'You won't come back?' she asked.

He shook his head. 'At least, that's not part of the plan.'

'So, this will be the last time I see you?'

'No, we can still see each other tomorrow, then I'll leave.'

She didn't answer. Anyone might call her selfish. They can say she should be grateful, but she couldn't take her mind off the eminent separation.

She couldn't imagine living without Hunter by her side.

###

Valerie said she would come and pick up Dennis soon, and Ian packed some stuff and left hurriedly saying nothing other than needing to go somewhere. It was only after interrogating Mark heavily in his room about their visit to the train station though.

That was why Mark and Dennis were home alone.

'He said he'll come back soon,' said Dennis as they sat in front of the TV, watching a movie, 'but he can't come back before we're done with this.'

It was a comedy about two silly police officers and their daily lives, but Dennis laughed at everything, even the normal skits and dialogues.

Mark wanted to shut him up.

'Don't worry about Dad coming early. Worry about your sister-'

He was interrupted by Dennis guffawing at the police chief's assistant as she delivered him a gigantic pile of papers.

'There was no need,' he thought.

That was Dennis, though. He was the laughing element in his life, even if he was odd and completely irrational at times... or most of the time.

Dennis heaved a sigh as the ads started. 'I should buy that and watch it with Val.'

Mark stared at the TV screen, feeling grumpy. Dennis ruined it all on him.

Dennis wiped a tear from under his spectacles and said, 'Say, Mark, you still didn't tell me what happened after we got separated. I had to ask random strangers and fight with policemen before I found you.'

Mark tore his gaze from the TV screen and raised his brows. 'Really..?'

'Yeah,' Dennis sighed and slumped back on the couch. 'Took me a whole day. What was your story, though?'

Mark faced the floor. 'Woke up after the police found everything and took it under their control. Then they kept asking me these questions.' that happened after they assigned him the lady doctor, who obviously, had issues with younger patients, but he didn't mention that.

'So, nothing much happened.'

'Yeah,' Mark shrugged and took a sip from a juice carton laid beside him, 'they were in a hurry to get as much info as they can, but it took them a while because of this...' He trailed off as he remembered an extra character. There was a girl who got there and was in the scene before him. Whether she witnessed the whole thing, or just got there after it, was unknown, but if it was the former, then he wasn't actually the most important figure in the case.

Dennis raised a brow. 'What?'

'There was a girl,' said Mark, 'who got there before me.'

'A girl in the boys' toilet,' he said flatly.

'Beats me why she was there. She was just there!'

The ads were over soon and before Mark realised it, Dennis was, yet again, engrossed in the movie. Mark wasn't in the mood anymore since Dennis kept ruining the movie by laughing at completely unnecessary situations. It made Marks annoyance reach a peak.

They spent a couple of minutes that way before Mark snatched the remote and switched the channel.

'Hey! What are you doing?' asked Dennis.

Mark stared at the TV with a flat face. 'You're a nuisance.'

'It was the climax!' protested Dennis.

'It's a comedy.'

'Everything has a climax!'

'Then, I don't care about this movie's climax.'

Dennis tried to snatch the remote from his Mark, and he pulled it away from his reach. He narrowed his eyes and shot a glare at Mark, which he reciprocated with a flat one.

He suddenly leapt forward towards the stretched hand, and Mark pulled back and hopped from the couch. Dennis fell flat on his face beside the couch.

'Stop being a child!' said Mark. 'It's not worth it!'

Dennis stood up and fixed his hair. 'When you say it that way, it sounds illogical and dumb, but you can't expect me to be all nice and dandy with you doing what you did,' he said as he took steady steps towards Mark.

'Well, you ruined the movie!'

'Who's acting like a child now?' asked Dennis with a smug smile.

He dashed towards Mark when he caught him off guard, and Mark quickly stepped back, but Dennis was quick enough to take hold of the remote and pull it out of his grasp by brute force. It took him some pushing an eye poking, but he did it, then took a few steps back from Mark.

'Hah!' he laughed off. 'Dare to try me aga-'

Mark didn't wait for Dennis to talk and lunged at him with a clenched fist. He pinned Dennis to the floor and held his clenched fist high in front of Dennis so he could see it well.

'You want it?' he asked with a straight face.

'I see you're ready to get viol-'

Smack...

'Did you like it?' asked Mark again. 'Want another?'

