Entres Nous

“Unbelievable.” G.O laughed underneath his white mask, shaking his head as they walked down the street. “You worked seven hours straight in the gym everyday when you were young? I don’t know how to break this to you, but you are actually insane.”

Chan rolled her eyes, stuffing her hands in her jean pockets. “It wasn’t insane. It was healthy!”

“Healthy is working out for like two hours in the gym and eating your vegetables everyday.”

“I did that!”

“Yeah, but for a dangerous amount of time!”

“Meh, meh, meh, meh.” She stuck out her tongue, being careful not to accidentally bump shoulders with the elderly man who was walking next to her. They had been wandering aimlessly, four around two hours, stopping at little stands to snack on some delicious street food, walking inside cheap clothing stores to see what was on sale, drifting in and out of buildings. They were hardly tired, despite constantly asking each other if they were. It had grown dark, but the city was more alive than ever. All the blinding nights and speeding cars had eased the pain she felt each time she thought of returning back home to face Yura. After knowing almost too much about her, she had no idea what in the world she would do when she saw her pink-haired friend.

“Did you ever get your rock-hard abs though?” G.O glanced down at her, giving her a smirk.

She shook her head. “Nah. During the end of my school break I injured my back doing weights and after that the doctor told me I had to stop the exercising for a while. By the time I knew it months had passed and I was back in school and the idea of my chocolate abs faded into nothing. I did keep my diet though and I did lose a lot of weight, so hah!”

He lightly patted her head. “In a way, I am glad you hurt your back.”

“Yura said the same thing when I told her this story.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

“Anywho,” She stopped walking once they hit the corner of the street, looking up and straight into his dark eyes. “where are we even going?”

“I was following you, so...” He shrugged.

“Nuh uh, I was following you.”

“We have a problem then.” He looked around, trying to figure out just where exactly they were. “Okay, we aren’t too far from your apartment. Wanna head back home?”

“Ahm...”

“Oh, what is that?” The corners of his lips inched upward into a smile. “Is that hesitation I sense from you?”

“What?” She furrowed her eyebrows.

“You! You are usually so against going out with me that when it is time to go home you jump at the opportunity. Now though you hesitating. That little ‘ahm’ was total hesitation.” His face was almost glistening with happiness. “I am finally getting you to like me!” He paused, his smile quickly turning into a serious expression. “This feels so ridiculously great, wow. I mean, I knew it would feel good, but-,”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it!” Chan moaned. “I like your company. You’re a fun guy to hang out with, not date, I don’t mean date but be friends with. So can we just be friends for a little longer? I am honestly not ready to see Yura at all.”

He tapped his foot against the ground before glancing upward at the stoplights, quickly grabbing her arm and crossing the street, making sure to walk fast before a driver got antsy and tried to pull a fast one. “Are you still brooding over that? I don’t think she’ll be upset, really. I think she would be more pissed if you made such a big deal about it.”

She pulled her arm away as soon as they started walking forward. “But it is a big deal! She got r-a-p-e-d!”

“You don’t have to s-p-e-l-l it out, I know what happened.” He pushed his hair back. “Look... I’m gonna take you out to one more place, and as much as I hate to say this, as soon as that’s over I’m taking you home. You two need to talk.”

“Fine. Where to?” She lifted her head up looking at him straight in the eye. He smiled, giving a soft shrug. “Alrighty then.”



“So what do you think?!” G.O glanced back at the girl standing behind him, slipping off his mask and stuffing it in his pocket before giving her a wide grin. He extended an arm, letting it lean against one of the strangest chairs Chan had ever seen in her life. The chair was tall and the back was covered by what seemed a cardboard painted picture of a girl’s naked bottom. G.O’s on the other hand was sitting on top of one that instead of a girl, had a guy’s butt squarely drawn on it. They were so strange.

And she just had to sit on them.

She plopped herself next to him, eyeing the chair’s nice tush, giving G.O a smile in return. “Is that an accurate portrayal of what really is underneath your pants or...”

