April 19, Monday

At the student council room...

You enter their conference room. At the head of the table is Choi Siwon, surrounded by Ryeowook and the other student council members. They are all seated at the tables and Siwon stands at the front of the room. 

"Have a seat, Mr. Kim," Ryeowook says.

You sit down in the middle of everyone, feeling their stares burrowing down into your flesh like shovels stuck in the mud. You try not to look at them.

"Kim Haneul, do you know why you are here?" Siwon asks.

You try to recall everything that had happened in the past days. 

Stealing a bandaid from the infirmary? Keeping girl's underwear in my bag? Sigh... Now I really think that they think that I was--

"The one who leaked the answer sheets to the midterm exams... was it you?" 

Your mouth drops open in disbelief. 

"NO! It wasn't me! Why would I do that??"

"Tone it down, Mr. Kim," Siwon says. "Let us proceed with the initial trial."

One of the student council members stands up and adjusts his glasses as he steps forward. "Mr. Kim..." he asks as he paces back and forth in front of you.

"When did you find out that the answer sheets had been leaked?"

"Yesterday."

"How did you find out?"

"When I came back to the dorm, there was a commotion and I was told that someone had been spreading the answer sheets."

"Where did you come from that time?"

"I went out to drink tea."

"Why would you go out just to drink tea? Isn't there tea in this school?"

"Well, yeah but I wanted a quiet place to stay and relax in for a bit."

"When you say 'for a bit', how long are you referring to?"

"Uhh... I think I went out for an hour or something."

"You're not sure?"

"I-I'm sure." 

This guy is so uptight.

You watch nervously as he keeps on pacing. "When you got back to the dorms, what was the first thing you did?"

"Uh... I talked to Heechul."

"About what?"

"He told me that there was someone who had spread the answer sheets to the midterms."

"What happened afterwards?" the student council member asks.

"...Oh, we saw Siwon."

"You mean you saw President-nim," Ryeowook corrects.

You look at him annoyed.

"And what was he doing at that time?"

"He had just finished exercising, I think. He was all sweaty." And was leaking pheromones~

The interrogator turns to Siwon. "President-nim, is this true?"

"Yes," he nods. "I saw him with Heechul."

"What happened after that, Mr. Kim?" the interrogator continues.

"Uh... Oh! Si--President-nim started to feel dizzy so Heechul and I took him to rest in his room."

"And then?"

"Then Ryeowook made him some tea, Heechul left, and I stayed with him and waited for Ryeowook to come back."

"So during that whole time that you were with President-nim, he felt dizzy and ill?" 

"Yeah..." 

He turns to Siwon for affirmation. Siwon nods and signals to him back.

"The funny thing though," the interrogator says. "is that after Kim Haneul left the room, Choi Siwon, our beloved student president..." You see Siwon roll his eyes. "had a miraculous recovery." 

"He did?" you wonder shifting your gaze to him. He is staring at you with a cold blaze in his eyes that makes shivers go up your spine. 

._. Scary.

You quickly look away. 

"Kim Haneul, can you explain why this is so?" 

"Huh? I didn't even know that he got better when I left. I don't know anything."

"Is that so? Are you sure that you did not purposely inflict such a state on the student president during that time?"

"No! Why would I do that??"

"Because you were probably busy spreading photocopies of this?" the guy says as he holds up a folder filled with papers. He places it on the table in front of you. "Open it and tell me what that is, Kim Haneul."

"... The answer sheets to the midterms?"

"Yes," he nods. "Those are the original copies of the answer sheets...

WHICH WE FOUND IN YOUR BAG." 

...

There is a ringing sound in your ears. The kind that you experience after hearing something loud. And the kind that you notice when everything is just so so silent. You space out. Thousands of questions and thoughts run through your head as you wonder why, when, how, what, who, trying to connect all the details but still uncertain and anxious because at the back of your mind, they are all accusingly looking at you. 

"B-but I didn't steal them..." you try to say.

"Why are you still denying when the evidence is obviously right here?"

"I really didn't steal it! I don't know how it got there!" your voice cracks. Even though you know that you're innocent, you know that there is little chance that they believe what you say. Everyone starts muttering and whispering.

"Order!" Siwon shouts. Silence resumes. He looks at you. "Kim Haneul, in this situation, it is best to look at all possibilities. If you really didn't steal it, as you say, you need to provide us with evidence that it wasn't you. If you are not able to do this in 3 days, you will be suspended for 2 weeks and will get all failing marks for your midterm examinations." 

"But--" you start, but then just let out a sigh. "Okay, I'll do it." 

Siwon uses the gavel. "Court adjourned. We will meet again here after 3 days."

You are still in a state of shock when you exit the student council office. There are many students lining the hallway and they watch you as you walk by, whispering to themselves and looking away when your eyes meet theirs. 

Then you see Park Jungsu. You look away, expecting to be given that glare of disappointment, but instead he grabs your arm to stop you from walking farther. He pulls you closer to him and whispers, "We know that it's not you." You feel your tears well up as he smiles softly and pulls you into a tight warm hug. You can't help but let all your hurts, fears, and tears out. Right now, you feel like you are back in your mother's arms, safe and sound, away from all the accusations and stares. When you release from the hug, you see all your friends surrounding you: Heechul, Donghae, Youngwoon, Jongwoon, Donghee, Hangeng, Hyukjae, and Sungmin. 

"Haneul-ah," Youngwoon says. "Don't feel bad anymore. We know that you didn't do it. Just lean on us now."

"Yeah, Haneul, I'm here--I mean, we're here," Jongwoon says.

"Smile a bit," Sungmin says. 

"It's gonna be boring for 2 weeks if we don't prove that it wasn't you," Hangeng says.

"I'll help you just like you helped me, my friend," Donghee says.

"Yeah, what they said," Hyukjae says, laughing a bit.

"Haneul-ah, we'll find the culprit before the time limit ends. We don't want you to fail," Donghae says. 

"I hate that people are talking about you as if they were sure that you're the one who did it," Heechul says matter-of-factly. "Let's start searching for the culprit!!!"

"YEAH!!!" everyone shouts. 

"What do we do first?" Donghee asks.

"... I don't know, actually," Heechul says scratching his head.

"Let's split up," Jungsu says. "Team 1 is me, Youngwoon, Heechul, Hangeng, and Jongwoon. Team 2 is Donghae, Donghee, Hyukjae, and Sungmin. Team 1 will investigate the dorms rooms for clues. Team 2 will interview people and try to put things together from that. At 10pm, let's meet back here, okay? Haneul-ah, which team do you want to go with?" 

"Team 1."

"Team 2."