--Author's POV--

Where am I? Those were the first words that popped into Minri's mind as she opened her eyes. She was resting upon a soft white bed in a white room filled with blank curtains and the scent of disinfectant. Minri's nose wrinkled as the strong scent hit her senses. She realized that she was in the school's clinic. Once again, she wondered what she was doing there.

"Are you finally awake?"

Her attention turned to the person sitting beside her. Jaejoong was seated in a chair beside her, a warm smile and concerned eyes. His hand was placed in her own. Minri cautiously pulled her hand away from his. Jaejoong seemed to be dissatisfied with her guarded behavior. Minri tried to compose her face as her mind suddenly drifted to Taemin's previous words of Jaejoong. He was the reason . . . my sister died. He's a liar, Minri.

"Why am I here?" she asked quietly.

Jaejoong reached over to brush a strand of hair away from her face, but Minri flinched away. His face became stony as he withdrew his hand and kept a distance from her.

"I brought you here. You were acting strange at lunch, so I brought you to the clinic. You were unconscious. How are you feeling now?"

"I was unconscious?" she repeated, jolted.

He nodded. "You were. You look better now."

"I feel better too," Minri said. "But I have a small headache right now."

"Maybe you should rest longer," he advised. "You should only go back to class if you're feeling well enough."

"Is it already time for class?"

"Nae, last class of the day, to be more accurate." Jaejoong corrected.

"What?!" Minri gasped, immediately sitting up in bed. Jaejoong reached out his hand, but decided to pull back.

"Don't go if you're not up for it," he said. "It's for your own health."

"I'm fine," said Minri, getting out of bed. "And I'm well enough to go to class."

She was already walking out the door when Jaejoong grabbed her arm. She paused and glanced at him, waiting for him to speak. He was still staring at her sadly.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"What?"

Jaejoong shook his head. "Nothing. Go to class. And be safe."

Minri nodded and walked out the door. She turned around once more. He was still standing by the door, watching her. With a beholden look, Minri spoke. "Thank you, Jaejoong-sshi."

He nodded and gestured for her to leave. As she disappeared down the hallway, Jaejoong pondered why Minri's face had looked so strange when she saw him next to her when she woke up. He recognized the expression as fear.

~ ~ ~

After class, Minri decided to go back to the art room. Miss Lee was still there, going through paperwork. She waved at her student before focusing back on her desk. Minri walked toward the back of the room, where Miss Lee had kept her artwork for the competition. Miss Lee had advised Minri to keep her paintings in the back to make sure that they didn't get bent or ruined. Also, it would give Minri more space in her locker, which was where she had originally thought of keeping her art piece.

Now, Minri's eyes traveled through the shelves of her art teacher's room. Searching through the last names, Minri was suddenly alarmed to realize that her painting was nowhere in sight. After looking through the same pile, as well as other piles in case of dislocation, Minri began to panic. Where did my painting go? she wondered. She walked out of the small room and went to question Miss Lee.

"Seongsaeng Lee," she called, walking up to the occupied teacher. Miss Lee looked up and readjusted her glasses.

"Nae, Miss Park?"

Minri took a deep breath. "I can't seem to find my painting. The one for the competition."

She'd been working on it for several weeks already. It was an image of cherry blossoms blooming next to a city landscape. Miss Lee had been the one who encouraged her to paint cherry blossoms for the contest. She'd said that her flowers were flawless and surely impressing enough to receive a great award in the final competition. However, now her work was missing.

"Oh no!" Miss Lee gasped, her eyes horrified with dread. "Have you looked through everything?"

Minri nodded. "Nae, I've looked in every spot possible. There isn't any sign of my painting. I don't know where it's gone to." The desperation in her voice was obvious. She'd worked hard on the painting, making sure to make every detail worthy. She'd spent hours and hours thinking of colors that would match the background, the watercolor that she could use, the style of the cherry blossoms and the way they would float down to the ground. Now it was al gone.

Miss Lee scurried toward the back room, hoping to look for it. Minri already knew she wouldn't find anything. Even so, the two of them searched the whole room all over again. As Minri predicted, the painting was gone. Miss Lee seemed to be even more disappointed than Minri was. She kept on babbling about how wonderful it had been, how precise each part of the picture was, how the colors seemed to be in harmony with one another.

"It was going to be such a great painting!" she shouted, giving Minri a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Miss Park. I should have taken more care into keeping it safe for you."

"Ani, Miss Lee," Minri opposed. "You did the best you could to keep it safe. What's done is done."

"I know, I know. You're right," the dismayed teacher sighed. "Well, you can still create a new painting. There's still time. Make anything you want. As long as you get to paint something, I would be grateful."

Minri bit her lip. "I'll think about it, Seongsaeng-nim. Thanks for helping me look for it. Have a nice day."

"I hope you will consider making something new!" Miss Lee called after her.

As she slowly walked away, Minri wondered what had happened to her piece. She last remembered working on it after school the day before. Now suddenly it was gone like the wind. Maybe I left it somewhere else? Or maybe I dropped it somewhere while walking home one time? All these possibilities were plausible. However, she definitely remembered leaving her painting in Miss Lee's room. Well, what can I do now? I don't even know if I have enough ideas to create a new painting for the competition...

~ ~ ~

"Burn it. Burn it well. Until every little piece of it is ruined."

"Araso, Heena," Vivien answered loyally. She clicked the lighter open. Instantly, the smell of fire coiled through everyone's nose.

Senni's  fingers shook as she held the matchstick in front of Vivien to light up. Heena glowered at the girl and stepped on her foot, making her wince.

"Are you going to stay still or not?" Heena snapped loudly.

"Mianhe," Senni whispered, trying to stop her shaking finger. "I'm just a little nervous is all, Heena."

"Nervous?" Heena repeated. "What? Are you too much of a goody-goody to do this? If so, you don't have to. We can stop being friends and you can go back to being a sore loser. It's all up to you."

Senni cringed at her harsh words. She shook her head. "A-Aniya, I don't want to. L-Let's just start, Vivien."

"Who's the one who was being slow?" Vivien asked, frowning at her. "I'm ready as always."

"That's a good girl," Heena smirked. She flicked her hand in the air. "Now burn it."

They stood there silently as the fire struck the cherry blossoms on the paper. The fire crawled all over the painting, turning everything into black smoke and dust. Just as the fire reached the signature on the bottom of the painting, Heena held up a hand.

"Stop the fire!" she barked.

The girls flung the torn painting onto the ground and stomped the fire out, leaving dark footprints on it. Heena bent down and picked up the painting. Everything was wrinkled, torn, dirty and burnt. The only thing left was the single signature written on the bottom. In delicate handwriting, the signature was Park Minri.

With a sneering look of contentment, Heena handed the ruined work to Seena.

"Put it inside of her locker," she ordered.

"...Eh?"

"Put it inside of her locker!" Heena screeched.

Senni nodded quickly and disappeared into the school building. Vivien glanced at Heena nervously.

"Do you think she'll manage to do that? You know how dumb she can be." Vivien said.

"This is a test," Heena replied assuredly. "Don't worry, she 'll do fine."

~ ~ ~

--Taemin's POV--

As I headed back to my locker, I smelled the faintest scent of burnt material. I scrunched up my nose and sniffed again. It was coming from my locker. I twirled my combination of numbers on my locker and opened it up. I was shocked to find a burned piece of paper crumpled up on the corner of my locker. Picking it up, I carefully unwrinkled it and dusted the dirt away. The only thing I could see was handwriting on the bottom of the paper. I immediately recognized her handwriting. And her signature.

Why is Minri's painting in my locker? And why is it burnt?