SIREN

As the school principal’s only son, Oh Sehun is about to ruin his flawless trait by arriving late to his school this morning.

 

He does not mean to, actually. He came back home late last night, spending the whole time to finish his homework in a coffee shop he recently found. Since he was charmed with the delicious bubble tea they made, Sehun only realized that it was already past midnight by the time he returned home.

 

The only acceptable way to enter the school without being caught is through this secluded area far behind the school blocks. This place is small, almost entirely covered with bushes and shady trees and nobody dares to linger here – even the delinquents.

 

Why? Isn’t it fits enough to be skipping classes here?

 

Too bad, nobody dares doing so just because there is a popular rumor regarding this area.

 

“A girl was said to be missing and a few days later, they found her dead body buried at that back area!”

 

Sehun shudders at the voice whispering in his mind. He scolds his mind for a second since he lets himself easily believed in such gossip. Gazing up to the sky, the sun is blazing just fine from between the clouds. Though quiet, Sehun assures himself that there is nothing to be afraid of. It is only 8.30 a.m. – not an appropriate time for ghosts to come out.

 

After climbing over the rusted gates, he lands with a thud on his feet. Sehun pivots around, continue walking while busily dusting off the dirt on his palms, eyes focus only on them when his legs trip over something.

 

“Ouch!” Sehun winces, about to fall face first against the ground but luckily, his reaction is fast enough to support himself with his arms.

 

“Dammit! What the hell was that?!”

 

Turning his head around in sheer annoyance, a pair of legs is the last thing Sehun expecting to see. His eyes widen at that instant, his heart rate increases rapidly and he forgets all his intention to get pissed off.

 

...Like seriously? Legs?

 

Lying down in front of his very eyes now is truly a human skeletal, shaping longer to be legs. Sehun’s gaze travels higher until he stops seeing the knees and thighs disappear into the pile of dry leaves, mountaining there.

 

Judging from the pale, smooth skin of those exposed legs, surely the skeletal belongs to a girl. Whether it is a human girl or not, Sehun does not want to find out because again, the earlier voice rings in his mind.

 

“A girl was said to be missing and a few days later...”

 

He should not bother, really. Yet flinching at the sight of those slender legs stir around, folding the right onto the left, Sehun ignores the shivers down his spine and crawls closer to the scattering of dry leaves.

 

Curiosity gets the best of him when Sehun swallows and picks up his gut to reach down. His palm sweeps those leaves around until it reveals to him a sleeping face of a girl. Sehun’s breath comes to hitch. He can’t help but to stare upon those long eyelashes – so long to the extent of reaching her cheeks, tall nose, thin lips and sharp jawline; her entire features are pale.

 

Sehun slowly draws back his shaky hand, wanting to leave this girl as her being now but once again, Sehun is startles once those eyes flutter open, glancing sideway and meet his eyes.

 

Big, round and lifeless hazel orbs are staring straight at him.

 

Sehun and the dead girl; they engage in a staring battle for a while before...

 

“...they found her dead body buried at that back area!”

 

Stopping himself from screaming out loud, Sehun finds his mind is commanding him to run and so he does, sprinting away from the haunted area, away from whatever creature he has found lying beneath the dry leaves there.

 

Stupid girl ghost! I was just passing through, okay?!

 

 

Sehun is fortunate when his legs successfully halt two steps away from the classroom’s back door. He pants, steadying his breath again after an escape from the ghost just now. Then his eyes dart back to the door. He sighs.

 

He can escape from the discipline teacher but how can he avoid encountering with the teacher in the Chemistry period now?

 

Still choosing not to be punished as a late-comer, Sehun squats down to the floor and agonizingly slides apart the door. Inch by inch, he pushes his body inside, noticing that his classmates are so quiet at their own place.

 

Halfway crawling inside, Sehun stops dead on his track when a head reaches down to meet his own face. Sehun’s body jerks backward, narrowing his eyes grudgingly to that head.

 

“Hey, you’re late. And why you’re crawling?” The owner of that head – eyes rivaling an owl and full heart-shaped lips – DO Kyungsoo, calmly questions him as Sehun snorts. But then he quickly snaps a finger up to his own mouth.

 

“Shhh! You know how scary Mr. Yoo is! I’m not attending his detention!” Sehun whispers back in harsh tone while Kyungsoo nods, straightening his head again to look at the front.

