It seemed like only a minute ago that Shinhye had all the time in the world for dawdling and messing around, but lunch time seemed to approach faster when she was anticipating something, contrary to regular belief. Not even for a second had she forgotten about the letter that she had tucked carelessly in her bag. A rush of adrenaline ran throughout her body the moment the big hand on her watch hit 12 and she made her way to the back exit. Hyomin probably wouldn’t wait for her today anyway, since she had a make-up assignment to do; or something like that. Lately Shinhye found it hard to focus on other things people said to her when it didn’t concern her immediate interests. Paradoxically she was become for selfish for thinking selflessly.

            “Ah chuwo,” Shinhye shivered, her hands immediately rubbing her opposite arm that was exposed to the cold winter air. The snow around her was fresh and the sky was still gloomy, threatening to precipitate some more later on in the day. She had been so excited that she had forgotten her jacket in her locker located opposite of the back entrance. Curiously, she scanned her surroundings, her vision obstructed by her frosty breath. There was no one around, and no footprints in the snow to indicate that anyone had been here recently either. Still she wanted to put trust into that authentic letter, so she decided to wait a while longer, playing sheepishly in the snow by making odd shapes with her footprints. She tried to draw a heart with the heel of her boots but no matter how much she adjusted the sides, it still looked lopsided. A sudden shadow approaching her from behind caught her attention, but she was hesitant to turn around. The silhouette grew bigger and more defined—almost bearlike, with a pointy object sticking out from the side. It took a while to realize that whoever was behind her had a knife, but when she finally reacted, he already had the upper hand.

            “Let go!” Shinhye squealed, shooting the stranger an unsure but hateful glare as she tried to pull her left arm away from his tightening grip. He had a grizzly beard and the physique of an animal. Her measly strength seemed futile against his, but she wasn’t losing hope yet. Instinctively, she lowered her head to bite his arm with her teeth, her mind racing with thoughts of ripping his flesh open to break free. In the heat of the mess, he had forgotten about the knife and looking down at his silhouette she could see his armed hand swinging towards her stomach just before he let go of her and with his now free hand, knocked her hard in the head. She pulled away just quick enough for the knife to miss any vital organs, but it managed to slash the side of her weakened left arm, leaving it dripping red, hot blood onto the fresh sheets of snow below. She never lowered her guard, but it seemed the attacker was ready to retreat. He stumbled backwards, eyeing her again one last time before making a run for it down an anonymous alleyway. When he was completely out of sight, her legs gave into exhaustion and she fell onto the snow as her vision began to blur. The fluffiness was a wonderful cushion for her aching head. The cold was starting to take over her body, but catching hypothermia was not as painful a thought as the sight of her own blood spilling out of her arm. Her right hand pressed strongly against the knife wound, thought she knew it wouldn’t be enough to stop the flow. More layers of white fluff were falling down from the sky now, and she couldn’t find the energy to get up. From a distance she could hear a faint voice calling out her name,

            “Shinhye! Shinhye! Park Shinhye!” She could confirm that it was a young boy, but she couldn’t recognize his worried and frantic voice. She could no longer keep her eyes open and by the time he was one metre away, she had fainted.

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

            Shinhye was absent the next class, and Yonghwa grew suspicious of her missing presence. He knew she was here today—he’d seen her running down the hallways a few times with her loaded backpack and arm full of textbooks. Surely a nerd like her wouldn’t purposely skip class. As more time passed he found it completely impossible to focus on the lesson. Shoving his books back in his backpack and without consideration to his professor, he got up and walked out the door. People stared and wondered but no one, not even the professor, ever dared to really question Yonghwa’s motives for the things he did. He was one of those privileged students that people were too intimidated by to interrogate.

            “Yah, what the hell?” Hyomin whispered in a low voice, her eyebrows furrowing together in frustration as her eyes darted from her professor and back to the crack in the door. Yonghwa stood outside, motioning for her to leave class.

            “Michyeoseo?!” She asked, trying to look like she was paying attention while shooing Yonghwa away. Students were starting to stare at her, and then following the gaze to the door. She didn’t like the attention she was drawing and gave up, putting her hands up.

            “Gyosunim, I’ll be right back.” She pardoned herself, leaving her paper and pens on the desk and then exited. Outside the classroom, Hyomin seemed furious with Yonghwa for embarrassing her, but also curious as to why he would go to such troubles. It was so out of his personality, but then again, the things he did had no sequence or very much logic in her eyes.

            “What’s so important?” She asked with a rude tone, folding her arms. She acted like she wanted to head back to class more than she really did.

            “Did Shinhye get sick and leave school today or something?” Yonghwa asked without hesitation. Hyomin sensed no urgency in his tone, only the suave and calm atmosphere he brought everywhere he went, but his question only meant he was worried.

            “No, she’s fine… but she did text me something about a letter she found in her locker.” Hyomin decided to try and give useful answers since Yonghwa never talked to her unless he needed crucial information for reasons beyond just curiosity.

            “A letter?” He repeated, hoping she would elaborate. He was curious to know who would use such tacky methods to communicate with someone in this day and age, but it was probably the source of her absence.

            “Yes, it was from someone anonymous. The only mark for identification was a rose symbol stamped with red ink…” Hyomin described, remembering Shinhye’s exact descriptions.

            “A rose symbol?” He repeated again, placing more pieces of the puzzle together, “Do you know what the letter said?” She shrugged a little and then replied,

            “Something about a meeting at the back campus during lunch…” Upon hearing this, Yonghwa pulled out his phone to check the time. It was less than one hour passed the end of lunch time, and though it was unlikely he’d still find her if he went, it was worth a shot.

            “Gomawo,” He thanked quickly before dashing down the hallway to find the exit. No one really ever used the back exits or hung out at that side of campus, so it seemed fishy someone would want to meet her there. How could she be so stupid to agree? Just this morning the announcements warned of suspicious activity outside the school, and she, being the scaredy-cat she was still had the guts to leave the building alone. Yonghwa concluded he would never understand women. When he got to the exit, he shamefully pushed it open and ran outside, stopping to look for fresh footprints or any signs of activity in the past hour. New sheets of snow covered all traces of footprints, and he couldn’t see anyone as far as the field extended. Amidst his visual scan, his eyes locked on something noticeably red stained in the snow not too far from him and he jogged to get a better look.

           “Oh my god…” He gasped in a deep voice, stepping backwards when he realized what the blurs of red were. Rose petals weighed down by light snowflakes seemed to have been sprinkled over profound drops of fresh blood. It was clearly fresh, and the footprints surrounding the scene could still be traced. Something bad had happened not too long ago, and he could only pray right now that Shinhye was okay.

A/N: Yay, didn't have to wait long for this update, did you?^^! The story is finally getting exciting again! Welcome Yonghwa back into the plot (:! Now some secrets should start to uncover from here on. Please drop some comments below~

Chuwo - Cold

Michyeoseo - Are you Crazy?

Gomawo - Thanks