Taeyeon was walking around the school yard after morning practice, looking for a quiet place to relax in. She saw the fountain Vic used to hang out in, and stared at the rose tree she planted as a memorial for her. It was starting to bud white roses, eonni's favorite.

"These are so pretty," Victoria said as she held a bouquette of ivory-white roses. They were shopping for bouquettes in a little flower shop for tomorrow, it was going to be Teacher's Day, and they wanted to give flowers to their trainers. Because in some ways, they were like teachers

Taeyeon looked over to her eonni, "Do you like roses? That's so mainstream of you. Hahaha." Victoria gave her a playful glare, "Roses are charming, so why not? They look so elegant, and pure, but they can cut you deeply if you're not careful." she laughed, "I guess I felt that it was an epitome of myself, or what I would like to be, atleast."

Taeyeon shook her head in amusement, "You do say the strangest of things, eonni. Sometimes I wonder what was going on inside that head of yours."

"I guess you'll never find out," Victoria said as she gave her the slightest wink.

After that sudden memory, she sat on the edge of the fountain, feeling suddenly emotional. Taeyeon wrapped her arms around herself and bit her lips, trying her best not to cry. She looked over to her right, where the rose-tree stood and next to it, a white gleaming stone with the words 'In Memory of Song Qian (宋茜), or Victoria Song, aged 21.' 

"Eonni I miss you." she began to speak as if her eonni was there with her, "I miss your complaints about my messy-ness, the sickening smell of caramel, your insults for my terrible cooking.." her voice trailed off and cracked into a sob.

"I know people would often only remember good things aboout their loved ones who passed away, but to me, I even miss the horrible things about you."

5 minutes later, she calmed down and spread out a genuine smile, "Eonni, Minho moved into our dorm and as fun as he turned out to be, he'll never be a better roomate than you. Well, atleast you didn't snore in your sleep like he does. But he cleans up my mess, and keeps the room tidy.. I think he got that influence from you, don't you think?"

"Minho's definitely affected by her," a voice said, "Because he definitely didn't get that from me."

Taeyeon gazed upon the figure, "Jonghyun-ah, what are you doing here?" she asked.

He crossed his arms and tilted his head towards the tree, "I just missed my girl, you know." he reffered to Victoria, "But it seems like someone already kept her company."

She smiled warmly, "I looked a little crazy, didn't I?" He gave a small chuckle and replied, "Talking to a tree is considered unusual, but I won't call that crazy."

Jonghyun walked near the tiny-tree and looked at it affectionately, "White roses, she loved these." he turned his head at Taeyeon and asked, "How did you know about her favorite ones?" 

"You're not the only one who knows stuff about her, for your information," she retorted sulkily, "I was eonni's friend too."

"Ah, right, ofcourse." he noted awkwardly, "Thanks."

She cocked her head to the side, "Why thank me?" He cleared his throat, trying to seem laid-back when he clearly isnt. "I mean, thanks for making the memorial. It means alot to me."

"Oh, okay."

Just then, a ball bounced off her shin, making her exclaim words that no-one knew existed until then. Jonghyun looked at her in shock and laughed as he took the ball with his right hand. A girl, presumably the one who kicked it, was running towards them.

Taeyeon saw the girl and froze, it was one of the girls from Section 4H that she met the other day. This was the one with short hair and the cold expression. "I am sorry, I kicked it and it hit you by accident, are you okay?" the girl shouted.

As she came near, she lowered herself infront of Taeyeon and examined the possibly injured area. "It's a bit red but I don't think it will bruise, does it hurt?" she asked her.

"No, not really. I'm fine." Taeyeon said shortly. She was too distracted by the smell to focus on her words. 

Sweet,

Bitter,

Fresh,

Coffee.

Jonghyun scrunched up his nose, she assumed he smelt it too. "Is that coffee?" he asked, puzzled. The girl stood up and put her hands out to him, asking him for the ball, "That would be me, I apologize for the inconvenience of my aura."

