"we can't do anything if he's alive. he's alive, then let him be alive, what's the matter?" jeno asked, completely lost it when jaemin suggested that they should go after him.
"idiot" jaemin sighed.
"we are in danger right now, okay? renjun bombed him, but he's still alive. what if someone bombed you?"
"i wouldn't feel anything" jeno replied as he gave his full attention towards the phone in his hand.
"huh? why?"
"because im already dead?"
jaemin groaned as he smacked his best friend's head, totally disappointed with his reply. he snatched jeno's phone from his hand before he leaned down so he can whisper into jeno's ears.
"look, haechan is still alive and we're the last one he saw and talked to before renjun bombed him. he must have been targeting us since then" jaemin said, before jeno wiped his face and looked at his best friend.
"he wont, even if he's going after us, he wont—"
"you're talking nonsense, he's totally after us" jaemin said, before he shoved jeno's phone at it's owner as he walked towards naeun. he kneed down, so that he can look into the little girl's eyes.
"can you promise me something?"
"what is it?" naeun was excited, as usual.
"promise me, dont you ever talk to that guy again" jaemin said, before he wiped off some chocolate that went to the corner of naeun's lips.
"why? is he a bad guy?"
"he's so bad. he... killed people. promise me that you'll stay away from him"
"but aunt seulbyul loves him!" naeun said, as jaemin gave the little girl a small smile.
"she'll accept the truth soon"
naeun became so kunfused, before she took another chocolate cookie and ate it. she wasn't care about it actually, her only mission is to stay away from haechan.
"but what if he gave me another lolipop"
"then remember your aunt's angry face if she knows that you eat one" jaemin chuckled as he picked up naeun and her bag.
"now if you promised, i'll bring you to the park—"
"OKAY, I PROMISED!"
"wait, i thought seulbyul was going to send naeun?" jeno asked to himself at the moment jaemin closed the front door.
well, as if he cares. his game is more important.
—
seulbyul didnt go to work that day. she spent her whole day outdoor, getting some fresh air like what renjun suggested her to do. she promised that she'll send naeun to school but it seemed like she's already went away with jaemin.
and when she was preparing to go out, she noticed something in jeno's eyes.
as if he didnt want her to go out.
as if there's something dangerous going out there. she didnt know what, but if they had something to tell, they would've told her, right?
and renjun, he's out to find a new job. after the apologizing session last night, he decided to continue his life happily and freely. he once mentioned about being a barista, that'll suit him a lot, so she didnt mind.
so she walked around the neighborhood. there were so many things changing since the last two years. it's not that she didnt go out often to realize all these changes, but she really amazed that the neighborhood changed a lot.
there were so many new things that she had explore,
especially the new restaurant infront of her. it was located next to the coffee shop, probably the place that renjun wanted to work at.
so she entered it, and as expected...
"SEULBYUL!"
"oh, hi xiaojun"
"when was the last time you visited us? what a shame" xiaojun pouted, but seulbyul just gave him a small smile.
"what are you doing here? arent you supposed to go to work?" seulbyul asked as she took a seat infront of the guy.
"i skipped the shift before lunch. thank god jaemin is the boss now, he's nice so i can do what i want. wait, don't judge me, you do the same!" xiaojun widened his eyes before he took a sip of his hot chocolate.
yeah, they worked together.
and six months ago, jaemin was promoted due to his hard work and stuffs, so he's the boss now. he wasnt that strict so as the ones who are befriending him, they're just going to ignore him and come to work when it's important only.
"great, i have a 'work ditching' mate now" seulbyul said.
"well, i came here to accompany kun though. he looks so lonely working here—"
"wHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
xiaojun immediately laughed out loud when a pan made contact with the back of his head. seulbyul just chuckled, as he looked at the guy who was nagging at xiaojun.
one of renjun's best friend,
one of winwin's closest friend as well, same goes to xiaojun and some other boys that she didnt know. they said that they called themselves wayv. she didnt know much, but yangyang was also one of the members. what a cool name,
and a cool leader who wouldnt stop nagging.
his name is qian kun.
"im sorry, seulbyul. xiaojun always bitching around and make fun of me" kun said, before he smacked xiaojun's shoulder for the 5th time that day. seulbyul just smiled, didnt know what should she say.
"yangyang's coming though, he said that he wanted to eat—"
"i dont take that kind of orders, if he wanted to eat here then make an order at the moment he stepped into this restaurant" kun blabbered while pouring some drink into the glass.
"whoa, he's angry" xiaojun chuckled.
renjun should work here instead, though. she'll make him work here.
after the night renjun apologized, everything went different. life now was totally colourful. she was so ready to start a new one.
but little did she knew,
the story two years ago that she thought had a bad ending,
it didnt even end yet.
—
without realizing it, seulbyul spent the whole day in the restaurant. she didnt even noticed that the time had passed because she really enjoyed talking and laughing with kun. they talked about lots of stuffs, but mostly kun spent his whole time cooking while blabbering about his friends.
xiaojun had left earlier because he's going to buy some groceries with a guy named hendery, and at the same time they're going to fetch yangyang from his office. how cute.
kun was about to nag again when someone entered the restaurant.
"oh, welcome!" kun bowed, and the guy replied with a smile.
seulbyul couldnt see him because her back was facing that guy. but still, she didnt want to know who was it anyways. if kun knew that guy he'd call out his name.
the guy ordered the food, but he wasnt going to eat at the restaurant anyway, maybe home is better for them.
"can i have 9 uhm.... what do you have here actually?"
