I spent all of Sunday avoiding my father, per usual. It wasn’t hard, though, since he left early in the morning and came back around dinner time. I didn’t ask where he went. I never do.

Instead, I curled up in my room and relaxed with homework. 

It may sound weird, but what relaxed me more than anything in the world was doing homework. I mean, obviously, stuff like writing or reading, too, but the flow of steady calculus problems was especially entrancing. At first, Baekhyun told me I was bat-, that is, until he realized I was more than willing to help him on his own work.

By the time Monday morning rolled around, I’d finished all the homework for the week, since my teachers pretty much always assigned course-work on a weekly basis, and I felt my stomach churn at the prospect of seeing Baekhyun. I hadn’t tried to call back or show up at his house again. I think he needed some space to say the least, but it wouldn’t stop me from hounding my best friend for answers once we were in a confined space, like school.

It was a lonely walk to school since Baekhyun wasn’t at the normal meeting place where our paths merged on the way. When I finally got through the gates, though, I saw a familiar car parked in the senior lot and a very familiar head of tousled dark brown hair getting out of said car.

“Baek!” I shouted, coming nearer to the parking lot, “Baekhyun!”

He turned when he heard his name called and when his eyes finally landed on me, they went wide with panic, remorse, and what I thought was nervousness. 

“Eunji,” he said and ran up to me, looking around as if he were making sure no one was watching, “I’m so sorry.”

I scrambled to give him a comforting hug in his moment of apology. “It’s okay, Baek. What happened to you, though? You showed up on Friday night covered in ...blood... and then you went driving and wouldn’t answer my calls. And then I saw some news report about this couple getting murdered, and I couldn’t help but think-”

“Eunji,” he cut me off, pulling out of the hug and staring into my eyes seriously, “I’m really, really sorry for not replying to you, but I just couldn’t. I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes begging me to understand.

“What do you mean you couldn’t? And what the hell happened? You’re really starting to freak me out,” I said, dropping my hands from where they had been gripped around his shoulders. 

His head ducked down and I noticed it had been a while since he had gotten a haircut. His fringe was dangling over his eyebrows, and I wanted nothing more than to push it back for him. But when I gently reached over to swipe his hair out of the way, he flinched and jerked back. I stared up at his chocolate eyes, waiting for an explanation.

He suddenly looked frightened and he did that thing where he looked around for anyone who might overhear us again. “I’m really sorry, Eunji, but I can’t tell you. It’s for your own good. Please, can we make this a Sacred Secret? I promise when this whole thing is over I’ll tell you the truth, but I can’t right now. I’m sorry,” he pleaded with me, and I could tell from his eyes that not only had he become more restless over the weekend, but he was also dreadfully sincere.

I took a step back from him and I saw my own hurt reflected in him. “But, Baek... we’re best friends,” I said in a quiet voice, “I just want to help. It seems like you’re hurting, but I can’t do anything for you when you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, and just when I thought he was going to say something, the first bell rang and I closed my eyes with a sense of dread.

“Please, Eunji,” he said, grabbing my wrists which forced me to look in his eyes at the sudden movement, “I’ll tell you when it’s over, but for now I need this to be a Sacred Secret.” He hung his head and sighed at my lack of response, and as kids started to pass us to go into the school entrance, he gave me one last wary glance before letting go of my wrists and treading away.

I wiped a hand through my hair and stared after him. What was so important that he couldn’t tell me? Had he really been involved in that murder? I understood him wanting to keep it a secret, but this whole thing honestly had me so confused. Did his parents suspect anything was up?

Before I could begin to contemplate some answers, I felt a hard shove from behind, and I stumbled forward, thankfully catching myself before I fell. The kid who bumped into me, though, didn’t have such luck.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked him as he stared up at me, somewhat dazed, “School’s about to start. You should get up,” I said before sticking out my hand to help him up.

He stared up at my hand, and then it seemed like my words finally reached him when his eyes went big and he started scrambling around for his books, which had fallen out of his backpack when he fell.