After walking a few blocks away from the bakery with rage consuming her thoughts, Byul stopped to look around her, not even sure where she was going. Shielding her eyes away from the sun with an arm, she was at least familiar with the street she ended up in. Deciding on continuing her walk, she figured that an idea of some sort would come to her eventually. As much as Byul wanted to be unaffected by losing her job, she was secretly disappointed. Now she’d have to find a new job or else her roommate would get mad and kick her out of their place for not being able to pay her share of the rent.

A shadow loomed over her, partly shielding her from the sun. Byul didn’t mind the boy walking so close to her as much because it was a busy part of the city. It wasn’t completely odd that people were shoulder-to-shoulder. Though after a couple minutes had passed and the stranger kept up their pace beside her, she knew she was being followed.

It took another whole minute for the person to speak up. “Hey. You’re Eunbyul, right?”

For the first time, Byul looked up directly at the boy speaking to her. He had rugged looks with a sharp jaw and dark piercing eyes that were now directed at her. He looked to be around her age. “Do I know you?” she asked.

Judging by the bewildered look on her expression, Sehun could tell that his face didn’t seem familiar to her.

“We went to middle school together. You don’t remember?” He hated sounding like some stalker, but he had to know if it was her.

Byul shook her head. “No.”

“You really don’t remember?”

She was beginning to think that she owed him money or something. Why was he this insistent about her remembering him? “Are you sure we knew each other?” she questioned.

“We… did. You go just by Byul now?”

“Yeah, it caught on.”

Sehun pocketed his hands in his dark jeans and looked ahead on the sidewalk. “Where are you going?”

Truthfully, she herself didn’t know where she was headed. “Chances are probably not where you’re going,” she told him. For a second, Byul wondered if she sounded too harsh.

Instead of being offended, he snickered in amusement.

Byul continued her walk without another word, still not sure where she was supposed to be going. If she went home now, she’d only sulk on her bed until dinner time. Knowing where she wanted to go or not, Byul didn’t really want to tell this stranger. You know how the saying goes: Stranger danger.

“Why the long face?” Sehun asked, again breaking the silence first.

She was wondering why he hadn’t awkwardly left yet with a goodbye before heading another direction. “I just got fired,” Byul told him. Saying it out loud made her even sadder. Byul had to fight to keep her lip from quivering.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. I thought working around cakes and cookies would make me happy and the job would be simple, but it wasn’t.” She didn’t know why she was suddenly compelled to tell this boy about her life. He wouldn’t care.

“That place is hiring.” Sehun pointed to a store that they passed that had a HELP WANTED sign outside.

Byul practically gagged. “I can’t work in retail. If I have to fold clothes for eight hours straight, I’d die.”

“How about a restaurant?”

“No, I’d break too many plates.” She sighed dejectedly. “Where do you work? Are you hiring?”

“Um, no.” Sehun glanced uneasily to the side. “We’re full at the moment.”

A silence fell over them again, Byul still waiting for him to say goodbye and get on with his own life and leave her sorry one alone. “Why are you still following me?”

“I’m going wherever you’re going.”

“Which is where?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Honestly, I don’t know. You can leave if you want,” she decided to offer.

“You’re sad. It would be rude if I left.”

It was strange that she wasn’t as creeped out as she thought she would be. Maybe because he knew her. He knew her name after all and it wasn’t like she was wearing a nametag for all to see. She just couldn’t recall who he was. The only thing she remembered about middle school was looking forward to lunchtime with her friends.

Byul felt her nose running and out of nowhere all the pent up emotions she was keeping inside hit her and she was tearing up.

“You’re crying,” Sehun observed. It wasn’t even a question. It didn’t even sound like pity. Just a statement.

“Sorry.” She wiped her cheeks. “Gross, right?”

Sehun clicked his tongue. “Here.”

He offered a handkerchief which she took and dabbed her eyes with. “Thanks.”

“Come here. Stop crying. You’ll make it look like I hurt you or something.”

Sehun stopped them between a smoothie shop and a convenience store to lead them through the alley. Byul was too busy smudging her eyes with the handkerchief that she almost tripped over garbage. She bumped into him and his hand shot out to keep her steady.

“Careful,” he warned.

Looking up at her surroundings, Byul saw that he lead them somewhere next to a dumpster of a back alley. “Thanks for the handkerchief. I don’t know anyone who carries one around.”

“Well, it comes in handy, right?”

“It does,” she agreed after a moment of thought. Otherwise, she’d be mopping up her tears on her sleeve.

“I’m going to call my friend. Hold on.” Sehun dug his phone out of his pocket. Byul respectfully turned away while he took his call. He dialed a number and held it to his ear. “It’s me. Everything is set and I got it cornered. I’m ready to shoot. Tell him to get the seventy-five ready… Okay, bye.”

Byul stared at what looked like roadkill by the dumpster while she waited for him to finish his phone call.

“Hey, Byul?”

“Hm?” Turning to him, she saw that he had his hand in his jacket as if he was in the middle of trying to find something in his pockets.

“What does that look like to you over there?” Sehun pointed over the horizon with a jerk of his chin.

“Where?” Turning, Byul followed where he was referring to and effectively faced her back to him. “What are you talking about?”

Sehun withdrew the gun from his shoulder holster and raised it with the barrel pointing at the back of her head. He cocked the gun, the click barely audible. Usually, Sehun didn’t like his victims turning away like that before he killed them. He liked it when they knew who ended their life. For some reason, he just knew that he couldn’t handle the look on Byul’s face if he did that to her.

“Anyway,” she stared down at her hands, “sorry I got your handkerchief all gross. I’ll wash it for you if you want.”

“Don’t bother. I can literally just get it back from you after this.” Sehun’s finger wrapped around the trigger.

“I think I got some of my snot on it. I don’t want to give it back to you yet.”

He snickered. “Snot?”

“Yeah.”

Sehun’s hand shook to his disbelief. He couldn't seem to control his own muscles and just pull the trigger. His hand seemed to have a mind of its own.

“Can we get out of here? Thinking about that stupid bakery is making me depressed. We should go somewhere,” Byul wondered aloud. When Sehun didn’t answer her, she turned around. By then Sehun had retrieved the gun back into his holster. Instead, he had a fist by his leg. “Are you okay?” she asked. Something about him was different.

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t seem okay.”

He was frowning and gritting his teeth even. “I’m fine.” Sehun turned to leave the area and Byul followed behind him.

“So are we going somewhere?” she asked, falling into step behind him.

“Going where?”

“Oh! I know this place.”

“I’m supposed to be working.” He seemed distant now. Byul wondered what she did in the last minute for him to act so cold suddenly. Maybe she transferred some of her sadness onto him by accident.

“Are you skipping work right now?”

“I am.”

She pocketed his handkerchief. “Well, don’t you want to get back to work? Don’t get fired like me.”

Unknowingly to her, she was even suggesting for him to just finish the job and end her life. Sehun spoke through his teeth. “I should, shouldn’t I?”

He was supposed to text Baekhyun a picture of her dead body. Sehun suddenly stopped in his tracks to