| Chapter 12 "It's you…It really is you…" Kang Ta whispered as a girl walked in. The girl had a shy expression on her face as she smiled. "Is…is Moon Hee Jun here?" she asked the girl next to her. The girl next to her looked around, saw Hee Jun, and smiled. "Yeah. He is," the girl said. "Hee Jun oppa?" the girl said. Hee Jun was still in shock. The girl frowned a little. "Yu Mee…If he's in here, why didn't he answer me? Is there something wrong with my face? Or is it because I'm…no that's not possible…He wrote 'Outside Castle', right? That's what you told me, right, Yu Mee?" She looked as if she was frantic. "Sharon," Kang Ta called out as he walked slowly up to her. She didn't answer. "Was that Kang Ta oppa?" the girl asked the other girl. "I recognize his voice. It's him, right?" she asked with a sweet smile. Kang Ta looked at her. She's blind. He knew that from the look in her eyes. She's not Sharon after all…he thought painfully in his heart. He would probably never see his love anymore… "Sharon…Sharon is it you!?" Christina called out. The girl still didn't answer. Christina looked at the rest of the people in the room. Grace didn't know Sharon because she came in after Sharon left. The other people were still in shock. Christina went up to the girl. "Is it you, Sharon?" The girl didn't answer to her question. "Is she…she talking to me, Yu Mee? She's Christina, right? Who's…who's Sharon?" the girl asked. "Yes, Celeste. It's Christina," the girl named Yu Mee said gently to the girl. She then turned to Christina and said with a smile, "I don't know who this Sharon that you are talking about but she's not Sharon. Her name is Celeste." The rest of the people then looked at one another. There's actually someone that can look exactly alike to another person! "She's blind since birth and she wanted to come here to thank Hee Jun for trying to help handicapped people out. She use to be really shy and shameful of herself because she's blind because she thought that all the people would look down on her. But when she heard Hee Jun oppa's song, she found out that there were actually people who would understand her and that person was actually a person who practically had all the attention in the world." "It's…it's ok," Hee Jun said as he snapped back from the shock. He smiled and went up to the girl named Celeste. "Your name is Celeste?" The girl nodded. "You're Hee Jun oppa, right?" the girl asked. "Thank you for you song." The smile returned to her face again. Exactly like the one that Sharon use to have before the situation broke out, Kang Ta thought. "Your welcome. Let me guess why they named you Celeste," Hee Jun said. "Because you are as pretty as the stars in the sky." Celeste laughed. "I'm not pretty," Celeste said. Then, she lowered her eyelids and said, "I can't be." "Yes, you could!" Hee Jun said firmly. "You are just as equal as everyone else. You know the name of our album right? They Are Nothing Different From Us." Celeste smiled again. "Thank you," Celeste said again. "Stop saying 'Thank you' and sit down," Hee Jun said as he led Celeste with Yu Mee to a seat near them. The rest of the people in the room looked at them. Hee Jun looked at Yu Mee and asked Sharon, "She's your best friend?" "You mean Yu Mee?" Celeste asked. "Yes," Hee Jun answered. Celeste nodded. "She's the nicest person in the world. Too bad I didn't know her earlier," Celeste said she said a little note of regret in her voice. "At least we're best of friends now," Yu Mee said with a smile. Celeste nodded happily. Kang Ta went over and sat next to her and looked at her. He was trying to find some similarity from Celeste that resembled Sharon…He knows that she's not Sharon but he couldn't help it… "Where did you people meet each other?" Jae Won asked. Now, all the people came back from the shock. "We met each other at an orphanage," Celeste said. "I use to be in that orphanage. When I grew up, I decided to help the other orphans there because I know how it feels to be an orphan." From her eyes, there can be signs of sadness that could be noticed but then she quickly covered them with a smile and continued, "Yu Mee is one of the nicest girls in the world! She volunteered even though she comes from a rich family at the orphanage and she was so nice to me. That's how we became friends." Everyone nodded in understanding way. *********************************************** Kang Ta was sitting in his hotel room. He was holding a picture in his hands. He looked at the picture and remembered the time when he took the picture… *********************************************** "I don't like to take pictures," Sharon said as they walked along the same beach that Sharon told Kang Ta what happened to her. This was their third date. They first had a dinner at a fancy restaurant and then they