July thirtieth had finally arrived.

                High heels clicked against across the floor in the hallway. Suddenly they stopped, then began again. I stuck my head out from the archway in the living room, wondering where the noise was coming from. My eyes lit up when I saw my mother scanning her reflection in the hallway mirror. She turned her head this way and that, inspecting every square centimeter of her round face. She reached up and fluffed her short black hair, which framed her face in soft waves. She wore a wide-strapped, ruby red dress that reached her knees and strappy black sandals with kitten heels. She didn’t look too overdressed, but she did look marvelous. She would surely leave a positive impression on her classmates from twenty-five years ago.

                “Mom!” I exclaimed, stepping into the hallway. “You look gorgeous!”

                My mother, startled, turned to me. “Why thank you, dear!” She held up her little silver necklace with the diamond pendant. “Would you mind putting this on for me? The clasp is so tiny I just can’t grasp it.”

                “Of course,” I answered sincerely. My mother gathered her hair in her hands and bent her head down. I swung the necklace around her thin neck and fiddled with the tiny silver clasp until it finally hooked.

                Mom let her hair fall back into place and smiled peacefully at my reflection in the mirror. “Thank you, Kirin.”

                “Any time,” I smiled sweetly.

                Dad came down the stairs at that moment. He wore simple black dress pants and a matching ruby shirt with a black tie. “Looking good, Dad!” I exclaimed.

                Dad chuckled. “Thanks dear,” he said in reply. He sauntered over to the mirror and glanced into it just as my mother and I were doing. He put a hand on each of our shoulders. “My two lovely women,” he smiled, gazing at my mother and me.

                Mom chuckled. “Are you almost ready to go?”

                “Yes,” Dad nodded. “Just talked to the boys. Sunho left earlier this morning before anyone was awake, and I just wanted to make sure they had everything they needed.” He looked down at me for a moment. “Are you sure you’ll be fine all by yourselves?”

                “Oh, Dad, we’ll be fine,” I assured him. “We’ve all been home alone before. We can take care of ourselves.”

                “I know, I know,” Dad nodded again. “I just feel guilty about leaving the nine of you home alone for so long. We won’t be back until midnight, you know.”

                “Oh, Chanho, they’re probably excited to be on their own,” my mom, the realistic one, spoke up.

                For a quick second, I almost blurted out a hasty agreement to my mother’s statement. Luckily my brain caught up with my mouth long enough to prevent from sounding too enthusiastic about their departure. I didn’t want to give them even the slightest idea that we were all anticipating being home alone for so long. They had to believe that we wouldn’t even think about being rebellious tonight.

                I chose my words carefully. “Well, of course we’re going to have fun. But I promise we’ll be responsible.”

                “I knew you would,” Mom replied. She kissed my forehead before turned to my father. “Chanho, it’s almost four! We should get going.”

                Dad nodded in agreement. He and my mother headed for the door, escorted by me. They gave me the whole rundown once again: no loud music, no running around, no leaving the house, and boys upstairs and girls downstairs by ten. As usual, I assured them about a dozen times that we would behave; I never specifically said we would follow the rules. I guess they implied that we would, but I guaranteed nothing. As I waved them off and shut the door behind them, I heard footsteps run down the stairs.

                “Are they gone?” It was Byunghun, followed by Daniel and Changhyun. All three boys had hopeful smiles pasted on their faces.

                “Oh yes,” I confirmed with a smirk.

                “WOOOOO!” Daniel cried. Suddenly he hoisted himself up on the staircase banister and slid down it, his fists high in the air. Changhyun, always following his hyungs, followed suit. He and Daniel jumped off at the very bottom and landed in a heap on the floor, giggling wildly.

                “What’s going on?” Minsoo asked, running into the foyer with Hyerin close behind. He looked down at Daniel and Changhyun, who were laughing almost drunkenly.

                “My parents just left,” I giggled in response, reaching out to help Daniel up.

               A smirk carved onto Minsoo’s chiseled face. “What kind of trouble are we going to get into tonight?”

                “Did someone say trouble?”

