She walked backwards. Her eyes were still glued to the person in across the street. She spent some seconds to glue her eyes to the person. That person was still standing there, and she couldn’t see his face clearly since the street lamps were glimmering. She looked down at her phone on her shaking hand. She wanted to believe that the person across the street was not the one who sent the message to her. But how could she not believe it? Was it usual to bring knife like that everywhere? What if that person wasn’t bringing a knife, but other thing? What if the person wasn’t the one who sent her the text?

What if this was not her imagination?

There was one thing she could do to make sure the person was the one who sent her all the death threats.

She should give him a call, right?

Her hand was still shaking, but she somehow managed to call the number.

821014892764

She wanted to not believe what she was seeing, but the person across the street was looking down at his phone. She could hear the ringtone from afar a bit. She hurriedly ended the call.

It’s…it’s really him.

Kim Jinhwan’s face popped in her mind, and she needed to tell him about this. As she tried to turn around, she saw the person started to pass the street as the traffic light changed into red.

It is not a good sign.

She walked a bit in hurry and tried to call Kim Jinhwan. She hissed as Jinhwan didn’t pick up the call. She looked back and saw the person was getting closer. She walked fast, still trying to call Kim Jinhwan. After three calls, finally Jinhwan picked up.

“Hello, this is Kim Jinhwan.”

“J-jinhwan ssi, it’s me.” she said, almost whispering.

“Noona?” Jinhwan recognized her panicked voice. “What’s the matter?”

She looked back a little. The person was still following her. She tried to walk even faster, causing her to out of breath. “Jinhwan ssi, t-that person… h-have you f-found h-him?”

“No.” Jinhwan replied. “I was about to give you information about what I’ve found today, but no, I still haven’t found him.” He added.

“C-could you c-call him? Maybe y-you could t-track him r-right now.”

Jinhwan sounded confused. “What do you mean, noona?”

“H-he turns on h-his p-phone, a-and…” she took a deep breath. “H-he’s following m-me.”

“WHAT?”

She looked back to check that person, and to her pity, she was still followed. “I-if you’re t-tracking him, you w-will get the l-location. He’s in m-my n-neighborhood.” She was still whispering. “W-what s-should I do, J-jinhwan ssi?”

“Noona, are you sure it’s him?” Jinhwan sounded panicked.

“Y-yes.”

“I’ll get there.” Jinhwan said quickly. “Noona, you should ask for helps. You should ask help from people around you.”

“But no one’s here. It’s just me.” she said with shaky voice.

“That doesn’t matter. You should ask for helps.”

She didn’t hear what Jinhwan said later as that person sounded so close to her. She ended the call and continued to walk fast, she was almost running. The worst part of this was that the way to her home was always empty and quiet. Almost nobody walked on the street. The area was always that quiet.

Silently she prayed to God for not let her getting killed. But what could she do if she was destined to die tonight?

She thought she was running fast, but she shrieked as she felt a touch on her shoulder. She screamed with all the power she had, pushing the hand off her shoulder. Now she could hear that that guy running to her. she could hear those fast steps behind her. she almost shed some tears but no, she shouldn’t do it. She needed to run, if she still wanted to live. Or else…

She screamed as the guy pulling her hand. She still couldn’t see his face, she only looked at the knife in his hand. It was freaking shiny knife. He was about to stab her as she kicked him on his knee.

“HELP! HELP! Somebody help me!” she shouted out as she tried to run again. She could hear the guy following her still. She who still grabbed her phone dialed Taehyun’s number. It was almost near their home and Taehyun should be home. She would change the plan, she would tell Taehyun everything if he could save her from this maniac. She kept running fast and then she bumped into somebody. She fell on her .

“Noona?” she heard her brother’s voice.

“Taehyunnie!” she called out. Thank God she bumped into her own brother. With the power she had, she quickly got up and hugged her brother tightly. Taehyun looked shocked to see her action. She then looked back quickly. “Someone is following me!” She whispered with panicked voice. She got her hands and legs trembling.

“What? What are you talking about?” Taehyun looked the same direction as her. the street was empty. No one was there. “No one is following you.” He told her.

