For the rest of the day, Wendy thought about it. Who could it be? Why would they suddenly contact her again now? Was it time to start putting the facts together? It was all that was on the girl's mind. Even late at night when she finally went to bed after working on her assignments, she still couldn't get the mysterious secret admirer off of her mind. That's when she decided. As soon as possible, she would start putting the facts together and writing them down. She had to know who it was. 

The next morning came and even though she was pretty certain there would be no new notes, she still couldn't resist the urge to check her locker. Finding nothing but the pile of cranes she had shoved into it the previous day, Wendy sighed to herself, closing the locker and heading to her first class. Upon seeing Seulgi's face, she remembered she hadn't discussed the plans Joohyun and Sooyoung had been making for the weekend with her. It drew her attention from her secret admirer for a second as she made her way over to the girl seated next to Soojung, who had also arrived already.

"Hey, I forgot to ask yesterday, are you free tomorrow?" Wendy approached her friend, who had been in a conversation with the girl next to her before the Canadian had shown up at their seats. 

"Oh-- Why? What's up?" Seulgi asked, her eyes a little widened in surprise, something Wendy realized was because she normally didn't exactly forget to ask about things like this.

"Joohyun and Sooyoung wanted to hang out. You know, just the four of us." The shorter clarified, to which Seulgi responded with a few light nods, before turning to the girl next to her.

"When were we going to hang out again?" She asked the taller girl next to her, whose gaze flickered to Wendy a few times, who was staring at her, just as eager to hear her answer as Seulgi appeared to be.

"Oh-- We can hang out on Sunday? I mean, if that's okay with you." Soojung replied, earning a smile and a firm nod in response from Seulgi, who then turned back to Wendy.

"Looks like I'm free. Can you tell them? I mean, I would have lunch with you guys, but I sort of made plans already." The older spoke to the Canadian, who glanced at Soojung, suspecting she was the one Seulgi had plans with.

"Of course, no problem. Don't forget to have lunch with us again some time though." Wendy responded in a teasing tone, making Seulgi grin sheepishly, the girl clearly felt a little guilty.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Sorry, I've been neglecting you guys a little, huh? I promise I'll have lunch with you guys on Monday." The girl confirmed, bowing her head lightly.

"You better. That's tradition, you can't just break tradition." Wendy said in a mock-serious voice, noticing the girl in front of her look at the entrance, making her turn to look as well, seeing the teacher had entered the room.

"You got it! Now go, and don't forget to text me the details about tomorrow later!" Seulgi shooed Wendy away to her seat as to avoid the teacher scolding her.

____________________________________________________________________________

"I thought we were going to hang out. This isn't hanging out. This is playing detective." Seulgi complained, trying to ignore the two notes and quite large pile of small paper cranes Wendy had put out on the table.

"I have to agree with my comrade. You tricked us." Sooyoung added, squinting at the folded creatures as if unsettled by their presence, something that probably wasn't entirely untrue but it was clear she was exaggerating it for the purpose of creating some much-needed comedic drama.

"Is that all we are to you, Seunghwan? Puppets to do your dirty work as you try to track this weirdo that keeps sending you messages?" Joohyun joined in on the joke, earning a frown from Wendy.

"Hey, they're not a weirdo! Besides, I'm not making you guys do my dirty work. I'm asking for your help. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this." Wendy replied, her lips pursing slightly as she looked at the notes, her eyes scanning the words on the paper once again.

"You're not going to leave us alone until you get your help, huh? Fine, let's see what we can find. Probably nothing." Seulgi announced reluctantly, the Canadian smiling at the confirmation.

"Alright! It won't take long, I promise. We can go watch another movie after. I promise." The shortest of the four said, causing the others to cheer before turning to look at the 'evidence' laid out on the table.

"So, what have we got so far?" Joohyun asked, playing with one of the threads, her gaze scanning over the animals attached to it, seemingly counting them again.

"Well, they left two notes so far, both appeared somewhere in the morning or during lunch. I'm sure because I checked my locker after school each time." Wendy responded, the eldest narrowing her eyes as she nodded slowly.

