Ha Neul's POV

Do never, I repeat NEVER, let innocent looking boys chose a ride for you at an amusement park!! It will end in a disaster!

I will have to teach that simple fact to Hyo Rin again.

FLASHBACK ---

“So? Where should we go first?” I looked up from the little map I was holding in my hands. But as no one seemed to want to make the first suggestion my dear best friend suggested that we should take turns in choosing which attraction to try out next. “So let's start with... ummm, Taemin! Of course, the maknae gets to choose first!” She exclaimed enthusiastically, but it met with little response. Rather, everyone was making worried faces.

Only the maknae himself was beaming widely at my BFF. "Awww~! Thank you, noona!” And me who was still ignorant to the mystery of their seemingly unfounded worries and thus looking confused rather than worried.

Though, that mystery got solved rather quickly and easily the moment I stepped in front of the said roller-coaster.

It was a frickin’ death machine! It was so high I had to bend back a little to see the top because simply tilting my head backwards was not enough! And the things the carriages did during the ride! I let my eyes follow one of them and I already felt sick just from looking! God, were roller-coasters like this even allowed by the government?! Didn’t they have safety standards or something?! THIS one broke them all with ease!

And as if that wasn't already enough that Alien Terrorist, probably because he saw my shocked stare, just couldn’t deny himself a mocking comment. “Are you scared?” He asked leaning in a little and grinning teasingly.

“Of course not!” I replied haughtily and look away.

"Then why are your hands shaking like leaves in the wind?" And why does he always have to notice every last detail?!

"They are shaking with anticipation!" I shot back. And to prove my point I walked straight in. "What. Aren't you guys following?" I turned around again. "Or are you guys scared?" That was solely directed at a certain alien of course! Hmpf!

How it went eventually? Well... uhhh....

Actually, until the end it was pretty much alright. Although I surely broke any sound sensor possibly installed in a two kilometre radius with all my screaming, but it was still somewhat fun. Especially since a certain person who'd vehemently denied to be scared even in the least bit, had been my seat partner.

I quote: "Scared? SCARED?! Me?!! Hahaha! That's the funniest joke I've ever heard! Hahahaha!"

Truth: "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I was having such a ball!

If only it hadn't been for the last part of the ride...

Because for the finish the carriage went into a pitch dark tunnel. Though, if it would have stayed pitch dark to the very end then everything would have been alright. But of course, it wasn’t like that; about three seconds into the tunnel, the darkness suddenly got ripped apart by a glaring lightning followed by a sequence of deafening thunder. Supposedly an intensifying effect to the surprise moment of the carriage turning upside down... =.=

And I flinched, my eyes wide with shock and a hint of panic. This was one of the few things I am terrified of; thunder and lightning!

When the lightning ‘struck’ the second time, I just had to grab something; needed something to cling to. And unfortunately, it was that Alien Terrorists arm that was closest. “Hey, wh—“ He started and I felt him want to jerk his arm away. But then he changed his mind and stilled again.

And then, he TOOK MY HAND!!

Of course, now it was me who wanted to jerk away but he held it so tightly that I couldn't! (A/N: Awww~! *><*)

What.The.Hell?!

But… He’s holding my hand…Omg, he’s HOLDING MY HAND!!!!! *gulp*

I turned my head a little as if I could glance at our hands and actually see something in this pitch black darkness! But the roller-coaster was in a generous mood and just then bestowed one of those cursed surprise enhancing effects upon us, kindly giving me the opportunity to see our truly entwined hands for a millisecond in the process. Severe fit of sarcasm.

…

BUT HE’S HOLDING MY HAND!!!! HE’S FRIGGIN’ HOLDING MY HAND!!!! Omg, my hand? You still there?

Yep, still there… But isn’t it kinda sweaty? No, it’s sweating like crazy!! Ahhh, eottokae??? He’ll find it disgusting! Whaaaa~!! *cries*

And why does it feel like my heart has moved to my hand?! Yah, heart! Who gave you permission to run off to my hand?!! Get back here! Yah! Pali! Or someone might notice!! Ahhh, ani! He can’t notice!

