Then...where is it?

Jimin pace around her room. She tried to think where the last letter was. Maybe, she misplaced it before or accidentally threw it out. But that can't be.

She knew she had a bad memory but it would be impossible for her to forget an important letter. And if she received the letter, she would immediately read it. However, she wasn’t familiar with the contents. So that means…

It never reached me.

At all.

It never did.

She suddenly remembered what her friend, Yuna, mentioned yesterday. 

"all I can remember were the words: letters, song, confession...ah! Also, meet up."

Letter…Confession…Meet up…

Meet up?

…WAIT.

Minjeong’s words earlier suddenly made sense,

Letter…Confession…Meet up…

It all made sense.

But that also means, her ex, Ryujin, and her friend, Yeji, really did something for her not to get the letter.

She couldn’t help but massage her temple as her past was becoming messier by the minute. She doesn’t want to think ill of her friends, but there is also a part of her that knows they are capable of doing these things.

She is not blind.

She knows her friends aren’t saints.

They have done a lot of questionable things, even when they were in high school, using their popularity to get away from trouble and detention. But she ignored all of it, because they were all she had.

…or so she thinks.

She sighs, she was too young to understand back then. Too close-minded to take action.

But she is different now.

And that is all that matters.

Jimin hastily took out her phone and called her friend. One of the better ones. She might know something, she thought.

“Yuna,” she spoke.

“Hey, Jimin. What’s up?”

“About what you said yesterday,” she hears Yuna hummed in response, “about the letter. I know I kind of asked you about this yesterday but...do you remember anything more about it? Like, any more information about what Yeji and Ryu had talked about? Where they might have put it or something?”

Jimin waited as her friend tried to remember, “I’m really sorry, Jiminie. I don’t think I can remember it.”

Defeated, Jimin could only sigh, “Is that so? That’s…too bad.” She spoke sadly, "thanks, Yuna."

“Oh,” Yuna suddenly exclaims from the other line, “Maybe you should ask Lia.”

The raven-haired girl was confused, “Lia?”

“Yeah,” the younger girl said. “After our talk, I got a chance to meet up with her and she felt really guilty about what happened. She also wanted to apologise but wants to give you space for now.”

“Oh.” I guess, they really felt bad for lying to me, huh.

“This is just my observation,” Yuna points out, “but I think she might know something.”

Jimin’s eyebrows furrowed, “You think so?”

“Yeah. It’s the way she reacted when I told her about what happened that night,” she shared, “you should ask her, Jiminie.”

Lia, huh. 

Oh, Jimin internally smacked her head for immediately not connecting the dots. Of course Lia might know something. She is Ryujin’s best friend, after all.

“Thanks, Yuna.” Jimin smiled, “you’re a great help.”

“No problem.”

As she ended the call, she immediately went to her contacts to call Lia, when it hit her. If she really knows more, I should personally talk to her, she thought. She realised the importance of their possible conversation, meeting up in person seems to be a must. 

She decided to pick up her wallet, along with her phone, and went out of her room. She hastily went to the kitchen to drink water as her head continued to pound. Her migraine was getting worse. As she drinks, she sees the keys of her sister on the wall.

Tempting.

Without hesitancy, she took it and went to her sister’s car.

Damn the consequences, Jimin thought, I need to know the answers.

I need them.

For her sanity.

For her peace of mind.

As she drives to her friend’s place, she can't help but think of everything. 

Her past.

Her relationship with Ryujin.

The letters.

Jimin gripped the wheel tightly.

With everything she had known so far, all the information led to the possibility of her ex manipulating her from the start.

She was lied to.

Ryujin lied to her.

Her ex made her believe she was the sender. Made her believe she was the one who was there when times were tough. The person who sent messages to comfort her. The person who seemed to care for her unconditionally. The person she opened her heart to once again after she got her heart broken by Minjeong.

But all of it was a lie. Ryujin lied.

She did.

Jimin felt betrayed.

And that hurt.

A lot.

Because it also means, what she went through, the suffering she faced later on, reaching her lowest point, it was all because of a lie.

Crap, it hurts.

Suddenly, Jimin’s vision became blurry. She tries to scratch her eyes only to realise...

She was crying.

As she was getting distracted, she decided to park at the side of the road to vent. 

Her tears were spilling out of her eyes and she couldn’t stop. She had been crying for days, it was getting tiring. 