 

“Oh, ‘bout that? It’s okay. We’re in self-study period now. Mr. Yoo is absent today.”

 

Sehun is about to resume crawling to his seat but once he hears him, his eyes fly up straight to Kyungsoo, “Eh, what?! So he’s not here?”

 

A simple nod from Kyungsoo while he continues reading his book without sparing Sehun another look. Sehun sighs out in relief, flattening his body down to the floor.

 

“Huhhh...that’s wonderful. It’s hard to run from a ghost, you know...”

 

“Ghost? What ghost?” Byun Baekhyun – short, breaking the school rules with eyeliner and famous as a man – turns his body a little and looks down to where Sehun is laying.

 

Park Chanyeol – tall, fluffy brown hair with an incurable happy virus in his toothy smiles – grins, anticipating Sehun’s explanation as if it will be a funny joke. “Is that why you’re late?”

 

“It sounds stupid to be late because of a ghost. Up, Oh Sehun. We got broom to clean up the floor.” Kim Joonmyeon, the class president – angelic aura surrounds him, respectful and always sounds like a grandpa – advises while he walks passing the laying Sehun.

 

Sehun rolls his eyes, watching as Joonmyeon sits down on his chair but then he stands up to occupy his own seat. Baekhyun and Chanyeol simultaneously crowding around him to grasp the rest of the story. They never get tired of morning gossips, aren’t they?

 

“So? What happened? We would understand if you were late because of a ghost unlike a certain someone.” Chanyeol starts, flashing a knowing smirk to Joonmyeon in which the class president glares in return.

 

Baekhyun nods, not even bother to check Joonmyeon’s face when he says, “Yeah, Joonmyeon is the first person to come at school during dawn so he’s the ghost in here.”

 

“Yah!”

 

Sehun sighs, pasting his cheek down against the table – and it is not because of Baekyeol’s endless bickering with Joonmyeon. His mind is still full with the image of some weird hazel eyes.

 

“No. It just...have you heard about the girl died at the school backyard –”

 

“Ah!!!” The eyeliner king interrupts dramatically, gaining the whole class attention at that instant.

 

“What, what –” Sehun straightens his head to stare at Baekhyun while Chanyeol robotically nodding, touching the shorter by his shoulder. “Yeah, what? What is it, Baek-ah?”

 

“So you saw her? That dead girl?” Baekhyun finally questions again after recovering from his not-so-shocking shock. The class is filled with small chatters again.

 

Sehun shrugs, stealing a quick glance towards Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo. “Em...I’m not sure...”

 

He is really not feeling quite sure, both for the dead girl and his two friends there. Why would they argue over a calculator? – A dilemma that comes to him while noticing the class president and the number 1 geek in their class keep pushing and pulling that poor calculator between them.

 

Sehun shrugs again, darting his eyes back to Chanyeol just in time he asks, “How did she look like? Red eyes, long black hair, bloody mouth and grey skin with black veins all over it?”

 

He is describing those characteristics animatedly – and Sehun cringes at how gruesome the ghost girl might look – but his response is just a simple, “Em, nope.”

 

“Eh??? That’s disappointing. They said she looked scary!” Baekhyun pouts to emphasize his ‘disappointment’.

 

“Well, she was scary but...” Sehun blinks, reconsidering over a pair of hazel eyes stared at him less than 20 minutes prior. “She was rather b – beautiful...Big hazel eyes, tall nose, long lashes but she was pale. Very colorless, indeed.”

 

Sehun is nodding alone to agree at his thoughts but Baekhyun rolls his eyes, turning his view away while shaking his head.

 

“Hmph! Don’t fall in love with her. Your love story will be tragic.” he uninterestedly reminds which Sehun frowns in return.

 

“What? No. I won’t – I was just wondering, if the rumor about her was even true.”

 

“You saw her, that’s not enough to be a proof?” Chanyeol shoots the question to him but his attention is to nudge a girl beside Sehun when he notices she’s about to peel a chocolate bar from her blazer.

 

“Well, I –”

 

“Dammit!” That curse resonates from the back door when someone kicks it open.

