6:55 pm.

After they finished eating what Ethan cooked for them. Liam asked them what they wanted to drink, all of them wanted black tea but Nadine was tired; she couldn’t resist a big cup of coffee. She left them and went to the bathroom to wash up. The bathroom was on the left side of the apartment.

Nadine walked down a long hall to reach it at the end. She washed her face and hands; feeling a sudden need to sleep. She put her hair in a high ponytail and went outside. She noticed that one door of the other rooms was open.

She wasn’t the most inquisitive person, but something piqued her interest: a large painting of a beautiful woman in her early thirties, drawn in a detailed portrait that looked like a photograph from a distance. Nadine entered the room without a second thought.

It was Liam’s office room, and it was as neat and spacious as the rest of the apartment. On the right side was an L-shaped glass desk with black stationery and a silver-colored desktop computer, and on the left side was another L-shaped glass desk with work papers and books.

Two large paintings hung on the right wall, and the portrait of the woman and unique pictures hung on the left wall. Nadine examined the painting and noticed the painter’s signature. “Donggun... wow,” Nadine thought to herself.

She took two steps forward to see the rest of the pictures. It was a collection of photos of Liam with his friends on various occasions. She was drawn to one particular image. It was Liam, dressed in his graduation robe, standing between his parents, the same woman in the portrait. But as she grew older, she appeared more elegant. Liam appeared younger, with shorter hair and a shaved face.

Nadine grinned. The image of the same location flashed through her mind. I’ve seen this before, she whispered. For a few moments, it felt like déjà vu.

Her gaze shifted to Liam’s father, and her smile faded slowly. Nadine took a deep breath and her eyes widened in surprise. She took a step back, puzzled by what was happening to her. When she saw Donggun’s face, a vague sense of familiarity washed over her.

When an image appeared in front of her eyes, she lost all sense of reality. She blinked hard, her vision blurred, and flashes beamed across her. She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them to look around.

Darkness with weak lighting coming from some candles. Everything seemed slow. Too slow to her liking. She felt her body unable to move. Some force was holding her tight. The moment her brain grasped where she was, everything began moving normally.

She moved her head, looking at the force holding her, a number of dark strings squeezing her hard, the strings were increasing, and moving upwards, reaching her neck, and choking the life out of her. Her panic was rising, her gaze fell on shadows of two men fighting far from her pinned body.

She wanted to scream, but her terrified body was immobilizing her voice. One of them approached her. It was Donggun. He was younger, with messy medium-length hair covering the sides of his face and dressed in a white linen shendyt and a tunic with blood running out of his nose.

She looked at his anguished face and eyes; he was screaming in a language she didn’t grasp, but she understood every word he said. Donggun hugged Nadine, and the ground shook violently.

“Nadine!” Liam said loudly, his hand nudging her shoulder.

Nadine took one step back after looking at him, losing her balance for a second and gasping.

“Are you okay?” Liam inquired; his face concerned.

“Yeah… I’m fine, I was just...” — Nadine gave him a half-smile before returning her gaze to the graduation photo — “thinking.”

She yawned. “I can’t stay any longer. My eyes are closing on their own,” Nadine said, yawning again. She wasn’t the only one keeping a secret; Liam never told her that the conversation she had with Camellia on the other side of his apartment wasn’t a whisper one. The apartment’s walls are thin, and he heard everything.

“Okay weirdo, later,” Liam said and chuckled.

Nadine ended the call remembering how he always called her weirdo whenever they spoke. Their friendship was strange one that happened by chance two years ago. The only thing she remembered vividly was the day they met. They’ve stayed in touch despite living on different continents. They seemed completely at ease around each other.

Or it could be something else.

None of them could explain how they became that close or even how they kept their friendship strong.