                The mysterious voice came from the top of the staircase. All heads turned to find the face the voice belonged to. Standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and a smirk on his face was Byunghun. He leisurely slinked down the stairs wearing tight jeans, a white tank top, and a black collared shirt, ed. His hair moved with every step her took, falling out of place and in front of his left eye, almost completely covering it. As he sauntered down, he stuck his hands casually in the front pockets of his jeans. I watched him the entire way down, captivated by his every move. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he ended his grand entry with a devious smile.

                Feeling my breath escape me, I prayed he would step closer.

                “I heard the word ‘trouble’,” Min Neul announced as she stepped into the room, Jonghyun close behind her, their fingers interlaced as usual. “That usually means the adults are gone.”

                “They are,” I answered, still feeling slightly breathless.

                “Great,” Min Neul chirped. She nodded at Jonghyun. “If anyone needs us, we’ll be in the bedroom. But do me a favor and don’t need us.”

                As Min Neul turned to stairs, Hyerin pounced. “Oh no you’re not,” she said firmly, grabbing her sister’s shoulder and turning her back around. “You two aren’t going upstairs alone.”

                “Hyerin,” Min Neul whined, attempting to shimmy free of her sister’s grasp.

                Hyerin held on tightly. “I don’t trust you two alone upstairs.”

                Min Neul stamped her foot. “What the hell? We’re not babies, you know!”

                “Why don’t we do something all together?” Chanhee spoke up from behind Minsoo.

                “Like what?” Daniel asked.

                “Anyone hungry? We can order some pizza and just hang out,” I suggested.

                It was almost a unanimous decision to order pizza, but Min Neul had refused to vote. We all knew that the only thing she wanted to do was sneak upstairs with Jonghyun and lock the door behind them, but Hyerin would never let that happen. When we plopped down on the couches in the living room to devour the pizza, Jonghyun patted his thighs, signaling for Min Neul to take her seat on his lap. She crossed her arms and glared at her sister. “I would, but someone wouldn’t let me.”

                Hyerin rolled her eyes as she took a seat beside Minsoo. “I don’t care what you do as long as you’re down here with the rest of us.”

                “So if I pull Jonghyun into the corner and start making out with him, you wouldn’t mind?” Min Neul asked, raising an eyebrow.

                Hyerin glared at her sister. “Don’t test me, Min Neul.”

                Min Neul rolled her eyes and plopped down on Jonghyun’s lap, popping open one of the pizza boxes. We had ordered four large pizzas all together: two cheese, one pepperoni, and one pineapple. Changhyun thought pineapple on pizza sounded disgusting, so Daniel comically requested to order it at the last minute. Daniel had flipped the lid on the pineapple pizza box and picked up the biggest slice there was. He leaned close to Changhyun and held the slice of pizza right up to Changhyun’s mouth. Changhyun shrieked like a child and tried to slap the piece of pizza away from him. Daniel fumbled with it before taking a monstrous bite of it himself. He looked thoughtful as he chewed, and after he swallowed he announced “Actually, this is pretty good.”

                Chanhee and Byunghun came into the room at that moment with two liters of Pepsi. They set them down on the crowded coffee table, among the pizza boxes and feet propped up on it.

                “Where are the cups?” Minsoo asked, leaning forward and glancing at the table.

                “Uh,” Chanhee trailed off.

                “You idiots,” Minsoo giggled, shaking his head.

                “I’ll get them, I’ll get them!” Byunghun pounded into the kitchen. A few minutes he pounded back out, only to be stopped by the sound of glass hitting the tile floor. “!”

                I leapt up and out of the living room. I found Byunghun halfway between the kitchen and the living room, staring down at the glass shards scattered around the tile floor in front of him.

                “Hyung!” Changhyun cried, popping out from behind me.

                “Well don’t just stand there, help me!” Byunghun cried, gesturing to his armful of glasses. Changhyun snatched a few off them and brought them into the living room just as Chanhee and Minsoo popped out.

                “Nice job,” Chanhee congratulated, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

                “Well, it was an accident!” Byunghun protested, his cheeks turning pink.

                “It’s okay,” I assured him. “Just be careful stepping over here. I don’t want you to step on the glass.”

                “I’ll go find a broom,” Minsoo suggested, hopping over the glass shards and into the kitchen. He came back with a broom and a dustpan. He and Byunghun started sweeping up the bits of glass immediately, watching their every step. In no time, the glass had been deposited in the trash and the floor was safe to walk on again.

