we are young - nct/red velvet

3.) differences

POV: Donghyuck

"I'm definitely gonna die," I sigh and look around. I mean.. so far, it doesn't even seem that bad. It's 8 pm, and I have to stay here for half an hour. Might as well be risky and wander around the house a little bit.

But before I can even take a step forward, a young girl suddenly walking down the stairs startles me so hard, I trip and fall onto the dusty ground.

My heart is beating so fast. "OH MY FUCK-"

"Don'T BE SCARED," she interrupts me hastily. "I'm not a ghost! My name is Kim Yerim," the girl explains. "Is this your property?"

I take a breath. "No, it's not my property. I'm just.. looking around," I answer and stand up slowly. I'm still shaking a little bit - never would I've expected to see anyone else here. "I'm Lee Donghyuck."

She lets out a sigh of relief: "Oh, thank fricking god! I thought you were the house owner or something. That wouldn't have ended well for me."

I put a forced smile on like I didn't just have a heart attack, and for the next seconds there's an awkward silence between us.

"So why are you here? Are you into ghosts too?" she asks suddenly. The naivety in her voice is a little cute, haha.

"Uh, no, not at all. I'm actually kind of scared of stuff like this. I'm here because I lost a bet." I scratch my forehead in embarrassment. It's really such a dumb story.

Yerim (being honest, her name sounds really familiar. I think I've heard people talk about some girl named Kim Yerim before..) notices me being uncomfortable and waves it off. "It's all fine! I'm not done looking around yet. We can go together, hehe!"

My scared ass tries to suppress a relieved expression and I just respond by humming. She grins in satisfaction and walks up the stairs, I follow.

"There's this door, see it? I wanted to go in there, but then you came," she tells me and moves toward the door.
It does look scary. Wonder how she has the courage to go places like this on her own.

Yerim pushes down the handle. Once, twice, thrice. Nothing.
"Oh man, it's locked," she sighs in disappointment.
"Maybe there's a key somewhere," I suggest, hiding behind her back. She's probably around 6 inches shorter than me, so I squat a little. Humiliating.
And I actually hope there is no key; who knows what's in that damn room.

"Ah, whatever. I'll just go to the other rooms. There's plenty." Yerim turns around; I quickly get up & pretend I wasn't using her as a shield. "How old are you, Donghyuck?" Yerim asks and struts to the next room, I follow again.
"I'm 20. You?" "Oop, me too. We can speak casually then!"

"Are you attending college? Or..."
She giggles. "Yeah, I'm attending Hongik University."

OH. I stop walking and my eyes widen.

"Wait, really? Me too."

She turns around to face me and blinks. "Oh my gah. What's your major? Mine is English Literature," she smiles brightly. I guess she likes hers?

"Engineering," I shudder. "It's not fun."

Yerim makes a grossed out face at the pure mention of engineering. Basically every person I know who's studying it dislikes it, me included.

"But that's so cool," she looks around the room we're currently in; there's nothing in here but a completely broken window.
"Maybe we'll recognize each other at uni from now on."

I nod in response and she yawns. "I'm quite tired, and I still have work to do. I think I'll just go home for now and come back here another day. Haven't seen any ghosts yet though," Yerim pouts. I can't believe she's really disappointed.

"Yea, that's sad.. I guess. I'll leave too then." Fuck the bet, fuck the 30 minutes, I'm way too terrified to stay here alone. Another person being here is the only luck I've ever had in life..

Yerim grins and leaves the room energetically. It's weird that we only met minutes ago, but the differences between us are already more than obvious.

I snap out of my thoughts just to notice that I'm all alone & rush after Yerim. "Wait for me!"