mingyu jumps up from the couch making it squeak a little. he grabs the remote and surfs a few more channels before completely shutting off his television--he found nothing interesting for him to watch anyway.

his roommate, seungcheol, looks up at him and gives him a questioning look before returning his gaze to his phone.

he's playing that stupid piano game again mingyu thought.

"im gonna go down and get a soda. you want anything?" mingyu asks his friend who was completely concentrated on his game.

"get me a soda too." seungcheol says without bothering to look up at mingyu. "oh! and get me some chocolate. i'm kinda craving some right now." he adds, mingyu watches his fingers move quickly to the fastening pace of the song.

"okay, be right back." mingyu mutters though seungcheol doesn't hear him. he grabs his jacket and some spare change he left on the table the night before.

he runs out to the elevator and he presses the 'down' button. mingyu watches the red glowing numbers as it slowly rises up to his floor. he waits till he hears a loud 'ting' sound, then enters.

the sun shines on him radiantly causing him to squint a little, the air soothingly touched his face as he walks pass the busy streets of his neighborhood with a small smile on his face. he feels as if today is a good day which makes him happy.

mingyu finally sees the familiar bright neon lights that belonged to a tiny convenient store down the road. it was a tiny but charming store that mingyu loved going to at ungodly hours in the night. he loved the bright lights, the constant smell of brewing coffee and the fact that not a lot of people went there. this was where he mostly stayed whenever he wanted to be alone. it was a comforting place to be in, with friendly workers and freshly brewed cups of coffee.

he quietly shuffles around the aisles of the store. he reminds himself that he wasn't there to hang around and grabs two grape sodas and two chocolate bars from a shelf and pays.

he enters the lobby of his apartment and presses the 'up' button of the elevator. he walks in and as soon as he clicks the number of his floor, a foot suddenly stops the elevator doors from closing.

another boy enters. mingyu notices his hair first. [it was dark and messy, he looks like he just got out of bed.] he was clad in an oversized dark blue sweater, the sleeves of the sweater reaching the palms of his hands, ripped jeans and black shoes. he was a few inches shorter than mingyu and he wore a blank, almost somber, expression.

he knew the boy, well, not personally but he has seen him around every once in a while.

"what floor?" mingyu gives a polite smile to the boy next to him, trying his best to be friendly.

"uhh.. fourth floor please. thank you." the boy mumbles. he barely even looks at mingyu, his eyes were glued to the dusty carpeted floor beneath his feet.

"sure." mingyu still tries to keep his positive attitude even though he thought that the boy was a bit rude. mingyu presses the number 4 and then his floor number--which was 5--and he didn't say a word after.

mingyu stares at the tiny LED screen at the top of the elevator numbers, patiently waiting for the fourth floor to show up so the quiet boy can finally leave.

but suddenly, the elevator just stops.

the elevator suddenly shuts down. the bright glowing numbers that were supposed to indicate where they were blinked uncontrollably.

"oh no. oh shit." mingyu swore between panicked breathing and quickly presses different buttons on the elevator, hoping that by some miracle it would land him on his floor.

"w-what's going on?" the boy beside him asks. he wore an anxious expression on his face and his voice was a bit shaky--he looks like he's scared but he's trying his best to hide it.

"i-im not so sure. maybe something broke." mingyu tries his best to explain calmly even though he was a bit worried as well.

the blinking numbers stop completely and all they could see was a blank dark screen. they had no idea which floor they were in or what was wrong.

mingyu thinks of all the worst possible things that could happen. he knew it wasn't healthy to do so yet he does it anyway. he worriedly paces around the tiny lift, hoping that someone would notice something is wrong and come rescue them. he looks down at his watch, 10 minutes had already passed but the elevator stood still.

the other boy however, was quietly sitting down in a corner, staring down at his phone almost as if he was waiting for something. he didn't look so worried anymore but he didn't really show a hint of emotion in the first place.

**

30 minutes.

half an hour has passed and nothing.

mingyu felt tired from all the worried pacing he did so he sat down on the opposite corner. he stares at the boy across him who seemed content with just sitting and playing games on his phone.

"what are you playing?" mingyu curiously asks, hoping he would not get silence in return. the absence of noise was unbearable, since he was usually always talking--it felt as if he was alone in an empty metal box. he, at least, wanted someone to talk to.

"nothing. just a dumb iPhone game." the boy shrugs nonchalantly and then switches his gaze back to the phone again.

"oh okay." mingyu got the idea that the boy wasn't very fond with making conversation.

he looks up at bright light above on the ceiling hoping that someone could save him from this uneasy silence.

mingyu suddenly remembers how he once heard the security guard talk about the elevator and how ancient it was. he remembers how he heard him say that the owner of the building didn't want to get it fixed because it was gonna cost a lot of money to have it repaired.

well shit he thought.

mingyu regrets letting it slip his mind. he should've taken it as some warning from god to be careful when using the elevator.

but he didn't listen, he didn't care, and he was definitely not willing to climb the stairs all the way up to his floor, so now he regrets ever having to go and get a soda.