Seungkwan wasn't pleased that I surrendered so easily either, but seeing that Soonyoung was already giving me the cold shoulder, he decided to cut me some slack and gave up on hating me after a couple of half-hearted mean jokes. 

Continuing the problem was the girl in question. They've secretly arranged for the girl to appear with Minghao on the night of Seungcheol's haunted house trail so that Minghao and the girl could talk. Seungkwan had told the boy that no matter how scared he was, his priority would have to be apologising to the girl and convincing her that Jun really liked her. Seungkwan had (unwillingly) been dispatched to tell Jun to turn up exactly half an hour into the haunted house trail, so that he could witness his friend getting pranked and also the part where Minghao would encounter his fake "kidnappers". 

Meanwhile, Sarah had unwittingly asked Soonyoung and I to decorate the haunted house together. I wouldn't blame her - we were still deceiving her and despite being cowards, Soonyoung and I were a good team who liked this wacky sort of fun. On good days, of course. On days like this, this simple task of decorating our hideout was almost stifling. 

Neither Soonyoung nor I talked at all throughout the four hours of working on the place. It was unfortunate that we were doing an extremely good job, because after all the bloody doll posters, fake body parts and wigs, the place was eerie as hell. Yet I could tell that Soonyoung was deliberately leaving the walking trail clear of obstacles and scares, so that the mission would be easier for Minghao. The only sounds we heard were the trees rustling outside, as well as each other's busy hands cutting and taping more stuff. The atmosphere was suffocating, because for a very talkative duo, this must have been the first time we never exchanged a single word in each other's company. 

"I did it for your good." Those were the first words I uttered, but that was when we were already leaving the grounds to head back to the dorms at midnight.

"Wow. Those are the first words? Really?" Soonyoung's words were as venomous as the night before, but I did not interrupt him, "I expected something that sounded like 'sorry' but I guess not." 

He walked quickly ahead of me as we descended the hill. I hated this bitter distance that we were placing between us. I genuinely hated the fact that he was still angry with me, and that we were not walking along the path trying to scare or wrestle each other. I hated that I rather swallow my fears back in the hut than to turn to Soonyoung. The worst thing was that my best friend was now reminding me how much I hated myself for that one moment of weakness that was now driving this edge between us. 

I tried again. 

"Is this the old truck that Seungcheol would be driving tomorrow as the kidnapper?" I asked suddenly when we passed an old, wrecked van that was parked at the side of the road. It was clearly an abandoned vehicle, and as to why there was one here I had no idea. 

"I don't know. I'm not the one being briefed on his plans all the time." 

I bit my lips to stop that weird tingly feeling in my eyes. In popular terms we called them tears but as Soonyoung and I liked to call it, eye pee. That's why we never ever cry in public, because nobody pees in front of others. Never, for the Speed and Strength Unit. 

"And the tyres are obviously loose, the vehicle is probably not drivable." 

I flinched at those words. 

That night, I was secretly hoping that was Soonyoung's very very tangential effort at saying, "I care."

--

Soonyoung somehow managed to convince Seungcheol and Sarah that he lured Minghao to the hill that night with the girl he had an eternal crush on. He's duly instructed Minghao to stay calm and wait for the "kidnappers", briefed him on the scares and what to tell the girl. Sarah and I were stationed at the makeshift monitoring station, where Jun subsequently joined us. Soonyoung was positioned outside the hut, right across the road where he was to play some fake puppy sounds to lure Minghao and the girl into the bushes across the road. Seungcheol and Seungkwan would then drive up at that point to "kidnap" Minghao, leaving Soonyoung to the girl to safety and for some very brief explanations.

It was five minute past ten at night when the girl turned up to meet Minghao near the hut. Behind me, Jun gasped at the unexpected arrival of his ex-colleague, whom he had a crush on. Thankfully, Sarah took it as a sign that he was surprised his friend had a crush he didn't know about, and she simply requested that he lowered his volume. We watched carefully as the pair entered the haunted house, with Minghao pretending to be "utterly surprised and shocked" by its scary interior, and Sarah informed Seungcheol on the intercom. Soonyoung, who was tuned in to the same channel, mumbled his acknowledgement and locked the duo in. Through a smaller screen on my left, I could see him making his way to the bushes, quietly observing.

The whole mission was creating a tension in me. I was dearly hoping that Soonyoung's plan would succeed, since Jun's request was already being carried out. I was not sure what I wanted from the mission anymore - Soonyoung's forgiveness? Jun's forgiveness for Minghao? Me to finally muster the courage and patch up with Soonyoung, like our clients? 

I passed an extra set of headphones to Jun so that he would listen in on the conversation that his friend was making with his crush on the haunted trail. The muted video had been keeping him at the edge of his seat, especially since he noticed that the trial was scaring the girl more than Minghao. The latter was so calm Sarah actually turned to question Jun if he was even right to say his friend was scared of haunted houses. 

"He really was! We went for one when we went back to China during the summer, and I swore I