( day 10: julia remembers how aiden hated his korean name. day 15: julia builds a makeshift grave sign for nam ahin, "my brother who hated milk." )

( no one has come to look for her. )

nathan doesn’t imagine his vacation would start off with tugging fruitlessly at a frozen door, tired from the long trip and from problem-solving so early in the morning.

for some strange reason, it seemed as though everything was against them going to the lodge right from the beginning, foreboding mystery disasters to come. the key breaking to the only machinery that would allow them to ride down the mountainside, the lodge door being frozen shut when they finally arrive, luggage in hand.

the crow that timothy accidentally shot down dead when he was toying around with an old shotgun, left behind by the previous owners and perched atop some wooden crates.

in his defense, he thought it was fake, despite it being heavy and “feeling authentic in his hands,” as he put it, and after the booming gunshot kimberly shrieked at him enough to last three lifetimes.

nathan wearily stares at the door as damian decides to come swooping in to the rescue and slams his shoulder against the wood. the blond releases a pained whimper, the door unmovable, and the older’s heavily lost in thought with a swirling sense of dread in his gut when someone calls his name.

“nate!” he hears through the fuzz of his earmuffs, and he turns to find julia waving, knelt in the snow. “help me make a snowman!”

damian brokenly croons out the beginning of a disney song while clutching his aching shoulder before nathan shoves him to the side, padding down the steps. “don’t we need to get this door open first?”

julia’s lips curl up. “rem says she’s already trying to find a way in to unlock it from the inside,” she casually responds, “so we have time to have fun before going in!” the brunette tosses snow in the air with a light smile on her face, ignoring the sputtering of her brother seated behind her and his frantic attempts to get the cold specks of ice out of his nostrils.

timothy waddles in place beside nathan, voice muffled by his blue scarf. “actually, my mom says if you play in the snow, you’ll actually get sick easier.”

“mommy’s boy,” sam jibes affectionately from his seat on the steps in front of the younger, while nathan mutters a “have you always worn that many coats?” laced with suspicion.

“i only have five on!” timothy yelps, and the young man has to grab the pillar beside him to keep himself from stumbling at the number. “i’m not going to get sick from the cold, unlike you!”

nathan looks down at his simple get-up: a sweater, his gloves, the earmuffs, his tennis shoes. “fair enough.”

the next twenty minutes consist of building snowmen, in which kimberly puffs out her chest in pride in building the largest snowman out of the crew, making snow angels, which sam heavily regrets afterwards and timothy has to loan him one of his many coats, and getting into a snowball fight, team julia versus team aiden.

( they have to stop the ice war after dominic accidentally gets pelted in the face by a stray snowball, jennifer profusely apologizing to the quivering young man. )

when rem finally unlatches the door from the inside (“how the heck did you get in in the first place?” “it’s quite simple if you fiddle with the lock a bit for one of the side doors.” “so you broke in.”) and the damp travellers let themselves in with their luggage, jennifer collapses into the nearest armchair, the slipcover dry and comforting. “i need a hot bath,” she bemoans.

“we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep,” nathan gravely quotes. “william shakespeare.”

“what does that have to do with my bath?” she receives a little shrug in response after a pensive minute, and the thai-american sighs, letting her head fall backwards once more. “kim? can you get my bag for me? it’s near the door.”

there’s no response, and jennifer sits up. “kimmy? where’s kim?”

sam hands her her backpack, a polite look on his features. “i think she went downstairs to go turn on the heat and the lights with parker,” he answers, to which julia squeaks out a delighted gasp and timothy’s brows begin to dance eagerly.

aiden slowly blinks at the surrounding company, eyes dim. “why are we freaking out?”

“because, my dear milkless man, there’s chemistry between those two, and kimberly’s gonna get some this trip, if you know what i mean.” damian wiggles his hips seductively, resting face on.

“excuse me while i go bleach my eyes.”

the shorter blond shoves past his friends, heading upstairs with his dufflebag, but damian isn’t put off. he grins, tongue sticking out between his teeth, and he beckons timothy closer.

