Wonyoung doesn't remember feeling like that anymore. The last time she was this depressed and scared was when the accident happened three years ago. Those wounds were reopened the moment Sunghoon brought up the subject, making her realize that he was one of the victims.
It would have been easier for the girl if she still hated Somi. She would have had no qualms about telling him the truth then, but she couldn't do that now, not when her former friend was trying to warn her about Jay, bringing danger upon herself.
What could she do to gain Sunghoon's trust? She cared about him a lot, she felt like she was slowly starting to fall in love with him... It wasn't just a crush anymore. Her heart beat faster at the sight of him, she wanted to see him at all times, be with him...
She sits on a bench, watching people pass by. She feels like crying, but she holds back the tears by pressing her lips together.
Should she write to him? Try to explain herself in any way she can so he doesn't hate her?
- Wonyoung, poor Wonyoung. - She hears a voice from the side that she dreads. Her heart freezes with fear. She looks to the side and sees an inhumanly beautiful man, who is slowly walking towards her. - What a bastard, to leave you here alone, completely defenseless. What good is it that it's the middle of the day and the weather is beautiful, when a monster like me can make sure no one notices the incident that will happen?
- Are you following us? - the girl asks in a trembling voice, watching him with wide eyes. - Why do you hate us so much?
- I think you're well-informed. The blonde girl can't keep her mouth shut. She babbles left and right - he says, sitting down on the bench next to her. The girl moves away from him, which makes a smile appear on his face. - It just so happens that I have nothing to do. I wander here and there, eager to make life miserable for people I have a problem with - he adds, looking at her intensely, and his eyes turn red for a moment.
- I understand that you hate us because of our previous lives, but Somi has nothing to do with this, don't hurt her.
- Are you that worried about her? And you think she told you everything out of concern for you? - he asks her in an amused voice. - She's a toxic girl who tries to get closer to your group in this way - he adds.
- I know what you're trying to do. You want to mess up our relationship, you're doing this to make me hate her.
Jay smiles cynically. He lifts his face and despite the sun, which does him no harm, as the vampire myth claims, he seems calm.
- So you're going to protect Somi until the end, letting Sunghoon hate you? You're interested in this life. I get the impression that you were more romantic in your previous life. It's a shame because I made many plans to keep you from being together, and it happened sooner than I expected.
Wonyoung frowns, suddenly realizing something. His words sound as if this had all been planned by him from the beginning.
- Somi did it on your orders - the girl says in a whisper, feeling shivers run down her spine. - It's your plan. You wanted her to tell me about you, to be on her side, to make Sunghoon hate me.
The brunette boy claps his hands, looking delighted.
- Oh, damn, I didn't expect you'd be such a smart girl in this life. - He sits sideways, watching her with an intense gaze. - You shouldn't feel sorry for that bitch. I can read minds, so I can tell you, just between you and me, that she never liked you because she was jealous of you her whole life. I don't think friendship should look like this. I don't know, I don't know much about it, but I've been observing people for hundreds of years.
His words make Wonyoung feel her heart break. She always thought that Somi didn't act like a true friend to her, that she saw her more as competition and a chance to show that she was better. However, the brunette ignored it because she liked her very much and cared about their friendship. She simply believed that these were her fallible perceptions.
- Why are you telling me this if you hate me?
"I don't hate you, Wonyoung," he says, touching her cheek with his cold fingers. She instinctively pulls away, and he places his hand on the back of the bench. "I just resent you."
- What are you talking about? - the girl asks in a trembling voice. - Leave me alone, please. Me and the other people who are close to me.
- I won't leave you alone. A lot has changed, but in this life I will show you that you are under my control. All of you. - He stands up from the bench and looks down at the frightened teenager before leaving. - See you, Wonnie.
The girl watches him until he disappears from her line of sight. Breathing heavily, for the umpteenth time today she feels like crying like a baby.
***
Sitting in Niki's car, Sullyoon tries to call her older sister to make sure she's actually with Sunghoon and that nothing happened to her. She has a bad feeling, especially when Wonyoung doesn't answer any of her calls.
