1st Chapter : "beginnings"

Nothing was worse than having to wake up to that radar alarm, much less at 7 in the morning.

At least, that's what this particular teenager was thinking the moment her phone went off.

She groaned loudly, turning around in her bed to reach the phone on her nightstand and finally shut down the loud alarm she hated so much. She didn't know why she put that one when she knew how much she loathed it.

Yawning, Jeongyeon rested her head back on her pillow and closed her eyes, ready to fall back asleep. Or at least try to. (She should’ve known better).

She enjoys her peace that lasts for merely a few seconds later, before an uninvited someone bursts in her room. And thus, she groans again, but a for a totally different reason.

The teenage girl hides her face in her pillow. She doesn't think she has ever whined like this since she was five. She knew the second she heard her door open, that she wouldn't be able to get what she wanted and needed. That one thing being: sleep.

"I heard you shut down that alarm young lady." The voice was deep and husky.

She didn't have the time to utter an answer before the covers were rudely removed from her.

"There's no way I'm letting you be late on your first day of school" the man moves his hands to grab the fabric resting under her head and quickly pulls it away. "Wakey wakey sleeping beauty".

The young brunette's head falls on the mattress and somehow, that was enough to make her give up.

Sitting up on her bed, she slowly turns her head to face the man standing with folded arms and a victorious smile on his face.

Her brown eyes study him for a while. She's never seen him up this early, after all, he took night shifts at the hospital so he'd always end up coming home pretty late at night. And if she didn't have so much trouble sleeping at night, then she doesn't think she'd ever hear him come back from the hospital. It only meant that he woke up early for her, and that made her feel some type of way (it must be happiness).

If he was going to make an effort, then she didn’t see why she shouldn't and wouldn't do the same.

"Have you never heard of this concept called: knocking on the door? You should try it sometimes" She speaks, only resulting into widening his smile.

"Maybe"

Her uncle wasn't too young nor too old. He was in his early thirties, and needless to say, he was handsome. Just like her father, he had chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes. Both men looked so much alike, and resembled each other in much more than physical similarities. They were both the most responsible yet childish people she’s ever met, and that, was enough of a unique trait to differ them from anyone else.

Smiling at the thought, she finally left her bed and stood up. At the same time, the front door of the apartment slammed shut.

"And that, must be Momo" He says, turning to face the opened bedroom door.

Soon enough, different words fill the emptiness of the small apartment.

"Gooood morning losers!"

The newcomer steps inside the room, pink backpack hanging on one shoulder and a bag of donuts proudly being shown off in a raised hand (they were the only reason Haneul decided to give her a spare key).

"Haneul!" She lets out once her eyes rest on her best friend's uncle "I almost forgot how good you looked without glasses on"

"Are you saying that I don't look good with them?" He replies in a playful tone.

Momo fakes a shocked expression, making Jeongyeon’s lips curl into a smile. She enjoyed this sort of banter.

"Me? Never in a million years!"

Haneul hung his head low and shook it, trying to suppress the amused smile fighting to appear on his lips.

"You girls better get ready and leave soon. Breakfast is on the table" Not adding another word, the uncle exits the room, leaving the two girls alone.

“Great! More donuts for us!”

With one foot, Momo closes the door, then turns to face her childhood and best friend: Yoo Jeongyeon.

"Damn, you look awful" She states, a smile still glued on her face so the brunette doesn’t take her too seriously (honestly, she never does).

"Tell me something I don't know though"

Jeongyeon walks closer to her wardrobe. In the process, her eyes catch her reflection in the mirror and she’s met with the same image she's seen of herself for almost four weeks now.

Chestnut brown and messy locks, a tired face with huge bags under each eye and more visible cheekbones each passing day.

"I'm guessing you didn't sleep well yesterday either"

It's true. For weeks now, Jeongyeon would either not close an eye at night or was bothered by inapprehensible nightmares. It was a lose lose situation, and it all started after her accident.

"Again, tell me something I don't know though"

Opening her wardrobe, she starts fishing for clothes and eventually finds a good attire.

"Well" Starts Momo as she takes a seat on the edge of the bed. She thinks of something to say and her eyes widen when she finally does "Pigeons don't fart"

Jeongyeon grimaces, nose scrunching and eyes squinting when she turns around to gaze at a way too proud looking Momo.

“Not gonna ask how you know that”

The two girls ate the breakfast Haneul prepared for them and after they both brushed their teeth (and yes, Momo has an extra tooth brush for her in Jeongyeon's bathroom), they hopped inside Momo's car and headed to the building they'd have to visit all year long : high school.

The blonde girl watched as Jeongyeon leaned her head against the window. She slowly closed her eyes, even thought she wasn't really tired. She just didn't want to risk falling asleep during class. Now that would be disastrous.

"Was it the nightmares you had last night?" Asks a worried Momo.

Jeongyeon nods her head.

"Tell me about it"

She suddenly opens her eyes as the images barge unexpectedly in her head, quickening her heartbeats.

They weren't anything too shocking, but for some reason, they bothered her and made her feel uncomfortable, almost scared.

"That's the problem. I can't" She answers after seconds of silence.

"What do you mean? You don't remember them?" Momo raises her voice, something she usually did when she was either angry, excited, or in this case, curious.

"No. I do. It's just that..." The brunette runs a hand in her hair in frustration, "I only see… darkness"

The car stopped in the school's parking, but neither of the girls moved to leave the vehicle. Momo kept her hands on the steering wheel but turned her head to face her best friend.

"Darkness?" She repeats with a frown.

