(Listening to Entropy by Grimes feat Bleachers) 

 

Shuhua had several times of her eyes closed and opened. Widen for a yawn, she felt terribly tired after hours at the desk- accomplishing her final assignment. Shutting off the laptop, she stretched her arms and yawned again. 

When she's almost to end her time-spending at the study place, she recalled something. 

Her eyes caught on the black diary. Received from Imme early in the evening. Suddenly, she captured Imme's face between the blinks of her eyes. 

"Okay, that's a little bit strange," she monologued and flipped the diary-book. As she reached the middle of it, Shuhua's eyebrows furrowed together. 
Clearly had written there were the owner's writings, where Shuhua believed, a gel-ink pen has been used but in the last part of the phrase, 

".... and when everyone laughs at my appealing boyish charm, I don't know why I got hurt," 

She noticed a footnote, with different handwriting and probably newly written under it. 
"Yeah. We can never distinguish between the laugh of happiness and the laugh of mocking. It's hard to live when you have to smile and feel want to cry at the same time..." 
 

Imme's face appeared again and made Shuhua automatically closed the diary, unconsciously. She had a battle with strange thoughts in her brain and the new feeling she had experienced at the moment. 

It was also when her room-mate slash her best friend stepped into their sharing room. 
 

"Shuhua-yah, I'm so lazy to clean my face," Miyeon sighed and flopped her slim body on the single mattress. "I wish I am allowed to get myself a servant to remove my make up before I'm off to bedddd," 
 

The younger was still lost in her own thoughts so she let Miyeon's mumbling flew away to the thin air. 

"Yah, what's the matter with you?" Miyeon raised her head a little and stared at Shuhua's back weirdly when she sensed the latter wasn't moving at all. 

"Yeh Shuhua is stupidddd," she sang playfully to get her attention. 

No response at all, then she screamed her heart out loud and made Shuhua screamed too. 

"Quit it, unnie! Other people are sleeping!" Shuhua warned, half-whispering as she breathed in desperation. 


"Easy..." Miyeon stuttered. "Shuhua- yah, I was talking to you," 
"I thought you have been possessed by the spirit of the cleaner auntie who died years ago in our toilet," 

Shuhua turned around and glared at Miyeon. 

Laughing, the older girl added, "What happened? Your brain gets wrecked by the homework or something hah?" 


"No..." finally the younger replied calmly. She flinched before asking directly, 
"Unnie... Do you know why your cousin is so interested in this?" she lifted Amber's diary, showing it off. 

Miyeon raised her left eyebrow afterwards, "You mean that Cho Shin Mi?" 

Shuhua nodded like a kid then. 

"Erm.. not sure, but Imme unnie always so absorbed in unique and bizarre things. That diary you're holding, for example, she might find it exclusive," Miyeon answered and slowly rising from the bed, stepping to her closet and opened it. 

Taking a layer of clean cotton, she applied a bit of cleansing oil on it and rubbed it to her face. "I still remember one day, she came to my house and showed me this one old and dusty map, more like a map to hell in my eyes but it turned out to be the carbon copy of Imago Mundi," later on she threw the cotton to the dustbin and took another one and repeated the same procedure. 

Shuhua's face scrunched. "What is I..mago, Mundi?" 


Again, Miyeon, while rubbing the cotton thoroughly around her face, furthered, " Of course you don't know what it is. Don't worry, we're on the same train," 
"But... my point is, this is not her first time been so into something weird. This diary is way much better than that Imago Mundi," 

"I understand she's into things like this, but... I'm just curious," Shuhua shrugged her shoulders, flipping through Amber's diary for once more. "You said she's the future leader of your family's legacy, but yet, she still has time for stuff like this one," 

As she finished applying to her face with the special cleansing oil, Miyeon gently dabbed her face with tissues. She glanced at the younger from the reflection of her mirror, 
"Let me tell you why, Imme unnie always waste her time for something simple like that, sis," 

The younger spun her chair at Miyeon's side. 
"What? Is she too rich or too bored?" 

