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Jung Daehyun's POV: 

   I rub at my eyes, grogginess battling with my will to stay awake. I hadn't slept at all last night; I could feel the prescence of Sarang everywhere I went, no matter which room I was in. It was like I could feel her breathing just above me, feel her living. When she fell asleep, I went back to the couch where she was sleeping, determined to take her life then and there, while the storm was still fully awake. 

  But I hadn't. And instead of a bringing a knife to her, I brought a blanket and swept it over her slender body, tucking it in gently at the sides. 

  And then I went into the kitchen and made a quick note to Ahjumma, saying that I was over at the shop and checking up on it, then grabbed my camera and a heavy jacket and headed outside, letting the rain pour on me and not caring. 

  Now, the storm has fully passed, and the weather outside is sunny, the sky a light, healthy blue and the scent of the air is fresh and atmospheric, as if the storm had fully cleared the air of any sort of precipitation available. 

  I stand on the small lakeside beach of the town, the only tourist attraction that few people come to visit on vacations. The sun and airy breeze has almost fully dried all my clothes, and my jacket lies on the sandy ground beside me, where I stand with my camera. 

  I'd stayed to watch the sun rise, which was exceptionally beautiful over the waves of the lake, casting its golden light across the shimmering waters. My mother would have probably loved it. 

  I'd gotten some pretty great angles of the scene on my camera, which, thankfully, was well guarded under my jacket on my way here and was undamaged. 

  I look through the photos, marveling over the sight now that the sun has already completely risen. There's a small island in the distance of the waters, with a long, rocky bridge connecting both the beach shore and it. When I had gotten here, the high tide had been covering the bridge, and I hadn't noticed it until later on in the day, when the water had cleared. I'd taken some photos of it as well.

   Park Sarang tugs at my mind. Again I wonder why I'd felt so queasy when she uncovered her wound, and why I'd wanted to dress it. Why I'd accompanied her while she cried. Why I'd put a blanket on her when I saw her sleeping. Why I'd spared her life. 

  And again, my mind turns up with nothing. 

  Sighing, I look down at my wrist and inspect the time. It's two hours to opening hour in Petals.

  I take one last look at the lake before grabbing my sandy jacket from the ground and mounting my bike, then riding away.

*~(~*~(~*~(~*

   As the shop rises in front of my vision, I have an immediate feeling that there's something wrong.

  I bike harder towards the shop, and throw my bike down, hopping off of it easily. The door is open, that much is obvious. I feel a nervous tingling along my fingertips. 

   There are large pools of rainwater blocking the entrance of the shop, and at first glance, one can instantly tell that the flowers outside the store are drooped and ruined, while the soil underneath is completely drowned. Today will be a long day, if we're to fix all of this up. 

  Bringing my attention to the open door once more, I enter the shop cautiously, my shoes splashing against the puddles on the ground. The water had flowed in through the opening, creating another mess of puddles in the entrance. 

  But as my eyes travel up the floor, I see a long, soaked leg, and then another one, lying in a twisted position.

   There is a body in the shop. 

  Heart thumping, I walk further inside the shop, my eyes making its way up the body, watching as the long, jean-covered legs connect with a long torso and firm chest in a soaking black raincoat. And when I finally look at the face of the young man, it's clear that this is Bang Yongguk. 

  A scream tears through the silence. 

  I jump forward and look behind me, where the sound had originated, to see that Park Sarang had come, her large eyes staring unbelievedly at the limp body of Yongguk-sshi. 

  And despite the situation, I can't help but feel my chest constrict at the mere sight of her, back in her clothes from yesterday, her long hair pulled into a rushed bun with a few strands coming loose and blowing around the clear, porcelain skin of her face. 

  And then she rushes forward and falls to her knees in front of Yongguk, shaking his inert shoulders and patting at his cheeks, pushing back the sopping wet hair splayed over his eyes.

