Chapter 2

 

 

  Catherine looked outside the window to see many houses, one lined up with another, it was a pretty rich neighborhood.

  The taxi stopped suddently, and with that, the girl dropped out. In front of her, some type of mansion, a small lake in the right side of the garden and flowers in each side of the front door. That was all behind a 2 meters golden gate. Catherine tried to gather every detail she could, but one thing caught her attention in the back: a tree house.

  How childish of me... 

  She was right. A 17 years old girl getting all excited because of a tree house was, indeed, childish. But she couldn`t lie. She wanted to live those childish moments once again. She missed to watch her favorite cartoons while filling herself with candy, or having her knees full of scratches and band-aids, doodling in the living room until her sleep, and wake up on her bed "by magic".

  "Oh well, those are over." She chuckled.

  The driver handed her bags over, and drove off as Catherine gave small steps to the gate, carrying the case in her left hand while she used her other hand to equilibrate herself.

  

  Surprisingly, the gate was open and all it need was to be pushed, and she did as so. After repeatedly ringing the bell, she was welcomed by a middle-aged man, wearing some kind of male maid outfit, a butler.

  "Good afternoon, how can I help you?"

  "I-I`m Catherine, my aunt sent me to-"

  "CATHERINE!!" she was interrupted by a loud woman shriek. The woman shoved the butler off and gave Catherine, a big, bone-breaking hug.

  "I`ve been looking forward to meet you, wow, you look great." Her smile was definitely one of the brightest she had ever seen. You could see she was happy with her own life. Could Catherine be like her someday?

  "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Kim Ji Yeon, my family is in charge to take care of you until your aunt comes back, right?"

  "Yes, I’m sorry to bother you"

  Mrs.Kim laughed, "Sweetie, you’re part of our family now, feel yourself at home. Right now, lunch is almost ready; would you like Tom to show you your room?"

  "Tom?" Catherine tilted her head to the side a little.

  "Yes, the man who opened the door. He’s been our butler for 14 years, he may look a little cold, but he’s very caring."

 

  Tom took her to her room and Catherine kept mumbling to herself, "Last door of the right side, second floor." trying to memorize the localization of her room.

  She started to place her personal things and clothes in the closet until a house cleaner came in and offered to do it herself. Being Catherine herself, she refused but the house cleaner kept insisting until she gave in.

  In the dining room, Mrs.Kim and a man next to her, her husband she supposes. Across them, a boy playing on his cellphone, he seemed to be around her age, he was pretty tall and as much as she didn`t want to admit it, he was very good-looking.

  "We were waiting for you dear, come and sit next to Taehyung. Ah, I’m sorry, he’s my son and next to me is my lovely husband."

  She bowed and mumbled a small "Hello" loud enough so they can hear.

  The girl sitted next to the called "Taehyung" and was served by the maids. They ate and talked about several subjects. Most of the questions she was given, Catherine tried to give the smallest and quickest answer possible. She didn’t feel guilty for not paying attention to their talk, she was sure anyone in her place would have done the same. The family thanked for the meal and decided to go back to their individual rooms.

  "I’ll get going if that’s alright. "Catherine said with that "sweet" voice. That one voice that every girl has and use it with strangers.

  "Okay, you can go."

 

  She smiled but it soon faded away when Mrs.Kim continued,

  "Ah! Tae, go help her pick up the things! She shouldn’t put too much effort since she just got out of the hospital."

  The boy groaned and put his cellphone down before following her to her room.

 

  They arranged her room silently until Catherine gathered courage enough to talk to him,

  "Do you have something against me? You didn’t seem so happy when your mom asked you to help me."

 

  ...

 

  He didn’t answer and sighed irritated. She didn’t mind until she swore she heard him say "..." quietly, almost whispering.

  "Look, I don’t even know you and you’re already insulting me like that?" 

  He groaned once again and turned to her,

 

  "Just because you had some health problems don’t expect me to treat you any special." He stated coldly.

  "I never did. But manners wouldn’t kill."

 

  Taehyung didn’t pay attention to her last sentence though, he was too distracted by one of the boxes he opened, full of stuffed toys,

  "You still play with these?" he mocked her.

  "Shut up and close that stupid box." .

 

  He was about to close the box but he noticed a plastic bag tied in one of the toy’s ear. He opened and scanned through the bad, until an idea popped in his head. Inside the bag, there was several types of underwear, obviously Catherine’s. He took one of them, a lacy one, and placed it in his pocket, before throwing the bag, purposely hitting her.

  She felt something hit the back of her head and knew it was Taehyung. The first thing she was going to do was to scream at him but she saw the bag on the floor, her falling out of it. She quickly took it and looked down, trying to hide her redden cheeks,

  "You didn’t look inside of it, did you?" she quietly asked.

 The smirk on his face made her blush even more, "Well it’s open, isn’t it?" she was about to get to her limit.

 

 "I’m done here, so I’ll head back to my room. Don’t bother to try to ask me for any help."

  He closed the door and Catherine still didn’t dare to look up, embarrassed by what just happened.

 

  "..."

 

 

~

 

Next Chapter: Girlfriend