He looked stunned and gave his friend a meaningful glance. "Umm, here." he gave her the ball, "What's your name?"

"I'm Ham Eunjung from Section 4H. Contact me if I had caused some injury to your leg, okay?" she said ignorantly to Taeyeon as she left.

Later, after Eunjung had walked out on them, Jonghyun held Taeyeon's hands. "Was I just imagining it? Or did you also.." he looked at her, asking her an unspoken question in which she nodded in reply. 

"So you knew.. all this time." He shifted his gaze to Eunjung, who was now playing football with her section-mates on the field. "I wasnt sure, but now that I've witnessed it-" Taeyeon stuttered. "Am I g-going to be okay Jjong-ah?"

He grabbed her arm and dragged her back into the building. "Don't go out into the sun anymore, except for training and urgent matters, we dont want your aura revealed." He turned around to her, eye-ing her seriously, "Stay with Minho or me at all times, I'll talk to him. We have to keep this a secret, alright?" 

She only nodded weakly, still unable to form proper sentences. He looked at her sternly and instructed, "Stay away from that girl,"

"Whatever you do, stay away from Ham Eunjung."

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That morning, Kris wasn't feeling the best of moods, and the fact that it was a Monday morning didn't make it easier for him either. He was in the 8A section room, where they learn how to strategize and other things that involve any theory. It was practically a classroom, only, less math.

Since the two Trainers aren't there yet due to a sudden board meeting, all the section members are free to do anything while they wait. To his right, Myungsoo was sleeping. He always had those shadows under his eyes, probably that's why he's tired. In the farthest left of the room, Minho, Taeyeon and Jonghyun were discussing something quite seriously. He rotated his vision back to his own desk before resting his head on top of it.

He felt a poke at his rib, and turned around to see Taemin smiling dumbly at him, "Hyung, wanna play?" In return, he glared at him, "Play what exactly?"

The kid tapped his chin as he thought, "I dont know. You want to play hang-man?" Kris sighed irritatedly, "Forget it. Oh yeah, if you disturb me again, I'll hang you." he said as he again, rested his head on the table.

Taemin uttered complains grumpily as he sunk into his chair, not daring to disturb the hyung with a bad-mood. Kris could hear Nana and Bora reading the e-news quite loudly, making him hear everything they were saying without even trying to.

"What a world we live in," Bora commented, a disgusted look on her face. "So many people are commiting suicide like it was inevitable."

Nana nodded, "Yeah, look at this one, Ahn Minsoo; age 22. He hung himself. Aura is ... detergent? Umm, okay." in alphabetical order, she listed all the youths that took away their own lives, each with a different method. "Baek Hyemi- 21, sleeping pills, Lavender. Next is... Byun Baekhyun- age 22, cut his wrist, and his aura is; Burning Wood."

Kris suddenly lifted up his head, "What.. did you say?"

She merely blinked at him, shocked for his sudden presence in their conversation, "Why do you want to know?" she asked him back.

His eyes glared at her, before he said indignantly, "Why shouldn't I know?" His stare sent shivers behind Nana's back and made her repeat the words from the article. "Byun Baekhyun, aged-22. He cut his wrist and bled to death, and his aura is Burning Wood."

"Oh." he simply said.

Bora looked at him suspiciously, "Why did you want to know about it so badly?" He waved his hand ignorantly as he replied, "My pair just commited suicide, why wouldn't I want to know?"

Now, everyone in the room was staring at him, wondering how he isn't freaking out by now. "What? It's not like I killed him," Kris stated calmly. The members glanced at eachother, then at him, before Jonghyun broke the silence, "You didn't, but can't you atleast feel bad for the person who died? How can you be so calm?"

"Really? You are all just being overly-touchy about this situation," he scoffed in disbelief, "People die every single day and I dont see you freaking out for each one of them. Just because that person is my pair, I should feel especially sad? I barely even know him."

"And I shouldn't feel guilty, because it's not like I was the one who made him commit suicide." Kris protested.

