He decided then that the best course of action thus far would be to follow Hwayoung.

"I feel like an idiot," Key whispered to himself. He was hiding behind a marie claire magazine as he sat two tables behind Hwayoung at a food court in the mega mall, on a sunday afternoon. It had been a few days since Key's revelation and all he could think of to do, in order to figure out more of Taemin and Hwayoung's past, would be to follow the girl herself. It wasn't exactly the greatest idea he's ever had, but it's all he could think of, "Why couldn't I have the ability to read minds or something, this is so dumb..."

He had been shadowing her all day, watching her walk around the mall listlessly and never really buying anything. Her face never strayed from the empty, vacant expression she had sported all day and she walked around like she didn't have a reason to be there at all. He couldn't help but feel gross all day following someone like this, but since when was anything he did right? He had to figure out what it was about Hwayoung that was making Taemin so weird.

"This is ridiculous..." Key sighed as he stood up, flopping the magazine onto his table. He really did not want to spend his time lurking around this girl, this was no guarantee of results and he suddenly felt very stupid sitting there for the past hour. He made his way to leave, but then collided with another body. It was like slow motion as he watched the fountain soda drink they had been holding spill all over the other person.

"Oh my god... Key's eyes widened and he immediately slapped a hand over his month but then realized that the person he bumped into was, of course, Hwayoung.

"My shirt.." You could basically feel the miserable tone in the disheveled girl's voice which made Key feel even worse. She sighed before she looked up and did a double take, "Hey, it's you."

"Yeah... Looks like I got you back for spilling my drink on my shirt," Key joked awkwardly. A slight chuckle left the girl's lips, a small smile peaking through her sad expression. Key stared at her then, a feeling of warmth that he hadn't felt for a long time washed over him. It was almost relieving to see her smile. 

"Right, I suppose that this is justice." She took a handkerchief out of her bag and gingerly patted at the spot. After a moment of standing there, him watching her and her failing attempt at cleaning her shirt, she sighed and gave up. She stared up at him and gave him a modest grin, "We're even now. Bye."

He barely uttered a word before she walked off, "She's so weird." Well, that didn't go very well. He sauntered away, troubled that he made no progress or received any visions, despite hoping that being around her would maybe trigger something. Finally giving up, Key left, his footprints black and dusty as his figure faded in the busy crowd.

____________________________


It was late before she decided to go home.

Being home was never the same for Hwayoung after that night she had heard Jinki singing. She was terrified, terrified of being there and hearing him again. She knew she was weak, and she was so afraid of what would happen if she was there too long. She stayed out all day and only came home when she had to.

Thoughts of Taemin raced through her mind. After days of inactivity she came to the conclusion that it definitely was Taemin messing with her. Of course it was, who else? This was his game, to get her to give in and she was determined at this point to try her hardest to fight against him, need be. She was weak, yes, but she was still gonna fight.

However, she wasn't prepared the night she felt someone sitting at the edge of her bed.

Her eyes flew open, her clock shining blearily at her, telling her it was 3:30 AM. Her heartbeat was racing as she tried to make sense of the moment. Someone was sitting at the end of her bed.

"No... no..." She whimpered to herself, biting her fist that had swiftly came to cover . 

Then the singing had started.

Last time, Jinki's song had sounded so unnatural and had echoed through her halls, playing like an old record. Yet this time, as his figure faced away from her, his voice was clear as a bell and gentle all the same. He just sat there, rocking back and forth and singing their song.

Hwayoung couldn't stand it, as she slowly sat up against her better judgement and stared at the figure. It definitely was Jinki, with his broad shoulders and brown hair. He was even wearing the dark blue hoodie she had bought him for his birthday all those years ago. She cried hot, angry tears as her hands balled into fists at her sides. She wanted to scream at him to go away, or force herself to wake up even though she knew that this was not a dream.

She held her breath as his song began to slow until it stopped entirely. She was frozen in her place as his figure just sat there and she continued to stare. She couldn't even hear his breathing.

"How could you?"

Chills ran down her spine, "W-What?"

Just then, his head turned to look at her and Hwayoung suppressed the scream that almost erupted from her chest as an the voice that had come from Jinki's mouth roared and howled nightmarishly. "You let me die!"

He leaped from the end of her bed towards her and her eyes shut as she finally cried out in terror and a hand wrapped around .

 

Honestly, a very short chapter and not much happens and I'm sorry for that! I just had to get through my writer's block and make way for the better chapters! but enjoy anyway!

autokan