Sunghoon left the house with his parents for the figure skate tournament that he's going to be a part of. Sunghoon always loved the Winter Events because it's cold outside, it feels like he's still on the ice, like being on the ice for 24 hours.
"Got everything you need?" His mother asked. He nodded in response. "Don't be nervous, you don't have any competition out there. Just focus." She tried to motivate him which don't usually work. Sunghoon would rather listen to his coach.
He looked out of the window while listening to music, when he saw a groups of people running around with Hogwarts uniforms and robes. At first he though he was hallucinating because he hadn't have much sleep, but even when he rubbed his eyes, he can still see them.
He can already tell that Mark Lee's and Johnny's a part of this.
After the long registration he got into the ice skating rink, they were told to warm up as usual. As he was making sure his landings are precise, he started to remember what Jungwon has told him about teamwork and other shit. Sunghoon smirked to his thought and though Jungwon only talked nonsense to distract him at that time. There's nothing wrong about working alone.
Working alone knowing that you'd never stop until finish all the task is better than assigning tasks to people who procrastinate and says a lot of excuses.
Since small event like this normally ends for about 3 days, Sunghoon knew he won't be able to see Jay in a while.
After warming up, he went to his coach and parents at the side, snatching his phone beside his mother then excused himself to go to the men's room. As he was about to call Jay, his phone started ringing. It was Jay who called him instead.
With just one ring, Sunghoon answered. "Where are you? I called Lia, but you're not there. Do you have any idea how concerned we are? I even told mom and dad to make a missing person report." He said making Jay and everyone panic.
"Well, did you?" Jay sounded nervous.
"Well, no." Sunghoon answered. "They said you were just upset because they scolded you. Don't worry, I told them again that it was my fault and that they shouldn't have blamed you." Sunghoon reassured him. He wanted to make Jay feel less burdened.
"See, told you they won't care. No problem." Jay spoke, talking to whoever he's with right now. Sunghoon felt his chest tighten at Jay's remark. He felt like he was selfish to allow his parents to always stay by him and take his side. Jay even thinks he's irrelevant now.
"I care! You reckless rebel!" Sunghoon yelled at Jay in anger. He didn't like Jay's point of view. He doesn't want his twin to think that he never mattered.
"Goodluck on your ice skating tournament Hoonie! Bye! Sleep tight!" Jay muttered then hung up right away. Sunghoon sighed in sadness and regret, going back to his coach.
They were telling him a lot of pointers but Sunghoon couldn't focus. He was thinking about Jay and his parents. He glanced at his parents who are here to support him. His father even requested a leave just to be here.
He wondered, if it was Jay who showed interest in figure skating, would they treat him better, or would they be in favor of Jay and ignore him instead?
If only they show a little love to Jay, life would be a little kinder to Jay. He's already struggling in coping up. Jay sleeps most of the time in school and even at lunch, he'd rather be in Hansol's office, rather than his friends.
Wait, the last time Sunghoon checked, he has no friends.
"Park Sunghoon!" A sweet voice distracted him.
He looked away from his coach and saw Krystal waving at him. He's there holding a bouquet of blue rose, which symbol for attaining the possible. In competitions and athletic point of view, blue symbolize the first place.
It means Krystal believed he'd get the first place. Sunghoon's now energized.
"Sunghoon! Focus!" His coach blocked Krystal. "Look at me." He demanded. It didn't matter. Now that Krystal's watching, Sunghoon will definitely focus.
Meanwhile, someone called Sungyeon which caused her to excuse herself. It's Bae Irene, the school Director's secretary. It must be about something urgent. Maybe it's about Jay.
"Good Morning Miss Park." She greeted as soon as Sungyeon answered the phone.
"Yes, yes. Good morning Miss Bae, is there something I can do for you?" She asked.
"Miss Park, I'm so sorry to be the one who inform you this, but there has been a report that a student jumped in Han River today around 12 AM to 1 AM. We are informed that it was a student from Seoul High. Are you with your sons right now?" She asked.
Sungyeon was silent.
The thought about Jay right away. He haven't heard from him since they scolded him. They didn't check up on his room before leaving. They didn't even invite him to breakfast. They were so used that he's not present that they continued their lives without him even if he's already there.