“look, look,” he giddily says in a hushed tone, looking around before sticking his hand into the pocket of his puffer. frustrated after a few minutes of trying to jab his gloved hand in the small opening, he rips the velcro strap open at the wrist and hurriedly slides the leather off, reaching into his pocket to bring out a smartphone.

timothy looks on with interest. “hyung, i didn’t know you had such a cute phone case.”

damian turns the phone, squinting at the colorful rilakkuma hardcover. “no, timore, this isn’t mine. it’s kim’s. i snatched it when she walked past.”

julia hums a warning, stern eyes on the two as she bustles past with her belongings to head up the stairs. “kimmy won’t like it that you took her phone, damian!”

damian waves the issue away. “oh, i’m just gonna take a couple selfies! chu chu won't mind! i’m not gonna look through her photos or anything. i don’t have her passcode anyway.” he swipes up to activate the camera, using the face-front feature, and he presses his face close to timothy’s. “say cheese!”

timothy grins, holding up a peace sign. “bush did 9/11!”

the shutter snaps rapidly, the blond tapping the button at the bottom as fast as humanly possible, and at the top of his lungs he shouts, “aiden, come join our photo-op!”

“ you,” a distant reply floats down from the second floor.

damian presses his face into the crook of his elbow, dabbing to the best of his ability, while timothy strikes another pose, thumb and index finger under his chin.

“cheese!”

“guantanamo bay is still open!”

-

“you do this often?” kimberly questions, flashlight in hand as they descend the flight of steps. “go down into dark, rank places without fear?”

parker doesn’t spare her a glance, though there’s a small smile of amusement on his visage. “i was under the impression that you volunteered yourself to go with me, kimberly,” he begins, “and from your words i’m surprised you find dark, rank places scary.” he shines his flashlight at stray cobwebs, wrinkling his nose. “though i agree the basement is unkempt for a supposed getaway lodge.”

kimberly looks up at him, ready to give her most prized refutations of the day, but she slips with a yelp, foot not finding a flat plane to step on.

the young man quickly grabs ahold of her upper arm, steadying her, and she breathes a “thanks,” staring down at the eroded concrete step that betrayed her.

“you do this often?” he echoes, letting go of her arm to continue their descent. “trip over your own feet to have some dashing male catch you?”

the chinese young woman sputters. “you? dashing? who said that?” she demands as she trails after him.

they stop in front of what appears to be a generator, and parker turns to lift a brow at her. “am i not attractive, then?”

“i… i never said that! aaaagh, i’m not saying anything! stop confusing me!”

the college student huffs, turning off his flashlight and setting it down. “whatever makes you feel better. shine your flashlight here, won’t you?”

“why don’t you use your own?”

“um, i need both hands to work, genius.”

kimberly scowls, blowing her unkempt bangs out of her face as she shines the beam of light onto his working hands, and she stews in silence for a considerable amount of time as he tinkers around with the generator. “you done yet, o’ great and powerful?”

parker doesn’t play along, twisting various valves and staring at the faded print on the inside of the generator cover. “silence, you small gnome, i’m trying to work.”

kimberly's face reddens in both embarrassment and anger.

this was not what she imagined her romancing to yield.

-

jennifer scans her surroundings, disinterested. “where’s the booze?” she asks in a dry mechanical tone.

rem stares at her. “jen, you are way too young to drink.”

jennifer stares back, unafraid of alcohol poisoning. “the booze.”

nathan wordlessly points to the kitchen, scanning weather reports on his phone, and jennifer silently exits in the direction of his finger.

rem shakes her head incredulously. “damn, you kids are too young to be drinking.”

“you sound like an old lady,” sam titters, in the middle of shedding his outer coat.

timothy guffaws, toeing off his shoes. “technically, she is the oldest here!” he and sam have to duck out of rem’s line of sight when the young woman growls at them threateningly, eyes narrowed.

“you children and your teasing!” she yells, and timothy pops his head up from behind the couch to shout, “you old people and your life alerts!” sam chortles madly, high-pitched, behind the adjacent chair.

what saves the pair from certain death is julia calling rem to come help her in the kitchen, and rem glares at the duo, both coming out of hiding as soon as julia inadvertently came to their rescue. she points her index and middle fingers on one hand at her eyes and then at the two menacingly as she walks backwards towards the kitchen, and timothy sticks out his tongue in response.

“what was the commotion out there?” julia asks curiously as she rummages through wal-mart grocery bags, and rem rolls her eyes.

“just a couple of babies,” rem grouses, but she brightens when julia softly laughs, still focused on her task. “what are you doing?”

“finding where the drinks are so i can refrigerate them,” julia responds, drawing out cans of soda looped together and a caprisun box. “i’m glad everyone brought food and drinks on the trip, but man, this is a lot for us.” she pauses, straightening with the drinks in hand. “well, i guess it’s enough for a week here. there’s eleven of us, and i don’t really want to drive back down the mountain.”

julia speaks as she hauls the fridge door open, shoving the drinks in to the best of her ability, and she catches rem smiling goofily at her. “what?”

rem shakes her head, still entranced. “nothing.”

the brunette raises her brows, but decides to let the matter go. rem makes her way to her and peers into the fridge with a displeased look. “ugh, they don’t even have any food for us. some trip.” she picks up a forlorn can of beans and scans the lid with an irked expression. “this can expired two years ago.”

julia laughs, prying the can from rem’s hand and walking to the garbage bin to dispose of it. “that’s why we brought our own food, rem!” she chimes. "damian bought one of those variety boxes of chips for the trip, bless him."

