“Lee Stephanie, sir.” She bowed earnestly, not even daring to look up for a second. Her eyes kept drifting from side to side, as her brain processed the scenario and arranged a little story to convince him.

“What happened? Why are they chasing you?” He asked leniently as he bent his body forward to get a better image of her features.

“Please don’t send me to the police.” She went on her knees in the speed of lightening as she clutched his hand in hers. “I didn’t mean to steal. I was really hungry and I haven’t been eating for days.” She gasped frantically until the tears leaked, diving down, making their journey away from her eyes. Her tears created a burden in the old man’s chest, tightening it, suffocating it. A troublesome feeling called guilt. Even though her eyes were watery, her dark orbs were like two black holes, forcing the poor old man to fall into her trap.

Softly, he patted her head, just like a father would. His touch sent chills down her spine. She hated it. She hated being touched, especially by someone she didn’t know. However, being under his presence, somehow made her wonder what it would’ve been like if her father was with her. Just the thought of it caused more tears to fall, tears which actually contained a meaning to her.

“I’ll pay you two 10 times the amount of what she stole. Will that be able to settle everything?” He spoke with such confidence that almost frightened them. Their aim was only to get Lee So Man to acknowledge her. They didn’t think he would be willing to actually help her to that extent.

“W-well, of course. To be honest, it really wasn’t a big deal. She only stole some bread from us. Two times the amount of what the bread is worth is already more than enough.” One of them bowed timidly whilst they received a cheque from his assistant. They were taken back, unprepared for the occurrence.

They were hesitant about whether or not they should leave her with him. They glanced at her, but her head remained down. Since she didn’t react, they presumed it was their time to go.

Once they left, Lee So Man invited her around his company. Steph wasn’t prepared to enter the company so soon. She hadn’t planned her story out well enough, so it would’ve been very easy for Lee So Man to realise her intentions. Luckily, they didn’t really talk that much for him to realise.

After letting her borrow some clean clothes, he let her explore around the company. When no one was with her, she hastily ran out of the company to get to a telephone box so that she could call Karen.

“Yeobosaeyo?” Karen greeted as she picked up the phone.

“Karen,” Steph exhaled heavily. “I…finally got in. I don’t exactly know how…but I did. Where are you?” Steph placed a hand on her head to calm herself down as she tried to forget the intense situation she was just in.

“Really? That’s great unnie! But we have one small problem here. I just met a trainee and Super Junior member; Sungmin. Apparently a Super Junior member; Kyuhyun is missing and we’re suspecting someone.”

“Missing? Already? We? So…wait. They already know about the murderer but none of it has been leaked out to the public?” Questions poured from Steph’s mouth before Karen had the chance to even answer.

“Yes, but I’m suspecting someone already, a trainee who goes by the name Kira. It was just the vibe she gave out. She’s definitely up to something.” She insisted as if Steph was going to doubt her theory. 

“Ok. I’ll be on my way to look for this ‘Kyuhyun’ guy. I don’t think it would be too difficult.” Steph sighed before hanging up on Karen.

When she was about to take off to search for Kyuhyun, a familiar voice called her, a voice which she’d longed to hear, yet resented it so much at the same time.

“Excuse me,” the voice called which caused her to halt. She could hear footsteps advancing towards her direction and as each foot landed on the floor; her heart would beat in the rhythm the footsteps produced.

“Is your name…Yin?” His question appeared to be more like a statement as if he already knew the answer himself. Gradually, she turned around with her ‘timid character’ to face the well-known Kim Ryeowook.

“I’m sorry. I believe this is the first time we’ve met.” She gave him a tender smile which painted a disappointed frown upon his face. “My name is Stephanie, not Yin. I’m afraid I’m in a hurry right now, let’s talk next time.” She quickly scurried to her next destination before he could stop her again, which happened to be the Super Junior’s dorm.

-

When she finally found Kyuhyun’s room, she removed the contact lens on her left eye which revealed an emerald green colour that shimmered between the white. The advantage of that eye was that it allowed her to pick up a person’s DNA and track them without using any equipment of any sorts. No matter where someone went, traces of DNA would always be left behind. However, due to the amount of DNA which actually gets left, it requires an advance equipment to track the faint trail.

The eye was a gift from the experiment three years ago along with her mutated gene. The mutated gene simply affected the way her brain cells functioned. The mutated gene caused her brain to function in a similar way to a computer, which explains why she was in various computer related projects within the Headquarters. That was the main objective of the experiment - So the human brain could act like a computer. However, the experiment wasn’t a total success. Her brain still couldn’t be as efficient as a computer and emotions still remained in the system, which the Headquarters were hoping to delete.