Chuckling, Miyeon shook her head vigorously. 
"It all begun when our grandfather, opened a small clothing shop in Seoul when he was young and still unmarried. A couple of years later, the business developed and he finally had his first building right after my father was born. Luckiest man in the world I guess, one of this famous brand from Italy, wished to be his business partner, so together they build a vast empire. Cho Industries, pioneered by him right now is investing so much profit to South Korea, especially in the clothing industry," 

"Whoa... incredible family background..." Shuhua commented. She earned a firm smile from Miyeon for that. 

"Not really, Shushu," Miyeon sighed. "My late grandpa was a strict father to both his sons. Imme unnie's daddy, as the eldest, takes almost all the responsibility and burden, to convince him that his legacy is continued. If you think wealth or money is the only thing she has, you're probably right. Her daddy barely at home, and spends almost all the time at the office, outstations and board meetings. So yeah, Imme unnie is the next ruler of Cho Industries, but she only gets to be an heiress, not the love and attention from her own father," 

Hearing that, Shuhua picturized Imme's face again. The boyish girl always looked attractive, no matter what kind of style she had in her body. Surely, Imme as the future CEO of Cho Industries must be something worth to wait for. 

"Collecting old maps, certain famous people's notes or journals and many more antique things are like entertainment to her. Although that cousin of mine never speaks of her loneliness, I can feel it. My mother always open our door to her, anytime she wants too because her mother passed away due to blood cancer when she's not even 5 years old yet," 

"Poor Imme unnie..." Shuhua murmured.

"Yeah, her life is not as easy as what other people imagined of, Shuhua. I'm glad my dad turned away from what he was forced to be and followed his dream although my grandpa was so mad," Miyeon furthered. "He is now a retired teacher and enjoys his time with his wife at home, do some gardening and cooking together. I'm their only child, but usually, Imme unnie will join us almost 7 days a week. She is considered as my real sister too," Miyeon explained. 

Completing the last procedure of getting rid her thin makeup, Miyeon exhaled happily. She closed the closet door and walked to her study desk. 

"I never see her... like a lost child. Imme unnie is quite cheerful and sometimes can be as foolish as you unnie," the younger told her. "Who knows, behind her luxurious background, and has a silver spoon upbringing, she's actually... kinda looks upset to me, sometimes," 

Miyeon nodded and settled herself on the chair. She waited for her laptop to be . "Extra information for you, I used to have a crush on her and even was so desperate to marry her when we're kids," 

Shuhua's mouth widens automatically. "You what??? Are you mad??? She's your sister!"  

Miyeon has also been surprised by the younger girl's reaction. "Relax, gal. I said, I 'used to' not in present time," she directed her eyes on the laptop's screen when the Windows was ready. "She's not like any other kids among our playmates. She was fat, dark and so ugly but I love her when she's in her protective mode. Even boys can't defeat her," Miyeon laughed as she reminisced her childhood memories with Imme. 
"The first sign of our future female leader, don't fight me," she whistled and clicked on the Chrome browser. 

Seeing Miyeon also glued on the screen, Shuhua returned to her own cellphone then. "Wonderful," she said, "And you're here, the second heiress of Cho Industries but do not show any sign of becoming the future female leader next to Imme unnie, only wasted time watching cartoons," 

"Hey," the older growled. "Cartoons are better than your stupid 'oppa' in your favourite dramas," 
"At least, I got always a happy ending for every episode I watched," 

"Pfft, cartoons are rubbish," Shuhua hissed. 

They ignored each other as Miyeon started to watch the next episode of Pucca and Shuhua scrolled through her Instagram account. 

[Miyeon's cellphone chimed] 

"Herm, speaking of my Imme unnie," Miyeon mumbled. "She has found something interesting related to that diary on your desk, Shushu," 

Shuhua pushed her thick long hair using her finger to the back and stared at her roomie. 
"Don't tell me she's going to do something more weird with this diary," 

Miyeon, texting Imme back, denied it instantly. "Not really," 
"She's asking if we both are available this weekend," 

Shuhua shot another question. 
"This weekend?" 