She looked up at her brother. “Someone really followed me, Nam Taehyun!” she said. She pointed at the road. “he was right there. He followed me since I got off the bus. He…”

“Noona.” Taehyun shook his head, no understand her situation. He put his hands on her shoulders. “I see nobody there.”

“No!” she yelled. She was disappointed why Taehyun didn’t believe what she said. But, she had expected that her brother would act that way. “I saw him with my own eyes. I saw him going to stab me with a knife. He…”

“Noona, noona.” Taehyun called. “Nobody is following you.”

She was still out of breath. She was about to answer her brother,” But..”

“It’s cold. We better go inside.” That was what Taehyun said.

Before entering the house, she once again looked back, checking if the culprit was still there. She didn’t see anybody, the area was so quiet like nothing happened. but actually a girl almost got stabbed and died.

She closed the door, checking and closing any windows and curtains. Taehyun looked confused.

“Noona, what are you doing?”

“I don’t want him find me.” she muttered, closing the last curtain.

He was dumbfounded. He ran a hand through his hair and said,”Noona, stop talking about somebody following you, okay? It’s annoying.”

She widened her eyes on her brother’s words. “Why do you think I keep talking about it? Because it’s really happening! I almost die, little brother! Why don’t you believe me?”

Taehyun laughed dryly. “Oh, please, noona. You’re just daydreaming or you’re too immersed in your roles. I know recently you get some roles who have stalkers.”

She was speechless to hear her brother’s words. He surely never believe her story. She gritted her teeth. “I’ve been doing this job for five years and I never act like I’m too immersed in any roles.”

“Oh, really?” Taehyun mocked her. “But, what now? Is this because horror and thriller movies you watch lately?”

She couldn’t hold his anger. She shouted. “NAM TAEHYUN!”

Taehyun looked surprise to see her angry and then he let out a heavy sigh. “Get some rest, noona. You must be tired.” He left the living room and went inside his room without giving her any glance.

She messed up her hair in frustration. She let out a heavy sigh. Honestly, she didn’t want to be left alone like this, but she couldn’t even explain it to her brother. Taehyun really didn’t believe her words. What could she do, then? Even she couldn’t tell her brother how frightened she was, but even if she told him, would he believe her? No. She wondered why Taehyun didn’t believe her words. He always knew she never lied, especially for serious thing. But why didn’t he believe her this time?

She wiped away tears from her eyes and let out a sigh one again. She told herself that it was okay for now, and she shouldn’t be that worried. She walked to her room slowly, trying to forget what had happened in the past an hour. She jumped to her bed after pulled out her phone battery. She was hiding beneath her blanket. The visions about the culprit and his knife were still filled her mind, which made her shivering and scared.

She was still busy with her own thoughts, as she heard the bell ringing. Someone was coming. Is it him? She thought, panicked. The culprit is coming? How could he know my house?

She was too scared, since later, she found out who was coming.

“Kim Jinhwan? This is really a surprise!” Taehyun greeted their night visitor. After holding her breath, she sighed in relief. It is Kim Jinhwan, not the culprit. She shouldn’t be afraid, she shouldn’t.

“Hello, Taehyun.” she heard Jinhwan greeted. “How are you?”

Taehyun sounded happy. “I’m really good, pal! Yah, this really surprises me, but why are you coming at this hour?” she heard Jinhwan laughing.

“I am about to do a stakeout, and I pass your house, so I decide to come.” Jinhwan explained, but she guessed he came because of her call.

“Oh, you did that in our neighborhood?” Taehyun asked.

“Yes. Some thieves are coming around this neighbourhood.”

“Really?”

She did not hear clearly what Jinhwan explained to Taehyun, but he really gave many excuses and Taehyun did not sound suspicious at all. It turned out that way since Taehyun was too happy to see his old friend. She was about almost not focus at the voices of her brother and his friend, as she heard Jinhwan asking if Taehyun was alone and if she was watching some TV program right now.

“No. My noona is sleeping.” Taehyun answered.

“How is she going?” Jinhwan asked.

“She’s fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Why are you asking about my noona, anyway?”

She kept her eyes shut. She didn’t want to hear Jinhwan telling her brother the truth, even she was not sure Taehyun would believe Jinhwan’s words or not. She pulled pillows to both of her ears.

“I want us to break up, and I want the wedding cancelled.”

