Standing in front of a door to someone’s house, Junhong looked down at the bowl of candies he had in his hands. He felt like eating them— what with the colorful wrappers and the variety of flavors—but he knew he shouldn’t. The candies were for a special survey Junhong had planned with his father. His father loved trying out new recipes for candies so this time he’d come up with a new one and had asked his son to do a survey around the neighborhood to see whether people liked it.

“This candy is perfect! It’ll sure as hell knock people down in seconds!” his father had told him that evening. “Junhongie, now’s the perfect time to do a survey. You’ve been complaining about sitting around at home doing nothing anyway.”

His father was right. Junhong was really bored at the time. He’d been lazing around at home for too long. He had nothing particular to do and it had been a long time since he last did a survey for his father. He liked helping his father with his job. He’d been doing it since the death of his mother. His mother used to protest about doing surveys because she didn’t like it. Junhong and his father didn’t understand why she didn’t like it. She was too different from them that she couldn’t connect with their creative minds. His father had labeled Junhong’s mother as the boring type.

Blinking back to the present, Junhong nodded to himself and brought his right hand to the door.

He then knocked on the door thrice and took a small step backwards, adjusting the bow tied around his collar so that it wasn’t tilted sideways. He needed to look smart to give out a good first impression. He’d always held onto the principle since he was little—his father had taught him about it.

“In a second!” someone yelled from inside.

Junhong instantly put up a smile on his face and held the bowl of candies in his arms closer to him. He could hear a series of rushed footsteps approaching the door. He started a countdown in his head.

5,4,3,2,1…

“Hello there,” a russet-haired man greeted him with a friendly smile. “May I help you?”

Junhong stared at the man’s left hand that was holding a kitchen knife for a brief moment but then brought his gaze back to his face immediately, smile growing wider in attempt to appear confident.

“Hi, I’m Choi Junhong. I’m doing a survey for the candies my father made recently and I was wondering whether you’d like to taste them and give me your opinion?”

The man eyed the bowl of candies thoughtfully before he chuckled and made way for Junhong to step into his dimly-lit house.

“Sure, sure. I have always loved candies!” he led the seventeen-year-old boy through the hallway and made him sit down on a sofa that was facing a big painting of a cabin in a forest. “Let me just put this-” he showed Junhong the knife, “-back to where it belongs to.”

Junhong offered him a small smile and placed the bowl of candies on the coffee table in front of him. He could feel his hands trembling slightly. He was nervous. It had been a long time since he last did a survey so he found it awkward and a bit hard to talk to strangers.

Nonetheless, he felt excited.

 He decided to stand up and circle the living room, staring at the decorations and paintings on the wall. The house was rustic-styled, walls made out of stones and tables from woods. It made the interior of the house seem cold. A bit too cold for Junhong’s liking.

“I paint,” the man said when he came back with a cup of tea in his hand and saw Junhong staring at a particular painting.

It was a painting of a cemetery.

“Last month I went on a trip to one of London’s cemetery. It was hauntingly beautiful and I couldn’t get the image out of my head so I painted it,” the man chuckled as he served the tea to Junhong but when he noticed the stunned look on the boy’s face, he cleared his throat and smiled apologetically. “Uh, sorry if I sound creepy. I’m an artist so I tend to have strange fascination towards such things.”

“No, I don’t mind, really.” Junhong shook his head as he sat down on the sofa again. He only stared at the tea, no intention to drink it. He wasn’t a fan of tea anyway. He may appear rude but since he would only visit this house once, he doubted that he would ever see that man again. “I think everyone’s like that.”

“I’m Himchan by the way,” the man introduced himself as he sat down on the sofa opposite Junhong’s.

Junhong looked at the candies and then back to Himchan. The man had his eyes on him, the corner of his lips lifted up slightly.

“Where do you live?”

“A few blocks away from here… Block D.”

“It’s not that far from here. I haven’t seen you around before.”

“Just moved here last two weeks.”

“I see,” Himchan made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth. “Do you live with your family?”

“Yes.”

“Siblings?”

“Nope.”

“What school are you studying at?”

“Mandu High School.”

“Oh, my nephew went there. He graduated last spring. By chance, do you know him? His name’s Jongup.”

“Sorry, I don’t.” Junhong shook his head slowly.

“Oh come on. He’s quite popular. He’s not that tall nor short…”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Junhong shook his head once again.