“you need any help?” the older questions as julia washes her hands free of the dust from handling the can, and the young woman nods.

“yeah, can you get the meat out of the ice chest?” julia asks. “we need to start prepping the grill if we’re gonna get any food out.”

it’s times like these, working in harmony with her best friend and enjoying the tranquil nature of busywork by her side, when rem remembers that she may be more than slightly gay for dimples and twinkling eyes, and julia furrows her brows at the weird look that crosses rem’s face again. “no, seriously, what’s up?”

rem forgets how to properly formulate words with the full blast of julia’s inquisitive stares. “you ever been in love, julia?”

“that’s a weird question,” julia laughs, eyes crinkling at the ends. “i guess i have before. why? you got a boy problem?” she smiles brightly and props her chin atop her fists as she leans against the island counter, the epitome of innocence.

“something like that,” the short-haired woman croaks.

while his sister and mortal enemy converse, aiden walks around the lodge’s main room. the place is large, larger than the nam residence — from the center of the room, there’s a staircase that branches off in two separate directions to the second floor, and already the number of doors he counts has his head reeling. above his head, a crystal chandelier hangs.

his nose crinkles in distaste at the dust-covered furniture and cobwebs decorating the room’s corners, not sparse in number. “i thought this would be a lodge, not a tool shed,” he grumbles with a grimace, not daring to disturb the grey film of dust in the room. he picks up things here and there as he explores, however, items that the previous owners left behind that weren’t entirely disgusting to handle.

there’s a single framed photograph on an elongated drawer that catches his eye, and he tilts his head. in the photo, there are two similar-looking girls beside one another, one with glasses, the other with a beanie, and a boy behind them, the three smiling cheerfully. “why were you guys so happy?” he criticizes. “there’s nothing cheery about this ing place.”

dominic’s uncomfortably looming near the fireplace while aiden cruises around, silently observing, as damian pokes around the pit with the fire iron and exhales heavily. “we need to get some wood from the back.” damian clicks his tongue before he looks up at the taller, craning his neck from his crouched position. “you wanna help me out, domi?”

“s… sure,” dominic softly responds, and as damian stands with a smile and beckons for him to follow, the young man realizes how disconcerting it was to be speaking with someone who’s almost eye-level with him. usually, most were shorter than he was, and he’d have to bend his neck down.

damian holds the lodge door open for dominic, the latter mumbling thanks, and damian allows the door to swing shut as he walks side-by-side with his friend. “i know you hate the cold,” damian muses aloud, “and you’re still probably wary of me, but thanks for coming out with me, man.”

“you’re… wel, welcome?” dominic’s unsure whether to thank the other for thanking him. it’s a pleasant feeling, he thinks, being thanked.

when they arrive at the woodpile stocked against the lodge and damian starts hauling dry pieces into dominic’s arms, he makes small talk again. “you bring your violin with you?”

“n… no…” dominic quivers. “should, should i have?”

damian shakes his head reassuringly. “no, no, i just thought you would.” he finishes piling lumber and makes a small stack in his arms, one hand grabbing wood, the other held close to his body to pile the small logs atop of. “you’re very good at playing, you know.”

“th-thank y-y-you.”

they walk back to the lodge together, damian shifting the wood’s weight so he could free an arm to open the door, and when dominic gently sets his pile down beside the planks that damian unceremoniously dropped with a loud thud, the taller says something under his breath. “you’re… v-very strong…“

it’s weak, terse, but damian accepts it with a wide beaming smile, and the blond thanks him, saying, “you seem more comfortable with me than before, domi! that’s good!”

“a, a little…?” dominic isn’t sure how to respond to that assertation.

-

when parker and kimberly ascend from the basement, it takes a whole five seconds of kimberly patting her pockets for her phone to stir up more arguing. dominic had gone into the kitchen to ask julia if she needed help, while damian stayed behind, finishing the fire pit set-up and dusting his hands free of wood dust.

“you took my phone!” kimberly accuses, marching up to damian with wide eyes. “and my camera!” the height difference between the two is comical, the effect increasing with one look at the distraught expression across damian’s face. parker smothers a smarmy grin at seeing the other in trouble and turns to venture upstairs, ready for his hot shower.