“What?”

“I can’t marry you.”

She felt like Seunghoon has shot her right at her heart, and now she was bleeding. It hurt.

“B-but, we’ve p-prepared e-everything! How c-could y-you want to ca-cancel the w-wedding?” she said, stuttering with shaky voice.

He sighed. “I’ll take care of that.”

She looked at him with her teary eyes. “Y-you really want us to break up? And cancel the wedding?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“But, why so s-sudden? After...after we have planned about wedding?”

He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “You know the answer.” After that, he left the restaurant without saying any words, without saying goodbye. That was the last time she met him.

“Noona, wake up. It’s your turn to make breakfast.”

Her brother’s loud voice wake her up. She breathed out heavily and quickly covered her face with her palms. Such a bad dream, no, it was not a dream. She was sure she was seeing the reality. It was really real, it looked so real. That was really the time when Seunghoon saying those words that he wanted them to break up and cancel the wedding. No wonder why she saw Seunghoon in her dream, she thought about him yesterday.

It was not even a good memory to be remembered.

She let out a sigh once again and saw the clock on the wall. Oh daebak, she just slept for an hour and it was already 7 in the morning. She was too scared with all the thoughts of the culprit which made her ended up opening her eyes all night long. She couldn’t sleep with the scariest memory in her mind about the culprit. As she fell asleep, she dreamt about Seunghoon. She felt so unlucky.

She thought she heard her brother calling her again and also knocks at her door. She was about to get the door, and she felt she couldn’t make any move from her bed. She felt her body shore, she had been running away from that person. She sighed. She felt really miserable. What she experienced last night was so scary and she couldn’t forget it with just sleeping. She woke up in the morning, and here she was, facing the reality that there would be a possibility that that person would follow and try to kill her again today.

She then heard knocks again on her door, this time sounded so impatient.

“Wake up, noona! I’m hungry. I hate to remind you this, but yes, it’s your turn now to make breakfast. I need to go to my company this morning. Come on, can you make breakfast now?”

Nam Taehyun is so noisy.

As she opened the door, she saw her brother looking at her annoyed. Taehyun used to be this annoying, and she did not see any sign of changing attitude like he knew something about her from Jinhwan last night. Did Jinhwan tell Taehyun the truth? Or he did not?

“Breakfast, please? In 10 minutes? I need to go to the company quickly.” He said.

Nam Taehyun going to the company this early meant that she would be alone at home since she got her session at noon. And she did not want to be alone. Being alone was never safe for her. She remembered what happened last night when she went home alone. That person almost succeeded to kill her. She shivered at that thought. Would that person come to their home if she was alone as well? She did not want to think about it.

“T-twenty minutes.” She said to her brother. “I will go with you.” She closed her door and went to the bathroom.

She did not have appetite to eat her breakfast. She was feeling ill. She thought that she was burning up. She did not get it why she was like this, but even though she was sick, she needed to go to her office. After finishing their breakfast and after borrowing a big sweater from Taehyun and also shades (she needed them to be in disguise, like Minho did to her before), they walked outside their house. The sun was shining brightly as she was busy looking around, afraid someone was looking at her secretly. Still having this bad feeling, she then told her brother.

“Send me to my office, will you, little brother?”

“What? Sending you to your office?” Taehyun protested, he furrowed his brows in annoyance. “You know I’m already late since you cooked breakfast too long.” He grumbled and locked the door.

“Oh come on, little brother.” She said, ignore his annoyed voice. “I’ll hail a cab, okay? Don’t worry I’ll pay all the costs.”

“Why don’t we take the bus like usual?” he asked.

Sometimes he asks too much.

“I just want to get on a cab, that’s why.”

“What?” Taehyun rolled his eyes. “You’re weird, noona.”

“I hear that a lot from you.”

“Good morning!”

She and her brother were surprised as they found Kim Jinhwan already standing in front of their gate. He waved to her and smiled a little, which like giving her sign that he came again for her. She knew they really needed to talk about this matter. She nodded in silence.

“Hey, Jinhwan!” Taehyun greeted him. “Still in stakeout?”

“No. I’ll be back to my office.” Jinhwan replied. His eyes landed on her and he greeted her as well. “Noona, annyeonghaseyo.”

