A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had to deal with something personal.

Their Psychology class ends early, so Tzuyu packs her things in a relaxed manner despite having her next class on the other side of the building.

Bull. The truth is she just wants to delay her arrival at her art class. 

She didn’t like art classes at all. Her hands were not programmed to do unique and creative things. But their art teacher, Miss Kim, was a likable person despite being strict with requirements, so it isn’t completely unbearable.

When Chaeyoung came, however, she started seeing art in a new light.

The slightly older girl had the knack for anything art related. Whatever she sets her eyes on doing, she does it with ease and passion. The Taiwanese girl has seen her work first hand for so many times, and she knows how mesmerizing Chaeyoung’s hands are when she draws and paints. Seeing Chaeyoung in her element makes even the stoic-looking Chou Tzuyu smile.

When Chaeyoung was painting the black swan displayed in the art room, Tzuyu saw Myoui Mina peeking while smiling. 

But why the hell would she slap her? The hell is wrong with her? She unconsciously scrunches her eyebrows while thinking about it. Does she have an ego–

“Hey? Aren’t you gonna go out?” A sweet low voice interrupts her. Without even looking, Tzuyu knew it was Jihyo. “And are you okay? You seemed deep in thought.”

“It’s nothing, sunbae.” She closes her bag’s zipper before slinging it on her shoulder. “Just some random stuff.” Random my .

“I swear you looked like you’re off to get somebody,” Jihyo mutters while leading the younger girl out of the room. Tzuyu tries her best to act nonchalantly while following her out. “And when will you stop calling me sunbae? I told you, you can call me unnie, sunbae makes me cringe sometimes.”

“But it’s more respectful, and you deserve respect,” Tzuyu says, and the junior can’t help but look away and coo secretly when Tzuyu pouts slightly. Jihyo has never seen the quiet girl do that up close. 

“You can respect me even while calling me unnie.” She insists. “Besides, I’ve asked you to do so. Wouldn’t it be disrespectful if you don’t do what I asked?”

The older girl hears Tzuyu stop walking down the hallway for a while. So, she turns back around to see a contemplative Tzuyu looking at her. She simply smiles in return.

“Okay then,” the younger girl purses her lips, “Jihyo-unnie?”

“See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jihyo beams. Tzuyu can’t help but return it with a smile of her own. So, they continue walking in comfortable silence. 

Since both their classes are in the same wing and dismissed early from their psychology class, the two walk slowly while relishing each other’s presence, a strange calming aura settling them both. Even though Tzuyu was awkward with her senior when they met each other at the convenience store, she learned how to warm up to her immediately. 

Getting to know and being with Jihyo makes Tzuyu so happy, and the latter really doesn’t understand why. 

They reach the stairs leading up to the art and music rooms when they notice flocks of people crowding the way to the garden at the end of the hallway. Curious, Jihyo proceeds there first instead of heading towards their next class. 

Even though she can’t get through, the junior hears panicked whispers from the people.

“Dahyun-unnie?” She hears Tzuyu call out, so she turns and spots Dahyun near the stairs where Tzuyu was standing. From the looks of the sophomore’s slightly unkempt hair, she probably came from the growing crowd she was trying to get past.

“Jihyo-sunbaenim, don’t try getting through, you’ll just have your uniform crumpled with all the people,” Dahyun warns, and with her curiosity still there, she goes near the stairs to ask Dahyun instead.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s completely a mess, sunbae,” Dahyun heaves, “the garden’s being closed for a few weeks. But I got there before the view’s blocked.”

“What exactly happened in the garden, unnie?” Tzuyu demands, her curiosity peeking as well.

“Well,” the sophomore shuffles on her feet, “I don’t know exactly what happened, but from what I can tell, the garden’s trashed.” Jihyo releases a surprised gasp. “There were plants upturned as if strong winds passed by, some small trees were burning too! While some grass patches were covered with ice puddles and stalagmite-looking shards. I’m telling you, it’s a mess.” Dahyun shakes her head.

