Since he found the rose in his mailbox, Yonghwa had been trying so hard not to be phased by it. People these days were all about empty threats, and taking a life can never be easy. Still, after realizing that someone was in fact targeting him, he couldn’t help but be alarmed. It became a slight paranoia, and it made him even jitterier at school. He had a feeling the rose was placed there by Minhyuk, and he knew that they didn’t get along one bit, but would someone like him have the guts to take away another’s life? He sat by his windowsill during his lunch break, leaning against the brick wall as he stared outside the window. Their neighborhood looked desolate, and it had begun snowing outside again. From the distance, he noticed students running from building to building lugging heavy bags and textbooks, but fortunately he had no tutorials so he could try to enjoy lunch. Yonghwa felt a gentle nudge on his right foot and jumped, completely startled until he realized it was just Shinhye joining him by the windowsill.

            “You look like you just saw a ghost.” Shinhye stared back at him confused, and then felt her cheeks. They were cold because she had just been outside, but she didn’t think she was pale enough to be mistaken for a ghost. After his slight startle, he went back to staring aimlessly out the window. His expression seemed so dead lately, as if the warmth that was just being brought to the surface had all disappeared. All the progress they made so recently was gone with the wind, or buried under the accumulating sheets of snow.

            “What’s up with you lately? You seem…” Shinhye paused and watch his unchanging expression, “more distant than usual.” She took a deep breath after and waited for a response. He didn’t know what to say, but he acknowledged that he’d been avoiding her. He just wasn’t sure of what to do anymore. Yonghwa straightened up his back against the wall and allowed one leg to hang off the ledge of the oversized windowsill. After he adjusted his sitting position, he looked Shinhye dead in the eyes. She didn’t dare look away.

            “Whether I’m around or not, just promise to be happy.” He made an unusual request that lead Shinhye to even more questions. Why did it sound like he was planning on going somewhere? It looked like he was about to get up and leave, but she stopped him with another question.

            “What do you mean?” She wanted to help, and in order to do that she needed straight answers, but it didn’t seem like Yonghwa was open to let anyone get into his business.

            “Nevermind,” He muttered, immediately taking his leave. This was their first conversation in a while and it has gotten nowhere. Shinhye wasn’t going to let go so easily.

            “Yonghwa wait,” She called his name a little louder than how they had been talking, and it caught his attention but he didn’t turn around. She paused, waiting to see if he would just walk off again, but he was waiting patiently for her to state her point.

            “I know a lot is going on in your mind lately, that you’re finding out things that are changing your life and that it’s scary, and even though I don’t know why you’re trying to play it cool when it shows that you’re not, just know that I’ll always be on your side…” He slowly turned around, and caught a glance of Minhyuk leaning against a pillar watching them. He looked like a rotten weasel that Yonghwa just wanted to pop, but regardless of this, he heard every word Shinhye said. When they were both facing each other, Shinhye repeated again with a softer voice,

            “I’ll always be on your side… as a friend.” She smiled at him, trying to seem as comforting as she could, but the look in his eyes never changed. They were still jet black, like he was being possessed, and she had no way of telling how he felt. His shoulders moved slightly and she realized that he had let out a small sigh. As a friend. That was how she saw him, and by now he thought he had gotten used to it, but hearing it upfront stung like a needle to his already weak and wounded heart.

            “Thanks.” He said no louder than a whisper and then turned away to leave. She followed his stare to the side of the lobby where Minhyuk stood, having watched them the entire time without her noticing. He had on a mischievous smirk with cocky eyes that read undeserved victory, and his sole presence made her stomach feel uneasy. His arms were crossed, his posture slightly slouched, but after Yonghwa was completely out of the scene he straightened up and started walking towards Shinhye. She was in no mood to converse with him and sort through his manipulative lies. Before he got too close, she pulled the strap of her bag securely over her shoulder and walked confidently down the hall to her locker, pretending to have never seen Minhyuk.

@}--,--'----

            Back at home, she seemed to have been lost in a trance even more depressing than how she felt in the morning. Her conversation with Yonghwa did nothing to ease her emotional conflict, but the fresh air was helping to calm her nerves. She decided to sit outside on the porch and just think. The snow stopped falling on the way back and the wind decreased to just a gentle breeze, quite effective in helping her articulate her thoughts. The wooden bench felt cold even through her warm sweats, but she didn’t want to go inside just yet. The sky looked lighter after the gentle snow fall, the dark heavy clouds that hung over her the entire morning had lost their threatening faces and subsided. She could even see the sun faintly past the thin layers of condensed water vapour.

          “I wish I could protect him from all these mysteries, but who am I to think I can even hope to do this much?” Shinhye sighed to herself, watching different shades of grey swirl around each other in the sky. In a few hours, the sun will have set and she would have to succumb to the darkness again. It felt like whenever she saw Yonghwa, she would see a young boy who she felt was in need of protection—an innocent boy who didn’t deserve any cruelty from this world. One thing Shinhye couldn’t handle well was injustice, but her position in the middle of this mess seemed insignificant. Even if she wanted to do something, there was virtually nothing she could do. Just thinking about it more depressed her further. Shinhye finally shifted her eyes downwards, her neck feeling stiff from looking up for so long and she jumped, seeing a silhouette moving behind the tree across her lawn. The sky was already starting to turn into a deep, navy blue. Her eyes closed for a brief second as she let out a shocked squeal, and when her eyes opened again, a confused face was staring back at her just a few feet away with her porch as the only barrier between them.

A/N: Personally I think this chapter was written quite poorly -sigh- Sorry ): This fanfic is really nearing its end now. I'll update again soon. -goes off to write the next chapter-