“ guys, this is a really bad idea.” Jieun muttered as she slowly walked towards the entrance of the haunted house. The eerie music and decorations made her furrow her eyebrows as she bit her lip.

“ Sorry Jieun but you lost the bet.” Chanyeol said as he grinned.

“ Can’t you guys just let this go? You can’t treat the birthday girl like this.” Jieun pouted.

“ A loss is a loss.”

Jieun thought that she was going to spend her birthday with her two lovely best friends at a theme park but she didn’t think that they were going to bring up a bet that she lost a week ago and now she was going to pay the price.

“ You guys are the worst. I hate you both. I hope you both die a slow and painful death.” Jieun said lifelessly.

“ Come on, Jieun! You lost so you have to pay the price. Now hurry up and go in!” Jongdae said as he pushed Jieun into the haunted house. “ And remember! Meet us at the bubble tea shop when you’re done!”

“ Alright, fine! And just so you know, if anything happens to me, I am blaming you two!” Jieun said before entering the haunted house.

Chanyeol waited until he was sure Jieun entered the haunted house before saying,” Hey, do you think we should really do this? You and I both know that she despises all things scary. I’m worried about her.”

“ Dude, are you backing out now? We’ve been planning this for almost 2 weeks and we have nothing to worry about. She’ll be fine. Come on, we have to go. We have to go prepare for the party.

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“ I am going to kill them.” Jieun muttered under her breath as she walked along a dark creepy hallway. It has been roughly 3 minutes since she entered the haunted house and she hasn’t punched or kicked any ‘ghosts’ so far so that was good.

Until now.

Jieun screamed as a ‘ghost’ jumped out in front of her. Without thinking, Jieun gave the ghost a kick to the stomach which made the ghost fall to the ground.

“ Oh , are you okay? I am so sorry.” Jieun knelt beside the ‘ghost’ who was groaning in pain.

Jieun helped him lean against a wall. She looked at him and surprisingly, she could recoginize him under all that bloody makeup. Well, why shouldn’t she recognize him? In her opinion, he was undeniably one of the most handsome guys in her school and she sees him every day since they were classmates. They started being friends ever since they got stuck in detention together last year.

“ Jongin? Is that you?”

Jongin forgot the pain he was suffering momentarily as he looked up to look at Jieun, whom he immediately recognized.

“ Jieun? Oh hey, what are you doing here?” Jongin was pleasantly surprised that Jieun was there. Being one of Jieun’s classmates, he was invited to her surprise party which was organized by Chanyeol and Jongdae. Did they bring her here to stall her before the party started? Whatever it was, he was sure that this was all part of Chanyeol and Jongdae’s plan but he was certain that he and Jieun were not supposed to meet.

Jieun smiled and said, “ I could ask you the same thing but it appears that you work here?”

Jongin chuckled and nodded. He was slightly embarrassed at the fact that Jieun saw him in his makeup and costume. He has seen and scared people he knew from school in the haunted house before but this was the first time someone actually recognized him. Well it’s not that surprising since people just run away upon looking at him once.

“ Hey, Jongin! What the hell are you doing? Are you flirting with the customer?” A voice called out from down the hallway. “ Come on, get up. The next customers are coming in soon.” The voice could be heard clearer and the next thing Jieun knew, a female ‘ghost’ was kneeling next to Jongin.

Jieun sighed and explained that she had kicked Jongin when he scared her.

The female ‘ghost’ ‘tsked’ at Jieun before diverting her attention back to Jongin. Jieun noticed how the female ghost would touch his arm and squeeze it a little when she asked him if he was alright. For some reason, Jieun wasn’t comfortable with how the female ‘ghost’ acted around Jongin.

The female ‘ghost’ told Jongin to rest for the day since his shift was almost over.

Jongin escorted Jieun all the way to the exit, which Jieun was thankful for because she wouldn’t want to kick another ‘ghost’. Jieun and Jongin parted ways as Jongin left to go wash off his makeup and change his clothes while Jieun went to the bubble tea shop to meet Chanyeol and Jongdae.

Jieun arrived at the bubble tea shop but to her surprise, she didn’t see the duo anywhere. She thought that maybe they had went to the toilet or something so she decided to order some bubble tea and wait for them.

10 minutes have passed and Jieun was getting restless. She took her phone to call one of them but at the same time, she had received a message from Chanyeol saying that he and Jongdae went to go out on a double date with the twins from her class! In short, they ditched her.

Jongin was passing by the bubble tea shop when he saw Jieun sitting at one of the tables there. He looked at her long enough to notice that Jieun was beyond pissed. He entered the bubble tea shop and approached Jieun, who was glarng at her phone.

“ Why the long face?” Jongin asked as he sat down in front of her.

“ It’s Jongdae and Chanyeol. I came here with them but they ditched me to go on a double date with the twins from our class.” Jieun sighed.

Jongin knew that this was part of the duo’s plan to stall her but was it really necessary to leave her all alone in a theme park? Was it even a good idea to ditch her on her birthday?

Jongin bit his lip and looked at his watch. He was supposed to be at Jieun’s house soon to prepare for the surprise but the said girl was right next to him. He couldn’t just leave her alone like that.

“ How about I accompany you for the time being? No one deserves to be alone during their birthday. If you turn down my offer, may I remind you that you kicked me in the stomach and it still hurts.” Jongin placed his hand on his stomach.

Jieun winced and scratched her head. There were still so many rides that she wanted to go on and it definitely was better to be with someone than to go alone. She also felt really bad for kicking Jongin in the stomach.

“ Okay. I’ll take up your offer.” Jieun smiled as she stood up.

“ Good,” Jongin said as he stood up to follow Jieun “ because as an employee of the theme park, I have a fast pass to get on every ride without waiting in line and I can bring you along as well.” Jongin smiled.

Jieun widened her eyes as she looked at Jongin. Maybe it was a good idea after all that she decided to go with Jongin.

Jongin chuckled at her expression and patted her on her head.

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“ What do you mean you can’t find her? I told her to wait at the bubble tea shop!” Jongdae exclaimed loudly as he stops hanging the decorations on the wall and took the phone which was balancing between his head and shoulder.

“ She’s not here!” Jiyeon said as she looked around the shop. Jiyeon had come back from America and has not visited her homeland for the past two years. Jiyeon was Jieun’s best friend so when Chanyeol and Jongdae found out that Jiyeon was coming back and wanted to surprise Jieun for her birthday, they decided to utilize this into their plan.

“ You didn’t arrive to the shop too late right? If you did, she probably would’ve left some time after we sent her the message.”

“ It’s been only 5 minutes since you sent the message and she is not here. I’m looking around for her now.”

“ She should still be close by.”

“ Oh I see her! But she’s with a guy. Didn’t you tell me she would be alone?”

“ Wait a minute, she’s with a guy? Who is it?” Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows.

“ Hold on. I’ll take a picture.” Jiyeon hung up and Jongdae told Chanyeol, who was preparing the snacks for the party, about the current situation they were in.

Jongdae soon received a picture from Jiyeon.

“ Isn’t that Jongin from Jieun’s class? What’s he doing there? He’s supposed to be here, not with Jieun!” Chanyeol said, looking at the picture on Jongdae’s phone.

“ I don’t know but it looks like they’re having lots of fun and Jongin being there instead of Jiyeon is ruining part of our plan.” Jongdae scratched his head when suddenly an idea popped up in his head.