"M-Miss Park? Are you still there? This is urgent." Irene spoke. "Because the station where the kid was brought burned down. It was still under investigation if it's by accident or on purpose. They can't reveal anything else until the investigation is finished. Are you with students, Park Jay and Park Sunghoon?"
Sungyeon wanted to scream at Irene after asking the question. She couldn't answer it. What kind of mother can explained that she didn't bring her other child with them?
"Miss Park?" Irene asked again, on a low voice this time. She understands how a parent would feel in this kind of news. She knew she has to be patient.
Sungyeon turned pale as she shivered in fear. She had goosebumps all over her body. "D-did someone die?" She asked.
...
While Kei was taking out cases of empty bottles from the bar, he felt his pocket vibrating. He's at work, so he didn't want to answer his phone. He still has a lot of work to do. He needs to mop and collect lots and lots of trash from the whole room they call Black Pearl. The dance club which used to be the ER of this hospital.
It was extremely wide, so he needs to move quick if he still wants to enjoy his Saturday.
He placed his phone on the counter so he won't be pressured to answer it then proceeded to do the cleaning. Kei refuses to get help for this job because he wanted to get all the salary for 3 people. He has to, because he has to save up a lot for Niki's Med school.
As an older brother, he'd respect Niki's choice of education, but still wanted to save up as much to be able to afford Med school if ever he chose to be a physician.
Kei already have a bad record when he was expelled, even finding a school to transfer to was difficult. He knew that he's done for at this point. Aside from expulsion, he has a record at the police station for trespassing and vandalism. Even a decent job was hard to find. This thing at the unsafe building was even an illegal business.
The owner of this building is a rich man called Song Jongki, which was rumored to have several illegal businesses, including this. Also, he's Kei's boss.
It was him who allowed Kei to take 3 people's job for a high pay. It was better than his other job, at a restaurant who pays him 30% less because he has a bunch of bad records, which made him desperate to keep the job and they knew it. It's not rare to give a desperate student a job that pays less because they'd take it anyway, like Kei's case.
He needs extra income for himself, so it's not bad to keep that other job.
After cleaning up everything, Kei went to his phone and it's still ringing. It was an unknown number. Whoever it is that's calling it might. Be urgent. Or it must be just his aunt Jessica looking for him.
"Hello." He answered.
"Kei!" It was a familiar voice. "It's Seon." He choked.
It was weird, Seon's never called him since last year. They stopped contacting each other, due to Seon's request. He asked him and Heeseung nicely to stop hanging out with him and ignore him, because his father never liked them as his friends.
Though Seon didn't have to say why, they knew very well why. It was obvious that Seon's father thought they were bad influence to Seon.
"Yuri called me. She asked if I was with Heeseung." Seon managed to say after taking a deep breath. "She said Heeseung drowned himself at Han River."
"I went to her, and she really looked desperate and traumatized. She said she needed to find which station has Heeseung's body. She called all stations near Han River for any drowning incident. There's one at station 3." Seon's voice cracked.
"No!" It was all Kei could manage to say. He suddenly regrets not answering the phone right away.
"I don't know what I'm going to do if it's him." Seon starred sobbing. He's not even the type of person to sob.
Kei seem to have lost his energy that he sat on the floor, resting his back on the wall, bumping his head on the wall, thinking of Jay's last words to him about Heeseung.
"Don't be fooled by his independence."
"Deep down he might want someone to care."
Tears escaped Kei's eyes.
He texted Taki that he might come home late, and tell Jessica some excuses, then went straight to station 3 right away where Yuri is headed. Kei sped up and didn't care if he gets another ticket tonight. He needed to see if it's Heeseung. He has to, even though he doesn't know what he's going to do next if it's him.
When Kei got closer, he was surprised at with the amount of people gathering. The traffic wasn't even moving. He stopped and removed his helmet, kicking his stand, leaving his motorcycle in the traffic to get a closer look. He pushed past at people and saw the red flames engulfing the whole Station 3.
Kei felt the hot flames but couldn't back away. Firefighters pushed him back towards the survivors where several cops were injured and being treated.
"What happened?" He asked them as if it was his business.
"Get outta here kid! Don't you need to study or something?" An investigator yelled at him.
He looked around the survivors looking for Yuri or Seon but there's none.
"What happened here?" He heard the investigator ask the cops on patrol.
