The wind is a cool spring breeze against my face. It has a slight fragrance of the flowers, and I breathe it in slowly as I close my eyes. I can almost hear the blade of grass whistle against each other, under my feet.

I'm alone. No one else is here, and I shift up from the park bench with a quiet sigh.

Rin had been gone since an hour ago, to where V stayed with his friends. She'd been so excited that I could almost see the bright beam of her gaze.

My eyes wander.

And this wasn't too bad— this quiet peace.

This gentle ambience. I hadn't felt this way in a long time— and if I had, it had been too long that I'd forgotten what it'd felt like. My adolescence had been too unforgiving for moments like these.

My gaze catches on a bloom of dark violet florets against the grass.

And I reach down, about to pick one when a hand wraps around my wrist.

My head jerks up.

...Baekhan?

His deep amber eyes are fixed on the dark blooms of violet flowers. Strangely, there's a plastic bag between his fingertips. In the bag, I glimpse an entire clump of these flowers— pulled up by the roots.

Baekhan lets me go. Then he gathers the entire patch of flowers, tossing them into the bag.

I stare at him, wondering what in the world is happening as he drops down onto the bench next to me with a deep sigh.

He raises the bag, meeting my eyes.

"They're toxic."

"...the flowers?"

He nods, running his fingers through his light hair. "The bulbs on the top. If you accidentally pop it and the stuff inside gets on your skin, it can cause some really bad burns."

I blink slowly, looking out to see several patches of these flowers, all over the wide, grassy clearing.

"Then why are they here? The government—"

"I've asked so many times already, because of the children." He mumbles, his brows furrowing with anger. "But they won't do anything. They've only gotten these signs up and no one ever sees them."

He waves at a small, white sign that I hadn't seen earlier. It has a picture of the flower, with a thick red line marking it dangerous.

Huh.

I stifle a bitter laugh.

So some aspects of the Skygrounds were more similar to the Underground than I thought.

He tilts his head, lowering himself to meet my eyes. The soft gold of the sunlight swaths half of his face, making his amber gaze glow.

"And you, Noona?"

"What are you doing here?"

An amused expression spreads on my features as he edges closer. And I can tell, that he's just completely fallen for me. The look in his eyes was just unmistakable.

And I feel a twinge of guilt as V's wintry voice echoes through my mind.

Don't play with him, Aeri.

My hands tighten in annoyance.

But he really just made me want to go against everything he said, didn't he?

I lean forward to kiss him. But just as I'm about to touch my lips to his, I hear the exact voice that had just been in my head.

"You must be him."

My eyes widen. And I jerk upwards, to see V. His dark gaze is shadowed under a cap pushed down low over his head, and he's dressed in clothing that reminds me of the Underground. His tattooed vines snake up the exposed curve of his pale neck, above the collar of a worn navy jacket.

His expression is stiff with anger, as he fixes an unwavering stare towards Baekhan. Then he shifts to glance at me, and my lips twist into a scowl when his eyes burn straight through mine.

What.

"Who—" Baekhan murmurs in confusion, and I growl as I grip his hand. I tug him off the bench.

"He's no one," I snarl. V's eyes are still on me. "Let's go. You don't need to worry about him."

His voice cuts through like the sharpest wind.

"Aeri. You know this isn't right."

Idiotic piece of shit.

"What is he talking about?" Baekhan murmurs when he notices my composure crumbling down to fury. His amber eyes steel in V's direction.

"Who are you?"

V's lips curve into a bittersweet smile.

"No one."

He meets my eyes one last time, before turning away. And the guilt slowly overwhelms the anger as I realize that what I'd said just now had hurt him more than I thought.

"Sorry for interrupting."

He walks away. It's the first time he's given up like this— and I stare at his back, not knowing what to think. My mind is a hazy mess.

"Do you know him?" Baekhan whispers. "Why was he saying those things to you? He—"

I look up at him. And his golden eyes are just so full of innocent love that my mind turns even more.

V is right.

I can't do this. I was using him— used him all this time, just to get a rise out of V and to see if being with other men would satisfy me.

I didn't love him. It was someone else who I wanted, and the answer had become clear that no one else would ever be enough to take his place.

"Baekhan."

"I'm sorry."

His eyes widen. And he looks so confused, as I take a step backwards. My hand unclasps around his wrist.

"I took advantage of you, all this time."

________________________________

"V!"

My head lifts at the sound of Jimin hyung's frantic shout. It echoes loudly against the walls of the empty house, and I quickly glance towards Miss Rin— fast asleep on the couch with a book spread open on her chest.

She'd convinced me to teach her how to read as well. But I might've trained her too hard earlier, and now she was completely knocked out, breathing quietly.

Jimin bursts into the room. And I instantly put a finger to my lips, glancing towards her.

But he doesn't care.

"Have you seen V? Please, please tell me you have."

I shake my head.

"No. I've been with her."

Hyung curses. And my expression hardens.

"Why? What's the matter?"

He's running his fingers so roughly through his hair that I think it might just tear.

"V's father caught on. I don't know how in the flipping hell he found out, but he knows. He knows that we interrogated that dead guy and got information out of him."

My face pales.

...what?

"How?" I whisper. "I— he couldn't have known. I made sure of everything that..."

"That's why I'm so lost right now." Hyung growls. "But right now V's gone down to the Underground to try and search for that copy of Shin Aemin's records, and he's being trailed. He knows where they all used to live because of Miss Aeri."

Shit.

My head spins.

The records that had been made on the prototype. If that ever got into Kim Haein's hands, then everything was over.

And if hyung's father had found out about how I'd brought Min Kian for a secret interrogation and how both him and I had been keeping things from him...

A flash of Min Kian's mangled figure flickers through my mind. He'd become that way, because he had gone against him.

My jaw flexes.

But right now, I needed to get to V hyung. He had no idea he was being followed.

Then there's a soft rustle of pages, and a shifting of a figure on the couch.

"I can call Aeri."

Miss Rin.

Her tawny eyes hold mine, as she sleepily pushes the open book off her chest. It falls with a heavy noise against the floor.

"She will know where that thing is, if that's what you guys are after."