She bowed, hesitated. “Annyeonghaseyo.”

Taehyun saw this weird interaction, but he didn’t give any reaction. Well, not any of his friends knew her very well, simply because Taehyun didn’t let them and didn’t introduce her to them. “Your office is not that far from mine, we can go together.” Taehyun suggested, then he glanced at her. “But my noona wants to go on a cab.” Jinhwan just nodded.

“It’s okay for me.” He said. “Should we go now?”

It turned out that Taehyun did not send her to her office, since he kept complaining that he was very late. The taxi stopped in front of Taehyun’s company building and he rushed inside without saying anything. She was left with Jinhwan, and they decided to get off the taxi as well.

“Did you tell Taehyun everything?” she asked Jinhwan out of blue, after some minutes they spend with no conversations. She and Jinhwan decided to go to the cafeteria, having some morning coffee. Again, she didn’t feel she had appetite, but she ordered one cup anyways.

Jinhwan took a sip of his coffee, and right then answered

“No, I didn’t say anything to him.”

She sighed in relief. “I thought you did.” She said. “That’s good. He didn’t believe me anyways. I told him that somebody following me last night, but he didn’t believe me.” she laughed bitterly.

Jinhwan didn’t give any reactions, but at last he said. “You want to tell him everything? I thought you didn’t.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I was so freaked out last night, so I told him, but he didn’t believe my words.” She noticed it that Jinhwan knew that she didn’t want to tell Taehyun about this problem. “How could you know?”

Jinhwan looked up at her. “About what?”

“I don’t want Taehyun to find about this out.” She replied. “You seem know about this.”

“It’s just… a feeling.” He replied weirdly.

A feeling? Is that police’s intuition?

She coughed awkwardly. “Anyway, what did you tell Taehyun last night?”

“I just told him that I thought you were still awake and if I could see you too.” Jinhwan shrugged. “That was really lame, but I said it would be very nice if I met noona as well. I reasoned that I haven’t met you two after our graduation, which was the truth.”

Oh. “So, what did Taehyun say?”

“He did not give me a reply, but just rolled his eyes at me.” he answered.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“He never likes it if we, his classmates, talk and ask about his noona.” He shrugged again. “I don’t know the reason, but I think he sees us as bad guys.” He laughed dryly.

This was really weird. Why was Taehyun like that? “You said he used to talk about me back then in high school days.” She said. She still remembered this point since she did not know what her brother talked about her to his friends and she still thought that Taehyun talked about bad things.

“Oh yeah.” Jinhwan nodded. “But when we ask him about you, he always rolls his eyes at us. He just wanted to talk about you in front of us but we were not allowed to ask any questions.”

“What you guys wanted to ask about anyways?”

“O-oh, it’s not that important, noona.” Jinhwan replied.

They spent some more minutes without talking. Actually she knew that at the time they took seat on this cafeteria, Jinhwan wanted to talk directly about what happened last night. She might be scared, but she should not miss any single information about the culprit. That was the way to make her more cautious.

“So,” she started the conversation for the second time,”what did you want to inform me? About your investigation?”

“Ah.” Jinhwan looked up at her after he looked down blankly at his cup for some minutes. “I was about to inform you that I’ve met the security team of Taehyun’s company building,” he said. “They said they were in the security room at that time, but one of staff of Taehyun’s event came and bought them dessert and drinks. The weird thing was the staff came at 11:16, and left five minutes later.”

She blinked and felt shocked. “So, the security team were not aware about what was happening?”

“Yes. Since they were not aware, they thought they did not miss anything and everything went well. Actually if Song Yoonhyung did not check the CCTV recording and told them what had happened, they would never know.” Jinhwan explained. “And on how the recording got sabotaged, I found no trace. But Song Yoonhyung started to look into the recording four days after the accident, and it is possible somebody sabotaged the recording during those four days.”

“W-what about the staff?” she asked with shaky voice. “That person might be the one who did something to the recording, is it right? He had come again to the security room.”