decided to have a walk along the beach. Kang Ta wanted to take a picture with her, but Sharon didn't want to. "What's so bad about taking a picture? We can always use it as something to remember the old times," Kang Ta said. "I just don't like to take pictures," Sharon said. "Come on. Just once?" Kang Ta asked and then gave her the puppy eyes. Sharon looked at him and started to laugh. "Okay, okay. Just once," Sharon said. Kang Ta smiled and kissed her on the forehead. He then looked for someone and asked them to take a picture of him and Sharon… *********************************************** He spoke to early at that time. Now, what he really had are the memories of what happened, Kang Ta thought as he smiled bitterly. He tried to forget her, like what the rest of the people tried to tell him to. Either he didn't want to or he just simply can't. The more he tried to forget her, the more he remembered her everything and the more it caused pain in his heart. Especially now that girl named Celeste appeared…He wondered what would be Sharon's expression if she saw Celeste…Would she be surprised? Would she be happy? Or would she have her regular expressionless face? No…she's doesn't have that face when she's with him…Oh, how much he missed her!? He should have made her take more pictures with him…At least he wouldn't just have one picture to look at her…He gently placed the picture back to the wallet that he had always placed it. He then put on the jacket and went out to meet with the rest of the people. *********************************************** "Holly? Yeah! I'm in the US right now…" Grace was talking on the phone. "I'm in the hotel right now… You'll be here in a few minutes?…Ok…See you later." Holly was the best friend of Grace. She had met with her when she was younger, a few years before she went to audition for SM. It's been about three months since she saw this friend of hers. She could talk to her about almost everything in the world. A few minutes later, Holly sure enough, appeared in front of Grace's hotel room door. "Grace!" Holly called out with a smile as she hugged Grace. "How are you?" Grace asked with a smile. "Great! And you?" Holly asked. "Pretty good," Grace answered. "You told me over the phone that you fell more in love with Kang Ta, right? So, did he show any feelings toward you yet?" Holly asked. Grace shook her head sadly. Holly patted her on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. Maybe he's just acting it all out." "No…" Grace said. "He's not. He's still in love with Sharon." "You mean that girl that left the group that you are in right now?" Holly asked. Grace nodded. "It's just for a while. Trust me. You are such a pretty girl and everything." Grace shook her head. "You should have seen his face when he saw Celeste today," Grace said. "Who's Celeste?" Holly asked. "It's this blind girl who looks exactly like Sharon. That's what Audrey said and I believe her because she knew Sharon since they were little kids," Grace replied. She sighed and then continued, "He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He almost messed up on the stage when he saw her in the audience." "Are you sure about it?" Holly asked. "I'm positive. I could see it from his eyes. He looked at her with those eyes…that you can clearly see how much he missed Sharon," Grace said solemnly. "But she's still not Sharon," Holly pointed out. "You still have a chance." Grace looked at her and sighed again. *********************************************** Alex…That's who he reminds her of…Not the face but the movements…the way that he looked at people…The confidence…He was the second person that could actually move her the way that she did…Although she's not suppose to…Because of her fate to become what she is… *********************************************** Kang Ta went to the orphanage that Celeste had mentioned the day before. He didn't know why he came here but…he felt that he wanted to see her once more. Just then, he saw her walking toward him slowly as she felt in front of her to see if there was anything to block her way. That girl named Yu Mee is not beside her. Wouldn't it be a little dangerous for her to come out alone? Kang Ta then walked toward her. He noticed that there were roots from a nearby tree that threatened to trip Celeste down. He then ran over beside her and held on to her. "Watch out. There are roots in the ground," Kang Ta said to her. Celeste then smiled. "I know. I know this place because I grew up here. Thanks anyway, Kang Ta Oppa," Celeste said. "You recognize it's me?" Kang Ta asked in surprise. "I recognize you by your voice," Celeste answered. Kang Ta then noticed that she liked to smile more than Sharon did. "Oh?" "Your voice is pretty easy to recognize…Especially when you are part of my favorite group," Celeste