As the six of them entered the mysterious building, they arrived in a large room from which six paths branched off. The walls covered in large mirrors, and their reflections flickered and morphed as they approached a large sign hanging on the only plaster wall. It featured the same motif plastered on the neon sign outside, and below it in goofy writing were apparently the instructions to the House of Mirrors. Key put a hand on his chin as his eyes glanced over the sign.

“It looks like it’s a maze,” he explained, glancing back at the others. “You take one of the paths and try to reach the identical room in the back. This place must be a lot bigger than it looks,” he frowned, glancing down the path nearest to him. It twisted around a corner and out of sight, light dancing over the mirrors’ glassy surfaces.

“I have an idea!” Taemin beamed. “Why don’t we have a race? There are six paths, and six of us! We each take one, and whoever reaches the last room first wins!”

“That sounds like a lot of fun!” Eun-Ae beamed. The six of them each chose an entrance to the maze, their backs to one another as they glanced around. Minho and Onew began jeering at each other, each equally insistent that he would make it to the end of the maze first; when Key shouted “Go!”, however, they shot into the maze without exchanging another insult, completely focused on the competition at hand.

Eun-Ae took her time as she wandered through the maze, as the mirrored walls were incredibly entertaining. Bright lights shone down from the ceiling above, illuminating the hallways with a whiteness that made the mirrors reflections crisp and clear. Her reflection traveled from one glass piece to the next, morphing will the zany effects the concaved glass caused. One made her look small and stout, and bulged her proportions so that she looked like a chubby gnome. The one beside it, on the other hand, stretched her body tall and thin, and if she turned to the side she could barely see her reflection at all. Another made her seem like a twisting noodle, and she did a little dance in front of the mirror. Her reflection responded accordingly, bouncing and twisting in such a way that she burst into a fit of joyous laughter.

As Eun-Ae wandered the maze she could hear the boys shouting various insults over the mirrors, as the ceiling was quite a bit higher than the glass hallways. The paths were a twisting, interlocking web of halls, and Eun-Ae occasionally saw one of them dash past, vanishing around a corner as they raced for the finish line.

“I’m almost at the exit!” Taemin called.

“I’m gonna get there first!” Minho protested, farther off to her left.

“No way! I’m gonna beat both of you!” she heard Onew cry to her right.

“This is dumb,” Jonghyun complained loudly.

“Don’t be such a grump, Jonghyun!” called Key joyfully, farther ahead. Their disembodied voices carried well, seemingly reflected of the glass surfaces and giving them an echoing quality. As she moved through the maze, their voices faded into an unrecognizable, haunting call, and Eun-Ae began to grow very afraid that she would be left in the maze by herself. Her pace quickened considerably, her feet carrying her through the mirrored halls with increasing speed. She paid little attention to the transformative qualities of the mirrors, instead growing increasingly panicked with each step.

“Key?” she called up to the raftered ceiling. Her voice, high-pitched with fright, carried over the hallways. She vaguely heard someone respond, off in the distance somewhere. She attempted to follow it, but ended up in one dead end after another, and soon she was running frantically through the hallways in an attempt to find her way out. Her reflections morphed from goofy, light-hearted forms into darker ones. They seemed to be sneering at her, laughing at her misfortune as she passed quickly over the mirrors. As her terror climbed higher and higher, she could even hear them laughing at her, and she clamped her hands over her ears, attempting to shut them out. Hall after hall she ran through, ending up in corner after corner until finally she plopped down and buried her head in her arms, shoulders quaking as she attempted to fight the panic. She heard soft footsteps approaching, and in her delirious state she figured that one of the reflections had escaped the bonds of the glass to come for her. As the footsteps grew closer, she retreated into herself. A small scream slipped from her lips as a hand landed on her shoulder.

“Eun-Ae! It’s me!” Key cried, his hand jerking back as she flinched violently. Her foggy mind began to clear, and with tear-filled eyes she stared at the figure before her until it came into focus. Key was crouched in front of her, his expression extremely concerned and his hand still held out from where he had grabbed her shoulder. “Eun-Ae? Are you okay?” he frowned. Embarrassed, she hastily wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. A blush rose to her cheeks.

“Of course! I was just so tired from walking around, I sat down for a bit,” she lied, but her still-scared expression did little to convince the boy. He smiled sympathetically, reaching out to wipe a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb.

“Were you scared?” he mused. Eun-Ae shook her head emphatically.

“No!” she protested. “I just got dust in my eye when I sat down! They really don’t clean these floors,” she huffed. Key began to laugh, reaching out to pat her comfortingly on the head. As his hand gently her hair, she felt even more embarrassed, and began to slouch.

“Aw, Eun-Ae, you got lost, didn’t you? Then you got scared we would leave you behind!” he snickered, highly amused by the prospect. Eun-Ae blushed furiously, her bottom lip slightly extended as she pouted.

“That’s not true!” she insisted, but obviously Key had seen right through her attempts to lie. He smiled warmly and took her hand, standing to pull her to her feet.

“Don’t worry, Eun-Ae. I would never leave you behind,” he reassured. She felt her heart skip a beat, as there was an intense warmth in his eyes that she had never seen before, and it sent butterflies swirling in her stomach. Her hand seemed small in his, wrapped in the security of his grasp, and her fingers twitched as she fought the urge to entwine their fingers. What’s wrong with me? she thought weakly. Key continued to smile softly at her, and she felt captive in his gaze, a prisoner to those intense eyes. A smile formed on her own lips as her heart melted inside of her.

“I know,” she murmured. Key tugged gently at her arm, leading her down the hallways. The reflections no longer seemed frightening anymore now that he was beside her. The pair laughed at the distortions in their shape, enjoying the various effects as they walked hand-in-hand toward the exit. All of Eun-Ae’s fear had faded away, replaced by a gentle happiness that radiated through her body and made her feel as if she were floating. She had been happy with Key many times, but somehow this instance felt different.

Finally, they arrived to the exit, where the other four boys were waiting. Onew and Minho were in a heated argument.

“I got here first!” Onew was shouting.

“No, I got here first!” Minho objected with his arms crossed. “You got here like five seconds after me! Jonghyun was right there- he’ll tell you!”

“No, don’t drag me into your petty argument,” the aforementioned boy sighed, sitting against a mirror and playing on his phone.

“Hey! There’s Key and Eun-Ae! It took you long enough, slowpokes!” Taemin cried, pointing at the pair as they strolled out of the hallway.

“Eun-Ae got lost in the maze, so I had to go rescue her,” Key mused. Eun-Ae blushed in mortification, and attempted to pull her hand out of his. The man refused to relinquish his grip, however, causing the girl to grow even redder.

“I did not get lost,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Eun-Ae!” Taemin beamed at her. “Mazes are hard for some people.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better, Taemin,” she sighed, then chuckled. With Onew and Minho still squabbling about which of them made it to the end first, the group strolled out of the exit and back into the amusement park. Eun-Ae’s hand was still firmly locked into Key’s, and she felt the fuzzy, warm feeling blossom inside her once more as the sun, sunk low in the sky, bathed them in light. “It’s getting late,” she frowned in disappointment.

“The park is open at night, Eun-Ae,” Jonghyun frowned.

“I have to be back before too long for my treatments and medicines,” she explained sadly. “I probably only have time to do one more thing.” The boys gathered around her with complicated expressions as she glanced around the park, unsure of just quite what she wanted to do next.

“I know!” Key grinned suddenly. Before she knew what was happening, he jerked on her arm and began pulling her eagerly across the park, leaving the other boys behind.