"Oh my gosh, Luhan, did we just kill somebody?"

**

"What do you mean we're moving?"

My father ignored my question and turned to face my mother. "See, I told you she wouldn't handle this well."

My mother simply shrugged. "I guess I was being too optimistic."

"Stop ignoring me!" I waved my arms around dramatically. "I am in front of you. I am your living, breathing, creature that wants to know why we are moving."

The three of us sat in the dining room. Whenever my parents wanted to have a serious talk with me, they always led me to the dining room table. My parents would be on the ends of the table while I sat in the middle, watching helplessly as I was being interrogated. Teenager problems, man. 

"It's not like you won't know the place," my mother said, dismissing my complaints as petty dramatics. "Remember that place we used to go to during the summer?"

"We're moving there," my father said, finishing my mother's sentence. "You loved it a lot."

"As a summer vacation place!" I shot back. "And I was like eight, you know. I'm seventeen. I'm older. I don't play with Pokemon or Pororo anymore, it's all about boys."

My father gave me a long look when he heard me say the 'boys' part. He was always the overprotective dad role in my life. To him, I was the 'Daddy's Little Girl' that needed protection from the so-called 'vile' boys of my generation. But alas, I was sort of boy crazy. (He didn't have to know that, though.)

"Sorry," I mumbled my apology and added, "But still. This is the most random thing you've ever done. Why do we have to move? Like, now?"

There really was no reason to. It wasn't like my mom or dad had a new job or anything that required us to move. And we weren't in a drama, where we had to run away from loan sharks or mob groups. No eviction notices either.

"It's just a lot more easier for us," my mother said calmly, the voice of reason. "You know we have issues transporting us from place to place. Distance and gas prices do not work hand in hand."

"But isn't that neighborhood like really rich or something?" I asked. If my parents had to move because of finances, then I could understand. I could wallow up my feelings of bitterness and accept it. But the neighborhood my parents told me made me pause. It was like the Korean version of the Hamptons in America. The kind of reaction you hear if somebody tells you they live in Gangnam. "How can we afford moving to such a place?"

"My sister-in-law," my father sighed, "wants us to take care of her house for a certain period of time. But due to scheduling conflicts and certain factors coming in to play, we had no choice but to move."

"Shouldn't your brother complain about it then?" I asked. I propped both of my elbows up onto the wooden table.

"It's the brother that got divorced, Imkyung." 

I made a sound of understanding. "That aunt." 

"Yes." My mother forced a tight smile. "That one."

"You guys could have just said no," I said, bringing the issue back into the conversation. "You didn't have to say yes. This basically sounds like house-sitting instead of moving."

"Your aunt paid us with a huge favor," Dad's voice trailed off, "And the neighborhood she lives in has very good opportunities. It's a lot closer to both our work places than this house."

I scoffed in response. "So she bribed both of you? I thought you guys' were the one preaching to me about how money doesn't bring happiness and what not. I see you changed your minds."

"It wasn't a bribe," my mother interjected. 

"But I like this house," I blubbered. "What's so wrong about it?"

Many memories were made at this house. I'd lived in it for practically majority of my life. I learned how to ride a bike when I lived in this house. I lost my first tooth. I got braces. Lost braces. Went through puberty and graduated from being an unattractive human being to a semi-decent looking one. I counted the years with my fingers. I'd lived in it for a majority of twelve years. I was seventeen now, so obviously I lived and breathed with this house for a very long time. How many tears had been shed here? How many laughs?

Leaving it right now would be a very bad thing, especially because I was a very sentimental person who was not good with change. The thought of leaving this house gave me the shivers. 

"Nothing's wrong with it," my father said. "But change is good, especially when it's a good change. We're given such a lovely opportunity, a chance to live in a very rich neighborhood without even paying a cent. And the fact that it's a lot closer to both our workplaces makes it a lot better. Besides, we don't have to live in the house forever. Like you said, it's house-sitting."

"But it's summer!" I said. "Can't I at least have some fun with my friends and hang around the house and our neighborhood until I go to college?" 

My mother was the one who dropped the bomb.

"We're leaving on Saturday, Imkyung."

***

After that bomb my mother dropped, we argued a whole lot. I cried a whole lot, too. Not going to lie. I shamelessly admit to the deed. I also complained a whole lot, too. Talking to my friends on the phone, making a bunch of propositions with my parents, telling them that I could stay with other people for whatever amount of time our aunt was away, and that we didn't really have to move away from our house permanently.

All of my complaints fell to deaf ears. My parents refused, even after I begged and pleaded and made propositions. Nothing was going to change them from their stance. I was dead set for life to move to that accursed neighborhood to that stupid house my aunt (technically she wasn't an aunt, we're not even sort of-related anymore since she got divorced) left us.

I talked to my mom about who our neighbors would be. I also remember distinctly, after wracking my mind for memories, that the neighborhood I lived in was very, very far from the city. There wasn't much to do as there was in the city. I checked on the internet about the new neighborhood. If I wanted to do anything fun in the summer besides staying at home and using the internet, I had to go around and explore the neighborhood and find out whatever I could possibly manage to use as a way of entertainment. 

As for the neighbors? She hadn't had a clue about them. But she did ask my aunt, who nonchalantly told her that there were just elderly and rich couples with no children.

"Nothing of interest for Imkyung, that's for sure," my aunt had said.

