[Warning: Crap chapter ahead! Was typing/editing this chapter until late at night... >< I apologise in advance...But was so guilty so not updating for a long time ><><]

“Yah! If you die from this height, I will kill myself and annoy you in hell.”

[Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZHl2LVDqLc]

Shocked to hear such words, Kira immediately looked up just to see a pair of eyes glaring daggers at her. Her heart raced as she watched him. His eyes seemed as if they wanted to tear her apart. He was hanging onto the water pipe with one hand and his feet were barely on the fire escape ladder. That moment, she finally came to her senses and acknowledged how foolish she was.

“I got it, don’t pester me,” she sighed whilst Kyuhyun let go of her shirt. After seeing her land safely, he let out a sigh of relief before jumping down as well. For a split second, Kira was expecting him to ask if she was okay or not. She couldn’t understand why she would think of such things, but she did realise that she wanted him to care even though she refused to accept that fact.

However, regardless of how much Kyuhyun loved her, he did not smile at her or embrace her like how the men always did in movies. No – instead, harsh words was thrown from his mouth like spikes.

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!” And with that said, he slapped her across the face. Her voice changed – no longer could his sweet mellow voice console her as it was replaced with his unusual, hoarse voice. “You idiot!” he spat bitterly whilst her fingers traced the red mark left by his hand.

Warmth, gratefulness, and appreciation instantly disappeared from her mind as anger pushed its way through.

“Idiot? What do you know? I may not be thinking clearly, but what do you know?” She asked him as she gritted her teeth, digging her nails into her thumbs just to hold her tears back. She was strong, but it was just the fact that Kyuhyun was the one who was scolding at her, made her weak.

“Why?” he whispered softly with crystals shielding his soulless eyes. “Why do you make loving you so difficult? Do you think I don’t want to know more about you?”

Surprised, Kira was silenced by the glistening tear which fell gracefully down his face. She wanted to say something, but before she could, he already ran back to his dorm before Anna sprinted towards her. Kira felt shameful to face Anna, yet the desire to escape from her miserable life refused to disappear.

“Please, Kira,” Anna cried. “Please don’t ever do that again. Promise me? If you have any problems, you can always tell me. We’re friends…” Anna cried dearly. In return, Kira simply nodded, but her promise planted a relieved smile on Anna’s face, a smile which could instantly melt any ice in one’s heart.

“You must be tired. Let’s go home and forget about this.” Anna wiped her tears as she tried to be strong.

---

Suddenly, everything was going wrong. Anna couldn’t understand why, nor could she accept the brutal fate which waits for her and her friends.

---

Gently pushing the door open, Anna and Kira sees Steph lying recklessly on the wooden floor. The thought of ‘is she sleeping?’ immediately sprung to mind, yet the blood pouring from her lips made them think otherwise. Their eyes widened at the sight as the rushed towards the motionless body.

“Dongsaeng!” Anna gasped in horror as she gently shook her to see if she would wake up.

“You stay here with her, I’ll call the ambulance.” Kira hurriedly took her mobile from her pocket to call for the ambulance whilst Anna held her dongsaeng in her arms.

“It’s going to be okay,” she tried to convince herself, but she knew she was failing as her hands trembled uncontrollably. “Kira, hurry up!” she screamed in panic.

“I’ve called the ambulance; they’ll be on their way in about 2 minutes. Anna, calm down…she’ll…be fine.”

“Why is this happening? Why?” Anna’s eyes looked up to Kira’s questionably. She could not help but notice the pain within Anna’s eyes – they were the same as Kyuhyun’s. All their little actions, all their lies, all their sins, were all reflected in the eyes of the ones she loved most. Who actually gave her the right to torment such innocent souls? Why exactly did they care? If one day, all truth was exposed…would they still love her?

Soon, the sirens were heard and the younger girl’s body was being carried away, leaving the girls devastated. In the ambulance, Anna and Kira held each other, trying to comfort each other. Trying to make themselves believe that fate would not be so harsh on them. Yet the truth was - fate was not planning to back down this time. No longer would he be generous and lenient. He is going to punish them until all their sins are forgiven.

---

“She’s suffering from cystic fibrosis.” The doctor twiddled her thumbs unprofessionally as she revealed the disease’s name which Steph suffered from.