"Flames came from the morgue. It smelled like gasoline inside. There are few bottles of gasoline inside when we noticed the smoke." The victim answered.
"Could it be, someone's getting rid of any cadaver and traces?" The investigator asked again.
The victim was silent. "Seho did accompany someone wearing a gray hoodie to the morgue. He said a relative was missing. There is one unidentified body there. So Seho provided assistance."
"Seho? Where's Seho?" The investigator asked.
"He was at the morgue during the fire." The victim answered.
The two were silent. "And the guy with a hoodie?" The investigator asked.
"We didn't saw him leave." The victim answered.
Confused and still anxious, Kei went to his motorcycle, driving to the first place he has in mind. Chamber of Secrets.
He hurried down to the basement and went to the biggest room, barging inside the door, he saw Jay and Johnny making coffee. Perfect, it was so cold outside, he needs something to warm him up.
"Password?" Johnny muttered with a nervous smile.
"Hyung!" Kei went to Johnny, taking the his cup and drinking the coffee from it in one shot until nothing was left. He sat burying his face on his palms in defeat.
"What happened?" Johnny asked.
"Miss Yuri called Seon last night." He said and released a deep breath with a whistle, still not showing his face. Heeseung sat up hearing that. He was afraid that Yuri was doing it to Seon too.
Johnny anxiously waited for Kei to continue, but he drank another cup of coffee. Now Johnny had to make another one.
"Seon called me just to tell me..." He paused.
"What?!" Hansol impatiently asked as he stood up to drink his coffee.
Kei drank another coffee to prepare his feelings. Johnny looked at him in disgust as he makes two coffees just to make sure everyone would have their morning coffee.
"He said...."
Before he could say anything, Seon came barging in as well with a pale face and his eyelids swelling as if he bawled his eyes out last night. "Hyung! Yuri called me..." He started, unaware that Kei was also there.
"Yeah yeah! Skip to the last part!" Hansol impatiently demanded, drinking another cup of coffee making Johnny hiss, hitting Hansol's head with a teaspoon.
"What?" Hansol protested.
"Hyung!" Seon shouted, making everyone sit up and curse at him.
"Heeseung! He's....He's found dead. He drowned." Seon finally told them.
Johnny yelped in shock. Hansol as well.
Ten and Taeyong shared a high five, knowing they had succeeded in their prank on Yuri. Of course only them and Heeseung knew what happened.
Renjun on the other hand started poking Heeseung's side, making him giggle and stand up.
"He's here." Renjun said before throwing a pillow at Seon, then going back to sleep.
Seon and Kei was in shock. Yuri was convincing last night. The way she cried while talking to Seon on the phone. She even asked Seon on where she could find Heeseung's body.
Seon and Kei ran up to Heeseung, knocking him on the comforter, hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry!" They both apologized. Then apologized to each other as well.
The rest besides Taeyong and Ten had their coffee, thinking it's about time that these three start being friends again.
"Seon, dear! Go home before your father finds you here. He's scary." Hansol interrupted the three.
"I'll drive you home." Heeseung offered.
"No!" Everybody panicked.
Jay was now curious why. So this is Seon. The person they whisper about in the unsafe building.
"His father will flip out if he sees you." Haechan reminded. This might be a really good reunion but they still can't change the fact that Seon's father hate them.
"I'll drop him off at the gate for Christ's sake..." Heeseung muttered annoyingly.
"His agent followed us at the old bowling alley and got reported. We had nowhere to go for months until Minsung...."
Jisung stopped Haechan from speaking, making him realize that he put everybody in a bad mood. They were all silent.
"It's not your fault." Kei told Seon. "If you were to choose you wouldn't want that to happen." He said placing a hand on Seon's shoulder.
"It's not what I meant." Haechan spoke again.
Jay is now eager to know about Minsung. He has to know why silence follows after they mention his name.
"I know." Seon forced a smile. "It's why I asked everyone to stay away from me. My father still keeps track on what I'm doing. I better get going. I only came here because I thought something happened to you." Seon ruffled Heeseung's hair.
They were all interrupted when Jay's phone started ringing. He pulled it out and it was Lia. There was more missed call by Sunghoon and unexpectedly, there were text messages of his mother and father as well.
