“Six o’clock it is then.”

_____________________________

            Hana put the sandwich in a paper towel and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Putting it under her arm, she began to walk out of the kitchen when she suddenly heard the sound of clanking glass coming from the dining room.

            Hana’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. She could have sworn that she was the only one there. Tip-toeing silently, she peered into the adjacent room.

            At the long wooden table sat Henry, alone with a newly opened bottle of wine. He sighed deeply after finishing his glass, and immediately poured more of the red liquid into it until the bottle was halfway empty. He chugged the drink down, not pausing even as it burned his throat. It was only a little after noon. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand when he finished, and put his head on the table. Henry shook as what Hana could only guess were sobs took over.

            Hana stood there for a moment, feeling as though she had invaded into something very private. She pressed her lips together as she looked at Henry’s shaking figure as he gripped the wine bottle, not knowing what she should do to help, because after all, he didn’t know that he was even being watched. Hana eventually backed away from the door and out of the kitchen.

            She had no idea where she was going, she just wanted to leave Henry alone to mourn; she was never good at comforting people, and she didn’t know him well enough to do it anyways. As she walked, she considered her options.

            She didn’t want to go back upstairs, and she wasn’t fond of going into the basement alone either. She then remembered the library. When she and Shin were exploring the mansion a while back, they came across the large room and were blown away by its vastness and beauty. From what Hana could recall, it was located right next door to TOP.

            She made her way down the wide hallway until she reached the door she was looking for. Pushing down the cold handle, she walked into the open space. The walls were covered with shelves of books that reached from floor to ceiling. Hana combed through a section of novels until she found one that piqued her interest, falling back with it on one of the comfortable recliners. She began to finish her sandwich when there was a sudden squeak as the library door was pushed open.

            In walked in IU, humming to herself until she noticed Hana on the other side of the room. The two were silent for a moment, not sure of whether to acknowledge the other. Hana sat with a sandwich hanging out of as IU’s face mirrored what Hana could only guess was shock and…panic?

            “Oh, hey! Hana, right?” IU said as a smile lit up her face. She immediately went to cross her arms and legs as she stood next to the wall of books. Hana nodded and continued to chew. This was her first time being alone with IU, there were no boys there to fawn over her every move or praise her every word. Hana wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but her voice didn’t seem as high either, “I was just trying to get something to read and go back to my room, I didn’t know anyone else would be here. It’s just so gloomy out you know? I just want to stay in bed all day,” she said with a laugh as Hana just sat and ate without a response. There was something about IU that was different than how she usually was, and she had been trying to pinpoint the difference since she walked in. IU shuffled over to the bookshelf, seeming to pick a book at random and began to quickly back out of the library.

            That’s when she noticed it.

 Instead of long-sleeves or pants, IU wore a large tank top and shorts, fully exposing her arms and legs for the first time since she had arrived. As she retreated, Hana saw what looked like long, bright, red lines that covered her limbs. The harder she looked, the more seemed to appear; she then realized that they were scratches.

            “Hey,” Hana called from her seat before IU could make it to the door, “What happened to your arms and legs?”

            IU turned around to face her and looked down in surprise, as if she were just noticing them for the first time, “Oh these? I guess my cat wasn’t happy to see me after I came home from my tour,” she scoffed with a chuckle, “I went to pick him up and he just went wild. It’s no big deal though.”

            “Wow. Some cat,” Hana muttered. IU’s smile dropped slightly, “There’s going to be a service for Jongdae at six o’clock in the backyard. It was Sehun and Jongin’s idea, they came and told me, Shin, and Chanyeol about it this morning. You should come.”

“That’s a great idea, I definitely will,” IU said as she stood at the door. She paused, “Speaking of Shin, I’ve been wondering,” she said, making Hana confused as to why IU would ever be wondering about him, “How long have you two been dating? You guys are just so cute.”

            Hana almost spat out the water she had been drinking. She looked at her as if she had lost her mind, though she was obviously clueless about their relationship, “Since never. We’re cousins, and that would be kind of illegal in Korea I think.”

            IU gasped, “I had no idea! I mean I knew that you two were close but you don’t look alike enough to be siblings. Ugh, this is so embarrassing!”

            Hana laughed awkwardly, “Yeah.”

