Let's Kill Her (Book #1)

(ﾒ￣▽￣)︻┳═一(15)

Sejeong and I walk through heavy wooden double doors into an ancient-looking library. Rolling ladders are perched against walls of bookshelves, balconies that zigzag along the second floor contain small seating areas, and the ceilings arch high above, plastered in intricate patterns. The filtered light coming from the enormous stained-glass windows highlights the dust from the worn fabric and leather nooks and makes the air sparkle, giving the whole room a magical feel.

I've been trying to talk to Sejeong about what happened in mind games yesterday, but every time I attempt to bring it up, she just tells me to wait.

We walk past a row of tall bookshelves and climb a spiral staircase to the second floor. The library is virtually empty, not that I think everyone would be racing to get here on a Sunday, bu then again, who can really tell with a school like this? We make our way to the rounded back right corner of the second floor and Sejeong stops.

"Pay attention," she says as she checks the surroundings to make sure no one is looking, even though we are entirely shielded by a bookcase. She pulls two bluish books from the second shelf, a thick torn brown from the third shelf, and a faded red on the fourth shelf. Then she pushes the center of a carved leaf on the dark wood molding and the bookcase pops open to form a door.

My eyes widen. "That is so freaking cool," I whisper.

I make a mental note of the books she used and which leaf she pressed. Sejeong holds the bookcase door open for me, and I enter to discover a cozy little room with a rug and two armchairs around a table stacked with books.

"What is this place?" I ask in awe. A secret room behind a bookcase? Jisoo would die of excitement over this. She's not only a book lover, but was also the type of kid who would talk to an odd-shaped hole in a tree, convinced that fairies were hiding in it.

'Our private study," Sejeong says. "Each dorm room is assigned one." She grabs a mox of matches off the table. "They're scattered all over the library. Of course, you would never leave anything secret in here. They're clearly not impossible to break into. But we mostly leave each other's spaces alone to avoid retaliation." Sejeong lights the candles in the wall sconce, brightening the little study. "Besides, they give you a place to think without someone reading your facial expression every two seconds."

"Not to mention the stone walls make them virtually sound-proof," Sehun says, sliding through the door right before Sejeong closes it. He must have been following us, and the fact that I didn't notice worries me; I wonder what else I'm not noticing.

Sejeong scowls at him, which only makes him put on his most innocent expression.

"Awe, don't be mad, Sejeongie," he coos.

"I most certainly will be mad." Her look is icy. "That was a sneak, horrible trick, sending us to the parlor. You could have come up with another way to get information you were after."

Sehun slides up to her. "You would never have agreed. And you have to admit that if I had been there, the interactions wouldn't have been as revealing."

She pushes his hand off her elbow. "I really don't care, Sehun."

"You do care. You also know that sending Suzy by her herself wouldn't have the same effect," he says.

"But if it did, you'd have been happy to let me take the heat? Gee, thanks," I pouted.

"Apparently he'll do anything that benefits his strategy," Sejeong says. "He's practically cunning these days."

"Don't be cruel, Sejeong. I said I was sorry. Look, I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"And how do you plan to make up for the fact that Jennie said I seem less neutral every day?" Sejeong asks, and Sehun's face falls.