Tigriphobia »Soonseok« [EN]

Wish y'all Spooky Halloween!

Ever since I was a child, I have feared many things, but there was one thing I feared the most. Tigers.

I have been an introvert since childhood and my parents always told me that no matter what it was, I could always come to them with anything. However I didn't. I didn't want to bother them, so I solved my problems myself.

If I told you that I solved everything easily and it had a great outcome, I'd lie. Most of these were hard and I didn't know what to do. And then my decisions turned out to be wrong. But sometimes it turend out great. Sometimes it was easy to solve them. It's just that it wasn't that often.

And with my phobia of tigers? Well, the solution... Did not go as planned... I was thinking about acting as if I don't really care about them as I was scared to say I fear them. I was scared that my classmates would make fun of me.

Once my parents asked me about what I'm thinking, I accidentally said the truth. Or at least part of it. I was thinking about how to tell them that I'm terrified of tigers and said "Tigers.". When they asked if it's because I like them, I wanted to say no, but my mouth was quicker than my mind and answered "Yes.". So from then on I'm the guy that likes tigers, despite my huge fear of them. It's not as bad as it used to be back in my childhood, but it still is pretty big.

Now I'm at my boyfriend's house, thinking about what to do as it's the Halloween night.

Kids kept coming, but we wanted to do something more than just give them candies. Seokmin was on his phone as the bell rung.

"I'ma go get it." I said when he looked up.
"Alright."

I went to the front door and as I opened up, three little kids were standing there.
"Trick or treat!" All three said in harmony.
I smiled and gave them some candies from a basked that was standing beside the door on a tiny table inside. They ran away afterwards.

I closed the door, only to be greeted by Seokmin approaching me.

"Dress up a bit, we're going out!" He voiced.
"Where to?"
"There's a circus nearby."
"On Halloween?"
"Yeah! It's Halloween themed!" He seemed excited.
"Fine, let's go then."
"I even got a surprise for you!"
"What is it?"
"A surprise! I just said it!" He whined.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry."
"It's alright."

"Now let's dress up." The boy reminded me again.
"Is this not enough??"
"I just said it's Halloween themed!"
"Alright, fine. What do I take though?"
"That one shirt where you look like that dude from that one horror! You know which one!"
"I... Don't?"
"Oh my god! The green one!"
"Oh, that one..."
"Yeah!"
"Fine..."

"With these pants." He pointed at the pants I was just wearing.
"Why?"
"Because they look good on you."
"Oh, I thought you finally read the book... He had similar ones in there..."
"I can't read books! I don't have time for that! If I read books, I wouldn't be with you!"
"Interesting... How come I can read books and still be with you a lot?"
"Because you're doing it for a long time already, you read quickly and have your ways!"
"What do you mean by 'My ways'?"
"I don't know!"
"Alright..."

"A black t-shirt I'm guessing." I said, sure he's gonna say yes.
"Yeah. And the red & white pair of shoes."
"Why?"
"Because he had white shoes and blood on them! This is gonna make it way easier!"
"Right. What're you gonna wear?"
"That's a surprise."
"Another one?"
"Yeah." He answered. I just nodded and went to my room to dress up.

After I finally put on all the clothes I was told to, I went back to the living room. I looked at the time and it was half past nine. It has been dark outside since like six.

"Watch out for Maki!" My boyfriend tried impersonating my character's wife.
"Maki?" I was confused.
"Maki..."
"It's 'Haki'. The killer's name is Haki."