Paper Dolls

Chapter 24

"Thanks," I say before digging into mine with the grace of a starving bear. I've devoured half of my sandwich by the time we settle on a sidewalk bench. 

"Slow down or you'll choke," Hyeon says clearly amused. He hands me a soda and I chug some of it down eagerly. 

We settle into a comfortable bout of silence as we finish our dinners and I stare at the landscape around us, filled with lighted skyscrapers and a dark empty sky. 

"You know if this was Hadong. The sky would be littered with stars. Literally filled with them." 

Hyeon, turns to me as I lean against the stone bench seat. "I've been to Hadong once. On a Dalia tour." 

I smile remembering the buses that used to flock into Hadong for the so called 'Dalia tours'. They claimed to take visitors to her favourite cafes and the places she used to visit growing up. What most people don't know is that half those cafes didn't even exist when we were kids.

It was all just a tourism ploy. 

"I miss her," He suddenly says and it feels like we are in a bubble, the palpable sadness in his voice enveloping us and shutting everything else out. 

"What made you like her? As a fan I mean," I ask out of curiousity although the word 'like' might be putting it mildly. I don't want to say obsess but it's clear he's been down ever since the picture of her and Li Geun. 

Hyeon shrugs and stares ahead absent-mindedly. "I guess she's always looked like an outcast in her group. It made her so relatable to me." 

I swallow the remains of my sandwich, contemplating his words. In all my life I've never seen Dalia as an outcast. She was always the centre of attention, like the Sun and we were the planets that revolved around her. 

It's funny how someone who never knew her personally saw her in such a different light. But the truth is, Dalia often mentioned feeling lonely when we had those occasional phone conversations. So maybe Hyeon is right, maybe she did feel like an outcast. 

I wipe my mouth and take another sip of soda before sighing. "It's hard to tell what she really felt. I miss her too. So much." 

He side eyes me and the moonlight casts a deep shadow across his sharp cheekbones. It's hard to read his expression. 

"We should head back." He breaks the eye contact and stands up abruptly. 

"Yeah," I murmur in agreement and follow him to the bus stand. 

Hyeon insists on following me back to the trainee dorms but we sit separately on the bus. I don't want anyone within a 10km radius of Firefly spotting me with a guy. Especially since my photo with Jiho went viral. 

When we reach the dorms I get up and shoot him a quick nod before skipping out of the bus. Today has been more productive than I could have imagined. We're still a long way from figuring all things Dalia related but progress is still progress and the picture with Li Geun and Loona has left me with a buzz of excitement. 

It's becoming more and more obvious that there is something amiss in this situation. 

There is a crowd at the foot of the staircase and my eyes widen when I see all the girls standing around in tights and thick sweaters. Mr. Oh is pacing in front of them and then Binna sees me. 

"She's here!" Her face is tear stricken and she collapses to the floor. A few of the girls quickly rush to help her up. 

"What is going on?" I walk towards them hesitantly. 

"Jina, where the hell have you been? The girls here have got it in their heads that you've been kidnapped or run away or something." Mr Oh's usually pale face is pink tinged and he looks livid.

"I..I," My stammering is definitely not helping the situation. "I had to rush to the library. My sister needed something and I was afraid it would close." 

This is a dumb excuse because anyone who uses the public library knows that it closes at midnight but I'm banking on the fact that these girls aren't the bookworm type. 

"The least you could have done was let one of us know. Binna was about to make a police report." JinJin walks up to me with her arms crossed over each other. She looks tired and extremely annoyed with this whole debacle. 

"Police don't accept missing persons reports unless they've been gone for more than 24 hours," Kim says out of nowhere but no one pays attention to her. 

"This is so reckless. So dumb. Anything could have happened to you." Mr Oh continues his pacing. I've never seen him look so perturbed. 

"I'm so sorry everyone." My voice is heavy with guilt especially when Binna looks up at me angrily. "I would have texted but we only have our phones on weekends." 

"The good thing is you're safe but management will hear of this, Jina," Mr Oh warns, making me stiffen. "Go on up. Go to bed girls." 

My heart sinks as I follow the girls up to our dorms but there is an iciness in the atmosphere as they ignore me and head to their rooms. 

"I'm so sorry, Binna. I had to rush--" 

"Did you really go to meet your sister?" Binna accuses after she slams the door behind her. 

When I remain silent she sighs. "I swear it's like I don't even know you anymore. You've become this whole other person after Dalia died and you just have no time for us. No time for me. Are what the girls saying true? Are you too good for us now?"

Her words sting. Does she really believe that?

"I've just been going through something," I say vaguely earning a grunt from her. 

"I'm sleeping in Grace's room tonight. You should be happy. More space for yourself." And with that she grabs her blanket, pillows and leaves the room. 

The door shuts with a click and I'm left staring at it dumbfounded. What the hell just happened?