Follow me || Red Velvet & Seulrene

Chapter 59

"Ryujin?!"

Seulgi looked at the girl with her mouth wide open. Jihyo was standing next to her, shocked.

"Hey girls. Nice to see you again", she waved and smiled. Then they noticed the taller girl behind her.

"And you are here too!", Jihyo said to Tzuyu. The brown-haired just smiled shyly, her hands on the edge of Ryujin's wheelchair.

"Why are you here?", Seulgi blurted out, still confused of the sudden apperance of the former students. "It has been four months, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, that's true. Now it feels like an eternity, but I still remember walking through that hallways", she paused and rapidly observed the environment. "We came here because of the recent events. We heard about the thing with Wendy..."

Ryujin looked at her, uneasily, but Jihyo immediately broke the awkward silence. "How is your new school? Is it modern there or are they still in the 20th century like St. Priston?"

Ryujin chuckled and started to tell a bit about the Priestley University. Apparently, they found a lot of friends there who helped them to get over their trauma. At least Ryujin. Tzuyu still seemed to be a bit unsure but she had always been an introverted person.

The two accompanied them to the cafeteria since Seulgi almost starved. It felt good to talk with other persons except of the usual people around her, and she learned pretty much about the new life of the girls.

Ryujin told them that she now had a girlfriend. In contrast to this, she was very surprised about the fact that Seulgi and Irene were a couple. "So I was right with my theory!", she laughed and playfully slapped Tzuyu's arm.

"Probably", Tzuyu chuckled. Seulgi and Jihyo looked at them in irritation, so Ryujin quickly explained the situation.

"I bet with Tzuyu that at least Irene had a huge crush on Seulgi. You remember the scene in the health-care center? Irene couldn't stop looking at you. The tension was almost visible."

Seulgi awkwardly giggled. For a short moment, she remembered the encounter. It was right after Irene and her had shared their first kiss. A soft smile plastered on her face. Back then she had been so free, with out any concerns, just her and Irene. It had been too good to be true.

northern tract; 12:02pm

I opened my eyes as I immediately felt the pain spreading in my body. I groaned and tried to stand up but totally failed. My view was extremely limited due to the dust and dirt that was surrounding me. I coughed.

I recognized the wooden beams around me, some broken, some dangling down from the ceiling. Just a small column behind me illuminated the room. I blinked a few times. How did I get here?

A cough appeared. "Mina", I weakly spoke out and was about to stand up, as my body gave up and I collapsed. But to my surprise, somebody catched me from behind. Slowly, my body was placed on the hard floor, my head rested on something comfortable.

"I am so sorry." Mina's face showed up. This time, I could see the regretful expression in her eyes.

***

basement of main tract; 3:39pm

"Ugh finally", I said as Mina entered the small room. She was exactly nine minutes too late. Usually she was ten minutes earlier than me. Maybe she had other plans...

"Calm down. You know my dorm." I could see a low-key eye rolling and chuckled. "I know, Jennie can be pretty pushy when she is curious. But at least you managed to come."

Mina closed the metallic door behind her and walked to me. At first, she took a short glance at me, then grabbed my right arm. I winced and took a step back.

"Show me."

"It...it's fine."

"I said show it to me." Her deep gaze intimidated me. I guess I had no choice.

I slowly opened the button of the blouse and pulled the sleeve up. Again I flinched, feeling the pain in my wrist. I clenched my theeths and waited.

"This doesn't look 'fine' to me", Mina stated after she had inspected my arm for almost five minutes.

I sighed and looked up. "What should I do?"

"This is my fault", she exhaled and ruffled her hair. I immediately stood up and protested.

"Don't blame yourself. At least I chose to save you." I covered my wrist with the white fabric and smiled a bit. If I had to blame someone, it would definitely be me...

"But we aren't here because of my injury. We need to talk." I placed my left hand on the dusty table and leaned against it. Mina remained at her position.

"Nobody expected it", Mina whispered. "Wendy..." She touched her chin with two fingers and seemed to think about something. I interrupted her.

"Let us do a plan."

She looked at me in confusion but nodded.

"What do we all know?", I started and raised my eyebrows.

"Much", she answered.

"Exactly. Pretty much. We found out that Arnold Priston had a reason to build the complex under the school." I started.

"We know that he earned a lot of money with all the competitions his school won, and that he somewhere stored the sum."

"Right. Furthermore he has done some studies about teaching and other stuff. According to the books we read it should be at the same place as the money."

"And lastly...", Mina began.

"The complex is a former studying place", I ended. For a moment, we just looked into each others eyes. Mina was apparently thinking again. "What's on your mind?", I silently asked her.

She uneasily looked at me. Was this a sign of uncertainty?

"The reason."

I took a step closer.

"The reason is what we are missing. The detail that will maybe gives us the answer to everything."

I bit my bottom lip and squinted my eyes. She was right. We were missing an important part. And that was miserable. Then I got an idea.

"From now on, we question everything. Every odd detail at this school, every strange behavior." I took a pen which was lying on the shelf and spinned it. "Beginning with the question why Wendy stole that jewelry."