Jinhwan sighed before continued. “According to the security team, the staff was a female staff. The security team only met her at the day of the event and she wore black t-shirt, Taehyun’s event staff t-shirt, and a baseball cap. I’ve asked the security team portraying her and as I looked into the data and the guest list, there was no staff who looked like her. And I asked to the real staff of the event, and he said the staff was going to send the dessert and drinks to employees in the company, but after the event ended. The event ended at 1pm, so there was no way a staff giving out dessert and drinks beforehand.

“The fake staff, the person who sabotaged the CCTV, the person who tried to kill you, they must be three different people who join hands to get rid of you.”

She felt suffocating for some seconds. She got her eyes blurry and her head hurt.

g-get rid o-of me?

“Noona, we must find the culprit and his alliance soon.”

Why are they targeting me?

“Did you remember how the man last night looked like?”

What is my fault?

She felt so dizzy that she could fall from her own chair.

That man, he was following her again.

This time he still brought a knife, but he walked faster, approaching her.

She did not know why she couldn’t move her legs and run. She felt like her feet were chained up, and she couldn’t escape. She fell to the ground, as the man was closer.

Would she die today?

Yes.

The man had reached her, he smirked at her before he stabbed her on her stomach.

“Yah. Wake up.”

She felt someone patting her shoulder. It was hard for her to open her eyes. It was like her eyes were so heavy. As she managed to open her eyes, she found Kang Seungyoon looking at her in annoyance. What’s this guy problem now?

“W-what’s wrong?” she slowly got up. Heck, she still felt her body shore and her head hurt, but her fever was gone. She wiped away sweats from her temples. The medicine Jinwoo gave her really worked, and she also fell asleep because of that.

“That’s my place.” He stated.

She was still dizzy and she did not get what he said. “Your what?” she blinked and she realized that she had been sleeping on his favorite sofa, where he always slept on. “O-oh, yes. This’ yours.” She said, getting up and sitting on the other sofa. Seungyoon quickly sat on the sofa, before at last he laid down and plugged his headphone. She wondered what he always listened to all the time, but she didn’t dare to ask. She was not that close to Seungyoon and she didn’t feel that comfortable to ask. She was afraid that she would say something stupid again in front of him and he ended up glaring at her all the time. But why was she that worried? Seungyoon always glared at people anyways.

She realized that two people she saw before she dozed off were not in this room. She was panicked a bit and stood up instantly. She sighed in relief as she saw Jinwoo and Jinhwan were in the next room, talking to Hanbin and Hanbyul. The sessions were all over for today, they were probably talking about the next sessions for tomorrow. She heard today that she got a new advertisement, together with Seungyoon, but they would not do the recording in this office. Silently looking at the people in the next room, it was really a relief they didn’t leave her alone.

She was feeling thirsty and she then took a bottle of mineral water on the table. It was hers, she had it since her sessions started at 12pm. She drank the water until the bottle almost empty. She let out a heavy sigh. She kept remembering her dream, which was not good. She covered her face with her palms and let out a heavy sigh. Would she really die today? Or tomorrow? Would that guy try to kill her again? She couldn’t help but think that something bad would happen to her sooner or later. It was really no joke, that person really wanted to kill her. She tried to remember if she had done something bad to others that made somebody wanted her death, but she really did not know.

She did not know the reason why she almost got killed.

She let out a heavy sigh once again.

This is really frustrating.

She then remembered her conversation with Jinhwan at Taehyun’s office cafeteria.

“Noona?”

She closed her eyes tightly and let out a very heavy sigh. Focus, she needed to focus! She couldn’t let fear take over herself. NO.

“Noona, are you okay?” Jinhwan sounded worried.

“I-I’m fine, don’t worry.” She opened her eyes, trying to smile. “Y-you wanted me to d-describe that man?”

“Yes.” Jinhwan replied firmly.

“I-I don’t r-remember his f-face.” She said after nervously took a sip of her coffee. “He’s tall, he was wearing black leather jacket, a hat… about the rest, I couldn’t remember.” She added. She jerked and said,”he had the knife since the time I called him.”

“You called him?” Jinhwan looked a bit shocked.

“Y-yes.” She answered. “He had sent me a text after I got off the bus. And I saw somebody standing across the street bringing out a knife. I wondered if it was him, so I gave him a call.”

“That was really crazy, noona! But how could you try to call him?” Jinhwan looked so insecure.