Still texting Imme, Miyeon nodded. 

"Erm... nah, I don't have a plan for this weekend. Maybe trying to get something delicious to eat, or sleep all day," Shuhua added. 

She sent the text via What's App and put down her phone. Miyeon played back the video and muttered, 


"Great, we all going to meet Professor Wendy Schon at SNU. Please save this weekend for our Imme unnie's adventure or maybe you just can sleep all day and be useless," 

Frowning, Shuhua had nothing to say so she shrugged again. 
Not a seconds later, her own cellphone chimed too. 

She unlocked it and read the text. 

It was from Imme. 

"Miyeon told me you want something delicious to eat. What if I take you two to my new favourite hiding place?"

Smiling, Shuhua texted her back. 

"Sure, I don't mind at all. I hope you're not going to take us to one of the places in your Imago Mundi map XD"
 

She waited for a minute then she saw Imme was typing back. 

Imme's replies made her smile for more. 


"Oh shoot! I can take you there if you want to! Just promise me, you, to dare to be as crazy as me :D"

Shuhua replied again, 
"Haha, alright :) Tell me when I'll be ready," 


Later, she received another text from her, before she went offline. 

"Thank you, my lady :D I'm glad about this. See you soon, Shuhua. I have a busy morning tomorrow so I'm about to drift to dreamland haha XD Good night and sleep tight!"

Unintentionally, Shuhua curved another smile as she locked her cellphone. She took one last time of glance upon the leather-covered diary and sighed calmly.

Miyeon, looking at the younger's constant smiles, hit the space bar with her index finger and questioned, "Wanna sleep already?" 

Shuhua nodded. She threw her body on the single bed, taking along the cellphone with her. 

The older girl did not bother to ask more questions as she put the earphones on and continued watching the cartoon. 




***

As promised, Imme appeared at the gate of the girls' hostel early in the morning. She waited around 15 minutes until she finally saw Miyeon and Shuhua were walking directly to her direction. 

The tall girl was handsomely leaning to the driver's door as the duo reached the spot. She smiled when her eyes met Shuhua's. 

"Come on in," Imme said and opened the car's door.

The Taiwanese thanked Imme for her generosity before the stepped into the passenger seat and settled herself there comfortably. Meanwhile, for Miyeon, she got into the front seat without any problem since she's used to travelling anywhere with her older cousin. 
Without wasting time, Imme restart the engine and held to the steering wheel then looked at Miyeon. "Breakfast?" 

Miyeon nodded her head. "Done. I had cereals and chocolate bar," 

Later on, Imme shifted her face to the back seat. 
"You?" 

Shuhua, somehow felt something had struck her- also copied Miyeon's previous gesture."Y-yeah... I had some biscuits,"

Imme flashed a calm smile to her then. 

"Great," she muttered, "Ready for the ride girls," before slowly pedalling to their destination. 


Throughout the journey, Shuhua had stolen a few glances at Imme's side profile between her sights with the outside view. She thought of the owner of the diary in her bag too. She bombarded her mind with a lot of questions, such as why she can't take her eyes on Imme and why she felt nervous when having quick eye contact with her just now. 


"I'm curious, Imme," Miyeon's voice had broken off Shuhua from her temporary vision out of blue. She focused back to her roommate's saying as she listened closely. 

"You, usually 'give up' if you can not find things that you explore. But, now what?" Miyeon asked and gazed at her side. "Is this somehow related to something essential in your life?" 

The driver let out a small chuckle, "Yes, maybe, or not," she replied and slowly stepped on the brake and pulled the handbrake right at the same time when she saw the traffic light was clear red. She turned her head at the pretty girl. "For some reason, I think I'm going to give myself a break. I'm not going to give up easily anymore. Who knows, probably my life will get better," 
"Frankly speaking, I see myself in Amber too," 

Miyeon opened a little. 

