sehun had never really thought about the possibilities of the choices that he made in life being wrong or rather, he was never conscious of it in the first place. he’s always treated it as something that comes naturally for a person. life is about making a choice, at least that’s what he believes and it becomes a routine that he shouldn’t question because it’s the choices that he makes and there’s certainly a set of consequences that comes with them whether they affect his life directly or indirectly, sehun never really paid attention before. he thinks he’s still too young and early for that.

probably until the second week of school. as a first year in high school, there’s surely a lot of activities that sehun would love to try. he might find something of his interest and adapt it as a hobby, he thought excitedly when he received a text from someone who claimed to be the leader of a mystery club, telling him that the club activities will begin the day after tomorrow. it made his heart beat so fast, to think that they have a mystery club. sehun loves mystery, he grew up reading detective stories and maybe now is the time to be around the people who share the same interest.

he loves music but not as much as chanyeol who started a band in early middle school but disbanded because the rents for the studio were too high. he loves dancing too, and he’s heard people saying he’s good at it but he’s probably never going to beat jongin, so he does it casually and never wishes to get into competitions like jongin. sehun has always wondered how the three of them can be best friends when they have completely different interests (chanyeol’s and jongin’s might go well but sehun’s?). it’s even funnier that they became friends because of soccer and they’ve been together since then; inseparable, just like what jongin’s mother had told them so many times over dinner during their hangouts after school.

sehun knows it’s not the time and place to reminiscence; he’s standing in the doorway of the mystery club’s room at the end of a hallway and he doesn’t know why but he has a feeling it’s smaller than the other clubs’ room. there are only two people inside, sitting in a round table and sehun becomes vaguely aware of the distant crowd in the hallway, contrasting to the quiet and almost eerie atmosphere here at the end of the corridor. one of them is quick to greet him and welcomes him inside, telling him that the club leader will be here in a moment and that his name is baekhyun or something, sehun is too busy processing the situation that he doesn’t realize a cup of tea has been pushed towards him on the table.

“we don’t know what you like but i hope you don’t mind black tea,” says a not-baekhyun and he definitely looks a lot like he belongs in a service club or something but sehun can’t judge based on his appearance. “my name is jongdae, by the way.” the not-baekhyun, jongdae, adds as if he’s sensing sehun’s discomfort. rather than a discomfort, maybe sehun will call it awkwardness. from their tie color, it seems that they’re both a second year and that makes him the only first year here. he isn’t really sure if that is what important right now because from the decoration of the room, it doesn’t seem like the mystery club sehun thinks it is.

“he must think the decoration . i told you we shouldn’t go overboard with it!” baekhyun tugs at a string hanging from the ceiling that looks like they’re supposed to be a spider web. there are paper crafts hanging from the strings taped on the ceiling in the room that look more like they belong in a halloween event for kindergarteners.

“ah, i don’t think it .” sehun speaks because he thinks he should before things escalate between the two second years, neither of them looks like they want to back down.

“LIES!” they both yell at the same time.

sehun isn’t sure how to react so he picks the cup and decides to sip at the black tea. whoops, too hot. “you see, since the activities will mainly be done outside, i don’t think the decoration is important,” baekhyun turns to him and sehun just nods, his tongue is burning. “what’s more important is that it looks scary enough,” the second year leans back to examine the decoration as if he never looked at it until now and decided to pay attention. sehun hums, trying to soothe his tongue silently by pressing it against the roof of his mouth but baekhyun looks like he has more things to say, much to his suffering, but before the second year opens his mouth, sehun’s mind comes up with a question quick that he doesn’t realize having raised his hand. “yes, sehun?”

sehun doesn’t pay attention to how baekhyun probably reads his name tag or how baekhyun felt the need to say his name like there is another person in the room who’s possibly as clueless as sehun. “what do you mean outside? what kind of activities?” then the guy proceeds to show a mysterious smile before falling into a blur of movements and starts explaining about the activities which make him taken aback because it’s not the kind of activities he expected they would do in a mystery club.

“what?” sehun tries to sound less incredulous and look as neutral as possible. jongdae gives him a kind smile while baekhyun is trying to look for the meaning of the surprised tone in his voice. “what kind of activities were you expecting?” the second year asks him and sehun thinks the smile turns a bit more playful now. sehun shrugs in answer and looks around to find the shelves at one corner of the room are full of random stuff which he fails to see why they should be there. “i don’t know, studying unsolved murder cases or…reading detective stories?”