                “Well,” Byunghun giggled, returning to his seat beside me on the couch. “We’ve only been home alone for an hour and something’s already broken.”

                “And the pizza’s already been eaten,” Chanhee giggled, flipping the greasy lid of an empty pizza box closed.

                Minsoo yawned and stretched, letting his feet rest on the closed pizza box. He slapped his sculpted stomach with a strong hand. “I ate way too much.”

                “How many slices did you have, hyung?” Changhyun asked.

                “Seven,” Minsoo burped.

                “Wow,” Byunghun marveled. “I had three and I’m full.”

                “That’s because you’re a shrimp,” Minsoo smirked.

                Byunghun responded by launching a throw pillow at Minsoo’s face. He missed the table lamp by only a few centimeters. Minsoo laughed.

                “What are we going to do now?” Changhyun asked impatiently.

                I shrugged. “Anyone want to watch a movie?”

                “Depends,” Min Neul began slyly. “Can we turn off all the lights?”

                “We brought lots of movies, didn’t we?” Chanhee nodded in Byunghun’s direction.

                Byunghun nodded back. “They’re upstairs.”

                “We’ll go get them,” Min Neul offered, glancing at Jonghyun.

                Hyerin scowled at her. “Could one of you bring them down?” she asked Byunghun and Chanhee.

                Chanhee nodded and sprang up. He disappeared around the corner and up the stairs. He came back down shortly with an armful of movies. He dumped them on a clear space on the coffee table. “We brought all kinds of movies. Action, comedy, romantic….”

                “I’m not watching a romantic movie,” Changhyun stated, crossing his arms and sitting back.

                “I’m not, either,” Min Neul agreed, imitating Changhyun’s movements.

                “Okay…” Chanhee trailed off. He scanned the pile of movies. Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face as he reached for one of them. “How about a scary movie?”

                “No!” I was quick to cry. “I am not watching a scary movie!”

                “Oh, come on,” Chanhee replied playfully. “It’s just a movie.”

                I crossed my arms. “Yeah, a movie that will scare me to death. I can never watch scary movies.”

                “Aw, come on,” Daniel whined. “Who wants to watch a scary movie?”

                “Depends,” Min Neul replied, tilting her head. “How scary are we talking?”

                “Don’t tell me you’re scared of scary movies too,” Daniel whined.

                Min Neul raised an eyebrow. “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant at all. If we’re watching a scary movie, it better be terrifying.”

                “No, it better not be,” I cried, my eyes wide.

                “Babe,” Byunghun coaxed, putting a hand on my back. I turned around to face him; he had a loving look on his face. “What are you so afraid of?”

                “Scary movies!” I exclaimed matter-of-factly.

                “But you agreed to go see a scary movie with me that one time, remember?” Byunghun said.

I bit my lip. Sure, I had agreed, but it had never actually happened. “Well…yeah…but—”

                Byunghun extended his arms in a “ta-dah” manner. “I’ll be right here the entire time!”

                “Oh, please,” Min Neul rolled her eyes. “Just close your eyes and during all the ‘scary’ parts.”

                “Like you wouldn’t cuddle up with Jonghyun if you were scared,” I muttered.

                Min Neul smirked. “I’ll be cuddled up with him anyway.”

                “Okay, okay, can we stop talking and put on the movie already?” Changhyun cried, wiggling in his seat. He rubbed his hands together as if he was hungry. “What movie are we watching, hyung?”

                Chanhee held up a DVD I didn’t recognize. The image on the cover was of a four-member family, a gray-haired man and a dark-haired woman standing behind a couch. On the couch sat two short-haired girls in white gowns, both splattered with vibrant red blood. “A Tale of Two Sisters.”

                I crossed my arms. “No way.”

                “All in favor?” Min Neul cried.

                “ME!” everyone but Byunghun and I cried. I was busy pouting and Byunghun was busy rubbing my arm in a sad attempt to make me feel better.

                “Come on,” he coaxed. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”

                I gave him a skeptical look. “You promise?”

                “Promise. It’s probably not that scary anyway.”