“I needed to ensure it myself.” She replied. “I need to know he is the culprit or not.” She laughed dryly. “After ended up the call, I called you and asked you to check his location, right?”

Jinhwan sighed. “Yeah, I could track his location, thanks to you. But he turned off his phone again and I couldn’t track him. His number is from unregistered phone which means we can only track him if he turns on his phone. The locations I could track are your neighborhood and a bus stop near your house. He really his phone at some minutes before you got off from the bus.”

“Did…did you see through CCTV where he went?” she asked him.

“I have checked all the CCTV, but…” he sighed heavily. “he disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Be careful, noona. He will be probably back with the same attempt.”

Would that man come back and try to kill her again? Really?

She who was busy messing her hair looked up and saw Jinwoo giving hand gesture, asking her to come to the recording room. She quickly combed her hair with hand and nodded. As she opened the recording room’s door, she saw Jinhwan was busy watching something in Hanbin’s laptop. It was not only Jinhwan who busy watching, Hanbyul was the same. They were watching the first of episode of Taehyun’s animation. She could see Jinhwan get along so fast with everyone. But he didn’t say he was a police officer. He just said that he was her friend who interested for being a dubber. Of course with that excuse, he could get along well with everyone in this office. Anyway, she forgot the fact that the first episode was aired today. She would watch it later.

“Song Minho called to our office.” Jinwoo’s voice made her back to reality.

She was a little surprised. “Really? When did he make the call?”

“An hour ago.” Jinwoo replied. “He asked are you in the office or not, and after I said you were here but you were sleeping, he sounded relieved and said he would come in an hour.”

She lowered her voice so others could not hear. “Did you…perhaps… tell him?”

“I didn’t tell him anything.” Jinwoo answered. “He must have called your number hundred times with no answers. He sounded panicked.” He let out a sigh.

“He must have done it.” She murmured sadly.

Jinwoo patted her back. He looked concerned more as he remembered that he had left her in front of the restaurant last night. He looked like he regretted it. But she also regretted it why she had to lie to her sunbae saying that Minho would pick her up. If she had not done so, would the culprit do the same? She believed it would never happen.

“Minho will come in some minutes, I guess. Why don’t you watch Taehyun’s animation with us? Hanbin is just streaming it.” Jinwoo suggested.

“Eonni, eonni. Join us watching the animation!” Hanbyul appeared suddenly between them. “It has started five minutes ago. Come on!”

She was about to leave the room to take her water, but Hanbyul held her hand, telling her that her water was left in the recording room after her last session ended. As Hanbyul handed her the bottle, she got puzzled. She thought she brought it with her to the office, but...

She instantly looked through the glass window. She saw Seungyoon was drinking the water from the same bottle which was put on the table. Seungyoon looked confused with the bottle that was almost empty.

All thoughts in her head made her not focus. She cursed herself.

“You promised you will go on a date with me today.”

“I know. It’s not like I forget about it.”

“But you turned off your phone.”

“Yeah.”

“Something’s happening, right?”

She looked at Minho uncertainly. Minho sure understood something happened to her, but he decided to ask again to make sure. She didn’t blame him for that. She had not told him the whole truth, what had happened to her last night. She looked away, avoiding his stares. She didn’t know why it was hard to tell him everything. The more she talked about it, the more she felt frightened. It was like replaying what had happened last night, it was like she was seeing the same scene. She also felt the same feeling, frightened, panicked.

Sunset could be seen clearly since they were on the rooftop right now. The sun was really about to set, but she still couldn’t bring herself to talk to Minho. Minho couldn’t stay still and turned her body around. He looked down and looked into her eyes. He really looked worried, it could be seen from the both of his eyes.

“Tell me, what happened?”

She didn’t understand why her eyes got teary.

“H-he… he t-tried to k-kill m-me, Minho.”

“W-what?”

“H-he tried t-to kill me a-again.” She whispered. “I’m s-scared, Minho. I’m r-really s-scared.”

At that time tears fell down on both of her cheeks and Minho pulled her to his embrace. She let herself cry as hard as she could. The pains that she couldn’t tell everyone and she just kept to herself, she let out them all. Minho hugged her tightly and patted her back. He didn’t say any words, he just stayed still and hugged her until the sun was really set.