"Liaaa." Hansol teased again. Jay was about to finally answer, but his phone died. He forgot to borrow a charger last night.
"Well, I think I should go see Lia now. Thanks for the best night of my entire existence." He told them then waved goodbye.
"I better get going to. I'll just take a cab. That way it'll be safer." Seon told his friends.
"And the rest?" Taeyong asked Jeno and his friends but they didn't budge.
Jay and Seon stood outside waiting for a cab awkwardly. "New to the Chamber?" Seon started the conversation.
"Yeah, Jeno invited me." Jay responded. Before Seon could even ask another question, a black fancy car stopped in front of them with a man wearing a fancy grey suit stepped out looking furiously at Seon.
Jay stepped away assuming it was Seon's famously feared father. He tried to pretend that he doesn't know Seon, whistling away.
"You are a fucking headache! You keep on hindering on my important business! Do you know that?" The man started making Jay stop his tracks and look back at them. This doesn't sound like a father to him. "I cancelled a lot of plans because of this reckless actions you've been doing! How could you leave the house without informing me or your mother?"
"I had to see my friend. There's been a rumor that he passed. I had to see them all because I was concerned. What is wrong with that? What did I do wrong?" Seon asked his father.
"You were born! You existed! That's what you did wrong!" The man answered, pushing Seon inside his car.
Jay had to turn away again and pretend he wasn't eavesdropping. Now that was certainly worse than how his parents treat him. As much as he wanted to forget about what he just heard, he just couldn't help but feel bad for Seon.
He took a cab and went to Lia's place. As usual, she's alone. Jay didn't have to knock because Seungjun gave him a spare key in case he needed a }ace to stay. If Jay didn't know better, he'd think Seungjun just wanted him to keep being Lia's brother.
He went to the living room and saw Lia fast asleep on the couch, curled up in a ball. She looked like she's been crying. Poor girl.
Jay didn't want to be always available to her so she'd realize how much he's doing for her, but seeing her like this makes him want to punch himself in the face for hurting her.
"Iya." He softly spoke as he shook her awake, calling her his personal nickname for her. Back when they were still kids, when Jay moved to their household, Seungjun introduced Jay as Lia's new brother.
Lia always wanted a brother, so she welcomed him with a hug. She introduced herself as Julia Choi but Jay only understood Iya and started calling her that.
Lia fluttered her eyes before she opened it widely to see Jay clearly. She sat up in a rush that their heads collided and hurt them both.
"What are you doing?" Jay asked with a frown, rubbing where it hurts. Lia did the same, but wrapped her arms around Jay. "Where were you?" She started crying painfully.
"Relax! I needed a breather. You know me." Jay annoyingly told her. She was clearly exaggerating the situation. She knew him well that he'd disappear when he needs to clear his mind. It's what he learned from Seungjun, to escape when it gets hard, then come back like nothing happened.
Lia pulled away hitting his head and shoulders. "Relax?" She yelled at him. "You want me to relax? I thought it was you who jumped in Han River and drowned! Do you know how much I called you just to confirm that it wasn't you, and you didn't answer!" She hit her weaker and weaker while her cries became louder and louder in the process.
"I thought you'd ignore me longer if I keep calling, so I stopped. I thought I should call you in the morning, but after calling several times, I couldn't contact you any longer! Do you have any idea how worried I am?" One final punch on his shoulder and Lia finally stopped.
Jay then pulled her to his chest. "Sorry." He apologized. "I didn't know. I answered Sunghoon's call, so I thought he'd pass it on to you that I'm fine." He said as he rubbed her shoulders.
"Sunghoon said you felt irrelevant when you answered his phone call. He said your last words were 'see, I told you they won't care.' before you said goodbye and hung up. Even your parents were worried when they were informed about the news." Lia told him, starting to cry again.
"It's ok, I'm here. I'm alive." Jay reassured. "But whoever it is, aren't they going to call the school first and ask contact information of parents or close relatives?" Jay asked puzzled.
"Someone burned Station 3 last night, where the patrol took the student. One police died. He suffocated and burned to death beyond recognition." Lia told him.
Jay recalled Kei and Seon who were also as worried about Heeseung as Lia was to him. They mentioned that Yuri told them that it was Heeseung who drowned.
It was weird because Heeseung's alive.