"Okay, so the person probably has morning classes on at least Monday and Thursday then, right?" Seulgi commented, her eyebrows raising a little as she worded her conclusion.

"It appears so. Also, they know Wendy's real name." Sooyoung chimed in, causing the other three to turn to her, slightly confused, until she showed them the second note.

"Look. Right there. 'Son Seunghwan'. They know her name." The youngest of the four explained, pointing at the particular part of the note she had been looking at before.

"You're right.. I hadn't even noticed that yet. You're really good, Sooyoung." Wendy muttered, her gaze stuck to the mention of her real name, something the other two weren't responding much to.

"Anyone could know your name. It's not a secret, right?" Joohyun shrugged nonchalantly, turning her attention to the birds once more, seemingly quite intrigued by them.

"Actually, it is in a way? I don't talk about it much. Everyone calls me Wendy. That means..." The Canadian started, falling open as she trailed off, being interrupted by Joohyun.

"That means they're a creepy stalker!" Joohyun exclaimed with a grin, giggling afterwards as Wendy frowned, trying to give the older girl a shove, but failing to as she wasn't able to reach her over the table.

"Stop calling them creepy! They seem very sweet!" The shortest defended her admirer, earning another shrug from the older, who appeared very disinterested in the investigation.

"You say that because they give you nice messages. Who knows? It could be a creep. It could be someone pulling a joke." Joohyun pointed out, causing Wendy's eyes to widen a little.

"Who would do that though? That's not something to joke with. They can't be joking... right?" The Canadian asked, looking at the other two, who didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Probably not, but there's always a chance." Seulgi admitted, her lips slightly pursed as she looked at the other three, a silence falling before it was finally broken by the youngest.

"Alright, that's enough investigating for us! Time for a movie!" Sooyoung called out, jumping up from her seat before moving towards the television, followed by the others, Wendy being the last to leave the table after cleaning the 'evidence', still wondering if maybe Joohyun had a point.

____________________________________________________________________________

Monday morning came, and Wendy decided to check her locker early after what Seulgi had told her. Finding nothing new inside, Wendy realized that if she found a note after lunch now, that probably meant the person put the notes in some time in between the start of the first class and the end of lunch. Having done her research for the morning, the Canadian moved to class, taking her usual seat and thinking about her research. 

Of course, the thought of it maybe being a joke had stuck to her. It even prevented her from going to sleep as early as she had wanted to the night before. She realized Seulgi was probably right about that at least. It couldn't be a joke, right? It was too elaborate for that. Who would do such a thing? It seemed much too genuine for it to simply be someone pulling her leg. She hoped that the note she was expecting that day would put her mind at ease.

Except, there was no note. That Monday, nobody left anything in Wendy's locker, and it bothered her 'till no end. It kept her up even longer than the night before, causing her to almost be late for her morning classes the next day, something that didn't go unnoticed by Seulgi, who waved at her as she hurriedly entered the room.

"Hey, are you alright? You look kind of pale." Seulgi asked after Wendy had made her way over to Seulgi's desk to talk to the girl, she earned a nod from the Canadian.

"Don't worry, I just slept a little late. I'll be fine." Wendy responded, shrugging her shoulders before glancing at the entrance, seeing the teacher enter, she returned her gaze to Seulgi.

"Alright, take care, okay? Go, before she sees you." The taller gestured at the shorter to go sit down before their teacher noticed, something Wendy quickly complied to, not wanting to get in trouble.

Wendy was unnaturally quiet during lunch, something the others took note off, or well, Joohyun and Sooyoung, as Seulgi had once again gone off to have lunch with Soojung and her friends.

"Hey now, Seulgi had lunch with us yesterday, it's only fair we let her spread her wings and fly off to another nest to steal their food, right?" Sooyoung joked, poking Wendy's arm in an attempt to lighten the girl's mood.

"I'm not worried about Seulgi. I just can't stop thinking that maybe Joohyun was right. Maybe it was a joke." Wendy mumbled, staring at her uneaten lunch, still trying to decide whether she should force herself to eat.