He glanced back at his chair, pouting and shaking his head. “Let’s just say mine is rounder and more... plump. And with cute, little dimples too.”

She brought her hand up, pointing at the painting of an eight-pack, toned armed, Psy carrying, what looked like a cold tea at the beach, in front of them. “See that expression in Psy’s face? Even he can’t believe it.” Chan laughed, standing up.

He brought his feet down to the floor, following her from behind as she roamed around, looking at the different optical illusions. “Nuh uh! That is a face of agreement!”

“Sure!” She walked over towards a large painting of a boy with his boxers being pulled forward, her face turning from a confused frown to a wide smirk. “Oh my...”

G.O stood near the instructions, glancing over at Chan who kept trying to figure out what she was exactly supposed to look at inside his underwear. He rolled his eyes, licking his lips and smiling. “You’re supposed to hold your hand where the blurred out part is and then someone takes a picture and it looks like you are pulling the dude’s boxers and peeking inside like the true pervert that you are.”

“Oh!” Chan slipped her phone out, handing it to G.O. and striking a pose. “Take one. I’ll send it to Yura after, she’ll love it.” He raised his hand up, clicking the screen and taking a quick picture.

“There.” He handed her phone back, not before pulling it back up before she could grab it. “Actually, let’s take a picture together.”

She raised an eyebrow, before huddling close to him. “Okay.”

G.O furrowed his eyebrows together, glancing down as he wrapped an arm around her back, letting his hand rest against her waist. “This easy? You’re given in this easily?!”

“Yup. This easy.”

“Is this a trick?...”

“Of course not.”

“Are you gonna punch me as I take the picture?”

“Nope.”

He groaned. “I don’t understand. This is far too easy!”

“I’m just being nice!”

“My Chan isn’t nice.”

“Just take the damn picture!”

He laughed. “There’s the Chan I know and lo-,” He stopped himself before he said it. She looked up at him, her expression mirroring his. “Like. The Chan I know and like.” His voice broke at the end of the sentence, his hand quickly lifting up the camera, his eyes refusing to look back down at Chan’s face. “Smile!”

She looked upward, pulling the cheesiest, fake smile she could could endure before pulling away from him and grabbing her phone back, her eyes staring down at the screen. The picture came out cuter than she thought it would, her fingers quickly saving it before slipping her phone back in her pocket and clearing her throat. “Ah, let’s keep going.”

G.O muttered a quick, “okay” walking towards another strange illusion, Chan following behind, one hand twirling one strand of her while the other kept playing with the ends of her shirt.

A big part of her really wanted to say something to his almost romantic confession, but the rest of her interceded, reminding her that not only wasn’t she ready to hear those words, but he wasn’t ready to say them. Of course, if he did she would be happy (despite trying to fake not being happy). But at the same time in what position would this put them? They weren’t in a relationship. In fact, the only thing he actually knew was that he liked her, and that, despite her previous objections, she possibly liked him back and was simply too stubborn to admit it. The only thing truly detaining them from actually stepping into a relationship was her.

Her own fear. And now with her brand new knowledge regarding Yura’s and Seungho’s incident, her fear had grown even worse. It came to the point where she was now doubting whether she was strong enough to pull back her emotions for a couple more months. Whether she could actually not fall in lo-... she refuse to say that word, much less think about it. Whether she could actually not get romantically attached to G.O.

She didn’t want to go through the torture that Yura and Seungho went through, but what made her think that it would happen again? What made her believe that the situation would repeat itself and that Chan and G.O would react just like their friends did? It’s not like they wouldn’t receive help from Yura. Maybe she was once a young girl in love who had no upper body strength, but now Yura could pick up their couch with one hand and vacuum underneath with the other. (Slight exaggeration.) It wasn’t like she wouldn’t back them up.

‘Stop.’

Chan pushed her hair back, letting her conflicting thoughts ease out of her brain before bumping her hip against G.O’s waist, giving him a small smile, snapping him out of his own scattered ideas. “C’mon.” She looped her arm with his, walking further down the hall. “Let’s see what else we can find.”