“we do that too, you know!”

sehun turns his head towards the source of the voice in the doorway which reminds him that he forgot to close the door on his way in. there’s a guy (or a boy?) who looks too young to be in high school standing in the doorway; sehun belatedly notices his tie color when the guy takes a seat on the chair across from him and he really can’t believe his eyes. “who…” he trails off and apparently the guy finds it amusing. there’s a lopsided smile on his face as his cat-like eyes lit up. “kim minseok.” sehun can’t help but notice how cute the guy sounds too.

baekhyun waves a dismissive hand. “why are you trying to be so humble?” then he turns to sehun with a grin. “he’s our club president.” which successfully makes sehun flustered for no reason, considering earlier he was thinking the guy was a first-year like him. sehun accepts the guy’s outheld hand, it feels soft and warm on his own and he can’t help but notice the size difference. “you guys read detective stories and study murder cases too?” minseok tries to retreat his hand that makes sehun realizes he’s been absentmindedly keeping it in a handshake and there’s a slight blush on his cheeks as he replies, “yes,”

a second thought appears in sehun’s head, not letting him be satisfied with the answer. “what kind of murder cases?” he squints his eyes at the three club members. he has a bad feeling about it somehow.

he sees minseok blink rapidly at him like he has just asked something ridiculous. “what do you mean what kind? a murder by a spirit, of course!” he exclaims and the other two members nod along.

sehun can’t believe this. “then, don’t name your club ‘mystery club’!” he explodes.

baekhyun stands up from his seat, the chair scraping against the floor due to the force. minseok holds out his arm to stop him from jumping across the table at sehun. “what do you suggest our club’s name should be?” the second year looks at the club president incredulously. “isn’t it too late to change the name of our club?” the cup clings against the plate when jongdae puts it down. “no if we have a good enough reason.”

jongdae has a point and it kinda puts sehun’s mind at ease. now he just needs to look for the reason-- wait a minute . “forget about the name, are you going to quit?” baekhyun is looking at him, angry but pleading. sehun turns to minseok, the club president, and his heart skips a beat. for some unknown reason, sehun doesn’t want to quit, despite how he hesitant he was at the beginning but seeing minseok’s determined eyes, he doesn’t want to leave the mystery club alone. so in reply to the anticipating eyes, sehun shakes his head. “i’m sehun, a first year. please take care of me.”

-

the next week, sehun somehow finds himself in the teacher's office after minseok suddenly shows up at his class during the second recess with some paperworks. he knows it was probably not his intention to get scolded and he probably didn’t wish for sehun to see this and sehun kind of feels bad at the situation that he doesn’t know if he should stay silent or defend his club president, he just knows he’ll feel bad either way. and as the teacher, which happens to be minseok’s homeroom teacher, goes on and on about how he shouldn’t be involving himself too much in club activities now that he’s in his third year, sehun tries to look around the office to distract himself.

“please don’t suspend the club!”

minseok’s voice manages to snatch his attention back to the club president and a stressed looking homeroom teacher. sehun remembers jongdae saying about the club being in the brink of suspension due to the little number of members and no clear ongoing projects or whatsoever.

“i promise i’ll only watch over the juniors,” minseok tries to convince the teacher who only sighs before giving his approval to the changing of the club’s name. “thank you very much!” he yells while bowing aggressively. one thing that sehun can’t forget about the exchange in the teacher’s office is how big minseok’s smile is and how it’s taking his breath away, enough to make him feel bothered by it.

 

“i think your homeroom teacher is probably right.” sehun says once they step out of the office and are making their way down the hallway, he has no idea where they’re going.

“i know that,” minseok replies, he doesn’t look dejected like sehun expected him to. “but we finally have a new member. it was always the three of us, i’m sure those guys feel a bit lonely too.” he says with a chuckle. now, sehun feels even worst. he eyes the paper in minseok’s hand, actually forgetting to reply when minseok speaks again. “and you saved the club!” again with the grin that makes something in sehun’s chest stirs, it tightens with a rush of feelings that he’s never really felt before.

apparently they have climbed the stairs up to where the third year classrooms are and stop right at the big window. sehun thinks this is where they part but somehow he can’t bring himself to say something or just turn away to leave because he’s on cleaning duty today. “do we have a gathering today?” he asks instead and it looks like the question is giving the latter ideas.

“i don’t have cramp school today. do you want to? i will let the others know.” minseok then adds, his eyes lit up. “oh! we can celebrate our club’s name change!”

sehun nods and smiles. it’s worth celebrating, indeed. he has no idea what the name’s changed into and he will find out later. with that, he bids goodbye to the club president and goes back to his class to get on with the cleaning duty. sehun wonders why the thought of quitting the club is not so appealing to him anymore and instead, his head is full of that one thing minseok said. 

