7^th February 2017, 8.30PM

The young woman stood outside the Da Vinci Café with worry written all over her features. She hesitated. She wanted to enter and talk to Kai but at the same time, she was worried. What if Kai refused to listen to her? She let out a small sigh.

She did not want to make a wasted trip.

Sooyoung entered the café and the bells jingled, announcing her entrance. Ever since she found out that Kris was missing, the whole company was told to search for the young heir. A police report had been made by Kris’s father and the police was out there searching for him too.

Unfortunately, Sooyoung had to keep the text message from Mirror a secret from the police. She did not want her dirty little secret from ten years ago to be exposed.

Seeing that she was receiving strange glances from people inside the café, the woman quickly took a seat at an empty table. She looked at the menu on the table with her mind elsewhere.

“May I take your order please?” the person that she wanted to meet asked, snapping her back to reality.

Sooyoung looked up, surprised. “Uh,” she said uncertainly. Using her wits, she immediately covered up, acting like she was not staring off into space by saying, “Do you have anything to recommend me?”

An amused smile made its way to the waiter’s lips. Kai knew that the young woman in front of him was trying to act nonchalant and he decided to play along. “Well, that depends. Would you like to eat or drink?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

The secretary cursed the waiter silently for being as witty as she was. Gritting her teeth, she said, “A drink is just fine with me.”

Kai nodded thoughtfully. “Well, do you like cold or hot drinks?” he asked again purposefully.

“Hot,” she said brusquely.

“Then, I would recommend our hot chocolate to warm your body. It is sweet but at the same time a little bit bitter. I would recommend coffee but then, you won’t be able to sleep later,” the guy replied smoothly.

Sooyoung just let out a sigh. “Hot chocolate it is,” she responded tiredly. Just as the waiter was about to go away, she said, “Wait.”

Kai stopped in his tracks and turned around. “What is it?” he asked almost impatiently.

“I think the both of us know that I’m not here to grab a drink,” the secretary said quietly. The guy raised his eyebrow quizzically but did not comment. “Why don’t you have a seat? I’m sure Victoria unnie doesn’t mind you taking a break for a short while for something urgent. Besides, there aren’t any new customers yet. Even if there is, I’m sure your co-worker can handle them.”

Looking around to make sure that there really weren’t any customers yet, the waiter sat down on the seat opposite her slowly. “What is so urgent?” he asked bluntly, getting straight to the point.

If Sooyoung was surprised by his bluntness, she did not show it. Instead, just like him, she went straight to the point. “Kris is missing,” she stated tonelessly.

At the statement, the guy asked in a ridiculous tone, “And what does that have anything to do with me? I don’t even know him much less talk to him.”

Sighing, she took out her phone and showed him the text message that she had received from Mirror earlier. Upon reading the message, she noticed that the guy had gone pale. “Who’s Mirror?” he asked, feigning ignorance. “I don’t see what this has anything to do with me.”

Sooyoung let out another sigh and leaned against her seat. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the younger guy in front of her menacingly. “Don’t act like you don’t know, Kai-sshi,” she said with a tint of warning in her tone. “You and I both know who Mirror is.”

“I don’t,” the guy insisted stubbornly.

“Ten years ago, you did something horrible, didn’t you?” she asked.

“I didn’t,” he denied it without a trace of lying in his face.

A humorless chuckle escaped her lips before she could stop herself. “Of course you didn’t,” she said bitterly. “It must’ve not been horrible to you. It must have been the right thing to do, huh?”

Kai leaned closer to the older woman and looked into her eyes challengingly. None of them said a word for a moment. The staring contest lasted for a few seconds before he blinked at last. “It is the right thing to do,” he responded with no remorse in his voice. “I’m sick of being controlled by that , Sooyoung-sshi, and I’m sure so are you. That’s why you, just like me, decided to put the curse on her that night. If she’s alive, she’s just going to torture us more and I don’t want that.”

“How old were you when the incident happened – fourteen? Or were you fifteen?” Sooyoung asked trying another way to make sure that the guy in front of her went to Seoul Amusement Park tomorrow night.

“Thirteen,” he replied, gritting his teeth.

“Wow, you were a kid at that time but yet, your heart was already dark by then, huh?” she provoked.

“Her heart was darker than mine.”

“Oh, that I agree,” she replied almost immediately. “Mirror is back, Kai-sshi. Mirror told us that there would be a price to pay if we activated the curse, right? What if we’re paying the price now? Kris is within Mirror’s clutches, Kai-sshi, and soon, you’d be within Mirror’s clutches too if you don’t cooperate.”

“Fine, then,” the guy gave in at last. “I’ll go to Seoul Amusement Park tomorrow night at eleven.”

