When Jin woke up the following morning, Sena was already up and showering. Jin rubbed the sleep from her eyes. After everything that Sena had revealed the previous night, Jin felt strangely empty now. It seemed like everything in her own world was so insignificant compared to what she learned about Sena. Classes. Grades. Vernon. Friendship. Nothing really seemed to matter anymore.

Jin’s attention was directed to her vibrating phone. She hadn’t checked it in a while. She reached out to see that she had received a message from Vernon.

Good night, Frostbite ♥, the message read.

Jin didn’t really know how she was going to act with Vernon after learning that his friend did this to Sena. It felt almost inappropriate to keep dating him. She didn’t think that Vernon was guilty by association or anything, but it felt extremely inconsiderate to Sena to keep dating her ’s friend.

But Vernon wasn’t like Seungcheol, and Jin didn’t really doubt it at all. Sena did though, which was why she had revealed it to Jin in the first place…

Her suspicion made sense though. Vernon was Seungcheol’s best friend, and he does ask girls to kiss him, and he does act extremely obnoxious sometimes. Not to mention that rumor with “the drunk girl.” Sena was completely justified in believing he was like Seungcheol.

But Jin didn’t believe that he was. If Vernon were as evil as Seungcheol was, then Jin would have caught on to it by now. It just didn’t make sense to think that Vernon was like that. Even if someone made the claim that he was, Jin would not believe it.

She found that she automatically believed that Vernon was completely oblivious to what Seungcheol did to Sena, and a part of her wanted to tell him.

But after thinking about it, she decided against it. What could Vernon do about it? Would he even believe her, or would he accuse Sena of lying? The first thing Vernon would probably do is talk directly to Seungcheol about it, which did not seem like a favorable outcome for Sena.

She thought about whom else to tell. Seokmin was out of the question, because he was impulsive and he would definitely try to beat Seungcheol up. Wonwoo was a little less impulsive, but Jin could not imagine that even Wonwoo would hold back his anger to deal with this the way it should be dealt with.

Heck, even she, the pacifist, wished she could hurt Seungcheol. He broke Sena, who had been one of the strongest and most resilient people Jin had ever known. He made her weak, scared and sad; he traumatized her. He deserved more than just prison.

When Sena was done showering, Jin noticed something about her that she had not noticed until then.

Sena was now wearing a t-shirt. Jin had not noticed, but for the past week, Sena had only worn long sleeves. The long sleeves had covered the red and blue bruises around both of her wrists that Jin was now seeing for the first time. It was a shock for Jin to see the evidence of Sena’s trauma.

“They’re healing quickly,” Sena pointed out when she saw Jin notice them.

“Which is why you should report it now before all the evidence fades,” Jin said, sadly looking at the damage. “It looks really painful.”

“It’s nothing. It doesn’t hurt if you don’t touch them,” Sena said with a small smile.

“I’m sorry,” Jin told her friend for the nth time. She really was so sorry for everything. She felt partly responsible for it. If only she hadn’t been so jealous and resentful…

“Stop apologizing,” Sena begged, “I feel worse when you apologize. I didn’t tell you to make you feel bad.”

Jin nodded, but looked down at the floor guiltily. She felt she could even look up at Sena anymore after everything she learned. Sena took a seat right beside Jin and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, “it feels good that someone else knows about it. Don’t be sad, okay? I’m feel happier today than I have been in a long time because of you.”

-

Jin walked Sena to her class that morning before going to the library like she had usually done before making it a routine to walk to class with Wonwoo. She felt almost nostalgic as she entered the library. She remembered how she could count on Wonwoo sitting in a corner watching the studious Mingyu carefully. She glanced to the place where Wonwoo usually sat; of course, he wasn’t there.

Jin then turned to see the place where Mingyu sat; she was only a little surprised to see that he was actually there.

Jin felt it was only appropriate to go greet him. She hadn’t spoken to him in a long time. She hadn’t even apologized for ditching him when they planned to go to the restaurant together.

She walked over, greeted him and apologized. He accepted the apology without hesitation and asked that she sit down beside him for a moment, and she did.

“Thank you for taking care of Wonwoo, by the way. For leading him to the modeling job, and sharing your room.”

He shook his head, “it’s nothing really. I made a good friend because of it.”

Jin smiled.

“How have you been?” Mingyu asked Jin curiously.

Jin shrugged. Since last night, she has not been feeling good at all.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m okay,” Jin said, “but a friend of mine is going through something very hard and…”

“Are you talking about Sena?” Mingyu asked.

Jin was surprised: “how did you know?”

“I talked to her a little; I could tell,” Mingyu responded.

Jin nodded.

“What happened to her?” Mingyu asked suddenly with narrowed eyes. The way he asked it made Jin feel like he knew something happened. One thing specifically…

Jin shrugged. She certainly couldn’t tell Mingyu the truth.

“I think I know,” Mingyu revealed to Jin, startling her.

“What do you know?”

“What do you know?” Mingyu redirected the question, “because I don’t want to say anything to startle you.”

“Tell me, please,” Jin requested, feeling anxious.

