Semi had absolutely no idea how to react.  The man who wanted her dead was standing mere feet away, apparently waiting for the bus, without a care in the world.  Part of her wanted to run for her life, but her feet seemed to be fossilising to the pavement with fear.  He obviously knew who she was, but what didn’t make any sense was why he wasn’t doing anything.

As if sensing her terrified gaze, Luhan slowly turned in her direction.  Semi quickly averted her gaze, heart pounding frantically.  She waited for something to happen, for Luhan to say something, for a car to come screeching up and for him to bundle her into the back, but nothing happened.

A raindrop splashed onto the end of her nose, and with it, she was shocked back into a more rational frame of mind.  She needed to remove herself from the situation – or at least get somewhere where there were people around – and ring the police.  Luhan had walked straight onto campus and remained there for the entire day, and none of the undercover cops had caught onto it.  It was actually chilling.

Carefully, as the rain droplets became a drizzle, Semi fished her phone out of her pocket and went to unlock the screen.  There was no response.  Swallowing, she held down the power button, but there was absolutely no flicker of life.

Her fingers trembled as she stared at the screen, over which raindrops were beginning to spatter.  For a moment, it felt like she was suffocating, and her ears began to ring.

Focus.  Focus, Semi told herself.  The last thing she could afford right now was panicking.  You just need to make sure you’re somewhere with other people where he can’t lay a finger on you and then borrow somebody else’s phone.

Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she took two steps back through a puddle and then turned.  A quiet splash told her that Luhan had mirrored her move for move, but before she got any further, a bus pulled over and she saw her chance.  It wasn’t the one she wanted, but as the middle doors opened to allow some passengers off, she darted forwards for the front door and scanned her metro card.

The swish of clothing behind her and another bleep informed her that Luhan had also boarded behind her – part of her marvelled at the fact that he actually had a metro card too when she would have expected him to be hopping barriers and shirking payments – but she did her best to ignore it and slid into a seat a few rows back, close to the exit doors, and made sure to stick on the aisle side.  The bus was much emptier than she would have liked, but there were still enough people to make her feel safer than she had done out in a rain-soaked street in the dark.

Whistling to himself, Luhan slid into the seat in front.  Semi tried not to flinch at how close he was and glanced anxiously around.

A third passenger was getting on the bus, and Semi’s breath froze when she saw another familiar face.  Chipmunkish-cheeks were red from the rain as the passenger also scanned a metro card, and hair was hidden under a thick woollen hat.  The only thought running through her head was oh God, Xiumin and Luhan planned this together and I’m never going to live, but as she got to her feet, intent to get off the bus before it could move again, Luhan abruptly reached a hand out, blocking her.  Terrified, Semi glanced between him and Xiumin – only to realise that the latest passenger on the bus was very clearly female.  Her gaze flickered to Luhan with distaste, and then onto Semi with hatred, and she slipped into a seat opposite Luhan.

As the doors hissed shut and the bus began to move off, Luhan withdrew his hand and instead stood up, blocking Semi yet again and holding onto the railing above her head.  Semi gulped.

“She’s called Sohee.”  His voice was quiet and light.  Semi had absolutely no idea whether or not to acknowledge he had spoken.  She wasn’t even sure why he was offering the information.  “She killed seven policemen on campus today.”

Alarmed, Semi looked up at him.

“With poison,” he added, his gaze hard.  “I put it in your pen.”

Semi looked down again.

Luhan didn’t budge for several stops, even when Semi made to stand up and get off.  It was making her increasingly uneasy, especially since the bus was gradually emptying out, and she was aware that she would be heading into an unfamiliar part of town if she didn’t leave the vehicle soon.  Sohee appeared not to have moved either, whic