""

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

The silver-haired girl tore her gaze away from the shimmering blue sea and was immediately met with warm brown irises, paired with their usual bright smile.

"We're going to get some noodles, do you want to come with us?" Ju-in approached, with the usual bounce in his step as he grabbed both of Aera's hands and swung them back and forth.

After the very eventful morning, the group of friends finally arrived at the rural beach. Opting to walk alongside the shore to appreciate the scenery, only stopping when they neared a convenience store, with Ju-in convincing everyone how they should eat instant noodles to exploit their experience.

The girl allowed herself to show a small smile as she reached up to ruffle the boy's head. She was about to open her mouth to answer when Yeoryeong suddenly approached the duo, stood beside her, and looped free arms together, pulling the silver-haired girl close to her side. The force made Aera's hand drop from the boy's head. Dan-I, watching the interaction, followed suit, standing opposite the purple-haired beauty and beside her aloof friend.

"No, you guys go ahead. Dan-I and I will be strolling with Aera, as someone selfishly hogged her this morning." She then narrowed her eyes at who seemed to be Jiho who only scoffed in return, a sign of begrudging agreement, knowing full well that it was a fact he cannot refute.

Eunhyung approached the quartet, standing in front of Aera and beside Ju-in, the former simply displaying a blank face, used to the antics of her friends. The red-haired boy crouched down to level her eyes with his and showed a gentle smile.

"We'll be back, okay? Stay with Dan-I and Yeoryeong." He ruffled her head fondly, but his question was met with a silent gaze from the girl.

"Okay?" He asked once more, intent not leaving until he hears some sort of answer.

Aera nodded her head once. "Okay," she replied in a soft voice.

Euhyung smiled before turning his back and going to where his other friends were waiting, dragging a pouting Ju-in behind him. Aera watched as the boys' silhouettes get smaller.

"I guess Eunhyung still can't help but be protective," Dan-I mumbled under her breath.

"I can't blame him," Yeoryeong replied, hearing what Dan-I said as she let her gaze fall at the silver-haired girl who still had her eyes trained on the four boys' retreating figures.

It was hard to forget the time when Eunhyung has first gotten protective; sure, he was supposedly the dad of the group, but one specific incident led him to care for the silver-haired girl more attentively.

It was back in middle school, the time when both Dan-I and Aera were still bewildered with everything that was going on that Dan-I formulated a plan to at least deviate themselves from all the chaos.

Dan-I avoided Ban Yeoryeong at all costs, and with the lack of her usual best friend, the purple-haired beauty directed her attention to Aera; which of course, sparked some nasty rumors given that the silver-haired girl was seen hanging out with both Dan-I and Yeroyeong at the same time.

Terms such as two-faced, or fake friend circulated like wildfire; making Aera keep to herself more than ever. She started avoiding Yeoryeong, Dan-I, and even her supposed childhood friends.

She started thinking that what other people said was true, and thus made it her responsibility to remove herself from them. She went to school at a very early time to avoid Jiho and Juin, she raced to the rooftop and locked the door to avoid Yeryeong's invitation to have lunch with her, and even called up her driver very late so she could stay back to hide and avoid Dan-I from wanting to walk her home.

With her grades still intact, her parents could care less from the apparent anxiety building upon the silver-haired daughter.

That bottled-up emotions soon came pouring out when some girls thought it would be fun to lock up the stoic perfectionist in a janitor's closet at the most secluded part of the building. It was an abandoned room, containing some broken brooms and mops that were deemed too broken to be useful.

The said girls were apparent fans of her childhood friends, and hated how close she was to them; so when they saw the usually black face of the unsuspecting girl walking alone--no doubt running away from her supposed ethereal friends, they grabbed both of her arms and pushed her inside the room, closing and locking the door.

"You belong there, useless and broken; that's what you get from being a two-faced b--." Aera's mind started tuning out what they were saying outside the room; sounds replaced with an unsettling white noise.

Aera felt the walls were closing in, as her breathing started to get more urgent and more ragged. She felt like she was being sucked out of the air she desperately needed, her heart pounding loudly against her chest as her whole body started shaking.

Suddenly, the voices multiplied; their voices muffled but Aera felt like she could hear and understand every single one.

"Two-faced"

"Bitch"

"User"

"Fake"

She screamed, loud enough as an attempt to silence the voices in her head. She clutched her ears in both pain and fright, wanting nothing but to stop the spiral of thoughts that were beginning to make themselves loose in her head. Tears flowed out of her silver eyes as everything that happened suddenly came crashing down, with no one to stop it.

Eunhyung could feel that something was off. It was almost time for afternoon classes to start and yet his silver-haired friend wasn't in the classroom.