I shook my head frantically. He absolutely can’t notice!! That’d be too embarrassing! Whaaahaaa~!!

Yes, I was having a major freak-out. My heart was beating at least hundred miles an hour! (For a reason I cannot fathom…) And in my HAND! Seriously, what is it DOING there?!

I was sweating buckets and my mind refused to produce even a single decent thought and things just couldn’t get any worse anymore.

FLASH-FLASH-THUNNNNDR!!

No, I was wrong. They could get still worse. They just did. Because now I was not only clinging to his arm but also burying my face in his… shoulder? (It was hard to tell in the darkness but I was pretty sure I recognised his right shoulder. From our usual sleeping arrangement… ^^) And inevitably, I once more inhaled his intoxicating scent… It did NOT help in regaining my senses…

Well, at least the thunder and lightning can’t bother me anymore now… ‘Cause this alien is shielding me from the lightning and the blood rushing in my ears makes the thunder sound but a distant rumbling. It’s actually quite nice… Makes me want to snuggle closer…

I moved a little, adjusting my position to a more comfortable one—

YAH! Hwang Ha Neul! What are you DOING??!!

FLASHBACK END ---

Narrator’s POV

It was a very tiring ride for Ha Neul. After all, fighting against your own conscious is a very exhausting activity.

So, when the carriage rolled towards the boarding area again, she was still leaning against Jonghyun’s shoulder (she’d confirmed it now because it was no longer dark) with her arm still around Jonghyun’s and her hand in his. She had her eyes closed.

Jonghyun on the other hand, used the chance to freely study the surprisingly petite face of the girl leaning on him. Now that she had her eyes closed, he realised that she had quite long eyelashes and her porcelain skin looked smooth like a baby’s. The carriage made an overhead turn and he caught a whiff of her. Peach. Her shampoo.

Her scent might have been a little faint and, of course, not as strong as at night after she’d taken a shower. But it was still enough to make him think of butterflies, sunshine and running around hand in hand on a flower meadow…

He held her small hand in his and again grew aware of her shaking. When he’d felt her cling to his arm, his first reaction had been to jerk away. But then, he had remembered what she had written in her personal information form under the rubric ‘I’m scared of’. Thunder and lightning. That’s why, instead of pushing her away, he had taken her hand.

And to speak the truth, it actually didn’t feel weird at all. Usually, holding hands was not Jonghyun’s thing. Not at all. But with that Ghosty it felt alright. Comfortable even! Somehow, her hand fitted into his perfectly and it felt neither cold nor hot, but just right. And when he used one of the ‘lightnings’ to catch a glimpse on Ha Neul’s face and saw the fear in her features, he had the sudden (inexplicable!) urge to protect this girl.

He was already about to wrap his arm around her slightly shaking shoulders, when, suddenly, they were in broad daylight again. He instantly backpedalled, expecting that Ha Neul would let go of his arm too. But to his surprise (or in fact delight), she made no attempt to do so.

However, as they were slowly but surely approaching the boarding area again (where the others were), Jonghyun felt he needed to say something. “You really are scared of thunder and lightning, eh…? But you can let go of my arm, now… We’re long outside again… Or…” A taunting smirk appeared on his lips. “Or was that not the reason? Did you possibly cling to me like that not because of the thunder and lightning effects but because you WANTED to?”

This allegation made Ha Neul jump away alright. She moved as far away from Jonghyun as the tight metallic seating belt allowed and glared at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you! Huh? Sorry to disappoint you, though. I’m still in my right mind, you know?”

“Yah-yah-yah! You don’t need to go that far.” Jonghyun faked having been hurt by her words. “Besides, you’re contradicting yourself…”

“How so?” Ha Neul gave him a doubting look and Jonghyun smiled back innocently. “Well, because just about an hour ago you proclaimed your love for me in front of rolling cameras…!”

And with delight he watched as Ha Neul’s head took on a dark shade of red and her eyes darted to the side. “You know perfectly well that I just shouted the first thing that came to my mind!” She mumbled.

“Oh, so ‘Oppa, sharanghae!’ is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see me?” He was still teasing her, yet deep down he felt this weird elation at the possibility that it might have indeed been like that.

