Warning : Usage of swearings (for the sake of the story).

Of a Bloody Red

"It's the first time we meet in fifteen years, I didn't think that our first meeting would be this... explosive."

"Chanyeol, please. We don't have time for your jokes. Help us stop them !"

At Victoria's demand, Chanyeol interposed himself between the two men who were dangerously hitting each other, with the two other women trying to hold them back with their little strength. What Chanyeol didn't except when he agreed to help Victoria, was the punch who was unintentionally directed to his face, and that his whole body would twist along with his head, and that he'd see stars and birds twinkling and flying around him while he fell unceremoniously on the wooden ground.

At least, that somehow stopped the wild fight between his old friends.

"Chanyeol ! Are you alright ?" He heard a feminine voice ask worriedly by his side.

"Marylin ?" Chanyeol said upon seeing the image of a blonde occidental beauty he had met last summer. Oh, she was really stunning, with her long curly golden hair, and her curvy and y lines. Such a shame that she was already married.

"Oh . I think he's having a ." A man talked as he approached the semi-conscious man.

"What should we do ? Should we call an ambulance ?" A woman said as she was slapping the man to get a reaction.

"Let him be, he'll eventually wake up. He'll just become more stupid than he already was." Another man spoke, farther from the other.

" you, Heechul." Chanyeol managed to show his middle finger before passing out.

*  *  *

"So, what the heck was that for ?" Chanyeol, who had woken up from his unconscious state, held onto his painful bandaged nose. (They had had a hard time stopping the bleeding).

Chanyeol didn't really like the fact that he was the only one injured, when the other two who were fighting coped unscathed (putting aside the little blue bruises on their cheek or the unnoticeable cut on Heechul's lips). So, while tending over his swollen nose, he began his questioning as to why the two men were at each other's throat when he arrived on scene, instead of paying their respectful mourning like they should do.

Heechul, the ever temperamental one, was the first one to throw his speech. "Ask this bastard what kind of he ate this morning to hit me without notice as soon as he arrives."

The 'bastard' in question gave Heechul a dark look. "Don't act innocent, Heechul. You deserved this punch."

"The heck Donghae ?" snapped Heechul angrily. "What did I even do ? We didn't even meet since my wedding, for as far as I can remember ! Oh, wait, don't tell me you're taking it back for what I've done to you when we were kid ?"

"I'm not immature like you, I've already forgot about those things from the past." Donghae simmered, staring back at Heechul with unexplainable despise. "This punch was for breaking your promise. You said that you were going to take care of Yoona, you were all arrogant about how only you could be by her side. Is that how you protect her, huh, Kim Heechul ?!"

None of them could react when Heechul suddenly jumped across the table, casting away everything and roughly grabbed Donghae's collar, sticking their face so close that they could smell each other's breath.

Heechul was always hot-blooded, he was especially sensitive when it concerned Yoona and it wasn't the first time that they have seen the two men fighting each other for the girl, but it was definitely the first time that they feared Heechul could do something that could put the other man's life at stake (because the expression of Heechul, that moment, was one who had lost reason and was only conducted by his wrath).

The three other who were watching the scene quickly tried to separate the two men once again, but Heechul's clutch on Donghae was really tight, they couldn't move him an inch.

"Don't talk when you don't know anything." Heechul seethed between his teeth, face as dark as his costume.

"I know more than you can think." Donghae rebutted with a unaffected defiant look.

That said, Heechul saw red. Despite everything the other three had done to restrain him, he went berseck. He didn't care if he was going to be arrested for assault and, maybe, attempted murder, he didn't care that he was actually a lawyer and that he shouldn't be doing that, he didn't care that the man he was hitting was his friend a long time ago. He didn't care the of anything. He was going to smack the hell out of that guy.

But before he could hit enough to be satisfied, a slap flew across his and Donghae's faces. The slap was so unexpected that it had ceased the fight in an instant, with both of the guy staring agape at the woman who was fuming from inside.

"Aren't you going to stop it already ? Give some little respect to Yoona for goddamn sake !" Jessica finally screamed with her high-pitched voice, tears flooding down her face, destroying her usually flawless makeup. "If you want to fight, go do it somewhere else, don't it up here !"

Jessica's outcry seemed to have struck some senses into their mind, Heechul slowly let go of Donghae, being kindly pulled by Chanyeol back to his place, where he turned his back to the rest of them and ultimately broke into silent sobs. Donghae turned his gaze away from the man, fixing his creased shirt without really thinking on fixing it, and his eyes red from the unseen tears.

The abrupt change of mood seemed to have affected every one of them, because Jessica cried harder than before, squatting down on her laps, Victoria also couldn't bear it anymore and let her emotions get the better of her. Even the normally passive Chanyeol couldn't hide his sadness.

After all, that day, they had lost an important friend.

"You two will never change, childish as always." Jessica spoke, wiping her smeared mascara with her handkerchief. "Can't you just talk without using your fist ? Is that so difficult ?" She berated angrily, still very unnerved by the recent news of her friend's death.

"I didn't want to cause such a ruckus, but I just couldn't contain myself when I saw the face of that bastard." Donghae muttered loud enough for Heechul, who was at the far end of the table, to hear.

Heechul wanted to demur physically again, but Victoria beat him to it and banged authoritatively at the table. "Please, know some restraint ! We're all tired of your stupid fight ! Just get along today, can't you ?"