“Now this is pretty cool.” Chan tapped at the mirrors in front of them, glancing back at G.O who stood there looking around. Her hand glided across the smooth surface, trying to see if she could find the exit somewhere between all these reflections of her, while the other held onto G.O’s sleeve, a part of her afraid she would lose him somewhere in the room. “I think I got this.”

He let out a cheeky grin, shaking his head as they kept walking. Well, trying to. “Haven’t you ever been to a Mirror room? You’re gonna bang your arm, or better yet, yourself against one of the mirrors if you get too confident.”

“Well, you aren’t even helping me out, what am I supposed to do? Isn’t this room made so you could enter and try to escape from it?” She grunted, looking up at him.

“I am helping you out!” He looked back at her.

“How?”

His arm quickly wrapped around her back before she could bang herself against the glass standing behind her. “See?” He bumped her forehead against hers. “You were about to hit yourself.”

His breath was warm against her skin, their bodies pressed together by the small hallway there were trapped in, their eyes locked on each other’s. They both knew how this scene would end if they didn’t separate. They had often seen it in romantic comedies, and now that they lived it out in the real life they could fully understand how the friends in movies could immediately turn into lovers within the small matter of closing them inside a room. It almost seemed a little unreal how that cheesy scene they once both rolled their eyes at was actually happening to them. But as the space between their noses drew closer and as the inches between their lips became centimeters, and as their eyes simultaneously closed it all seemed far too perfect to st-

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

G.O cursed the day he ever thought getting a new cellphone would be a good idea, his eyes flashing open along with Chan’s. Her eyes turned downcast, a small smile forming at the corners of her lips as she whispered an almost too bitter, “are you gonna get that?”

“No.”

Before she could even look up, G.O’s hand pressed against her cheek as he smashed his lips against hers, the arm lying around her waist bringing her even closer then before. The fingers that were once pinching his jacket grew numb as she brought them upwards, placing them right above his chest. The kiss only lasted a few moments before he moved towards her cheek, pecking it a couple of times before resting his chin against her shoulder. She broke into a smile, shifting her arms around his neck as she softly caressed his back. “You okay?”

“Nope.” He muttered.

“May I ask why?”

He brought her closer to him, locking their hips together as he hid his face against her hair. Before she could repeat her question, the answer poked at her black jeans. “Oh...”

“Yeah.” G.O mumbled, pulling back and covering his reddened face with his hands. “I’m sorry...”

Chan snorted, letting her arms drop to her sides. “Don’t worry about it.” She shifted her head upwards, forcing herself to not look down or let out the laugh that was tugging at her throat. “Do you need a moment?”

He nodded, placing his hands above his crotch as he let his mind wander away from the situation.

“So much for our first ki-,” She burst into a fit of giggles, pressing her back against one of the mirrors, shaking her head. “I’m so- hahaha, sorry.”

G.O chuckled a little bit, before forcing his lips into a pout. “It isn’t funny, you know! I really wanted to continue.”

Chan glanced down at his crotch. “I am well aware how much you wanted to continue.”

They both dissolved into laughter, their hands holding onto their sides, eyes brimming with tears. “Oh my God, stop, stop, stop I’m gonna pee!” She cackled, crouching down on the ground and placing her head in between her knees. “Seriously though...”

Their chuckles quickly died down as he kneeled down in front of her, kneading his fingers through her hair as he placed his chin on top of her head. “I really like you.” He smiled. “Apparently, so does my little buddy.” She covered her mouth before she could let out another laugh. “And I can see myself falling in love with you. That is... if I’m not in love already.”

He lifted up his head just as she lifted hers, their eyes meeting as she gave him an honest smile. It was probably the most true one she had ever given him since they met and it sure made his heart beat faster than it had before. She was tired of trying to cover up her emotions out of fear they might get hurt. When they kissed, it wasn’t just him who wanted it to continue, it was her as well. She couldn’t deny herself anymore even if she was afraid of what might happen in the future. Even so, she couldn’t let this moment pass. Despite everything, she refused to let this moment pass.

“I think I might be in love with you too.”