            IU pursed her lips and nodded, “Interesting. Well, see you at six!” she said, closing the door behind her and leaving Hana befuddled.

__________________________________

    At six o’clock exactly, the group of young adults began to file out into the backyard.

               Though it was still pouring, the first rainfall since the epidemic had taken over their lives, they all came together for the occasion; even Donghae had abandoned his room. Everyone had collected a stone each from beside the pool and carried them over to a small flower garden that they were standing in front of.

            They placed themselves side by side in a line, the rain coming down and making their clothes and hair stick to them, the cool air making them shiver. Kai, Chanyeol, and Sehun stepped forward and took their place in front of their friends.

            Kai cleared his throat, “Um, so I know this isn’t the best of conditions, but we just felt this was necessary to show our appreciation for Jongdae and the life he lived. You don’t have to come up and say anything if you don’t want to, but you can if you feel inclined to share with us,” he said, “So I guess I’ll go first….Jongdae was my brother. He was there for me in my darkest of times before and after we debuted. He would always let me vent to him if I was under pressure. He was the best listener. Yeah, we fought a lot, but I don’t know of any friends that don’t. I’m really going to miss his voice, whether it be when he was singing or yelling at me,” he tried to laugh, but it got stuck in his throat. His voice began to shake as he said his final words, his tears blending with the raindrops that covered his face, “I’m just really going to miss him,” he turned away from the group to wipe his eyes.

          It was then Sehun’s turn. He refused to meet the somber eyes of those in front of him as he kept his lips in a tight line, “Jongdae was one of the few people that didn’t treat me like a kid when he first met me. In EXO I’m the youngest, but he still confided in me like a normal member when he joined SM. Even though he treated me differently than the older guys, he still nagged a lot…and I hated it so much! But I realize now that he did it because he cared, and he wanted to see me be better,” Sehun stopped to hold his mouth, shaking as he tried to hold the tears back and Kai gripping his shoulder in support, “I just don’t know what I’m going to do without him here.”

        “I don’t want to make this too long, because I could spend all day talking about the impact Jongdae had on my life, but…we don’t have that much time. He was just such a fun and positive guy and I’m going to miss his energy and presence,” Chanyeol stopped and let out a dark chuckle, “The funny thing is, he wasn’t even supposed to be here with us. He was supposed to be in China doing promotions like the rest of EXO-M, but because of a scheduling conflict, he had to practice with the other singers at the SM building to prepare for the concert. I just can’t help but wonder if anything would have turned out differently if he was in another country…if he would still be here. Either way, things are definitely going to be different without him,” Chanyeol sighed.

      The three of them walked over to the flower garden, arms draped on each other’s shoulders in a moving embrace. They placed their stones in front of the flowers and walked back in the line as Amber took their place in front.

        “I’ve had a ton of friends in my life, but none of them have ever been like Jongdae. He was special,” she began, “It’s just something about his positive energy, and how ready he was to help others that made him different. Ironically, that’s also why he isn’t here to see today,” Amber looked up at the grey sky, covering her face with more rain as she tried to swallow back her emotions, “, I told myself that I wouldn’t cry anymore,” she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I remember when he joined SM a few years back. At first he just seemed like this skinny guy that could only sing and crack jokes, but he proved to be one of my closest friends and colleagues in the end. And that end came so fast, he was there next to me one second and then the next…” Amber gripped the stone in her hand so tight that her knuckles went white, “I’m just going to miss him so much, you guys,” she wiped her snot with the sleeve of her hoodie. She walked over in front of the flower garden and crouched down, bowing her head for a minute. She placed the stone gently next to the other three and walked back to the group, greeted with an embrace from Kai as Henry walked forward.

     He already looked like he was on the brink of tears as he stood in front of the group, and his voice was shaky as he spoke, “Its way worse out there than I thought. Not only do we have to worry about the dead but we have to worry about the living killing the living. It’s just unimaginable how cruel someone can be, to take away someone so special to all of us and do it so effortlessly. I’m just so sorry that Jongdae had to leave us this way. But I can’t help but think that he’s in a better place than us right now, because his suffering is over. I lost a friend, roommate, and co-worker yesterday, and I don’t know how I’ll ever get over that. Rest in peace, Jongdae,” Henry broke down as he carried his stone over, sitting on the ground and causing Chanyeol to walk up and comfort him as the rain poured relentlessly. He carried Henry’s weight as he sobbed, coming to terms with their harsh reality.

