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A day out at the amusment park with her best friends sounded like the perfect day. Joy handed on a silver platter; that was what she imagined. Baekhyun was a little energetic ball of sunshine, whereas Sehun was the tall, sly friend whose tongue is sharper than a blade, but whose heart is softer than cotton candy. She could definitely count on them for a fun time. As the pair rounded the corner, Baekhyun skipping happily, Sehun sauntering as a model, a smile broke out on her face.
That smile lasted for a good hour. It first faltered when a group of girls were overheard whispering words of distaste and glaring at Minyong, before casting adoring glances towards Baekhyun and Sehun. Ah yes- the perks of being famous. Minyong wouldn't know much of the perks; she only knows what it's like to be a shadow. She can stand the glares. But it's always the words that sting. Like a swarm of hornets.
"Who is she?"
"Do you think she's dating one of them?"
One of them snorts. "As if. Look at her; she doesn't even deserve to walk with them."
Minyong clenches her teeth and raises her gaze strong. She probably can burn holes into the 'leader's' eyes with sheer will. They walk past and she turns her chin high. She wants to scream.
Baekhyun hears her grumble and takes her by surprise by stooping low before her with narrowed eyes. She stumbles a little.
"What's gotten your panties in a twist?"
Minyong rolls her eyes. Definitely her best friend.
"You have fans who think that every damn inch of you is made of gold and that a plain commoner like me doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as you."
"Well they aren't wrong; I mean have you seen me?" Baekhyun smirks, demonstrating his lean body with large hand motions.
Sehun wrinkles his nose. "Yeah how dare you insult us, peasant."
"Please. I've seen you, Sehun, after two beers, stuffing pink bubble-gum in your hair because you said 'pink is for princesses, and I'm a queen'. And you, Baekhyun, sprawled out on the floor, wailing because you thought you had lost your power-ranger action figures. They were right next to you."
"They were under a pile of clothes! Ripped to pieces! Do you have any idea how traumatising-" Baekhyun's face turns ashen, eyes swimming in the painful memories of his precious action figures. He covers his face with his hands.
"I've always wanted to dye my hair pink..." Sehun mumbles thoughtfully.
Minyong rolls her eyes, but her grin returns. Baekhyun peeks at her through slender fingers and grins. She catches his gaze and gives him a playful shove.
"Alright... Where do we start?
Sehun and Minyong answer simultaneously- a reoccurring habit of theirs.
"Roller coaster"
"Haunted House"
They exchange a glare. The blank-faced idol sticks out his tongue.
"Rock Paper Scissors!"
Ten minutes later, Sehun was looking particularly smug between his two pale best friends, who squirmed uncomfortably in the small, tattered cart.
"You always play rock." He smirks at the girl.
"Oh shut up."
~
After a suite of wind-blowing rides, the trio finally stumbles onto steady ground, complexion a slight unnatural pale tinge, throats a slight dry. Baekhyun is even doubled over, taking deep breaths while staring at the ground. Minyong groans and leans on Sehun. The tall maknae seems to be the only reasonably untouched one, albeit his half-smile does twist into a sort of grimace, his facial muscles still adapting to the loss of stretched wind.
They all catch their breath in a slow silence, before Baekhyun finally snaps up with a wild grin. "Alright! Never doing that again! How about the planetarium? I hear there's a special discount today for families. So that means-"
"You and Sehun are my gay parents and I'm the adopted child."
The boys' jaws drop.
"Please, as if he's my taste." They both scoff, and follow up by a mutual glare.
Minyong coughs in her scarf to hide her laugh.
"Minyong and I being your parents is more credible; at least you're small." Sehun leers.
"If I inherited your looks I might as well jump back on that ride with no belt."
"Be my guest."
"So how about those tickets? Sounds like a good last thing to do, because I'm winded." Minyong interjects with tired eyes.
Baekhyun's gaze switches from her to Sehun, and they exchange the same confused glance. "Okay, I'll go get the tickets then. You bitches better pay me back!" Baekhyun yells over his shoulder, already a good ten yards away.
He leaves, and Minyong feels a strange mix of dread and exhaust weigh in her chest like lead. She wants to blame it on the rides, on the disrespectful fans, or even on the autumnal weather, but it feels so foreign and... cold. Maybe it was always there, gnawing at her until she finally feels it. But she shakes her head and blows heat into her small hands.
She doesn't notice her tall best friend, who stares at her with perplexed eyes.
Sehun asks her if she is hungry; a poor jumble of mismatched words that fall clumsily out of his mouth like laundry. Minyong shakes her head, mumbling a pathetic excuse. A daily habit to turn down food. Sehun knows it is. His best friend, so strong, so funny, so bright, so unnecessarily worried about her figure. It was infuriating at times.
Sehun frowns and lowers himself until her perfume hazes him like smoke, until he can count her long lashes that fall like wisps of mist over her smooth skin. His actions take her by surprise; a soft kiss to each temple, his lips lingering momentarily in comfort before resting on her forehead. It's sweet, brief, melting like sugar on one's tongue before it has a chance to savor a simple taste.
"I'll buy you something. Cotton candy?" he whispers.
Before she can answer, however, he straightens up, and pats his baseball cap onto her head. In a flash he is gone, and in a moment he returns with bubble tea and muffins.
"They were out of cotton candy for the day. Eat."
The slight blush in her cheeks is covered by Sehun's tall shadow when he steps to block any blinding light. She grins. "Thanks, maknae."
~~
Baekhyun skips happily over to his friends, waving three planetarium tickets in their faces. "We get to teach our giant baby about the universe! Isn't that exciting!"
She chuckles and shakes her head. The tall maknae whines like a child as his smaller hyung babbles about learning new things.
They pile into the elevator, which is empty, except for another girl. She stands hunched in the corner, her eyes are bloodshot, smudged mascara running at the corners. She's frail; bones edging out from beneath her skin, clothes sticking to her thin frame. The pale elevator light shrouding her into a corpse of sickly pity beneath a curtain of drenched yellow hair. A puddle of water at her feet. Skinny arms crossed over her chest, shivering so violently Minyong can hear her teeth breaking.
Minyong frowns. The girl raises her head to meet her gaze, unknown shadows falling like winter branches across her sunken face, wide eyes glossy with webs of red and black, lips blue. Her empty stare seems to crawl over Minyong's skin like frosted spiders.
"Do I know you?" Minyong's voice is suddenly small, unsure.
The girl doesn't answer. Only stares back with the same pathetically broken expression, a touch of fear. Trembling. Minyong's breath locks in her throat, prisoner to the veined red and cold black, she shudders.
The small bell rings, the metal doors open. Minyong doesn't notice. It's only after Sehun hauls her outside when she is ripped away from the suffocating gaze. She stumbles out, suddenly gasping for air. Her blood rushes to her neck. She whips around; the metal doors are sliding closer, closer - inbetween ; a skeleton of red, black and blue shivering in flickering light- disappears, crushed between the metal.
"Are you okay?" Baekhyun frowns, a hand on her shoulder.
Minyong can only stare at the steel wall. Her lips move on their own; "She was like a ghost..."
Sehun furrows his brows and mirrors Baekhyun's hesitant glance. "Who?"
Minyong looks up in confusion. "The other girl in the elevator..."
"We were the only ones there."
"You really didn't see her?"
They shake their head. Her panic returns.
"There was no one there, Min."
~