“But…that can’t be. Is there some kind of mistake? Our dongsaeng was very healthy before and cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease,” Anna swallowed hard in disbelief. Kira, on the other hand, shut her eyes tight – the thing she feared the most was happening, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“There’s no mistake. It is possible that the symptoms are revealing themselves at a later stage of her life unlike other patients, but the gene is still there. It’s also possible that the disease will progress to its worse. Not only is your friend suffering from cystic fibrosis, but somehow her brain cells don’t seem to be functioning normally. It’s also possible that in future, her aim gets worse and it could even affect her movements. They might not be as fluent.” The doctor’s eyes lowered as if she was unable to continue thinking about the situation herself. It was obvious that she was new to the career judging by her use of language.

Kira slid down her seat as if she had admitted defeat. Could things possibly get any worse?

----

In Steph’s hospital room, Renee had just entered in a hurried manner. Steph stared at her dongsaeng gloomily. Her once smooth, silky hair was now soaked with her own sweat, causing it to plaster against her skin. Her once lively, energetic eyes were now weary and filled with sorrow. The radiant, heart-warming smile was replaced with this unfamiliar frown. Just seeing Renee’s expression already made Steph feel like a sinner.

“Unnie, what happened to you?” Her eyes were full of fright as her tears overflowed. Her expression was exactly the same on the day of the experimentation. Yet Steph knew, even though she gained her fullest sympathy, the one who needed the most sympathy, was probably her.

“Renee, I’m ok. Everything is going to be fine. Don’t listen to those people. You’ve got to believe me,” she smiled awkwardly as she motioned Renee over to her bedside. Once Steph was able to reach her, she tucked Renee’s hair behind her ears before wiping her tears away. “Kira unnie and Anna unnie must’ve over exaggerated when they were talking to you on the phone. Don’t worry too much, okay?”

Reluctantly, the younger one nodded her head and Steph pulled her into a tight embrace.

“Is there...something you want to tell me?”

“Unnie, why are you acting so weird today?” she answered back calmly. Steph pulled away from the hug in order to face her directly.

“Oh...no, it’s not that. I mean...what I want to say is...where’s Karen?”

“She…she couldn’t come.”

------

Outside Steph’s room, Anna still hadn’t managed to calm herself down. She couldn’t even step a foot into her room because she couldn’t face the fact that Steph had cystic fibrosis. Soon, Leeteuk, Shindong and Sungmin arrived as well. They all noticed Anna’s grim expression, but for Sungmin, not seeing Anna smile was like falling into a black hole, surrounded by the never ending darkness. Forcefully, he pulled Anna to a quieter area so he could just talk to her.

“Anna, listen to me. Steph’s not going to die. Get your head together!” Sungmin tried to comfort her, but failed.

“Why is this all happening?!” she screeched at the top of her voice. “Make it stop! Make it all stop! This can’t happen!” she jumped in frustration.

Sungmin stood there with a burdened heart. He could ignore all the stares they received from all the outsiders, but he couldn’t ignore her. He was troubled by her tears, her swollen eyes and her bright cherry cheeks which was the result of her misery and not happiness.

Suddenly, he clasped their hands together and began to drag her away from the hospital and she just followed him without questioning, just like how they were when she was still his maid. Hand in hand, he took her to the train station where they went when they were young.

“Oppa…” she trailed, but she didn’t know what she wanted to say. Her mind was so confused that all her words were just jumbled all together, unable to actually form a decent sentence.

Once the train arrived, history seemed to have repeated itself. Just like their first time on the train, Sungmin grabbed her wrists and ran to the back.

“Do you remember?” he smiled genuinely at her. Weakly, she nodded her head.

“I’ll let you cry in here all you want. Once this train takes us back to where we departed, you need to promise me, you’ll return to the strong, happy Anna I know. We all have to be strong right now. She’s ill, but what she needs the most right now isn’t just a bottle of medicine. She needs every one of us to be by her side, telling her that everything will be fine,” he patted her head gently before brushing her tears away.

“I know, I know, I know,” she moaned. “It was just, the thought that I nearly lost you, then Kira…and…”

“You don’t know. I know. You’re scared of losing the things you treasure most aren’t you? Steph’s not even dead yet. She’s still healthy. The doctor said it’s only a mild case at this stage, it’s not serious. You haven’t lost anything yet and you’re definitely not getting rid of me,” he beamed brightly as he pinched her nose which made her giggle.

---------------------------

FOUR WEEKS LATER

---------------------------

“It’s now or never,” Steph sighed as she scanned the room one last time. “I have to end this madness.”