The young woman nodded in approval. “Good, then,” she replied. “I’ve called Yoona and informed her about this and she’s going to tell Luhan about it. Do you have any of the other five contact number?”

“Sulli should be here around eleven at night and you can talk to her yourself,” Kai replied almost rudely before standing up. “If there isn’t anything else, I’m going to continue doing my work.” With that, he left the secretary’s table.

8^th February 2017, 12.15AM

I remember when we broke up…

That was the first thing that Baekhyun heard when he woke up. The song continued and he groaned, wanting his phone to shut the hell up. He was in no mood to talk to anyone as he was so damn sleepy. He mentally cursed the person who was calling him in the middle of the night.

We are never ever, ever getting back together…

Hearing the chorus of the song, Baekhyun immediately sat up on his bed. It was that song. It was the song that Krystal had made it into his ringtone whenever Krystal called since his best friend was currently addicted to it.

Only Krystal had her own special ringtone in his phone so that he would be able to tell that Krystal was calling him.

Baekhyun grabbed his phone that was placed on the bedside table. He answered it quickly.

“Hello?” he asked groggily as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. Well, he would do anything for Krystal, even waking up in the middle of the night just to answer her phone call. “Krystal-ah, is there anything wrong?”

“Were you sleeping, Baekhyun oppa?” Krystal asked her voice was laced with concern.

The young man let out a sigh. “No, I was waiting for your call in the middle of the night while drinking coffee,” he replied sarcastically. “Of course, I was sleeping. What do you expect?”

He looked at the clock and found out that it read 12.18AM. “What’s up, Krystal-ah? Did anything happen to you?” he asked softly

A quiet sigh was emitted in the other side of the line. “No, nothing happened to me. But something will happen to me if I don’t call you and ask you for a favor,” she answered, sounding tired.

“What kind of favor?” he asked what other people would ask when they faced with the same situation.

“Can you come to Seoul Amusement Park at eleven tonight? Oh, you and Taeyeon unnie exchanged phone numbers, right? Can you call her and ask her to come, too? Oh, ask her if she knows how to contact Taemin and ask him to come there, too,” Krystal requested.

“Why do you need us to come to Seoul Amusement Park, Krystal-ah?” Baekhyun ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to process what Krystal had said to him.

A pause ensued and Baekhyun waited for her answer in silence. After a few moments, she answered at last, “Kris oppa is missing. No, he has been kidnapped.”

“And what does that have anything to do with us?”

“You see, Sooyoung unnie received a text message from an unlisted number, saying that if she wants to see Kris still breathing, she must gather everyone who had received the exclusive invitation to Seoul Amusement Park at eleven tonight,” Krystal explained the situation to him. “That’s why I ask you to come to the amusement park and tell Taeyeon about it.”

“Did the person who sent her the text message tell her who he or she is?” he asked, holding his breath as he waited for Krystal to answer him.

“The person didn’t,” she replied almost immediately. “But he or she goes by the name ‘Mirror’.”

A chill went down his spine as soon as he heard the word ‘Mirror’. He sat up straight and his eyes widened in horror. His hand was shaking and he trembled involuntarily.

“I…” he started to say but he was too terrified to continue his sentence. Taking in a deep breath, he said as calmly as possible, “I’ll call Taeyeon noona later. It’s midnight and she’s most probably sleeping.”

8^th February 2017, 9.30AM

Taeyeon observed her surroundings as Chen knocked the door to SHINee’s dorm. There was an old woman who was staring at them while narrowing her eyes at the front of the apartment next door. There were some plants, fake or not she could not differentiate it.

While looking around, the door to the idols’ dorm swung open and Minho peered at them cautiously. Chen flashed his badge briefly at the idol and the idol immediately let out a sigh of relief. He opened the door wider and let them in.

The two police officers entered and Taeyeon observed her surroundings again. There was a shelf filled with awards that the idols had received. For a place full of guys living there, the dorm was quite neat and clean. The pillows on the sofa were organized. There were no random things lying everywhere.

Minho brought them to the sofa and the two of them sat down. “I’ll call the other members,” he announced before scurrying off.

A few minutes later, Taemin, Minho and Onew emerged from their rooms and sat at the other sofa in the living room and Key came a few moments later while carrying a tray that contained two cups of coffee. He served the two police officers politely before joining the other SHINee members.

“I’m Officer Chen,” Chen introduced himself. “And this is my co-worker, Officer Taeyeon. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

As Onew opened his mouth to introduce himself, Taeyeon interrupted him, “You don’t have to tell us your names. We already know it, considering how popular all of you are.”

