Awake

Chapter 2

"What got you to call after all this time?" Jeongyeon chuckled.

"I wanted to check up on everyone. You're the first one I called."

"Ah..." Jeongyeon looked down. "Everyone changed their numbers. I haven't contacted them since the disbandment."

"Thanks for telling me. Anyways, how have you been?"

"I'm fine." She lied. "How about you?"

"I'm okay, too. Do you maybe... want to meet up?" Nayeon asked.

"Sure. When and where?"

"Do you live near the park we used to go to all the time?"

"Yeah, it's about five minutes away."

"I'll meet you there in about an hour?

"Okay."

"Oh, by the way... I don't look exactly the same so I'll look for you instead."

"Alright. See you, Nabongs."

"Bye, Jeongie. Love you!"

"Ew." Jeongyeon chuckled before hanging up. She went back to her room to find something to wear. She saw a box of photos she had of twice and took it out of the closet. "Hm... I forgot I had this." She picked up the picture on the very top. All 9 of them were on it. Except for Chaeyoung. "Huh. Chaeyoung used to be in this picture... there's even an empty space here." She set the picture aside and put the box back.

An Hour Later

Ring... Ring...

"Hello? Where are you?" Jeongyeon asked.

"I told you not to look for me." She giggled. "Are you actually excited to see me for once?"

"No, of course not. I came all the way here just to see you because you told me to but what's the point if I don't even know where you are?"

"One year later and you're still mean to me. Anyways, I think I see you." She hung up.

"Huh? Where?" Jeongyeon turned around. Nayeon waved shyly, and she really did look different. Her hair was shorter, she had side-swept bangs that covered almost an entire side of her face, she was skinnier, her plump cheeks were gone, and she wore glasses.

"Hi."

"You weren't wrong when you said you looked different." Jeongyeon put her phone in her pocket.

"H-How do I look?" She looked down shyly.

"Ugly."

"Ah, I knew it." She chuckled. Jeongyeon stepped back in shock.

"Y-You just agreed with me calling you ugly?"

"I expected it. I don't really like how I look either." She looked down.

"N-No! I was just kidding, Nabongs! You're..." Jeongyeon smiled. "...really pretty." Nayeon blushed. "Why do you wear glasses anyways? For fashion?" Nayeon shook her head. "You... need glasses?"

"It happened shortly after we disbanded." She looked down. Jeongyeon knew what that meant. Their disbandment day was also the same day that Chaeyoung died. Even Jeongyeon would rather refer to that day as their disbandment, not the day Chaeyoung died or both.

"You're okay though, right?"

"It was the stress. Once it got too much, it affected my vision permanently. How about you? How have you been holding up?" Jeongyeon sighed.

"I've been okay, I guess. Not much to worry about except for..." Jeongyeon gasped then pulled the picture out of the bag. "You remember this picture, right?"

"Yeah... what about it?"

"Look at it closely." Nayeon adjusted her glasses and moved her bangs out of her face. She grabbed the picture and stared at it.

"Where's... Chaeyoung? I know she was in this picture."

"That's what I find weird."

"I have this picture in my wallet." She opened her wallet and took it out. "See? She's right there! What'd you do to the picture?"

"I didn't do anything, I swear." Jeongyeon flipped the photograph. "I don't remember writing this!" There was an 8 and a 3 on the back.

"Then who did?"

"How would I know?"

"Whatever. Let's just enjoy the rest of our peaceful date, okay?" Jeongyeon nodded.

"I'd like that very much."

"By the way, do you know anybody else's number or keep in contact with one of them?" Nayeon shook her head.

"That's why I was trying to call everyone."

"Not even Jihyo?"

"Nope... not even Jihyo. But I do think I know where Sana is... and Mina... and Tzuyu."

—————

"I'm back!" Tzuyu ran in through the door.

"Tzuyu-!" Mina sighed. "What is it now? And what happened to your face?" Mina got up to wet a towel, grab some bandages, and to get an ice pack.

"I got into a fight." She replied as Mina cleaned one of her cuts before putting a band-aid on them.

"A fight? Tzuyu... Be careful." She sighed. "Put this on your eye."

"Okay!" Tzuyu grabbed the ice pack and put it on her eye. She took out a lollipop and put it in her mouth before sitting down in front of her laptop.

"Oh, Tzuyu's back!" Tzuyu waved at Sana.

"Mina, Sana, look." She took the lollipop out of her mouth. "I got beat up right here."

"Why are you showing us where you got beat up?" Sana asked, holding the ice pack for her.

"Because maybe it connects to Chaeyoung's death?" Mina looked down. "That guy had a knife. His intention was to kill me but I ran away last minute! That could mean that Chaeyoung was the first one he killed and now he's going for me next."

"Her personality drastically changed after Chaeyoung died. In fact... her personality's exactly like Chaeyoung's now." Mina thought.

"Tzuyu..." Mina sighed and hugged her. "I love you but you need to stop getting yourself into these kind of situations."

"I agree with Mina. You keep getting yourself hurt. We can't afford to lose you too." Sana sighed while putting her arms around Tzuyu.

"I just wanna know who killed my best friend, is that too much to ask for?"

"And what are you going to do once you know who killed Chaeyoung?" Mina asked. Tzuyu looked down.

"Even I don't know. I don't want to kill him but at the same time, I can't just leave him unharmed!"

"Tzuyu, it's late. I think we should just take a shower and go straight to bed, okay?" Sana smiled softly.

"We just want you to be safe because we love you, Tzuyu. You were the one who wanted to stay with Sana and I. So... please understand that we don't want you to get hurt." Tzuyu looked down.

"Okay." She said quietly.

That night, Tzuyu couldn't sleep. She didn't know if it was because she wasn't able to finish her research on Chaeyoung's death or if it was because of the pain from the cuts she got earlier. She couldn't even move, even if she wanted to, because she sleeps in between Sana and Mina. She tried her best to get out of bed quietly, without waking up the other two.

"Tzuyu, go to sleep." Mina grabbed her arm and pulled her back into bed.

MEANWHILE

"So... I think Tzuyu could've figured out that we're going to kill her next."

"We should change the plan up a bit, right, boss?" A man smirked.

"I guess we should. Our target is no longer Tzuyu. We'll make her suffer first before we kill her... by killing the ones she's closest to."

—————

"Huh?" Jeongyeon looked at the odd picture. "Why is Mina slowly fading?"