She was tired of crying. But she just can’t stop it. After all,

It hurts.

It hurts so badly.

The betrayal.

She was made a fool.

By her friends.

And especially played by her ex, whom she learnt to love. Whom she gave her heart to. Whom she thought was the one.

She trusted them.

She trusted her.

Why?

Why would you do that, Ryu?

She embraced herself in comfort.

But it wasn't enough.

The comfort she felt wasn’t enough.

She needs her.

Minjeong.

She needs Minjeong.

She needs her safe place.

Her safe haven.

She hastily picks up her phone to call her girl only to stop. 

Why do you need to call her?

You said you needed time, remember?

Are you ready to face again when you don't even know all of the answers yet?

These questions run through her head.

Answers.

She needed answers.

It's the only way for her to be free from all of this, and go back to her.

To Minjeong.

Yes, answers.

She needs answers.

As she put her phone back, she closed her eyes, leaned her head on the headrest and tried to calm herself down. She can’t be too overwhelmed with everything just yet. She still needs to talk to Lia. She still needs to know more about what happened before. She can’t be a mess before even meeting her.

Jimin isn't really sure if Lia does know something about what happened before, about the last letter and more. 

Still…

Whether she knows something or not, she knows she needs to be prepared for whatever will be revealed.

She put both her hands on her cheeks and hype herself up, "you can do this, Jimin. You can do this."

-----------

Jimin knocks on her friend’s door when she realizes she hasn't checked yet if Lia was even home. She groans in realization, she should have called.

She was too rash.

Too impulsive.

No one was answering the door. Great.

She turned around, disheartened, to leave when she accidentally bumped into someone.

It was her friend.

"Ji-Jimin? What are you-" before the other girl could even finish, Jimin hugged her, "thank god, you're here."

"What?"

The raven-haired girl backed away, only to see a stunned Lia, "ah, sorry." She immediately separated herself from her friend and cleared , "Hi, Lia."

"Hi," still stunned, Lia tried to compose herself, "I...I didn't expect you...to visit me."

"Yeah, this is really sudden." Jimin could only force a chuckle, "it's just that," she looked at her friend, "I have questions."

It was the change of expressions on Lia's face when Jimin confirmed Yuna was right. Lia, indeed, knows something. She saw the other girl look away and cleared . "What kind of questions?"

"About the past," Jimin continues to observe her, "about Ryujin." It was then Lia glanced back at her, "about the last letter." Lia looked at Jimin with an unreadable expression. It made the raven-haired girl really uncomfortable but she didn't back down.

She needed answers.

And now, she is sure she might get them from Lia.

She sees Lia smile at her sadly, "then you came to the right place, Jimin." 

Jimin widens her eyes, "I will tell you everything."

She was stunned to move. Everything? So there was more to the story? She gulped. She only wanted answers but it seemed she might get more than she wished for. She really does need to prepare herself for what's to come.

As she hears the door open for her, she awkwardly enters.“Would you like some tea or juice?”

“Water…would be fine,” JImin meekly answers. It’s been awhile since she visited her friend’s place, she awkwardly walks around. 

Nothing much has changed, just a couple of new pictures on the wall.

There, she saw a group picture of her and her highschool friends, similar to what she had in her room.

Ah.

Her friends.

Can she still call most of them her friends? When most of them betrayed her?

She doesn't really know.

It just makes her sad.

She did treat them as her closest friends. But at the same time, she knew there’s always that invisible space between her and them.

After being hurt by Minjeong and being left by her dad, Jimin became wary of new relationships. Because of that, it affected the way she treats everyone, even her highschool friends. Maybe it’s my fault, that’s why they betrayed me in the end, she thought.

After all, her friends were closer to Ryujin and knew her longer than her. 

Jimin sighs.

At least, Yuna is on my side now, she thought. Still, she might not be able to treat all of them the same as before.

Lia comes back from the kitchen with a glass of water, and a box on her other hand. She gave Jimin the glass of water, “here.” Jimin smiled weakly as she received the drink, “Thanks.” 

Both girls sat quietly in the living room. 

The silence was deafening.

Jimin clears . She should be the one to start. She, after all, was the one who came here for a purpose. However, before she could speak, Lia beat her to it, "how...are you?"