Mingyu hesitated, but then said: “okay, I’ll tell you. But just know they’re all speculations, and so I may be wrong about it. So during the midterm party, I saw a bunch of guys touch her in inappropriate ways. She was too drunk to be aware of it. Back then, I didn’t really pay attention to it or give it much thought. Then, a few days ago, Wonwoo told me that Sena was having a hard time. I wondered what was wrong, and so the next day, I went to talk to her. I tend to be a touchy person, and I accidentally touched her wrist over her sleeves. She flinched; it seemed like she was bruised and that I hurt her when I touched it. Later that day, I found her in a counseling center carrying a pamphlet about ual abuse. And I just put two and two together and guessed...”

He knew.

Mingyu inspected her reaction, “so it is true. You don’t seem too surprised.”

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“I wanted to tell Wonwoo, but I was not sure, and I didn’t want to worry him. Does she know who it is?”

Jin nodded.

“Why isn’t she reporting him?”

“He threatened her, and she’s afraid,” Jin replied.

“All the more reason she needs to report him,” Mingyu said with narrowed his eyes.

“I tried to tell her, but she’s not listening.”

Mingyu opened his laptop quickly and searched ‘how to report a .’ After reading for a while, he said: “make her go to a clinic and tell the clinic to produce a report. After that, she gathers any other evidence she might have: clothes, text messages, Facebook conversations, whatever. She takes the evidence and the medical report to the police station, and they question her and anyone else involved. A trial is held, and if he’s found guilty, jail for three years.”

Jin nodded as she took mental note of the process.

“Force her to go to the clinic today. The more she waits, the harder it will be,” Mingyu revealed.

“I don’t know if I can,” Jin said, feeling pressured all of the sudden.

“If the only reason she doesn’t want to report him is because she’s afraid of him, then tell her that going to the clinic is not reporting him, it’s just keeping the possibility of reporting him open. And when she does take it to the police station, make her go out of town or something to be away from him as he’s being investigated.”

Jin nodded as she took in his plan.

“I wish I could help and talk to her, but I don’t think she’ll feel comfortable knowing that I know.”

“You’re right,” Jin said, “don’t tell anyone that you know. Not even Wonwoo, okay?”

“I understand,” Mingyu said, “you can trust me. And I wouldn’t tell Wonwoo even if I wanted to. If he knows it’ll just make him sadder than he already is.”

“What do you mean?”

“He got a phone call from his parents yesterday night, and it obviously bothered him a lot. He didn’t tell me the details, but I know whatever they said hurt him a lot.”

Jin’s face fell. It seemed like all of her friends suffering now. Sena because of Seungcheol. Seokmin because of Sena. And now, even Wonwoo. She felt so overwhelmed, like she was the one responsible for helping them all through it.

“Is there anything I can do?” Mingyu asked Jin when he noticed how her expression changed

“You’ve done a lot already. Thank you,” Jin told him and bowed.

“If you need anything, just tell me. I would be happy to help.”

Jin nodded. She decided to keep the offer in the back of her mind in case she ever really did need his help.

-

The next time she saw Vernon was in class. Seeing him made all the delightful memories of their date return. The date had only been the previous day, but it felt like much longer ago than that.

“Hey Frostbite,” Vernon called out to her and smirked.

She smiled back at him meekly. He took the seat beside her and swiftly kissed her cheek, to which she couldn’t help but blush.

“So, I was thinking about our second date this weekend,” Vernon said, “and then Seungcheol suggested that it would be cool to do a double date thing, you know? So you could get to know Nayoung and stuff.”

Jin became rigid at the mention of his name.

“No?” Vernon aked when he saw she did not look too enthusiastic.

“No,” Jin said, shaking her head, “I don’t think I would be comfortable with that.”

“Okay. I thought the same, actually. I’d rather we be alone,” he told her and winked.

Wonwoo arrived to class then and gave Jin a small smile; he bowed towards Vernon and took a seat on the other side of her.

Jin turned to him, wanting to ask him if he were okay since the phone call with his parents that she learned about from Mingyu. Something about Wonwoo seemed off. He did look more dispirited than usual.

“Are you okay?” Jin turned and asked him.

“Why I not be?” Wonwoo responded in a way that made it so clear that he was not.

“Mingyu told me.”

Wonwoo sighed deeply, looking the table in front of him. “I’ll tell you later,” he said softly.

-

Later did not come after class, nor did it come during lunch when Wonwoo said he had work to do. Jin spent that lunch with Sena in the cafeteria.

Seokmin also came to the cafeteria. He spotted them, but he didn’t sit with them. Instead he sat with Jun and his friends.

“I told him I did not want to be seen with him,” Sena explained when she saw that Jin was surprised he did not come over.

“That probably really hurt him,” Jin guessed. Even as she glanced over at him, she could see that he felt ostracized.

“I know,” Sena nodded sadly.

Jin wished she could comfort him. Whenever she saw him, her feelings for him resurfaced and she wished more than ever that he could be happy. She was so tempted to go to him and sit beside him and tell him that everything would go back to the way it was, but to do that meant to leave Sena. She did not want to do that, especially because Seungcheol was now sitting just a few tables away from them.