Chuckling again, Imme closed the small gap in Miyeon's lips by pressing up with her finger. 

Shuhua butted in with her sudden question at Imme then. 

"If Professor Wendy couldn't give you an answer, would you quit it?" 


The nice-looking Imme stared at Shuhua in a millisecond as she hummed. "I have only a couple of weeks before I join my daddy in the office. If she won't deliver any information about my finding, then let be it. The story I've read for you ends today," 

Shuhua lost in Imme's gaze. She struggled in searching for words to say back. Instead, she blinked awkwardly a few times. 

"Boring life, I know," Imme claimed when the younger didn't leave a reply. 

Afraid of her blunt reaction hurt Imme's feeling, Shuhua immediately denied, "No, no... Your life is wonderful. A thousand girls would kill to have it," 

"I prefer, only me who has this type of life, Shuhua," she muttered and pulled down the handbrake. "But, don't worry. I'm happy," she smiled as the car started to move. 

The long-haired eyed Imme before she looked at Miyeon. 

"Yeah, happiness is everything," Miyeon mouthed to reassure her. 








The campus was empty and no one passed by since there were no classes on the weekend. Imme parked her Rover not far away from the faculty building as she led the girls straight to the lecturers' office. 

The weather was not too good or too bad. A bit cloudy but none of the girls felt cold. 

They walked through the hallway and the tall figure abled to read some of the information from the main notice board. Having Shuhua on her left side, sometimes she slowed down the pace as the latter tried to catch up by pulling the edge of her flannel shirt. 

Finally, they found the office and Imme paused for a second, reading the metal signboard hanging by the door. 
"Prof. Schon Seung Wan,"

"I think that's her Korean name," Miyeon guessed and earned a slight nod from her older cousin. 


*Knock knock* 

A small voice from the office was heard, 

"Come in," 

Imme sighed and twisted the doorknob before pushing it forward. 


They saw a woman with thick glasses was in her standing mode once they entered the office room. 

"Good morning, Professor Wendy," Imme greeted and bowed first, followed by the others. 


"Morning," Wendy stared at the trio faces, trying to recall either she had met them or not. "I think I was very clear about asking questions when off lectures?" 


Miyeon and Shuhua looked at Imme simultaneously then. 

Imme swallowed the lump, "No, I am not... a student. I have graduated last year," 


Wendy lifted the glasses from her bridge nose.

"So? What brings you here, dear? Not to be blunt, as you can see, I've gotten myself piles of assignments to check,"

The short-haired girl quickly apologized, 
"Very sorry to interrupt your lovely morning, Professor. But... Ms. Kang gave me your address last week. I am that person who's been looking for you... about the diary of Amber," 

Wendy stopped stacking the papers in the instance, right when Imme mentioned the name. 
She exhaled hardly then, 

"Look, kid. The owner passed me her diary for a life lesson, not for sale. I don't get it why my friend had the gut to make you paid for such a big amount and assumed it has nothing to do with me afterwards," Wendy started to nag. "Which clearly, now I have to deal with you," 

Miyeon blinked repeatedly, astonished by Wendy's firm words. 

"I paid her not for the book, Professor. That amount of money she spent was to improvise your library, the amenities especially and also some of the great touch-ups," Imme clarified. 

Wendy stared at Imme. "So you think you've changed my library with your money?" 

Shuhua secretly glanced at Imme and somehow felt the latter was hurt by Wendy's comment, so she stepped into the conversation. 

"With all our due respect, Professor Wendy, my friend here just want to know what happened to Amber after she left. I'm pretty sure the Wendy that Amber has mentioned repeatedly in her diary has something to do with you too, right?" Shuhua voiced out, as each word has been delivered carefully. 

Wendy traced in her words. 
She sighed and hummed in response. 
"Alright, have a seat, all of you," she offered the young girls as she sat on her own too. 

Imme tapped Shuhua's back and curved a little smile to her. 

"May I know your name, dear?" Wendy eyed Imme. 