“okay, i took your phone, but i didn’t take your camera!” he shouts back. “i swear, i left it alone!” as if to prove his declared semi-innocence, he fishes out her smartphone slowly from his jeans pocket, dropping it into her outstretched hand.

kimberly pockets her phone, holding out her hand again expectantly. “now my camera, you heathen.”

nathan adjusts his sweater as he walks through the small gap between their bodies to force them apart, tossing a “you left your camera outside, kim!” over his shoulder as he neatly folds his jacket in half and sets it on the back of an armchair. “you were taking photos earlier when everyone was outside.”

“me?” kimberly says, incredulous. “leave something behind? uh, no.”

damian makes a face, mocking her. “uh, yeah. it’s on one of the park tables, don’t lie to me! i see it outside the window!” kimberly follows damian’s pointing finger to the picnic tables outside, and, oh, there’s her camera, innocuously sitting on the wood and untouched.

she sputters. “i swear, i didn’t leave it outside; it was with my things! one of you guys is pulling a prank on me!” after damian waves her off with an irritated expression at being accused and nathan plugs in his earphones to listen to music, kimberly sneers. “fine! fine, i’ll go get my camera that i didn’t leave out there!”

she’s putting on her boots, petulant, when timothy walks past and stops in his tracks. “oh, you’re going outside?” he asks.

“yeah, i gotta get my camera.”

“it’s getting dark; do you want me to go with you? you know, if you’re scared.” he evilly grins, wagging his fingers at her, and she smacks them away with a scoff. “no, seriously! i read enough paranormal occurrences to know that when someone’s alone, that’s when the ghosts strike!”

“ghosts? what ghosts…” kimberly throws back. “the only ghost in this area would be you! i’m older than you are, kid!”

timothy shrugs. “that doesn’t even make sense, but alright! have fun in the dark!” he scuttles away when kimberly makes fists at him.

with her boots on, kimberly shuts the lodge door behind her and ventures out to the tables sitting mere meters away, grabbing her camera. “leaving it out here… pah!” she scorns, but her shoulders rise in trepidation when she hears animals howling in the distance. “i don’t need a chaperone,” she reassures herself, backing away from the railing near the cliffside, “and there’s no such things as ghosts.”

from the ground below, there’s a dark figure that darts through the forest, and kimberly’s throat runs dry. not stupid enough to investigate in person but too curious to let the matter go, she hurriedly switches on her camera and looks through the viewfinder, zooming in on the area where the figure scampered through.

as if knowing of kimberly’s presence, the strange figure sprints across the opening again, but instead of hiding in the shrubs it stays completely still, the edges of its silhouette marred from the distance. she takes a photo with trembling fingers, eyes frozen on the figure. just as it begins to move, its head slowly turning towards kimberly’s direction, there’s a tap on kimberly’s shoulder and she screams, her soul leaving her body.

“whoa, chill!” the person yelps as she turns, camera clutched in her white-knuckled grip. “it’s me, sam!”

kimberly examines him with wide eyes, still heavily panting from the shock. “you arse!” she shrilly scolds as she punches his shoulder, and he recoils with a wince, eyeing her with distaste. “i could’ve knocked you out with my martial arts!”

“as if you could!” sam retorts, rubbing his sore shoulder. “julia wanted me to check on you! tim said that you were out here, like, five minutes ago!”

kimberly stares. had it really been that long? “i- i saw a figure,” she stutters, shakily pointing to the railing. “i saw something, sam, i- ”

sam shakes his head, already turning back. “forget it, kim, it was probably your imagination. there’s no one crazy enough to be on these mountains but us, remember?” he draws his beanie further down his head, shuddering. “and hurry up. there’s a blizzard coming in soon. we gotta get inside.”

kimberly silently trudges behind sam, running her fingers along her camera and wondering if it was really worth staring at the image again to uncover what it was. maybe she’ll show it to timothy; he loves this kind of stuff, right?

when they get back, shuddering from the cold, the heater is on and the lights in the lodge brighten up the somber atmosphere creeping in from the blizzard’s announcement. someone set up a blazing fire in the firepit beside the door, for whom kimberly mentally chants thanks to as she wrenches her gloves off and warms up her hands by the flames.

“we’re barbecuing meat!” julia informs her friends with a smile when she emerges from the kitchen, a soda can in hand and a bowl of chips in the other, precariously balancing atop another bowl of pretzels. “i have snacks here, so have something to drink while you wait! i think we have soda, water… uh… parker and nathan were nice enough to supply alcohol… which we shouldn’t be drinking.”

rem’s already found the tequila parker had brought through the doors with him, eyes blinking sleepily as she puckers her lips. “julia,” she begins in a drowsy manner, aiden palming his face when he realizes that the older is deadass drunk already. “this is why i love you… give me a kiss.”