The four members just nodded absentmindedly. “We were told that you want to ask us some questions about Jonghyun hyung,” Minho said, getting straight to the point. “Ask away.”

Taeyeon bit back the smile that was about to appear on her lips. She was glad that they would go straight to the point without wasting time. “Before Jonghyun was murdered, did you notice anything strange about his behavior?” she asked. “I want each and every one of you to answer me – not only one of you on behalf of the others.”

“Jonghyun had been secretive for the past few months after he had broken up with Se Kyung,” Onew answered after a moment of thinking to himself. “He was always with his phone and would come back late at night sometimes.”

Chen nodded, encouraging them to keep going as he wrote down the details in his notebook.

“I didn’t notice anything strange about him,” Key answered shortly. “Except that he was extra happy lately.”

Minho nodded, agreeing to ’s statement. “He seemed to be happy but he wouldn’t tell us what was happening in his life. Jonghyun hyung usually told us everything about his life,” he added.

Everybody turned to look at Taemin now. The youngest fiddled with his fingers nervously. “I’m not sure, actually,” he answered quietly. “Hyung was rarely at home lately and when I asked him about it, he told me that it was a secret. He told me not to worry. He said that it was a way of getting over Se Kyung noona.”

Taeyeon nodded. “When was the last time you saw him?” she asked.

“5^th February 2017, six in the evening,” all of them answered at the same time.

“We were having dinner and he was getting ready to meet someone, or so he said,” Onew elaborated. “That was the last time we saw him.”

“You said that Jonghyun told you everything about his life, right?” Taeyeon asked and everyone nodded. “Did he tell you about Park Luna, I mean, Park Sunyoung?”

Confused looks were exchanged and Taeyeon got her answer already. “Do you have anything that you think it’s important to tell us?” she asked, ending the questioning session.

The four remaining members just shook their heads. Chen stopped scribbling notes on his notebook and gave them a smile. “Thank you for your cooperation but can we have your phone numbers in case we have any more questions to ask?”

They nodded and soon their individual numbers were written on his notebook. “I’ll send you downstairs. It would have been rude of us not to you downstairs,” Key said standing up. The other members looked puzzled but they just shrugged it off.

“You don’t have to,” Taeyeon replied sounding almost curt.

“I insist,” the young man said stubbornly and soon, they went out of the dorm. Taeyeon noticed that the old woman was no longer standing right in front of the apartment next door.

They headed downstairs in silence before Key decided to break it. “Jonghyun hyung was seeing someone,” he said quietly. “I don’t know if this is an important detail or not but then, I have a feeling that you have to know. You see, I was the closest to him and he told me almost everything about his life – even about Park Luna. He told me not to tell the other members about it but he was seeing an older woman.”

“Did he tell you–” Taeyeon started to say but the young man interrupted her.

“No, he didn’t tell me who the person was,” he answered.

Soon, they reached Chen’s car and the owner of the car said, “Thank you for sharing this piece of information with us, Key-sshi.”

The young man nodded and the two police officers entered the car. As soon as Taeyeon entered the car, her phone rang. A wave of surprise washed over her as soon as she saw who was calling her.

Byun Baekhyun.

Author's Note:

Today's update is quite short and sorry for any grammatical errors. This has not been edited yet. Before you skip the author's note, please cancel that intention of yours. There is something that I need to clarify and it's very important.

Some of you are confused whether Mirror is telling Yoona and Luhan to get back together or not and whether Mirror is telling Krystal to date Baekhyun or not. The answer is Mirror is telling them not to get back together and not to date Baekhyun.

Let's have a small grammar lesson.

Get back together with Xi Luhan, either you or he will end up just like them.

This is the message that Yoona received. This is a warning not to get back together with Luhan. If Mirror wants Yoona to get back together with Luhan, the message would be something like this:

Get back together with Xi Luhan or you or he will end up just like them.

There must be an or in the sentence because it's something like: Get back together with Xi Luhan or else. See? This means that Mirror is threatening Yoona to get back together with Luhan or Mirror will do something bad to either him or her.

As for Krystal's message.

Date Byun Baekhyun and either you or he will suffer the same fate as them.

If Mirror wants Krystal to date Baekhyun, Mirror will say:

Date Byun Baekhyun or you or he will suffer the same fate as them.

Just like what I said above, there must be an or if Mirror wants Krystal to date Baekhyun because it's something like: Date Byun Baekhyun or else.

I don't know if you understand my grammar lesson or not but the conclusion is: Mirror is not telling Yoona to get back together with Luhan and Mirror is not telling Krystal to date Baekhyun.

Thank you for reading, subscribing, commenting and upvoting! Enjoy reading the next chapter! :)