Who is it?
Who died?
And why would someone burn Station 3?
"And the student?" Jay asked.
"Nothing. It's like it was irrelevant." Lia answered.
"Can you stay here for a while?" Lia asked, tightening her hold on Jay's shirt. "I don't think I can bare you to let you wander around for a while." She said on her shaky voice.
Jay chuckled at first, but stopped when Lia glared at him.
...
After Sunghoon's event, they went straight to Kia's place to see Jay alive and well. He was making toast and coffee when they arrived. Sungyeon cupped Jay's cheeks, looking him in this eyes. "I'm glad you're safe." She said, hugging him. "This poor child. I thought it was you. I thought you'd harm yourself. Were so sorry. We've been prioritizing Sunghoon more. From now on, we'll call you as often." She told Jay.
The kid shook his head in disagreement. "Please don't." He released a nervous laugh.
"But is there still no trace on who it was?" Sunghoon asked Jay as if he knows the answer to that. Jay shook his head in response.
It's already Monday. The weekend passed with the faculty calling parents if their children are at home. To survey on who's missing, but there are a lot in Senior class who already moved out from their parents' house. There's also a lot of them who aren't answering their phones.
"Maybe the attendance would determine on who...." Sunghoon paused, leaving the atmosphere heavy.
"Another one. Shall we transfer you boys on a different school?" Jae suggested. "How about your school Lia?" He asks.
Lia smiled widely giggling. "I attend an all-girls school, Mr. Park." She informed him, making everybody laugh, but they couldn't get rid of the huge burden on their chest, knowing that a student drowned.
Mr. Park drove Lia to her school before driving the boys to Seoul High. It was weird because almost all parents drove their kids in school today.
Sunghoon leaned closer to Jay, "Do you think they have figured out who it was?" He asked.
"Whoever it is, I don't want to know." Jay responded. He was uneasy.
Jay saw Hansol checking student's if they're wearing proper dress code at the side and ran up to him. "Hyung." He spoke then realized they're at school. "I mean, Sir."
"What?" Hansol frowned, trying hard to focus on other students.
"Who jumped?" Jay asked.
Hansol remained silent and it was obvious that he knew the answer to his question, but avoiding it.
"Do you have any information at all?" Jay asked in frustration.
Hansol rolled her eyes and leaned forward. "Meet me at my office at lunch and I'll explain. This can't be addressed in public. Whoever jumped the bridge might be responsible on burning Station 3." Hansol whispered.
"No one drowned?" Jay said in utter shock. Luckily, it was only Sunghoon who heard it.
"Yes, but keep your mouth shut, or he'll know we know he's alive and the whole faculty's currently observing students to know who it was." Hansol whispered to Jay again.
"Isn't there a record or something? Resident card? ID? Nameplate, they said it was wearing our uniform." Jay told Hansol and thought he was being clever.
Hansol was silent all of a sudden. He looked pale as well. He swallowed a lump and lowered his head and whispered on an extremely low voice, "His nameplate....." There was a pause. "His nameplate isn't his."
"How do you know?" Jay question making it harder for Hansol to explain.
"Because that nameplate belongs to someone who died last year. Happy? Now go to your classroom." He told Jay and left him there, looking closer at students.
Jay and Sunghoon walked to their classroom quietly. Sunghoon only heard one part but already knew it was serious stuff.
"By the way, how's the figure skate tournament?" Jay asked Sunghoon, who's expression lightened. He smiled at Jay which gave him an idea what the answer was.
Jay pushed him playfully, then placed his hand around his shoulders proudly. "I'm walking with a celebrity then. Congrats, should you get me bread then?" He asked making Sunghoon chuckle and cheer up.
Jay looked aroun in case there are also detectives around the place, but there aren't. At least no obvious ones.
They went inside their classroom and were welcomed with a celebration. The class was complete. They're celebrating.
What they didn't know was, nobody drowned, and they're all being observed at this very moment.
During lunch, Jay did as Hansol said and went to his office. "Hyung! Tell me more." Jay said sitting comfortably at the sofa.
"Any suspicious classmate?" Hansol asked. Jay didn't really pay attention at his classmates all morning.
"Nope." He answered.
"You know what, we couldn't contact Yuri to tell her what happened last night. She also happens to not attend her classes this morning." Hansol told him.
