I headed to the parking lot towards Seonghwa's car.
"So, you said you already had half the proj-," he started to say, but he got interrupted by someone in the distance.
"MIMI!" someone screamed.
I quickly whipped my head around wondering who the hell was screaming my name.
I saw Hyunjin in the distance waving his arms around like an idiot, trying to get my attention. I sighed at how extra he is. Seonghwa turned around once he saw I stopped walking and looked at the weirdo rushing towards us.
Hyunjin finally approached us and looked pissed. Immediately, my first reaction was to get defensive. He always gets angry when he sees me with other guys, I swear to God he better not be pulling this shit again.
"Mimi," he said slightly out of breath. I tried my best not to laugh at him.
"Don't go with Seonghwa."
Both Seonghwa and I immediately made a reaction. Seonghwa looked annoyed and so did I.
"God, are you seriously pulling this shit with me again?!" I said, a little louder than I expected to, "So what? I can't be near guys without you blowing up at me?"
He looked shocked at my words. I tried to read his expression more and he looked annoyed, with a hint of... worry? Oh... is he scared because he's scared Seonghwa might try to hurt me again?
I sighed, feeling bad I yelled at him, "Hyunjin, you don't have to worry about me." I moved a bit closer to him to get away from Seonghwa and spoke softly so he wouldn't be able to hear me, "I know that you don't trust him that much after what happened that one time, but trust me I've got this under control. I specifically arranged that we would study at a library so that he won't be able to hurt me. Hopefully, the public eye will stop him and worst case scenario, the library security guards are always there to help."
To my surprise he looked confused.
"You're letting him drive you there? Are you insane?!" he shouted.
"Yeah, I mean the library is only 20 minutes away, so it's not too bad."
"Mimi, isn't going with you, you can drive by yourself," Hyunjin suddenly said to Seonghwa. He grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him. I rolled my eyes at his stupid protective act.
This is so dumb.
"Why? 'Cause you think you own her? Mimi can make her own decisions you know," Seonghwa responded and grabbed my arm, pulling me back to him. I ripped my arms away from both of them.
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" I screamed and they both went silent, "HYUNJIN, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO AND SEONGHWA DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" With that, I grunted angrily and walked into Seonghwa's car. Seonghwa followed behind me and hopped into the car too.
I crossed my arms angrily.
I just want to get this stupid project over with, so I never have to talk to Seonghwa again.
I heard a banging noise and flinched. I looked up to see Hyunjin trying to get my attention by smacking the window.
God, he's acting crazy!
"Just drive," I said and Seonghwa did so.
I watched as Hyunjin's figure got smaller and smaller as we drove away. I sighed to myself annoyed with these two idiots. Honestly, the whole situation gave me a headache.
I touched my temple trying to get the aching to stop, but a buzzing noise interrupted the tranquility I was wanting. I angrily looked at my phone to see Hyunjin was calling me. I turned on Do Not Disturb and threw my head back in annoyance.
He's really pissing me off. I told him I could take care of myself and he still has to make a big scene about it and embarrass me.
My headache was now starting to throb and I could hear my heartbeat ringing in my ears loudly. I sucked in a breath since it hurt.
"Are you okay?" Seonghwa asked.
"I have a headache," I responded, touching my forehead.
"Oh... um, maybe you should close your eyes for a bit and let yourself rest."
Good idea. Hopefully, my headache goes away in 20 minutes, because I can't work like this.
I closed my eyes and let myself rest.
- - -
I never actually could fall asleep, even though I wanted to. The pounding on my skull would be much more bearable if I weren't awake for it, but it seemed to be the very thing in my way of getting some shut eye. All I could feel was the pain in my head and it seemed to have slowed down time. This 20 minute drive felt like it was taking an hour.
I still haven't looked at my phone to see how many times Hyunjin called or to see if he texted me. I really did not want to think about him at the moment, considering he's the one who caused this headache.
I felt the car come to a stop and I looked up expecting to see the library. To my surprise though, we were at a gross hotel.
What the hell?
"Why are we here?"
"I lost my wallet the other day. I thought since the hotel was on the way to the library I could stop by and get it back," Seonghwa said. He took out his car keys and got out of the car, "Could you help me get it back?"
I sighed. My headache made me not want to move, but I agreed with a nod since I didn't want to be rude. And who knows, maybe I'll find it quicker so we can finally get to the library.
I walked out of the car groggily and shut the door behind me. I followed behind him as he walked through the raggedy entrance doors. Once we were inside I got a better look at the hotel. The inside was not much better the outside. From the car, the hotel looked run-down, with all its weeds travelling up the perimeters of the building and the cracks in the bricks which were hard to miss. Giving it a second chance was silly because the inside didn't look any better. The wallpapers were peeling and there was a certain darkness to it I can't seem to explain. It isn't because the place isn't well lit, because it is... it was just dark and miserable for some reason.
