FIVE CROWNS.

fifteen

"Jade, if you want the truth, then my answer is yes. I hated her more than anything."

Jade Lei did not expect this. Jade did not imagine Ryu could be so good at covering up her emotions. And she knows now she shouldn't underestimate her, because it's impossible to say that Ryu doesn't have secrets. They all had skeletons which they wanted to bury, some more literally than others, but now she stops to consider what Vicki did to Ryujin.

"It's cruel of me; I know. And you're probably going to find me suspicious for saying it, but you wanted the truth so here it is. But I personally don't care that she's dead nor do I feel any form of regret that Vicki Wang is gone."

§

Jeongguk doesn't bring up their conversation from the restaurant. And Jade is glad he doesn't, because she personally does not want to talk about it. Lei understands that she shouldn't be listening to his every word like it's the truth — hell, she even warned herself about this — but, now she realizes she's starting to trust him. And no, that is not good.

Everyone can sense that her behavior around him is off. When she makes eye contact with Jaebum, he arches a brow at her in confusion but she shrugs it off. There's no point discussing something she doesn't want to talk about. Ryu seems to be tired of it, and so does Jeongguk, so she speaks up.

"Okay Jade. What's going on?"

"I don't know." She looks at Jeongguk. "Why don't you tell me?"

"What do I have to do with this?" He throws his hands up, but she knows he's smarter than that. "Don't act dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"We already talked about this!"

"Talked about what? The last time I remember, you didn't want to tell me anything!" He doesn't respond to her retort, only clenching his jaw and turning back to the view in front of them. The two bystanders are still pretty clueless, but now Jaebum has a feeling they've gotten to some disagreement. Makes sense. Jeongguk doesn't like to talk about himself because there's so many things he doesn't want to show. Oh, he is very insecure and scared. Jaebum can see right through him. That's probably why the younger boy across from him still keeps him attached by the hip. Because Jeon Jeon-gguk is a cold hearted impenetrable genius to everyone, but to the people standing on the rooftop right now, he is everything but.

"Now tell me why you two were at Vicki's dorm?" Now he switches it to them. "I told you why I was there. Don't think I even believed your excuse for a second Jade."

"That was the truth! I was there with him!" She yells back, pointing to Jaebum. Ryu raises her brows in surprise.

"Wow. I...did not know you guys were—"

"We came to Vicki's room to get a look at what it was like before she died. Any clues, I don't know. We weren't really expecting much, but we were curious." Jaebum frowns. "Why are you two so mad at each other?"

Jade is frustrated, not mad. He realizes this a second after he says it.

Defeated, Jeongguk looks away from them again. "I'm not mad at her." But Jade is still eyeing him like he's some sort of childhood trauma. "But why would you go to Vicki's room? There's nothing to see there."

"Wait. So you all snuck into Vicki's room?" Ryu frowns. "And I didn't even get an invite?"

"JK, we were just rummaging around. Jade doesn't know Vicki as well as you, and neither do I. Maybe this could have given us a look on her as a person, not an idolized student at school."

"Imagine having Vicki as your role model." Ryujin comments. "Not me."

"It's just weird, don't you think? She died so suddenly. Yes, her reputation was practically tarnished. But you're hearing nothing about it on the media, all posts about her funeral are suddenly deleted. It's like people are trying to wipe it from existence. A-And not just that, Vicki never gave up that easily. Why would she just..." He trails off, looking at his friend.

"Jade was right. Something did happen the weekend up to her suicide. And I know you know what happened." But this is where he is different from Lei. "I'm not forcing you to say anything. But sometimes, we would appreciate it if you could give us a nudge."

The two boys look at the girl who has been silent for the while now. Jade's silence is usually pretty intimidating, Ryu has found it that when she's quiet, usually she's disappointed or angry. Right now, none of those seem to be a good option. And she knows what it's about.

Jeongguk potentially could know who is behind the Bimil-ui Dobag fiasco. If events of the weekend were big enough to take Vicki's life, he must know more things. But Ryu knows that whatever went on those two days are tied closely to his secret. The thing he is not ready to talk about. And the Five Crowns. Right now it's very obvious to her — it's a war between Jeongguk and the other three. Because he hates them and wants to bring them down. But if he does, then everything gets ruined. He will be revealed, but so will everyone else and that hacker that is haunting them all.

"I find it hard to distinguish when you're telling me the truth." Jade says finally, looking at him. "And I don't know when you're lying to me. I'm just worried for myself. I don't know if I should trust you. But it's too late for that, isn't it? I feel like I'm already trusting you too much, and that all those things are lies."

She takes her phone out from her jacket, and looks at it. "I'm gonna go. I have somewhere to be." It's a lie, but she cannot be here now. Her head hurts.

"Jade—" Jeongguk doesn't know whether to go after her or not, but he decides instead not to. Her honest opinion of him burned a little. But he deserves it.

If Jade finds out on her own about him, he won't stop her. Because it's too hard for him to talk about it.