Chapter Three►

Eunghwa sat in her seat in the lecturing hall with such regal air, everyone else taking their final exam. Her colleagues took occasional glances at her as they looked in awe at her since she had already completed every single part of the examination.

The professor, Mr. Fikes, sitting in front of the students while on his computer also couldn't help but look over at Eunghwa who just looked around. He became unnessecarily restless and finally asked out loud, "I apologize to you all, but Eunghwa, do you need a book?"

She sighed and nodded before getting out of her seat and making her way down the steps and to the professor to fetch one of the books he layed out on his desk for her. She picked up a book and held it to her chest. "The Great Gatsby, eh? Good choice." The professor stated before letting her go back to her seat to read.

About thirty more minutes later, she started to hear the groaning of other students as they reached the much harder questions. The guy who sat next to her planted his face into the table and stayed in that position for a minute until Eunghwa figured that the guy fully realized that he must take the examination with his best shot.

Eunghwa sat for another whopping one hour and fifteen minutes before finishing her book and coming back down to her professor's desk to grab another one. One-third of the class was already done with their examinations, and everyone else continued to wait on the two-thirds still taking their test.

The young highness planted her face into the book she was reading as a gesture of how bored she was. "Eunghwa?" Her professor called out to her, waving her over to his desk again.

"You're bored; I can tell. Please, do me a favour if that's the case. Go run to the science lab for me to deliver this for me."

She stood up and nodded as she came back down to retrieve what she was going to deliver. "Love letters for Ms. Wagner, again?" Eunghwa quietly mumbled to him and smirked when she  saw the man blush. "You always do this for me. Just go." He whispered back.

As she entered the science lab, she noticed that there was simply one other person in the room, and it wasn't Ms. Wagner, but the same girl that she saw scribbling into her notebook in the library. Eunghwa coughed to get the older's attention.

"Hello." She greeted in an indifferent manner as the older turned her head over to the doorway.

"Hi. What can I help you with?" 

Eunghwa looked around studied the classroom for a short moment before asking, "Have you seen Ms. Wagner? I've been put under the burden of my teacher's love yet again and must deliver something to her."

That made the older girl chuckle. "I'm not sure where she went, but she said she would be back pretty soon. I can hold onto that for you, or you could wait here for her to return."

"I'll wait. I have nothing better to do. I've already finished that final exam anyway." Eunghwa smirked to herself and sighed relief as she took a seat at the table next to where the older was sitting at and started to pick at her nails.

"You're Eunghwa Jung, correct?" The older asked as she scribbled in her notebook.

Eunghwa looked over at her with a slightly surprised face. "How did you know that?"

"I've seen and heard about you a lot, actually. You're the genius and highness of this school. You graduated at the tender age of fourteen, and you're still here to study more. That's quite remarkable." She replied with a small smile as she ceased her writing and looked over at Eunghwa. The two of them held their gazes for a split second before the older went back to writing and Eunghwa looked forward.

"Oh, thank you." Eunghwa smiled to herself, glad that the older knew who she was. "Well, I've also seen you a lot as well. In the library scribbling things in that notebook of yours." She ripped her pinchy boots off her feet before opening again. "What is your name?"

"My name is Sora Moon. Pleasant meeting you."

"Yeah. Sure, it's nice to meet you, too."

At that moment, the door flew open and an energized Ms. Wagner came through the door. "Sora, I'm back! Oh, hello, Eunghwa. Are you here to deliver something for me?"

"Welcome back." The girls chorused unintentionally. Eunghwa put her boots back on and stood up. "Yes, here's your daily letter. From Mr. Fikes, of course."

Ms. Wagner blushed as she took the letter from Eunghwa. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll be heading back, now." She slightly nodded her head before turning away and walking towards the door. She suddenly stopped and turned back around. "Goodbye, Sora. We'll meet again, I presume."

"Yes. Bye, Eunghwa." Sora smiled and showed off a visible eyesmile, and with that, Eunghwa turned back around and walked out of the science lab.

"I see that you have gotten acquainted with each other." Ms. Wagner noted as she teared open the envelope in her hands.

"We did. I'm surprised, actually. I heard she was very unfriendly...and she didn't seem so..." Sora trailed off while tapping her pen against her face.

"Well, yes, she isn't the most kind person out there, but Eunghwa also has her good points. She just doesn't show it off to most people. You were lucky enough to see what others don't. She must find interest in you." Ms. Wagner looked at the girl with a grin before she looked down at her letter.

Sora looked at the professor, waiting for her reaction. 

"Oh, my!" The professor exclaimed as she held her blushing face with her free hand. Sora laughed and shook her head.