                Chanhee sprang up from his seat on the couch and popped the movie into the DVD player. Hyerin dimmed the lights in the living room as everyone settled comfortably on the various couches in front of the television. Hyerin, Minsoo, and Daniel were squished together on the loveseat. Adjacent from the loveseat was the L-shaped couch, where Changhyun, Chanhee, Byunghun, Jonghyun, Min Neul and I were all sitting. Minsoo has his arms slung around both Hyerin and Daniel. Changhyun, Byunghun and Chanhee linked arms in excitement. Byunghun’s other arm hugged me close to him; I didn’t cuddle up next to him like Min Neul did to Jonghyun. I sat with my legs curled up and my hands already covering my eyes. I only peeked out of a tiny crack between my fingers.

                I felt Byunghun’s eyes on me. He was chuckling.

                “What?” I barked.

                “Nothing,” he giggled in reply.

                The movie was starting. It opened to a scene of a dark-haired girl with a blank expression, sitting inside a physiatrist’s office.

                “See? This isn’t so bad,” Byunghun whispered into my ear.

                “It’s only the first two minutes,” Min Neul replied. “It’s going to get way worse,” she teased.

                I winced loudly.

                Byunghun chuckled as he pulled my closer. “You’ll be fine,” he coaxed.
                “Shush!” Minsoo hissed.

                A physiatrist showed the girl a picture of what appeared to be her family. Suddenly, the girl’s eyes grew wide and bloodshot. I fought the urge to close the gap between my fingers and squeeze my eyes shut.

A few minutes later, the movie cut to a scene of the same girl lying in bed at night time. Her blood-shot eyes popped open to reveal a dark, ghostly figure standing in her room. Changhyun gasped.

                “Alright, I’ve had enough!” I announced, clamping my eyes shut and curling myself and curling myself into a tight ball. I hated that I was such a coward, but I couldn’t help it. I had never been able to deal with scary movies. The only scary movie I had ever watched was with Kyusoon and Minah at Minah’s house a few years ago. We watched Bunshinsaba, a horror movie about some students placing a curse on some bullies with the Korean version of a Ouija board. It was horrible; I never planned on playing with one of those, but after seeing that movie I wouldn’t even think of going ten feet near one. We watched the movie in broad daylight, but I still had nightmares for three months straight. Ever since then, I tended to steer clear or horror movies. How could being scared possibly be considered fun? Being scared wasn’t thrilling, it was terrifying. Roller coasters were thrilling; scary movies were not.

                “Oh, come on,” Min Neul whined, her eyes wide with delight. “This isn’t even scary.”

                I slowly opened my eyes. Two girls were huddled side-by-side in a bed on the television. The older girl was telling the younger one that she would always be here for her. It seemed like a sweet, sisterly moment, but it ended briefly when the younger girl fell asleep, she had a terrifying dream. A dark, ghostly figure was crawling creepily across her bedroom floor as sinister music began to slowly play.

                I immediately started shaking. I shut my eyes and clamed my hands over my ears in an attempt to drown-out the creepy music. I must have been shaking pretty hard, because I felt Byunghun lean close to me. “Hey,” I heard him whisper. I turned my head and opened my eyes slowly. Instead of staring wide-eyed at the ghost on television, I was face-to-face with Byunghun. His dark eyes looked concerned. “Are you okay?”

                Slowly, I shook my head in response. No words necessary.

                Byunghun wrapped his arms around me. “We don’t have to watch this, you know,” he said in a low voice only loud enough for me to hear.

                I shook my head again. “No, everyone else wants to. I’ll be okay.”

                “Are you sure?” he asked, rubbing my arm.

                I nodded, uncurling myself. I took a deep breath and forced myself to look at the television screen. A middle-aged woman was violently choking, her eyes wide with fear and her face pale white, gasping for breath. I felt myself tense up, but I forced myself to relax. Maybe this movie was more disturbing than it was scary. I managed to get through ten more minutes of the movie without clamping my eyes shut once. Most of this movie was physiological terror, which I could probably deal with if it didn’t get much worse than this. Plus, Moon Geun Young starred in it, and she was one of my favorite actresses.

                “Not so bad, right?” Byunghun whispered a few minutes later.

