Tenth Voice

“Answer me, Lu Han-ssi,” Mrs. Jo rasps, eyes staring at him to look for his frankness. “Why have you been skipping the study session lately? From what I know, it has been the third time already.”

The latter groans deeply. This is why he doesn’t want to go meet Mrs. Jo. She would want to bombard him loads of question regarding his consistent truancy that he has no idea what sort of excuse should he use. “Kyungsoo reported to you, eh?”

“Well, if he hadn’t reported to me, I’d have the log book to see whether you’re in or not,” she says, “so now, tell me your reason, Lu Han-ssi. Do you think you can study alone or do you fight with your tutor?”

He stifles an unbearably heavy sigh, grasping the edge of the cubicle desk firmly as he closes his eyes for a jiff. Without beating around the bush, he doesn’t want Mrs. Jo to sense the intensity that revolves between Kyungsoo and him. It’s not like he cannot attend the study session. He simply feels downright awkward to stick to a person who harbours such a darkest secret.

Even though Kyungsoo doesn’t feel bad towards him nor would he be awkward with him, he just can’t sit and study together with a..... murderer.

A despicable killer who has executed his own flesh and blood, Do Kyungsoo.

“Lu Han-ssi?” The elder shots him a quizzical look. “Are you okay?”

“Oh... hmm... I’m okay,” he blurts out, pulling himself together after driving into the moment he entered Kyungsoo’s life the other day.

“You haven’t told me the reason behind your absence, Lu Han-ssi. So now, tell me.”

He suddenly rises from his seat after making up his mind. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Jo. I’ll be back on track starting this week.” There’s no way he could avoid Kyungsoo. Sooner or later, he’d come across the latter himself. “I’m going back to my class now. By the way, thank you for your concern, Mrs. Jo.”

***

Yoona heaves a sigh as she peers around the surrounding. These days, she has been feeling quite in distress. There are lot of things that spin amidst her life but she doesn’t care any of them except for Lu Han.

To simply put, the latter has rarely met her lately. The last time she spoke to him was two weeks ago and Kyungsoo was there along. Despite being classmates, Lu Han never talks to her. She would have loved to initiate a conversation but her guts abstained her. She’s got her own pride; she does not want to look so desperate.

Speaking of Kyungsoo, a frown unexpectedly flits across her face. She has just happened to remember that Lu Han was acting weird right after he looked back on the younger’s past. It seems as if there was something about Kyungsoo that was disturbing him but he didn’t bother sharing with her.

“Hey, Yoona,” greets Minseok, playfully yanking her shoulder. He sits down next to her and casts her a suspicious glance. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”

“Oh, Minseok-ah,” she replies quite monotonously. “I’m about to go home, though.”

“Then let’s go home together.” He pulls out a smile. “But before that, let’s go grab some coffee!” Without prior reply from the latter, he abruptly tugs her hand towards the school gate.

They settle into respective seats after buying drinks at the counter. The coffee shop is quite empty since it isn’t peak hour and thus, Minseok finds it easy to converse a calm talk with her.

“Are you okay, Yoona?” he starts. “You seem... feeble lately.”

She chuckles as she sips her Mocha Frappe. “Am I?”

“Yes, you are, dummy.” Minseok looks at her in amusement. “What kind of things that has been bothering you, huh?”

“Hmm... I’ve been thinking about Han,” she professes. She presses her lips together into a thin line as the latter’s image washes upon her mind.

“Ah, speaking of him, you guys are getting along these days!” he chirps happily. “That was quite a good progression since he’s kind of keeping a distance with you when he first woke up from the coma.”

“Until two weeks ago,” she sighs heavily.

“What does that mean?” He grimaces. “Did you guys fight?”

“Well... it was not a fight, Minseok... basically he’s been acting strange lately and he didn’t talk to me since then.”

“Then you should have a talk with him,” he remarks, “then you’d know what’s happened to him that he becomes strange all of a sudden.”

Yoona smiles in return. “I might do that later.” Listening to her friend’s advice does give her a heap of courage to confront Lu Han. “Thanks for the advice, by the way.”

“Don’t mention it, Yoona. Glad I could help you somehow.” On a whim, Minseok takes out something from his pocket and hands it over Yoona. “Here it is,” he says, earning the latter’s bewilderment. He cracks a laugh and explains, “Last week, you asked me to give you a copy of this photo, didn’t you?”

When Yoona scrutinizes the picture fervently, she has come to realize that she had asked a copy of the photo because she had lost hers. It was one of her cherished photo, though. Thus, she requested him to give him the copy because she knows he has it.

Looking through the photo, an enthusiastic smile flits across her face. She still remembers the moment where they took this photo. It was during last year’s Halloween party. During that time, Lu Han was still perfectly normal and the two of them lost in their own world.

Yoona sighs. How she wants to turn back time and meet the old Lu Han. However, she knows it is surreal. It’s not that the new Lu Han is bad or awful, but she likes the old one better.

“What are you thinking?” Minseok breaks the momentary silence. “Are you reminiscing the old memory, eh?”

“Kind of,” she replies, letting out a tiny smile. As she talks to him about the photo, Yoona comes to remember that she had apparently stumbled upon a photo which she knew it was his. Almost briskly, she rummages in her bag and eventually shoves out the photo.

“I believe this is yours.” Yoona hands it over him.

He, on the other hand, could not help but be startled as he gapes at the photo. “W-where did you get this, Yoona?” His voice turns ridiculously anxious all of a sudden.

“I found it in our classroom,” she explains. “It’s such a relief that I was the one who found it. What if our classmates found it? They must’ve thrown it away, right?”

Amidst the surprise, Minseok finds himself nodding in comprehension. In a bright note, he is relieved