Sehun tapped his chin. Ever since the destruction of his property he was starting to become suspicious. It had started to bubble when Hana’s essay was taken, and now, with the shredding of his own, it was boiling.

Something was amiss!

The only thing that stopped his investigation were questions, in his head, that were not giving answers to backup his growing doubt.

Could it be, it was being hidden?

Perhaps… But why?

And that was where his brain cycles chain came off, and a headache began. He hypothesized over and over, but the only fact he could draw was that he needed to restart the essay. He needed to justify the nagging thought, and this was the only way.

Of course, he was somewhat aware of the implications that a possible conspiracy carried. He might be being watched, for example. The essay might vanish again.

But what was the worst that could happen, he might fail the project?

What was a meager project compared to subterfuge?

Nothing. And hacking a ploy seemed far more interesting when compared to an A-grade!

“-‘No matter how much I tried I could never quite get there. I was doomed to fail. However, I wouldn’t understand the significance of what was happening around me, until much later. When it had already happened, and it was already too late.’ What do you think?” Jong In asked with a smirk.

He pointed towards his essay as if it were a masterpiece.

“I think you should forget about becoming a doctor. You’re much more suited towards the life of a psychopath.” Joon Myun concluded.

Sehun nodded absentmindedly. He was still warped about his situation.

“How’s yours going?” Joon Myun turned to Sehun.

Jong In’s ears perked up at this news. He was also wondering the same thing.

Sehun shrugged off the attention.

“Maybe someone doesn’t want you to write it?” Jong In pointed.

This news was something Sehun was becoming acquainted with, but…

“Why would you think that?” He questioned his friend, surprised that Jong In might have stumbled onto something. Maybe, he should just tell them everything.

Joon Myun had a knack for all things mysterious, and Jong In was perfect for stealing information from the unsuspecting. They could be of some use if he asked for their help.

“You’re digging up something no one wants found,” Jong In stated plainly. He glanced from Sehun to Joon Myun, and back again. Then he grinned.

“What? You didn’t think I’d figure it out?”

They stared at him, as if he were an alien from outer space who’d just informed them that he wanted to buy a pogo stick, dumbstruck.

Jong In sighed heavily. These two were seriously disregarding his intelligence. Just because he skipped school often enough to be a ‘singled-celled delinquent’ didn’t actually make him one.

“Oh come on!” He groaned slamming his hand against the table. Did they really think he was stupid because he copied their homework? He was much sneakier than they could imagine!

“It’s obvious!” He defended, but they continued to stare at him blankly as if he were a boring television program.

It was time to change tactic.

“You’ve used the school as your setting.” Jong In informed Sehun, crossing his arms. “Then you go on to talk about a murder. Not much later, your essay pulls a Houdini. Is it really all a coincidence?”

Joon Myun’s pupils shook, and his eyes grew large. His lunch didn’t seem all that interesting anymore. “You’re claiming someone was murdered, in this school?”

Jong In arched his brows and watched Sehun digest this. The boy always needed proof for things, which was why he was incompetent at the dire of times. And this was the reason why Sehun could never become a successful detective.

 Life wasn’t all about proofs, and theorems!

But that didn’t mean he was going to shed light onto darkness. At least, according to his essay, not yet! Sehun had landed himself in the middle of an intriguing mystery. One he wouldn’t survive with his wooden thinking.

What kind of friend would Jong In be, if he let his friend slip from a cliff, and drown in a river?

Joon Myun was drawing his own conclusions. Perhaps befriending both Sehun, and Jong In had made him neurotic too? He envisioned what was to come, relishing each part of it. Oh Sehun would fail this project. Conspiracy or not, Joon Myun wanted to see him fail at something.

Suddenly, Jong In clutched his stomach and laughed. He waved his hand. “You should have seen your faces! Priceless!”

Sehun didn’t find it particularly humorous. It may have been because Jong In didn’t know how true his words were, that or, Sehun was beginning to dislike his friends way of teasing. With each passing day, Sehun thought Jong In resembled the ‘Toy Man’ from ‘Superman.’ The notion was disturbing. He decided not to think about it.

Regardless of Jong In’s peculiar taste in comedy, he was not involved in the murder, Sehun deduced.

That didn’t rule the fact that someone was, and from here, he decided he would play private-eye, to find out what was buried within the school walls.

-

Seryung had been extremely flustered when her admirer had asked to meet her. She had, had butterflies in her stomach and had practiced her smile in front of the mirror until she felt overly zealous, yet here she was doing things she’d never done before.

She pointed to her image in the mirror, and asked herself what she would do if her admirer wasn’t who she expected.

Would she turn him down after all his efforts?

Would she learn to like him?

Who was he?

What did he look like?

Why was he admiring her from afar instead of approaching her?

Seryung panicked about the meeting more than she liked. She would see him on the roof! She’d never been to the roof herself because the glass-room students believed the roof to be their territory.

 “I’ll be waiting for you. I want to show you the view from here. Will you come? – from your Secret Admirer.”

-

Tao grit his teeth. More notes. They were driving him mental! His footsteps thundered down the corridor, and when he saw her all rational was replaced by fury.

She paused in front of him, peering at him curiously. Her eyes questioned him, and then she smiled.

“You’re here? I thought we were meeting-” She bit her lip as if she’d said too much, and looked to the ground for help.

It was quite unlike her to be nervous. Even her cheeks tinted. However, her thoughts were not the mirror image of his.

