Don't tell me bye bye (mystery/ thriller)

Chapter 10

Rose and I have holed ourselves up in the corner of the library, surrounded by the sound proofing properties of bean bags and well read books. I've just finished telling her what happened with the horse, and I'm relieved that she's as freaked as I was, and that she believed me.

"So, you guys didn't, like, spook it or something?" She asks, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and grief for the horse.

"Yes, I'm telling you; it just ran into the tree over and over." I frown, remembering the scene vividly. "I don't think it was us. Surely it would have run away from us, or at us if we'd spooked it?"

"What did Namjoon think?"

"Honestly?" I look around the deserted library, then fix my eyes back on Rose. "I think it really upset him. I'm pretty sure he had tears."

"Tears?!"

"Jeez, Rose, keep your voice down! I don't think Namjoon would appreciate it if he knew I was going round telling people that he got teary over a dead horse."

"Sorry, I just, I wouldn't have thought someone like him would get upset over an animal like that."

"You weren't there." I fall back on the bean bags, and look at the ceiling. I suppress a smile as I remember Namjoon taking my hand as the horse started to go mad. "It was pretty harrowing."

"Then why are you smiling?"

I turn to look at her. She has a huge grin on her own face. "What? I'm not smiling."

"You're such a loser. You like Namjoon."

"What? No I'm not, I mean, no, I was just...I mean, I was just glad he was there too."

"It's ok, Y/n, he likes you too, even if you are kind of morbid getting romantic over a dead horse."

"What do you mean?" I ask, ignoring the part about the horse. "He doesn't. Does he? He doesn't. How do you know that?"

Stop babbling, Y/n.
"Because I heard him telling one of his mates."

"What? No. Did he? I just, well he....oh shut up." Rose laughs at me as I fall over my words. "Does he really? Where did you hear him say that?"

"At Jimin's. It's amazing what people say in front of you when you're a waitress." She glances up at me, a twinkle in her eye. "Unless....."

I sit up, almost head butting her. "Unless what?"
"Unless he said it in front of me on purpose. Maybe he wanted me to tell you what he said."

I think for a minute, then fall back onto the bean bags, which are getting a real pounding today. My lungs deflate and I shake my head.

"No. He can't do. Maybe he just feels like he likes me because of what happened with Tae? Maybe he feels like he owes me something because I saved his brother."

Rose's eyes widen. "Oh great, speaking of his brother, here comes. I look round but can't see who she's talking about.
"Yeah, you know, from Twilight? The pyscho bitch girlfriend."

I spot who she's talking about and my shoulders droop. Jennie has just strutted through the doors into the library, looking like the star of some MTV drama as she glides lip gloss onto her lips without the aid of a mirror.

"She looks like she's-" I turn back to Rose but she's completely disappeared. I look around our corner. "Rose? Where'd you go?"

"I'm under here."

I hear a faint voice from the side of me, muffled by the corduroy of the bean bags. I pull one of them back and find Rose hidden underneath like a cute little Dracula.

"Rose? What the hell?!"

"I can't deal with Jennie! Please, put my bean bag back and cover me up!" she begs.

"Is she really that bad?" I ask.

"Talking to yourself, freak? Guess it's a necessity when you don't have any friends."

Rose gives me a look that says see, so I nod my head in understanding and plant the bean bag back on top of her so she's completely hidden. I sit up and face Jennie, slapping on my best smile.

"Hi, Jennie. What can I do for you?"

"Don't play innocent with me; I know you went to see Tae."

"Yeah." I shrug. "And?"

"And I told you to stay away from him! You've already done enough damage. I don't want you snooping around him."

"Snooping? What do you mean by snooping?"
Jennie's bravado cracks a little. "Nothing. Nothing, I just mean keep away from him."

"What's going on with him, Jennie? What would I find out if I was snooping?"

"Nothing!" she snaps then presses her fingers against her temples and glares at me. "There's nothing going on with him, and you wouldn't find anything, okay?"

Her bitch mask is sliding from her face, revealing the dark shadows of a girlfriend who is losing sleep worrying about her boyfriend. I stand up, making sure to tread where one of Rose's limbs are as I walk across the bean bags and over to Jennie who's crumbling in on herself.

"Jennie, do you know what Tae said to me before he jumped off that bridge?"
She blinks at me, a film of tears threatening to ruin her false eyelashes. "He said something to you?"

I nod. "He said I've done something terrible." I take a step closer to her. "What did he do, Jennie? Did he do something to hurt you?"

The bitch mask is back on in a second. "Hurt me? He would never hurt me." "Okay, but what-"

Jennie puts her hand up in front of my face. I have to bob my head back so she doesn't catch my nose with one of her pink finger nails.

"Tae is not your business, and the sooner you realise that, the sooner your life in Seoul will be more bearable." She lowers her hand, then looks down her nose at me. "Keep away from him. I mean it."

She spins round then struts straight to the doors, and they shut with a thud once she's made her exit as if they were designed specifically to serve her theatrics. The adrenaline from our confrontation drains from my shoulders as I slump down and address the pile of bean bags next to me.

"She's gone, you complete wuss. You can come out now."

The bean bags pulsate for a second before a very pink and sweaty looking Rose sits up from beneath them.

She wipes her forehead and blows her hair out of her face. "Bet that little conversation has got you even more determined to find out what's going on with Tae, huh?"

I grab Rose's hands and pull her up, smiling at her as she dusts the floor of the library off of her clothes.

"Oh, yes."

"So what's the plan?"

"I don't know. Jennie isn't telling us anything, and I don't think Namjoon will either. Is it worth talking to his Dad do you think?"

"Maybe," Rose says, shrugging her shoulders.

"What about Jimins's? You might hear some of Tae's mates talking about him? Have a good listen next time you're working."

"I'll try," she says, nodding her head. "What are you going to do?"

I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder, hardly able to believe the words that are about to come out of my mouth.

"I'm going to go to church."