  "Yongguk-ah! Bang Yongguk!" she shrieks, panicked tears making their way down her face. "Yong-ah!" 

  Just as I bend over beside her, his eyes flutter open, pupils flicking left and right restlessly. 

  "Sarang?" he asks, his voice slurred and fatigued. "Is that you?"

  She lets out a long, trembling breath. Then she smacks his chest. 

 "You idiot!" she yells, and I'm taken aback at how loud she is. It's the most worked up I've ever seen her. 

  Apparently, Yongguk-sshi feels the same way, because his eyes widen and he looks startled. 

  "Yeh?" he asks. 

  She smacks his chest again. "I thought you were dead!" she screams. "You idiot, you stupid idiot!" She continues to smack at him.

  I feel a laugh bubbling in my chest, but I hold it in. Watching as he raises his stiff, wet arms to block himself from further onslaught, I reach out my hands and let them hover over Sarang's wrists for a moment before grabbing them and bringing them back. 

  "Sarang-sshi," I say as she struggles to have another go at him. "Sarang-sshi, calm down." 

  Finally, she lets her arms fall to her sides, exhausted. Slowly, I remove my hands from her wrists. 

   She sighs loudly, then touches Yongguk's face. For some reason, a small part of me clenches, and my hands ball up behind my back. 

  "You're so cold," she comments, exasperated. "We have to get you to the hospital." 

  "I'm fine," Yongguk croaks, then lets out a dry cough. "Never better." 

   She the side of his face again. "Lies," she whispers. "What did the storm do to you?" Then she looks to me. "Daehyun-ah, can you grab his arms and try to pull him up?" She looks back at him. "You can stand, right?"

   He scoffs. "Of course I can, I'm not a baby," he retorts, but it still sounds weak. 

  Obediently, I slide my hands underneath his arms and lug him up, every ounce of me standing taut. He is really heavy. 

  "Thank you," he tells me breathlessly when he's standing, his face pale and shiny with sweat and water. A heavy arm is still mounted on my shoulder. I fight the urge to bat it off. 

 "Can you walk?" I ask him. If I have to keep supporting him like this, I might need to go to the hospital too. 

  "Yeh, of course," he says, breaths coming in long, constricted gasps. He takes a step forward and stumbles immediately. Sarang and I reach out and catch him before he falls again. 

   "That's it," Sarang says, "you're going to the hospital and that's final." 

  "No, please," he breaths, anxiously. He looks to Sarang with wide, panicked eyes. "Please don't make me go to that place." 

  They hold each other's gazes for a few seconds, and then she nods once. 

  "Fine," she gives in. "Let's get to the car. I'll bring you to the house." 

   We let him put his weight on our shoulders as we drag him forward and out of the store, towards Sarang's car. It feels like he's not even trying to hold himself up, considering just how heavy this guy is on my back. 

  After I lay him down in the back seat, I feel Sarang's hand touch my arm. Body tingling, I look up at her. 

  "Daehyun-ah," she says.

   I noticed that she'd dropped honorifics with me and began to speak to me using informal language already last night, after I'd brought her inside Ahjumma's house, like a switch had been when she looked at me through her wet hair. I still speak formally to her; I've never spoken to anyone using banmal before. (A/N: Banmal is the korean informal way of speaking.)

   "Yeh?" I ask. 

  "Could you stay here and watch the shop?" she asks me, eyes pleading. "Maybe clean up a little bit? I'll send someone over to help you later on, but today I'm going to stay and take care of Yongguk-ah at his house."

  I feel a twinge in my chest. 

  Why does she have to stay with Yongguk? He's certainly big enough to take care of himself. What am I supposed to do without her here, beside me...

  But before I even know it, I'm nodding, and after a smile and a pat on the shoulder, she get's into the driver's seat of the car and backs down the street into the main road. 

  As I watch her, she sticks an arm outside of the car window and waves back to me. 

  "Thank you!" she yells.