He grabbed her wrist, catching her off guard, and dragged her to a nearby classroom where he almost threw her opposite him.

She gasped, and gained her footing, shaken by the shove. She dared to frown at him disapprovingly, but he was not in the mood to entertain.

“It’s you isn’t it?” He snarled, his eyes narrowing into two dangerous slits. She backed away as he approached until she reached a barricade, the wall.

Seryung didn’t say anything, but pressed her lips together confused.

Wasn’t he the one sending flowers?

If so, what was the reason for his threatening behavior?

Was he bipolar?

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a waddle of letters, waving them in her face, he interrogated her again, “Admit it!”

She blinked at him, not understanding what blame she was being expected to take.

“What is it?” She asked. Her voice sounded hoarse and broken, as if she’d run a marathon while being forced to sing.

Tao tossed them at her, making her flinch. She whimpered as he threw his fist against the wall near her head. He then proceeded to glare at her incriminatingly.

“You’re the one threatening me!” He bellowed.

Seryung’s eyes fell upon the notes crumpled on the ground. Were they the cause of her inquisition? If so, she had a bone to pick with them.

No longer in the mood for anything, she him away from her giving a stern no-nonsense stare. She picked up the nearest paper and straightened it out. She stared at it bemused.

“Is this Chinese?”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m asking, if you’re the one calling me a ‘beggar boy?!’”

She pointed to herself incredulously, and spluttered, “Why do you think it’s me?”

“Because this is something you would do!”

“Do you really think so?”

“Well it wouldn’t be Hana or Sehun, that leaves you!”

Seryung read the exasperation embedded in his features. Was that all she amounted to in his eyes? A bully?

“Would you believe me, if I said it wasn’t me?”

It wasn’t a question. It was a test, for the both of them.

“It was you.”

She bit her lip, they failed it. He didn’t trust her. Her eyes swam with taunting tears, making her smile sarcastically.

How could she love someone like that?

“Fine, it was me.”

He’d probably been waiting to hear those words, because he left furiously as soon as she’d uttered them.

She sank to the ground to pick up bits of herself. He’d left just like that! He hadn’t even spared a second glance. He doubted her! He didn’t dare to question if it was really her. He’d ruled her out that easily.

This was all that she meant to him.

She smiled sardonically to herself when her eyes began to leak. What kind of person did she love? Someone who thought nothing of her. He would probably pay more attention to trash than her.

Slowly, she collected the letters he’d thrown at her, and pocketed them. They were a cold reminder of how she’d failed at love. A whiplash of reality, and an atonement for her heart that had dared, to ignore her mind.

Her heart clenched, making her eyes bleed with salty tears. She was a mess! But she didn’t hate him. Even now she didn’t despise him. Instead, she hated herself, as if it were her fault that he’d misjudged her!

Why did she feel like this?

It was tragic.

She was pitiful.

The whole scenario was deplorable.

Her sobbing too, it was all, pathetic.

She wished there was a ‘reset’ button, one that would restart her life, so she could avoid meeting him again, falling for him again, and feeling like this again.

Perhaps it was fate, her phone were to vibrate at that very moment.

“The image of your presence, leaves me feeling nervous – Secret Admirer”

She laughed while sobbing. Rage overtook her, and she raised her arm to plunge her phone into the afterlife, for making her seem laughable, but something compelled her.

What if this person could be the ‘reset’ she was hoping for?

She swallowed. The idea of flinging herself, into the arms of another, made her feel queasy. But then she thought about this person, the one who’d constantly made her feel special, made her feel loved.

Wouldn’t it be easy, to fall in love with someone who enamored her?

Maybe, fate was trying to tell her something. Perhaps, her future wasn’t with Tao after all...

What if her destiny lay elsewhere?

Dear Tao, Seryung has had enough of you. Do share your thoughts upon this matter. At this point in the fic, you must be ecstatic to shove her into the arms of another man. How does it make you feel? What will throw you off balance first, those letters, or losing Seryung?

This is why male first leads will never do.

Dear Sehun, Kai is making fun of your 'wooden thinking,' the readers wish you would grow some...  And get on with it. Please do something about Yang's death. I will leave you with a trigger warning if you contemplate too much. 


Dear Jong In, we all know you to be devilishly handsome. Snowflake gives you bonus stars for your wittiness. You will be glad to know your role shall increase.


Dear Joon Myun, you are a jealous prick! Why do you want to see Sehun fail? Please do share your thoughts.


Dear Hana, you were absent in this update, but you will be back in the next. Do share your depressing thoughts about your version of Tao's notes and send us all into perpetual sorrow. Actually, scratch that. If you don't mind, the readers would like for you to smack some sense into your cousin, your boyfriend, your friend, and possibly yourself, before you make a makjang.

Dear Seryung, I can understand why you are leaving dirt behind. The readers of Everlasting Impressions wish you the very best. Gurl hit that restart button! Aint no one gonna judge you.

Dear Sinister, you're up next as 'Sinister' and perhaps your real self. I applaud you for mixing with the crowd. After all, when in Rome do as the Romans do. I'm glad you're having fun playing with lives. Are you the one behind the letters? Readers are curious to know how you plan to destroy those you don't like.


Dear Kangjun, I'm willing to bet my little toe you're the flower boy. Who else studies in the glass-rooms? It's nice of you to leave that hint, for Seryung to guess, but she's probably upset about now. Don't forget those hugs and kisses with you meet her. Bonus stars if you do. Your nerves around her are really cute. Be suave, the readers are rooting for you!