Oh. Jimin thought for a bit how she’s going to answer that. Should she say what she really feels? Or

"I'm fine," the raven-haired girl curtly answered. "Or I try to be," in the end, she chose to be honest, "Everything was going well, actually, then these past few days…" Jimin could only sigh, “it…has been tough.”

“I’m sorry,” Lia couldn’t look at her, “all of this, you don’t deserve this. I truly am sorry Jimin.”

Jimin softens. “Thanks,” she could feel Lia’s sincerity, however, “but that’s…not what I came here for.” 

“I know,” Lia heavily sighs. She looked up to Jimin, “what do you want to know?”

The raven-haired girl stared back at her, “the truth.”

Lia nodded. “What do you know so far?”

Jimin clenched her fists, “That your best friend lied. That there is a possibility that all of you guys knew about it but still hid it from me. And…it’s Minjeong. The sender was Minjeong all along.”

“And the existence of the last letter,” she looked at her friend, “I…I want to understand why, Lia. Why?”

Lia couldn’t look at her. It made Jimin think that she might have overdid it, but at the same time, her friend did ask what she wanted to know. She was about to reach out and speak when

“It’s…not fully Ryujin’s fault.”

Huh?

“What?” Jimin was confused, “what…do you mean?”

“I am to blame, Jiminie.” Lia smiled sadly at her, “I took the letter from Minjeong, and…I was the one who gave the idea to Ryujin. To lie to you.”

Jimin was stunned. She didn’t expect this kind of revelation. She tried to speak but no words came out of . She thought of a lot of possible scenarios this talk would end up, but this is not one of them, “You…what?” 

Lia looks down guiltily, “I…I just wanted to help her. Help Ryujin. I…I didn’t expect it would end this way.” The girl sighed, “I saw Minjeong and her friends bickering near your locker that day-.”

So she knew them? “Wait. Wait…I thought you said you don’t remember her. That Minjeong was forgettable,” 

Lia looked away in shame. “I only said that…because I wanted to separate myself from what I did.” She looked at Jimin guiltily, “from what I know.”

You gotta be kidding me, Jimin internally groans. There’s more lies uncovered.

“I knew Minjeong, even before, because Ryujin knows her. Even before you met us.”

“I don’t know if Minjeong mentioned it to you but the Shin’s and Kim’s have a lot of business projects, because of it, both of them crosspaths a lot.”

Jimin replied, “she mentioned it once.” Lia continues, “Ryujin used to talk about her, she admired Minjeong.”

“Admired?” That wasn’t what Jimin had expected to hear.

Lia nodded, “yeah. It might not be believable now but it’s the truth.”

“However, everything changed, Ryujin changed.” Lia sighs heavily, “I don’t have the right to say or share anything about it. All I can say is, since then, she hated Minjeong.”

This made Jimin curious. She was shocked to hear her ex admiring Minjeong, yes, but she definitely wanted to know more as to why Ryujin started to hate the blonde-haired girl. “Why? What happened? Why do Ryu hate her now?”

“I’m sorry, Jimin. I can’t disclose it. Only Ryujin can tell you,” I guess I really need to talk to her then, Jimin thought.

She glances at Jimin, “And you came into the picture.”

“Ryu liked you. She liked you a lot.” She chuckles as she remembers, “she was so happy to become friends with you. To be by your side.” 

“The letters happened.”

“It made her insecure. You don’t know how many times we tried to find out who the sender was, until that day.”

“It was after one of our music classes, Minjeong and her friends were huddling in your locker. They weren’t discreet about what they were doing, talking about confessing to you. I didn't get what they were doing at first until I saw them inserting the letter onto your locker. It made me realize that one of them was the sender.” 

“I listened to their conversation, to get an idea of who the sender really was. And then it was that loud friend of Minjeong who spilled it.” She glances at Jimin, “It was Minjeong and she planned to confess to you.”

Oh.

“So I did what I did.”

She looks down guiltily, playing with her hands, “I already knew your password, so I took the letter out of your locker.”

“Oh god, Lia-”

“I know.” Lia sighs, “I know…it was wrong. What I did was wrong, but I was too stupid back then. Too blinded by my desire to make Ryujin happy because it is what she deserves,” she forced a chuckle, “totally not thinking of the possible consequences of my actions.”

“And then, I told Ryujin and Yeji about what happened and came up with the plan about Ryu confessing first. Yeji agreed