Old Symphony

C9: Sixth Sense

Today is a day-off and Snow decided to visit her Junior High School. After obtaining information from Rina's mini-investigation about their house and Jake calling her Wonnie two weeks ago, she started to dream of noisy high school events with vague faces of probably her classmates.

She did not really want to dwell on Jake's statements about the past as well as his drunken behavior of calling her a familiar name, but her gut feeling tells her to investigate further about her past, and probably a connection between her and Jake Wang.

She thought it would be easier if her former teachers were still there but she learned that they weren't there anymore, some went to other schools, some went to the province, some retired. But seeing the school brought more memories, though the faces were blurry, every turn on the hallway and near the offices and classrooms brought her the feeling of familiarity.

"I'm sorry ma'am but there's no record of a Snow Kim in any year or ten years ago." The lady in white blouse and black pencil cut skirt informed when Snow went to the registrar's office to inquire for her credentials, a cover up to know if there are existing files about her studying in the institution.

"Are you sure, miss? Can you please check it again? Please?" She plead, thinking it was odd that she didn't have any records. Dream High International School was verified on her transfer credentials in America, she still have her original papers from the school at home.

With the unexplainable situation, Snow's head started to pound but she didn't want to waste the opportunity there.

"I'm really sorry but there are no records here with the name Snow Kim." Snow weakened and she didn't want to entertain negative thoughts but a lot of questions ran in her head. Is Snow Kim even my real name? She thought.

"I understand but would it be alright if I ask you to search instead for another person? I don't mean to see his records, I just want to confirm if he studied here. Will you help me?" Seeing that frustration was written all over her face, the registrar nodded and asked the name.

"Jake Wang." She said as she massaged her temple. After a few clicks, the registrar looked at her with a smile, her heartbeat raced.

"There is a student named Jake Wang ten years or so ago, ma'am. I'm not really allowed to disclose anymore information but the yearbook can probably help you out. We have the collection of yearbook at the library." The registrar gave her the directions and oddly enough, she found where the library was.

Her head continued throbbing as more memories of high school popped in her mind. She asked help from the librarian and was told that the yearbook section is at the far left of the reading area.

As she walked past through the other bookshelves, she could hear laughter at the background, more memories are being triggered but this time it was not with a crowd of schoolmates but with a single person. His image is blurry but the memory was her and him laughing at a book.

When she reached the reading area, another memory popped which stopped her in her tracks. She looked at one specific table near the window. It was another vague memory, she was sleeping on the table peacefully, the book stood in front to cover her sleeping figure then a little while after, someone was poking at her cheeks. When she awakened, she used the book to hit him and he just laughed.

Snow tried to remember the face but she couldn't, her head throbbing even more. She managed to get to the yearbook section, putting aside the new memory that intrigued her.

Taking the yearbook aged ten years, she pulled one chair and sat down. Her heartbeat started to race once again when she opened the yearbook page by page. After a few more flips, she stopped and blinked more than twice after a class picture showed a very familiar face.

Right at the middle of the picture is a younger image of herself and of Jake Wang, bringing more questions in her head.

She was still looking at the picture when someone cleared her throat in front of her.

"Oh my gosh! Snow? Snow Kim..is that you?" The lady in a high school teacher uniform looked so surprised to have seen her, but she just looked at her helplessly.

"I...I- I'm sorry. Do we know each other?" She nervously asked and the smile on the lady's lips disappeared.

"Are you serious? Snow! It's me. Jianna. Jianna Song. We're classmates in 2nd and 3rd year. We were consistently the class officers, me being the class secretary and you being our class president." Jianna looked at her and she tried to put a smile on her face before offering a handshake.

"O-of course. Sorry, it's really been a long time." She politely apologized but instead of going for a handshake, Jianna pulled her into a hug.

"Gosh! I missed you. What happened to you? I really thought we're going to graduate together. You just disappeared before our final quarter. We really thought it was odd, after an incident happened, you and Jake transferred school. What really happened with you and Jake?" Snow couldn't process what she just heard.

If this Jianna was really her classmate, by which she doesn't have anything to not believe her, why does the record show that she has no file in the school? And what was with the incident? And Jake Wang?

"Hey, you're spacing out." Jianna pulled her away from those thoughts. She looked at the old friend in front of her and she could only sigh, she can't remember anything.

"I...actually...Things happened, that's it. Anyway, I just dropped by to visit our teachers, I didn't know they're not here anymore." Snow came up with the best answer she could master to not sound detached.

"I know right. But—

Jianna was cut off by the bell, it was time for her next class. After exchanging each other's number, Jianna went on her way and Snow took a picture of the class picture. She looked for more pictures but she couldn't find any.

When she reached the bus stop, she looked at the photo once again.

Why didn't he tell me?
Why did he pretend to not have known me?
What was the incident involving me and him?

She had more questions on her mind and only one person can answer most of it. Just one person.

She looked out the window and a stray tear fell down through her cheeks.

'What are you not telling me, Jake Wang?'