“Jaeyoon…”
Jung Jinhoo reached out to Jaeyoon with trembling hands, his eyes widening at the red blood soaking his palm. An inexplicable fear crept up his back. “Jaeyoon.” Despite calling his name pitifully, there was no response. His expression crumpled at the sight of Jaeyoon’s pale complexion and limp body.
“Why, why is this…”
Just this morning, Jaeyoon had been sleeping soundly under the blankets, and just moments ago, he’d sent a message asking if he’d brought an umbrella. Why on earth was he now lying here, bleeding and collapsed? Jung Jinhoo bit his lip hard.
“Pull yourself together, Jung Jinhoo!!”
“!!”
A booming voice echoed through the school. Looking up in surprise, he saw Sim Hajun staring at him with a phone in one hand.
“Jaeyoon is alive! So hold it together! The ambulance will be here soon. What would happen if you don’t take care of Jaeyoon?!”
As he spoke, Sim Hajun’s hands were trembling just as much as Jung Jinhoo’s. Seeing him speak firmly while trying to hide his fear, Jung Jinhoo took a deep breath. He took off his outer jacket and carefully wrapped it around Jaeyoon’s bleeding head.
“It’s okay, Jaeyoon. Everything will be fine.”
Jung Jinhoo murmured as if to reassure himself, holding Jaeyoon close. His clothes slowly became stained with Jaeyoon’s red blood. Hearing the ambulance siren in the distance, Sim Hajun exhaled in relief and brushed back his sweat-soaked bangs. Stay calm, stay calm!! As he was trying to calm his pounding heart, he noticed an umbrella lying beside Jaeyoon.
‘Huh…?’
Sim Hajun stared blankly at the black umbrella in his hand, then tilted his head and narrowed his brows.
‘What is this? Something feels really off…’
After glaring at the black umbrella for a moment, Sim Hajun picked up a sky-blue umbrella that had fallen beside Jaeyoon. Looking alternately at the sky-blue umbrella stained with red blood and the clean black umbrella, he frowned.
‘Why is there blood on only one of them? Isn’t this black umbrella Jaeyoon’s?’
Sim Hajun temporarily set aside his thoughts about the umbrellas as he saw the paramedics rushing over with the sound of sirens.
***
Jung Jinhoo clasped his hands together, both covered with Jaeyoon’s blood. With his head bowed and lips bitten, he pleaded desperately again and again.
“Please…”
It was unbearably devastating to watch Jaeyoon enter the operating room covered in blood. The image of Jaeyoon’s pale face kept circling in his mind. Jung Jinhoo shook his head vigorously from side to side, then firmly closed and reopened his eyes.
“It’s okay, it’ll be okay.”
Watching Jung Jinhoo mutter to himself that everything was okay, Sim Hajun anxiously bit his lip. He lowered his head and frowned at his sneakers, stained with blood.
‘Jaeyoon lost a lot of blood, will he be alright…?’
Chewing his lips anxiously, Sim Hajun suddenly slapped both his cheeks hard with his hands. Then he shook his head vigorously from side to side.
‘No negative thoughts allowed! Jaeyoon will be fine! Yes, of course… let’s believe in Jaeyoon!’
Sim Hajun looked up at the sound of hurried footsteps. He saw two people running toward them.
“Jaeyoon is…!!”
In response to the breathless question, Sim Hajun pointed to the operating room. Lee Minho’s expression instantly crumbled. He covered his face with trembling hands, looking as if he might collapse at any moment.
“How did this… Jaeyoon, Jaeyoon…”
At the voice filled with despair, Sim Hajun shifted his gaze to Lee Heejun standing beside Lee Minho. Why are they together? Despite his puzzled look, Heejun didn’t answer that question but instead asked about the current situation.
“What happened? Jaeyoon suddenly falling down the stairs, what nonsense is that?”
“I don’t know much either. I was locking up the art room and about to return to the dorm with Jinhoo, when we suddenly heard a loud noise. When we went closer, Jaeyoon was collapsed at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Why did he even come to school when he was in Jinhoo sunbae’s room?”