Dennis spat on the side as his face got swollen. 'Ouch, that hurt, but I'm not planning on let-'

Another smack, but Dennis threw the remote away while Mark was at it. Mark stood up once he did and started moving towards it, only to be held back by Dennis from his foot. Dennis pulled back, and Mark fell face on the floor. He stood up, and after making sure he stepped on Mark well, he dashed towards the remote. Mark stood up shortly after and caught up with him.

They tackled each other, rolled around and exchanged fists with all their might.

'Stop being a child,' Mark said as he tried to pull away the remote from Dennis's grasp. Dennis had him held to the wall by his foot as he tried to heave the remote from him as if he was working on some sort of machine. 'Your parents won't take you seriously even after you turn 20 at this rate.'

'You say that, but you're not doing anything different!'

While they were at it, TV channels changed and switched rapidly. They only stopped after hearing a headline from a news channel.

'Kornwell murderer on the loose.'

The channel switched to something else eventually, but Mark and Dennis paused for a second and exchanged looks.

'Adults...?' asked Dennis after some silence.

Mark nodded and Dennis let go of both the remote and Mark. They walked to, and hopped over, the couch as he changed the channel.

'I thought the police wanted to keep quiet about it,' said Dennis, 'but then, I think you never said that.'

'They looked like they didn't want the news to spread,' said Mark.

'Then...?'

'I don't know.'

'...after a killing that happened today on a high street in Kornwell city this evening,' announced a reporter on TV. He was in a street Dennis and Mark both knew too well to not get alarmed.

'High street...?' asked Dennis. 'So, it's not the one in the station?'

Mark didn't reply. He was thinking of what Valerie said.

'A gang is roaming in town... Doing shady business... responsible for some cases...'

'Chief of Kornwell police station confirmed the speculations and asked for citizens' cooperation in order to catch the perpetrator as soon as possible. An emerg...'

'Do you think they're the gang Valerie spoke about?' asked Mark after he snapped from his thoughts. 'Also, I don't think the incident in the station was the first one.'

'I guess so too,' replied Dennis.

Mark shot him a confused look. 'Really...?'

It took Dennis some time to reply back. 'What kind of person do you think I am?'

Mark turned away and coughed.

Dennis tried his best to ignore that behaviour. 'You asked me to see whether there was more police than normal.'

Mark nodded.

'Well, there was, and considering their number and how they inspected the employees there, I don't think the incident in the station was the first.'

They didn't speak about the issue anymore after that and stared at the screen as the reporter reported the news.

###

They finished their homeroom after Mr. Huston announced some new emergency rules. Make sure you go home with a friend. No one is allowed in class at break time. Make sure you have police contact numbers and family contacts on speed dial.

So on, so forth...

Katherine missed the news the night before and only heard of the serial killer at homeroom. She wasn't sure if Sally, who sat in front of her, knew of it before school. Sally neither looked surprised, scared, serious nor bored, only looking ahead and listening attentively to the teacher.

When their homeroom teacher left, Katherine tapped on Sally's shoulder.

'Sal... Sal, when did they announce that the first time?'

Sally didn't look back at Katherine. She organised her notebooks and stationery on her desk as she spoke.

'Yesterday night at eight, I guess. Didn't you hear anything from the news?'

Katherine shook her head. 'I was working on our project at that time.'

Sally looked back at her and smiled. 'I'm happy you become a dedicated person when the need comes...'

'What does that supposed to mean?'

'...but take it easy, will you?'

Katherine stood up. 'So, yeah, anyway... How about we both go home together?'

Sally nodded. 'Sure.'

'Who will Lea go with, though?' Katherine asked. She looked backwards. Lea was assigned a desk in the row behind her which was the last row. Unfortunately, the person behind Katherine was Mark.

Her 'Katherine Switch' went on when she caught the sight.

Mark was asleep, as usual, and was leaning on the window with his cheek sticking on it. What made her excited was Lea, who sat directly beside him, and who was also asleep on her desk , peacefully snoring, as drool ran from her mouth onto her desk.

'What a beautiful sight,' she thought.

'Sally,' said Katherine, 'Sally, come here, quick.'

'What?' asked Sally as she left her desk.

'Can't you see?' asked Katherine when Sally got beside her.

Sally looked at them and grimaced. 'Yes, I can see. Lea needs a tissue. I didn't know she drools,' she said and headed towards her desk again, only to be stopped by Katherine.

'Where are you going?' she asked.

'To bring a tissue,' answered Sally.

'No, you bring a camera,' she said as she shook her head, 'but I can't take a picture without their permission,' she added in dismay after a thought and her face fell.

Sally furrowed her brows and Katherine held her by her shoulders. 'This could be the beginning of something bigger, Sal! Can't you see? A bigger romance story we never noticed was right under our noses?!' she exclaimed with gleaming eyes.

