The next day, Winter was positive that he had not come back to the house as she had stayed up waiting for him, though she had fallen asleep by the time the clock struck twelve. She left for the company with the body of a zombie, her mind throbbing with only the events of the day before, guilt clawing at her chest. She had consultation first thing in the morning, and so she made her way to the practice room that was allocated for her and Yu Ri.

Winter was not surprised to find that Yu Ri was there earlier than her. She greeted her with exploding liveliness the moment she came in. “Good morning!” she chirped. “Good morning,” Winter called back, though there was no spirit in her words. She was glad that Yu Ri hadn’t asked her if she was okay, because she didn’t think she could stand lying to Yu Ri when all she wanted to do was to spill everything about how she felt.

They had consulted for nearly an hour and San Ha finally announced that it was time to have a break. They had only rested for a few minutes when the door to the practice room fell open and two girls rushed in with anxious faces. One of them, Winter recognised straight away.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Lee Hyun said shakily, “But have any of you seen Moon Bin?”

Winter sat up ramrod straight upon hearing his name, dread and guilt burgeoning from her chest. Shaking his head, San Ha said calmly, “No, we haven’t. Is there a problem?”

The two girls exchanged fretful glances. Then the other girl said, “Yes… because we can’t find him.” The dread continued to spread like wildfire through Winter’s body, leaving her numb to the toes.

“What do you mean you can’t find him?” San Ha asked, concerned now. “Isn’t he supposed to be your mentor?”

“Yes, but we’ve been waiting for him since the morning. We’re supposed to have a consultation with him at 9am, you see. But he hasn’t appeared. There wasn’t any text from him either. And we’ve asked everybody else though nobody has heard anything from him,” Lee Hyun said frantically. “What do we do?”

San Ha’s brows creased in thought for a moment. Then he said, “You can join us for the time being. I’ll ask the members to contact him.” His pupils flicked towards Winter for a short moment, but when Winter turned to look at him, his gaze was on someone else. Winter decided she must have seen wrongly.

That night, she tried his doorknob again the first thing when she reached home. Once again, it came open easily, the other side of the door hiding no secrets. She sighed, and tried again the next day, the day after the next, and the day after that. But it all opened empty, with Winter’s heart feeling like it was sinking lower and lower into a dark pit.

Soon, it had become obvious that Winter had something to do with Moon Bin’s disappearance, for he hadn’t shown up at the company for three consecutive days. The company was filled with a kind of frantic tension and panic, the members contemplating whether they should file a police report. Winter was alone in the practice room, chewing her fingernails in anxiety when San Ha came in a rush, his face as stiff as a rock.

“Look, I’m sorry I have to say this Winter, but I can’t stand it anymore,” he said with a slight tremor in his voice, the lines on his forehead proving that he had been in distress for the past few days over Moon Bin. “It’s been three days! I can’t help but think that the only reason Moon Bin would disappear unaccounted for is because of Yoo Bin. And you’re the only one who has been in contact with him recently apart from me.” He paused, and Winter braced herself for the question that he was about to ask. “Tell me truthfully, Winter. Do you know anything about this?”

It didn’t take long for Winter to break down. She felt like her lungs were being torn out as she said the words that she had kept compressed deep down for so long. “I-I’m sorry,” she sobbed, tears wetting her cheeks. “I purposely arranged for Moon Bin to meet Yoo Bin b-because I thought I was d-doing him some help b-but I didn’t know it would c-cause him so much pain!”

San Ha was glaring at her with a mixture of shock and fury. “So it really was you!” he said, appalled. “I’ve been trying to push that thought away, thinking that you definitely wouldn’t do it, because you heard what I told Yoo Bin. I told you that Moon Bin would break if he saw him! So why…?” When Winter was too caught up emotionally to reply, he continued more stiffly than before, “I’m going to have to tell my members about this, Winter. I hope you understand. And I also hope you understand me when I say I will not forgive you if Moon Bin doesn’t come back the way he used to be.”

He left the room without another word.

Soon, the day of the second performance had arrived without any news from Moon Bin. It had been decided that they were to wait another two more days before making an official police report. Meanwhile, the two girls that joined Winter and Yu Ri for consultations were dealing with Moon Bin’s disappearance in a calm manner as it seemed that their practices were coming along well. San Ha, on the other hand, hadn’t treated Winter that differently except that he had lost his usual playful demeanour. He had become more solemn and less cheerful during practices and both Winter and Yu Ri had caught him blanking out multiple times, as if he had many things in his head.

Before leaving the