Yuna walked home with Jonghyun again that night. She had noticed how he seemed to have opened up to her more, always talking to her first and offering to walk home together as well. She still had the suspicions that he was trying to avoid Jun Hee, although he had denied that he liked her a thousand times before. Either ways, she had to admit she was starting to like having him walk beside her. She felt safe.

“How was I just now?” Jonghyun asked, lowering his head so that they’ll be at the same height. He seemed livelier that night.

“Good,” she replied simply.

“Good? That’s it?” he retorted.

“Yeah, well, it was like any other performance. I’ve watched you guys perform a lot of times now.”

“Heol!” he exclaimed. “How can you say that? We’re a rock band; we play differently for every performance.”

But Yuna wasn’t listening to him anymore. She was finally checking her phone and saw a couple of missed calls again, so she was immediately distracted. It was all from the same number, but it was a different number than the one her dad had called her from.

“Yuna-ah, is something wrong?”

“Aniyo,” she once again denied.

They entered the elevator and Yuna dialed back the number, hoping it was news from her dad. But all she heard was heavy breathing on the other end.

“Yeoboseyo? Yeoboseyeo? Appa, is that you?” she asked.

Just when she decided to end the call, the voice on the other end called out her name in a deep and low voice.

“Seo Yuna-ssi,” he laughed eerily. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

The voice sent shivers down her spine and she slowly turned to look at Jonghyun, who seemed to have a genuine concerned look on his face yet again. This time, she couldn’t deny that there was nothing wrong anymore. She was too worried, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out either. Her lips and hands trembled as she tried to hold it all together.

Jonghyun grabbed her by her shoulders. “What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong? Are you sick?”

But her eyes weren’t focused on him anymore. It was fixed on the sight in front of her as soon as the elevator door opened.

“Andwae..maldo andwae,” she uttered, taking a few steps closer to her door.

“Yuna-ah,” she heard Jonghyun from behind her.

Yuna’s jaw had dropped at what awaited her. There on her front door, was paint splattered all over, and some words were spelled out with red spray.

“We found you..Seo Yuna”

She heard Jonghyun gasp in shock as he came closer. She was frozen at her spot, unable to move, unable to talk. Her whole body was trembling in fear as a million worst-case scenarios ran through her mind. What was going to happen to her? Where else could she hide?

“Who did this?” Jonghyun asked.

He stepped in front of her to block her sight, grabbing her by the arms to shake her off her trance. Yuna’s eyes widened as she stared into his eyes. She could tell he was worried about her. Or maybe he too was scared. She felt her tears rolling down her cheeks but she was still in shock to tell him anything. She saw his mouth moving as if he was telling her something, but she could hear nothing. Her whole body had stopped functioning as the fear overrode her. Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted up and carried into the house on the right.

Jonghyun’s apartment gave a totally different feeling than hers. His apartment was fully equipped with furniture and posters all over the walls, compared to the empty space she lived in. He placed her down to sit on the couch, seeing how Yuna had completely lost all her ability to move on her own. He made her a cup of tea to calm her mind but she could barely drink it.

“Stay here tonight,” he suddenly instructed.

She looked up to see him sitting across from her and staring her down. “Gwenchana.”

“No, you’re not! You’re frozen! How can you still say you’re fine? Yuna-ah, you’ve been weird the whole day. I know there’s something going on with you right now. I’m not sure what it is and I’m not forcing you to tell me. But from what I see, staying in there is not safe for you right now,” he blasted.

She stared at him blankly then placed down the cup on the table because her hands were still trembling too much. “This is none of your business. You don’t need to care about me. We’re barely friends.”

He sighed heavily at her comment, but made no further attempt to fight back. “Are you in some kind of trouble right now?”

She took her time to answer him. She was still uncomfortable talking to someone she barely knew about her past and she was afraid he would judge her. No, she was more afraid that she would have gotten him involved in the whole chaos. Jonghyun sat beside her and placed his hand over hers. She slipped her hand away immediately, not liking the contact.

“Mian,” he said softly.

They sat there silently, not saying a word to each other. She was able to drink the tea after her mind was calmer, but she was still unable to tell Jonghyun anything. He was surprisingly very patient with her, sitting beside her without demanding any explanation. She was sure he was shocked too by the sight but he showed no sign of that. She felt her eyes getting heavier and she checked the time to see that it was already 2 in the morning. She looked around wondering where Jonghyun had gone and figured he had slept already. Feeling tired, she stretched herself before slowly lying on the couch to rest for a while.