Hana dreaded waking up the next day. Her morning was exceptionally awful as the second she opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the sticky note stuck to her alarm clock, she was given the information she’d rather live oblivious to. One was that her aunt had to attend some kind of meeting and had to leave the city for the span of two days to meet with a university head and discuss future plans of something she didn’t bother to remember. Second, was a painful reminder of yesterday’s events and that she had to meet up with the group of complete strangers after school, and the third, scribbled at the very bottom was another reminder. However, unlike the other two, this was written in bright red ink.

‘Your appointment with the doctor tomorrow is at 2 p.m. don’t be late and DONOT skip it.’

She groaned loudly and crumpled the paper before throwing it half way across the room. She saw the paper bounce on her wooden floor and fell back into bed, pulling to her head, surrounding herself with darkness. Unlike the sunny morning outside, the darkness in which was lying underneath her blanket was more comforting for her. Closing her eyes she saw flashes of fire, an approaching bus, a blood curdling scream and an explosion. She brought her hands up to her ears, hoping for the screaming to stop.  She wanted to scream herself, wanted to overpower the outsider’s scream with her own. But she couldn’t. Her eyes suddenly snapped open and her body shot up in an upright position while pulling the duvet away from her. She squinted as the sunlight assailed her eyes and adjusted to the sudden change in brightness and looked around her room.  The screaming had stopped, so had the ungodly visions but she was still terrified. Her chest heaved heavily and her forehead was glistening with sweat. Her hand went up to her cheek only to feel warm liquid running down from her eyes. She was crying again. She felt utterly disappointed with herself. She scolded herself for being so weak, for breaking apart easily and for letting this perpetual nightmare affect her. To think she would’ve gotten used to it. She wanted to move on from what she witnessed and what she lost that evening, to try to forget but it always came back haunting her. And what’s more worse is that she believed it was her fault. Checking the clock she realized that she dozed off after reading the note and if she didn’t move now, she’d be late for class. Wiping away her tears she went to the bathroom to get ready. She didn’t have time to cry. She wouldn’t cry again, she promised herself. But she knew better than anyone that it was another promise, empty just like her.

Time had never passed so slowly for him. The entire day, he had his neck craned looking for the girl. Now that he knew that she does indeed exist and he wasn’t imagining what he saw in the music room, he was anxious to find her. He wanted to talk to her, to ask what her inspiration was behind that piece, to ask her if she could teach him how to play that addicting melody. His mind was buzzing with questions and the arm of the clock that moved at a torturously slow pace wasn’t helping him one bit. He didn’t know why he was so excited for their meeting after school; maybe he had developed an infatuation for the song and wanted her to teach him, or maybe he wanted to solve the mystery of why he hadn’t seen her around school. Jumping from his seat, he slung his backpack on his shoulder ready to exit the class when his teacher interjected.

“Where do you think you’re going Lay?” the teacher questioned with a single raised eye brow. The boy smiled sheepishly but said nothing. Within the next few seconds the last bell for the day rang and the boy’s smile grew wider and left the class in a swift motion leaving behind a class of sniggering students and a frustrated teacher.

“You’re awfully jumpy today.” One of his friends remarked. Shrugging twice at his friend he looked around the school garden. He was expecting a figure to approach them any moment now. Unlike his friends, he was pretty excited. He wanted to ask her so many questions and couldn’t wait to get the answers to them.

“Why can’t we just do this on our own?” another one of his friend whined, “We’ve been waiting for a while now, where is she?”

His friend was right, school had ended 15 minutes ago and the girl was still nowhere in sight. Did she perhaps bail on them?

“Let’s give her a little more time, ok?” he gave them a smile, trying to raise their spirits a little.

“She’s the principal’s niece right? No wonder she’s late. Does she think she can keep us waiting like this just ‘cuz she’s the principal’s relative?”

“Did you guys see her attitude yesterday? She didn’t even greet us properly. And she didn’t even bother to introduce herself! Principal Kim had to do it for her.”

“She does look cold though. She gave off such a cold aura yesterday it gives me the chills even thinking about it.” his friend shivered to put emphasis while his other friend just rolled his eyes.

“Ice princess, that’s what she is.”

“Guys, stop. We don’t even know the girl. We met her just yesterday, don’t be so mean. Besides, Principal did mention she was the shy type so her behavior is explainable in one way.” Something about his friend’s accusations about her didn’t fit well with Lay. He didn’t like how they labeled her ‘Ice Princess’ after only one meeting. He was convinced that Hana was not that sort of a person.  His friends pondered on what he said. He was right; they were judging her when they didn’t even know her.

“You know what, Lay’s right. Let’s just wait ‘til she gets here.”

“But you can’t deny that she’s got a cold aura around her.” His friend insisted.

“Kyungsoo, ‘cmon be a bit reasonable.”

“What? It’s true!”

Lay was about to object but stopped mid sentence when they heard a deliberate cough coming from behind them. Whipping their heads to the source, their eyes widened in horror when they say the topic of their discussion standing in front of them with a stoic expression. There was an awkward silence; the boys exchanged wary looks whereas Lay glared at them with an expression that they couldn’t really comprehend but knew it was not to be taken lightly.