"you dont know about the food in this restaurant? i guess you're new here"
"i came here with my friends. two of them used to live here but left 2 years ago, and somehow we got a new house to stay together in this neighbourhood." he said, as kun explained about the food that were written in the menu.
"i see, welcome then!"
seulbyul who cant avoid herself from eavesdropping sat silently at her seat, staring at her unfinished food.
something doesn't feel right.
she really wanted to look back, she wanted to look who was that guy.
but before she could do that, the guy already walked passed her. she just looked up at him, staring at his smiling face.
'dimples' that was the first thing she thought.
he took a seat not far from seulbyul, but still facing her. she just looked at him, trying to find something that bothered her. she knew, something wasn't right, her instinct said that.
but it wasnt long enough before that guy turned and landed his eyes on hers.
"yes?"
seulbyul quickly looked away, her face immediately turned red. she just wanted to find something odd- well, she doesn't even know what is wrong with her.
she just hoped he didnt think the wrong way.
seulbyul just sat there, her mouth shut, hoping that everything would go back to normal. hoping that the guy pretended that he didnt even caught her staring, and she'll pretend that she didnt even look at the guy in the first place.
"wait..."
here it goes.
the guy slowly stood up and walked towards seulbyul, knitting his eyebrows as if there was something wrong with the girl. he then sat infront of seulbyul, tilting his head to the left.
seulbyul just awkwardly looked away. she totally felt uncomfortable with him staring at her like that, tilting his head and curving a slight smile at his lips.
"w..what—"
"ohhhh!" jaehyun slammed his hands at the table in excitement, making seulbyul backed off for a little. she widened her eyes, looking at the guy in a total horror.
"do i know you?" she asked, raising her eyebrow.
"i was going to ask the same thing" he said, taping his chin.
seconds after that, he leaned foward, just to stare at seulbyul's face even closer.
"stop staring—"
"you look familiar"
seulbyul was taken aback by that. her instinct said that he looked weird, but her instinct didnt said that she saw him before. nope, she never met this guy.
how the hell did he know her?
"m...maybe you got the wrong person?"
"nah, i dont meet a lot of people" the guy played with his hair for a few seconds before his eyes landed at her again. this time, he went 30% more serious.
"you look so familiar. i think i saw your picture once, from someone. maybe one of my friend knows you" he mumbled to himself.
seulbyul started to feel somehow creepy with the handsome guy infront of her.
"a..and whats your friend's name?" her question made his thought died.
"oh, unfortunately, he didnt want me and the others to expose his identity. he loves to keep himself unnoticeable. but still, he went out around the neighborhood a lot, he just dont want to talk to people and make more friends" he explained.
"oh" that was seulbyul's only respond.
"but, he's the only secretive one in our squad. im totally friendly" he smiled as he took out his hand.
"my name is jung jaehyun"
seulbyul hesitated to take his hand, its not that she didnt believe him. well, he's a stranger. she didnt even know him but yet he did recognize her.
she had enough dealing with strangers.
because the last time she befriended one, it took her long enough for her to realize that she was in love with a serial killer.
"uhm..."
"come on, its not everyday you can get a new friend" his smile became even wider.
he's not flirting, right?
"my name is..."
"lim seulbyul?"
seulbyul was shocked to hear her name slipped out from his lips. she was about to shake jaehyun's hand, but cancelled it immediately.
"h..how do you know my name?"
"WAIT, SO YOU ARE LIM SEULBYUL?"
seulbyul was totally kunfused. she had so many questions to ask this jaehyun guy, but seeing him being way too excited about comfirming her name, she went speechless.
"you're seoyeon's little sister?"
oh.
"how do you know seoyeon?"
"the tragic killing thingy two years ago, i know that" jaehyun said.
seulbyul really wanted to stand up and run outside when he said that. how terrifying this handsome guy is. he may be smiling all the time but she can see some creepy things hidden behind it.
"uhm..."
"well, you're the killer's lover, right?"
this is too much.
just talk to her about anything, she didnt mind.
but don't you ever bring up a topic about haechan, her weak heart can't handle it.
"okay, sir. i actually don't know who you are, i dont know what's your deal, but—"
"jung jaehyun! your food's ready!" kun yelled, making both of them jumped in sync.
jaehyun slowly stood up and walked to the counter that was located not far from her seat, as he paid the food to kun.
"you know, seulbyul..." he said in a low tone. he grabbed the plastic that was filled with 9 packets of food that he ordered as he turned to face seulbyul who was totally shaking in fear.
"....he remember people. im sure he didnt forget you and your friends"
"but since you're here, i wanted to give some advice" he said while walking towards the door. before he could exit the restaurant, he gave her a playful smile.
"i hope you guys will stay alive after this"
and then he left.
seulbyul just watched him disappearing from her sight, totally speechless. she couldn't think straight anymore.
was this some kind of a coincidence or, someone planned this? was this a prank made by chenji? if it was a prank, she's going to throw them in the sea.
but still, something's not right.
he mentioned seoyeon.
he mentioned her friends.
he mentioned haechan.
he told her to stay alive.
something's really not right.
she immediately stood up and ran to the door as she opened it to see the view outside clearly. she aint leaving, she didnt pay the food yet and she didnt want kun to nag again.
she tried to look for jaehyun, at least if she knew the number plate of his car, she'd be able to notice him around the neighborhood.
but instead of jaehyun,
he saw someone else.
he was backening him, so she couldnt see his face.
but she recognized that back so well. she recognized the way he stands, the recognized those clothes, everything.
she looked at him, she stared at his back figure,
and her legs suddenly went weak.
"h....haechan?"
— he brought the whole
squad with him.