The boyish nodded, "I'm Imme (Aimi), Professor," 

The 36 years old woman shook her head, "Cut the title please, Imme. I'm not fully a professor yet. On my way, still," she corrected her and smiled. 

"Anyway," she muttered, " I am that Wendy in the diary and that librarian you've met, Imme, is actually Kang Seulgi, my friend too, slash one of the official members of Life Literature Club," 

Imme gasped. 
"Whoa, that's cool!" 

Wendy maintained her smile, "No, no, don't be too excited yet," 
"Because Amber and I agreed to put her diary in the restricted section only for someone who is so eager to know about something weird and apparently very personal," 

"Uhm, not very personal anymore I guess," Imme intruded. 

"Absolutely," Wendy added. 

"But it seems to me you are that kind of person dying for some weird love story, Imme. Before you, there were a few people who have read that diary and came back to ask what happened to Amber. When Seulgi said she didn't know a thing, they left. Just like that," she elaborated. "You are a very strange person since you did not stop asking, like them,"

Imme, having her palms on her lap, was suddenly nervous. 

"Prof--- I mean, Ms.. or Madam?" 

"Mrs Wendy, please," Wendy said in her calm tone. 

Imme nodded, 
"Sure, Mrs Wendy," she uttered and cleared . "I thought Amber's story is fascinating," 

"In what way?" Wendy interrupted. 

"Well..." Imme out of words and shifted her face to see Miyeon. "You know what I meant, Mrs Wendy. I believe you know why I'm dying to know what actually happened to her, to Krystal and to all of you. I want to know more, probably because, I want to know something new about myself too," 

Smiling, Wendy gazed deeply into Imme's light brown eyes. "You know what, dear? I'm not the right person to tell you what is the real ending of that diary," 

Shuhua, Miyeon and Imme automatically frowned. 

"But I may have someone who is very worthy and more qualified for you to meet," Wendy told and grabbed the memo case at the top of her messy desk. She clicked the pen and jolted down something on the clear white paper before showing it to the three. 

Imme took a glance on the memo and looked up to see Wendy's face, 

"Somehow... that looks like an address of someone," 

Wendy pushed the paper closed to the boyish's hand then, 

"Yes, it is. I suggest you reach this place by tomorrow since this person is... usually not available on workdays," Wendy gave out more information. 


The slender fingers of Imme were holding the tiny paper firmly when she reread the address written by the woman in front of them just now. "Is this place far from here?" 


Wendy casually replied, 

"No, not very far at all, dear. Just about an hour or two hours by car or bike. There are a few beautiful homestays in the area if you want to chill out with your friends," 


Shuhua leaned on to Imme's side as she struggled to read Wendy's handwriting. 
"I think it is still located in a city, based from the street's name," she whispered to Imme. "And... here," she pointed at the specific name, 

"Kim is also a familiar name, right?" 


Imme started to reminisce what she had read from Amber's diary. "It is possibly Kim... Key?" 


The older woman chuckled, 

"Sooner you'll figure out about that name. But firstly, I can just say, go to that address, and you'll be clarified things you've been curious about," 


Imme furrowed her eyebrows at Wendy, 
"Really? You did not con us, right? This is a real address? Because I personally think this place is not existed?" 


"Oh... please, I'm not a con woman, Imme," Wendy blew a sigh. "And let me correct you, that place is true to existence. Its there, only when you know how to ask, you'll be shown the way directly," 


Miyeon's turn to frown as she glanced at Imme. "Know how to ask? How do we suppose to know how to ask about the place we've never heard of Mrs... Wendy?" 


"Yeah," Imme joined. "I'm clueless right now, really am," 


Wendy expressed another sigh and took back the memo. She wrote numbers as a footnote and returned it to Imme. 


"Call this number once you see a golden building. If you really want to know what happened to Amber, again, I'm telling you. Just do what I said, okay?"

 

Like a young child, Imme nodded and immediately agreed with Wendy's last condition.