- Leave her alone, you're clearly bothering them - says the man sitting behind the wheel, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
- If that were the case, she would reject my calls, then I would be calmer - the eighteen-year-old girl answers him. - What if she's not with Sunghoon?
- Why would that student lie? She said Wonyoung felt bad and that bastard took care of her. I thought you liked him and even trusted him.
- What I find interesting is that at this point you're the one trusting him, being so calm about the whole situation. - Niki rolls her eyes at her words. - It's not that I don't trust Sunghoon, but maybe they were only together for a short while, what if Wonyoung is alone now and something happened to her?
- Baby, you are so dramatic.
Sullyoon glares at him.
- She's my sister, I'm worried about her, especially since that madman who hangs around us appeared.
- Are you talking about Sunghoon? - Niki doesn't give up.
- No! About that psycho who harassed me several times.
The twenty-year-old boy grips the steering wheel tighter.
- It's all Sunghoon's fault that he's hanging around us. Ever since he showed up, that psycho has been following him.
- You're making me nervous, oppa! - Sullyoon shouts, glaring at his friend with a frown. - Stop blaming him! He's a victim too, just like us. He's in danger.
Niki inhales loudly, not commenting on it in any way. Her eyes open wider, and she breaks at the last moment when she notices someone appearing on the road.
They are among the forests, heading to the "Oasis of Peace" district, where the houses of the wealthy are located.
At this point, there is no one around them. There is only Niki, Sullyoon, and the madman who jumped out of the forest.
The man the eighteen-year-old girl is terrified of looks at them with amused eyes.
Enraged, Niki gets out of the car, wanting to teach the idiot who decided to make such a joke a lesson.
- Niki, no... - Sullyoon says weakly, wanting to stop him, but he doesn't listen to her. With a frightened look, he watches his friend, who in a fighting attitude approaches the stranger and grabs him by the collar of his jacket.
- Are you fucked up, man? - he says through his teeth, looking at him with a crazy look. - What if I hadn't braked in time?!
The brunette boy with pale skin curves his lips into a smile.
- Were you scared? Did you remember the moment of terror when you lost your younger brother as a child? - he asks with a sneer in his voice, and Niki automatically lets go of him, looking more shocked than angry. - Oh, Wonsung, you were always temperamental. I liked you.
Sullyoon gets out of the car, never taking her eyes off them.
- What are you talking about, man? Who are you, how do you know that I lost my brother in an accident many years ago?
- It was really dramatic since he was torn apart by an animal in front of your eyes, wasn't it?
The twenty-year-old boy begins to breathe harder as the horrible memories that still haunt his nightmares return to him. He still can't forgive himself for not being able to do anything to protect his little brother.
The eighteen-year-old girl runs up to them and stands in front of Niki, as if she wanted to protect him from a dangerous man.
A person in love has strange courage.
- Isn't it enough that you're persecuting me? You may hate Sunghoon, but leave Niki alone. He's suffered enough in the past. Don't open up his wounds, no matter how you know what happened to him.
The brunette boy strokes her chin with his fingers, and she instinctively moves away.
- Don't touch her - Niki says, aiming a hostile glare at him. - Whoever you are and whatever you know about us, take revenge on Sunghoon, since he's your enemy. Leave Sullyoon and the rest alone - he adds, never taking his eyes off him.
Jay looks at Sullyoon with amusement in his eyes.
" Seohyun, I don't think I need to help you. You're doing great. That's adorable," he says. "But I hope it won't get dramatic when you remember your past life."
- Stop calling us names that don't belong to us! - A feeling of anger builds up in the girl, and finally, she can't hold it in, screaming in the face of the man she hates. - I still don't know what you are or how much you know about us, but I beg you, let us live.
- We are connected by a past life, as you will all soon find out. I will not give up on you until you know the truth and understand why all these strange things are happening around you - he states, watching them carefully, then his eyes rest specifically on Niki. - And you, stop blaming everything and hating Sunghoon, because you will suffer at your will when you finally learn the truth, idiot.
They both look at each other with unreadable eyes as the man literally disappears into thin air before their eyes.
What is this if not human, and what does it really want from them? What truth are they supposed to know? And why does it still hark back to a previous life?