Jay didn't know what he's trying to imply.
"It was also her who told Seon about the wrong information about Heeseung." Hansol spoke, talking to himself. "Do you think there's a connection?" Hansol asked Jay who raised his hands in surrender.
But the more he thought about it, the more he thought Yuri was involved somehow. She's abusing her authority as a teacher to take advantage of Heeseung.
Could it be, when she heard about a Seoul High student jumping in Han River, her guilt gave her an idea that it might be Heeseung, went to Station three and burned it?
Could it be that simple?
What's the connection with the student who jumped though?
Who told her the student died?
She did looked in distress that night.
The door flung open with Yuta and Johnny racing who gets to lay on the long sofa first. The two launched themselves towards it. In the end, the two of them landed on the floor because Hansol pulled the sofa back. He pointed at them laughing his ass off.
"Get off Lord Voldemort!" Johnny said as sat up pushing Yuta away from him.
"You should've see your faces. You look like two flying fish colliding." Hansol collapsed on the couch, clutching his stomach while laughing at the two.
Jay stared at the three in disbelief. They behave worse than the students they're teaching.
"Jay! Jay!" Yuta called, distracting Jay from looking at Hansol. "Turn off the lights, then pass me the comforter and projector." He ordered.
Jay obeyed, turning off the lights, passing him everything he asked for.
"Let's watch a really great animé." He suggested, pulling Jay to sit on the comforter that he just placed on the floor. Johnny sat beside them as well. Yuta played One Piece where he stopped the last time making it confusing to the others that haven't watched the beginning yet.
"What a selfish prick!" Johnny muttered, lying down pretending to sleep, but keeps pushing Yuta to distract him from watching, making him bump into Jay every single time, which was irritating. Hansol on the other hand keeps repeating the dialogues with feelings.
Jay tried to stand up to go to Hansol's other couch, the smaller one, but Johnny suddenly rested his long legs on it.
"Sit down! This is the good part!" Yuta pulled Jay down. There was no subtitles, which was not enjoyable at all. Jay was starting to rethink who his favorite teacher really is. Mark Lee might be a safe choice.
The door flung open once again, letting the light pass through, making Yuta hiss and turn around. It's EJ. He looked pale as a flour. He looked sick.
"Oh, you have company. I'll come back later." He said followed by a cough. He is sick.
"Eeew!" Hansol joked. "Jay, take your classmate to the clinic." He ordered.
Jay gladly stood up. The School's clinic might be more peaceful than this room of wild animals.
"I'm fine." EJ insisted, but Jay was desperate to go. He took EJ's wrist and dragged him towards the clinic.
"Yes?" Miss Joy, the school's nurse asked when they entered. "EJ is sick. And I'm kinda dizzy." He lied at the last part.
"Sit down then." She assessed EJ's temperature first. "Oh no dear, you have a fever. Take this medicine and lay down sideways so I can asses you more. Try to to rest and don't mind me." She placed her stethoscope underneath EJ's uniform and saw some bruises in his body. Big ones, like he got into an accident or fell from a high place.
"Oh dear! What have you been up to lately?" Joy caught Jay's attention and saw the bruises as well. It looked painful.
"Just fencing practice, Miss Joy. Nothing to worry about." EJ reassured but it can't fool Miss Joy. She's a nurse, she's seen a lot of injuries and this is definitely not from a fencing practice.
"EJ! You can tell a teacher if someone's bullying you." Miss Joy told him, but EJ only laughed as if he heard a hilarious joke.
"Of course, because that helps all the time." EJ told Joy, laying face down for Joy to apply ice on his bruises.
Jay stared at EJ's injuries. They were not only bruises, he has scratches. Lot's of them.
"Your parents are going to know about this, just so you know." Joy told EJ but he was already asleep.
"Miss Joy, where do you think he got all those?" Jay asked.
"Rocks. I assume he dived on top of a falls and hit the rocks this weekend. These sporty guys loves the thrill and follows danger." Joy responded, rolling her eyes as if he's used to it.
Rocks?
...
A/N: I still feel anxious. By the way, I couldn't update for a while because an important person in my life just had an accident. He's currently in the ICU. I feel bad because I used to tell him he'd die from speeding, but now that he had an accident, I feel guilty.