 

Kim Jongin – tall, muscular, dark skin, with purplish bruises decorate that handsome face here and there – stops for a second after the whole class have their eyes on him. But then he gives them a careless shrug and walks off to his seat.

 

“Morning, Jongin-ah. You okay?” Kyungsoo, the desk-mate tries to be concern but Jongin looks at him as if Kyungsoo just asked the stupidest matter he ever heard.

 

He slams his body down to the chair, “I’m perfectly fine! Thanks!”

 

Joonmyeon sighs, “Want some lollipop?” He that candy he newly received from the girl next to Sehun towards Jongin. Sehun does not wait for Jongin’s response. He leans closer towards Baekyeol instead.

 

“Is it...”

 

“Yeah, a fight with his father again.”, Chanyeol finishes for him.

 

“Mr. Kim is really a jerk! Keeps on making young girls as his mistress.”, Baekhyun is complaining through his whispering tone, rolling his eyes. Chanyeol raises his eyebrow accusingly at him upon hearing that complaint.

 

“You date multiple persons at a time too.”

 

“I date boys! And I don’t have a family to be victims of heartbroken.”

 

Though the argument sounds foolish, Sehun could not bring himself to disagree. He nods at Baekhyun at last, “You got the point there. Pity Jongin.”

 

Baekyeol and he all are sighing in sympathy. Looking at Jongin makes Sehun wonder; what it feels like to know your own father is cheating with young ladies over your mother?

 

Only Jongin knows the answer.

 

 

Tonight is the second night Sehun is bringing over his homework to the coffee shop he just labeled as his latest favorite. The seat arrangement is quite private from one customer to another, that’s why Sehun prefers to be alone here. Plus, they make tasty bubble tea – that’s the main point though.

 

By the time he walks approaching the counters, there is a long line in front of him. Urgh, this is going to take forever.

 

He spends the next five minutes playing with the tip of his sneakers until he is almost close to being the next person to be served. Tapping his feet, Sehun impatiently waits for an ajumma in front of him to finish ordering, but the lady keeps on changing her mind. Make up your darn mind!

 

“Welcome to Brownie Coffee Shop! May I take your order, sir?” Another employee appears from behind the counter beside to the one Sehun’s waiting for.

 

As Sehun shifts his attention to that offer, his eyes automatically widen to see familiar hazel orbs are looking at him. That employee removes the ‘REST’ sign from atop of the counter and bows to him.

 

Unlike the pale girl he saw this morning, the very same-looking girl tonight appears energetic and friendly. She motions politely for Sehun to give order from her counter and the boy hesitantly moves to her.

 

“Em...”, his eyes never leave her face. Eyes, nose, lips, jawline and hair – all copied exactly from the dead girl Sehun encountered with this morning.

 

When he keeps staring without voicing out his order, the girl asks while showing Sehun her weird expression. “Sir?”

 

Doesn’t she remember me? Deciding that she is definitely in her working mode and not going to play riddle with him, Sehun seriously studies the menu board behind the hazel-eyed girl.

 

“Ye – yeah. One peach bubble tea.”

 

“Alright! Wait a moment please.”, after tapping the order on the screen and receiving the cash from Sehun, he watches her as the girl pivots around to get his drink ready.

 

He is still in his complex thoughts about whether the girl is the same girl or two different persons with shared looks by the moment she comes back and hands Sehun with his bubble tea. “There you go, sir. Please do come again!”

 

Despite having so many calculations in his mind, Sehun receives his drink with a polite smile to reply the girl’s sparkling ones. He then takes a seat near the glass wall, at a spot he can easily observe her.

 

After sipping a few times on his bubble tea, Sehun begins spreading open his homework. He is writing one or two lines out of his essay when the mysterious girl comes wiping the table across from his place.

 

Sehun is contemplating, biting his lower lip the entire time he is watching her. Just when she turns around to walk away, he fails to control the “Ex – excuse me!” from slurring out of his mouth.

 

The girl tilts her head to him, smiling brightly unlike the pale girl he met this morning. “Yes, sir? Is there anything I can get for you?”

 

“No, thanks. I’m wondering if...you’re from...” He wants so much to get rid of the confusion but finally, Sehun sighs and settles with, “Well, forget it.”

 

“Are you sure, sir?” The girl is now fully turns her body to face him, frowns on her forehead.