Jihyo looks back at the crowd and remembers Nayeon and Momo heading to the garden during lunch. She whips her phone out to send a quick text to the senior who didn’t return to the canteen with Momo, a worried look on her face.

“I texted Nayeon and Sana-unnie,” Dahyun adds before Jihyo can send anything. “Sana-unnie isn’t replying, that sorta freaked me out until Nayeon-unnie texted back.”

“What did she say?” Jihyo returns her phone to her bag.

“She said they didn’t know what happened in the garden because they went home, with Sana, Jeongyeon, Mina, and Momo-unnie. Sana-unnie wasn’t feeling well, she said, so her driver picked them all up.”

“They left school in the middle of the day? Just like that? I don’t buy the sick unnie thing. She looked fine a while ago before scrambling off to look for Jeongyeon-sunbae.” Tzuyu crosses her arms while huffing.

“Neither do I, Chewy, but with her not replying I don’t know what to think.”

The students suddenly disperse when a teacher sends them away, so the trio heads up to the second floor quickly to avoid being spotted. 

“First, the alley, now this? This school’s haunted.”

“Aren’t they gonna do anything about it?”

“They aren’t even doing anything for Son Chaeyoung-ssi, what makes you think they’ll do anything about these destroyed areas?”

The students continued to murmur even when they were dispersing. Hearing them makes Tzuyu sad. They had a point; the school was silent with Chaeyoung, they’ll probably do the same with this. It makes her angry, but what can she do?

Among the crowd, she spots Yerim heading towards their homeroom instead of the art room where their next class would be.

“Yerim…?” She calls out. The said girl turns around, giving a smile to her sunbaes. “Aren’t we having art classes?”

“Oh, haven’t you heard? Miss Kim didn’t show up to class today.” Yerim shrugs. “So, we’re heading back to our room, wanna come with me?”

“Oh, I’ll follow you there, thanks.” Tzuyu simply smiles. Her classmate then heads off to the direction of their room. The three simply stare at her direction.

“That’s weird,” Jihyo says after a while. “Miss Kim never misses class even when she’s sick.”

“Come to think of it, Miss Hwang was all panicky this morning with her phone in her hand before our English class.” Dahyun quips, scrunching her eyebrows. “If this was any other day, I wouldn’t mind, but what is going on?”

Tzuyu simply shrugs, bothered as well.

. That’s the only thought that was running in Jeongyeon’s mind as she lay painfully by the stairs of their home. Her eyes open a bit, and she sees him entering their home. Chaeyoung was hiding somewhere in the living room, though she doesn’t know where.

Run, she wants to say, yet it was too painful for her to move now. 

“Ah, you can’t run from me for long, kids.” The man’s sinister voice rings in her head. He stands near Jeongyeon’s unmoving figure. “As much as I want to deal with you, I’m here for something more important.” He then turns to the direction of the living room. 

Chaeyoung! When his back turned to Jeongyeon, she slowly crawled towards the nearest table and took some charms with her.

The younger sister remains hiding by the sofa, shaking in fear. The figure slowly creeps in the living room and she covers to prevent sounds from escaping.

“Chaeyoungie.” That voice sends shivers down her spine as it rings in her head in familiarity. “Come out wherever you are, Chaeyoungie.” She bites down a gasp in realization.

Dad.

A hand suddenly grabs her collar from behind, taking her by surprise. She’s then lifted from her crouching position to the wall, revealing evil red eyes staring at her. She involuntarily shakes in fear.

“Hello, Chaeyoung.” He flashes his sinister smile.

“Dad.” She croaks, her eyes looking for any sign of Jeongyeon, but gets scared when she sees none.

“Your half-sister is not here for you, at the moment, so I’ll be taking you.” He makes her stare at his eyes, and the freshman gets drowsy. Even though she fights it, she falls asleep in the hands of her father.

“Good girl.” He whispers before flinging her to his shoulders.

Before he can step, however, balls of flame assault his back. He groans in pain. Jeongyeon moves as quickly as she can to catch Chaeyoung from falling. With the younger girl on her shoulders, she runs even though she’s in pain.

She doesn’t