“Seems like he came to bring an umbrella to Jinhoo?”
“Umbrella…??”
Sim Hajun showed Lee Heejun the sky-blue umbrella he was holding.
Lee Heejun frowned at the sky-blue umbrella stained red.
“Shit…”
The word escaped from Lee Heejun’s lips as if chewed. After messing up his hair frantically, he narrowed his eyes and looked again at the umbrella in Sim Hajun’s hand.
“Did Lee Jaeyoon come to school before it started raining?”
“Huh?”
At Lee Heejun’s words, Sim Hajun looked at the umbrella. Seeing the umbrella neatly folded without any moisture, he nodded.
“Come to think of it, it started raining when the ambulance arrived… So yeah.”
“He was walking alone and fell down stairs that weren’t even slippery?”
“Huh…?”
“Lee Jaeyoon isn’t the clumsy type like Sim Jaeha, is he??”
As Lee Heejun frowned, Sim Hajun’s expression also crumpled. Now that he thought about it, something seemed odd.
“Are you saying Jaeyoon was with someone?”
Jung Jinhoo looked at Lee Heejun with lowered eyes. His voice was calm, but that made it all the more frightening. The calmer someone was while suppressing their emotions, the more unpredictable their actions could be. Lee Heejun slowly shook his head from side to side.
“I’m just wondering. I find it hard to believe that Lee Jaeyoon slipped and fell down the stairs. He has excellent athletic abilities…”
“But when we went there right after hearing the sound, there was no one else but Jaeyoon…?”
“Which staircase was it?”
“Huh?”
“West, east, or central?!”
“Oh, the central staircase.”
“The central staircase is quite far from the art room. Couldn’t someone have run away in that time??”
“Hmm…”
With his arms crossed, Sim Hajun was deep in thought with a serious expression, when suddenly his eyes widened as if he had just remembered something.
“Ah-!!!”
“Ah, geez… What is it?”
“I forgot!”
“Be quiet! He’s in surgery!”
“Heop-!”
Sim Hajun quickly covered his mouth with both hands, rolled his eyes around to check if anyone was watching, then held up the umbrella he was holding. Lee Heejun’s eyebrows furrowed at this.
“What? What do you want me to do??”
“This was lying near the stairs! At first, I thought it was Jaeyoon’s, but the initials written here don’t seem to be his…”
“Why are you only mentioning this now?!”
As Lee Heejun scolded him, Sim Hajun glared back. But Lee Heejun completely ignored his glare and closely examined the initials embroidered on the umbrella strap. Lee Minho, standing beside Lee Heejun, widened his eyes. He unconsciously gripped the umbrella. Looking at Lee Minho with curiosity, Lee Heejun narrowed his brows at the sight of Lee Minho with a serious expression, fingering the pink initials embroidered on the umbrella strap.
“K…? Did they make a mistake while embroidering? There’s also a crooked heart next to it.”
“You found this near Lee Jaeyoon?”
“Not exactly near, but at the top of the stairs.”
At his words, Lee Minho’s complexion darkened further.
“I had a bad feeling, and it was you!”
Sim Hajun glared fiercely at the black umbrella. As he was having a staring contest with the umbrella, he was startled when a hand suddenly reached out and took it, then fell silent as he looked at Jung Jinhoo. His golden eyes glinted coldly. Seeing him suppressing his anger, Sim Hajun stepped back slightly. Jung Jinhoo, who had been quietly looking down at the black umbrella, took out his phone from his pocket. Then he immediately called someone. As he heard the dial tone, Jung Jinhoo’s eyes narrowed.
There was no guarantee that this umbrella was really related to Jaeyoon’s accident. The suggestion that Jaeyoon wasn’t alone was also just speculation.
‘But if, really, Jaeyoon wasn’t alone, and the owner of this umbrella is responsible for what happened to him…’
[Hello?]
Jung Jinhoo gripped the umbrella in his hand as if he would crush it.
“Hello, this is Jung Jinhoo. There’s something I’d like to ask of you.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