 

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter. And don’t call me that, I’m Oh Sehun.”, he does not understand any of this but introduction comes even before Sehun could prevent himself.

 

She smiles broader, slightly bowing to him, “It’s Choi Sena here.”

 

Sehun swallows. He wishes for their conversation to last longer but he refuses to disturb her from being a diligent worker. Shuffling around on his chair, Sehun spots the milk candy he got from his desk-mate today in his pencil case and he quickly picks it up.

 

“I need your help. Here, take this candy. I can’t afford to finish the last one.” Clearly not a cool idea to approach a chic but...

 

“Oh! No apple candy?” She receives it into her palm nonetheless, with a sweet smile sweeter than the candy that it makes a part of Sehun feels relief. He shrugs, smiling back at her.

 

“Next time, maybe?”

 

“Alright! Thank you then, Sehun-sshi.”

 

“You’re welcome, Sena-sshi.” Choi Sena...

 

He makes a mental note to always come here, both for bubble tea and her.

 

 

“What color do you think will look good on me?” Chanyeol shoves his smart phone to Baekhyun, showing the shorter boy a collection of cap displays in that screen. He is expecting for some suggestion from them regarding his new cap.

 

The six boys are now sitting around a table in the canteen. Baekyeol are eating breads while discussing about that topic, Joomyeon who sits next to them is sipping over his milk with a list of attendance in his hand, Kyungsoo is too engrossed in his dumplings to notice anything while Jongin is munching a sandwich slowly – his eyes darting far away and his fingers are rubbing a bluish circle by the corner of his lips – and there is Sehun, who seems like he is listening to Baekyeol but he actually does not.

 

“Just go for red, Yeollie. It’ll make your brown hair looks fancy.”, Baekhyun gives the latter a confident nod but when Chanyeol pictures his head wearing the suggested cap, he shudders.

 

“I don’t think that’s smart enough. I wanna look cool, not fancy.”, he rejects Baekhyun’s idea straight away, turning towards Kyungsoo instead without bothering the way Baekhyun snorts and mutters something like, “What’s the point? You’ll fail to look so anyway...”

 

“So what do you think, Kyunggie? Should I go for green or blue?”

 

“Hazel.”

 

“Shoot!” Chanyeol is obviously startled, as he spits some of his bread and chokes a little. Jongin in front of him furrows his eyebrows in disgust. “God! I thought you are daydreaming!” Baekhyun voluntarily helps Chanyeol wiping his mouth before Jongin could give him one nice punch.

 

“Yeah. No. I mean it, hazel is beautiful.”, though Sehun sounds serious – and he looks serious – but the way he is blinking at Chanyeol and the rest is so unconvincing. Joonmyeon snorts, shaking his head.

 

“Hazel will not look beautiful. Don’t go for that Chanyeol-ah. Brown and hazel, it will make your head looks like –”

 

“My dog’s poop...” Jongin continues with a boring sigh but still not giving up the chance to annoy Chanyeol for pissing him off just now.

 

Chanyeol could only reply his friends with his usual toothy grin, does not want to hurt anybody despite their absolutely-not-helpful suggestion. Baekhyun, on the other hand, who interested in something else leans in towards Sehun.

 

“Anyway, Sehun-ah. Why hazel?”

 

“Yeah. None of the caps in here is colored in hazel.” Chanyeol nods along while he is zooming in the picture in his smart phone (without noticing that he never really shows it to Sehun). Sehun chuckles.

 

When Chanyeol said he was daydreaming just now, he is certainly true because Sehun’s mind is too occupied with a pair of round eyes which makes Sehun agrees that hazel looks beautiful.

 

“This trouble, stop smiling!” Sehun flinches when Baekhyun shouts to snap him out of his train of thoughts again. Yet, he smiles wider. Kyungsoo frowns, “Are you sure you’re okay after you saw the ghost yesterday?”

 

“Well, yeah. About the ghost, she’s actually –”

 

Just in time Sehun straightens on his back, eager to tell his friends about Choi Sena, she comes into their view. A slender figure, long-haired girl walks passing their table, distracting the boys’ attention when they notice how Sehun’s eyes widen upon seeing her.

 

She is just about to pace through the exit the moment Sehun abruptly shoots out of his chair and calls out, “Sena-sshi!”