"Oh come on. If it's a joke, it's not a good one. They should be ashamed of themselves if it is. I'll personally see to it that they learn what a real prank is if this is their idea of a joke." Sooyoung announced with a firm nod, putting an arm around Wendy's shoulders, earning a small smile from the older girl.

"Thanks, Sooyoung. I just hope it isn't. Or at least I think so. Maybe it would be better. What if it's someone I just don't and won't like?" Wendy questioned, to which Joohyun shrugged.

" for them." The eldest announced, taking a glance at her watch before gesturing at the Canadian to finish her food, which she quickly did, not wanting to end up in class with an empty stomach.

"Anyway, I have to go. Promised I'd help Min prepare for next class. Sorry, bye!" Joohyun continued after finishing her own lunch, getting up and waving at the others before she ran off, leaving Sooyoung and Wendy together on the bench.

The two of them walked to Wendy's locker together, the shorter of the two sighing as she unlocked it, opening her bag and taking out the materials she didn't need any more, holding them in one hand as she opened her locker. But before she could put them into her locker, a large amount of folded creatures fell out, surprising her so much she dropped her materials, a particularly heavy book ending up on Sooyoung's toes.

"Ow! Wendy, what the--?!" Sooyoung yelped, grabbing her toe as Wendy apologized multiple times, quickly picking up the things she dropped and shoving them into her locker before checking on the birds and the note attached to them.

Wendy Son,

I apologize,
I have kept you waiting, 
I have kept you wondering,
I will have to for some time more.
Please know that it pains me too,
It pains me that I have to hide myself,
That I'm too afraid to tell you how I feel face-to-face.
I would give anything to see you smile,
Or at least that's what I hope my notes do to you.
Forgive me,
For the wait and for the mess,
I felt the effort was needed.
Please accept these cranes,
May they bring you good luck,
And of course a smile.

-A secret admirer

Wendy realized the author was right, she was smiling, actually, she couldn't stop herself from doing so. Somehow, she wished she knew the person, whether she actually did or not. She hoped they could see her smile, that maybe it would make them stop hiding, because this chase was starting to wear her down. She knew this couldn't be a joke. It had to be for real. Nobody would put in the effort to fold what appeared to be over a hundred paper cranes this time. Wendy pulled on the thread, quickly counting the birds attached to it, finding one hundred and twenty cranes before she was interrupted as she counted them again to check.

"Gotcha!" Sooyoung yelled, grinning at Wendy after looking up from the note she had been reading, earning a raised eyebrow from Wendy, who was utterly confused as to what Sooyoung meant.

"Gotcha? Got what? What did I miss?" The Canadian asked, trying to take a look at the note before Sooyoung shook her head, lowering the piece of paper to indicate that wasn't what she was talking about.

"My friend said they saw someone at your locker this morning before class. She couldn't see who it was but she saw it was a girl. Now there's a note. Your admirer is a girl!" Sooyoung explained, Wendy's eyes widening in response.

A girl? It wasn't something unwanted. She had actually wondered if maybe it was a boy, which would've been a bit awkward due to Wendy's half in and half out of the closet status. But a girl left the note. A girl had been writing to her. A girl had left her a note this morning. Her secret admirer was a girl. But who? They knew her real name. It had be someone close to her then. Who could it be? Were they joking--?

Suddenly it added up in Wendy's head. Early this morning. Joohyun had been early to help Min prepare. Joohyun was gone right now too. Joohyun knew her name. Joohyun had tried to bring the attention away from the investigation last Saturday. Joohyun had occasionally threatened to prank her one day soon a few months ago. Joohyun had implied it was possibly a joke--!

"BAE JOOHYUN! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" 

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^{author's note:}

It appears I'm still bad at updating regularly. My apologies, guys. I'm actually in the middle of a pretty bad slump, but funnily enough writing helps me feel better, so I hope my writing does the same for you guys.

It's a pretty long update again because it seems you guys like the quite long chapters. Besides, I owe you something big for the big break in between the updates, right? 

Anyhow, I hope you guys like it. Enjoy and thank you for reading. I promise I'll try to update again as soon as possible.