Though, Ha Neul noticed nothing of that nuance. “As if!” She countered even more flustered. “I just shouted what stood on the darn banner! And you know it! So stop making fun of me! God!” And she buried her face in her hands.

Jonghyun on the other side was trying his best to hold back his laughter. Because even after their carriage had long arrived in the boarding area again and he himself had already gotten off, that Ghosty was still sitting inside the carriage, her hands still covering her face!!

But when Minho – who like the rest had been waiting for them to arrive too (Ha Neul and Jonghyun had been the last pair to board their carriage) – stepped next to him and asked what they were doing, it was over with his self-control. His roaring laughter sounded throughout the whole ‘building’.

Surprised by the sudden outburst of his hyung, Minho took back a step and gave Jonghyun a weird look. And Ha Neul, equally startled, abruptly raised her head. But unlike Minho, she knew the reason for that Alien Terrorist’s amusement and she pouted sullenly as she finally got off the carriage too.

The others were standing a little away but they still had watched everything. “Oy, do you see that?” Key asked with wide eyes and nudged Onew. “Jonghyun is laughing! He is laughing!! It’s only been a few hours since THAT woman got mentioned during the interview and he’s already laughing like this again!”

Ha Neul’s POV

We went on many other less scary rides (because Taemin had already chosen his ride) and actually had a fabulous time. Though for all the rides HyoMin stayed a pair because apparently Taemin had the very reassuring habit of going through all kinds of horror scenarios during the ride. Like how the carriage might fall off right at the top of a loop or how seat belt could snap…! But it seemed like my best friend didn’t mind. On the contrary, she found it “thrilling” as she called it! So the pairs always stayed like they were during the first ride. (HyoMin and OnHo, OnKey, or MinKey  and err… well, Jonghyun and me…)

“I’m hungryyy~,” Onew oppa whined and held his stomach as they exited the last ride.

“Yeah, me too!” Minho chimed in. “How about we go get some—“

“Ice cream!!” Both Hyo Rin and Taemin shouted at the same time. They looked at each other with weird looks but broke out in a round of laughter only seconds later. Seriously. These two! They’ve been behaving like little kids since we got here!

But as everyone else agreed with ice cream, we headed towards the next ice cream boot.

“I think we really owe you a thank you, Ha Neul-ah,” Onew oppa said with an earnest smile. After we had all bought our ice cream we had sat down on the edge of a fountain; kind of like birds on a high-voltage power line, hahaha. From left to right it was Minho, then Taemin, Hyo Rin, me, Onew oppa, Key oppa, and at the end Jonghyun.

“Yeah! This is definitely much better than being holed up in our practice room while it’s such nice weather outside!” Key oppa leaned forward so he could see me and gave me thumbs up.

“Yup! Definitely deabak!!” I turned around and saw the maknae giving me thumbs up too and Minho nodding along in agreement.

“Ah, no… It was nothing…” I averted my eyes feeling a little embarrassed by them thanking me like that. “I… I just thought that you guys could use a little breather… hahaha…”

“Aww, no need to be so modest!” Onew oppa cooed. “We really are grateful!” And, completely taking me by surprise, he pulled me into a hug!

“Uhh… You’re welcome…?” I finally managed and hesitantly returned the hug. I then glanced over Onew oppa’s shoulder to get a look at Jonghyun. Was he grateful too? He hadn’t said anything so far…

However, he was not pleased at all. No, he looked furious! His eyes were spitting fire and his lips were pressed into a sharp line. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” He mouthed while his eyes travelled to my hands on Onew oppa’s back and then back to my face.

Oh, sh!t, he saw!

I quickly broke out of Onew oppa’s hug and smiled awkwardly. I stole a furtive glance in Jonghyun’s direction and mouthed a contrite “Mian~!”

But then I backtracked. Wait…

Why am I apologising?

Why am I feeling guilty even?! I haven’t done anything wrong!

It was perfectly fine to give a guy a friendly hug!

I looked at the others.

See, they don’t find anything strange with it! So there’s no reason for me to feel like I’ve been caught doing something impure!!