“get this embarrassment out of here,” aiden dully commands as he connects jennifer’s phone to his portable speaker, turning on the bluetooth, and out of some strange miracle rem stumbles away, uninterested in verbally fighting in favor of heading into the direction of the cooking meat.

-

someone eventually sneaks alcohol into kimberly’s soda ( everyone’s pretty sure it was damian, especially aiden, who gives him shifty eyes ), and it’s obvious that kimberly’s under the influence of alcohol when she loudly shouts, “y OU GUYS WANNA SEE MY MARTIAL ARTS?!”

“please don’t,” nathan responds over the blast of rock from the speaker hooked up to jennifer’s phone, but kimberly ignores him in favor of doing a sloppy roundhouse kick. knocking down a lamp with her powerful leg, the shorter stumbles and collapses shortly afterwards, face planting against the plush red carpet.

the lamp tips over on the table and knocks the portable speaker onto the wood floors, cutting off the music. aiden curses as he scoops it up and the pieces that popped off, eyes dark. “ing hell, kimberly! ugh, good going, face!” the younger nam squints at the pieces in his hand, blowing any dust off of them before inserting the fallen batteries and attaching the hatch to the back of the speaker.

“at least it still works,” he says in relief after turning it on and seeing familiar flashing lights. “yeah, no, we’re not using this anymore. i don’t want some -faced idiot to break it.”

“gg kimberly,” timothy inputs, the collective groan over the lack of music partially drowning his words out.

kimberly struggles to push herself up into a sitting position, face flushed and brows angrily furrowed. “you think that was my fault?!” she demands in a slur.

sam doesn’t make eye contact with her when he sips his drink and whispers a quiet, “it was,” but kimberly seemed to have heard and forces herself to stand shakily. “it wasn’t!” she furiously insists. “it fell by itself! KIKI MAD!”

“kiki, please,” julia cajoles, arms reaching out to steady the young woman. “calm down… let’s calm down now...” kimberly whacks her arms away from her, making an effort to run away from the brunette. jennifer’s a little tipsy, but she’s still coherent enough to give damian an unamused look at the unexpected trouble he made, and damian gives her a cheeky grin in response.

“let’s play never have i ever!” timothy suggests, bright-eyed, while julia tries to detain kimberly. “i mean, i wanted to look up theories, but we can always do that in the morning, when we’re actually all sober.”

rem eyes him. “that’s the tiest idea i’ve ever heard.”

“why not?” julia inquires after kimberly calmed down to a certain extent, slightly huffing after the grappling. “that sounds interesting, tim, let’s play!”

“what a beautiful suggestion,” rem lauds. “let’s play right now this instant.”

upon a unanimous cheer, the exciting game of never have i ever begins.

“never have i ever… skinny dipped in a lake,” julia begins the game, and damian and timothy put a finger down. “guys, seriously? that’s real unsanitary.”

“you’re the one who asked the question!” damian defends himself, and julia rolls her eyes.

one by one, they go around in a circle offering ideas. aiden says getting jailed, while jennifer says wet the bed. parker smirks as he says confessed to someone, and timothy one-ups him by saying falling in love recently. the amount of fingers put down each round is a scattered amount, but by the end of timothy’s turn, damian is out of the game.

“ooooh!” the lumbering young man leans toward his role model. “hyung, you fell in love?” he asks giddily.

jennifer heaves a sigh. “english, please. some of us aren’t korean.” she turns her head to look at kimberly, expecting back-up from the chinese young woman, but the smaller is passed out on the couch beside her from having too many drinks, limbs spread like a dazed starfish. for her sake, julia whispers the translation to her, and jennifer nods with an “ah.”

damian nervously laughs as rem, a mischievous glint in her eye, says, “yeah… he’s mad in love… deep in love.”

“not anymore!” the blond retorts.

“climb some ropes together to build your love, damian,” rem slurs, tipping back her bottle, and that prompts parker to straighten with a sudden burning question on his mind.

he turns to jennifer. “that reminds me. who’s carson?”

julia coughs from intaking too much soda, and when parker turns to her quizzically, she waves him off, standing with her can. “i… i’m going to the kitchen now to get us all more snacks, okay?” the inquiry sounds more like a declaration rather than a question, the brunette making a face to contain her laughter.

sam’s pressing his lips together in amusement, and parker exasperatedly tilts his head. “no, really! who’s carson? i keep hearing his name.”

