unpretty

25

June 21, 2012

"Stay close to me."

I looked at the man beside me as he gripped onto my hand, locking his fingers tightly with mine as if he'd never let it go.

"Hoseok," I briefly smiled at his move, "I know you're worried, but at least please let me walk on my own. No one is going to hurt me now because you're with me."

I gently put his hand back to his side as we continued walking our way towards school. It's been five days since the incident and thankfully, I was discharged from the hospital yesterday since I only had a minor head injury which healed pretty quickly. 

"I'm sorry. I just... I can't let that happen again to you," he sighed and pouted at me.

Adorable Hoseok.

"I'll be fine," I assured him with a smile.

"In case you forgot, I'm still here," Ailee cleared her throat and waved her hand in front of us in a joking manner. She eyed the both of us for a long moment, as if there was something suspicious going on between us. "Hm. Not only Hoseok can keep you safe, you know, li'l sis? I'm here, too!"

We both then laughed at her remark and continued to chat when two familiar voices greeted us as were walking on the alley.

"Boksungie!" 

"Hey!"

"Clara, Hyeri!" I excitedly ran to the two of them and pulled them in for a hug. I'd certainly be lying if I said that I didn't miss these two.

Hoseok and Ailee also gladly greeted them, making it five of us going together to school. Our conversation continued, both of them also expressed how glad they were that I was okay and that nothing serious had happened.

When we reached the school gates, Hyeri and Clara suddenly pulled me aside, "Umm, Hoseok, Ailee, we have to go to the restroom for awhile."

"Well, we'll go with you," the only lad between the five of us uttered, he eyed me for a moment, "I want to go with Boksung."

"No!" Clara yelled which took us by surprise. As she realized what she did, she quickly recomposed herself, "I-I mean, no Hoseok, that's fine. We'll be with her then. She'll be safe with us."

"Y-yeah. You see, it's a girl thing. You wouldn't possibly want to participate, would you?"

The girls seemed to plead Ailee with a look to help them and she must've gotten the message, "Yeah, Hoseok. Let them catch up. Come on, let's go," she pulled the hesitant guy's arm and made their way first to the classroom.

Both of the girls also pulled me aside to a bench where there are lesser students hanging around. I looked at them confusingly, "What was that about?"

"We have something to tell you, Boksung," Hyeri stated.

"About what?"

"The incident. You see, the police claimed that it was an accident. There was no one suspicious in the CCTV records and the students also claimed that they saw the flowerpot already dangling from the window," Clara mentioned and look at me worriedly.

"What? But it wasn't an accident!--" I was cut when the both of them signaled me to whisper since there were still a few students passing by us.

I breathed and slowly said, in a lower voice, "but it wasn't an accident. I swear it wasn't. I saw the culprit with my own eyes."

"We know, we believe you. We saw him, too. But the police said that there wasn't enough evidence. The culprit seemed to have plotted it carefully. That's why we've decided to investigate further by ourselves. You weren't supposed to get hurt right? You pushed Hoseok, who was the initial target of the culprit, away. Now, we have to ask you something, is there someone you know who is capable of doing that to Hoseok?"

I gave it a thought for awhile, racking my brains for possible people who could've done that. Who could've hurt Hoseok? Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

"To be honest, there's this stalker--"

"A stalker?!"

"--no, not my stalker. Ailee's stalker. Hoseok and I have been trying to catch him for awhile now. He knows where we live."

"Does Ailee know?"

"No. We kept it a secret from her. We want to protect her from that knowledge, or else it might affect her negatively. I don't want that to happen to her."

Clara shook her head in disbelief, "Tsk. Tsk. That's awful."

Hyeri also crinkled the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, that's what happens when you're too pretty."

The former hit the latter's shoulder, frowning at her.

"I'm kidding, okay," the latter then snorted.

"Anyway, if Ailee's stalker is the same person as the culprit, why would he do that? Did Hoseok do anything that might've upset him?" Clara asked.

I went quiet for awhile as I tried to think of a reason.

"Just a wild guess, but maybe it's because Hoseok kept giving Ailee boxes of chocolates?"

"Yeah, that could be possible. Stalkers are pretty obsessed with the people they stalk. He must've been so obsessed with Ailee, that's why he wouldn't have liked Hoseok to get in his way."

"Then," I looked at them seriously, "if we are right about the culprit, I have to let you know that he owns a Banuce bag. I saw it one time when I nearly caught him in our neighborhood."

"What? What happened then?"

"He ran away when Hoseok passed by and tried to catch him. One of Ailee's pictures fell from his bag. That's how we found out that he had been stalking Ailee for awhile."

"Okay. So, let's assume that the culprit has a banuce bag with Ailee's pictures. Anything else?"

"Wait a minute. Since the stalker knew so well all of the blind spots of the school's CCTVs, then that means he's definitely from this school. No doubt," Clara asserted.

"Ohh, you're right! Wow, you're good at this Clara," Hyeri praised.

Of course.

"Guys, I think I have a suspect."

"Hm? Who, Boksung?"

He is from this school.

The only person I know who owns a banuce bag,

which has a visible tear mark.

"Seo Kangjun."

---