   Then the car drifts away and disappears from my sight. My eyes stay gazing in the direction of where she left. 

  Slowly, I lift my hand and wave back at her. 

  "You're welcome," I say softly. 

*~(~*~(~*~(~*

Bang Yongguk's POV: 

   When we reach my house, Sarang tells me to wait in the car while she gets someone to help me inside. She later returns with Himchan and Junhong. 

  "Whoa, hyung, what happened to you?" Junhong asks. He pats the side of my face with the back of his hand, then recoils immediately. "You're so cold!" 

  "You look dead," Himchan comments. "Did you even pay attention to me when I told you to come back safely yesterday?" 

  I laugh drily. It makes my throat hurt. 

  "I tried," I reason. 

  Sighing, the two of them heave me up on their shoulders, Sarang watching from behind.

  "Let's go, hyung," Junhong sings. "No more work for you today." 

   His words remind me again of what I have to cancel because of my condition. This can't do; the bills are going to come in two days from now, and I still haven't gathered the monthly amount that we need. Losing a day from all of my jobs would equal a very bad outcome. 

  I try to voice my concern, but I'm too breathless as I try to walk along with them that all that comes out of my lips are hushed murmurs. 

 They bring me up the stairs and drop me onto my mat on the floor. I fall with a thump, and I curl my legs up into a ball.

  "Gently!" Sarang scolds. 

  "Easy for you to say, noona," Junhong says grudgingly, rubbing his shoulders. "You weren't the one carrying him up here."

  She sighs. "Well, thank you anyway," she says, smiling at them. She looks to Himchan. "Himchan-ah, do you have classes today?" 

  He shakes his head proudly. "None," he says. 

  "Good," she says. "You can substitute for Yongguk-ah at the hardware store." 

  His mouth drops open. 

  "But..." 

  Junhong laughs. "Hah!" he says, nudging Himchan on the shoulder. 

  Sarang turns to Junhong next. 

  "And you," she says sharply.

  "Me?" he asks, pointing to himself. 

  "Deh," she says. "You can go help Daehyun-ah at Petals. I'm going to stay here and take care of your hyung, and he could use some assistance without me."

  "But, noonaaa," he whines. 

  "What?" she asks. "You can't help out your hyung for one day? Do you know what he does every day for your sake?" 

  I smile as I listen to her. Sarang is the only one that can fully understand me; all of me. Like how she understood why I couldn't go to the hospital. And that is what I love most about her.

  Junhong slumps his shoulders. "Fine," he says. "But I'll have to cancel..."

  "Cancel what?" she asks. 

  He brightens. "Ilhoon, Sungjae, Jongup and Youngjae and I were going to go to the skate park," he explains. "Then we were going to go to the movies, and then - "

  "Call Youngjae and Jongup," she interrupts. "Tell Youngjae to take Yongguk's shift at Tommy's, and Jongup to take his shift at the amusement park. And if you want, your friends could join you at Petals." 

   He looks uncertain as Sarang watches him flip out his phone. 

   "Hyungs will be mad at me..." he says softly as he dials. 

  "They shouldn't be," she says. "They can take off one day of fooling around and help out their hyung. If they argue, give the phone to me." 

  And when they do argue, Sarang grabs the phone and barks at them for a while until they give in and hang up. 

   Junhong stares at his phone for a while and then looks up at Sarang. 

  "You know, for a small person, you can be pretty scary sometimes," he says. 

  I stifle a laugh. 

  "Yeah, yeah," she says. "Now hurry and get to the shop. Daehyun-ah must be having a difficult time working alone."

  After she sees the two out and gives them my job schedules, she comes back with a large bowl of water, a cloth floating in it. Then she sits down beside me and turns me around to face her. 

  "You're burning up," she says softly as she lays a hand on my forehead. 

  I can't tell. At the moment, I feel as cold as ever.

  She takes the soaking cloth from the bowl and wrings it out, then lays it across my head. It feels nice. 