A few coughs came from a room upstairs. Himchan stood up immediately, eyeing the staircase for a while before he looked back at Junhong.

“Uh, excuse me for a while,” he said as he made his way upstairs. Junhong caught a whiff of coffee when Himchan walked past him.

Junhong leaned back in the sofa and let out a light sigh.

Himchan talked a lot. Junhong hadn’t expected that. He was asking so many questions and it made Junhong feel uncomfortable. Usually the survey would only take a short time. The previous neighbors Junhong had visited didn’t ask him as much as Himchan had. They would mostly question him about the candies, like what flavor they were and how his father made them.

Himchan was way too friendly, Junhong thought.

Junhong remembered the time when his mother had advised him to not answer too many questions from strangers. She’d told him that they could be criminals, trying to get some information from their victims and only to kidnap them and demand for money from their families.

“Sorry about that,” Himchan apologized when he was downstairs. “My sister… she’s sick. She has trouble breathing. She has to have an oxygen tank by her side 24 hours. Weak lungs the doctor told me.”

“Oh,” Junhong nodded but didn’t put any effort to come up with a more decent reply.

“Anyway, I’m really curious about the candies,” Himchan his lips and stared the candies, eyes shining brightly. “Can I eat one now?”

“Sure,” Junhong answered a little too quickly. He picked up the bowl and offered the candies to the man.

Himchan leaned closer and thought for a while, contemplating of which color he should choose. He picked orange.

Junhong blinked.

Usually people liked to choose purple or red. Orange was never the popular choice.

Himchan sure was different. 

“Does your father open a factory?”

“No, he only makes candies for fun,” Junhong answered, observing the way Himchan tore open the wrapping paper.

Himchan held the round shaped candy between his thumb and index finger, eyes narrowed. He studied every inch of the candy and smiled.

“It’s transparent,” he noted.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Junhong asked.

“Yeah. What gave your father the inspiration to make candies?”

“I’m not really sure. It’s his hobby though, I’m sure of that.”

Junhong tapped his right foot against the carpeted floor, hands rubbed against each other and eyes fixed on Himchan.

He was taking a long time to put that candy into his mouth. Junhong just wanted to get it over with and go home. He wasn’t in the mood to answer the man’s pointless questions. He had asked too many questions already.

After what seemed like eternity, Himchan brought the candy to his mouth and it. Then he chewed on it and finally swallowed. Junhong could feel his body relax and a smile crept up his face.

“How’s the taste?”

“Strong!” Himchan blinked and then cringed a bit. “A bit sour though.”

Junhong nodded slowly, still staring at him.

“I like it,” Himchan said. “The taste lingers in my mouth and it’s not really hard to chew on.”

5,6,7,8,9,….

“It’s very addicting. Mind if I-”

A cough escaped Himchan’s mouth and he creased his forehead perplexedly, cupping his mouth with his hand. He stood up to head towards the kitchen but then he stopped in his tracks and dropped down to his knees, coughing profusely. When he looked at his palm, he noticed that there was blood. His vision started to blur and he could just feel his body shutting down.

“What the hell?”

“10 seconds for the effect to work,” Junhong muttered, taking a glance at his watch. “Wow, a new record. Dad would be happy to know this.”

“You p-poisoned me?” Himchan stared at Junhong with disbelief, breathing hard.

“Time to move to another neighborhood.”

Himchan stood up with shaky legs and leaned against the wall for support. By now his surroundings had turned darker than usual. It was like someone had turned off the light. He held out his hands and guided by the mental map of his house, staggered towards the front door only to be held back by Junhong.

“I won’t do that if I were you,” Junhong told him in a low tone. Himchan pried his hand off him and opened his mouth to scream.

“The pain would only worsen if you scream. Dad had put some special ingredients in the candy…which can probably tear your throat open if you put a strain to the muscle.”

Himchan’s eyes widened in fear.

Junhong leaned close to his ear and whispered;

“Mister, have you forgotten that you were not supposed to take candies from strangers? I guess your mother hadn’t been reminding you about that lately.”

A/N:

Please don't tell me you guys were expecting candies and rainbows. kekekeke. I've been missing writing dark stories and himlo moments so I came up with this one. It's not that grand but at least I tried. Yep....I don't care if you like it or not. :P

Anyway, I wrote this story after my dorm neighbor came to my room to do a survey. Nothing inspiring actually. Just a random thought. ha.ha.ha. 

Thanks for reading this. :)