 

All remaining five of his friends are watching Sehun stops behind the girl with raised eyebrows. She halts but never turn back to look at Sehun. He scratches the back of his neck.

 

“Urm, about yesterday...here.”, Sehun s his pocket, fishing something out before he opens up his palm to her.

 

Slightly tilting her head around, the same hazel orbs are peering at his face before she travels her sight lower until it stops looking upon that thing – an apple candy.

 

She looks back at Sehun and coldly says, “I don’t eat candy, sorry.”

 

It ends just like that, leaving Sehun to stand alone there to notice that Sena’s features remain the same like the first time he saw her and again last night, when they met at the shop, only that now, she’s back looking pale one more time.

 

 

Sehun walks side by side with Jongin through the exit gate of the indoor basketball court. They just finished their PE class and is heading to the canteen to grab their lunch. He is using a small white towel to wipe the sweat trickling down his forehead when Sehun opens his eyes, looking up.

 

The clouds are trailing above them, forming weird shapes that Sehun thinks one of them looks a bit like a tiger.

 

“Don’t you think that cloud looks like a tiger?” Jongin voices out his mind, pointing at the weird cloud Sehun has been gazing at.

 

His lips tug upward, wanting to nod at Jongin when a hand slips around his elbow from behind. Both Sehun and Jongin stop, realizing Baekhyun and Chanyeol stand there. Their eyes are looking ahead instead of looking at Sehun.

 

“Hunnie, the ghost –” Baekhyun quietly mentions but irritating laughter comes from a group of girls stops him – their voices drift back to the boys.

 

“Wouldn’t that make you an easy girl? Dating older men?”

 

The boys switch their attention to the front where those girls are relaxing around the sinks, gossiping over something. Just then Sehun also notices the girl ghost meant by Baekhyun is standing there, a few sinks away from the girls. She washes her hands alone, not even feeling distracted by the girls’ loud conversation.

 

“Hmmm...it’s true they might be boring at time but, they keep my pockets full. I need money for cosmetics and clothes, remember?” Sehun could feel how Jongin tenses beside him.

 

Dating older men is a sensitive topic for him but Sehun couldn’t care less – not when his entire being is attracted to the lone girl. More laughter are released.

 

“That’s ridiculous! You could just do any part-time work!”

 

“Troublesome. Night parties are no fun without me.”, replies the girl who being claimed she’s doing the dating job. Her friends cringe at her. “Show off!”

 

Then the sound of the water running disappears once the lone girl taps it close. Sehun follows with his eyes as she makes way passing through the girls (since they are blocking her way). Without intention, her shoulder bumps with the girl (the one dating the old men) and they glance up to each other.

 

The gossip girl is narrowing her eyes while the lone girl looks at her through her empty, hazel eyes.

 

“What are you staring at, weirdo?” She tries to be sarcastic, crossing her arms across her chest.

 

The latter slowly lowers her eyes until she stops at one certain area and points a finger to it. “Cotton pink . Quite naive to seduce adult men.”

 

The boys are also looking at what she’s meaning by that and Baekyeol burst into loud laughter. They not even consider the fact that they just adding to the embarrassment of the gossip girl.

 

“You!” She squeaks, hastily zipping up her half-open sports shorts.

 

The expressionless girl continues walking while one of the girls shouts over with annoyed face, “Yah! How dare you eavesdropping on someone?!”

 

Of course, they are being left cursing the weird girl as Chanyeol makes a comment at how strangely funny the girl ghost is. The boys are about to resume walking when Sehun excuses himself. Pivoting around, he follows the path where the hazel-eyed girl disappeared to just now until, Sehun finds her standing under the shady tree – the same secluded area which rumored to be a haunted place.

 

She’s surely extraordinary. Has she never heard of the rumor?

 

Clearing his throat, Sehun then arranges his steps closer to her. She does not notice him there – or she does not want to care – while she continues randomly looking down to the ground.

 

Sehun keeps his hands into his pockets and asks, “How about yours? Will it be able to seduce adult men?”

 

She looks up, eyes show no changes to be surprised at his sudden presence there. She then smooths her hands down to the hem of her skirt. “Today I wear lacey red so if you wanna see...”

 

Her low voice trailing off to the shocked Sehun. He frantically shaking his head, denying it through his ner