-

“So you’re experiment no.6293” A female voice cackled in the background. Steph rotated her head to meet a pair of clear maroon eyes. Immediately, Steph inserted her contact lens back into her eye to get a better image of the girl, although it was already clear who the voice belonged to.

“I know you. You’re Kira aren’t you? One of my dongsaeng just met you.” Steph smiled pleasantly, since she felt slightly comforted that she was with someone who was there with the same purpose.

“You sure have a lot of sides to you. You’re aggressive to those men; you’re timid in front of Lee So Man, now you’re friendly to me?” Kira folded her arms as she leaned against the wall. It was something which she despised: people acting in front of her.

“You saw, huh? Guess I should’ve been more alert to my surroundings.” Her smile faded as it transformed into a frown. “Some people live in an environment because it suits them, but this environment doesn’t suit me, so I have to suit it in order to survive. I live because of my multiple personalities. Life - is just a show.”

“I’m not interested why you have those personalities. Just don’t give me your drama. It won’t entertain me.” Kira stated coldly. “Are you here searching for Kyuhyun?” She eyed her curiously since they were both standing in his room.

“You seem to know where he is.” After meeting all sorts of different people, reading people’s expression was just another skill Steph had developed.

“He’s currently in the living room. I think it might’ve been just some kind of misleading prank.” Kira proclaimed calmly. “Little things like these doesn’t require that many people. I can handle it myself.”

Steph opened as if she was about to say something, possibly to object her statement, but she froze in her position for a few seconds before smiling sheepishly.

“A-annyeong.” Steph waved shyly. Slowly, Kira turned herself around to face Kyuhyun. Her breath was caught in , causing her to stutter uncontrollably.

“Y-you’re awake…” She stammered in astonishment. Kyuhyun groaned a bit whilst he rubbed his eyes to remove the blurriness within his vision.

“What are you guys doing in my room?” Then, his eyes landed on Steph. “And who are you?”

“She’s a guest of Lee So Man-shi. You were sleeping in the cleaner’s closet and she helped me to carry you in here, so I gave her a tour around your dorm.” Kira quickly made up a story before anything seemed suspicious.

“Really? Was that it? I thought you came in here because you wanted to know more about me. It’s what girls always say; once they enter a guy’s room they’ll know exactly what type of person he is.”

Kira swiftly smacked her hand on his head after hearing the ridiculous statement. Innocently, Kyuhyun rubbed his head with a pout.

“That’ll never happen. I’ll never be interested to know what type of guy you are.” She rolled her eyes with a sigh and marched out of his room before she got accused with more pathetic theories of his. Steph glanced at the two of them before she followed Kira around like a pet. In the end, she was new and it wouldn’t have been right for her to be in their dorm.

“Kira, I was only joking. But you know my door is always open for you to come and visit!” He exclaimed as he watched the two girls slam the door on him.

---

Karen on the other hand, was in school. She was only allowed half a day off to visit the company, so she still had to attend school for the rest of the afternoon, or even evening.

She sat there amongst twenty six other students in the classroom. There she was; leaning her head against her hand, staring out the window. Whilst everyone was either; chatting, studying or playing games, she sat there and thought about Kibum. She wondered if she was still hated by him, she wondered what would happen if they were to meet again. Even though she was determined to let go of their relationship, she couldn’t help but be curious.

Suddenly, the door was slammed shut and everyone stood behind their seats, waiting to say their greetings to the teacher before they took their seats.

Once the lesson begun, Karen was already fascinated by the word ‘assonance’; a poetry technique which is used to describe words with the same vowels. Somehow, the technique reminded her of her relationship with Kibum. They were so similar, yet they were so different at the same time. So close to each other, but can never be together.

They were both ambitious but neither of them wanted to pursue their dreams, because they knew it would destroy their relationship. Their minds worked in the similar way which probably explained the reason behind their straightforwardness. Yet putting those similarities in mind, they were so different in terms of origin and status. Especially when Kibum was an artist and she was a member of the Headquarters. They may work in the same company and their past may bring them together. However, just like the technique assonance, there are still distances between the words. They can be seen as connected, but they can’t be together.

---

When school ended for Karen, she was told to move her belongings into her new ‘dorm’ along with other girls. The dreaded feeling ran down her veins as she unlocked the door with her new key.

Once she pushed the door open, she was startled when she saw 4 familiar faces; Steph, Renee, Anna and Kira.

She waited for them to notice her, but they didn’t even bother to turn their heads to look at her. She coughed a little to get some attention from the girls who were lazily lying on the sofas.

“I’m waiting for a summary of what’s going on you know.” She stated coherently whilst she placed her belongings on the ground.

“It’s safe here. Quick, shut the door.” Renee sniggered playfully. “We can finally relax in this place.”

