“Jesus, Inseong. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” You exasperated. Your heart, which has jumped into your throat, sank back down. Inseong scowled.

“Speak not his name to me, for I am a creature of darkness.” He hissed dramatically, grasping at his chest as though even the mention of anything religious hurt him. Before you could hold yourself back you’d smacked him on the arm. It felt too natural. 

“Crap, I’m sorry. You just…” You paused. Inseong wore a strange grin. It wasn’t quite the mischievous one he’d adorned before, but similar. He inhaled slowly and his face lit up with excitement. 

“Oh, that’s what it takes to get under your skin?” He said it with the glee of a particularly sadistic child that just received a new toy to pull apart. For a moment he was frightening, until you remembered he was Inseong. 

“No. And I’m not going to dress up.” You said firmly, but he would not so easily be perturbed. In a moment he’d hoisted you over his shoulder and started towards the back of the house. You yelped in shock and protest. 

“I don’t recall asking.” Inseong sang in his deceptively beautiful voice. You squirmed and tried to wriggle free but found your attempts feeble. It shouldn’t be that difficult, and yet it was. Inseong was a lot stronger than his frame had any right to. 

“Put me down Inseong! You can’t just kidnap people!” You protested. Even though you could find the humour in the situation. 

“Seeing as how I am doing that right now, I think it’s fair to say I can actually kidnap people.” Inseong chuckled, though he did set you back on the ground as soon as he stepped into the back room. He was blocking your way out and you instinctively knew you couldn’t rush past him. The host looked particularly pleased with himself. He gestured for you to head further into the back. 

You considered screaming for Heejun. He would be here instantly, you knew. It was another uncanny ability he had, but it would make the situation more serious than it needed to be. Inseong really was just playing around. And he wasn’t in the wrong. A part of you did want to be silly and wear a costume, and Heejun had said several times he wanted you to. 

“Fine. How do you have a costume for me, anyway?” You asked, turning around to walk to the back. Inseong draped his arm around your neck and you knew he had to still be grinning. 

“I’m amazing, that’s how.” 

 

Begrudgingly you had to admit that he wasn’t wrong. The costume he’d picked was more suited for a historical reenactment event than Halloween. It consisted of a European style 18th century dress with all the many layers that came with it. Petticoats, you thought you remembered the many frilly underskirts were called. And another white thing you had the vague inclination should be worn on the torso, but it was too small to be a corset.

“Inseong what’s this?” You asked, holding it up carefully. It looked fragile. Inseong grinned again. 

“Heejun, your girlfriend needs help with her corset!” He sang loudly. Embarrassed you tried to protest, but Inseong waved his hand. Wait, he mouthed. Exactly two seconds later, Heejun stormed into the room looking angrier than you’d ever seen him. Heejun was never angry. 

“For the last time Inseong, it’s a corselet! A corset is…” He paused, having noticed you. Immediately his anger cleared and for a moment he looked at you as though he hadn’t seen you in days. Then again he often looked at you like that, you thought and felt your cheeks heating up. 

“Disappointing.” Inseong remarked dryly. “That there is the quickest way to get a rise out of Heejun but you seem to have cured him.” 

“Shut it Inseong.” Heejun said, but there was no malice in his voice. Inseong gave him a disappointed look and leaned back, crossing his arms almost like a toddler. 

“You’re no fun. I would have helped her myself if I knew you were going to be boring.” He complained. 

“No!” You and Heejun protested at the same time. The smirk returned to Inseong’s face. Slowly he pushed himself from the wall, leaning over to flick a finger at your face. 

“Got both of you with that one. I’ll keep it in mind. Have fun lovebirds.” He drawled the last part and gave Heejun a very unnecessary wink. He left the room before the latter could kick him out but waved at you teasingly before closing the door. 

Heejun groaned and ran a hand through his hair. The roots were properly showing. It’d be best to dye it soon, either bleaching again or dying it all back. Either way, he looked handsome. When he noticed you looking he cupped your cheeks in his hands, lifting your face gently. 