said as she turned a little red from her previous statement. Kang Ta smiled a little when he saw this. That was one thing that was similar to Sharon… "Why…why did you come to see me, oppa?" Celeste asked. Kang Ta stopped for a second. He really didn't know what made him come here. Did he just came here to see her…or… "I came to see you," Kang Ta said. That's not exactly a lie… "Really?" Celeste asked happily. "I knew that you people are wonderful people. I know that since the second that I heard Outside Castle." "That's when you started to know about us?" Kang Ta asked. Celeste nodded. "You are very talented. You have a great voice and you are great at composing," Celeste said. "Really?" Kang Ta asked as he kind of blushed a little from the compliment. "Yeah. Yu Mee always tells me which songs are composed by each of you," Celeste said. "You have a great friend then," Kang Ta said. Like the way that Sharon and Audrey were. Celeste nodded. "I don't know what would I do without her. She helped me a lot. There's a lot of things that I can't do without her because I only know this place but I don't know anywhere else," Celeste said with a short laugh. "Would you like to go to Korea?" Kang Ta suddenly blurted out. Celeste was taken by surprise. "I…I can't go…I can't…I don't…I don't anywhere…" Celeste was saying. "What if I promise that I would take care of you?" Kang Ta asked. Celeste sat there in shock. *********************************************** "What are you? Going crazy, man?" Hee Jun almost screamed on the top of his lungs. "Do you know what you are doing, Kang Ta?" Hye Sung asked. "I know exactly what I'm doing," Kang Ta said stubbornly. "I know that she looks like Sharon and everything but that doesn't mean that you have to take her back to where you are so that you can look at her everyday," Dong Wan said. "And remember that she's not the real Sharon," Jun Jin added. "I don't care," Kang Ta said. Suddenly Woo Hyuk walked into the room. Kang Ta then asked Woo Hyuk, "Where did you go?" Woo Hyuk then looked at everyone guiltily. "I went to see Celeste," Woo Hyuk said. She looked too much like his sister… "See! I'm not the only one," Kang Ta said as he turned around to face the other people in the room. "Kang Ta-" Hee Jun was about to start. "I already made the decision. I'm taking her back with me. She gave me the permission and I would take her and I don't care what anyone says about it!" *********************************************** Chapter 13 "Um…Eric hyung? Why did you take me here?" Andy asked Eric. They were standing in front of a pub. "Didn't I tell you that I didn't want to come here but there are people that want to meet with us? I asked them to check out that girl Celeste so that Kang Ta won't get tricked again," Eric said as he kind of grew red from being accused of trying to bring Andy to a pub. They then walked into the pub and tried to look for the person that they were looking for. When they walked in, the quickly noticed a pretty girl with brown eyes, brownish/burgundy hair up to the waist and they estimated her height to be about 5'4". She was sitting there quietly as if she was waiting for someone. She then noticed Eric and Andy and she raised an eyebrow. She then shook her head and looked away as she muttered something that Eric and Andy could not hear. Eric and Andy then continued to look for the person that they were looking for. *********************************************** "And you would be thinking that people like them would never come to a place like this," Kim said to herself as she looked away from Eric and Andy. "And they call themselves celebrities? Imagine being caught by the newspapers like this." She was waiting for her friend, Poyan and Sung Mi in the pub. This is the most famous pub so when people meet, the mostly meet at this place. Besides, this was own by her friend. Kim then took another sip out of her juice as she continued to search for Poyan and Sung Mi. *********************************************** "You're Eric Mun?" a girl at a table suddenly called at them. "Yeah…You are?" Eric asked. He could almost swear that he never saw this girl before. "You're looking for information for that girl named Celeste right?" the girl asked. "Don't tell me that you're the one who looked for the information," Eric said. "No. Go upstairs to Room 101," the girl said. *********************************************** Eric knocked on the door of Room 101. Then a voice told them to come in. Eh? A female's voice. When Eric and Andy walked into the room, sure enough, there was a girl in front of a computer typing something. She then turned around and looked at Eric and Andy. She had semi-curly black hair a little past the shoulder and dark brown eyes. She looked very young. "You're Eric Mun right?" the girl asked after they sat