“baseball player, daredevil extraordinaire, idiotically funny,” jennifer describes, setting her empty bottle on the coffee table.

damian hums. “carson… can’t believe he never came back.”

parker squints, unable to follow the conversation what with not knowing the former friend in the group, but aiden signs while he explains: “he was a dumb that we knew and he went to america for surgery. on his arm, i think. stayed there with relatives and told us he’d be back in a few years, but he still isn’t back. kimberly had a huge crush on him for a long while before he moved.”

“wow!” timothy exclaims, ever the enthusiast even when not under the influence of alcohol. “i actually can’t believe it.”

jennifer scoffs at the matter-of-fact tone aiden uses. “not as if you didn’t have a crush on anyone your entire life.”

“i didn’t, you ,” aiden says with a roll of his eyes.

jennifer tongues her cheek, contemplating. “cara bae?”

“last i saw her was sophomore year.” aiden appears bored with the guessing game.

“you shared crayons in kindergarten.”

“she took my blue crayon; that doesn’t mean it’s a marriage proposal.”

nathan takes a shot. “aldrick bae,” he chimes, “not related to cara bae.”

“i never thought about liking boys,” aiden smoothly responds. “he’s studying in ontario uni right now ‘cause of his nobel prize winning dad or whatever in chemistry, remember?”

“semi kang?” timothy offers.

sam wrinkles his nose. “wasn’t that the female sam that was with you guys before i came in?” timothy gives him an affirming nod.

aiden huffs amusedly. “not interested. plus, she’s exactly like me. i know i’m great but i don’t wanna date myself.”

“guys, please, aiden probably doesn’t like anyone,” the taller blond says with a stern look, but it turns into a leer seconds later. “but julia, though…” he waggles his eyebrows and rem fixes a glaring hole into his head.

“what does that mean, damian?” she coldly asks.

nathan takes a sip from his bottle, intrigued. “you implying that julia likes someone in our group?”

damian raises his arms. “well! she’s friends with everyone! i wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of us!” he pauses for dramatic effect. “or me, of course,” he finishes with a wink. rem looks like she’ll drunkenly blow up any minute in damian’s face.

aiden closes his eyes, trying to sort out his thoughts. “quit it, guys. let’s not talk about julia anymore like this.”

“brocon?” damian pipes up. “is this brocon? ah, i could just pinch your cheeks right now, aiden, seriously, you’re so adorable.”

aiden, however, glares at him so hard he instinctively shifts away, afraid, and the younger twin sighs wearily afterwards. “no, seriously, stop with the talking about crushes or whatever now. i don’t wanna talk about this anymore.”

timothy bulldozes over his recently-made statement. “can you imagine though?” the young man marvels, unaware of aiden’s words or his rising anger. “jules actually liking one of us?”

dominic is tentatively listening in while parker snorts a, “who would julia like? she’s so nice to everyone.”

jennifer begins to list people off of her fingers. “not kimmy because she was gone for so long, obvious reasons,” she states. “not rem for super obvious reasons.” rem glares at her in a dejected manner. “not parker because kim. that’s self-explanatory.” parker lifts his eyebrows, confused. “not aiden, twincest is not wincest.” there are sniggers from a few of her other friends as aiden scoffs at the thai-american. “not me either. not damian… obvious reasons again. nathan is too cynical for her.”

the purple-haired young woman glances at her three fingers. “that leaves timothy, domi, and sam. sam’s really peppy, and you two would be cute but… the vibes i’m getting are a no; you guys are strictly friends.” she puts her thumb down. “as for tim, he’s an oversized five-year-old, so that’s a no-go as well.” she puts down her middle finger, leaving the index left.

“are you saying it’s domi, then?” nathan chuckles, and at that his friends snicker. the frivolous mood dies down, however, as the quiet laughter comes to a stop with cogwheels turning, and dominic shrinks back uncomfortably from the stares in his direction. he taps out rhythms on the back of his hand once more, in constant beats of four.

“guys…” aiden says, disapproving, but no one seems to hear.

sam’s voice is weirdly pitched when he dumbly stammers, “seriously! him?”, and dominic hesitantly points to himself with a “m-me?”, just as confused with the path of the sleuthing trail as the shorter young man is.