             After a moment of staring at the stones before them, and listening as the sniffles and patter of raindrops filled their ears, Chanyeol spoke up, “Does anyone else have anything they would like to share?” when there was no response, Chanyeol continued, “Okay, well-“

          “I do.”

      The group turned to see Shin, breaking away from his spot next to Hana and making his way to the front. He wore a hooded sweatshirt, one hand shoved in the pocket, the other gripping the stone. Though he wasn’t crying like some of the rest, his face still mirrored a remorseful pain, “It was my poor decision making that got your friend killed,” he looked everyone standing before him in the eye, watching as their faces mirrored everything from shock to agreement at his words. Hana shook her head slowly at him, though he continued, “If you disagree with this, you’re being way too kind. A kindness I don’t deserve at all. It was Jongdae who extended his hand to me last night to help me up from the ground and get me to safety…to get away from a predicament that I put us all in. I wasn’t close to him or anything, but he was a super cool person, and I’m so sorry that he’s no longer here. I hope you will accept my apology for my mistakes. I’m sorry,” Shin gave the group a ninety degree bow, and turned to place his stone next to the rest.

        Once Shin had made it back to his place, there was a prolonged silence that took over as everyone tried to come up with a reaction. Donghae had a torrent of tears fall from his eyes while Eunhyuk fidgeted and muttered something about Shin “finally doing something right”.

        Those who chose not to speak went numbly to the front and put their stones amongst the others to silently pay their respects. The rain had subsided to a drizzle, but by this point the service was over. The group went back inside the house, deciding to embrace one another instead of speaking.

       As usual, they dispersed and went about their business. Eunhyuk and Donghae went back to their bedroom, as did TOP. Henry, Kai, Sehun, Chanyeol, Amber, Shin, and Hana, filed into the den. It was a small room located next to the living room, with a long sofa encircling a wide stone fireplace. They took a seat, sinking in the cushions as mental and emotional exhaustion claimed them.

     “What are you all going to do the rest of the night?” Henry asked in a raspy voice.

      “Besides reflect on how much we hate life?” asked Kai.

       “Yeah, I just want to get my mind off of…things.”

     “Same,” Chanyeol said with a sigh, “I was thinking of watching a movie in the theater, you can come too if you want.”

     “I may take you up on that offer,” Amber said.

      “Me too,” Shin said. He then caught himself, “If that’s okay.”

    Chanyeol scoffed, “I told you earlier, Shin. I’m not mad at you. You don’t even have to ask permission for something so trivial. We’re still friends.”

      Hana really wasn't in the mood for watching a movie with a bunch of people, but if Shin wanted to she might as well take the opportunity to avoid being "anti-social" as he liked to call her. 

    Shin nodded, taking in Chanyeol’s words as a sudden voice spoke from the entrance.

    “Hi.”

    Everyone turned towards the door to see IU walking timidly into the den, taking in the space. Her sweatshirt and loose fitting pants were spotted with raindrops, and her hair clung to her face, though she somehow still appeared to be glowing.

    The room erupted in greeting, going from somber to excited in a matter of seconds, all except for Amber who just rolled her eyes. Hana still didn’t   understand the reason behind her animosity, even with the explanation she was given a few days earlier. In Hana’s eyes IU seemed like a nice person (she didn’t give her any trouble, though maybe too nice at times), as did Amber, so she knew there had to be a legitimate reason for her attitude.

      “How’s everyone doing?” IU took a seat on the packed sofa, squeezing in the space between Shin and Amber, almost knocking the tomboy over in the process.

 Amber scoffed loudly, “Wow, excuse me.”

IU looked over at Amber and gave a sweet smile, “You’re excused.”

      Amber began to stutter on her words, looking around at the group to see if anyone else had heard, though no one did. Even Hana seemed unaware of their brief interaction.

“We’re as okay as we can be considering the circumstances,” Henry said, “We were just talking about watching a movie together.”

Amber knew what Chanyeol was going to say before it even left his mouth. She shot him a warning glare and shook her head adamantly.

“You’re more than welcome to join us if you want, Jieun,” invited Chanyeol, oblivious to Amber’s signals.

She sent Chanyeol a look of disbelief, causing him to give her a look of confusion and a shrug.