  "You're going to have to change out of those wet clothes," she says, gesturing to my raincoat and jeans. "And put on something dry." 

  I nod slightly and try to sit up, failing miserably. She pushes me down gently. 

  "Don't worry, Yong-ah," she says. "I'll do it for you." 

  I feel my heart start to pump harder as she s my jacket. Is she going to take everything off? Does she even care? I look at her expression and find it surprisingly neutral. She has the face of a mother taking care of a sick child. My heart thumps painfully. 

   She slides my jacket off and then pulls off my shirt. It's starting to get harder to breathe, because of how sick I feel, and how self-conscious Sarang is making me.

  She takes the cloth and starts wiping at my sweaty chest and torso, the cold water leaving cool trails as she goes. It feels good against my hot skin. My head starts to feel woozy and dizzy, and I close my eyes, exhaustion hitting me hard.

  "Why were you out anyways?" Sarang asks, her voice sounding faint and distant. "Why, when I'd purposely sent you home first?"

  I struggle to answer. I went out because you were still there, at the shop. And it was during a storm too, and your parents were killed during a storm. I couldn't let you face it alone; you were probably scared out of your mind.

  "You..." I murmur. 

  "What?" her voice sounds even farther away. The blurred silhouette of her face rises up in my line of vision and I strain to keep my eyes open. 

   "Yong-ah," her small voice calls to me. It gives me a slight jolt, hearing that nickname that she had made for me when we were kids, but not enough to fully rouse me from my stupor. 

   The last thing I see is her pale, lovely face as I drift into unconsciousness. 

*~(~*~(~*~(~*

Jung Daehyun's POV: 

   I step down from the ladder, pulling a filthy glove off of each hand. I'd just cleared the rain off of the roof and gutters of the shop, getting soaked from the waist up in the process. The other store workers from next door had been doing the same thing, so, since I didn't know what to do with the wilted flowers and drowned pots, I'd mimicked their work methods. 

  I fold the ladder back in place and carry it inside the shop, dodging the small pools of water at the entrance. Fortunately, all of the plants inside of the shop had been properly salvaged. It was just the flowers outside that had gotten the full gist of the beating from the storm.

  As I walk towards the direction of the storage room to displace the ladder and retreive a mop and bucket, the sound of the door chimes tinkle softly. 

  I turn around just as a tall, young boy enters the store. His smooth, unlined face is set into a bored frown; it's the face of a true teenager when he's being forced into doing something that he would rather not do. 

  I'm just about to tell him that the shop is closed and ask if he saw the sign, when he catches sight of me and lifts a hand in my direction. 

   "Annyeong," he says casually. "I'm Zelo, Yongguk's younger brother. You must be Daehyun-ah."

 He's already speaking informally to me, like we've known each other for a long while instead of just meeting now. I recall my conversation with Sarang, how she told me that she would send someone later to help me out. This kid doesn't look like he would be a very good helper. 

  "Yeh," I say, "I am. Did Sarang send you?" 

  He bobs his head once and then surveys the shop, wrinkling his nose. "This place smells like damp poop," he complains. 

  Did Sarang even think before sending this kid here? "Ah, that's just the fertilizer outside," I explain to him. "It's made from manure, so that would explain the...the damp poop smell." I shift on my feet uncomfortably.

  Zelo looks at me and laughs, hard, like I'd just shared the biggest joke ever.

  "What?" I ask, confused and annoyed, though I make sure not to show it. 

  "You're so awkward and formal," he says. Then he walks forward and pats me on the back. "Don't worry; I don't bite. Let's be friends, Daehyunnie~" 

  My expression doesn't change. "I won't feel comfortable if you call me that," I say bluntly. I don't have to pretend to play nice with this kid; he doesn't even seem like he has a firm grip on reality at all.

  He laughs again. "No worries, Daehyunnie," he says irritatingly. "You'll get used to it."

