(POV: Ethan)
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We were just chilling, tossing random stories around, when Sophia mentioned something about getting lost in a mall as a kid.
Leo, who had been quietly listening the entire time, suddenly muttered, "Yeah, getting lost in a mall is annoying."
Silence.
I immediately turned to him. "Wait. You got lost in a mall?"
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "You? Mr. Unfazed? Lost?"
Ava leaned forward. "Hold on. This is something I gotta hear."
Leo sighed. "It wasn't that bad."
Sophia smirked. "If you had to clarify that, it means it was exactly that bad."
Leo gave us a flat look but started anyway.
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"It was a pretty big mall. I was supposed to meet someone at a café inside, but I got there early. Thought I'd walk around.
I was just casually looking at stores when I saw this interesting place on the map—some kind of interactive exhibit. Decided to check it out."
Sophia nodded. "So far, reasonable."
Leo exhaled. "Except I may have taken the wrong escalator."
Ava snorted. "May have?"
Leo ignored that. "I ended up in a different wing entirely. And somehow, without realizing it, I kept going deeper inside."
I frowned. "How do you not realize you're lost?"
Leo just shrugged. "I figured I'd eventually find my way back."
Sophia shook her head. "You have too much faith in your luck."
Leo continued.
"So, after a while, I finally decided to check the map again. Except… I wasn't on any of the listed floors."
Silence.
Ava stared. "...Excuse me?"
Sophia leaned forward. "How do you end up on a floor that doesn't exist?"
Leo blinked. "That's what I was wondering."
I threw up my hands. "Leo. That's not normal."
Leo ignored me. "Eventually, I found a set of emergency stairs and figured I'd just take them down to a floor I actually recognized."
Sophia squinted. "And let me guess—it did not go as planned?"
Leo nodded. "Correct."
I groaned. "Of course."
Leo continued.
"The stairs led to an exit, and I assumed it would bring me back to a main area. Except when I stepped out, I wasn't in the mall anymore."
Silence.
Ava blinked. "...What."
Leo sighed. "I was in an alleyway behind the mall."
Sophia smacked the table. "LEO."
Ethan groaned. "HOW."
Leo just shrugged. "I don't know."
Sophia shook her head. "So now you're just… standing outside in a random alley."
Leo nodded. "Pretty much."
Ava stared. "What did you even do?"
Leo deadpanned. "Walked around the building and re-entered the mall."
Sophia covered her face. "You make it sound so simple."
Leo gave her a blank look. "It was simple."
I exhaled. "Okay, but did you actually find your way back after that?"
Leo hesitated.
Ava narrowed her eyes. "Leo?"
Leo coughed. "I may have ended up in a completely different section of the mall again."
Sophia threw her hands in the air. "HOW DO YOU KEEP MAKING IT WORSE?"
Leo sighed. "At that point, I gave up and just texted the person I was meeting. Told them my location and had them come get me."
I groaned. "And how long did that take?"
Leo casually sipped his drink. "About forty minutes."
Sophia choked. "FORTY MINUTES?"
Leo just nodded. "Apparently, I was in a staff-only corridor."
Ava slammed her hands on the table. "LEO. HOW."
Leo gave her a flat look. "I walked."
I covered my face. "I hate you so much right now."
I sighed. "Let me get this straight. You went to a mall, got lost, somehow ended up outside, then found yourself in a restricted corridor, and only escaped because someone came to find you?"
Leo nodded. "Yep."
Sophia covered her face. "I swear, you are a walking enigma."
Leo just smirked.
Ava leaned back. "I don't know what's more impressive—the fact that you managed to get that lost, or the fact that you were completely unbothered the entire time."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't that bad."
Sophia groaned. "LEO."
Ethan sighed, shaking his head. "One day, Leo. One day your luck is gonna run out."
Leo smirked. "We'll see."
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End of Chapter 16.