“That’s exactly what I need right about now. It’ll be great to get rid of the sadness and negativity for a few hours. Sure, I’ll definitely join you.”

Amber rolled her eyes and cursed Chanyeol’s oblivion.

“What are we watching?” IU asked.

“Ugh, anything but romance,” Kai said, making gagging noises.

“Why don’t we do sci-fi?” Amber suggested, getting a roar of agreement from the boys.

“I kind of like romance actually …” IU began, “sci-fi can be kind of scary and gross. That’s the last thing we need to be thinking about right now. It’s too close to what we’re actually living,” she muttered.

The others mumbled in agreeance, immediately changing their minds.

“Yeah, I mean romance isn’t that bad, I can handle it for tonight,” Kai said, quickly recanting his previous statement.

Amber tilted her head to the side and looked over at Kai, “But didn’t you just say you hated it, Jongin?”

“I mean, yeah, but...”

“They all agreed on it already. It’s not a big deal though, right? I mean, it’s just a movie,” IU asked.

          Amber looked her right in her bright eyes, resisting the urge to take a fistful of her hair and drag her across the marble floors of the house, “Yeah. Sure. No problem.”

IU turned away with a satisfied grin, “Ah, I’m so excited. I haven’t been upstairs yet and I really want to get a look around. Would anyone mind giving me a tour of the floor sometime?”

Due to the boys’ enthusiasm, they all volunteered to show the new singer around, jumping up from the sofa and leading her to the staircase. Amber and Hana followed behind.

            “Wow,” IU mused after climbing the stairs, making it to the second story for the first time. She touched the art hanging from the walls and mused over how soft the carpet was. The boys whisked her off to show the rest of the floor, leaving Amber and Hana alone once again.

            Amber took a deep breath and looked over at Hana, “Why aren’t you going with them?”

            “I want to take a shower before we start the movie,” she replied, “Why aren’t you giving her a tour?”

            Amber gave Hana a look that screamed ‘Are you seriously asking me that?’

“Unlike those idiots, I have better things to do than give the princess a tour of the castle, sorry. Like, c’mon, why do five people need to show one person around anyways?” Amber muttered.

            Hana shrugged and went off towards her room, grabbing her things and heading to the bathroom. After removing her damp and grimy clothes, she was grateful to feel the sensation of warm water that fell over her. It was as if all of the issues in the world they inhabited disappeared for those few minutes. As if she would open her eyes and find herself back at her old home, where the stresses of that life seemed drastically miniscule.

            But she was not at her old home. She was living in her current world, where the stresses of life included death at every waking corner. She was reminded of this when she noticed the water at her feet turn red. She looked around in alarm, only to remember that her injured shoulder was still bandaged and being soaked under the running water, causing the blood from her cut to run down her arm. She turned off the showerhead, and carefully dried herself, cursing her forgetfulness.

            The bandage was mushy and almost had the texture of a damp paper towel.

            “,” she said, getting dressed and pressing her towel to the damaged bandage. She exited the bathroom, knowing exactly where she had to go to get it fixed. Hana passed by the theater and saw Amber combing through the romance section with a grimace. She slid past the door unnoticed, hoping to make it back shortly after the group came back from the tour in order to avoid the questions.

            After the trek down the staircase and down the long hallway, she finally landed three solid knocks on the bedroom door. A tall man with equally wet hair and new smelling clothes answered the door with a look of surprise.

            “Is everything okay?” TOP asked, thick eyebrows scrunched and his voice deep. He knew Hana wasn’t one to make casual trips to his room without a purpose, and never at her own accord.

            Hana removed the towel from her shoulder, exposing her wet and bloody bandage, “Yeah, I just took a shower and I forgot I had this on.”

            TOP snorted and moved aside to give her space to enter, “Come on in.” 

            They walked to the bathroom, striking Hana with a sense of déjà vu as TOP began to collect the materials and clean her wound, “That was some speech Shin gave earlier, huh?”

            Hana sighed, “I tried to talk to him this morning before the service. I told him it wasn’t his fault but he wouldn’t listen.”

            “It may actually be better now that he said it,” he unraveled the old bandage from her shoulder, “He got it off of his chest, which is a lot healthier than keeping it bottled up and internalizing the blame.”

            Hana was quiet as she took in his words, watching as his nimble fingers quickly wrapped a new one, “I guess you’re right.”