                I shook my head, trying to convince myself to feel slightly better. I was about to open my mouth to say something, a loud scream ripped through the silence. Geun Young’s character, Su Yeon, was violently screaming after being locked inside a dark closet. Her terrifying screams caught me off guard; I felt myself start shaking again. Everyone stared wide-eyed at the television screen, their mouths slightly agape, except for Min Neul and Byunghun, who seemed virtually unaffected by the terror on the screen.

                Su Yeon’s shrieked in terror as the clawed at the door. Her fingers were dripping with blood. I felt a shiver run up my spine as I subconsciously leaned closer to Byunghun. He didn’t seem to mind; he welcomed it. I felt slightly better when I felt his arms wrap all the way around me. I laid my head against his chest and kept my hands up close to my face, in case I had to quickly duck behind the safety of them.

                I did that quite frequently, actually. But I honestly wasn’t the only one who was frightened by certain scenes. During the scene where a blood-thirsty ghost crawls out of a closet, nearly everyone screamed. Hyerin covered her eyes. Daniel squeezed his shut. Even Min Neul screamed when Sun Yeon opens up the wardrobe doors in time to find her stepmother, soaked head-to-toe in blood, in the midst of hanging herself. Even Byunghun seemed frightened by that scene; his eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he gasped sharply. As he gripped me tightly, it occurred to me that I couldn’t possibly watch a movie like this without him.

                The torturous movie was coming to a close. Everyone winced in terror and sympathy as they witnessed Sun Yeon die a bone-chilling death as she attempted to claw her bloody self out of the same wardrobe her mother committed suicide in. The finale scene showed Sun Mi, Su Yeon’s sister, sitting on a dock in the fog all alone, her mind reeling with the terrifying events that had just plagued her life for the past two hours.

                No one breathed as the credits began rolling. I stayed curled up in a ball besides Byunghun. Min Neul’s jaw hung open. Hyerin’s hands were covering her eyes. Daniel’s arms were wrapped around Minsoo’s bicep. Changhyun was still clutching into Chanhee’s arm.

                Suddenly, Min Neul spoke. “That was the most terrifying movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

                “No !” Minsoo cried, his eyes wide. “That was crazy scary.”

                I blinked. “There is no way I’m sleeping tonight,” I stated with a shaky voice.

                “Aw, come on!” Byunghun cried. He had a wide smile on his face. “Wasn’t that movie amazing?”

                “By amazing do you mean terrifying?” Jonghyun asked, still stunned. Jonghyun was afraid of heights; how could he watch the blood-thirsty phantom with long black hair and a disfigured face crawl across the bedroom floor and grab the innocent, sleeping girl?

                Chanhee in a bunch of air and let it out sharply. “Well, that was quite a horror movie.” He turned his head to look at me. He still had a frightened expression and his body was tense. “What’d you think, Kirin?”

                I could barely speak. “There’s no way I’m sleeping tonight,” I repeated.

                Byunghun laughed. “Are you alright, babe?”

                “NO!” I cried. “I closed my eyes through half of the movie and I’m still terrified!”

                “I’m never opening a closet door again,” Changhyun said again. He whimpered softly.

                “Who’s idea was it to watch that movie?” Hyerin spoke up suddenly.

                “Chanhee’s,” I muttered.

                “No!” Chanhee protested. “Everyone wanted to watch a scary movie!”

                “I didn’t!” I protested back.

                “Oh, it wasn’t that bad!” Byunghun rolled his eyes.

                Chanhee looked at him and scoffed. “Does anything scare you?”

                “Nope,” Byunghun beamed. “I’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

                “Hey Byunghun,” Jonghyun said suddenly. He pointed into the hallway. “Go open that closet door.”

                Byunghun smirked. “Okay, I will.” Unfortunately he let go of me and stood up.

                “What if there’s a ghost in it?” Changhyun cried.
                “Or a dead woman?” Hyerin gasped.

                Byunghun rolled his eyes. “There won’t be.” He headed straight for the hallway. We held our breaths as Byunghun stared at the closet door. Changhyun and I clutched onto Chanhee’s arms and Hyerin covered her eyes again.

                “Are you all seriously afraid of me opening the closet door?” Byunghun laughed.

