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"she remembered now. the deaths. they weren't delusions planted in her mind by others. they were real."

— Amy Crandall —

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[ 3RD PERSONS VIEW。]

The cold breeze brushing past through—the thin air felt like dead winter hinting up her skin as she sat by the rusty, old swings of a nearby park, not wanting to go back inside the house.  

Haruka made sure that she wore something thick, especially since winter is coming. The soles of her shoes kicking the dirtied gravel, a weary sigh left her lips as the moonlit sky was completely empty.

No stars twinkling tonight, just a plain dark atmosphere. If this sky were to be one of Haruki's paintings, Haruka was, sure enough, Haruki wouldn't like if she left it as it is. Dark blue—the sense of coldness, not really Haruki's liking.

Haruka could even imagine what Haruki would say while she's painting. "The moon would be lonely without the stars."

Staying in the shadows of Haruki made her become observant, constantly taking interest in what she said and did. To Haruka, her sister was everything to her.

"Oh, Haruka? It's already late... what are you doing out here?" the girl craned her head to where the voice came, seeing the faded, blue-haired boy standing within distance. "It's dangerous..."

"How about you?" she retorted, "Why are you out here?"

Jaemin shrugged, "I was on my way home from Renjun's and I recognized you, is everything okay?"

Nodding her head, fingers wrapped around the metallic chains, "I'm fine, thank you for asking."

"You seem like a really nice person, Haruka. I'm sorry we misunderstood you..."

She sent him a soft smile, "It's alright, it happens a lot, I'm used to it."

A frown was drawn on Jaemin's lips, thoughts submerged his head. She must've gone through a lot.
With both of his hands tucked into his pocket, he made his way towards her, taking a seat on the empty swing beside her.

"Are you aware of what lies in this town?"

Haruka hummed in response, of course, she did. In fact, she knew a lot. Despite their mother's drastic attempts of separating them, they would always find a way to communicate.

Haruki has always been a fan of letters, using that as a way to inform Haruka if ever. "You mean the Case of 2017?"

Jaemin bobbed his head slowly, "Yeah... it's one of the biggest unsolved mysteries here in Jinhae-gu. No one particularly knows who the kidnapper is– but we've got a clue as to why they were doing it."

"Doing what?"

"The kidnapping," he replied simply, "They were too find the true copycat... maybe they were following some sort of pattern, I- I don't really know..."

"I get it," she said and laced her fingers together, resting it on her lap, her gaze fixated on the teenage boy beside him.

Jaemin did a side-glance, noticing her pallid golden eye. Although it wasn't bright—like a burst of sunshine, compared to Haruki; he still thought it was beautiful in its own way.

Subconsciously, his hand reached up to point at her covered eye, "Your eye..."

Haruka's breathing hitched, jerking back a bit as her other hand went up her face to touch the eye patch. Jaemin gave a sympathetic smile, trying to tell her it was okay, "Can I ask you what happened to it?"

Haruka looked down, knowing for a fact that she would come across this if she agreed to help. Closing her eye, she could hear faint voices—sounds of yelling that belonged to her mother.

"Stop telling people about that eye of yours. It doesn't make you important."

"You will weird them out, Haruka."

"Keep doing that and they'll treat you more differently than before."

"Hide the eye—it's hideous."

Taking a deep breath she faced Jaemin with a forced smile, her right eyes turning glassy as she suppressed the urge to cry. Right, she was forbidden to showcase her eye to anyone, it was dangerous her family would say.

"Nothing happened to it," she responded, shaking her head.

The teenage boy caught on quick, extending his arm to gently pat down her back in a way to comfort her. "It's okay, I shouldn't have asked"

Haruka chuckled bitterly, "No. It's fine, I'm quite glad you asked."

Jaemin's forehead creased, tilting his head to the side a bit, "What do you mean?"

"Just..." she shrugs and her hands went back to grasp the metal chains of the swing, "Anything else you want to ask me, Jaemin?"

"Why did they separate you two?"

Haruka pressed her lips together into a thin line, the question could actually suffocate her if she wasn't in her stable condition. Her heart thumping loudly just by the thought of it.

She looked up at the starless sky, a sad smile plastered on her face, "We are identical twins, born from the same mother, yet born in separate days."

"Haruki and Haruka... we're both different, though similar features, our personalities were different. I... the seemingly unfortunate one, had to suffer in silence, in her shadows as it was dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Jaemin furrowed his brows.

"They said I was dangerous... for Haruki, for them, for everyone."

Jaemin's stomach churned, "How dangerous?"

"Haruki! Choi Haruki!" they heard shouts from the distance.

Haruka groaned and stood up, "She's doing it again."

"Who?" Jaemin looked around, chills trickling down his spine as a familiar voice called for Haruki. It was happening all over again. The voice that called the dead and the voice that angered her.

"Haruka?" his timid voice croaked out, worried about her.

She shook her head, "I need to go back, Jaemin. It was nice talking to you, please do get home safe." she told him before running off, her back figure slowly disappearing as she went further.

Haruka went to the side of the house, ignoring Mrs. Choi who stood outside, hands cupped around her mouth as she continued to shout.

Haruka sighed, climbing up the tree before settling her self onto the branch that extends towards her bedroom window. Sliding it open, she hopped in and was about to close it when she heard someone clear out their throat.

Lifting her head up, Renjun stood by his own window, bewildered to see her climb up a tree, and enter her room in the most questionable way ever.

"Pretend you didn't see that–" she murmured and walked over her piano, sitting down as she hastily plained a song.

Renjun shook his head and caught a glimpse of Mrs. Choi belting outside the Choi's residence. His mom eventually went out and talked to Mrs. Choi, his eyes squinted as the latter lashed out on his mom, trudging her way back in with her ears covered.

Gazing back onto the musician, something unsettling and weird crept up. "Is she playing for a reason... or?"

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🤔👀 haruka's slowly opening up
poor girl just needs someone to understand her :((