            TOP admired his work after he was done, moving to different angles to see if he applied it properly, “You’re lucky the knife didn’t cut too deep or else there would be some major muscle and tissue damage. The worst you’ll get is scarring, but it’ll be pretty much healed in a couple weeks.”

            The word scarring made Hana recall what she had witnessed a few hours earlier in the library. For some reason, the image of long red lines on pale limbs wouldn’t leave her mind.

            “Speaking of scars, have you seen Jieun’s scratches?”

            TOP began to put the materials back in the drawers, “Scratches? No I never noticed anything like that before.”

            “They’re super long and deep and cover her arms and legs. I never noticed it before either because she always wears things that covers them, but this morning she didn’t, and there they were. I don’t know, it was just really surprising.”

            “Did she say where they came from?”

            “She said her cat scratched her when she tried to pick it up.”

            TOP was in the middle of putting a roll of bandages in the cabinet when he paused, “Her cat?” he asked with an incredulous expression.

            “Yeah that’s what she told me.”

            “Jieun doesn’t have a cat.”

            “What?”

            “She’s been deathly allergic to them ever since I can remember. I was even at her house for party a few weeks ago and there definitely wasn’t a cat there. Unless she somehow got over her allergies, there’s no way she owns a cat. You may have heard her wrong.”

            Hana thought back to the conversation, raking her brain with every word spoken between them, “Maybe…” she said.

            TOP squinted, thinking of something and then pushing it to the back of his brain. After putting away the last of the supplies, the two of them walked back to the door.

            “Anything going on upstairs tonight? I saw everyone walk up there a while ago like you all had something planned.”

            “There’s an impromptu romance movie night happening right now. You want to join us? I doubt that they’ve even gotten past the opening credits yet,” Hana asked in a joking tone.

            TOP laughed, “No I’ll pass. I just came from a shower and I was going to call it a night before you came by.”

            “Well sorry to mess with your beauty sleep, I kind of had a medical emergency,” she muttered.

            “Is this going to be an everyday thing?” he asked.

            “What?”

            “You coming to my room, messing with my sleep schedule so I can be your nurse for ten minutes.”

            “Maybe, if I keep forgetting like I just did. Why, do I need to make an appointment?”

            TOP shrugged, “No, but I’ll just end up thinking something is wrong if you knock on my door in the middle of the night with a bloody towel, so a warning may be nice. Just don’t keep “forgetting” to give yourself an excuse to see me, though.”

            “As if. Don't flatter yourself," Hana scoffed, "Anyways, I'm going to leave now before your ego blows up more than it already has. Later, Nurse Choi.”

             TOP laughed, “Later, Miss…?”

            “Rhee. My last name is Rhee.”

            TOP nodded, “Goodnight, Ms. Rhee.”

He closed the door as Hana walked back towards the staircase. In the dark, quiet floor, his earlier words rung in her head like an alarm. Taunting, as if they needed her attention immediately, “Jieun doesn’t have a cat.”

Did I really hear her wrong?    

            Nothing was making sense.

            When Hana made it to the second floor she opened the theater room door. As she had predicted, they were just beginning the opening credits. The group was seated on the floor, laughing at the cheap budget of the movie while eating snacks. Amongst the group was IU, seated on a beanbag beside Shin. He pointed out something in the movie, causing IU to burst into laughter and hit his arm, making him grin nervously.

            Hana took the seat on the other side of him, laying on her stomach, and cheek in palm as the movie played. She tried to focus on the story, but Shin’s commentary and IU’s laughter found a way to interrupt her concentration.

            Hana looked over at IU again, taking in her smiling face as she clutched onto her thick sweatshirt.

            “What happened to your arms and legs?”

            “Oh these? I guess my cat wasn’t happy to see me after I came back from my tour.”

            “Wow. Some cat.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

School has been kicking my yall omfg. I have a ton of college app stuff to do, but it's my last year so I'm trying to hang in there (random, but I already got accepted into one of my top choices so I'm super hype, and it's a huge weight off of my shoulders so yay). Despite all of this, I somehow managed to write this (sorry if it's crap, I need to get back into the swing of writing again). 

Also, it's Halloween time so I just felt like it was appropriate to update now haha

Anyways, thanks for reading, you guys re the best!