“and you saved the club!”

sehun can’t help the smile stretching across his face as he makes his way to his classroom. “it’s you who did it.”

-

“hyung, you must be in a really good mood!” baekhyun chatters loudly over a mouthful of beef burger while sehun just sits, quietly stuffing french fries into his mouth. there’s probably enough serving of french fries for 6 on the table. while it’s true that minseok is in a good mood because the club will not meet its end soon, sehun once again thinks if his decision to stay is right. what the hell is an occult club, for crying out loud?! is what’s inside sehun’s mind but he applauds his effort to appear calm enough.

“i thought we decided to change it to a detective club or something?” jongdae says which represents the internal conflict sehun has been having.

“that would be like changing the entire purpose of the club, wouldn’t it?” baekhyun answers instead. minseok just blinks while continuing sipping his cola. no matter how much of a chatter box he is but sehun agrees, what he said makes sense to the point that it frustrates him even more. in other words, nothing changes, sehun is still stuck in this club about spirits and somehow maybe he needs to let go of the concept of mystery he’s been pushing.

“still, isn't this too much?” sehun gestures at the food scattered on the table.

“you can invite your friends.” minseok smiles up at him. why would he? “only if you want.”

they end up inviting a friend each to help them finish the fries and nuggets before it’s dark. sehun is kinda thankful that jongin’s still around, he doesn’t want to throw away all this food. jongin comes with a student named kyungsoo that sehun doesn’t recognize who turns out to be a first year and minseok’s junior in middle school. they come together because apparently they’re in the same club. jongin actually gets into the club that he wants, a book and movie review club. there’s just something that sehun notices in jongin’s gaze whenever he looks at kyungsoo that makes him wonder if it’s possible for him to turn like that someday (if he stays long enough).

 

and somehow, over noisy dinner and greasy fingers, they come up with a project that, as jongin said, benefits the club. it’s also actually the first ever project of the club since it was formed last year. the project revolves around camping at the school for one night to find out about the rumors going on about the school’s terrifying history. a test of courage, basically and you see, sehun usually doesn’t care about spirits or occult phenomena but that piques his interest just a little bit but he’s also not sure if he wants to deal with the school’s terrifying secret for the next three years.

surprisingly, baekhyun is the one most excited about the project and sehun can actually see it from the proposal he made himself after rejecting sehun’s offer of help. he becomes excited himself when again, he finds himself in the teacher’s office with minseok to submit the proposal. he has a good feeling about it. it’s not like those rumors are true, so it’s basically like having a sleepover at the school. and it’s only for one night, nothing will possibly happen just in one night, right?

“you’re saying that you’re doing research on the rumors?”

the both of them nod. at least they make sure not to look hesitant, hoping it will convince the teacher enough. the man looks like he’s laying out an imaginary map of the school before coming up with a nod of approval, “as long as you don’t touch the warehouse, it should be fine,” he says then signs the proposal. “just remember to be careful. also, come see me after school.” he reminds before ing the clipping into minseok’s chest.

“yes. thank you, teacher!” minseok responds and sehun thinks the club president will burst into tears any minute. “then, please excuse us.”

by the time they walk out of the office, sehun’s heart is racing.

“i didn’t expect him to approve of it so fast!” jongdae jumps off the table when they enter the club room. sehun managed to convince them to take off the halloween decoration. now that the room is bare, it looks more eerie and actually fitting to be the occult club. and yeah, sehun also didn’t expect everything to go so smoothly but like he said, he had a good feeling. hopefully it lasts long enough, at least until the project ends.

 

there isn’t much difference to sehun about being at the school when it’s dark. the floor where they’re sleeping is lit. it’s just the silence that bothers him a bit but nevertheless, it feels nice and good for a change of scenery. he’s clothed, ready for the activities set out for them when he realizes minseok has been in the shower for too long to be considered normal, so without a word, sehun goes out of the classroom, trying not to cause a fuss among the second year who’s currently having a discussion about the activities for tonight.

sehun walks down the hallway, humming to the tune from jongin’s niece’s playlist of nursing home songs. when he gets there, it’s awfully quiet but it should be expected from a toilet of a school at night but if minseok is inside, there should at least some noises that can be heard from outside. sehun enters the toilet and sees that one of the cubicles is occupied. naturally thinking that it’s minseok, sehun knocks on the door but there’s no answer. again, he knocks but only silence greets him and this time, sehun is becoming impatient, “who’s inside? minseok hyung?”

