I was looking out of the old window as droplets of water were falling on the glass. I wondered when did the rain replace snow. It was already far into the spring and my birthday was just around the corner. It would be my first birthday without my parents and friends. I couldn´t help but feel a little lonely and the crying heaven wasn´t of any help either.

After Seunggi´s death and the scene during the school festival, many things had changed. I stopped trying to make friends and my feigned friendliness got exchanged for my natural coldness. This new attitude of mine was easily keeping everyone away and before I knew it, I became invisible. That of course was an advantage for me because any attention would do me only harm since I was still investigating this whole mystery about chimeras.

The biggest change, though, was my new pack with the school principal. This was very important because from Seunggi´s experience, we were bound to be students at this school until the very end. There was one kid I knew from the library and talked to when I first entered the institute. Her name was Hwan Jeungeum and one didn´t have to see her animal attributes to realise that she was a predator. But what was interesting about her was the fact that she was brought to the institute when she was only four years old. Back there it was only a nursery school but she was now eighteen and still here. Jeungeum was smart so she would continue to the university but she wouldn´t be able to leave the institute, just like any of us.

The only way to avoid being an eternal prisoner here was to find a crack in the system. Not many people searched for a way out because most of them enjoyed their life here. It was a closed community where nobody could be bullied for cat ears or lizard tale and big amount of money was being donated from various secret funds. Stuff, like information about accounts, I found in the prohibited fraction of the library made me believe that everyone here could life at he institute comfortably for a very long time. Who would want to go out into the painful and unforgiving life? Every single student in here had suffered a lot before being brought to the institute. They found their peace here but I was a little greedier. I wanted freedom.

I was sitting at a nice blue cusion that I got as a present from Heechul the day he came to visit the school. It looked almost the same as the red one in hyung´s house. I placed it on the windowsill so I could comfortably sit there and look out of the window. It was the best present I could get from him, even better than the pack of chocolate milks I found in the other bag from him. With the memory of Heechul came also the memory of the school festival and the following events.

“So you want to be a detective, Hyukjae?” The headmaster brought me to his office the next day after the school festival. I was sitting in front of him like a prey.

“Definitely,” I told him firmly. The light in the small office was dim as there weren´t any windows. I thought about this a lot after and realised that the office must have been in the middle of the main building and surrounded by other rooms. From the outside, though, it was possible to spot a room with a window, which I knew for sure was no class nor office. Where was the door to the room and what was inside I didn´t know.

“And what is your reason? You see, the next year the students that successfully graduate from high school are going to start a university course that they choose by themselves. You could study any possible subject in this country so why police?” The headmaster spread his arms to emphasize the huge amount of possibilities I had. But I might have been the only student aware that there were only two possibilities. To stay or to get out. I chose the other.

“Do know the strange police man that saved my life? Kim Heechul?” I asked and put on an act of a naïve child chasing for a cute dream.

“Yes, Kim Heechul is well-known in his field, his father was equally famous,” the old man nodded approvingly.

“I found his job very interesting and fell in love with it right away. I really want to become a good person like him!” I played a little scene and studied the principal´s reaction. Can he see through me?

“I see, very well,” the headmaster´s expression suddenly turned serious. He clasped his hands, his elbows were leaning against the most expensive wooden table I´ve ever seen. “You thought this well, Hyukjae. You can drop the act now, I can tell what kind of person you are and although you are pretty good at acting, I´ve been doing this job for a few decades now. You can´t fool me."

“I wish it was me, who knew what kind of person you are, sir,” I sighed. So he could tell, usually people get deceived by the fake. They prefer easy over honest and difficult. The only person before the sneaky headmaster to see through me was Heechul hyung.

“Hahaha,” the older man laughed heartily, “it must be hard for you to guess on which side I am, right?” He asked and relaxed in his brown leather chair.

“So there is more than just one side then?” I immediately activated my wits. It would mean that either there is an opposition in my thinking and the system or there are some conflicts in the police department itself.

“My,my. I really have to be careful of what I say in front of you, Hyukjae,” the older man shook his head amused. “I can tell you but another thing is, if you would even believe me.”

“That is for me to judge,” I answered confidently. Strangely the atmosphere in the office wasn´t dark, it wasn´t light-hearted either but more like pleasantly tense.

“Alright,” the headmaster clapped and began talking.

“I won´t ask what you know because it would be difficult for the both of us then. About the sides, I don´t trust you enough to tell you yet but I would like you to believe that I´m on yours. As I promised, I will give you the best education I can. But the actual training is up to you. If you want to succeed in your plans, you have to work hard.”

“That´s given, I wouldn´t dare to slack off,” I nodded.

“Just to make sure. You aren´t doing any of this for revenge, are you?” This sentence caught me off guard. Was I trying to take a revenge for what happened to me and my family? For Seunggi?

“I´ve never thought about that,” I told him honestly with a little smile.

“I see,” the old man said returning the smile, “you can go now, we won´t talk about this until you graduate in a few months.”

“Thank you,” I stood up and bowed deeply. This was my big chance and I wasn´t going to ruin it.

“Hyukjae?” The headmaster stopped me as I was about to walk out of his office. “You better decrease your contact with detective Kim Heechul. It might be something you missed so I´m telling you straight, you are putting Heechul into a tight spot as well. Stop using his name.”

Remembering that eerie warning the principal gave me, even now my throat clenches at the thought. Indeed, I haven´t thought of hyung´s position. There was still Leeteuk as a barrage in front of him but I couldn´t risk anymore. I had to sacrifice the comfort and help I would get from him, if I wanted to achieve my goal with as less harm as possible. It´s going to be tough.

The rain stopped and sun started peeking through the clouds. I leaned my forehead against the cold glass and closed my eyes. But I had hope, hope that Heechul won´t forget about me and come for me. Even if I had to be locked away from him for years. Please, don´t forget. A drop of water slid down the glass outside and in the reflection I could see it, something I was not capable of naturally. Tears.

Hello! A little time travel here and a big one in the next chapter. Look forward to it! :) I wondered when would be the best time to start wrapping the story up but I can´t find it. I want to continue :D sorry, guys. It will take a little longer for this story to end. And people thought that Heechul and Eunhyuk couple wouldn´t make up to a long story. Sigh. Thank you so much for reading and commenting (by the way after a long time, there is somebody that guessed right what would happen! cj0415 guessed the headmaster´s next move, congrats! now I have to try even harder to make it mysterious, it´s impossible now that almost everything got revealed, tho). Have a nice day! - PandaHero