There were whispers already in the morning, but it escalated at noon. I packed my stuff and grabbed two books and was ready to head back.

“Haven’t you heard….she’s a killer!”

“Yes, yes I heard she killed her biological parents. The parent’s she staying with are actually Jessica’s parents and they adopted her…”

“No wonder she looks so cold… I’ve always known that there’s something wrong with her…”

I turned around to the three girls and noticed that their eyes were fixated on me. Their lips immediately tightened, just as four guys appeared alongside the corridor.

They belonged to another school. Complete with dyed hair, piercings, and a sprawling set of tattoos, they looked like any regular gangsters fooling around when one of them bumped into the group of girls intentionally.

“Hey, you bumped into us.” The leader pushed the girl closest to them to the school gates.

The girl immediately apologised profusely, however, another stronger girl from their group stood up, “It was obvious that You bumped into us first. Why should we apologise to you?”

“Really? So, I guess it’s fine if I do this then,” The guy said and was about to raise his hand to give the girl a slap when another girl pushed him away forcefully out of self-defense. The four guys were about to give the girls a hard time when I sighed.

“Stop it,” my voice was clear and even. It was obvious from the start. Who they truly belonged to. Their abrupt appearance gave them away.

The leader of the group turned to look at me slowly, “What did you say?”

He was about to raise his fist to hit me, and I thought I saw a movement behind me, when the guy behind him pulled him back hurriedly, and whispered something into his ears. His eyes widened before giving me a full bow, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it’s You.”

I waved and shook my head, “It’s okay. Tell Her, that if she pulls this stunt one more time, I’ll get angry.”

I didn’t need any ‘protection’…not yet. Taeyeon didn’t need to do this.

They bowed again, “Understood. Miss Hwang,” and disappeared in a haste just as someone behind me clapped twice.

I turned to look at Yuri who had witnessed everything; she appeared impressed, “Impressive. You’ve settled it by yourself. I wanted to help you but it looks like you didn’t need any help at all…”

Ignoring her, I helped the girl who had fallen down from the fight. She looked at me with distrust, and I took my hand back almost nonchalantly and shrugged, “If you wish to stay on the ground, fine.” I paused and look at them carefully, “But just like what you’ve done to protect yourself just now…. what I did, in the past – it shouldn’t be judged then, if what I’ve done was an act of self-defense. Understood?”

They looked at me, confused for a while, before finally realising what I was talking about. The school news bulletin. They nodded their heads firmly once more before disappearing in a girlish haste.

1 down, who knew how many more of such incidents to go…?

Yuri appeared by my side this time. She placed a strand of loose hair behind my ears again, “Are you alright?”

I knew that what she said covered a dual meaning. She was asking ‘if I was alright’ to the morning’s news bulletin, and ‘if I was alright’ to the incident that had just happened just now.

Quietly, I looked at her before asking, “You’re not going to ask if those rumours were real?”

She looked at me, “Does the truth matter?”

I turned to look away, at the trees and the flowers instead. They were blooming already, how beautiful.

Even without looking at her, I asked “Do you believe that there are parents who would kill their kids just for money?”

She looked at me, her eyes examined my face slowly, “I believe that there are things in the world that even if you don’t want to believe that it’s true, it cannot help but be the truth. And that, there are always two sides to a story, it just depends on which side I choose to believe.”

“What about you then?” I turned to look at her, “What’s your own story?”

“What makes you think I have a sob story to share?” Yuri asked with a smile that screamed innocent, that screamed that she probably had a decent, happy childhood. Just like everyone else.

Yea right. I shook my head, “Nevermind.” And was about to walk away when she pulled me back and said, after a pause. “I was abandoned.”

She appeared deep in thoughts, as though she was recalling a distant past that she had wished to bury, “They told me that we were heading on a vacation, and we had our bags packed. All three of us. Mom, dad and me. They looked happy, almost as if they were truly going on a journey. Well, in a way I guess they were going on a journey. A journey without me. I woke up in the car by the lake, only to find that they had drowned themselves, it wasn’t until later that I found out about the huge debt that they had left behind…”

She smiled, “Which I settled, on my first job. If only they had waited for me. Didn’t someone say that death is a permanent solution to a temporary problem?”

She shook her head lightly, kicking the gravel as pebbles moved unturned, “I guess they didn’t love me enough then… to even try.”

We were standing in front of the school gates now. The flowers on the trees were exceptionally beautiful. I watched her as she turned around to look at me, “Aren’t you going to console me? Say that, hey perhaps they have their reasons to do what they did…that they probably did love me, and I was just too young to understand.”

Saying what a normal person would have said, when they were confronted with this story.

I let out a scoff even without realising, as I looked at her, “I would say that if you actually believed those words.”

She paused, before continuing to walk. It wasn’t long before I heard her response quietly.

“I would, if the person saying that is you.”

-

Lies, they were lies, weren’t they?

Sunny stood holding the stack of papers as she stood behind the school gates alongside with Taeyeon. She watched as Taeyeon’s expression darkened as the conversation ended between the two: Tiffany and Yuri.

She had wanted to walk forward to announce their arrival but Taeyeon had stopped her. Holding her breath, she was afraid to look at Taeyeon…

Finally, after Tiffany had walked away with that girl, did Taeyeon respond. Her face didn’t look all that pleasant. It was cold, if not slightly colder than usual.

“Find out what she does…” Taeyeon said, “And, if she’s related to this.”

She gestured to the stack of papers that Sunny was holding.

Sunny looked from the stack of papers to Taeyeon’s back as she was walking towards her black sports car.

If only Tiffany knew how much Taeyeon loved her. She had personally pulled the papers off the school walls for the entire afternoon….Her fingers were already bruised.

She could have easily gotten us to do that! Sunny thought, but no, she had to do it herself….

-

The moment I got home, I saw an alarming spread of dishes on the table. Jessica stood meekly behind the table and she pointed at the central figure who was sitting at the center of the round table silently with a hapless shrug.

I knew that Taeyeon wasn’t happy, I just didn’t know why. “What’s the occasion?” I asked, taking off my shoes.

She glanced up, “Nothing, I just felt like having dinner here instead. I’ve asked the chef to prepare your favourite dishes.”

“I’m full,” I said, and was about to head to my room.

“Really...” she said icily, I could feel the temperature in the room drop, “But not too full to listen what I have to say about…Her, do you?”

I paused, standing beside her, my eyes were narrowed, “Leave. Yuri. alone.”

“Why are you so uptight about her?” She asked, her eyes were not looking at me. She was looking in front, at the table. I could feel Jessica’s unease growing.

Silence. I bit my lip, and she turned woodenly, “Do you like her?”

“I don’t hate her...”

Finally, she got up and pushed the dishes to the floor, they fell with an alarming shriek, “Is that why you’re treating her so specially? Even more special than me?”

By now, Jessica was scared stiff. She was sobbing.

I closed my eyes, and opened them. Realising that her hands were bleeding, I walked away…

-

Author's note: I wonder.... if.
I actually like typing this story, alot. I wonder if, you guys are enjoy it as much, though!