, her phone soon lightened up earning her and SinB’s attention. She almost cursed when her manager’s name – Sojung, popped up with some parts of the message in the notification. She hurriedly took her phone preventing SinB to see more of it.

“W-want some tour?” A question came out of as she clasps her phone near her chest.

That is close. An imaginary sweat form just above her forehead.

“Well, if it’s not a bother?” SinB responds, ending the sentence with an unsure tone and one of her eyebrows raised. She is probably weirded out with the panicking idol with just a message on her phone.

“Alright. Let me just put on some music.” She stood up and went to the farthest corner of the room with a full effort to look calm. She opened a cabinet, which for SinB doesn’t really look like one. She is honestly amazed by how the designs of the cabinet is made. It is intricately made to be camouflaged on the wall. If Yerin didn’t open it she probably wouldn’t know it is a cabinet.

I guess Jung Yerin has a lot of secrets to keep. She thought as she watched the blonde girl set up the music.

She stood up, wanting to have a better view of what is inside the cabinet. Of course, she would be curious of how important the things inside that they are worthy to be kept in a “secret cabinet”. But somehow, she’s a little disappointed to what she saw. It is like a normal cabinet she would have at home. Probably, that of her drawer on her study table. The cabinet is just full of camera, some pile of memory cards, gadgets, some musical speakers with different designs and some old papers, looking like they have been kept there for years already.
 

What are those papers for?

“Wait. I’m looking for a kind of music that would give us a calming vibe.” She stated, though her screen shows up the message Sojung has sent her and SinB had seen it. Well, at least she made up some excuse. Or… is that worse than just saying the truth?
 

=====================================

SJ: Dude, don’t get too close to her if you’re not planning to tell her. I heard the girl got some rough past that I don’t think you’ll ever want to hear.
=====================================

She clicked her tongue. She almost snapped at that message with a reason she cannot fathom. Perhaps, it is because she knows SinB might have seen the message popping up or it might be the content of the message. She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to focus, racking her brain for something to reply.

=====================================
YR: Unnie, I told you that we’ll talk later. She almost saw your message. Anyway, I have to go.
=====================================

She tapped the ‘Home’ shortcut and immediately went to her playlist. She turned her head to send an apologetic smile to SinB before she searched for a certain song. A song that she badly needs now – something to make her day brighter again. With a few scrolls, she found the song. She tapped the play button excitedly and grinned. She found herself turning around expecting a reaction for the younger girl. However, she soon realized that that is just futile.

What are you even expecting? She thought, slowly lowering her head.

But her gaze which met the floor didn’t stay there for more than a second. She soon snapped her head back up to look at SinB. In her peripheral view, she caught a glimpse of the younger girl losing her balance. It looks like the girl lost her consciousness for a millisecond. It might just have been her eyesight or she might have really seen it. And she believed the latter.

She is not wrong.

She observed her for a while to see if she saw it right. And there is SinB squinting her eyes, closing and opening it, as if she is trying to make her vision clearer. She wasted no time and immediately went towards her when she noticed the girl’s arms flailing and her hands grasping anything for support. She might have skipped over the mini table she had at the center of the sofas. She might get some bruises later because the clumsy her isn’t able to get towards the younger girl without bumping her leg on the table. She might have been hurt but that doesn’t matter.

“Are you okay?” Yerin asked softly after she is able to balance the two of them. Her arms are wrapped around the younger girl to prevent her from meeting the floor, just in case she would really lose consciousness. Yerin can’t stop her eyebrows on meeting up in anxiousness. She’s just a human anyway - an idol and at the same time actress. And as a human she just cannot mask her real expressions.

"Y-yes." SinB answered, here she is again, not wanting to be a bother for the someone especially to this girl in front of her.

But as soon as things got clearer for her, the notes struck a string in her brain that it sends shots of images to her. She doesn't even know where it came from. There are a lot of it. All jumbled up – making her confused, making everything look like herself that she has been hiding for so long -- A mess.

She stood there, silent. Her hands unconsciously gripped on the older girl’s shirt as she closed her eyes. Seconds passed – seconds of trying to pacify her thoughts in tumult. Then again, another set of seconds passed and yet her brain is still harboring the commotion inside.

That is when SinB gave up on concealing the pain inside of her. She started to hold her head and grimace in pain. She thought her brain had taken its limit and it couldn’t take in anything anymore.

It hurts.
 

"Why? What’s happening? Are you okay?" Yerin panicked and asked continuously. She wanted to help so badly, in any way.
 

The notes. What are those? Why is it shoving images on my mind?
 

She ignored Yerin’s anxious voice and instead search where the sound is coming from. Her eyebrows met in confusion when she saw that it was coming from Yerin's phone. The phone that Yerin is using a while ago – the one that she just connected to the small speakers on that weirdly hidden cabinet.

I thought she is going to play something that can calm a person. Why is it the opposite thing for me?

Again, without control, without any hints, the images flashed before Sinb's eyes. It just plays through and through, going in and out of her brain, skipping some, and yet repeating the other images in different sequences. It just feels like someone is torturing her.

It’s torture.

It is chaotic. There’s a lot of colors changing within a millisecond. She hears different voices, some are soothing and som