Minho joined in the argument, "We might not know each and every single one of them but that total of death in the population that we see day by day on the news aren't just numbers, they are people, like us. They had lives, hopes, aspirations, and yet they chose to die because of this horrific world."

Kris set his jaw and looked defiantly at s, "Then what am I supposed to feel? Guilt, when it's not even my fault, or gratefulness? Since I wasn't the one who died instead? Tell me; how should I react to his death?"

All of them stayed silent because they too, are still unsure about the answer. Taemin went near him and placed his hand on his shoulder, "Sorry." he muttered, "You don't have to be guilty, and you don't have to be grateful like a heartless jerk, but you could still be a decent human being and feel genuinely sorry."

He looked at him and nodded. Then, he headed towards the door and paused before he left the room. "Tell the trainers what happened, I need to be excused for a while. My mind is all over the place and I just need time to arrange them. Thanks."

And then he left, cursing slowly about how Mondays were officially the worst.

--------------------------------

"Father?" the boy asked as he scratched his blonde hair in irritation. "Something's odd."

A deep, sophisticated voice replied, "What is it Yi Fan? Is something wrong?"

He paused, it feels weird to be called with his real name, now that he was just getting used to the name 'Kris'. "I'm not sure. Father- do you perhaps believe in coincidences?"

"No." His father replied shortly.

He sighed, "Then, what if too many 'coincidences' happened?" Kris asked. A reply comes immediately from the other side, "Then what happened weren't by coincidence. Could you get to the point, son? I'm tired of this nonsense."

"My pairing commited suicide today," he reported.

"So?" his father asked passively, "Isn't that good news?"

He was half-expecting this reaction. His father wasn't the most empathetic person, infact, he barely had any empathy. Kris continued, "And other than that, the girl who died from my section, Victoria, she was employed by WWG. Don't you think it's too perfect?" he paused, "Like someone carved the way for me."

"Father, I'm not doubting you, it's just-" Kris exhaled loudly, "Nevermind, it's a stupid thought. I'm sorry."

After a few seconds of not replying, his father finally did, "Don't be. You were right."

"What?" he said, barely a whisper.

The old man took a deep breath, a habit of his when he was about to make a speech. "I was merely helping you, child. The girl just happens to be a perfect target; she goes to KATB and was going to work in WWG, in the position that I want you to be in. It was convenient because you can take her place for both of the subjects after we got rid of her-"

Kris interrupted, "B-but how.. HOW exactly do you think you are going to get away with this?" he spat, "Did you realise what mess you had put us into, father?"

"Are you that daft? How have I been raising you?" his dad said furiously, "With money, and the condition of our world, it would be easy to cover-up. You see, I used the situation to my benefit, and made it look like it was a normal suicide- which happens way too often these days. Nobody would give her a second glance, trust me. That's also how I removed your pairing out of the picture. I was afraid he would meddle with-"

He stopped him mid-sentence, "With what? Your money, or.. or your bussiness? Cant you see? You have gone off boundaries! Stop it -I beg of you." he pleaded.

"I was afraid he would meddle with you! My only son. I have planned for you a bright future and I wouldn't let anything or anyone mess that up." he sighed. "And besides, I am not the only one who does this. I know a great many others that do too.. so don't judge me."

"Father, please. None of this is right. I won't be able to live like this-" he stopped when he realised that his old-man had hung up on him.

He buried himself into his blanket and pillow as he screamed furiously. He heard the door open and his roomate coming in, "Are you okay? The trainers asked me to check up on -woah, what happened?" Jonghyun asked.

Kris immediately sat up, not tolerating the question and turned his back on his friend. "Are you okay?" he asked, again.

No answer came, and Jonghyun was about to leave him alone when he suddenly said, "I had an argument with my dad."

"Oh? About what?" Kris bit his lips nervously, "About.. my future." he knew he wasn't lying, technically atleast, "We had very different opinions."

Jonghyun gave him an encourging smile, "All parents are like that. It's just because he wants only the best for you."

"True," he noted, "But sometimes what they thought were best, were actually the worst.."

"Literally."

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