“He’s not wrong. I can’t be mad when I’m with you.” He whispered, quickly pecking your lips. It tingled and you wished it hadn’t been just a peck. Being with Heejun made you feel a lot of things. He was often exhilarating to be around, but above that he felt so comforting to be around. Being with him was like coming home, or watching an ocean of colours spilling into the sky during the sunset. You were in love, you knew it for certain.

 

“You little liar! You told me you weren’t going to dress up! Urgh, you look amazing!” Mina near-squealed the moment she spotted you. For her part she looked pretty amazing too, you thought. The girls from the dorm, whom Heejun had made sure to invite, all looked really nice.

Yongsun and Yonghee nearly the exact same make-up, making the family resemblance even more apparent, and had matched their dresses to look like a more grown up version of the twins from The Shining. They could definitely pass for twins. The only difference between their costumes were than Yongsun had fake bitemarks on the right side of her neck, whereas Yonghee had them on the left side of her neck.

Yuna made a very convincing Lara Croft, having sacrificed a blue tank top to be partially ripped and smudged with dirt and fake blood, and wearing black shorts you’d seen her wear before, fitted with several belts. She’d left out the guns but had strapped a leather pouch to her side.

Taking the cake, however, was Mina. She was dressed as Morticia Addams. A long, mermaid style black dress sinched around her waist and knees before spreading out, and it had long sleeves that became wide around her wrists. She’d fully committed, having dyed her normally chestnut brown hair pitch black. She made a picture perfect Morticia.

“You look amazing!” You insisted, gesturing at her get up. Mina twirled a red rose in her hands, batting it at you.

“Thank you, I do.” Mina laughed and did a spin. Her dress flowed around her majestically. You applauded her, to which she graciously bowed and thanked you in a very drawled out accent.

“I love your dress, though. Where did you get this? Can I touch?” Mina asked, though Yonghee was already feeling at your sleeves.

“This is real velvet! Where did you even get this stuff?” She inquired.

“Hey, let the girl breathe. Can you do a twirl?” Yongsun interrupted, having taken out her phone. You smiled, slowly turning around in your dress. As you did you caught your reflection in the café windows. Your hair had been pulled back and partially braided, but much of it had also been curled and cascaded down your back in luxurious waves. Inseong, who knew a disturbing amount about Victorian hairstyles, had tacked on a lot of extensions to add even more volume.

“Wow… You look a lot like… How long did all of this take?” Yonghee asked, astonished.

“You look like a Victorian.” Yuna commented, and since she was smiling you assumed it was meant as a compliment.

“Not at all specific, that’s a really long time period.” Yonghee mumbled under her breath. You chose to ignore it.

“Thank you, Yuna. You look amazing.” You smiled. You really hoped that tonight you’d be able to make up with Yuna for whatever it’d been that bothered her so much. She’d been nicer to you after she recovered from her bout with the flu, but you still felt an awkward distance between the two of you that didn’t seem to exist between her and the other girls. And she was nice, you’d seen her be nice to people. Why were things so complicated?

“I feel a bit underdressed compared to all of you, but thanks. It means a lot.” She smiled at you. She had a hopeful look about her. It warmed your heart. She wanted to make up, too. You might have given her a hug if you hadn’t been so constrained by the belt that reduced your waist to a very small 20 inch. It made it a little hard to breathe comfortably.

“Would you like a drink? I think I can get you guys free drinks.”

 

It probably shouldn’t have surprised you how many guests the Halloween party attracted, and yet it did. The café, which had looked so large with most of the furniture moved out of the way, was crowded with more women than you’d ever seen there together. A couple of them had brought boyfriends, but the number of women was larger than the men. Still, everyone appeared to have a good time.

