"Here's a towel," Minho said gently. Krystal sat still, unsure of what to do. The tomato stained on her hair and skin, and Minho carefully wiped away the tomato juice from her face. Minho frowned as he watched Krystal stare at the ground in utter shock. Her flesh was pale and cold, and her whole body was shivering from head to toe. Minho had, fortunately, saved Krystal after watching Suzy throw the 10th tomato at the poor victim. He didn't know why, but Suzy had left the scene with tears stained on her face. Girls were complicated to understand in the first place.

"Should I die?" Krystal finally asked. Minho's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Should I just die? You know, kill myself? Maybe I can ask someone to kill me. I'm sure I'm not wanted in this world. My parents hate each other, my sister despises me, and the whole school pities me and laughs at me. Don't you think my existence wouldn't matter to anyone? I doubt that anyone would be at my funeral. I don't need a funeral. That's okay. I'm going to cremate my body. I'm going to let my ashes wander around a stranded island. Doesn't that just sound lovely?" Minho listened to the depressed girl carefully, his eyes wider than it had ever been before. He knew that bullying was dangerous, but he didn't know that bullying could take someone's depression this far. Krystal glanced at Minho, her eyes wet with her cold tears. "Should I commit suicide?"

After moments of silence, Minho still wasn't able to answer her. His lips were trembling, and he could not move his feet or arms. He stared deeply into Krystal's brown, scared eyes, wondering what other dark thoughts she was thinking at that time.

L smiled at every adult and child who went up and greeted him. His act never failed to impress others. In fact, they all believed that he was such a good boy, it would've been impossible for him to create such a scene at school. After convincing everyone that there was a mistake behind his suspension, L had restored his position as the "perfect child."

As the boy grabbed a tray of chips, he almost bumped into the host's son. L looked up, and grinned fondly at Minho.

"Hey Minho!" L greeted. He stared down at his plate, and shoved it near Minho's chest. "Want some chips? You know, you have a great party here-"

Minho grabbed L's wrist and narrowed his eyes. "You're Krystal's childhood friend, right?"

L froze. Did Minho figure out about Krystal's and his secret friendship? He forced a smile and laughed bitterly.

"Excuse me? I hardly even know who she is-"

"Hardly or not, I know you know something about her. She's up in my room, and things are looking ugly," Minho muttered. L glared at Minho.

"Why are you dragging me into your mess? Krystal has nothing to do with me-"

"Oh yeah? Well, she's already talking about committing suicide. Now I have no idea what's been going on with her past, and she isn't telling me. You're the only one I know who would actually help her out in this sticky situation, so you better come with me right now," Minho whispered. His tone was dark and sharp, and from the look on L's face, it had caught him completely off guard. L looked away from Minho's gaze and bit his tongue.

"It was a mistake for me to know her problem in the beginning," L replied lowly. "You should avoid Krystal, too. She's only going to bring you down-"

By now, Minho was grabbing L by his collar. The adults stared at the two and gasped. Teenagers grinned from ear to ear, eager to see the fight, while the little children excitedly watched the scene.

"What should I do to bring you up there, huh? Give you money? Promote you so that you could be popular? Honestly, L, we're talking about someone's life! Can't you come up and save her life?" Minho yelled, but quiet enough for only L to hear. Minho's mother quickly ran up to her son and pulled him away.

"Minho, what are you doing? Compose yourself! You're causing a scene!" Minho's mother snapped. Minho completely ignored his mother's words and gave L a bitter, hateful look. L's mother smiled proudly and stepped up to the scene, pretending to dust off the dirt on L's collar.

"You must be the boy who's hanging around with…Krystal," L's mother murmured. Minho clenched his fist.

"And what does that have to do with you?" Minho asked sharply.

Minho's mother gasped. "Minho!"

L's mother waved her hand as if it was no big deal. "Relax, darling. It makes sense for him to act so…irrational."

Minho widened his eyes. "Excuse me-"

"That was almost what had happened to my son, Myungsoo. You see, he's been secretly hanging around with Krystal, and if you didn't know, Krystal is a very bad student. She's one of the worst influences on your child, and I really hope your child avoids hanging around with such a pathetic girl. In fact, we all know that Krystal's sister is Jessica, the girl who should be in college, but is hanging around in parties. Her parents hardly talk to each other, and when they do, all we hear from them are screams and yells in this neighborhood. The Jung family should never be allowed in this neighborhood. They are one of the most dangerous families that can affect your life, so it's best if you start warning your child to avoid such a reckless woman," L's mother explained. Murmurs and gasps came from the crowd as they began to make a mental note of Krystal being a bad influence.

Minho dropped his jaws and stared at L, who could only gaze down at the ground in shame. L could not even take a step closer to Krystal. He could not talk to her, nor speak to her. He would not be allowed to have the slightest skin contact or eye contact. To make his mother feel pride of being a "mother," L had no choice but to become a perfect son. Compared to his mother, L had no power whatsoever.

And that was one reason why L could not help Minho out.

It's a forbidden friendship, Minho thought, his skin turning pale. How cruel.

"I'll forgive Minho right now if he tells me where the restroom is," L started politely. Minho frowned, but quickly understood what L had wanted. He was going to go up into Minho's room and talk to Krystal. Minho cleared his throat nervously and nodded his head.

"Sorry for acting…irrational," Minho mumbled. L just smiled as he followed Minho inside the house. Minho glanced back at the party, and was surprised how fast the guests set their mind back to the party. 