I shot that Alien Terrorist a glare. Stop messing around with me!

“So? What shall we do now?” I asked no one in particular because there seemed to have formed an awkward silence. But my smile had probably been a little too forced so I started playing with the water of the fountain.

“Hmmm, I don’t know?” Hyo Rin mumbled. “What does everyone want to do?”

Just then, Onew oppa’s mischievous side kicked in and before anyone knew what was going on the diva to his right got splashed with a hand full of fountain water.

“YAHHH!!” Key oppa sprang up and started to furiously wipe off the water droplets. “I’m wearing my expensive Armani jacket!! You…!!” But then the glint in his eyes changed and in one swift movement he had doused poor Taeminnie with a load of the cold water.

Initially he had intended to aim at his hyung but as the latter had ducked just in time and Hyo Rin and I had long gotten out of the danger zone, it hit the maknae instead. And he certainly didn’t need another invitation! With delight, he started spraying water in all directions and before long the five were engaged in a full-grown water fight.

I sighed. Seriously, what’s with me and water fights lately?

But when Taemin sneaked up to me and Hyo Rin, who until then had been enjoying the spectacle from the side, and doused us with water too, we joined the fight with equal vigour.

Jonghyun’s POV

That Ghosty was having the time of her life. She was sprinkling just about anyone and anything that was in her reach with water while her beautiful pearling laughter fell from her lips. Her long straight hair flew as she whirled around to avoid Minho’s attack.

I kept stealing glances at her. I just couldn’t help it. She looked every bit as charming as she had yesterday during our own water fight… Only that today, her cheeks weren’t quite as red…

I want to see them again… Those flushed cheeks…

Without thinking what I was actually doing, I took off my cap and dunked it into the fountain, filling it with water. I then sneaked up to her; she was just taking a little break from running around. And without a warning I tilted my cap over her head.

Her reaction was priceless!

“KYAAAAAAAAAAA~!!!” She screamed like there was no tomorrow and, too surprised to run away, she only ducked her head as I fully emptied my cap. When she no longer felt any water pouring down on her she straightened up again and shook the water out of her hair, sending the droplets right into my face. “Yah!” I hissed and she whipped her head around, her eyes blazing.

But I only grinned innocently. The best part was yet to come!

My heart thumping with anticipation, I bent down to her and blew on her ear, making her flinch cutely. I felt the grin on my face spread even wider.

Now to the finishing blow. “Glad you’re not wearing white today, Ghosty?” I whispered into her ear.

And right there it was. That adorably flustered face of hers! Just like yesterday! Or maybe even better!! Ahhh, jodaaa! This is life!!

“Y-YAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! YOU…!!! YOU BASTARD!!! !!! JERK!!! DIEEEE!!!! */#=$%$*/&|¢#?*&=£$!!!!” The string of curses wouldn’t even cease as she started chasing me around the fountain. But even though I was about to die from laughter she still couldn’t catch up to me! Such a slow poke! Hahahahaha!

Our joyful play got interrupted though, when one of our spectators, it looked like we had attracted quite a few with our water fight, called out my name.

“Omg! It’s SHINee’s JONGHYUN!!!! KYAAAAAAAA~!!!”

We all froze in our tracks and glanced at each other.

Shoot! Stupid me! Why did I take off my cap?!

Oh, right, to douse that Ghosty…

Well, luckily, we were prepared for these kind of situations…

“Disperse!” Hyung shouted the commando and we all grabbed our belongings and dashed into opposite directions. Naturally, I also took Ha Neul with me because she was the nearest to me. And from the corner of my eyes I confirmed that Taemin was leading Hyo Rin away.

I'm really, really sorry!! Here you all are, being so supporting and understanding, and what do i do? Not update for like forever!!! I'm so sorry!! >< (but in my defence, i had a major case of writers block on this story.. =.= This darn chapter just didn't want to let me write it...! It was just one big mess... had to rewrite it several times... T.T) But anyway...

And congratulation to SHINee for their 5th anniversary!!! Woohooo!! Please keep up the awesome work!! 'Cause we all love you!!! <3