Monday, after classes, I saw Namjoon in the parking lot with a few of his friends. Face purple like a swelling blueberry, no less. I left before I ran into anyone else, even though I had already run into anyone important beforehand. Namjoon just happened to be last and I was done for the day.

I’d seen Sehun going into the canteen during lunch, but I was far away and continued to my spot in the locker room. He might’ve seen me but if he had, he made no point to speak to me. It didn’t matter, however, because the moment I rounded the corner and Kim Taehyung almost butted heads with me, resulting in me leaping back in surprise, I was full distracted. Amongst other things, Taehyung was still an unresolved issue. And when his eyes widened in surprise, I almost stepped around him and hurried away to avoid what I knew had to come.

“Eunhui! Hey!” One would’ve assumed we hadn’t seen each other in years.

I went still, my mind yelling he was in on it, don’t let him fool you! but I was entirely unsure of what to do in that moment.

Noticing my hesitance, he stepped towards me only to freeze when I only stepped further away. He eyed me with concern.

“Are you okay?” he asked, eyebrows wrinkling.

You should know, I thought. Again, I was lost for a reply or even a word to say to him. I had so many questions to ask and no way to phrase them. On top of that, the unsettling crawl of my skin was more demanding the situation and nothing sounded better than running for the locker room, away from people, and sitting down in a quiet place away from people. In the same moment, I didn’t want to be alone—I wanted to be near someone I trusted—because that was how I had been taken down so easily and tricked. I had been entirely alone with no one to notice me being dragged under the bleachers by a creep, no one to help.

When I realized how easily those kinds of thoughts had slipped back into my mind, I clenched my fists. Ever since it happened, I had been trying to keep the memories from replaying in my head to avoid freaking myself out, in which I would do something irrational like telling my parents or running into a police station. Or even breaking down in the school hallway.

“I’m fine,” I replied, voice tight and tone unopen to a friendly conversation. Taehyung seemed to look over that.

“Well . . . I didn’t see you at the game the other night.” He paused and I had a feeling he noticed my grimace. “I even heard Tao talking about you coming; he was pretty disappointed when you didn’t show up. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, not sick or anything, you know.”

A frown swept over my face without me putting much thought to it. The look of pure ignorance to what had happened was evident on his face and that was enough to make me rethink my quick accusations.

Just because his name was on the note and he knew my locker combination didn’t mean he had been involved in the plot. Same way he had been blackmailed that time by Sehun. They were using him to get to me, whether he knew or liked it or not.

But I had to be sure.

“Did you put a note,” I cleared my throat, “in my locker Friday?”

He looked pleasantly surprised that I was speaking to him finally but then paused for a moment, seeming to think hard, and then shook his head innocently.

“No. Why?”

I felt like someone had clocked me right between the eyes—very unpleasant. But there was a large amount of relief now taking a part of the load on my shoulders. Taehyung was not an enemy and I still had a chance of fixing things with him.

“Nothing,” I quickly lied, already making my way around him. “I’ll see you around.”

I left him there, looking confused, and started in the direction of the locker room. At the last second, I kept walking, not enjoying the idea of locking myself in a space where I could so easily be cornered without anyone I trusted near or with me. Instead, I thought walking around would be a lot more soothing than sitting alone.

I replayed my conversation with Taehyung, searching for a weak spot in his act but there didn’t seem to be one. And then a terrible thought struck me.

Kim Jongin knows my locker combination.

That much had been obvious from what I had found in my locker that morning. Unless Oh Sehun had broken in or had found other ways to get my locker combination. Besides the obvious, though, I had no reason to distrust Jongin and as of late, he didn’t seem very harmful. Plus, the fact that he was the owner of the car Sehun drove me in and the one to offer me blankets at Luhan’s house. Kim Jongin was entirely harmless.

And, really, who was to say that Namjoon didn’t conduct the plan