The red-haired president wasn't stupid, rather one could say he was extremely perceptive; maybe not as perceptive as Ju-in, but he was getting there.

He knew what was happening, and knew the reason why Aera started avoiding them; he understood and therefore respected the girl's boundary, assuring himself that she just needed some time to adjust to a new school, as it was exactly what happened back when she first started working at the set.

He tried very hard to dismiss the rumors, knowing full well that it wasn't true; but his efforts were proven to be futile and even counter-productive as it made people hate on the stoic girl more.

And so, he kept his distance but made sure to always keep an eye on the girl--wanting to make sure that she was still okay, as he knew her tendency to get anxious. After observing for some time, he knew that regardless of everything--the rumors, her friends, her classmates; she would make sure to always come to class. Especially since her parents were always at her back, Aera could never risk falling behind at least third in the ranking.

Therefore, when he noticed that even after thirty minutes up until when the teacher was about the finish, that his friend still hasn't shown up, he knew that something must be wrong.

It looked like he wasn't the only one who thought of this, as he saw his friends, Yeoryeong and even Dan-I gaze at the door like prey, with worry and seriousness etched on their faces.

The bell rang and the group of friends bolted to the door. They could skip individual study sessions, as for now, their friend was more important.

Eunhyung scouted the whole school, careful not to be noticed by any teachers as his searching, no matter the intention could be considered as cutting. He searched every nook and cranny of where he thought the girl would be--the rooftop, the bathroom, the empty classrooms just beside the abandoned building--

Then he heard it, a pant of heavy breaths as if the person was desperately trying to inhale any oxygen to keep their bodies from dying.

Eunhyung never ran so fast in his life as he approached the small wooden closet formerly used by the cleaners.

He tried prying the door open but noticed it was locked. Cursing, he took a step back before kicking the handle with all his might.

"Aera, is that you? I'm here, okay? I'm here, please just wait a moment." He tried calming the girl down as he continuously set force on the broken lock.

After a few more powerful kicks, the lock finally broke down, and Eunhyung wasted no time to pry the door open. The sight before him set an unimaginable pain in the pits of his stomach.

The usually stoic girl had tear marks on her cheeks, her rosy exterior replaced with paleness as if she had seen a ghost, with her body trembling from her hands down to her feet; what broke it for him though, was her continuous mumbling:

"Please stop. It's my fault. I'm sorry, please don't leave me here."

Eunhyung immediately crouched down and cradled the girl in his arms; whispering words of affirmation as he caressed her back.

"Shhh, you're fine; I'm here, I won't leave you."

""

Eunhyung notified his friends right after the girl finally calmed down; drained of energy, she fell asleep in his arms.

The group had varying reactions from seeing the tear-stained girl, and hearing the story from their red-haired friend.

Yeoryeong was obviously sobbing, blaming herself for the cause of the rumors; repeatedly apologizing for forcing Aera to be friends with her again, even though the silver-haired girl could not hear her. She was convinced that it was because of their history that Aera reacted this badly to the rumors that surrounded her.

Dan-I was watching silently, guilt etched on her face as she knew this was the result of her failing plan. She didn't want this to happen but criticized herself regardless for not taking Aera's anxiety into consideration, given how the same had happened in their original world a few years back.

Jiho was evidently seething with anger, eyes cast sideways as the sight broke his heart too much. From the years of their friendship, Jiho has never seen Aera this broken and vulnerable; and thus blamed himself for not being able to protect his sanctuary. Vowing there and then that he would do anything just to find out whoever did this, and would make sure that they suffer great punishment as he was determined to not let this happen again.

Ju-in, much like Dan-I was silent; eyes blank of any emotion as he started to think of different ways to find the perpetrator and how to torture them. It was one of the rare moments when Ju-in could care less about what other people would think of him. His priority was Aera, and he would be making sure that people would get the message of what would happen when they messed with her.

Chunyoung was shocked; his usually blank eyes were widened slightly as he took in the news. Mind rushing to think of any moment his friend could've used his help. He felt like he failed her, and much like the others, he couldn't help but display a sense of remorse.

Even though they had different reactions, and different thoughts circulating their heads; all of them had one common thought in mind;

"ACHOO" Aera sneezed,

A gush of wind suddenly came as Aera finally took notice of the goosebumps in her skin as her system involuntarily let out a sneeze.

"Are you cold?" Both Dan-I and Yeoryeong asked as they started unwrapping their scarves for their silver-haired friend.

"No, I'm fine." Aera waved her hands to stop them, displaying a rare smile filled with gratitude.

"Thank you." She said softly.

Dan-I and Yeoryeong both felt a pang in their hearts as they both thought back to their promise on the day they thought they lost Aera:

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