[A/N]: I updated twice over the past day, so be sure to check out the previous chapter if you haven't had already :)

Seolhyun heard the news around the campus before she heard it from Hyejeong’s mouth herself. Her class—the only one that Seolhyun looked forward to—was the last one of the day, and hence her resignation was told to literally everyone but her.

Still, as Seolhyun heard in the corridors outside her class, or from another cubicle at the toilet, or from another table during lunch, she still refused to believe that it was true.

And yet some form on anxiety and uneasiness crept up within her, as she waited for Hyejeong to enter the class to end off the day. Were they right? Was Ms Shin leaving? And if that was the case, was it because of her?

She probably wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she found out that it was her weird behaviour the previous day that drove Hyejeong to leave.

And yet, harmless at it seemed then, Seolhyun’s conjectures were right. Every single one of them.

“Ms Shin, are the rumours true?” a boy yelled from the back of the class.

“Yea, are you going to leave the school?” chorused a group of girls from the other end of the classroom.

“Calm down,” Hyejeong gave the others a reassuring look whilst striding in and plonking her material down on the teacher’s desk. “At least give me a chance to walk in first, right?” Hyejeong smiled affably, her comment earning a light wave of laughter throughout the class.

I might as well settle this first before class starts, thought Hyejeong to herself. “Well, if y’all have ears, and I can see that you do, you will probably have already heard of the rumours about me leaving. Those rumours are true, and yes, I will be leaving.

But please do not be surprised. I would have left anyway in a few months due to my university programme starting then, so please treat this as just an early departure. I gave notice last night to the school, and thus after the mandatory 2 week grace period has elapsed I will leave the school. Any questions?”

Hyejeong swept her gaze across the classroom, across the people whom she had taken in as her protégés over the past few months. But, as usual her eyes eventually zeroed in on Seolhyun’s figure, clumped together at the corner of the classroom. She looked like, charitably speaking, someone who just lost her entire family in a car accident, or one who was evicted and forced to sleep on the streets.

Her figure was slumped on the desk, her skin dull, her gaze shaky, her face trembling, as if she was trying her best to hold her tears in. A solitary drop of liquid nonetheless crept slowly down her cheeks, and fell off with a splat onto her empty table. She looked soulless. Lost. Dead.

Hyejeong’s heart burned inside her—with pain. With ache. With regret. She didn’t want to see Seolhyun, the girl she admitted to herself she liked, look as listless as this. But she could not turn back. She made the decision to save both of themselves last night, and she convinced herself that it was for the best.

Stay strong, Shin Hyejeong. Stay strong.

And yet, as she went through an error analysis of their latest GP practice, as well offered her charges some tips for their upcoming preliminary examinations, she couldn’t help but let her gaze drift over to the corner where Seolhyun sat. Alone.

Her eyes, glazed, fogged with moisture. Her demeanour crushed. Her head, if not buried in her arms, then drooped down into nothingness. Her gaze, once sprightly, once excited, now wouldn’t look out of place on a drug addict, fresh out of rehab, with nothing left to care for in the world.

Stay strong, Shin Hyejeong. Please stay strong.

It took Hyejeong all her willpower to make it through that hour, dash through the school hallways and into her car before letting the rivulets of pain flow down her cheeks.

I’m sorry, Seolhyun. I’m so, so sorry.

-----

It was a few days on that Hyejeong was rearranging her belongings and commencing her packing. There was still another week or so till her departure, but Hyejeong liked to be prepared. Besides, she had managed to accumulate an absurd number of belongings in her tiny flat, and had a penchant for storing them in the remotest places. Packing the night before would guarantee her leaving about half of what she owned behind.

She traced her hand over her study table, seeing what she could stow away first. The table, made out of mahogany, was a deep, rich colour, and was something that Hyejeong definitely adored. The table wasn’t hers—it was part of the furniture already present at the rented flat—and so it saddened her slightly to have to bid goodbye to it. A cursory investigation revealed nothing to keep (a variety of pens and her laptop adorned the sparse table), though it struck her upon second consideration that she had yet to empty the drawer attached to its right.

This was what she named her “secret compartment”. The drawer was probably never meant to have such a use, but she saw a note left behind by the previous occupant in that drawer explaining such, and Hyejeong thought that she might as well as use it to store her trinkets—objects that held no value to anyone else but her.

She grinned as she picked up the little grey coloured rock, the sole remnant of her trip over to one of Spain’s beaches as part of her celebratory party for securing a spot in university, and felt proud as her fingers slid across the glossy surface of her valedictorian certificate. Her fingers decided to travel a little deeper, though, and it came across something very slippery. Something resembling a photograph.

Tugging it out, and placing it on the table, she had a clearer look at those developed photographs, which had a thin lay