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“This is a ing terrible idea.”

A cold wind passes by them, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” Tao hisses back at Kevin at the same time Jieun clasps her hand with Junmyeon’s. He gulps. Terrified is an understatement. The exact building in his view looks way creepier than in the pictures. There’s an alarm of danger ringing in his head. And there’s no way he can back out.

Sehun was the first one to move. With only their torchlight, they brace themselves to enter the gates of hell. Also known as the abandoned building of the infamous Exodus Mall.

Since it isn’t night time (Junmyeon thanks the heavens for that), inside wasn’t as dark as he had expected. Or maybe he judged too early. The light in the hallway slowly starting to dim and they ended up using their torchlight. Honestly, Junmyeon doesn’t know what they are trying to achieve here. What is the point of this whole visit to a haunted place? As expected, the place looks old even from the inside. Some of the shops inside are closed while there are a few that are left by the owner just like that. Newspapers are scattered all over the place with the addition of dusty pathways.

“Wow did they really leave the mall like this? For years?”

Junmyeon torches to his left and his heart almost left his body when a line of mannequin surprises his view. Hastily, he speed walks to Tao and grabs his arm, making the latter flinch violently. “HOLY ! Junmyeon you scared me!” Tao screeches in horror, clutching his chest.

“Sorry about that..” The whole time he only clings to Tao for company. After a few minutes of strolling, they found an escalator which indicates they are at the centre of the mall. That’s pretty far inside, Junmyeon pales. He had to let go of Tao because all of sudden Sehun appeared beside the tall male and holds his hips as they walk together. Of course, Junmyeon doesn’t hesitate to walk alone then. At the centre, there’s literally a huge space. Being in the lower ground, they realize this mall isn’t quite big. Even in the pictures it looked small.

“Let’s go to the second floor!” Sehun suggests, running to the escalator.

Junmyeon wonders what did Sehun ate to be this excited. He eyes the escalator and even the sight of it is making him sweat. Is this safe? He doesn’t even have a say in it because everyone is already going up the escalator. The sounds of their steps echo across the lonely hall. He inhales and breathes out one last time before following suit.

Fearing that his eyes would meet something unpleasant if he scans around, his vision is always on his feet. It’s better than having to see a glimpse of a ghost. But because of that, he couldn’t really see where he is walking thus, accidentally knock his head on someone’s back. Junmyeon didn’t know when his hand had clutch onto Yifan’s cardigan but he doesn’t want to let go of the soft fabric. “You good?” the taller asks, slowing his steps so Junmyeon can catch up.

“No.” he answers honestly. “You?”

Yifan chuckles before shaking his head. “Not so good myself.”

“Better than me, I suppose.”

Since they are climbing the escalator instead of riding it, the journey to the first floor looks like a long way and again, Junmyeon curses at his lack of fitness. “Really, how can a scary movie scare you but being in an abandoned place doesn’t?”

“Who said I’m not scared?” Yifan replies casually. The hold on Yifan’s cardigan tightens when the sound of Kevin’s laugh suddenly resonates around the peaceful hall. He’s thankful that the taller decided to walk by his side as they reach the first floor. “You don’t look scared at all.” Junmyeon continues.

“I guess I’m good at concealing it? Except when there are surprises or jumpscares in movies. Other than that, I’m..neutral?”

Ahh that makes sense.

If Junmyeon counted correctly, there are only 3 floors, not including the ground floor. The first floor looks slightly worst than ground floor. Apparently, there are other people who came here too judging by the ugly graffiti on the walls. Again, Junmyeon wonders what the purpose of coming to an abandon place is.

There’s that feeling again that makes his hairs stand up. He grips and pulls the fabric in his hands while he fastened his steps.

Out of sudden, he feels the lost of Yifan’s clothe and is soon replaced by a warm hand. He cranes his neck to look at Yifan and the taller only grin before squeezing his hand in assurance. They’ve been doing this for quite a few times, Junmyeon notices. He takes note on how their hands fit together despite the difference in size.

