"oh yeah?" donghyuck, a year older than the chinese boy, raised a brow. "well, suck it. we're going in,"
chenle, along with his close friends hung out on a sunny saturday, deciding to spend the whole day at a funfair. they went on awesome rides and played adventurous games until donghyuck brought up the real deal. exploring a huge haunted house.
chenle gaped at his reply and looked at the others in disbelief. "are you guys hearing this?"
"he's right at some point," renjun shrugged.
the youngest of the group, jisung, joined in the diss. "don't be such a chicken, chenle,"
"if it makes you better, i'm scared of haunted houses too,"
"mark, you're a loser too,"
"shut up, hyuck, and where's your 'hyung'?"
jaemin and jeno, the sweetest™️ angels, patted his back instead, with jaemin saying, "it's okay, if you're scared, just cling onto my arm, lele,"
"can't i wait outside?" chenle whined. "there are better rides to go to!"
"either you get inside, or no chicken,"
"okay, fine,"
they went in one by one, but stayed close in a group, making sure all seven were together inside the dark haunted building. at first, they saw nothing due to their pitch black surroundings. some of them tripped over at times, cussing over their blackened vision and such, until the lights were switched on, making the room dimly lit.
and the group was honourably met with bloodied faces and crawling zombies.
of course, chenle was the first to scream, followed by the others. the second youngest hid behind jaemin, yelling out profanities and a string of incoherent words and threatens. "h-hyung— hyung!! i don't wanna die, i still have leftover chicken in the oven and i haven't called my parents this week, or update anything on social medias and—"
he stopped, feeling something grab on his leg in a tight grip and screamed loudly, louder than any dolphin screams in the world combined before he thrashed wildly from the hold and ran off to god knows where. he had separated completely from his friends by then.
"lele? chenle?! guys, i think he's gone!" jaemin panicked.
"oh... eh, we'll meet up later probably- AAAAHHHHHHHH MY GAD, WHAT— WHAT IS THAT— CLOWN— A CLOWN!!!" he screamed out in fear, tugging on jisung's arm and pushing the youngest towards the creepy clown.
"don't sacrifice the kid, you idiot!!" mark yelled, horrified.
meanwhile, the chinese boy was running up and down the stairs, getting away from, well, whatever that was supposedly chasing him until he finally stopped, the ghost no longer in his sight. and it was then he realised he had parted ways with his six friends, slapping himself on the head.
"okay, lele, deep breaths, don't panic," he whispered to himself, taking slow steps towards the eerie hall, a sudden silence brushing over the atmosphere. "happy thoughts, happy thoughts, uhh.. jay chou, dolphins, chicken, mom,"
a high-pitched scream broke out the silence in no less than a minute. chenle spun around— he regretted that— and saw a woman with long black hair dressed in white, charging at him meters away from where he stood. chenle's loud dolphin-like scream echoed throughout the building before he ran for his dear life, obviously on the verge of bawling his eyes out.
it felt as if he was running away for ages, and the stupid woman was still hot on his trails. "j-just.. just leave me alone!! i'm a selfless boy! i didn't do anything wrong!" he cried out.
just as he thought he was going to give up and be sacrificed to the ghosts from the other world, he bumped into a figure in front, stepping back by force. a pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders, making the boy shut his eyes closed and automatically thrash in their hold.
"no, no, no, no, don't kill me—!!"
"i'm not— calm down! i'm not a ghost!" he heard a— beautiful— voice belonging to a girl instead, snapping his eyes open to look at whoever was in front of him at the moment. he couldn't really make out her face in the dark, but she had a smile on her face to calm him down and get him back to his senses.
"but.. there was a ghost behind—" chenle turned his head around, only to see no ghost anywhere, just the two standing in the empty corridor. "okay.. i swear i.. i just saw.."
"well, at least we're not alone now. i'm supposed to stick with my friend but we got separated," she explained her case. "hi, i'm ____________. funny meeting you here for a first time,"
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"oh.. my name's chenle. nice meeting you too. in a haunted house," they both shared a tiny laugh before deciding to find their way out together. "i parted ways with my friends too. something grabbed my leg so i ran off. a stupid move though,"
she laughed genuinely, finding it funny. "well, it happens," they walked around for a long while.
"can we.. like, i don't know, hold hands? i'm really scared of ghosts,"
"yeah, i could tell the first time i saw you a while ago," ___________ teased, reaching to hold his hand anyways. the simple gesture brought the two to blush out of embarrassment, but neither made a move to pull their hands away.
after some time, chenle squinted his eyes and saw an exit, jumping in victory. "that's it. a door, an exit! ___________, let's go!" he tugged on her hand and the two youths ran ahead towards the door, finally being exposed to the sunlight.
"well, look who finally came up!" donghyuck clapped his hands. "we waited for like, ten minutes! jaemin almost called the authorities to search for you!"
"obviously, i was worried!"
"yeah, mom, we get it," the boys glanced at the girl, who still had her hand intertwined with chenle's. the two noticed this and pulled away quickly, cheeks flushing red while denying whatever was on the others' minds.
"uh.. chenle, just so you know, i work part-time at the convenience store up there," she pointed at a direction, at the convenience store right beside the funfair. "especially night time, so if you wanna meet up some time, i'm there, okay? see ya!" she patted his shoulder before running off to find her friend.
"woaahhhhhhh!!!" chenle earned screams and whistles from his friends. the boy rolled over his eyes, a clear blush still evident on his cheeks.
but he silently promised to himself he'll meet her again though.