  We continue working at the shop, and he's surprisingly a better worker than I'd cut him out to be. He knows what to do without me to tell him, and he does a good job out of it, too. 

   "So how was your first week here, Daehyunnie?" Zelo asks when he sets down a pot beside me and sits on a dry spot on the floor for a rest. "Was it hard?"

  I continue to mop at the floor. "No," I say. "The Ahjumma I live with is a gardener as well, so she taught me some stuff and gave me advice." 

  He nods. "Sarang taught me everything I know about plants and stuff. She taught all of us, really. Yongguk was the best at it, but really, he just studied on it way into the night just so he could impress her." He laughs at the memory. When I don't add to it, he continues with his annoying banter. "So...where you from?" 

  I'd already practiced this. "Seoul," I answer. "My parents died in a car crash there, so I was on my own. I don't know, I just decided to move here. Where it's quieter." I hope my alibi sounds legit.

   He nods again. "Yeah, I know how that feels," he says. "Our parents died in an airplane crash. I was six, so I don't remember much except crying a lot. Sarang had it a whole lot worse when she was six, though. Her parents were murdered." 

  I hope he doesn't notice how tense my shoulders got. 

   He does. "Yeah," he says, "horrible, right? At least there was no one to blame for my parents. Not even the pilots; it was due to some random storm that came out of nowhere and hit the plane. If I was Sarang, I think I would spend the rest of my life wanting revenge or something." He pauses. "But, she's always been better than that." 

  I stay quiet as his words process. 

  "Dude," he says out of nowhere. I jump. 

  "What?" 

  "Aren't you going to say anything?" he asks. "You're too quiet. Around here, there isn't much to do but talk, so you might as well learn to."

  I sigh and roll my eyes. This kid is starting to get on my nerves. 

   He points at me. "What was that?" he asks, annoyed. "Are you lashing out on me, Daehyunnie?" He gets up and waves his fists in front of my face childishly. "You want some?" 

  I push his hands away. "Yah, get to work," I say, trying really hard not to strangle him. 

  But he keeps coming at me, rolling up his sleeves and bouncing on his heels, like he's getting ready to box me out. "You think you can take me?" he teases. "Come at me!" 

  I continue to ignore him, swiping at a pool of water on the floor with my mop.

   "Come on! You scared? Huh? You scared?" 

   For some reason, something in me just snaps. I throw my mop to the floor and face him. 

  "There we go!" Zelo says, delighted. 

  I walk dangerously over to him, watching as his expression turns uncertain. Then I grab the cuff of his shirt. His eyes widen as I raise my fist. 

   Suddenly, the sound of the doorchimes jingle. 

  I drop Zelo quicker than ever and he stumbles back. We both turn to see who's at the door. 

   There's a tall man at the entrance, ducking down under the small door so he can fit inside. He has a clean, shaven, fresh look to him that suggests immediately that he's from the city. He's wearing a long, light brown trenchcoat that reaches a little over his knees, and a white, collared shirt with pressed black pants underneath. His shoes have a new, glossy sheen to them, as does his hair. He looks around the shop curiously.

  "Yah!" Zelo yells rudely, making the man jump. He looks at the annoyed Zelo, who is rubbing his chest where I'd held his shirt. "Didn't you see the sign, Ahjusshi? We're closed!" It's clear that he doesn't really like city men.

   The man opens his mouth to say something when his eyes stop on me. His expression immediately shifts to amazement, and he lifts a trembling finger to point at me. 

  "Min..." he says, almost inaudibly. 

  "Uh, what?" I ask, suddenly feeling uncertain of this man. Who could he be? Could he be onto me? No, that's impossible, how could he know...

  But all he does is shake his head and walk towards me. He stops in front of me and stares at my face, intrigued. 

  "Min Jook-ah..."

Thank you for reading the sixth chapter of "Love in Murder"! Please leave a comment at the bottom and don't be a silent reader! Subscribe if you'd like!
~TheNightCircus~