'...because Lea is drooling?'

Katherine nodded excitedly, a wide grin plastered on her face.

Sally broke from Katherine's embrace and walked towards Lea. She knelt down beside her and started poking her cheek. 'Lea, Lea, wake up. You're drooling.'

Katherine gasped in horror.

'What are you doing!' she yelled out. Katherine knelt down beside her and snapped her hand away. 'You'll wake her up!'

'That's what I want to do.'

'You two are causing a scene.' They heard Denis' voice and looked up at him. He towered over them with a disapproving look. 'What are you doing?'

'Katherine is enforcing her romance queen rule again,' said Sally.

'What's wrong in that?'

Dennis looked at Lea, and his short-lived perfect image of Lea in his mind shattered. Lea became quite popular in their class in her first days. She became known as the smart, athletic, talented, responsible and simply perfect figure, but what's with the drool?

She looked like a child on her desk.

'We better wake her up,' suggested Sally.

'Yeah,' Dennis agreed.

'No!' Katherine protested.

'Lea, Lea, wake up.' Sally ignored her and proceeded in poking Lea in the cheek.

It took them a while, but eventually, Lea woke up and rose. Dennis brought tissues from Sally's place as she rubbed her eyes. She looked sleep deprived, with shadows under her eyes and hairs sticking out everywhere.

'What's wrong with you? Are you fine?' asked Sally, as Dennis handed Lea the tissues.

'Somehow...' She yawned as she rubbed the drool from her face, though it was a sloppy job.

Katherine found herself a corner in the class and sulked there. 'You ruined it,' she said.

'Suck it up, Cat. Nothing happened,' Dennis said.

A teacher walked in soon enough and everyone left to their desks. Katherine couldn't suck it up, though. In class, she stole quick glances from Lea, and notice how she looked like she'll sleep and drool again in any second.

###

'So, what was wrong with you?' Sally asked Lea at breaktime.

They found for themselves an empty dining table in the school grounds and spent their break there since they were officially unallowed to spend their breaks in their beloved classroom.

'I had some problems yesterday night,' Lea said, 'so I couldn't sleep, but please don't bother with that.'

'I'm afraid we need to get bothered,' said Katherine who sat directly beside Sally on the bench.

Lea raised her brows. 'Why...?'

Katherine heaved her school bag to the bench, and took out a couple of notebooks and papers from it. 'We work on our project for the festival at school three times a week, you know.' She flipped through the papers and picked out one. It was their weekly timetable. She placed it in front of Lea and said, 'We have a free lesson next, and I want you to work with Dennis and Mark on the set.'

'You mean for the play?' asked Lea.

Katherine nodded, with a smug smile plastering her face. 'Mark is a lazy bum, and Dennis is a painful waste of time, but Sally and I are busy with the script, so we can't really babysit them all the time. That's why I'm gonna let you be with they boys. We don't need extra workforce on the script department.'

Sally shot Katherine a threatening glare, which she didn't notice.

'I hope you won't fall asleep there. One sleeper is enough.'

Lea's face reddened a bit. 'I'll try my best! I won't disappoint you, Cat!'

Katherine's smile didn't leave her face. Sally stomped on Katherine's foot under the table when she noticed it, but Katherine didn't flinch and kept smiling.

'Leeeeeeeaaaaaaa!' A girl suddenly hopped from behind Lea and wrapped her arms around her neck. 'Where were you? I've been searching for you since breaktime started.'

'Cherry...?' asked a choking Lea. The girl still didn't let go of her, even though it was obvious she was choking.

Now both Sally and Katherine shot death glares at the girl.

She started chasing Lea ever since she picked steam with their classmates, and started calling herself 'Lea's besty best friend', which was obviously strange considering the fact that they barely talked to each other.

'Yes, it's me, Cherry!' she exclaimed like an excited mother. 'I mished you sho mush, LenLen.'

'LenLen...?' Katherine was going to stand up and say something, but Sally gripped her trousers and pulled her down.

Cherry had let go of Lea, who coughed a couple of times and breathed in deeply for a while. She sat on the bench beside Lea, and, completely ignoring Sally and Katherine's existence, asked, 'Why didn't you wait for me when the bell rang, Lea. I was searching for you since breaktime started.'

'Please tell me for God's sake, why should she wait for you?' thought Katherine.

'Really?' asked Lea in genuine surprise. 'I didn't know. You see, I'm with Cat and Sally these days till I'm familiar with campus.'