Her Riddle | All of us are dead

Chapter 24

The stench of death and fear permeated the air, the wind was thick and it carried out the anxiety in each of their hearts.

Hae-jin felt that the somber atmosphere is very familiar– feels like she had lived like this before, which must be true in her case. It was so familiar, the anxiety and the fear were no longer there but being dominated by the feeling of meeting an old friend.

She lies with her back on top of the parapet, both of her hands resting at the back of her head and uses it as a pillow as she watches the clouds pass by them, the sun rays hiding behind the army of cumulus clouds scattered on the blue sky. Yet, some rays just seep through to bless the ground with its presence. The weather's fair yet the atmosphere is dark and stuffy.

When a particular sunlight hits her eyes, she raises one hand to block it away from her face. Her hand created a  shadow that casted a shade on her nonetheless nonchalant face.

She was only pulled back to reality when she felt warmth and softness of a cloth being placed on her bare legs, her head slightly turning to the side as Su-hyeok finishes covering her legs with his blazer.

"The wind is blowing your skirt up. Do you intend to flash them?" He stated, annoyance lacing deeply intertwined on his tone.

"So what? I have pretty legs." Hae-jin disregarded his annoyance, turning back to face the sky.

Su-hyeok releases a sigh of surrender, "You never really listen to me."

This made Hae-jin's brow raise, "And who are you for me to actually listen to?"

Su-hyeok's eyes casted down, his expression morphing into one of anguish and regret, "I was wrong."

"You are always wrong. What's new?" Hae-jin sarcastically jabbed, rolling her eyes.

"You promised you were going to give me time to explain," Su-hyeok reminded her, "Can I use your time now?"

What she had said earlier was just a spur of the moment, with adrenaline rushing in her system and making her judgment clouded and thus affecting her decisions. Hae-jin never wanted to hear his explanation but she had let her mouth run and she's responsible so she waved her hand nonchalantly to signal the guy to continue.

"I don't know how to start." The lad didn't intend to voice his thoughts out loud.

"Then don't start. It's that simple." Hae-jin said passively before sitting up. She turned around, swinging her legs towards the rooftop and was about to hop out but Su-hyeok stopped her.

"Please," his voice broke, his tone is pleading and you can see the desperation on his face, "I'm not going to defend myself and create reasons because I know what I did was a douche move. I distanced myself from you and Gwi-nam without an acceptable reason, even treated you like we weren't friends– best friends before. Hell, we even have something yet I threw it away just because of a choice that I deeply regretted the moment I noticed your absence in my life. But, I know what I did was irreversible. I was too late to realize what treasure I have lost. That the jewel I had been keeping safe was thrown away by me without any regards."

Su-hyeok's voice broke at the end of his sentence, his eyes tearing up yet he's holding back the crystals of pain that are threatening to fall, "I'm sorry, Hae-jin. I know I am a douche and if you even want me to kneel in front of you… to kneel until you forgive me, I'll do it."

Hae-jin watches as the lad literally fights himself to suppress the breakdown that is teetering closely to the edge, her face void of any emotion aside from the apathetic expression floating on her eyes.

"Are you done?" she asks.

"I…" Su-hyeok was at a loss of words as the sob blocked his throat. He felt his lungs constricting and the air being knocked out from him as he began to descend in panic.