The early morning light crept through the thin curtains, casting a pale glow across Seulgi's cluttered desk.
Her pen scratched against the paper, but her mind wasn't in the equations anymore.
It hadn't been for the past hour.
Her eyes flicked toward the window, unfocused.
"Don't tell me you really thought we were on the same side..."
The memory echoed loud in the silence, making her heart squeeze painfully.
Jaeyi's cold voice from that day, sharp, distant, cruel, played on repeat in her head like a broken record.
With a frustrated groan, Seulgi pushed everything off her desk, the books and papers crashing to the floor.
Her chest rose and fell quickly as she stared at the mess she'd made.
Her hands trembled as she knelt down to pick everything up.
That's when she saw it, a small blue sticky note fluttering out from one of her textbooks.
Seulgi froze.
It wasn't hers.
She always used yellow notes.
Her fingers hovered over it before carefully picking it up.
The handwriting was neat, slightly slanted, painfully familiar.
"Everything is gonna be okay, u did it, I'm proud of u :)"
Her heart stopped.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she blinked rapidly as if the words would disappear if she stared too long.
"...Jaeyi-ah?"
The name slipped out before she could stop herself, soft, barely above a whisper.
Her mind raced.
How long had this note been hiding between the pages?
Had Jaeyi left it there before... everything?
Or had she...
Seulgi's hands clenched around the note, heart pounding in her chest.
She stumbled back to her desk, grabbing the small bottle of pills Byeongjin had given her weeks ago.
The pills that helped her focus.
The pills that...
Her brows furrowed as she unscrewed the cap, tilting the bottle.
A few white capsules rolled into her palm.
Something crinkled at the bottom.
She shook the bottle harder, and a tiny folded note fell out.
With shaky hands, she unfolded it.
"Those are vitamins."
Seulgi's breath hitched.
Her head snapped toward the blue sticky note again, heart racing faster than ever.
No.
There was no way.
Her knees buckled as she sat back down, clutching both notes in her trembling hands.
The pieces started falling into place, the way she could sleep better, the way her mind cleared up without any weird side effects.
She thought it was just the pills doing their job.