“sehun?”

click. the door unlocks and swings open slowly to reveal the top of minseok’s head, his hair still dripping wet. sehun notices how the other is trembling, he must not like the cold. “what are you doing?”

minseok steps out of the cubicle with a towel and his uniform in his hands, taking sehun’s hand and drags him out of the toilet in a rush. sehun thinks the guy looks like he’s about to cry. he keeps silent until they’re in front of the classroom. it’s a shame that he has to let sehun’s hand go, he kinda likes the warmth it gives him. “there was a noise outside the toilet, i thought it was one of you but when i called, no one answered and then there was this gush of cold wind…”

“and you hid inside the cubicle instead of running back to the classroom?”

minseok squeezes the towel in his hand. “i was thinking what if i really ran into a ghost…”

sehun could see how terrified he was. without thinking, he places a palm on top of minseok’s wet hair to ruffle it and then slowly rubs his thumb against his temple in a soothing manner. why are you in this club if you get that easily scared? “come on, let’s get inside. we’ve been waiting.” he drops his hand to open the door and steps inside, missing the way minseok’s cheeks color with a deep shade of pink.

 

baekhyun and jongdae have arranged an activity for them to do tonight and that is to find four fake cursed objects that, with the help of jongin, were put at random spots around the school. they’re going in pairs, sehun kinda wishes baekhyun will help him by not talking too much. the starting or assembly point is the school’s lobby and they’re free to roam around everywhere except for the storage room at the back. baekhyun is surprisingly serious, competitive and most importantly cooperative. they know how the fake curse objects look like so it should be easy to spot one but he didn’t anticipate the game to be this hard.

they find one when they come across the chemistry lab, a voodoo doll at the foot of a skeleton. it doesn’t move around on its own like the rumours say, sehun finds it anticlimactic how the lab turns out to be just a normal lab. there’s a loud thud outside after sehun put the doll in his pocket and he rushes out of the lab to find minseok on the floor. “minseok hyung! what happened?” the guy hisses in pain when he pushes himself off the floor into a sitting position. it’s too dark to see if there’s any injury.

“did you guys see jondgae?” minseok asks, panicked. sehun looks at baekhyun then shakes his head. they had been in the lab all the time. sehun looks at him and it prompts minseok to continue, “we went to the third floor to search in the third year classrooms but when i looked away, jongdae was already gone. i’m afraid that something bad happened to him so i rushed in panic and tripped because it’s too dark.” it’s the second time sehun sees the guy almost in tears.

“can you stand?” sehun helps minseok up but minseok winces in pain when he tries to take a step forward. it seems that he twisted his ankle.

“i think i still can manage. let’s look for jondgae.”

“no, i’ll look for jongdae. sehun, you go with minseok hyung.”

sehun nods in silence. it turns out that minseok is true to his words but since he’s injured, they have to walk at such a slow pace that sehun will never get used to. minseok is not usually a slow paced walker either and he can see that he wants to get out of there quickly. “what did you find?” sehun finds himself asking, uncharacteristically hating the silence.

minseok shows the cursed object in his palm, several rusty nails. 

“how did you find it?”

“it was luck, i guess. we found it in the first classroom we entered on the third floor.” minseok replies with a light laugh. the sweat on his temple glistens in the dark.

“why do you look so happy even though you’re scared?” ah, he says it out loud.

minseok’s smile turns sad for a moment before it’s back to having its usual cheerfulness. “i like these things, even when i get scared easily, it’s what i’m interested in. you know, at first we open this club for fun, we don’t even have supernatural abilities but even so, this is just a normal school. nobody died here. maybe it was pure luck but things was enjoyable for us. and…” minseok turns his head to him. “i don’t want to see my friends sad.” he says with a smile so lovely that it moves sehun. how long has it been since sehun last felt this way? felt his breath taken away? felt his heart beating like crazy?

there’s honesty in minseok’s smile. and while sehun realizes he was never truly into something no matter how much he’s invested in it. he wouldn’t fight for a club like minseok did. he would never think of what his friends are feeling when the club is dismissed. sehun suddenly feels guilty for ever doubting why minseok is the president and why he’s in the club when he gets scared easily. he puts his heart where it’s needed.

they arrive at the staircase and again, without thinking, sehun crouches down in front of minseok to give him a piggyback. “what are you doing?” minseok asks, flustered.

“you can’t go down the stairs like that.”

silent.