“why not?” jennifer declares. “domi is a good guy. he obviously cares for julia, and if you see them around each other she’s just as sweet on him.”

dominic ducks his head in a flurry of embarrassment, probably at the possibility of julia ever liking him. it wasn’t unwelcome — he never ruminated on the thought — but speaking about the potential of someone having a crush on him in front of his entire group of friends feels particularly mortifying.

rem’s on her metaphorical haunches. “him?” she questions in a slurred growl. “domi, i love you and all, but… no… there is no way that julia would ever like him, like ever, even in hell.”

sam shoots an irritated glance her way just from the young woman opening , but the look disappears as he agrees, “obviously? like, i don’t know, julia’s so good, and domi’s so… i don’t even have to continue my sentence.”

dominic hunches over in his seat, shrinking to the best of his ability as his tapping increases in furious speed as his form quivers, and timothy uneasily says, “guys, wait,” as if to stop the conversation from getting derailed anymore than it already has.

“you can’t even look at anyone when you’re speaking,” sam directs at dominic, this time harsher in tone. “you’re so vulnerable anyone could take advantage of you… like… how would you even care for julia? why would julia ever like you? isn’t that just dragging her good name through the mud?”

through his drunken haze, nathan winces. “that’s a little mean to domi,” he begins, frowning at sam. “but… i don’t know, i’m sorry domi, i don’t think you would’ve had a chance with her. like even if she liked you, i don’t think it would’ve been for the best.”

“guys?” timothy calls, more urgent as tears spring to dominic’s eyes and aiden stays strangely quiet, but rem ignores him in favor of bitterly laughing.

“julia… would be a huge idiot if she really liked domi.” rem pauses to mull over the imaginary scenario, and shakes her head rapidly, expression perturbed. “no, i can’t imagine it.”

damian leans in good-naturedly, grinning over the rim of his beer. “but imagine their dates,” he drawls, before he shifts into a high-pitched voice. “domi! hold me, you strong beast!” he cooes, wrapping his arms around himself to the best of his ability before he lowers his pitch and furrows his brows. “a… anything for you julia.” the english-born ends with an exaggerated wink, and parker snorts into his liquor while rem cackles at the reenactment. dominic is red in the face, looking as though he’s about to dissolve into full-fledged crying at any moment from the teasing.

aiden’s hand slamming down loudly onto the rickety coffee table is what stops the racket effectively, timothy uneasily shrinking back at the impeding storm of emotions growing. it’s obvious the younger nam is irate, and he grinds out through clenched teeth, “you guys…” he stands, red in the face, and musters up the iciest glare he can to pin against those speaking earlier. “after all this time… my sister caring for you guys… not once calling out your personalities or behaviors ‘cause she’s too good to do that… and you ing make fun of her? question her choices?”

jennifer makes an attempt to stand up for her friends, mutters a quiet, “it was just a joke, aiden,” but she clams up when he barks a “shut the up” at her.

“no matter who she likes, you guys don’t have the right to judge,” aiden seethes, “because you’re all a bunch of ups with no love lives of your own, and julia… julia deserves much better than the garbage cesspool sitting in front of me right now.”

with that, the blond storms out to the front of the cabin. timothy, alarmed, calls out a, “wait, hyung!”, but aiden wrenches the door open without a glance behind him and marches out into the snow picking up outdoors.

no one can look julia in the eye when she rushes out of the kitchen from the loud shouts and asks a worried, “guys, what happened?” upon seeing the open door and the snow drifting in from the wind, the brunette heavily sighs, exasperated. “aiden, what did you do this time?” she murmurs, more to herself than for anyone’s ears to pick up, before grabbing her coat and shouting his name as she dons it, running out the lodge after him.

the atmosphere is still tense as nathan rubs his forehead. “we ed up,” he mutters. “we ed up for real.”

-

it’s five minutes of fast-paced chasing for julia and loudly calling out his name through the fleet of incoming snow, but she finds him as the wind dies down, sullenly sitting on a boulder and surrounded by trees.

“oh, god,” she wheezes, bending over to rest her hands on her knees. “okay, hold up… let me… catch my breath…”

aiden blankly stares at her. “that’s real sad. we only went, like, 50 meters from the lodge.”

his sister loudly coughs, holding up a finger at him to tell him to wait. when she catches her breath, she straightens with a swallow and hesitantly sits beside him on the boulder. “what happened, aiden? you wanna talk about it?” aiden mutely shakes his head, the serious mood hanging over the twins, and julia presses on. “was it something they said about you?” silence answers julia’s question. “they’re joking, you know, they just wanna tease you. that’s what friends do- ”

aiden fixes a warning stare at the brunette, and she abruptly falls silent. after a long pause, in which aiden turns his stare back to the footprint-indented snow they created, he speaks. “... they were making fun of you.”

julia puffs, her breath visible in the freezing air. “what?”

aiden picks at his nail beds. “they were calling you an idiot. humiliating dominic. ing pricks had the nerve to even do that while you were looking for something to eat.”

the brunette reflects over his words. curious for details but not wanting to push her luck with the opportunity of her brother opening up to her, julia just tugs him close. “ahin… thanks for sticking up for me.”

for a rare moment, aiden allows her to hug him. “you got friends for company, you know that? this isn’t fair to you.”