And every time that happens, it never fails to send some sort of warmth to Junmyeon. Not only that, whenever they touch, he feels that jolt of electricity; something he never thought he would feel towards someone. He ignores the feeling of never wanting to let go of Yifan’s hand because this shouldn’t mean a thing.

“Hey guys, check this out!”

Everyone stops right in front of the place that Jieun has found. With their torch, they scan around the shop and to their amusement, they found shelves of snacks. Expired snacks, perhaps. Addition to that, there’s an ice hockey table, and gaming machines.

“Looks like I found ourselves an arcade, huh?” Jieun amuses.

“There are trolleys!” Sehun points further inside. Junmyeon follows the younger’s line of vision and it’s true. There is a line of trolleys. How did it get there? By now, Sehun, Kevin and Yifan already possess one trolley each in their grasp. “Come on. Hop in!”

Tao and Jieun needn’t to be told twice, and they already making their way in Sehun’s and Kevin’s trolley. Meanwhile, he only eyed Yifan’s trolley unsurely. “Guys, are you sure about this?”

“Definitely!” Kevin assures but Junmyeon’s not even half into buying it. Rolling his eyes, Kevin hits Yifan’s elbow and motions to Junmyeon. “You convince him since he’s your favourite.” Because of being too cautious, he let the thought of him being Yifan’s favourite slip out of his mind. Yifan rolls the trolley and stops right in front of Junmyeon. “This is a bad idea.” Junmyeon sighs.

“This whole thing is if you haven’t notice.” Yifan replies as he lets his fingers tuck a part of Junmyeon’s slightly long hair behind his ear. “But let’s enjoy it if we can’t avoid it.” Junmyeon groans, thinking how he is going to enjoy a moment in a haunted mall. Nevertheless, he lets Yifan holds the trolley as he climbs in. Junmyeon situated himself comfortably, knees up as he wraps his arm around them. It’s been ages since he is in this position. The last time was probably when he was 9 years old where he actually fits in a trolley.

When Yifan starts pushing the trolley, Junmyeon can’t help but feel nostalgic.

“Ready everyone?” Sehun half shouts.

Junmyeon looks to Yifan in a confused expression. The others in the trolleys too are in no different state than him. “Wait, ready for what?”

The three trolley controllers pull out a smug grin before Kevin screaming. “Everybody split up!”

And just in seconds, the three controlling the trolleys push it into different directions. Yifan is pushing him further inside the arcade while Kevin and Sehun run outside the place. Junmyeon instantly panics. “Yifan! What are we doing?! Get back to them.”

“Nahh, they are having the time of their own. We should too.”

“Oh my God, are you kidding me?? We are in an abandoned mall and all they could think of is having a date here?” Junmyeon exasperates, fingers rubbing his temple.

“Some rascals, aren’t we? Aaaand we have arrived.” Yifan stops in front of an indoor basketball arcade machine. The taller helps him out of the trolley before both of them nears the machine. From the looks of it, the machine seems to be broken because the there’s no block to prevent the balls from falling. However, that’s definitely an advantage to them.

Junmyeon picks up one of the ball. Though, it looks like it needs a bit of air, but nothing that you can’t play with it. “You versus me. First one to reach 15 wins. How’s that?” the smaller proposes.

“Loser gets a flick on the forehead.”

“Deal.” Junmyeon nods in agreement.

In a count of three, they start throwing the ball followed by another into hoops. Since the machine isn’t taking in their scores, they had to count loudly if they score. For a while, Junmyeon forgets where they are as he is giggling loudly while throwing the balls. Yifan too wasn’t even controlling his volume as balls passes through the hoops.

However, Junmyeon dreads when there seems to have a big gap in their scores and alas, Yifan manage to hit the points before Junmyeon can even hit 10 points. “Ugh, how can you be so good? The gap was huge.” He pouts.

Yifan smirks. “I’m not sure if you pretend to forget or what but…I’m a basketball player, remember?”

Just as Junmyeon register Yifan’s word, he mentally facepalms himself. Damn, how could he ever forget? Rules are still rules. He owes Yifan a flick on the head. Yifan is probably gonna go easy on me. He closes his eyes, waiting for the impact on his forehead. What he didn’t expect was a flick that could crack a walnut and send him tumbling backwards.

OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH

He can’t even open his eyes because freaking hell that hurts. “You. Spawn. Of. Satan.” He hisses through his gritted teeth. Suddenly, Yifan’s gummy smile isn’t charming and his laughter isn’t melodious at all. Instead, it’s so irritating to Junmyeon. “I’m sorry! Oh Lord, you should’ve seen your face!”

“Why you!”

Yifan makes a dash to run behind the shelves with his torchlight in his hand. Junmyeon grabs his torch and chases the tall man childishly. He wasn’t ready for a bag of chip to come flying at his direction but praises his reflex, he manage to catch it swiftly. Just like a couple of 8 years old, they fall into throwing several bags of chips at each other. The sound of Junmyeon’s squeaking and Yifan’s deep laughter echo in the arcade as they are attacking each other. Since there’s no more bags of junk food in the rows below, Junmyeon grabs the nearest chair to him and climb up to get hold of more weapons. At last, Yifan admits defeated. Junmyeon playfully sticks his tongue out, mocking Yifan. “You’re slow, Yifan,”

The taller scoffs. “You cheated anyways.”

“Did not!”

“Whatever you say, Junmyeon.”

Still not getting down from the chair, Junmyeon found an idea on how torture Yifan further. “Winner gets a piggyback ride this time.”

“Ehh? When did I agree to that?” he gapes in disbelief.

“Oh come on, please! I’m not heavy I swear.”

Maybe it’s because of Junmyeon’s cute pout or just simply him being himself that made Yifan agree. He gets on Yifan’s back in no time as soon as the latter turns his back around. “Ahh so this is what it feels like to be tall.”

It feels like they have become close naturally that it didn’t feel strange to have Yifan in such close proximity. He wraps his arms around Yifan as the latter carries him on his back, hands under his thighs to support him. They walk (in this case, Yifan walks) to the outside of the arcade. The other couple still has not returned and their voices too can’t be heard nearby.

Suddenly, the fear is back in Junmyeon’s system as he tightens his hold onto Yifan. The taller look as if he understands Junmyeon judging from light caress on his hand. Just as Junmyeon was about to smile, he spots something moving at the corner of his eyes. Hesitantly, he turns his head to see what was that. And boy, he wishes he didn’t. “Yifan..” he calls out weakly. His voice wavers all over the place while his face is beginning to pale.

“Yifan..” he calls again.

“Hmm?”

“There’s something moving..” Junmyeon’s trembling hands point at direction not far from them. Yifan almost dropped Junmyeon at the sight of a box moving on its own. And it somehow is coming to their direction.

“Run.” Junmyeon whispers, voice barely audible to Yifan. But the latter is frozen in his tracks, looking at the box that’s slowly nearing then. “I swear to God, Yifan, ruuuun!”

And that is how Yifan literally runs down the escalator and without even thinking about others, he and Junmyeon run straight back to their previous path. It was all fun and games until a ghost showed up. Nu’uh. As brave as they are, they ain’t playing with demons. They dash through the familiar route, the hallway starting to get brighter and brighter and finally they are outside of the building. Yifan puts Junmyeon down on the ground before he collapses. “Yifan, are you okay?” Junmyeon asks because the taller male’s breathing is getting heavy.

Yifan didn’t say anything but waved his hand indicating that he’s okay. However, Junmyeon doubts that. He frowns that he wasn’t exactly light as feather and he probably had choked Yifan with his hold when they were running.

Just then, Yifan’s phone rang, surprising them both. One look at the caller ID, both of them stare at each other.

Taking a breath, Yifan swipes his phone. “Tao—"

“DID YOU JUST BAIL ON US?!!” Stretching away the phone from his ear, Yifan wonders how Tao can even scream in there. Which only means that the latter is really pissed. “Look, we can explain.”

“We saw you running out from the first floor! You cowards should’ve waited for us!” Tao roars all the way from the other line. Junmyeon could only offer Yifan a pity look.

“Damn it, Tao there was somethin