“Could’ve sworn they went outside,” she muttered under her breath as she finally slid the glass door open after minutes of struggling with the stubborn lock.

            Barefoot, RinA stepped outside and took a quick look around her backyard, hoping to catch a glimpse of BaekHyun and April somewhere. To her disappointment, however, they were nowhere to be seen.

            “Strange… Maybe they’re in the front yard,” she told herself.

            On her way back inside, RinA noticed her father’s ladder resting on the side of the building. Not once recalling the removal of it from the shed, RinA decided it was best that she returned it back to its original place to prevent any possible quarrels with her nit-picky parents.

            As soon as she firmly planted her hands onto the cool metal, she promptly spotted two distinctively familiar figures on the rooftop. On instinct, she ducked down to hide herself, but refused to look away. She watched as the two conversed intimately with one another, and before she grasp what was going on, she felt herself burning up in jealousy as the boy leaned in and left a warm kiss on her best friend’s cheek.

            Unable to watch this horrific scene play on for any longer, RinA stomped inside and completely disregarded the two for the rest of the night. Drowning herself in alcohol and her real friends’ company, she allowed the liquor to take away her conscience along with her anger.

            The bell rang, dismissing all students to lunch. As usual, April waited for all her classmates to leave before she did in order to prevent her small frame from getting trampled over.

            Normally, RinA would already be seated at their everyday lunch table—waiting patiently for April. However, today, she was nowhere to be seen. With her lunch tray in hand, April zigzagged through the crowds of students in hopes to find her friend.

            April frowned when the familiar purple polka-dotted canvas backpack came into view surrounded by a bunch of pink sparkly sequenced ones. Pink sparkly backpacks were never a good sign in April’s school—they were warning signs of the school’s gossip girls’ rising presence.

            “RinA, what are you doing here…?” April asked a bit louder than she had intended.

            Four sets of glaring eyes landed on her, causing April to unconsciously take a few steps back.

            “Excuse me?” one of the identical looking girls spoke up as she sassily twirled at a lock of her hair. “The question is what are YOU doing here?”

            “Look like the party’s ruined. Let’s go guys,” another groaned, rolling her eyes as she shifted her sequenced backpack onto the opposite shoulder.

            April watched as all four girls passed her before she dared to look back at the remaining. RinA stared back at her friend with bitterness evident in her eyes before roughly pushing past her.

            “RinA, what the hell is going on?!” April panicked.

            RinA stopped dead in her tracks and swallowed. Half of her was completely enraged at her friend for backstabbing her and the other was questioning whether this was even worth creating trouble over. But of course, being the prideful person she was, RinA refused to let her true feelings take over.

            “Maybe you should sit down and reevaluate yourself, April. You know exactly what you did—so quit it with the fake act,” she retorted coldly.

            Before April could utter out another syllable, RinA walked off with her new clique of friends.

            “Alright class,” Mrs. Son began, “We’ll be starting another project today, and it will be due two weeks from today. Because this assignment branches out from the previous one, you will be working with your previous partners. This will make it easy for the both of you since you already have prior knowledge on this subject. Understand?”

            April shyly looked over at BaekHyun to find him peering right back at her. The two smiled in sync and nodded, determined to take on their second project together.

            The two dived straight into work at the newly remodeled library, getting as much done as possible within the limited time frame they had. Too focused on their assignment, neither one bothered to notice how dark it had gotten.

            “The library will be closing in fifteen minutes. Thank you,” the monotonous voice announced through the speaker system, startling April out of her work daze.

            Dropping her pencil down onto the table, April reached towards the ceiling—finally allowing all her muscles to stretch and relax after long hours of tedious work.

            “Hey, let’s pack up. I gotta go. We’ll continue next week,” BaekHyun yawned exhaustedly.

            April nodded in response as she began collecting her belongings and neatly placing them back into her bag. As soon as the two stepped outside, the library lights completely shut off—leaving the building in pitch darkness.

            Acknowledging the fact that it was far too dark for the girl to get home by herself, BaekHyun flagged down a cab for her.

            “Good night, BaekHyun,” she whispered bashfully before getting inside.

            “Good night, Ap—“

            Before he could finish his sentence, BaekHyun suddenly sensed an extremely uneasy presence surrounding him. Paranoid, he quickly eyed the area, but of course, no one was seen.

            “April, is all right if I come with you?”

            “Yeah sure, but isn’t your house in the other direction?”

            “Yeah, I’ll go home right after I drop you off,” he promised before sliding in beside her.

            The insightful girl shortly recognized that something was off when the cab continued to take turns onto completely unfamiliar streets.

            “Ahjusshi, I-I think you’re going the wrong way. My house isn’t—“

            The car suddenly skidded into an alleyway, colliding forcefully into a brick wall. April and BaekHyun were abruptly pushed forward into the front seats, but were safe, fortunately, thanks to their secured seatbelts. The car began to smoke viciously, completely blocking any possible view from within. The driver was nowhere to be seen.

            Before the two could comprehend what in the world was happening, April was ripped out from her seat and thrown outside.

            “APRIL!” BaekHyun hollered as he busted the car door open.

            Blinded by the thick smoke, BaekHyun was unable to see anything through it. He continued to walk further and further into the alley without any particular direction, until April finally came into view. Pinned against the wall, BaekHyun felt his heart sinking to the very pit of his stomach when he recognized the excruciatingly familiar figure that was holding her up by the neck.

            “We meet again, BaekHyun,” Henry smirked.

I apologize for the long wait guys! ;___; I've been quite busy!!! Hope you like this chapter though! ^__^ Lemme know what you think in the comments! ^^ Thank you so much and have a lovely day~