𝐔 𝐍 𝐋 𝐔 𝐂 𝐊 𝐘 - Night has come

𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝟔

Flashback;

Nari, whose quiet demeanor belied the tumult that had seized her ever since the unnerving incident that had occurred a week prior. As days turned into restless nights, Nari's world shrank to a series of fragmented thoughts and fears, witnessed by none so closely as her observant best friend, Eun-ha.

Nari's recent silence conveyed more than words ever could. Eun-ha saw it - the change in her once lively friend - as a cloud of distress that refused to lift. A week had passed since Nari had found herself in the throes of a terrifying event, a week in which her once bright voice had been reduced to a whisper, her presence almost ghost-like, always absent in thought. Eun-ha noticed everything about her changed behavior. However she wanted to believe that maybe just maybe she was overthinking.

One seemingly ordinary day, as Nari navigated the busy halls towards her classroom, her notes and diary in her hold, a familiar commotion pierced her thoughts. The distress came first as a murmur, then crescendoed into a cacophony of distressing cries. Kyung Jun, notorious for his bullying antics, was at it again. This time, his victim was Jin Da-bum, a mere bystander in Kyung Jun's reign of terror. Nari recognized the fear in Da-bum's eyes; it was a mirror to her own.

Something shifted within Nari then. Where fear had taken root and silence had become her mantle, the sight of Jin Da-bum cowering under Kyung Jun's wrath kindled a spark of defiance in her. Heart pounding, she stepped forward. With a voice that shattered her silence, "Hey! Get away from him"; her courage the lever that lifted Jin Da-bum to his feet. Side by side, they walked away, leaving Kyung Jun and his astonished comrades in their wake.

***

The quiet that enveloped the school's infirmary was a stark contrast to the hallway's earlier chaos. Here, Nari tended to Jin Da-bum's wounds with the meticulous focus of one who knew the stigma of harm all too well. The air between them was thick with unspoken questions, and it was Jin Da-bum who finally voiced the concern that had become palpable. "Why have you been so quiet recently?" he asked. But Nari, trapped in her own labyrinth of thoughts, remained silent. She had remedied his wounds, yet her own remained untouched, hidden beneath the facade of composure.

Little did Nari realize the impact of her actions that day. The simple act of standing up to a bully not only shifted perceptions but also sowed the seeds of something far more profound in Jin Da-bum. A burgeoning admiration took root within him, an admiration that quickly grew tendrils of affection for the girl who had been his unexpected savior.

However, feelings, once ignited, have trajectories of their own. In Jin Da-bum's case, those emotions assumed a darker hue, as his fondness turned into something more obsessive, unearthing a complexity of sentiments that would test the bounds of friendship and concern.

After Nari had left the infirmary, Jin Da-bum was alone. Looking beside him he noticed how Nari had left her diary there. Picking it up with a soft admiring smile he opened it. Reading the first page.
It was a poem. A beautifully written poem to be exact. And Jin Da-bum couldn't help but get lost in each word he read. It was as if it had a magic spell to feel the emotions buried deep within the poem,

"As the shadow of remembrance falls,

Casting its pall over lovely days,

Therein, the echoes of laughter enthrall,

Yet beneath, threads of darkness braid.