Heechul kicked the table furiously, but still listened to Victoria and sat down against the wall, gazing at the smiling picture of his wife from afar (since this was the only way he could feel some peace, even though that meant breaking his heart a thousand more times).

Each of them took a place around the room, silently crying or just looking in the space. They didn't even try to talk anymore, tired of this sorrowful morning.

Chanyeol, being the mood lifter as always, attempted to soothe the depressive atmosphere by offering to look for water for them. "Or some of you prefer coffee ?"

Victoria and Jessica were the only one who answered him by a wave of hand.

When Chanyeol walked out of the room, Heechul posed a question that didn't cogitated his mind before (because he was too occupied clashing with Donghae). "Who called you here ?"

"I did." responded Victoria with a weary tone. "Since you were not in state to do anything, I called all of Yoona's acquaintance."

"Thanks, Ms. Song. Glad to have you as my secretary." Heechul showed his appreciation by a small, dull smile (he still hadn't learn again how to correctly smile).

"I just did what I should do as her friend." Victoria answered with a wave of hand. "Ah, but I didn't call Chanyeol, I couldn't find his number since he had gone to Africa or something. Did you call him ?" She turned her question to Jessica who shook her head, and then at Donghae who responded by the same action.

"I know no one Yoona could have known besides you four, and I thought that everybody already knew, so I didn't bother to tell anyone." said Donghae.

"Then how did he know ?" queried Heechul.

Jessica shrugged. "Just ask Chanyeol when he'll come back."

"Ask me what ?" Chanyeol came back at that same moment with five cups of water and coffee. He posed the cups on the table before handing them out.

"How did you know about this funeral ? Weren't you supposed to be in Africa ?" asked Heechul.

Chanyeol looked at him curiously. "Did you forget ? You sent me a letter a week ago telling me to come."

Heechul perked up at Chanyeol's talk. "What are you talking about ? I didn't send you any letter. I don't even know your address."

Chanyeol chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "What are you saying, Heechul ? I was so shocked about the news that I quit in the middle of my job to come here the faster possible. See, the letter's here, and there's even the date when it was sent." Chanyeol took an envelope out of his bag, pointing at the post stamp where the send date was clearly marked.

It was from a week ago.

"What kind of joke is that ? I never sent this letter !" Heechul blared incredulously. "It isn't even my handwriting !" He showed the handwritten letter, where it was explained in detail the demise of the girl and the date of the funeral, but most importantly, it was signed Heechul.

"But I really received it !" Chanyeol's smile gradually faded upon sensing the abnormality of the situation.

"Even if Heechul did write this letter, Chanyeol" Victoria spoke, "he couldn't have send it to you a week ago, because Yoona..." She had to pause, for it was still difficult to accept the fact. "Yoona passed away three days ago."

"Chanyeol, if it's again one of your jokes, it's really not funny." Jessica said hazardously, sending him a cold look.

"Even if I do a lot of stupid jokes, I'm not stupid enough to joke with Yoona's death !" Chanyeol exclaimed, panic slowly taking on him as he felt the suspicious looks toward him. "And besides, how do you want me to send myself a letter from Korea ? How would I even know when Yoona was dead ?"

A silence fell on the room as nobody could counter Chanyeol's argument.

They looked at each other uneasily, and stared at the odd letter. None of them was lying, but the letter was indeed here when nobody could have written it. Nobody unless... .

"No way ? A ghost ?" whispered Jessica in funk.

Heechul sniggered. "How old are you to believe those idiocies. Of course someone wrote it."

"Then tell me, who could have written it ?" Jessica glared at Heechul.

"Someone how knew beforehand that Yoona was going to die..." Donghae quietly reasoned. "Someone who had planned the way Yoona was going to die, even arranging the date of her funeral."

"Then..." Victoria was the one who dared to say out loud what all of them were thinking. "Then that means Yoona didn't commit suicine. She was murdered by someone. A premeditated murder."

An uncanny cold breeze silently blew under their feet as the sudden truth unraveled before them, so sudden that none of them dared to move nor make a sound (because they didn't know if they yet wanted to open the door to the unwanted reality).

"Hey, this envelope is weird." Donghae broke the silence, fiddling with the mysterious white envelope. "It's thicker than normal ones."

They turned their attention to Donghae, who looked back at them uncertainly.

"Do one of you have a knife or something that can cut ?" Donghae demanded.

"I have." Chanyeol offered, taking out a small penknife out of his pocket. Feeling the questioning look of his friends, he said with a casual smile. "You know, in Africa, this is necessary."

Donghae took the penknife with a small thank and began to cut the envelope meticulously.

"Why ? What are you going to do ?" Jessica observed him doing his work dubiously.

"I think there's a lining to this envelop." Donghae explained calmly. "Maybe there's a message or something, but it shouldn't be here for nothing."

He had just finished speaking and cutting the envelope, when a small folded note fell on his laps. He quickly took the note in his hand and opened it, surrounded by the four other curious persons who sat around him.

The note was simple, but the contents printed in bloody red made dread seize their core.

Who killed Poppy ?

A/N :

First chapter up !
I bet there are a lot of things that are quite troubling and it may be difficult to understand everything in this chapter,
but don't worry, everything will be explained gradually as the story goes on.
And I can't believe that I had 2 subscribers just from the foreword; a big thank to Supergeneration18 and rika430 !
Oh, and, thank you to the silent readers as well ;)