So much for my luck with that. I knew I was stretching the line for asking for people my age, maybe a girl, but I never expected that I might have been the only minor there. Very depressing if you asked me. I mean sure, I could just use my phone or talk to people on Kakaotalk, but a girl needs air and sunshine once in a while too? Plus, it didn't help that while this neighborhood was very rich, it was kind of like a vacation home for the very rich. So it wasn't like living in a major city, a metropolitan of sorts, where you could just walk anywhere you wanted to go to if you wanted entertainment. 

Now the date rolled by and it was Saturday. We were moving. I tried to blissfully block the date away from my mind, but I knew it was inevitable. Wherever I went, there'd be boxes and boxes around. Everything familiar was gone, now packed up in a box. The house became a ghost town, turning empty and plain. A shadow of its former self. Needless to say, it made me very moody.

Since everything was packed away into the moving truck, all was left to do was to hop into the car. I made a very big intention of not looking back the moment I ran out to the car. I didn't do much during the car ride either, not even check my phone to play games or refresh my social media. I shut my eyes tight the moment I sat down and laid back into the velvety seat cushions. I did not want to remember the last memory of the house I had practically lived in for majority of my life. Of watching it fade away behind me for the last time. The thought of knowing that it'd be the last time I'd see it in that manner. Because I'd no longer live in it anymore. It wasn't mine to keep.

So I had to stop thinking about it. This would get me more moody and I didn't want to annoy my parents even further. I decided to take a nap.

When I woke up later, I had really no clue what time it was. I dozed off pretty easily, maybe because the car ride was so long. My fingers ran through my hair and I rubbed my eyes while stifling a yawn. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to my surroundings as I blinked for a few times.

"Are we almost there?" I asked my father.

"Almost," he said. "Almost."

So I looked out the window to survey at my surroundings. Although slightly unfamiliar, I began to remember the route we were going to. Not very clearly, but everything was slowly coming back together, piece by piece. From my albeit hazy memories, I could tell that we were very close to the new neighborhood that my aunt had lived in was the place I had spent most of my summer vacations as a kid.

"Five minutes, right?" I asked again, waiting for a confirmation.

My father stared at me from the rear view mirror. He nodded slowly and cracked a smile in response.

I nodded back and took in his silent form of a yes. I edged a few more centimeters close to the window and stared back out from the window, idly. Despite my reluctance for knowing anything about the entire neighborhood because of my entire resistance against it, I was very curious. Not that I wanted to admit it, but still. My fingers drew lazy circles as I waited for us to get closer and finally reach our destination.

The car began to slow down as I saw my first trace of a house. We were here at the neighborhood. Everything seemed vaguely familiar, from what I could still from my distant memories. Nothing from my memories told me was visually stunning the neighborhood was. Maybe it was the fancy houses that were very huge, or the trees surrounding everything that formed a canopy? It was hard to pick. 

Honestly, it was like I had reached a slice of paradise. Rich neighborhoods, man. It was like I was a chaebol.

"Well," I mumbled under my breath as the car came to an abrupt halt. "We're here."

***

Reality settled in when I remembered there was absolutely nobody my age around. So it was easy to say I was starting to get a little miserable. Besides that, there was a lot of moving my stuff back in and unpacking everything.

The first things my parents and I did together was to get our beds inside the house. It took a lot of work, dragging all those mattresses and futons in. I almost died, but not literally. However, I'd rather just sleep on the floor then ever do something like that again.

The next thing to do was to put away all the kitchenware and bathroom utilities in their designated places. The whole routine consisted of me running back and forth, putting everything in its designated place. The house was too big! What a crime that was. I should have been awed by it, but since I was the one forced to put all the knives and towels away, I loathed this house for the time being. Forget what I said earlier, stupid chaebol-like mansions!

When it was two hours already past noon, my mother finally relieved me of my duties. 

"Are you sure?" Although I was absolutely relieved, I felt very guilty. There was still a lot more stuff to unpack. "You don't want me to stay and help around?"

"You have two hours of free time and then you have to come back," she said. And then added in a joking tone, "You'll be timed."

"Well, okay, I guess?" I said, shuffling my way upstairs to what was my room. I really didn't want to call it my room yet, because it was still practically empty. It wasn't looking like the room at my old house, not yet. I had yet to complete my vision for it. But then I remembered, I could go outside! What a novel idea that was,

It was time to explore the contents of this neighborhood and see what was all around it. Maybe I'd find something to occupy me for the rest of the summer. Although I was going to probably do it alone since no one was around my age, I'd manage.

I bolted outside, my phone in my back pocket and a water bottle in hand. Where to go first?

The row of houses were definitely not of interest. Although they were big and magnificient, like my new house, they weren't places I could march up to and ring the door bell and ask if I could play. I wasn't five anymore, after all. But then there were the trees. Huge trees that formed large canopies. Not to mention the opportunity of the unknown territory behind them. That was an opportunity. I ran toward the thicket of trees to see what was behind them. Possibly a forest? Maybe, if I was wishfully thinking enough, a waterfall?

But then something ran toward me.

Huh?

Something white. Something that barked. A dog.

Then some people running after said dog. I didn't get a good look at them. But whoever they were, they were tall. Male, I guess? I honestly had no clue.

It all came into slow motion, the events that unfolded after I started running. Me, being my pathetic self, did not realize what was happening. Until it was too late, of course.

"Stop!"

It was a bit too late for that.

White fur clouded my vision and then suddenly the world was upside down. Everything was out of place and why was the sky suddenly so strange? And why did I currently feel concrete? I groaned out in pain, feeling a huge weight on top of me as I laid on the ground, legs and all splayed.

"Oh my gosh, Luhan, did we kill somebody?"

Luhan's an interesting name. Never heard that one before...