down. "Yes," Eric answered. "I asked for the information about Celeste." "Yes, I know. My name is Gina," the girl said. "I was given this task to help you find out information about this girl." Eric nodded. "I just want to tell you one thing: There is nothing to be said about her." Eric looked at her. "What do you mean there's nothing to be said about her?" Eric asked. "Nothing," Gina said. "Absolutely nothing. She's as white as a piece of paper. I'm not talking about her past but information about her. You can give me a piece of paper and I cannot write a single sentence out about her except people call her Celeste." Eric looked at Andy. "Is there anyway to find out?" Eric asked. "There might be but I would need to follow her up for a few months. That's the only way that you find out more about a person," Gina said with a smile. "How much would that cost?" Eric asked. "It's not a matter of money. It's just that I would have to travel all the way to Korea," Gina said as she looked back on to Eric's face. "Your friend, Kang Ta, wants to bring this girl back to Korea." Eric was a little bit surprised but satisfied that she could find out about that. He nodded. "I would need not just one ticket. You would have to pay a few more tickets than just mine. I would have a few friends that would love to go with me," Gina finished off with a sweet smile. "You want to bring your friend?" Eric asked as his eyes widened. "No," Gina answered as she leaned back on her chair. "Not friend. Friends. You don't expect me to go all alone and get all bored that I can't do my job, right?" Eric then slowly nodded. "All right," Eric answered. "We'll pay for the job to be done but you have to promise that it would be able to come up with a conclusion." "No problem," Gina said. Then, Eric got up with Andy and walked toward the door. Before they left, Andy took a few more looks at Gina. After the door was closed, Eric said to Andy, "Remind me to get the money from Hee Jun when we get home, okay?" They then walked downstairs into the pub to go out from the front door. *********************************************** "Didn't I tell you?" Kim said to Poyan and Sung Mi as the three of them looked at Eric and Andy walked down the stairs. "That's…pretty hard to believe if we didn't really see it," Poyan said. Kim nodded. "I thought that there was something wrong with my eyes at that beginning. Apparently, there's nothing wrong with my eyesight," Kim said. They then saw Gina walk down the stairs. Eric and Andy were still in the pub. They decided to drink something before they left. "Hey Gina!" Kim called out. That caused Eric and Andy to turn around and look at the four girls. "Hi Kim!" Gina greeted with a smile. "What made you people come here?" "Poyan, Kim, and I decided that we didn't see you for a long time so we decided to come and see you," Sung Mi answered. "How sweet of you people," Gina said with a smile. She opened the pub. She might be young but she also was a very smart girl. The other girls smiled. "So…Do you people have anything to do for these few months?" The three girls shook their head. "Boring life," Poyan said with a sigh. "Nothing fun to do," Sung Mi said. "I agree," Kim said. "How about a free two-way ticket to Korea for a few months?" Gina asked with a smile. The three girls looked up at her happily but only for a moment. "Gina…I know that you have your own pub and you have that detective job or yours…But I don't think that you earned enough money to afford four tickets to Korea," Sung Mi said. "I don't have to pay," Gina said as she stirred the drink that the waiter just brought over. "What do you mean?" Poyan asked. "I have some free tickets from a customer of mine," Gina said as she took a sip out of her drink. "So what do you people say? Go or stay?" "Go!" all three of them said together. Gina then nodded. "I got to go now," Kim said. "Me too," Poyan and Sung Mi said together as they stretched. "Ok. Bye people," Gina said. "Bye." When the three girls walked out of the door, Gina turned around and walked toward Eric and Andy. "I would need a total of four tickets," Gina said. Eric looked at her. "I'll get it to you by tomorrow," Eric said. Gina nodded. "We have to be in the same class and same flight as you people," Gina said. Eric raised one eyebrow. "Celeste is going to be in the same class and same flight as you people, right?" She then took a look at Andy who was looking at her throughout the whole conversation without saying a word, smiled at him, and walked away. *********************************************** Chapter 14 "Gina!" Kim called out in the airport. Kim was with Poyan and Sung Mi was with Gina. They were suppose to meet at the airport. Today was the day that they would be going to Korea. After what seemed like hours to Kim, she finally found