It sounds like a question, and Jeongyeon knew she was asking herself it. Momo was going to figure this out herself, it was something she always did.

"Yeah."

Jeongyeon  tries her best to focus, thinking that maybe, she just kept forgetting an important part of the nightmare, but nothing came. It was useless. She lets out a frustrated sigh before throwing her head back in defeat.

The two girls stay silent for a little while, both enjoying each other's company, until they decide to get out of the vehicle and face the outside world.

To be honest, Jeongyeon didn't want to leave the comfort of the car, stay away from all the other students outside and Momo had figured which is why she tried to delay the inevitable as much as she could. She knew Jeongyeon wouldn’t want to deal with the pity looks she was sure she'd get, but she figured it'd happen one day or another, so why not accelerate the process and just get it over with already?

And it's exactly what happened. The second she stepped out of the car, students turned their heads in her direction. It got worse when the two girls were getting closer and closer to the large building's entrance. They started whispering, as if she couldn't hear them (it looked like Momo couldn’t).

Fortunately, they made it to the crowded high school hallways, and no one came up to them.

The two girls walked in direction of their lockers, that happened to be next to each other, with Momo trying to lift Jeongyeon’s mood by making up stupid jokes.

"What kind of bagel can fly?"

Momo was at her fifth or sixth joke, when something caught her eye.

"A plain one?" Reluctantly answers Jeongyeon.

Her smile fades to be replaced by a confused expression when she realizes that Momo had stopped walking and wasn't looking at her anymore.

She follows her gaze and ends up facing a certain locker. The sight quickly brings a lump to .

Jeongyeon glances at her best friend and watches as she walks closer to it before she joins her.

They were now both standing in front of the candles that the students had certainly put. Jeongyeon's eyes scanned the pictures attached to the blue locker as if she was just discovering them (she knew them by heart, her brother had them all over his walls), when she landed on a particular one. A picture she remembered seeing countless times inside his locker. That’s probably why it was there now. A picture both her and her best friend were in.

The shirtless boy with the messy wet hair and perfect smile was standing between both of them, with an arm wrapped around each one's shoulders.

Jeongyeon would forever remember the day Chris made them skip school to go to the beach instead and the scolding he had gotten from their mom for doing so. It was the first and last time she has ever missed classes.

An uneasy feeling settled in her chest.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry so bad, but she just couldn't. It's not that the tears wouldn't roll down her cheeks, it's just that, she didn't know what she was feeling. Sometimes she even, wondered if she ever felt sad.

For s sake!

She should feel sad! She should be crying all the tears in her body right now, but she isn't and she didn’t! She lost all her family during that car accident and she still hasn't shed a single tear.

Jeongyeon was angrier against herself than anything else...including being sad.

The brunette breathed heavily and glanced at her left to make sure Momo was alright.

"Are you okay?" She asks in a worried tone.

Momo probably cried when she learned about their death...

"I should be the one asking you that question." Replies the blonde haired teenager.

She faintly smiles, holding all of the emotions in. She was strong, there was no way she'd break in front of everybody. She already had her moments of grief, she couldn’t allow it to go any longer, she knew  he wouldn’t want that for her either.

"Don’t say nonsense like that. It was always the three of us since we were four." Insists Jeongyeon, grabbing Momo 's hand in hers.

She didn’t exactly lose all of her family in that accident. She lost her father, her mother, her twin brother, and herself certainly but she still had Haneul and Momo. They were her family too.

She pulls her away from the lockers and ignores the looks the students were giving them.

"I miss him" Blurts out the younger one as they were walking, "I miss them all"

Of course she’d miss him. Unlike Jeongyeon, Chris wasn't Momo’s brother. He was more than that to her. He was the boy she was madly in love with, and he died before she could tell him about her feelings.

"Me too"

The words difficultly leave Jeongyeon’s mouth, and she found herself wondering if she was lying.

It happened a lot after that first day. Her feeling of being watched and taken care of, or to describe it more accurately, the feeling of her insides bursting into rather warm and reassuring flames, a heat that would integrate every cell in her body but would soon cool off with an ice cold breeze, calming her,  whispering to her that this was familiar, that this was okay, that she should let it in.

That day was the first time that feeling enveloped the brunette, and as she heated up, her neck automatically snapped to her right and that was also the first time she's ever seen them 

They were obviously new students, because she didn't recall seeing them last year and she would've surely remembered faces like theirs if she already did. The two of them were ridiculously gorgeous, and both their gazes were directed at her.

Her brown eyes studied the beautiful tall and tan skinned girl first.

She was standing in front of the row of lockers, holding a backpack on one shoulder. From where she was standing, Jeongyeon could see her bright amber eyes and couldn't help but wonder how come they were shinning so bright inside school hallways. She couldn’t choose a word to qualify them, struggling between three different ones: fascinating, beautiful or terrifying.

Jeongyeon didn't let that fact disturb her. She soon realized that the girl was looking at her with that same serious expression and that she knew she was staring as well.

Embarrassed, she quickly looked away, but her eyes only ended up landing on the other one.

The girl standing right after, leaning against the lockers, left foot against the metallic surface, was most certainly the most beautiful creature Jeongyeon's ever laid eyes on. Her blonde locks fell skillfully on her shoulders, and she doesn't think she's ever seen a jaw so perfectly sculpted. Her brown eyes locked with the girl's dark ones. The latter smirked before leaning into the friend next to her.

The last thing Jeongyeon saw before the couple disappeared behind a huge amount of students, was amber eyes fixed on her, while their owner listened to whatever the blonde one was whispering in her ear.