Karen blinked in confusion before shutting the door with a dumbfounded expression. “What do you mean?”

“Well, to begin with, Kira is the trainee who we were searching for, and no, she is not the murderer.” Steph chuckled as she shook her head at the thought of Karen’s hypothesis, although she too was surprised that Karen’s instincts had failed her. “Also, Anna already knows everything about the Headquarters, because Kira ‘accidently’ told her. This dorm used to be theirs, but Lee So Man-shi offered me to sleep here. He thinks I’m homeless. As for Renee…She’s the bodyguard, but she can’t sleep in SHINee’s dorm, so she’s living here which is relatively close to them. Are you satisfied with this summary?”

Karen paused a while in order for her brain to absorb Steph’s explanation. Afterwards, she nodded bashfully before heading towards her room to unpack. She felt slightly uncomfortable living under the same roof as Kira, since she had just mistaken her as the murderer. But how could it be? Her instincts were always correct.

“I guess there’s a first time for everything.” She murmured to herself with a weak smile. She supposed it was a good thing, since it meant that they were able to live together without hiding anything.

---

When Karen finally took her most recent canvas out, she stopped to examine her drawing of Key and began to add faint lines to the picture. She tried to add all the details of him she could recall. However, unknowingly she started to write words after words instead of perfecting the picture like she normally did. After she wrote a couple of sentences, more tears tumbled down and it felt as if her heart was broken beyond repair.

[Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACWXbusW9BY]

Once she finished writing, the tears stopped. But when she reread what she wrote, they returned to her scarlet eyes again. Tightly, she secured her life size teddy bear in her arms, which coincidently happened to be his last gift for her.

The words she wrote on the canvas:

Secretly, I tried to cling onto you, but at the end of the day I was only hurting the both of us. When I finally woke up from my fantasy world, I realised how selfish I was and how insignificant my love was for you.

Whenever I want to cry, I would lift my head up to face the forgiving, carefree clouds. As I watched them float past, I would visualise you looking at me, smiling at me. You were like my imaginary castle, protecting me and giving me the warmth I desired.

The first time your hand made contact with mine, my hand slipped away. I was young and afraid. My instincts warned me that once I open up to you, there would be no going back. Foolishly, I ignored those warnings.

The second time you tried to hold my hand, I flinched. I tried to pull away, but you held it in place. You have no idea how hard my heart was beating at that moment. It was then that I decided that I would disregard what everyone said about my decision, because I wanted that sensational feeling to remain. The feeling I got whenever you were around.

From the moment we walked hand in hand, I knew that the path ahead of me would be difficult, but I never imagined that it was actually going to torment me so badly.

I always considered our love as temporary, and I managed to convince myself that it would eventually disappear as if it never existed.

I was proud of you when I heard you finally debuted as an artist. However, it finally made me accept the fact that you no longer belong to me. Maybe you were never mine in to begin with, but I stubbornly called you mine without you even knowing.

This pain made me realise that I still love you and I’ve actually never managed to let you go.

----

After reading it, she cupped her hands on both sides of her face and started screaming whilst shaking her head furiously. The image of his smile was engraved in her brain, no matter how much she wanted to remove it, she couldn’t.

“Why?! Why did it have to be you? Why?!” She screeched as she flung herself onto her bed to tame her tears.

----

As Renee walked past Karen’s room, she heard sobbing noises, so she decided to see what was wrong, even though she already knew the answer herself.

Renee peaked through the door and watched her dongsaeng cry in front of her canvas again. She watched how she screamed like a mad woman. Her nose started to sting as she didn’t know how to feel besides to feel sympathetic towards her. Especially since she had never been in love herself, she wouldn’t be able to understand.

[End Song]

----

Three days later, SHINee was rehearsing for their performance on Music Bank which was going to be held on the following day. Also, it was Renee’s fourth day working with them, and she was already sick of it.

It was getting dark outside and all the members left, except one; Kim Jonghyun. Therefore Renee had to stay behind for that odd one. Constantly, she gave him her deathly glare from the corner since she wasn’t allowed to go home because of him.

As the clock ticked by, she fell into a deep slumber on the chair with her head leaning against the wall.

When it was 1:57am, he nudged her, hoping that she would be able to wake up.

“Hey, they’ll lock us in if we don’t leave by 2. Wake up.” Harder, he shook her, but she refused to open her eyelids until 2:33am.

Like a child, she rubbed her eyes.

“Oh, you’re finished?” She yawned tiredly as she stretched her limbs out.

“But we’re locked in.”

*peace*! Thanks for all those who bothered to comment and subscribe ^^ I'm finally back with chapter 3!! Woo~ Ish is happy ^__^

R e a d | C o m m e n t | S u b s c r i b e ^___^

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S.Y waves goodbye~