"Remember how I told you my friend was insane?"

Song of the Chapter: Stray Kids - Hellevator lol

 

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Sooyeon had no idea what she was getting herself into.

 

She sat alone on one of the benches in her safe haven, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary. What made the situation unusual was the fact she was waiting on Hoseok to meet her in order for them to begin plotting. More specifically, plotting a way to set their respective best friends up with each other.

 

Sooyeon was still on the fence about the whole thing, but she knew her newfound acquaintance wouldn't give up until they were on the same page. Therefore, she was not looking forward to this meeting. At all.

 

For a few minutes, Sooyeon thought she may be able to avoid it after all. It was already half an hour past the time they'd agreed to meet, and Hoseok still hadn't shown up. In fact, she hadn't even heard from him at all since that morning when he'd let her know what time he wanted to meet (which, for the record, she was still uncomfortable with the fact that she had exchanged numbers with someone who was practically a stranger, but it's whatever).

 

However, when Sooyeon was on her last thread of patience and ready to leave, a voice that had already begun to sound too familiar called her name and shattered any hope she'd had of leaving unnoticed.

 

"You're late," she bluntly stated when Hoseok sat down on the bench next to her. "You said 12, it's almost 1."

 

"Sorry?"

 

He smiled apologetically, and Sooyeon rolled her eyes at the lame response. She then stood up and began to walk off because yeah, this was a bad idea. Much to her dismay, it only took a second for Hoseok to catch up and start keeping pace with her. Sooyeon let out an exasperated huff when she faced the fact that he was not going to let her out of his ridiculous plan.

 

"You know, Kang Sooyeon, you might just be the rudest person I've ever met." Hoseok informed her, though there was little bite to the words when they were combined with that cheerful tone and permanent smile of his.

 

Sooyeon didn't respond, but a hint of a smirk made its way onto her lips at the comment. She realized this and immediately tried to cover it up by coughing and crossing her arms over her torso. The two walked in silence for a few moments and when they finally stopped, Sooyeon went quiet when she realized where they were standing.

 

Hoseok gave her a confused look when he noticed her staring at the building in front of them, and as Sooyeon directs her attention back to him she opened and closed a few times because she couldn't figure out how to word what she wanted to ask.

 

"Sooyeon? Are you alright?"

 

She simply nodded and pointed to where she'd been staring, attempting to get her point across using actions instead of words. This, however, did not work out very well because Hoseok narrowed his eyes and motioned with his hand for her to speak anyway (which, by the way, was something Sooyeon hated with a passion).

 

"I live here." She finally stuttered out. Apparently that wasn't enough for Hoseok as he made a motion again for her to continue. "Since we've already walked this far, I was thinking we could talk here instead. Or if you wanna go back to the park, that's cool too.."

 

She tried (and failed) to will away the redness that had started to make an unwanted appearance on her cheeks while Hoseok let out a hmm sound, still seeming confused. Sooyeon found it funny as that was how he'd made her feel the past times they'd ran into each other.

 

"Didn't you say Eunjin lives with you, though?"

 

Oh, that.

 

"Yeah, she does." Sooyeon said in a slightly panicked tone. The last thing she needed was for her friend to overhear any part of what they were about to discuss, so she pulled out her phone to check the time. (Un)fortunately, Eunjin wouldn't be home for a while. "But, she should be in class until 3."

 

"Oh, well there's no point in walking back then so let's go."

 

Instead of responding, Sooyeon lead the way into the building and towards the elevator. The two of them remained silent as she pressed the button for the third floor and the doors closed behind them. For a few seconds, they stood there quietly and everything was running smoothly.

 

And then the elevator suddenly came to a halt.

 

"What the heck?" Sooyeon grumbled, hitting the button on the control panel repeatedly in hopes that it would make the thing keep moving.

 

"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work sweetheart," Hoseok laughed humorlessly "At least the power didn't shut off."

 

Before Sooyeon could say anything in response to him referring to her with that freaking name again, a popping noise sounded around them and the lights flickered a couple times before ultimately shutting off. Sooyeon's hands clenched into fists by her sides, attempting to reign in the anger and anxiety that coursed through her.

 

"Ya, Jung Hoseok!" she snapped. "Why did you have to say that!"

 

"You're blaming me for this? It was your idea to talk here!"

 

Sooyeon ignored him, mostly because she knew he was right, and leaned against the wall.

 

Thankfully, the emergency lighting kicked in, causing Hoseok to breathe a sigh of relief as he was then able to contact emergency services. Sooyeon, on the other hand, wasn't fairing so well. She could hear the boy on the other side of the confined space, letting someone know that they were in there, but the need to panic started to worm its way to the front of her mind.

 

It was uncontrollable in this type of situation, but the terrified girl closes her eyes and tries to keep herself as calm as possible.

 

It became even more difficult when Hoseok cleared his throat to get her attention. The sudden noise startled her, but she hesitantly opened her eyes and cocked her head to the side as if to say 'what'?

 

"They said it'll be an hour, at least," he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Looks like we're going to be stuck in here for a while."

 

"Fantastic," Sooyeon replied, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking.

 

It didn't work.

 

Hoseok noticed and his expression immediately changed from frustrated to concerned. When he moved a little closer, Sooyeon put a hand out in front of her, silently asking to him stop. Her breathing had become rapid and her palms had started to sweat, an all too familiar feeling. She dug her fingernails even deeper into her skin in another attempt to stay calm.

 

"Sooyeon, are you okay?"

 

"I'm fine. Just please back up." Sooyeon replied, even though her body was visibly shaking.

 

Hoseok did as she asked and tried to think of a way that he could distract her. He thought about discussing their little scheme, but decided against it right after. Given the situation they were in and the fact that Sooyeon wasn't fully on board with his plan yet, it would probably make things worse. All he knew was that if he didn't do something quick, the girl would likely pass out.

 

Luckily, he did have one quality he was confident in. Hoseok might not have known Sooyeon very well, but his ability to make people smile was some next-level ish.

 

"Do you want to hear a funny story?" he asked.

 

Sooyeon looked at him, confusion written all over her face. "Huh?"

 

"Just something to pass the time."

 

Hoseok looked at her for a moment to gauge her reaction. Even though Sooyeon didn't have much of an expression on her face, it was clear enough that he had her full attention.

 

"Ok, so do you remember how I told you my friend was insane?"

 

Sooyeon nodded, already regretting her decision to listen.

 

"So basically what happened was, some friends and I decided to go out and have a few drinks after classes one day," Hoseok began. "And well, I got drunk."

 

Oh boy, this was going to be interesting.

 

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A/N: Excuse this short chapter lol, I'm really trying hard to continue this story so please bear with me. Thank you to anyone who reads/comments or even just clicks on this because it really means a lot! Constructive criticism is always appreciated as well :) -Tay