It was clear how hard Sena tried to avoid looking at him, and to keep him from looking at her. She sat at an angle so that her back was to him, and she was stiff and even trembling.

“I don’t like being here,” Sena said to Jin, “can we eat outside?”

Jin nodded in understanding, and they took their trays to the benches outside.

When Jin felt the time was right, she told Sena about going to get the report from the clinic.

“Jin, we’ve been over this,” Sena whined, “I don’t want to report it.”

“We’ll just get the medical report,” Jin said. “We won’t take it to the police station…”

“Why would I get the medical report if I won’t take it to the police station?”

“You might change your mind. Just keep the possibility open and get the report before the evidence fades.”

“No, Jin.”

“Please,” Jin begged.

Sena shook her head.

“For me?” Jin tried again, “I’ll feel so much better if you do it.”

Sena sighed, and reached out to take Jin’s hand, “I love you Jinnie.”

“Don’t change the subject. We’re going to the clinic, you’re getting that report. If you don’t, I’ll be angry, and I’ll start another fight with you. Don’t make us fight again…”

“Jin, please don’t make me…”

“I’m making you. I’m forcing you,” Jin said.

Sena fell silent. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll get the report for you. But I’m not taking it to the police station.”

“We’ll see about that.”

-

Sena had class after that, and she told Jin to go on home without her, and they would meet later to go to the clinic. Jin said she would wait so that they could walk home together; she couldn’t bear to leave Sena alone anymore. Sena, however, revealed that she was talking to counselors and had appointments to go to before.

It made Jin happy to know that Sena had been talking to people. She hadn’t been completely alone after all.

And so Jin headed home alone.

“Yo Frostbite,” called a familiar voice to her as she walked, but it wasn’t said with the warmth in which she usually heard it. Actually, it was said in a completely different voice altogether.

Jin turned to see that it was Seungcheol calling her. She felt her heartbeat accelerate. She tried to act normal; she had to act normal.

“What’s up?” he asked. It would have sounded friendly had she not known what she did about him.

“Nothing much,” she replied, repressing all signs of anxiety. She didn’t want to act suspicious around him. She couldn’t make him realize that Sena had told her everything.

“I see you and Sena made up,” Seungcheol said. He sounded so nice, so maddeningly fake.

She nodded.

“Well, I was happy to see that. Anyways, Vernon told me that you didn’t want the double date. Can I ask why?” Seungcheol asked. He suddenly stepped in front of her, causing her to stop midway in her tracks.

“I…” she hesitated, “I’m still not comfortable with the whole dating thing, and so I would rather get used to it before having this kind of date,” she answered him.

“It can’t be because you don’t like me, can it?” he asked, stepping forward towards her and narrowing his eyes.

“No, it’s not,” Jin denied, suddenly afraid as she considered what Seungcheol could do if he knew that Sena told her everything.

“I have a strange feeling you don’t like me. You didn’t happen to have heard things about me, right?” Seungcheol said, taking another step towards her, causing her to step back. There was a mischievous look in his eyes that told Jin he knew that she knew. It sent chills down her spine.

“It’s not that,” Jin repeated quickly, wishing he would stop coming towards her.

“Prove it,” Seungcheol said, crossing his arms, “because if you don’t like me; that’s a problem.”

Jin froze when he stepped forward again. She felt threatened. She glanced around her, and was relieved when she saw that there were people around; at least she wasn’t alone with him. “How do you want me to prove it?” Jin asked him with as much confidence as she could muster.

“Double date?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Come on, it will be fun. And if you say no, I’ll think you don’t like me, and that’s a problem…” He pouted playfully, as if this was some kind of joke.

It felt like the most passive aggressive statement ever. It felt like: “say yes, or I’ll her again.” Jin tried her best to hide all of the anxiety. She thought she did well when she smiled brightly in his direction and said: “it’s not that I don’t like you, but if you really want to have the double date, then okay. Let’s go. I do want to get to know Nayoung.”

Seungcheol smiled back at her and gave her a thumbs-up. “Great. See you this weekend, Frostbite! Wear a pretty dress again!”

She nodded, and maintained her smile. He then waved and left, and she waved back. She walked at a normal pace, feeling his piercing eyes on her back as she made her way to the dorm building. When she finally got into the building, she could not help but sigh in relief. She rushed in her room and slammed the door, locking it twice over.

That was the creepiest encounter she had ever had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Diary,

Seungcheol is terrible. He’s creepy, and he’s condescending, and he’s evil. He made me so afraid just now. The encounter I had with him just now made me all the more determined to make sure he goes to prison and stays there.

Sena is going to a clinic today to get a report done on the physical damage that was done to her body. And after that, we are going to the police station, and we are going to report it.

And after we report it, and he goes to jail, I’m going to make everything better between the four of us. I miss my friends. I miss being with all of them together, not just one at a time. I’m going to fix everything, because it feels like I’m the only one that can.

A/N: im sorry if this chapter was boring. The writer’s block is hella severe nowadays ;;

ANYWAYS. two things: LOVE & LETTER. Omg guys I can hardly wait omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omggggggg

also this story was recently reviewed by lovely reader MicTest! Check it out! :))