"Key Dear," Eunghwa cooed out to her best friend after swallowing a mouthful of her spaghetti. Kibum stopped at mid-bite, a little bit startled by the way she had addressed him.

"Key Dear? It's been a while since you've called me that let alone Key." Kibum chuckled to himself, "Yes, Eunggie Bear? What do you need?"

"Pfft, Eunggie Bear. Please, don't call me that." Eunghwa looked at him with an overly fake smile. "Anyway, do you know much about a girl named Sora Moon?" She stretched her arms before getting back at devouring her spaghetti. Meanwhile, Kibum stared off to think about it.

"Sora Moon...She's one of the few science majors in the university, and she reads some of the weird books that you read. Oh, she's also Korean and Japanese with some French ancestry." Kibum stated as he continued to stare off, trying to think of more information in mind.

"Key, how the hell do you know that?" Eunghwa stopped eating and stared at him, bewildered.

"Like I said, she's one of the few-"

"No! How do you know that last part? Do you stalk her or something? Aish, Kibum..."

Key only laughed at her remark. "Of course not. Walls have eyes and ears. That's where my information comes from."

"Ugh...good. My best friend can't be a stalker." Eunghwa sighed relief as she went back to her spaghetti.

"My turn to ask the questions! Why are you asking about her anyway?" He looked at the latter curiously and squinted his eyes as he at his extremely nonexistant "beard".

"I was just wondering. I mean, I've seen her at the back of the library a lot, and I just met her properly a few hours ago."

"Alright then." Key chuckled and took a huge bite of Eunghwa's spaghetti only to have her glare at him for the longest time ever.

Night rolled by. Sooah was in her bed, staring at the ceiling, breathing as slow as she possibly could. It was getting harder and harder to breathe and sleep and function as the long, cruel days passed by.

Her eyes trailed from the ceiling to her antique bedside clock. It was a time that she surely knew her family couldn't still be awake in, and it was a time that she usually snuck out of the house to go on her secret walks.

She sat up, got up from her bed, made her way to her door, and exited her room. It was the same process as always. The majority of her life was the same process as always. She was like a robot. Her life was like a broken tape recorder on repeat.

Once she reached the outside world that her family had unknowingly failed to keep her away from, she began on her stroll. 

If only this world didn't do harm to her. She would enjoy life better, perhaps. If only she wasn't one of those who were weakened with illness and pain and suffering. She could be happier, perhaps.

Her legs began to feel pained again and she felt herself go weaker with her breath. Upon finding the nearest bench, she sat on it without any sort of hesitation. She sighed in a short-lived piece of relief.

Then, a couple pairs of footsteps could be heard a few yards away. Sooah's heart started to beat fast. She stood up and attempted to walk away, but it only resulted in her sitting back down again. She turned her head towards the people for a split second before turning away again and bringing her knees up to bury her face in them.

She began to shiver helplessly. She was scared.

"Hello? Are you alright?" A soft, female voice was heard in this quiet atmosphere.

"Um, are you lost?" Another female voice, this one a little huskier and "older sounding", was heard as well.

Sooah could feel herself go tense a little, and slowly, she began to bring her legs down and turned her head towards where the voices were coming from. The first person she noticed was this tall, pretty girl with shoulder-length dark hair and she wore a striped sweater and a pair of shorts along with some converse. Standing next to her was a much shorter girl with blonde hair that reached past her s and she wore a simple off-shoulder shirt with a pair of black skinny jeans and flats.

Just as she strongly desired not to have anything to do with these people, Sooah remained silent towards the girls.

"You don't talk, eh?" The blonde said as she stepped closer and crouched a little to even up her height with the sitting Sooah. For some reason, Sooah could feel her eyes  that had distrust fill with tears, and the blonde definitely noticed as her eyes widened and she stood up straight. "Ah! Are you going to cry? Gosh...I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

"Hey, calm down." The taller one told the blonde before switching her attention to Sooah. "Er...do you need help going home?"

Sooah wiped her eyes with her hands, and shook her head.

"Okay..." The tall girl trailed off and looked over at the blonde.

"Can we at least know your name? I'm Minju Jung." The blonde, now addressed as Minju, said as she nudged the taller.

"Xiao Xing Zhu." The taller bluntly said.

Sooah only looked down into her lap, responding with her usual pure silence. At this point, she simply stood up and walked back home, leaving Xiao Xing and Minju in their possibly confused or curious state.

Author's Note►

Hello, dears. It's been quite a long while since the last update, hasn't it? Well, here is the third chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it in one way or another. Bye for now~