                “No,” Min Neul said defiantly. Jonghyun’s muscular arms were still tightly around her.

                Byunghun chuckled and shook his head. “There’s nothing in here,” he said. He slowly reached for the closet door and flung it open.

                He screamed, which caused everyone else to scream. Everyone’s eyes were squeezed shut, so no one had any idea what Byunghun had seen in the closet. All we knew was that he saw something, and no one was brave enough to see what it was.

                Suddenly, Byunghun burst out laughing. Everyone’s eyes popped open to find Byunghun bent over, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard his face was turning pink. The closet door was wide open, and there was nothing but an empty coat rack and some hangers inside. No ghost. No dead body. Nothing.

                Changhyun scowled. “Hyung!” he cried.

                “That was NOT funny,” Min Neul said sourly, crossing her arms.

                Byunghun couldn’t even speak. He was doubled over, laughing his dorky laughter and gasping for breath.

                Chanhee’s eyebrows narrowed. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked me.

                “That Byunghun’s going to be dead body inside the closet tonight?” I chuckled.

                “Exactly,” Chanhee replied.

                At that moment, everyone stood up and charged.

                “Oh ,” Byunghun muttered, seeing the stampede that was after him. He sprinted down the hallway and we all followed, yelling loudly at the tops of our lungs.

                “I’m gonna kill you, Byunghun!” Daniel shouted.

                “You’re dead!” Minsoo cried.

                Byunghun laughed as he ran through the hallway and up the stairs. No one else was home, so we could be as loud as we possibly wanted. We screamed and laughed in delight as we chased Byunghun up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms. Byunghun leapt onto the bed and shrieked in horror and delight as the eight people jumped on top of him.

                “Hold him down!” Daniel commanded.

                Changhyun and Chanhee grabbed some pillows. Jonghyun and Minsoo held Byunghun’s arms and the rest of us beat him senseless with pillows. All of us, Byunghun included, laughed until we couldn’t even breathe. Minsoo and Byunghun even wrestled a little until Minsoo had him in a headlock. Byunghun kicked and flung his arms around in a desperate attempt at freeing himself, but Minsoo was too strong. Daniel and Jonghyun were ruffling his orange hair, completely ruining the sleekness and perfection Byunghun tried so hard to maintain.

                “Not my hair!” Byunghun cried.

                “You deserve it!” Daniel exclaimed.

                “That’s what you get for scaring all of us!” Chanhee added.

                “Let me go!” Byunghun wailed, fearing for the well-being of his precious hair. Minsoo loosened his grip and Byunghun slipped out of his grasp. Instantly, his hands flew to his head. He frantically ran his fingers through his hair, wincing at every knot his fingertips glanced over. Everyone laughed even more at his sad attempt to obsessively smooth his hair back down.

                “What’s the matter?” Minsoo teased with a smirk. “Did we mess up your hair?”

                “Yes,” Byunghun scoffed, shaking out his head. “That was just cruel!”

                Daniel and Jonghyun laughed and high-fived. “Next time we hold you down like that, we’re cutting it,” Daniel teased.

                “NO!” Byunghun cried, his hands gripping his hair tightly. Everyone laughed even harder at him.

                “You’re more terrified of something happening to your hair than you were of the movie,” Hyerin laughed.

                Byunghun blushed. “I care about my hair, okay?” he flopped down to the right, his head landing in my lap. He groaned, cutely covering his face with his hands.

                I giggled. “It’s okay, babe,” I chuckled, the tips of his hair. I was the only one who was ever allowed to touch his hair. That wasn’t always a good thing, though; sometimes I couldn’t take my hands away from it. It was just so soft and touchable.

                When everyone had calmed down and Byunghun had re-beautified his hair, Minsoo leaned back against the wall and panted. “What time is it?”

                “Almost nine,” Hyerin answered, resting her chin sweetly on Minsoo’s muscular shoulder.

                There were three more hours left of our night home alone. But for us, that was plenty of time. So far, we managed to pig out on junk food, break a glass, loudly chase each other up the stairs and beat Byunghun with pillows. But the promising night was still young; the California sun had finally just set, after all. And weren’t we always a little more rebellious after sundown?