“or you’d rather i carry you like a princess?”

minseok climbs his back and a smile creeps into sehun’s face. “hold on tight.” he stands up and starts descending down the stairs to the second floor. “hyung, do you want to hear a story?”

sehun tells minseok about the supernatural things he experienced when he was little.

- 

sehun is beyond exhausted. he thinks the exams are taking 80% of his youth and he will walk around looking like he’s in his 30s, which, baekhyun claims as him being dramatic (coming from him?). he wonders how the third years are coping with the endless mock tests, cram school and exams. he wonders how minseok is coping. as soon as the camp ended, the third year has been busying himself with his studies, and there’s never any official dismissal of his position.

since exams are over, sehun thinks they should be able to gather once more. he looks at his messenger, the last chat from minseok was over three weeks ago and he realizes he never replied. sehun presses the call button and he didn’t actually think minseok would pick up at the first ring. he hasn’t thought about it that far so he stutters to reply when minseok says, “hi, sehun!”

“hyung... why are you answering my call?” for the first time, sehun loses his composure. is there any way he can disappear into thin air right now?

“why would i not be?” minseok sounds confused but then he laughs, the sound makes sehun’s chest flutter. “what is it?”

“are you at home?” sehun asks quietly. he’s strolling down the street leisurely, the cold wind contrasting to how hot his cheeks feel.

“i am, why?”

“uh, actually, can we meet? are you free right now?”

“right now? wait sehun, where are you?”

“me?” sehun looks around his surroundings. it’s the residential area nearby. “i’m almost at the nearest bus shelter.”

“can you get off at namdaemun? my house is not that far, i will wait for you there.”

“ah hyung, can you please pass the word to baekhyun and jongdae?”

minseok is silent before replying. “sure. see you at namdaemun, sehun.”

“see you, hyung.”

 

sehun doesn’t know if farewell is originally this hard for him but he feels so as baekhyun brings it up once they’re settled with their orders. the sandwich suddenly doesn’t look appetizing as it did a few minutes ago and everyone apparently thinks so too. minseok has this awkward and apologetic smile on his face and sehun tells him, “it’s okay, we’re still in the same school at least for the next three months.” to which the third year replies, “but i won’t be able to see you guys that much.” with a pout then sehun goes silent for the entire night. his chest feels tight. even as he genuinely enjoys their night out together.

they go to karaoke and sehun find out the three of them might be drawn to each other because they can sing and have an amazing voice, explains why sehun felt quite a bit out of place in the beginning but then minseok has denied with a dismissive wave of his hand. sehun just leans back and watches them sing quietly for the next hour. at least they don’t sing about farewell.

but he’s still very much aware of the constrict in his chest, especially after everyone has dispersed and it’s just sehun and minseok at the sideroad. “come on, i’ll walk you home, hyung.” he says and reaches out to take minseok’s hand when the pedestrian light turns green. he’s still not aware of how minseok hides his face in his muffler the whole time or how warm the palm of his hand becomes until they’re on the other side and sehun has to let go.

“this way.” minseok says into his muffler and sehun follows the third year when he takes off to a direction to his left. it doesn’t take long until the street gradually gets more deserted as they walk deeper into the resident area which sehun doesn’t recognize.

sehun’s head is full of thoughts that he’s afraid to say out loud. because he’s just as afraid to think about rejection. his steps falter as he realizes there might not be many chances in the future. minseok is going to university and sehun doesn’t know when he will be able to see him again. it’s going to be harder for them to see each other and minseok might end up never finding out about-

“sehun?” 

minseok has stopped to turn around and check on sehun who freezes in his spot. sehun snaps out of it and takes off running towards minseok to envelop the third year in his arms which earns him a confused squeak. “sehun?” although hesitantly, sehun feels minseok’s hands running up his back to return the embrace. the soft smile that blooms on his face is a helpless one.

“i think you’re very cute, hyung.”

“huh?” 

sehun then shakes his head as he’s having a second thought. “no, i think i’ve always think of you as cute since the beginning.”

“what do you mean?” minseok looks up from where his face is stuffed against sehun’s chest, the sight spreads an instant wave of warmth throughout his body.

“i want to date you.”

minseok pushes him mildly to break out of the hug in shock, his eyes wide.

“not now. you have your responsibilities as a third year, so achieve your goals first.”

minseok takes a deep breath. “are you willing to wait? it’s roughly three months away from now, what if you get bored and leave?”

“you’re underestimating me, hyung.”

minseok sighs before giving him a smile. “then, please wait for me?”

sehun gives the third year a smile of his own, he thinks he’s made the right choice this time. “with pleasure.”