"Tell me where Krystal is…quick," L whispered. Minho just nodded, and showed him the flight of stairs leading to his room.

My life is black. There's no white, no color. It's pitch black. There's no hope. I should really just die. There's a shard of glass on the table up there. Should I get it? I can slice it against my wrist. Wouldn't that feel great? It would feel quite nice, wouldn't it? Krystal thought. She was sitting on the floor with her back leaning against the wall. She did not care where she was, or what she was thinking. All she cared about was getting the shard of glass and ripping her skin open with it. She heaved a shaky sigh and wet her lips.

"What in the world am I thinking," she mumbled to herself. 

Suicide. She never even thought of suicide until now. To let out her feelings, she would cry silently late at night and be careful not to wake her parents or Jessica. Crying had seemed to be the best way to pour out her problems, but now she wasn't so sure. 

Crying is just tears falling out, Krystal told herself. Crying is just the body's way of telling you that you're upset. Maybe I'm done with crying. Maybe I should grow up.

She slowly stood from the ground, ready to take the shard of glass from the desk. However, there was two small knocks on the door. Krystal gasped and sat back down, curling herself in a ball. There was an awkward silence between the room and the door. Krystal waited for Minho to come in and possibly comfort her. She waited for two more minutes, but no one came in. Instead, a voice spoke up from the other side of the door. A very familiar voice.

"Krystal…?" L called. Krystal stiffened up. She kept quiet, hoping that L would walk away.

Why's he here? What does he want now? Krystal wondered. Then, she heard two voices whispering in a sharp tone. Minho and L? Why aren't they coming in?

"Can I… Is it okay if I come inside?" L asked. Krystal did not reply. She nervously glanced at the shard of glass that was taunting her. It was as if the glass wanted to be against her skin. Krystal clenched her teeth, staring at the shiny piece.

"Krystal, we're barging in, alright?" Minho informed her. Krystal didn't listen. Her eyes widened as she saw (or thought she saw) the glass move towards her. Was she hallucinating? Did she eat anything wrong? She felt her mind falling apart and the strength to ignore the glass weakened. Her wide, brown eyes would move frantically around the room, and Krystal tried to hug her knees for comfort. Did she just hear knocking? Was someone saying anything? Why couldn't she hear voices?

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay…" Krystal whispered to herself. She heard a laugh. Was it Minho's? L's? Maybe it was Suzy's laugh. She couldn't tell. It was the type of laugh that mocked her for being pathetic. Her skin felt cold and the room seemed scarier. What was going on?

Someone pull me out! Someone take me away from here! Help me! Krystal cried in her head. She shut her eyes and felt her tears swelling up in her eyes. She put her hands over her head and trembled in fear, not understanding what was going on with her mind.

Then, slowly, she felt an arm snake over her shoulder. Krystal opened her wet eyes, and noticed that her hands and knees were stained with her tears. She carefully looked up to her side, and found the door still closed. She looked to her right, and widened her eyes even more. There was L sitting right next to her, his eyes closed, yet his arm hugging her in comfort.

"Why…"

"Minho told me you were talking about committing suicide. I can't be here for long, but you can keep crying if you need to," L explained shortly. Krystal blinked her eyes, which stung from her tears. She looked away and stared down at her knee. 

"Thank you," she whispered, her lips quivering. L scoffed.

"Honestly, can't you be more stronger," L said. Though others would take his statement as a question and an offensive comment, Krystal took his words with sincerity and care. She smiled and rested her head against the palm of her hands.

"Why didn't Minho come in, though?" Krystal asked.

L stared at Krystal and raised an eyebrow. "Why? You prefer Minho than me?"

Krystal kept quiet. L scowled, a bit irritated with her quiet response. She smiled a bit, but her smile faded away when L stared at her.

"He doesn't understand about your background life, so he asked me to comfort you," L started. "I can tell things are getting worse, right?"

She pushed him away and looked away with eyes full of hatred. "What do you expect me to say? Can't you tell how much I'm suffering at school? Didn't Minho just explain to you that I'm thinking of ripping my own flesh to die? You know, Myungsoo. You know exactly what the problem is. Even if you left me since childhood, you know that everything's getting worse."

"It's not like I wanted to leave you!" L retorted, raising his voice. "I told you, it's because of personal reasons-"

"Yeah, personal reasons that you have. Is it always about you?" Krystal asked bitterly. L dropped his jaw and quickly pulled Krystal closer to him. His narrowed his eyes and looked away.

"Shut up and just cry," L muttered. "It's better for you to just c-"

"But I don't want to cry anymore!" Krystal yelled. "Don't you get it, Myungsoo? I'm tired of crying! I want to do something! I can't move to another school because of my parents who don't even listen to me, I can't tell my personal feelings to Jessica who doesn't even care about me, and I can't have fun at school since I have no reason to live! Why can't you just tell me that I should die, huh? Why can't you just say I should commit suicide?"

L kept quiet as he listened to the distressed girl. He could sense that she was feeling hopeless. No, he knew that she was already giving up. L played with his hair, tossing it and running his fingers through it.

"I can't say such a thing because I don't want my friend to die," L whispered. Krystal froze and gave L a long stare. Then, after a few minutes of talking, she stood up and wiped away her tears. 

"We were friends a long time ago," Krystal replied. "We're now practically strangers."

She left the room, bumping into Minho, who was obviously confused about the situation. Minho walked up to L and said something to him, but L did not listen. Instead, L sat still, his thoughts clouded with Krystal and their friendship.

But I still consider you as a friend, L thought.