Such a lovely melody is playing inside my head. Let me play it for you.

My eyes shot open. How much time had gone by? Where was I? Was I finally saved? My heart felt heavy upon realizing that I had caught myself fantasizing about being taken away from this awful place. Taken away to a place without any pain. A place where someone could protect me from any harm. A cloak that would defend me from anything bad out there. Someone who could hold my hand from time to time and tell me that everything would be just fine.

However, I was still inside the place I hated the most. There was a black envelope staring at me. I had read the letter. NYF was kind enough to give me that one day off, because I had mutilated myself once again. Hyunseung freaked out on me, making even more appointments than necessary. It wasn’t needed at all. I had no intention of hurting myself once more. Why would I? I was hurt enough…

I tucked the envelope away and looked at the teacher. Teacher Park. Park Bom. She was nice, but clearly insecure on the inside. I wasn’t sure whether a person like her should be the role model to a lot of young woman. Her face had turned into plastic. It saddened me a bit. But who was I to judge her? Maybe my insides were even worse than her current state. Plastic surgery gone wrong. Her addiction took its toll on her. She was nothing but nice.

“The heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately wicked.” She whispered to us all. Her intense stare made me want to look away, but I couldn’t. No one could. “For this assignment,” she wrote her quote on the blackboard, “I want you to descend that particular darkness and get inspired. Read a book that somehow includes this theme. Essay and presentation will follow. Team up and good luck.” She sighed deeply and collapsed onto her chair, softly her cheeks. Poor woman.

I should actually feel sorry for myself at this point, but I had gotten used to it. The class was uneven. I would always end up alone. Even archenemies would team up, so that none of them should be put into my group. I never had done an assignment with someone else. So the second a hand was placed on my desk and dark eyes stared into mine, my heart got crushed.

“I heard you like to read dark books. We can form a team.” It was Kai. A vanilla scent hung all over him. He sighed softly and nodded once again. “I teamed up with Doojoon last time. What an idiot. Never doing that again.” He fetched a chair and dragged it all the way to my desk. He slowly took a seat and never left my gaze. Did he forget about the time I found him inside the school late at night? He acted as if it never had happened.

“So you would rather team up with me than with Doojoon?” I stared at his former teammate, who seemed awfully upset that I was getting picked over him. The teacher was against teams of three. He had to do everything by himself. “Why would you?”

“I told you. I heard you liked to read dark books and this is what the assignment is about. Am I correct?” his voice was soft and soothing. I liked listening to it. “So, let’s begin. I need to get my grades up. Literature isn’t my strongest skill. Math isn’t either… Doesn’t matter, though.” He grabbed his notebook and a pen. “So what book would you suggest?”

My mind was blank. Seriously blank. I couldn’t think of something logical or coherent to say. No one in school had talked to me this much since… they started to dislike me. I used to have friends. A long time ago. Before they needed someone to be blamed for everything that happened in a negative light. It could’ve been anyone, but they chose me.

“Hello? A book?” he wa