Gina. "What's up?" Gina asked as she walked over with Sung Mi. "Nothing but we're just looking for you because we don't have the airplane tickets," Kim said with a smile. "Oh ok. That means that after you take the tickets, you can just throw us aside?" Sung Mi asked. "No!" Poyan said. "We were looking for you for the tickets and you people because the four of us are the best of friends right?" *********************************************** "There's Gina, right, Eric Hyung?" Andy asked Eric. "Andy," Eric said. "I know that you like her and everything so would you just stop noticing her so much?" "What are you talking about?" Andy asked with a blush. "Don't think that I don't know. Since the first time that you saw Gina, you kept your eyes on her whenever you saw her," Eric said. "What? Andy actually started to like someone?" Jun Jin asked as he walked over to them. "Way to go, Andy!" Tony said as he gave Andy a thumbs-up and nodded his head. These actions by the other people just made Andy blush even more. Suddenly, Hee Jun came back with a grumpy face. "What happened, Hee Jun Hyung?" Jae Won asked. Hee Jun looked at where Kang Ta was standing with Celeste. "Nothing," Hee Jun mumbled. Jae Won didn't expect him to break the whole plan just because of money, does he? *********************************************** "Hi! My name is Audrey. Nice to meet you," Audrey said on the plane to Kim and Poyan, who were sitting right across from Audrey and Tony. "Hi! My name is Kim and this is Poyan," Kim said with a friendly smile. "These two in front of us are Sung Mi and Gina." "Hi Sung Mi. Hi Gina," Audrey said with a smile. "Hi," the two replied. Gina was not concentrating on what they were saying afterwards because she had to pretend that she was doing something else as she looked at the actions of Celeste. Celeste was sitting next to Kang Ta. Gina and Sung Mi sat in the seat next to them. Yu Mee was sitting right behind Sharon with another girl. "You have to put on the seatbelt now," Kang Ta said gently to Celeste. "Oh ok," Celeste said with a smile. "Do you need help with it?" Kang Ta asked. "It's ok…It's just that I can't quite find it," Celeste said with a soft laugh. Kang Ta then helped her find it and helped her buckled it up. Grace was sitting right behind Gina so she saw clearly what Kang Ta was doing. Holly decided to go to Korea with her since she had nothing to do during the summer. When Grace saw all of this, she couldn't help but feel a stab of pain in her heart. Holly saw the expressions on Grace face and looked at what she was looking at. Kang Ta and Celeste. "Are you excited about this?" Kang Ta asked Celeste. He couldn't help but stare at her features. She looked so much like Sharon… "Yes, of course," Celeste said with a happy smile. "It's my first time traveling." "Really?" Kang Ta asked. Celeste nodded. "I can't possibly go by myself and I don't want to bother Yu Mee," Celeste said. "You would not bother me, Celeste," Yu Mee answered. "Well now you can go out of country whenever you want because you have all these people here to help you," Lami, who was sitting in the seat in front of Celeste with Dong Wan, turned around and said. "Ow! Lami! You just swung your hair into my eyes," Dong Wan complained. "You complain too much, Kim Dong Wan. I feel like throwing you out the plane!" Lami complained back. "Look who's complaining now!" Dong Wan returned. "Don't mind them," Kang Ta said to Celeste. "They're always like that." "No no! It's great to see them like this because…I feel that this proves that they actually have strong feelings for one another," Celeste said. Lami and Dong Wan heard this and suddenly stopped arguing and looked away from one another with a blush. Celeste laughed. Kang Ta laughed with her. *********************************************** Finally, the plane landed in Korea. "Where are you going to live at, Celeste?" Gina suddenly asked her. Celeste turned toward her. It was the first time that Gina talked to Celeste since they first met. "Why did you suddenly asked?" Celeste asked in her usual gentle way. "I'm just curious because it's your first time here and everything," Gina said. "I…I don't really know," Celeste answered. "You can live at our house," Chibi said. "She's living at my house," Kang Ta suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at him wide-eyed. Um…Did he happen to forget that he's a male and she's a female? "I promised her to take care of her if I take her to Korea. As you people can see, she's here. I'm not going to break that promise." He then went over and helped Celeste with her luggage. "We're going to the company first, ok? After that, I'll bring you to my house," Kang Ta said gently to her. Celeste then nodded. "If you're tired, you can tell me and I'll take you to my house first." "It's okay," Celeste