“it’s okay…” julia soothes, patting his back. “it’s okay, bro.”

the pair sit like that for a few minutes, aiden leaning against the older to let his anger extinguish through the sound of julia’s steady heartbeat, and then he sits up, sighing. “okay, let’s head back. i don’t wanna talk to them yet, though.”

“you don’t have to, don’t worry. just go up to the rooms. i’ll bring up some food for you. i’ll even scold the kids for upsetting you, how’s that?”

aiden scoffs, though there’s a smile on his face. “you’re a ing idiot. it should be you that’s upset, sis.”

the older nam grins brightly. “i don’t have to, though, ‘cause i know you’ll do it for me!” she yelps when he shoves her face away, amused.

the happy mood fades into a tense one as the smile slides off aiden’s face, and he jerks his head up, eyes alert. “you hear that?” he lowly whispers to julia.

his sister cautiously scoots closer, whispering back a small, “what…?”

aside from the occasional hoot of owls in the branches above, it’s all quiet, and julia strains her ears to pick up on the sounds her brother heard.

“i don’t know.” for the first time in a while, aiden sounds uneasy. “some kind of… weird whimpering noises, i thought it was rem, but she wouldn’t follow us out here- ”

a snap of a branch is audible, and the twins shoot up to warily look around. aiden finds nothing within his line of sight, but julia shivers as she tugs on his sleeve.

“aiden,” she gasps, “what is that?”

in the dark of the brush, they see a hunched figure, too large to be any known animal but too disfigured to be a human being. it gets on all fours, bony limbs prominent even in the dark, and releases a shriek, inhuman and high. aiden mutters a “holy !”, freaked even without seeing the physicality of the creature.

it’s when it leaps up against the tree trunk beside it to launch itself towards them that julia screams, “run!”, and she and aiden sprint through the falling snow, the wind starting to pick up once more.

“what the is that?!” aiden hollers as they sprint, boots nearly making him slip more than once as they run.

“i don’t know!” julia fearfully shouts, voice drowning under the wind’s howling crescendo, and behind them, the predator shrieks again, closer than before.

adrenaline through their veins and sight blinded by the frantic snowfall, the twins do their best to leap footholds and nimbly maneuver between trees. aiden slips once, yelping as he hits snow, but julia quickly drags him up by his sleeves and forcefully pushes him to help regain his motion. they’re both harshly breathing from fright and exhaustion.

their luck runs out eventually; stumbling along as she does her best in remembering the way back to the lodge, julia slips straight into freezing water with a shrill yip, aiden tumbling in after her.

it’s freezing and her limbs are so heavy, but the older twin does her best to keep her head above the water with the weight of her clothing, screaming aiden’s name.

“over here! i’m over here!” she distinctly hears as she unintentionally swallows mouthful after mouthful of water, and with choked coughs, she reaches out in the general vicinity of his voice. a cold, clammy hand grips hers in the rapid waters as they’re slammed against the rocks nesting in the stream, and she grips back just as tightly, bleary eyes making out aiden’s heaving figure.

waterlogged, she finds a hold on a branch jutting into the stream from eroded ground, and her arm feels like it’s about to be ripped off from the pressure of the rushing water and the added weight of her brother. “we’re gonna be okay!” she screams, believing her empty words because there’s no other option. “we’re gonna get out of here!”

aiden looks at her, distressed. “the both of us!” he shouts back. the look in his eyes convey he believes otherwise, but julia is more concerned about the sharp spray of water across her face and hanging onto both aiden and the branch.

her heart stops when the branch gives way.

her vision darkens when the stream rams her head against a rock, and the last thing she sees is aiden struggling to swim against the current in vain, screaming out her name.

"!" aiden manages to yell, but the current up his voice. he reaches out desperately, right arm extended, but he loses her and she slips off, unconscious.

he lets out another scream of frustration as he watches julia flow down the river and out of sight.

aiden feels his muscles tiring against the rushing water, feels the tight overexhaustion swimming against the current, and as he struggles to keep his head above the stream, gasping for air, it becomes too much for his weakening body to handle.

he chokes on the water and the lack of oxygen entering his system as he sinks underneath the surface.

"..." the blond rasps, his vision darkening.

"...i'm sorry."