The lighter clicked before she placed the flame next to the oil she poured. In a matter of seconds, the building was on fire, and not long after the explosion was heard. The fire roared monstrously as it devoured the walls. Crackling with all its might, it tried to reach Steph, but luckily she escaped before it did.

-------------

Stealthily, Kira walked across the ashes of the building which was recently burnt down. Normally, the police would have the area covered; however, the company did not report the fire. Hence Kira was able to come up with the conclusion: whoever started the fire is working for the company, and it was the company’s decision to set the building on fire.

No matter what the result was, Kira was determined to get to the bottom of it. Not long after, amongst all the dirt and dust, she still managed to find a piece of fingernail, knife and a lighter.

She decided to examine her findings, so she gathered all her equipment in the training studio in order to do her experiment. It was already 3:28am, surly no one was going to disturb her at that time. Yet she was wrong once again.

“There’s no need to test anything,” a sudden voice echoed in the studio. “I did it,” Steph sighed as she entered the room.

“Go back to get some rest. Sick people shouldn’t be wandering around at night.” Kira stated bitterly as she quickly resumed back to her experiment.

“I’m only telling you the truth. Don’t test anything out, there’s no need.” She made her way towards Kira and sat next to her, trying to put away her equipment.

“Then who killed the trainee?” Kira asked straightforwardly, not even bothering to glance at her.

“I did,” Steph confessed, but Kira wasn’t willing to believe it. “It’s not the first time. You killed people in this company too didn’t you?”

“You’re a good actress, but not a good liar. You set the fire that night because you wanted to destroy the corpse. The murderer must be very inexperienced. How could they leave a corpse within the company?” Kira shook her head teasingly. “You’re not that inexperienced, are you?”

“Or course...O-of course I am! I’m sick remember? I have reasons to be lazy.”

“Why are you helping her? She’s not as innocent as you think she is, you know! Lee So Man agreed to this? Do you think I’m stupid?!” Kira shouted aggressively.

“Yes, I do think you’re stupid. Is that what you wanted to hear?” she chuckled mockingly, before changing her voice into a more challenging tone. “Unnie, a few years ago, why did you kill the trainee? Do you still remember? It was because you wanted to stay in SM where you could see your brother again! Lee Donghae, he’s your blood brother isn’t he?” Immediately, Kira shot her a look which was mixed with surprise and confusion, screaming the words ‘how did you know.’

Amused by Kira’s glance, Steph decided to continue revealing more of her secrets. “Why did you post those photos online which created those scandals? Wasn’t it because you wanted to save Anna unnie? Why did you try to give poison to Lee So Man-shi? Again, it was because of Anna unnie. You did so many deeds just for your selfish desires, so how can you scold at me for protecting my own dongsaeng?!” Steph screamed distressfully. Kira was slightly taken back by Steph’s scream. It wasn’t like her to explode her anger onto her.

“You’re right; I did all those things just so to satisfy myself. But do you know you’re really foolish for taking the blame for murder? Is it really that wrong for wanting to see my brother again? Is it really wrong to protect a friend who is dear to me? I did all those things to protect them. They never did anything wrong, but Karen…killed someone. Surly she should take the responsibility,” Kira tried to reason with her.

“I will take responsibility of both Renee and Karen’s actions - are you happy now? She didn’t want to kill. Unnie, in all honesty, did you want to kill those people? Like Karen, you’re being manipulated aren’t you?”

“Nonsense! People like me take pleasure in killing. I’m a born assassin,” Kira retorted harshly.

“You were supposed to kill Kyuhyun as well weren’t you? In the end, did you? Answer me!” Steph demanded. However, her expression faded once she saw Kyuhyun in the studio.

“What’s all this?” he released a sneer which sent shivers down their spines. “Carry on; I want to hear more about it.” Kyuhyun popped his hands into his pockets.

“Kyuhyun ah,” Kira trailed as she turned around to face his stern, serious face.

“You guys left off at Kira trying to kill me. I’m interested, please continue.” His solemn voice was somehow mocking and sinister at the same time making it even harder for Kira to tell what he was actually thinking.

Without another word, Steph left the couple alone in the studio.

“H-how much did you hear?” Kira stammered.

“Why? If I said I only heard the second half of the conversation, are you planning on making up the first half?”

“K-Kyuhyun…” she trailed with her hoarse voice. 

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D