The hosts had created a small stage and took turns performing. Heejun played guitar as he sang and the entire audience swooned as you had the first time you’d heard him sing. You were biased in his favour, of course, but he was a genuinely talented musician. He raised the mood and excited the guests with one song, then made the whole café feel much more romantic with another, then back to enthusiastic. You’d made sure to keep away from the stage, but he still occasionally made eye contact with you and blew you kisses. The combination of your heart racing and the tight waist made you feel a little light headed.

Heejun had just finished a very romantic song, during which he’d incessantly sought eye contact with you, when a loud scream came from the opposite side of the café. You recognised the voice, it was Mina. The crowd shifted and moved around, and you felt yourself pushed towards the scream.

Mina was hanging from Inseong’s arms, her neck and ample cleavage covered entirely in blood. It was still dripping from a large rip on her neck. Inseong had blood dripping from his lips and a wild look in his eyes. The puffed up white collar of his fancy white blouse was stained deep, dark red. Your heart stopped and in spite of the thick velvet you felt ice cold. Mina looked so pale. You struggled to breathe, trying to calm yourself but finding yourself restricted by the tight waist every time you tried to draw in air.

“It’s all fake, don’t worry.” A familiar voice said beside you. It would have helped if Mina hadn’t at that moment jumped up and roared, causing the crowd to erupt into applause. You gasped for air. It was a familiar feeling and you started to feel dizzy. Oxygen, you needed oxygen. You tried harder and harder, but you just couldn’t get any air.

“! I got you.” You heard, just in time as you found yourself starting to slip. A strong arm wrapped around your waist and you were hoisted up, moments later being carried away. A door opened, then slammed closed behind you. You barely realised you were in the small kitchen of the café, but tears were starting to fill your eyes.

“You’ll have to find it in your heart to forgive me.” The same, familiar voice said. You felt a tug at your back, and the dress loosened around you. Then another tug and suddenly you could draw in deep breaths. You inhaled deeply, greedily in all the oxygen you could, rushing yourself to exhale so you could breathe again as quickly and deeply as possible.

“Look me in the eyes. You need to take slow breaths. Count to three.” Jihun, you registered. You blinked, the tears clearing up. He was crouched in front of you and you were both on the floor.

He repeated the instructions. Breathe in for three seconds, hold for three seconds, exhale for three seconds. It helped surprisingly quickly. Maybe it was his voice, it was surprisingly calming. For once, he didn’t seem angry or even irritated. He had a look of concern.

“I thought Dongwon was supposed to be your doctor.” You whispered, your voice strained and hoarse.

“I’ve seen a lot of panic attacks.” Jihun said, holding out his arm to you. “Do you think you can stand?”

You tried, stubbornly on your own but found your legs unstable and had to grab on to his arm. It flustered you but Jihun didn’t seem bothered at all, gently helping you to sit back down on the floor. The kitchen was much quieter, you could barely even hear any of the chattering from the music going on.

“I never liked those stupid Swiss waist belts. And then they made it worse with the bloody corsets! So many women hurt themselves chasing after impossible thinness.” Jihun grumbled as though he’d seen it for himself.

“I guess all of you like the historical stuff, huh? Or did you do research for the Halloween party?” You asked. So far Heejun, Inseong and Jihun had all displayed a lot of knowledge of 19^th century European history. Jihun froze up like a deer caught in headlights.

“Yes. History. I like history.” He said stiffly.

“It’s cool. I don’t know that much about it but it feels nice to learn about people back then and see how they were just like us. Just, you know… They probably made thousands of memories. Happy, sad, hopeful. I’m not making sense, am I?” You sighed. You’d really tried to find the words, it’d have been nice to connect with Jihun on at least something. He was being nice to you for the first time.

“Would you like to hear about Austria?” Jihun asked softly. You weren’t sure what that meant but nodded, eager to have anything to talk to him about.

“Why don’t you get changed? And then we can do some dishes.” Jihun glanced over at the sink, in which glasses were piling up. “And I’ll tell you about Austria.”