I questioned to myself why Seonghwa decided to stay in such an unappealing hotel as we walked up to the front desk. He was asking the lady if there were any lost wallets, but she said no while shaking her head. I watched through my slightly blurry vision— probably a side effect of my splitting headache— as the lady suggested he could look inside the room for his wallet. I wasn't even paying attention that well, I'm just assuming that's what happened since she started to hand him a key.
"Let's go, the lady is allowing us to look for it ourselves," Seonghwa said.
We walked over to the elevator and I leaned on the railing.
God, I've never had a migraine this bad before. Maybe it's just a combination of stresses; the project and having to do it with Seonghwa, Hyunjin making a scene today... and of course the stalker. The stupid stalker shit has had me stressed out of my mind, that's probably why I have this headache.
OH MY GOD! THE STALKER!
I immediately grabbed my phone to check if my neighbor had messaged me. The elevator made a binging noise, meaning we arrived at the right floor, floor number 6, so I stepped out and then checked my phone while we were walking.
God, Hyunjin called me 20 times? Has he lost his mind?!
He texted me a long paragraph, but I didn't bother reading it. Surprisingly, Minho texted and called me a bunch too, but I really needed to check and see if my neighbor messaged me. I scrolled through my notifications and to my surprise she actually did message me. I opened up our chat to see what she sent.
It read, "I'm sorry dear, but I'm afraid you might have a stalker. I checked the footage and there is a boy following you, who hid from your sight after stepping on a branch. I've sent a screenshot of what he looks like."
Holy fuck... so I really do have a stalker.
I felt my heart start to race in fear and I looked around to see if anyone unfamiliar was near me, but there wasn't. It was just Seonghwa.
I checked out the photo and he looked like someone who would go to my school. He had a medium build and was around 5'8 I'd say. I felt shivers go down my spine when I looked at his scary tattoo. It was a tiger, on his left bicep. He was wearing a cap, shades and a mask so I couldn't see his face at all. At least I saw his tattoo though, that's a pretty good identifying characteristic.
I immediately texted her back when I was done looking at the photo. She responded, "Stay safe!" She's actually nicer than I expected her to be. I guess her yelling at me and Hyunjin as a first impression wasn't a very good one.
My thought reminded me of the one person I didn't want to think of.
Hyunjin... should I check out what he texted me?
I opened up his message grudgingly.
"Mimi, please read this. I did some research about Seonghwa and there were endless articles claiming he was a stalker, sexual assaulter and more, and those were the reasons he's been expelled so many times in the past. I think he might be the person who was stalking you these past few days."
My expression immediately dropped. My headache suddenly cleared up. I think my fight or flight mode turned on causing me a need to think clearly, or who knows why my headache went away so quick... either way it was gone... and I was fucking scared.
Could it really be Seonghwa?
My heart was racing as I tried to come up with a plan.
What is he hiding under that jacket he's wearing. Could he have the tiger tattoo?
"Uh-um Seonghwa..." I said nervously, but tried to cover it up with a laugh. "I'm really cold, could I borrow your jacket?"
He smiled slightly, looking sincere, "Aw, of course. You feeling under the weather? Is that why you have a headache?"
I laughed nervously, "Um, yeah, maybe."
He handed me his jacket, but did it so that I wasn't able to see his left arm. I put it on, then noticed something in his back pocket, sticking out slightly. It was black and had a distinct stitch pattern of his name in cursive on it. I looked closer at it, trying to understand what is was and why my gut was telling me it was important.
It resembled... a wallet?
Isn't that what we're here looking for?
"U-um, Seonghwa? What does the wallet we're looking for look like?" I asked.
"It's black... with a stitch pattern that says my name. My mom made it for me, so it's really important that we find it."
What the fuck...
Okay, so he's either lying to me saying he lost his wallet, that is clearly in his pocket or he's just an idiot who thought he lost his wallet and went all the way out here for nothing.
Honestly, I don't think anyone is that stupid. The latter seems almost impossibly unlikely. It seems like he lied to me to lure me out to a hotel in who knows where we are.
I looked at my phone and there wasn't any signal.
Shit.
I looked at the time and it said 4:30.
HOLY FUCK? WHERE ARE WE? HE SAID THIS HOTEL WAS ON THE WAY, BUT IT TOOK AN HOUR TO GET HERE?! WE PROBABLY PASSED THE LIBRARY AGES AGO!
I started to panic. I don't know where I am and there's no signal in case I need to call someone.
What do I do?
Suddenly, we stopped and Seonghwa turned to his left, to open the door to room number 10.
My eyes widened in horror as I saw what I needed to confirm Hyunjin's theory...
A tiger tattoo.