said. "I'm not tired." "Okay," Kang Ta said with a smile. The other people looked at the two of them and then at one another… *********************************************** "Tony!" Hee Jun suddenly called out to him when they were outside of the company. Kang Ta and Celeste were already in the building. Tony walked over to him. "What?" Tony asked. "Tell the other people, meeting, at my house, tonight," Hee Jun said. "Exclude Kang Ta, Woo Hyuk, and Celeste." Tony then nodded. It was not the first time that they did this after Kang Ta met with Celeste… *********************************************** "It's been close to four months already. The person wants to know when are you going to get the job done?" the man asked the female in the tunnel. (chilhyun1979: Yes, the same tunnel as the beginning of the story where the killer met with the man) "I told you: I don't want a time limit," the female said. "The person who told us to do this job is very upset that the project three months ago failed," the man said. "That's too bad for him then. I never knew that there was a person in the group that would tell them what happened," the female said coldly. "It's probably the fault of the person who's taking people in that he didn't check carefully enough of the people's backgrounds." "I'll report that back to the leader," the man said. The female nodded. "Tell him to stop trying to give me a time limit," the female said as she turned around and left. *********************************************** Hee Jun's house. "I guess that all you people notice the way that Kang Ta is treating Celeste, right?" Hee Jun asked. Everyone in the room nodded. The people who were there were the members of H.O.T (except for Woo Hyuk because they notice that he was treating her as if she was Sharon also; Kang Ta for obvious reasons), Shinhwa, S.E.S, F2TS, Chibi, Audrey, Fae, Christina, Christah, Lami, and Esther. Grace is not included because she didn't totally know about the incident with Sharon. She didn't even know that Sharon was a killer. "It's pretty obvious that Hyung is trying his best to keep Celeste near him," Jae Won said. "That's too dangerous for him," Hee Jun said. "You people know that when he lost Sharon, he almost went crazy, right? This girl now, Celeste, is like a replacement for Sharon so he's even putting more feelings in which would contribute to his breakdown if Celeste ever leaves one day." "Would she leave?" Tony really doubted that. Why would she leave? She didn't have any relatives or anything. There's no point of leaving when a member of your favorite group actually wants you to live in his house. Tony really couldn't think of a reason of why Celeste would leave. "You never know," Hee Jun answered. "What can we do, Hyung?" Min Woo asked. He raised an eyebrow and added, "You think that he would listen to us?" "You wouldn't happen to forget how stubborn he is about letting Celeste live at his house at the airport would you?" Hye Sung asked. "He turned into a bull all of a sudden," Andy muttered under his breath, although everyone heard and started to laugh as Andy started to blush from being overheard. (chilhyun1979: lol…Can't really imagine Kang Ta as a bull, right? Trust me people…I didn't do this because I don't like him…In fact…hehe…get the clue from my sn? Ok, I'll stop babbling on and on…) "And what about the time back in the US when he insisted on bringing Celeste back here? He didn't really care what the other people would say about him," Chibi added. "How would I forget?" Hee Jun asked as he leaned back on his seat. "His reaction was so intense that it's actually kind of…scary…" "Did you people even noticed that she might be Sharon?" Brian suddenly asked. "You mean, that she might be back to finish her mission?" Christah asked. Brian nodded. "That's impossible. We all saw that she's blind," Esther said. "You're not trying to tell me that someone who's blind could be a killer." "Same as the reason as why we have to face up with Sharon three months ago: She could be lying," Brian said. "What are you suggesting, Brian?" Dong Wan asked. "I suggest that we try her," Brian answered. "You know that that's totally impossible," Jun Jin answered. "You saw how protective Kang Ta Hyung is to her," Hee Jun said. "It's practically impossible to pull him away from her now even if you tried," Fany answered. "He would not let another chance for the girl that he love to go away from him again, even if it's only a replacement of her." "And a perfect replacement because she has the same exact face as Sharon," Hee Jun said. "We're not trying to pull Kang Ta away from Celeste. We are trying to try if Celeste is truly blind or not. We don't necessarily have to care if Kang Ta is there or not," Brian said with a smile… *********************************************** |